Reese's You've Got Competition

I am a slacker home teacher. Luckily Jen makes great treats that I can drop off to my home teaching family's houses on the last day of the month. Last night while I went to CrossFit Jen made peanut butter cups and Braxton took them around (I said I was a slacker). She has made them several times. I had a few when I got home - they were awesome.

Today when I got home from CrossFit the house was empty. Brax was at mutual and Jen was picking McKell up from dance. I quickly checked the fridge to see if there were any of Jen's peanut butter cups left, there were none. I was sad until I found some Reese's peanut butter cups in cupboard. They were the single cups so I thought it would be great to take care of my craving - it did not. Jen's were way better, by a factor of 10 at least.

I plead to all of you - the next time you have a party, birthday, baby birth, wedding shower, etc. please ask Jen to bring her peanut butter cups that way I can get some more. I feel a little weird asking Jen to make me a whole batch just for me - though I really want to.

Happy Birthday Braxton

This past week Braxton turned the big 15!! Where has the time gone? I really can't believe he is so old. Our little family of 4 has started some birthday traditions that we do for all of our birthdays. First, the birthday person gets to pick where our family goes to dinner. Braxton picked Iggy's and of course, had to bring a friend. The San Diego Chargers were playing, if you know Braxton you know he is a HUGE Chargers fan. Braxton and Ryan both wore Chargers' jerseys and we got a booth right in front of the TV to watch the game. All night the servers were handing out raffle tickets for a drawing that would be held at half-time. We started out with a few, but as people kept leaving they would give the boys their tickets. By half-time we had about 30 tickets. A man came out to do the drawing, there were 2 prizes, a jersey and a helmet. However, since there were so many tickets the guy pulled the first ticket and said it would only be for a free dessert or appetizer. Braxton WON!!

I always decorate my kids' doors for their birthdays and a few years ago they started decorating ours on Derek's and my birthday. McKell helped with Braxton's and she had the great idea of putting on 15 frogs and numbering them all. She is so creative!! Braxton got so many great gifts and phone calls - thanks so much to everyone. It means so much to him as well as me.

It also happened to be Homecoming Week at the high school and Braxton was in the Homecoming Parade with the football team on his birthday. We went to watch and had so much fun. He is loving high school and getting so involved which is great. He was gone every night last week to either the movie on the lawn, the powderpuff game, his game, or a party. I commented on how he was gone all week and his answer, "Mom, it is homecoming week, the biggest week of high school!" I still don't know if I am ready for this teenage thing!!

My Cubs Are Eagles

My first church calling when we moved to this area was a Cub Scout leader. There were three boys in my Wolf Den - Braxton, Corey, and John. It was fun to be their cub scout leader - they were excited to be new cub scouts and earned lots of arrow points and segments.

They were patient with me as I made up crazy activities each week (usually about five minutes before they got there). I was their Bear leader as well but they moved on to another leader for Webelos.

Last year Braxton earned his Eagle Award and tonight Braxton and I attended the Eagle Court of Honor for Corey and John. Now all three of my little Cub Scouts are Eagle Scouts. I am so proud.

The boys have played together on football, baseball, and soccer teams. They all currently play football for Logan High. Here is a walk down memory lane.

Braxton, John, and Corey at a pinewood derby.

Here they are leaving me and moving onto Webelos.


And here they are at Bear Lake at Scout camp last summer.

I Will Not Give Up

I have had a few situations this week where because of difficulty I have given up. It started last week on my Saturday run (http://www.pinnocks.com/blog/2008/09/14/AtLeastIWent.aspx). It started out okay but after awhile I felt more tired than usual and the run seemed to drag on. I had to walk and rest before my running plan dictated. I gave up and ran the shortest route home – not finishing the full 30 minute plan.

At CrossFit on Friday, the workout of the day was Fran. The workout Fran (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVBgKB4Gnsw) consists of doing 21, 15, and 9 reps alternating between thrusters (squat with a barbell at shoulder level then stand up and push the barbell above your head) and pull-ups. The trainer suggested that I do 95# thrusters, which is the weight recommended for men. Time started and it became obvious very quickly that I was not going to be able to do the workout with 95#. I struggled through the 21 reps of the first round and then moved onto the 21 reps of pull-ups. Sadly, I decreased the weight down to 75# to finish the last two rounds of thrusters. I finished with a respectable time of 6:30 but the experience left me let down, upset, and empty.

The running plan today was to run for 22 minutes, walk for one minute, and then run for seven more minutes to finish the 30 minute plan. The run quickly became a repeat of last week. At sixteen minutes in, I was exhausted. I wanted to quit, my body begged me to. The week’s failures quickly went through my mind. I decided then that I would keep running - no matter how much pain I felt. I told my pains to shutup and kept running. The one minute walk after 22 minutes of running was very welcome but passed quickly. I finished the run and felt redeemed.

