One Year Older

In case your wondering, yes, I'm still alive. I just can't seem to keep up with things. However, I couldn't let today pass without posting to say Happy Birthday to Derek. I completely lucked out when I married him. He is such a hard-worker, great provider, and fun dad to our kids. He rarely misses a game, a dance competition, or an orchestra/piano recital. I can't imagine my life without him. He is always there to help me whether it's with our kids, videotaping one of my music programs, or just to bring me a much-needed, cold Diet Coke on a Friday afternoon. (I teach about 420 students every week.) Derek, I love you, have a great 34th birthday. Oh, and did I mention he is the strongest person I know! (ha, ha)

First Dam Run 2008

The First Dam Run was last Saturday and it was great. This year was different than last year. Some things were missing from last year and some things were here this year that weren't there last year. It made for a wonderful day. Here is a list:

Things Missing This Year

Running with the kids - my favorite part of the race last year was coming around a corner and seeing Brax and McKell and then running with them for about a block, it gave me a second wind to tackle the remaining half of the race. This year McKell was at dance and Braxton was several minutes ahead of me most of the race.


The cold - the weather on Saturday was great running weather. Last year it was 30 F the morning of the race, this year the temperature was about 45 F with no wind and overcast. I was warm (but not too warm) through the whole race - I was just right.

Jitters - I don't know if I have just been too busy or better prepared but I was not that nervous for the race. I was excited - especially the morning of the race - but I wasn't nervous. I think I was just so happy to be there with my family I didn't think about whether to be nervous or not.

Knee brace - last year when I ran and for most of this year I have worn a knee brace on my right knee. If I didn't my knee would throb for a while after I ran. I stopped wearing it about a month ago when I ran. Thankfully I didn't have any pain in my knee after the race.

Things Present This Year

Family - this year there were 10 of us from our family who ran. Dad, Mom, two brothers, two sister-in-laws, two nephews, Brax, and myself all ran. It was fun to watch and then cheer for each person as they approached then crossed the finish line. I only wish I could have been there to watch Braxton (22 min) and Glade (29 min) finish. I was so proud of each person who ran the race. Hopefully we will have even more family in the race next year.


Destry - last year Destry (below in green) ran with me for the first mile to where the 5k route turns and the 10k route goes straight (Destry ran the 10k last year). This year Destry ran with me the whole race. I wanted to run with Brax, Glade, and Destry for at least the first mile but Braxton was way ahead of me after a few seconds, Glade just got further and further away from me during entire race, but Destry stayed with me the whole race. I felt bad for Destry and kept thinking that he should ditch me and run his own race but I was so glad that he stayed. He set a great pace for me and encouraged me to keep going when I was tired. We finished in 30 minutes, two minutes faster than last year. A big thanks to Destry.



Glade - as I mentioned above, I had hoped to run with Glade (pictured below right) for the first mile but I wasn't able to. Even though I wasn't able to run with Glade I could easily spot his bald head bobbing above the crowd. This made me laugh for a minute until I realized that I look the same way from behind as Glade. He did great and I am so proud of him.


Ribbons - we were very surprised when they started to read those who placed in each of the categories - Tate, Connor, Brax, and Dad all won a ribbon for their category. It was great.




It was a great day. I can't wait until next year. I think that plan is to try to run a race in SE Idaho next spring and then tackle First Dam Run next year.

Halloween

I can't believe Halloween is over.

First, McKell chose to be a hula girl

and got to wear her costume to school,

had an awesome class party, and walked in the Halloween parade.

Then we had a pizza that looked like a pumpkin.

Next, we went trick-or-treating with Sydnee and some cousins.

Finally, went swimming with Connor, Tate, Attley and Mckinley.

GREAT FUN!!!

Overwhelmed!?!

It has been almost a month since I have posted on my blog. Yes, it has been updated since then, but Derek has been writing the most recent posts. The title should explain it all. Since school started I have been so OVERWHELMED!! It seems that I have not had a moment with nothing going on. I did not go to my classroom once during the summer. In fact, I didn't even think about school or lesson plans. I have been behind on planning my own music lesson plans and then I got a few new responsibilities at work that have just about put me over the edge.

