Chop!

While combing Aspen's hair a couple of mornings ago, a large long piece of hair came out. I was running late and it was early so I figured I'd deal with the cause of it later...thinking perhaps she was losing hair.

When I got her home that afternoon and took a good look at her I realized she was sporting a mullet. Nice.
"i didn't want it long on the sides anymore, mom, so I cut it".
I found my dress cutting scissors down stairs next to a larger pile of her beautiful locks.

Thanks to Nicole for an emergency fix of the hair...she looks much better than before. Just hoping it continues to grow as fast as it did before she cut it.

Summer recap... part 1

 School starts again for me on Wednesday and, as always, I start bemoaning the fact that summer has come to an end.  It has been a great summer.  The first two weeks were PERFECT, with hikes and water park, Las Vegas, 4th of July celebration, and just plain relaxation.  The last week... not so much.  Not because of anything that happens, but just because I start feeling sad that it is almost over, sad that once school starts the weather changes and winter is just around the corner.  Sad that chilling with Aspen and hanging with Wade is now deduced to just the weekends.

So... instead of sitting and worrying that my last two days aren't going to be "full" enough to get all the things left on our summer TO-DO list fit in, I'm going to highlight how great this summer has been.

 4th of July was fun this year, because it was on a Monday.  This meant that some fireworks shows were held on Saturday, some on Sunday, and some on Monday.  This was just fine with Aspen, who could have done fireworks every night.  We bought a little pack, and she and Wade lit them on Sunday night.  Aspen was so excited, she kept doing her "pose" (one hand on hip and sticking her hip off to one side) and singing "OH YEAH, it's fireworks time... It's OUR fireworks time"

 Monday was the big fireworks show, so we headed to Sugarhouse park.  Aspen did not get very far away from Wade the entire time he was here.  She is his little buddy, and he is her hero.  She doesn't let a day go by when she isn't sitting on his lap, climbing on his back, dragging him along to jump on the tramp or play dolls.  He is a great sport.

 Gateway is always one of our favorite summer stops.  Aspen is always tentative about getting wet, but after 5 minutes is usually drenched from head to toe.  She found a friend while there this time, and he was really excited to get his picture taken.  I got a couple pics of the two of them together, but the best shot was him showing off for the camera.

The "helpful" child

Aspen watered the plants the other day...doing me a favor, apparently. But any plants watered for six hours with a hose on full blast creates a problem.

This problem resulted in both basement bedrooms packed up (including my massive scrapbook stash) and some new carpet. Thank heavens the only thing that came out if it harmed was the carpet...and I had the "opportunity" to paint the rooms as well.
Lucky me.

Graduation. Dirty Dash. Les Mis.

 I only have one picture from my graduation (and not a very good one at that), so I tend to make up for it by taking too many of my own kids and events.  I made Brenden a lei with treats and I threw in some much needed headphones for his Alaskan adventure this summer.  It was fun to see him show his necklace and headphones off to friends, because he doesn't say much to me about whether or not he likes things... I have to go by his interactions with his friends.  It was a hit.

showing off the goods to Landon Hobbs

getting his handshake from principal Gary Allen

THE GUYS:  Benjy Christensen, Kallton Josephson and Brenden

 We stayed at University Inn while we were up north. What would a graduation in Logan be without a little overnight stay and some fun?  I, of course, had to show off the Alva C. Snow hall to my kids and in-laws.  Top it off with Aggie ice cream and it was a perfect stay.

Graduation was on Thursday...
Brenden arrived in Lehi Friday night around midnight...
Saturday was my dirty dash race at 10 and a broadway production of Les Mis at 2.  I drug Brenden along to the race to be our photographer, but couldn't help but see a prime opportunity for some mother/son crazy fun.  After rounding up some too-large shoes from the donation pile and giving Brenden one of the 2 pairs of shorts that I wore to the race, he was set to be one of our runners on our team.
What a MUDDY, fun, MESSY race!
Brenden wasn't about to sit around and wait for all of us slow people, so he took off.  As I saw him on a looping part of the course around mile 2, he said "hurry up, I'll wait for you at the top of the slide".  When I came up to the top of the hill, he threw me into the mud.  We checked the time at this point and it was 11:30.  We had tickets to Les Mis at 2pm and still had to get home and shower, but we couldn't go down the big slide until our team had all caught up with us.  I was getting nervous.
The last muddy puddle just before the finish line was a bit suspicious.  Anyone who grows up on a farm knows the smell of cow poop from a mile away, and this smelled strangely familiar to this farm girl.  I did not spend any extra time in it, that is for sure.

before (notice Brenden's BLUE shirt)

no blue left on Brenden's shirt

Fun amazing race.  So glad to have shared this with Brenden.  But now... the real race was on.
12:15... back to our car
12:45... pulled in to Lehi (covered in mud)
1:25... pulled out of the driveway
1:55... parked the car 2 blocks away from Capitol Theater
2:00... ran into the theater and the ushers said "30 seconds to doors closing"
found our seats and sat down, and the production began.
It doesn't get much tighter, time-wise, than that!!