I am glad I did not give up. There are a few more weeks to go until I reach my goal of running for 30 minutes with no rests – just in time for the 5k. If my running doesn’t improve there will pain - a lot more pain – but I will not give up. I guess I will find out for sure next week.

2nd Place

If I was a sports writer and had been assigned to follow and write about Braxton’s football team over the last several years it would have been a joy. The team has won most of their games, a lot of the games their opponent didn’t score, and they even went a whole season without a losing a game.

However, this week’s game is hard to write about - 2nd place, okay, it was a loss. They played Highland up in Pocatello. When we got there in the first part of the second quarter Logan was ahead 12 to 7. The teams traded touchdowns throughout the game but Highland ended up with the win.

The boys played hard and there were some good things our team did – a touchback, a couple of fumble recoveries, and a stripped ball ran back to a touchdown.

We had a lot of family support again this week. Terrell and Siri, Don and Delain, Kristie (and kids), and Hollie (and kids) all came. The little girls did a great job of making sure Braxton (as well as everyone in the stands and on the field) knew where we were seated and that we supported him.

Braxton (and team) had to walk by us on the way to the bus so we were at least able to talk to him briefly after the game - he is awesome. The team was pretty upset about the loss – but that is good it will help them fight harder the next time.

After the game we all went to Perkins for dinner. The food was good but I hope that there is a waiter in Pocatello looking for a new job today. Maybe I am being too harsh - he must have just gotten the buffet room we were in confused with a prison cafeteria.

A big thanks for all of the family support – it meant a lot.

I'm Forrest, Forrest Gump

At CrossFit we often run as part of the workout of the day. The runs are short; usually three to five rounds of two to four blocks each. We run on the street right behind our building. Even though it is only one block west of Main Street there are very few cars that drive on it. The street slopes down on each side so running on the side of the road is difficult. It makes if feel like one of your legs is working twice as hard as the other. For this reason, I usually run right in the middle of the street.

The other day while running at CrossFit there was nobody in front of me, I had a long open view to the end of the block where I would turn around. I thought that I must have looked like Forrest Gump as he ran through the desert in the middle of the road. I started quoting lines from the movie in my mind. It helped pass the time but became annoying when I tried to remember all of the kinds of shrimp that Bubba told Forrest about.

Now I have to pay close attention when I run to make sure someone is in front of me when I run at CrossFit – if I don’t I start thinking I look like Forrest Gump and start dreaming of shrimp . . .

You can barbeque it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sauté it, shrimp cabobs, shrimp gumbo, pan-fired, stir-fried, pineapple shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp stew, shrimp soup, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich – that’s about it.

Sky View Game Pictures

Here are some pictures from the Sky View game. This will be Brax's main rival through high school. He is #95 - bottom center in this picture right after a kick-off.

Braxton playing defensive end.

After running, catching, hitting, tackling, and blocking Braxton takes a well-deserved drink.

Park City Game Pictures

Here are a couple of pictures from Brax's Park City Game. Braxton is #95. He has played lineman on both offense and defense for several years but this year he went out for tight end and defensive end. He has done an amazing job and the coach really likes him.



Neither of the passes in these pictures was intended for Braxton - the goal for the next game is to get a picture of Braxton with the ball.

Athletic Supporters

Braxton's game this week was against Judge Memorial. They are a private Catholic school in Salt Lake City. Jennifer had some stuff to do after school so I drove down to the game by myself. The only good part was being able to listen to talk radio - by the way Sean Hannity is crazy.

So far Braxton's team has blown away both of the teams they have played so far (like they have done for most of the last several years). The score stayed close throughout the game. We would score then they would score, then we would score and then they would score.

You could tell though that we were having a much easier time scoring then they were. It would take us a few minutes to score and it would take them about eight minutes to score. They did not have any kind of a passing game - running plays only. I was impressed with our offense, they ran all types of plays. I really liked the passes to Braxton - it makes for a whole different game having Braxton make the big plays.

We still have not had the camera ready when Braxton makes a big catch. So far, we only have a bunch of pictures of Braxton standing in the huddles, on the line, and on the sidelines.

Back to the game. With time running out (score 34 us - 28 them) Judge rallied and drove down the field to the 5 yard line. Our defense was able to hold them and got the ball back after Judge ended up being inches short of a 1st down.

We ended up winning. It was a really good game - a real nail biter. The best part of the game was that Destry and Trish (and kids) and Allison came to the game.

It was so great to see Olivia, Ellie, and Luke (but you can call him Lucas). Luke must be the happiest baby ever - his smile is quite contagious. I think he likes me the best.

After, we all went to the Training Table for dinner. Thanks to Destry, Trish, and Allison for coming to the game - you all are great athletic supporters.