This bulletin board hangs in my classroom and no I didn't just undecorate it to put up something new. It has looked this way since the first day of school on August 20. I have a great idea of how to decorate it. In fact, I have all the materials which sat in a stack on my table at home for about a month and now they are in a drawer in my classroom. This bulletin board has been a constant reminder of how much I have to do and no time to do it.

Other than work, I was also in charge of our ward's Super Saturday just over a week ago and it was just so time consuming. I had to find 5 speakers organize 3 home decor projects, collect all the money, pick up the projects, and make sure that a luncheon was going to happen. Also all the advertising, etc. I am so glad it is over. Not to mention all the football practices, games, dance lessons and gymnastics that I have to get my kids to. My house is a disaster. The laundry hampers are full (and it seems that I can do laundry all night and they are still full??) Most of our meals have been eaten out.

When I was at my breaking point, a few weeks ago, my 18-month-old niece was diagnosed with leukemia. It was at this point I realized that I had to stop and decide what was important to me and what I was going to put off until later. About two days after we found out about my niece, I had planned to miss Braxton's football game so I could do my dishes instead. Needless to say I went to the game and the dishes waited for me until the game was over. Many things were put on hold as we packed up that week to visit my sister and her daughter in the hospital. For now, the bulletin board will stay empty because I still don't have the time to get it done. Now it is a reminder that nothing is as important as family.

We Finally Got The Shot

Braxton has had seven games and so far we have either forgot our camera or did not have it ready at the right time to get a good shot of Braxton making a big play. With two games left we were really feeling the pressure.

Braxton's game last night was against Ben Lomond and there was plenty of opportunities. The game started pretty even but after each team scored two touchdowns we were on fire. I think it was because of the play below. Braxton blocked the punt and his teammate picked it up and ran it in for a touchdown.

Braxton did really well on defense. He was actually the defensive player of the game last week. He got several sacks on the quarterback. Below Braxton is two steps away from a sack (this was in the first quarter).


And a few minutes later, we got the best shot - Braxton single handedly sacked the quarterback. It was awesome! Here is Braxton half of a second from taking the quarterback to the ground.


We felt really good - finally having a good shot of Braxton doing really well on defense but we still wanted to get a good shot of him catching the ball. We almost had our chance. The picture below is Braxton very close to catching the ball, unfortunately a defender jumped in at the wrong time and intercepted it instead. You can see Braxton ready to catch the ball and head for a touchdown - better luck next time.


McKell and I got a chance to talk to Braxton during half-time, which we haven't been able to do before. He told me he was really tired. He would have had to be - he played practically every play in the first half and we scored 8 touchdowns so there were many kickoffs and big plays that he had to run a lot.

It was a really good game. Braxton (along with most of the 1st string players) didn't play much in the second half. I can't believe next week is the last game. What a season!

First Dam Update 2

The race information is now up and can be viewed at http://www.topofutahmarathon.com/Firstdam.php/

The race will start at 10 AM on Nov. 1, 2008. You can pre-register by sending in a registration form (link found on site) or you can register the day of the race. The cost is $18 (with shirt) or $12 (without shirt) if you register before noon on Oct. 31, 2008. If you register the morning of the race the cost is $20 (with) or $14 (without shirt).

Everyone is welcome to run it with us. I think that there will be quite a few of us. Email or call me if you have any questions. Thanks
Derek

First Dam Update

Just a quick update about the First Dam Run - I called Al's Sporting Goods to see if they have any information about the race yet - they have not received anything yet. I also called the race director and got his voice mail. The voice mail message said that he did not have everything together yet but will post the information at:

www.topofutahmarathon.com

I looked there and found the like to the First Dam Run at http://www.topofutahmarathon.com/Firstdam.php/

This link shows the information from the last year but I assume that it will be the same for this year. I know that date will be Nov. 1 this year so plan on that. It may be another week until we get the rest of the information and are able to register. You can register the morning of the race but will not be able to get a shirt (not a great loss).

I will post any information that I get here. Thanks for your support, I am really looking forward to this race. It will be fun for all of us. Plan on going out to lunch after.

So, overall the update is that there is no update - sorry.

Derek