Happy Valentines Day... Hayden's version

For Valentine's Day this year Hayden gave me a "golden ticket".  Pick any concert you want to attend, and that will be your valentine's gift.  

So... I checked what was coming to town in the next few months.  

Nothing I was willing to cash in my "ticket" for, so I waited.

I knew a couple bands/groups that I wanted to see were slated to come to town in the fall, so I figured I would wait a bit, and see what the schedule looked like.

Middle of April rolls around and Hayden hands me his computer and says "Happy Valentines Day".  On the screen was a receipt for tickets to CHEYENNE DAYS to see his favorite band, Zac Brown Band.

Apparently, I waited too long (although no expiration date was ever written or implied on my gift).

So, the end of July found us flying into Denver, and driving to Cheyenne for the concert.

Cheyenne Days has a culture all of it's own.  I could people watch all day, and I've never so many pretend cowboys in my life.  (Pretend cowboy = someone sporting boots that look they have never seen a pile of cow crap... EVER... or wearing the cowboy shirt that still has the creases in it from the initial packaging)

We had GA tickets, and sat in line to get in an hour before the gates opened (which was an hour before the OPENING band of 3 went on).  We were at the front of our section with a great view!  

The opening gal, Sonia Leigh, was amazing (I need to find some of her stuff and download it).  Zac Brown, however, definitely was worth the trip, the drive, and the time spent in line!  He was a great performer, sounded good live, and sang the song that always makes me cry: Highway 20 Ride.

Lesson learned from the trip... next time, we stay in Cheyenne.  Even with sneaking out of the massive crowds before the encore, and getting out of the parking fiasco without a hitch, we didn't get back into Denver until 2am.  That was only after taking turns driving, rolling down windows, stopping for a little break to revive ourselves.

I was able to get my long run in while in Denver.  They have an amazing river front trail that runs for miles.  It was a warm morning, but I started early enough... ran past many many homeless people sleeping along the river.

We stayed at the Teatro, just a block away from the theater district.  We rented bikes and rode around town.  On the way to Cheyenne we stopped and had lunch with an old college buddy I hadn't seen for 20+ years.  The second night in Denver we had dinner at the Yard House with Hayden's cousin, Jenn, he hadn't seen in years, and we topped off the last evening by having dinner with an old co-worker at the Cheesecake Factory.

Lots of good food.
Great time together.
Good company... especially the crazy guy who planned this whole thing.

THAT is one SWEET hat, Hayden!!

before it started

first hour of the show

by the end... it was packed, from one end to the other

The Uintah's... from the air

the flight in to Denver

at the end of 16th street mall

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.