What to say about Les Mis?  The scene changes were amazing.  The singing was awesome.  Sharing it with Brenden (who had not been to this production before) was the best part.  He was scheduled to leave for Alaska 3 days later, and it was so nice to just have mom solo time.

Topped off the evening with dinner with Hayden, Wade and Aspen at Macaroni Grill.

Perfect Day!!

Crazy fun filled day.

Reasons I run

I never really was a runner growing up.  I did track, but cross country was for the wierdos... and besides, who was crazy enough to just go run 5 miles??

I knew people who ran... but they were superhuman.

My Aunt Sheela always amazed me.  She would get up hours before everyone was awake and just go run.

When I was teaching in Brigham City, Barb Klein (a fellow co-worker) was another who I took note of.  While we played basketball after school in the winter, she would do laps around the gym to get ready for her next race.  Not a very big gym either.

Crazy people.

When I moved to Lehi, a co-worker, Annette, had a running poster on her wall, and said she was training for a marathon.  WOW, how does someone just DO a marathon, and WHY would someone do it more than once??

Crazy people.

I had to admire them.

I was envious in some ways.  

Even jealous.

I started running purely by accident.   

My version of "running" was go out, run for half a mile, walk to recover, run another half mile.  I was good with that.  One fateful day, a gal I hadn't met before, Misty, came to run with us.  When we hit the half mile mark, and I started walking she protested, and dragged me on a two mile (no walking) run.  

I was dying.  

I was tired.  

I couldn't stop talking about it all day to poor Hayden.  

I was so proud of myself.  

That was the summer of 2005.  

And the rest, as they say... is history.

Jen and Misty... It all started with them. 

2006: first 5k (with Misty and Jen).  Running with Angels @ Thanksgiving Point.

          Lavender Days 5k (with Misty and Jen)

2007: Scheutzenfest 5k.  Up the side of a freaking mountain.  I won for my age group!!

2008: Running with Angels (with Misty and Brenden).  Brenden won 1st place!!

          Lavender Days 5k (with Brenden)

2009: first half marathon (with my crazy running sisters, Liz and Kara).  Provo River Trail

2010: Hobble Creek half marathon (with Misty)

          Snow Canyon half marathon PR (that's personal record) St. George.

2011: Salt Lake half marathon (with Jocelyn)

          Dirty Dash (with Jocelyn and Brenden).  This one was memorable, to say the least.

        Lehi Roundup 10k (with Jocelyn).  I won for my age group (there were 3 of us :)

I'm sure I missed a few races that I will have to go back and fill in.

I am not fast by any means.  Hayden informs me that 50% of running talent comes from hard work and training and the other 50% comes from what you are born with... and then informs me that I just wasn't born with it.  Sad but true.  I definitely don't run to win, because that just won't happen.

So why do I run?

What makes getting up in 10 degree weather in the winter to run even worth it?

(or waking up at 4:50am to sneak in an 8 miler before Hayden leaves for work)

These are MY reasons:

my sanity.  I am cheerful and positive on days I run.  Not so much on days I skip.

my boys.  I love sharing this passion with them, and sharing race adventures.

my time solo.  Time to just think in the morning while taking in the views.

the world untouched.  It is amazing the beauty that so many "sleep-in" people miss out on.

the challenge.  Nothing like breaking barriers for myself.  Love being able to say BEEN THERE DONE THAT.  

I am at peace.  It took me a couple years to finally realize how much I just love to run.  All is right with the world when I have my shoes on and am exploring new territory.

aspen.  She loves to run because I love to run.  

So this spring I got a crazy notion. I decided I was going to tackle the race of all races and sign up for a MARATHON.  I of course had to have someone else to share in the misery/love, so I talked a co-worker, Arica, into this insane idea with me, and we were off and running.  

Literally.

So come September 17th... after many Saturday's filled with 4 hours of nonstop running, we will be attempting to survive a full 26.2 miles.  

I question my sanity.

My knees and feet question my sanity (usually after my long runs).

But... I am up for taking on the challenge.

I am up for being able to say I DID IT.

And I look forward to September 18th... when I can go back to running for the love of it, instead of running because the training schedule says so.

