Happy Belated Birthday McKell

McKell celebrated her NINTH birthday on April 17. Here are NINE things you may or may not know about McKell.

1. McKell loves to dance. She has taken dance for 6 years and seriously can't wait for dance each week. She started competitive dance 2 years ago and just loves it. Her and her friend even make up dances at school to teach other girls at recess.

2. McKell is totally into clothes and fashion. This is a new thing, but it seems like everyday is a fashion show. She loves putting together outfits and loves matching shoes and accessories. Her favorite places to shop - Abercrombie and Gymboree.

3. McKell is kind to everyone. McKell's teacher told me that she just really appreciates how nice McKell is to all the students in her class. She includes everyone and tries to never hurt anyone's feelings. I hope she will always remember how important this is. She is also very kind to animals (a trait she did not get from me.)

4. McKell is creative. She loves to draw and decorate.

5. McKell is a good student. She loves school and does well on all her assignments. This year she has passed all her multiplication and division timings and learned how to write in cursive. She has loved her teacher.

6. McKell is a "daddy's girl." She likes to hang out and be with me, but loves to spend time with Derek. She loves to go on lunch dates with him and has even been helping him in the yard.

7. McKell loves babies. She always loves to hold brand new babies and now that she is getting bigger she wants to carry them around. She really likes all the baby nieces and nephews and wishes she had a baby sister. As for now when we go to grandma's she uses Halle (her cousin) as her baby. Luckily, Halle is a really good baby and lets McKell pack her around.


8. McKell is a girly girl. She loves pink, dance, gymnastics, shopping, jewelry, hair accessories, make up, and all that great girl stuff.


9. McKell is silly. She loves to make people laugh. When she gets together with friends they do the silliest things and just giggle.



McKell celebrated her birthday by having a fun, friends party. We went to see Hannah Montana, The Movie and then had presents, pizza, and cupcakes. We are so lucky to have McKell in our family.

Anniversary

Tomorrow is my one-year anniversary of joining CrossFit (http://www.crossfitcachevalley.com). Besides my marriage, I think that CF is the only thing I have consistently stuck with for so long. I have pretty much gone to CF three to four times a week, starting May 12 of last year. Here are some random thoughts/memories of CF.

My first WOD (workout of the day): Newbie
3 rounds of 10 pushups, 15 pullups, & 20 situps

Todays WOD:
5 rounds of 400 meter run, 7 kettlebell thrusters (35#), 14 pullups, & 7 burpees

My favorite WOD: Murph
1 mile run, 100 pullups, 200 pushups, 300 squats, & 1 mile run

My least favorite WOD: Fran
21 - 15 - 9 reps of thrusters (95#) & pullups

My favorite CF people: Dean and the original 4 PM class members
Least favorite CF person: I call him 'Grunt'

Number of people I have taken to CF: 7 (including Destry)
Number that still go to CF: 1 (yes, a little disheartening)

Longest WOD: Murph - 1 hour, 1 minute
Shortest WOD: Baseline - 4 minutes

First goal - be able to do eight pushups in a row, I did 25 in a row today
Latest goal - ten double unders in a row, I struggle to do two in row (lots of work to do)

Number of people in the 4 PM class on my first day: 1 (me)
Number of people in the 4 PM class today: 22

Number of CF t-shirts I have: 4
Number of weeks I wore only CF t-shirts to work: 1

It has been a great year. I look forward to the WOD tomorrow and those of the next year. A big thanks to Brad (the trainer/owner) for bringing CF to Logan and inspiring me, along with over 100 others, to change their lives.

Easter

We had a great Easter weekend at home this year. We are usually out of town over Easter but we had some other things happening that we had to be home for (Der got put in as YM President on Easter.) On Saturday morning (April 11) Derek ran a 5K with a bunch of people from Crossfit (his gym.) The kids and I, of course, went to cheer him on. He did an amazing job and beat his time from the First Dam Run in November by 1 minute. I am so proud of him. His ending time was 29 minutes and 10 seconds.

Coloring eggs

Braxton and McKell on Easter Sunday

Spring Break

This past week has been Spring Break, which means no school for the kids and no work for me. It seems like we have been gone so much lately that I was looking forward to spending some time at home. We basically had nothing planned so we had lots of late nights, lots of friends for the kids, and lots of fun. McKell left town on Tuesday afternoon with a friend to spend the night in Salt Lake and had a blast (thanks Meg and Bobbie.) They shopped, swam, and went to Thanksgiving Point. It was really her first night away from us (other than sleepovers with cousins) and I truly missed her. Finally, on Thursday, I felt like we should do something so we all headed to Salt Lake to visit the Clark Planetarium and do some shopping.

Braxton and McKell doing a weather forecast.

Walking on the moon

McKell exploring Mars

Derek and McKell in the 3D movie - Cute glasses

Two crazy aliens in the gift shop

McKell and Allison in the U2 Laser/Light Show

Two Great Weekends

Weekends go way too fast, especially when when you're having fun!! We have left town for the past two weekends and had a great time with our family. The end of February, we left for Idaho to see our newest nephew, Jaden, and to try and help Natalie without being too much in the way. McKell had a great time playing with Jace and Rylee and of course holding the new baby.

Last weekend Allison called and said that my parents were in Salt Lake and we should come and join them all. At the last minute, I packed an overnight bag and we left Saturday after McKell's dance practice. We stopped at the Gateway for some quick shopping and then attended the temple with Thomas, Allison, mom and dad. We had dinner after at Allison's and had pie to celebrate mom and dad's birthday, which was on the 6th. (Yes, they share a birthday, born the same day, same year, even born in the same hospital. When I was growing up I thought everybody's parents had the same birthday.)

We purchased Guitar Hero before we left and Braxton brought it with us and hooked it up at Thomas and Allison's house. Everyone had a great time rockin' out. Derek on guitar, Thomas singing, and Braxton on the drums. Allison also took her turn at the microphone. This was my first experience with Guitar Hero and I was mainly worried about the "band" being way too noisy for Allison's upstairs neighbors.

McKell is always looking for something to do and spent most of the time tap dancing in my mom's high heels. Thank goodness Allison found her a project - painting and decorating some blocks. She had a great time. Thanks to Thomas and Allison for being great hosts.

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.