One more thing about that race...

Near the end of yesterday's 5k, there was a group from my church who had already finished the race cheering me on. It was a fantastic boost and made me want to sprint to the finish line. So I smiled and surged past them.

The sprint was a lot further than I'd anticipated.

After several seconds I thought, "I don't know if I can keep up this pace for that long without losing a lung."

Then, I heard a woman from the sidelines shout, "You can do it!"

I shouted back, "I'm trying!"

Her response was, "I know! And I'm so proud of you!"

I had never seen that woman before in my life. She didn't know me from any other random runner, but her encouraging words pushed me to sprint through the finish line.

Last night I was able to attend a women's conference broadcast where my heart was touched in several ways. One of the precious truths taught was the need for more charity and less judging.

I thought about how much good I could do in the world if I openly cheered more people on instead of quietly finding things to criticize. We have the power to help push people distances they didn't know they could go or to find strength they never knew they had by showing them more charity and love, and that is a beautiful power. If we recognize in each other what Christ sees in us, I believe there would be a lot more cheering.

I want to cheer more.

Run, Forrest, Run!

Jake and I ran the Little Elm Rock the Doc 5k this morning.
I got a trophy for getting third place in my age division!
Let's not talk about my time......or how many people were actually in my age division.
Let's just celebrate the shiny trophy.

I put it next to my bowling trophy. My desk now eminates athletic prowess.

Really: Our goal as a couple was to run the entire race, as in not stopping to walk at all. THAT we did. The goal next 5k will be reducing the time, naturally. It was cloudy, humid, and beautiful out there. I started out with such a rotten attitude, but by the time I began the race I was really excited and had a great time.

Noted

Gogurts WILL keep the kids quiet in the backseat of the car on the way from Costco so you can peacefully get home and feed them lunch. However, they are only the cleaner form of yogurt for the three year old, NOT for the one year old.
I had to carry the car seat into the house with him still strapped in it so I could figure out a sensible way to get him cleaned up. Yes, I was hoping for a "sensible" action to make up for handing my baby a squeezable yogurt.
He decorated the car window with it. You can't appreciate how well he'd rubbed the stuff into his buckle, shirt, and legs from the pictures. He was very thorough.

Cheese!

We attempted a big family picture on Jake's side since there are more of us than there were last time.
There wasn't an original color coordinating plan, so we didn't pack accordingly. We found out later that everyone was going to go with greens, tans, and browns. The kids had something that would work because of presents from Gma, but Jake and I did not. So, on Labor Day while going through Logan on our way back to SLC, we dropped into Cache Valley Mall, zeroed in on anything green and brown, tried on a couple shirts, bought one, and ran out. We got to SLC just in time to change and head over to the park for Great Grandpa to take our pictures. I'd never speed shopped before. I can't believe it worked.
We will need to try the immediate family picture thing again soon when there isn't sun filtering through leaves lighting on our faces. These aren't the picture from Great Grandpa's camera. He was nice enough to pick up mine after he was done with his own camera.
Not quite everyone ready in this one. Jake must have something in his teeth.

There was another big group shot that I deleted. Kanon told me that Cole had boogers coming out of his nose, so, like a good mom, I went to pinch his nose and get it off before the next picture. At the same time I was doing that, Cole decided it was what we were all doing and grabbed Kanon's nose. It was a good group photo beyond our ruining it.
This one isn't bad. We are all looking the right direction, which is harder than it sounds.

My favorite:

(I think Cole was going back for a second squeeze on Kanon's nose.)
Da boys:

The debs:

The cuzzies:

(Grace worked it for the camera by putting her hands on her hips and wiggling her hips.)

The cousins with Great Grandpa. What a wonderful man.

Up Jonathan's nose: (If you didn't know, both Jake's little brother's and my little brother's names are Jonathan.)

The spaz wads....in brown and green:

I wore this sweater on the way home the next day, but when I stepped foot outside the airport in Dallas, I was hit with a hot wall of humidity. See you in December, sweater.

Zip through Preston

We were only able to spend a short time in Preston, but the time that we did have was relaxed and pleasant.

Tessa got to know her new cousin Breckin better. They played well together, and at one point I looked out the window to see them skipping in a circle together while shooting squirt guns in the air.
Here they are flying a kite:

We also had dinner and a great visit with Grandma and Grandpa D while we were in town.

A Wedding Post -part 2

It was a good thing I got pictures of Tessa during the ceremony portion of the day because I barely saw her the rest of the night. Every twenty minutes or so Jake and I would scour the place to find out which cousin she had gone with to play.
The reception took place in a reception room and also upstairs on the roof. There was dancing upstairs and food downstairs. The reception started a little late, but when it did, the worker lady protecting the chocolate fountain finally let us all loose on it after the best man and maid of honor toasts.
To be honest, I didn't know a lot of people at the reception, which was a little weird for me since it was my brother, but we've lived and worked in different places for a long time now.
I took a few pictures of family that came.
I made sure to take a picture of Cole with his great Grandpa Jack. We were so happy to see my Grandpa Jack at the wedding and reception. He drove from CA, hung out for a while, and in true Grandpa Jack form, took off for a poker game with his buddies before the dancing started. I'm sad that I didn't have another opportunity to spend time with him. There's too much going on in circumstances such as these to have a quality visit, but I was still grateful to see him.
My cousin Tyler (from my dad's side), his wife Jamie, and the head of one of their two children...and my sister, too.
There is one male child from my dad and each of his three sisters who are unmistakably related to one another. Jon and Tyler are two of the four who obviously descend from the same line.
Since we were in the area, Ashley dropped by for a few minutes because I made her. What a nice friend.

