Running Like the Wind, Or Surviving My Life--Whatever:)

I have been aching to write for a while. I'm documenting a few things here that I don't want to forget.

First of all, running: This has been a great experience for me. I am less than a month away from my marathon, and things are going really well. My original goal was to run my marathon in under 5 hours, and my vision ("mission" language for the goal I really want, but is a long shot) is to run my marathon in less than 4 hours and 22 minutes (which would equate to a ten-minute pace per mile). So I have trained with my goal and vision in mind every time I have run. My best run was on Saturday, where I beat all of my previous records on my Garmin watch. I got my fastest mile (a 7:24); fastest 5 K (25:23); Fastest 10K (51:43); fastest half marathon (1:57:42); and longest run (18.01 miles). My pace was an 8:58 mile, and 4.5 miles of the course are continuous uphill. I'll have to give credit to the caffeine power gels, because I'm sure they made a difference. I have been placing water, gels, granola bars, and candy at various points on my run, and the 18 miler was my first time ever NOT stopping my watch to eat and drink. I figured that I needed to start seeing how I would do in a race with the necessary interruptions. So I loved my 18 mile run. I haven't loved any run as much as I loved that one. I am holding onto my goal and vision as I complete training for this marathon. I expect to hit walls during my race, and I plan to run my best race the whole time--even if my very best looks pretty emotional, scared, and blubbery. I'll just do my best. I'm working on being mentally tough, and I know that I am going into the unknown with a lot of preparation and prayers.

Second, time with Connor: My seven-year-old next-door-neighbor loves cleaning. Says he, "I love messy things." So when I decided to vacuum my car and sweep my garage last week, Connor was there with his vacuum and broom edger. He sang as he cleaned with me. It was one of those surreal experiences--who bonds with the seven-year-old neighbor while cleaning with him? It was definitely a first for me, and had to be recorded. Incidentally, he is the same boy who shamed me into plowing my sidewalk a month or so ago. He was shoveling it for me, so I had to go help.

Third, the kiddies and my spouse:
Brooklyn has entered the world of pigtails (I can get most of her hair up into them, and I let the rest hang down messily behind.) She needs to wear a onesie every day because she rips her diaper off otherwise. I never thought I'd have an almost 2-year-old in onesies, but it works, so I respect that. She is also speaking more every day, and loves to color. At least twice a day, I catch her coloring the table, and then hand her the sponge to clean up the mess and assure me that she'll color on paper from now on. She loves her monkey, and also loves walking around with her jammies or a dish towel draped around her neck and arms.

How I love her. This picture and the one below were taken weeks apart, but the shirt is apparently a go-to for me.

The first time I knew she could pull off pigtails--since then, I've put it all in two pigtails rather than spending time on this cute but more time-consuming method.

modeling the 'do

Lucy has been sporting a fantastic shiner for the past week. A little boy named Levi slammed a matchbox car just below her eye last Friday at the Apple, and the bruise immediately became purple and beautiful. I'm happy to say the bruise is finally fading. She also longs to color and play with her best friends, and has moved up to Isaac's 16-inch cars bike, with a Barbie basket. She bears her testimony when she prays, which is pretty cute. She's doing well in swim lessons.

The shiner on Saturday before Easter. I didn't even try to make her look fantastic on Easter--she was going to stand out and look amazing no matter what. The bruise was much cooler in person.

Isaac lost one of his front teeth last night, and the tooth fairy "accidentally" didn't put money under his pillow. I woke up at 7 am to hear Isaac crying softly. I asked Doug if the money was under his pillow, and we improvised from there. I used Jenn's pixie dust idea, and the tooth fairy wrote Isaac a letter explaining that her wings were too weak to fly downstairs because she had just visited a kind crocodile in Africa who lost his tooth on the same night. Isaac's tooth gave her the strength she needed to get back home. So all is well there. Isaac took three days to learn to ride his bike without training wheels, and now owns a cool 18-inch green and white bike. He reads and writes every day, but I wouldn't say he has "taken off" with reading. He still stumbles on some words and doesn't yet read quietly to himself. His longest book was 98 pages ("Two Times the Fun" by Beverly Cleary). I'll just keep reading with him and having him read to me, and I'll hope his love for literature takes off at some point. He's doing way better than I was at his age, and I know he leads his class, so I'm not too worried. He's having fun at swim lessons and doing well with that and soccer, which is being coached by. . .

before he lost his top tooth

To pull from a terrible country song, "You're the reason God made [replace "Oklahoma" with Ammon, Idaho]

Some of the love letter the kids make me. They have started putting love letters on my dresser in my bedroom, and I love it. I took pictures of everything they had saved for me before sending it to the great big trash can in the ground.

Doug. The man spent time studying effective soccer coaching for this age-group online, and he and his friend/assistant Jeremy Klein do great things with the kids. Wednesday nights are fun because the kids have swim lessons and then eat. Then, Isaac and Doug go to practice, and the girls and I take a bike ride (with them in the bike trailer) over to the school where Doug's team practices and the girls get to play on the playground. I am writing this on a Friday night because Doug's boss gave him tons of work to do while the boss went on his second cruise of the month. He writes to Doug every day, reporting on his "grueling" days relaxing at the beach. Doug doesn't respond to these messages:). Doug's had fun playing basketball with guys from our ward, and likes how his life has felt more balanced as a result of working out and coaching, working with the Webelos, and working and being a great family guy. He made me a CD today and let me run during his brief break from work, so he's on my good list:).

I know this is long, but I've got to say I loved having family visit this past week. Peanut and her kids and Shauna and Blake came to stay with us from Monday-Wednesday and we had a blast. I loved all the ice cream and swimming, stroller rides, and play time. We feel lucky whenever anyone comes to visit us, since we don't live very close to family. So my cup runneth over from that visit. 

The Easter bunny wrote bad poetry for the children to help them find their baskets. That's how much the Easter bunny loves these kids.

I didn't get a picture of the baskets before the kids found them, but here they are, ready to be put back in the Easter bin in the storage room. Memo to me: I do not need to buy baskets, plastic grass, or plastic eggs next year!

Here's my fridge. If you send me a picture of your family, you will get to be on my fridge for a year (unless you send pictures at Christmas time--then, no promises).