These are pictures from my cell phone I took while running.

A little Q & A

Wade and I were playing a word association game. I would name a state and he would say what came to hos mind.

Me: Hawaii
Wade: palm trees

Me: California
Wade: roads

Me: Idaho
Wade: potatoes

Me: Colorado
Wade: rivers

Me: Washington
Wade: rain

Me: Kansas
Wade: frying pans
FRYING PANS????
"I don't know why", he said... "That's just what I thought of."

I love this kid.

A little worried

Aspen is a bit nervous about the whole "someone might buy our house" thing. She is afraid of leaving all her things for someone else to play with...

So... To prevent that from happening, she has gone around the house over the course of several days and filled her bags and purses with her favorite things.  They go with us each time we go anywhere...just in case.

Mica... found

Hayden is more of a dog dude than he is a cat lover.  So I had to be sneaky in acquiring this lovely feline about 4 years ago.  I had a student that brought a kitty to school in the hopes that I would adopt it.  It was so cute, and I knew I'd have an uphill battle getting Hayden to be willing to take her on.

Did you know if you supposedly find a cat hiding in the garage, there is no return to sender possible  :)  So Mica stayed (named after one of my students)... finally becoming more comfortable with us that she was able to leave the hiding spot in the basement and sleep on my feet each night and sit on Hayd's lap on the couch.  Even so comfortable that she was able to sneak out of the house once in awhile for a few hours.

The other night, a few hours turned into a few days... which turned into picking her up from the animal shelter.  We debated on not claiming her when the tab was $95 for her release.  She looked so afraid.  We brought her home, she was shedding like crazy and irritable and afraid.  Aspen, however, was elated to have her back.  She has been dragging her around the house since her return.  Mica has hardly left my bed.  We are glad to have her back.

She is not leaving the house.

Day 15: Action (and wish fulfilled)

It has been a good year or so since we have told her she wasn't tall enough to ride the roller coaster, so she has been eating food (bribery on our part) and measuring herself waiting for the day she was tall enough to ride.  Thank heavens for short height requirements at the local carnivals.

Day 14: someone I love

It has been fun to watch these two become such good buddies this past month.  Brenden is gone for the summer, so they have had to kinda rely on each other for entertainment.  She thinks he walks on water.  I think I love them both so much.  This truly has been the BEST summer that I can remember.

Mt Olympus and Y mountain

Wade's love language is "time spent together", but getting him out of the house to do something is nearly impossible. While Aspen was out of town on Wednesday visiting her grandma, I dragged Wade out for a hike.

Well... Let me restate that.

I drove to the hiking location, and he drug my old body up the mountain. 

Whomever said that if you can run X amount of miles, you surely can hike.... was sorely mistaken.

My friend John suggested a few hikes for us and then asked if I was tough enough to take on Mount Olympus.  Yeah, I wish he wouldn't have said that because my ego had to prove that I COULD do it.  

Dumb ego.

You are so grounded for next hike.

I was dying by mile 1, and was really hurting by mile 2.5.  The last big .25 mile climb to the top, we passed on because we were dead tired, and it looked very intimidating (and we were basically out of water) and because I am old and wussy.

The trip down should have been much easier than going up, but considering I wore my barefoot shoes, it was NOT GOOD.  Going up, my foot hit the ground on my pads of my feet, using mostly toes to climb.  Going down, my toes were pushed into the front sections of my toe shoes because of the incline, and rocks would hit my heels and arch of my foot.  I counted 8 blisters when I got home.  My heels still feel bruised 10 days later.  I haven't put on my toe shoes since I have been home, but plan on running in them tomorrow.

 As a solution to our little water problem, we found a spring coming out of the side of the mountain on our way back down.  I could hear grandpa Frank cautioning us as the the many ill effects we would suffer from drinking it, but figured water coming directly from the mountain had to be just about as filtered as you could get.  So far, there have been no side effects.  So there Grandpa!!

Last week, in order to make myself feel less wussy, I planned an easier hike for the both of us.  Aspen went to visit Emily (sitter), and Wade and I hiked to Y mountain.  Yeah, yeah... I know... Y mountain is a BYU thing.  The view was worth all the crap I had to take for it from my fellow Utah/USU fans.  The morning was cool, the path was wide but steep, and it wasn't very long.  I think Wade has caught my vision (finally) with this whole hiking thing.  I have only been bugging him to go hiking with me now for 4 years.  We are hoping to get in the big Mount Timpanogas climb before summer ends.  It will be an all day event, with a round trip total of 15 miles.

I won't be wearing my barefoot shoes.