At the table we've got Uncle Chad, Aly Marie, and my Uncle Chris (Mom's side). Aly Marie is beautiful.

This is my mom and grandma. I thought it was sweet. They probably won't think it's sweet that I took a picture of them when they didn't know it.

Here we have Aunt Nora, Ben, Nora's mom, and Aaron.

And here's my cousin Heidi with Cole. She is a formidable opponent on the shake your groove thang dance floor.

So, after these random pictures, I sat down with my chocolate drizzled treats and then made my way upstairs. There were all of the traditional dances -with bride and her dad, with new couple, etc. This was the best I could do in the dark...

AND THEN, I let loose with a spasm of rhythm and energy that I didn't know was bottled up in me. What fun! While other people took care of my children, Jake and I danced, danced, danced. My dad even danced for a while! He stepped on my toes, but he danced. I had an awesome time getting down with my mom, sister, cousin, brother, husband, niece, and every one else who couldn't help it.
I may have scared the wedding party. It was so worth it. I don't remember the last time I had that much fun dancing. Plus, I made my brother laugh a couple of times, which was worth my display of obnoxiousness.
Toward the end, as the evening was wrapping up, the garter was placed, and the bouquet was tossed. The song played after that was "Single Ladies." Tessa appeared out of nowhere like Beyonce was the Pied Piper. She had an intent look on her face as she started to run in a circle around the dance floor waving her arms and occasionally twirling. Every time one of her cousins would try to grab hold of her to have her dance with them, she would fling them away (and even slapped one) so she could dance. She meant business, and this was her song. Needless to say, she fell asleep with minutes of getting into the car.

After wishing the newly married duo fun in the Bahamas, my brother, sister, and I had a group hug. I love them so much. I don't know if they have any idea how much I care about them. I wish so badly that I would have gotten a picture of the three of us. I will have to make a point next time we're together.

A Wedding Post- part 1

Ahhhhhh. ...Wait, who?

That's better.

Wouldn't you be careful about spelling if you put names up on your marquee for special events? Oh well, they were quick to take care of it.

My little brother got married over Labor Day weekend. Hooray for weddings! With good food!

And dancing!

The day before the wedding, there was a rehearsal and then lunch at Jeremiah's in Ogden. It was a breakfast lunch, and it was awesome. I think I could eat French toast for every meal if it came from there.

Next day: We were staying with my dad at this point, so we visited in between the craziness. Tessa got to play with more cousins and could have sealed herself off in the playroom and lived happily ever after. She also made the most out of the trampoline. Jake went off to play golf that morning with my brother and the best man. We played, lost a cousin, found the cousin, and then got ready for the festivities. Tessa was the flower girl.

She dropped flower petals but bent over to either collect them up or rearrange them. No idea.

Jake was a groomsman, and I did my best to keep Cole from ripping the camera out of my hands during the ceremony. It was a struggle.

A very kind bishop married them. It was a sweet ceremony.

The off center kiss shot was Cole's fault, but I kind of like it that way.
Below is Breckin. He is Chelsy's six year old son. He's adorable and funny. He was the ring bearer.

Getting the rings untied...

The sun was so bright and hot. I can imagine that the black shoed wedding party thought their toes were going to melt. Here is the couple being presented officially as Mr. and Mrs.

They did their pictures right after the ceremony, so I hung around and took a few for me.

The wedding party.

I got a shot of a dapper Dad and Sandy.

I love this picture. The whole wedding party put on sunglasses for the photographer--a wise move, but I just got a pic of these two.

Congratulations to the Mr. and Mrs.

Love to you always.

I have a new sister in law and nephew, and also a new brother in law and two more nephews and a niece all added in a couple of months. That's a big expansion. It's a wonderful expansion. More people for me to love.... and irritate.

;)

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends...

Jake and I scheduled out a couple of lunch dates with some friends we hadn't seen in a while. It's difficult to snag as many people as we wanted to in the middle of a work week, so we were certainly grateful to those who made it happen regardless.
Jenny met up with me and the kids. I love this girl. We've technically known each other since we were small children in dance. We were friendly toward each other in jr. high and high school, but I learned what a gem this girl really was when I was fortunate to room with her in college and then later after we had graduated. She's a stellar human being and is fantastic at keeping it real AND positive at the same time --which is one of my favorite qualities in a friend. Plus, she has cute, sassy hair.

I can't believe I was lucky enough to get this many of the girls together. We missed Erica and Bethany, but six out of eight ain't bad! These girls know way too much about me and seem to be able to tolerate me still. They have a definite part in who I am. A special thanks to Training Table, not only for their glorious Blue Bacon Burger, but also for allowing our children to run amok while we laughed and visited. Here we have Adena, me, Shanna, Krista, Ashley, and Bonnie. Aren't they beautiful?

Salt Lake City

Our flight was at 6:30am. I don't know what I was thinking. It all worked out great, though. We got to SLC in the morning and we got caught up on rest.
We had fun at Jake's parents for a couple days. Here are the maestros:

We went to Kelly's house one night to have dinner and hang out with the whole crew. Grandma got stuck pulling some of them around in a wagon for while.

It turned into "How Many Kids Can You Squeeze in this Small Space?" Four "comfortably." Five not so comfortably.

We were able to see my newly wedded sister way out west that evening, too. Now I can visualize better where they are....all 8 of them. :)
The next night we headed to the canyon for dinner. I was cold. I'm not gonna lie. It was so pretty, even with the bats, but that was a serious temperature drop for me. Because it was the middle of the week we got a late start, but the campfire made it more than worth the time getting to and from there. Taco salad, s'mores, mountains, campfire, awesome company....mmmmmm.