Go Mommy Go! My half marathon

A few Saturdays ago I ran my token half marathon in a small nearby town called Gold Hill. I say "token" because I have a personal goal of running a half marathon after each child, to help me stay in shape. To be totally honest, I don't run much these days. I teach at least 6 hours of aerobics a week, so, to keep my body from falling apart by 30, I only did long runs on Saturdays to help keep up my running shape (normally I would run shorter runs throughout the week as well). Matt and I did a 10 mile race at the beginning of April together and I was tempted to call my token run good with that (a half marathon is 13.2 miles - just 3.2 miles further). But, we had a great fast run (I always do when I go with Matt - he is great at pushing my speed) and the post run high drove me to do the half marathon.

So, a friend (Christine) and I looked at races around town and ditched the fancy big race in Ashland due to too many hills and opted for a nice small town race in Gold Hill. Christine and I both signed up and showed up the morning of (and when I say small town, I mean like pop. 1,000!).

Long story short - I had a decent race (well, okay, the fastest race I have had so far - 1:44, averaging 7:56 min miles) and I even won my age division and came in as the 4th woman overall! Wahoo! Oh,....did I forget to mention that there were only THIRTY people in the whole race?! Must have slipped my mind...We were dying laughing as Christine and I realized how small scale this race was!! For most of my hour and 44 minutes, I ran A-L-O-N-E. Didn't see anyone. It was a race I will never forget.

The best part was as I rounded the corner for the final stretch and see my boys and hear them cheering "Go, mommy go! Go, mommy go!" Those faces get me through tough times in life, and this was no exception. Though my joy in seeing them resulted in the cheesy pose in the picture below, it was so rewarding.

Me with my cheerleaders, who, by the way, are easily impressed by the bling (a.k.a. my ribbon) - even if it was only because there was no one in the race!

Me with Christine and one of her running buddies - all with ribbons. Like I said, 30 people = awards for us all!

Now I get the chance to be Matt's cheering squad as he does his half marathon this weekend (but it is a very large race, so we aren't expecting ribbons, but we are sure we will be proud of our healthy daddy no matter what!)!

Oh Lukie!

Luke can't walk. He is 16 months old and can't walk. We, being the oh so seasoned (ha) parents of 3 children know enough that he will probably be just fine and will hit his walking stride soon enough.

A lot of parents are glad to have walking come late as it is less effort to keep up with the child when they are crawling.

Luke may not walk. But, man can he climb!

This kid is SO much energy to keep up with. He was the most wiggly in the womb and that has continued on. He is always into something. He can crawl into the downstairs bathroom, from the toilet onto the window sill, then onto the sink and loves turning on the water, often while sitting CLOTHED in the sink while doing so. Yes, we have tried to buy the baby lock, but our door is a lengthwise handle and the two types they make don't fit - there isnt' enough space between the handle and the door frame. Argh. Once I just plain locked it for three days straight and made the rest of the family use the upstairs bathrooms just for peace of mind (Nathan griped about that one!)

His latest is to crawl onto chairs and then onto the kitchen table and eat whatever is still there. With his hands of course. So, not only can I not have a CRUMB on my floor else ants will come, I have to not have food on the table or Luke will come.

Oh Luke. It's a good thing you have the sweetest happiest disposition - you keep us not only on our toes but smiling!

My 2 Seconds of (Zumba) Fame!

About two months ago I was contacted by a reporter from a local Southern Oregon health magazine called Healthy Living (it's free and produced by the local newspaper). They were interested in doing a story on Zumba, as it's a unique form of exercise and an up and coming trend in the fitness world. I was excited and of course agreed to let them cover my class.

I did my best when they showed up to have the presence of mind to smile in addition to remembering my choreography. Of course that night I had one of my smallest classes in a long time (only 6 people - I normally average at least 10 if not 15, which is one of the higher attended classes for our YMCA), but we still had a good time. The reporter only asked me a few questions, which left me to wonder what he was going to write about...

A lot of time passed and I wasn't sure if they were going to cover the story after all, but one day my boss at the YMCA came up to me and said, "You're famous!" and handed me a copy of the article. I had to laugh as I told Matt that my fame had spread to the far corners of our little town...or at least as far as the grocer at Albertsons who must wonder why I always come in sweaty and recognized me from the article. Now that's fame.

If you want to read the full article you can do so here.

Of course this story came out right as I decided to cut back my Zumba classes to just one night a week instead of two, as it was just taking away too much time from my family. I love doing it - it reminds me of stake dances (my friends and I went to every stake dance within 3 or 4 stakes and thought we were surely the coolest thing to hit the dance floor). But, to every thing a time and season right?

So, in the meantime every Tuesday night at 5:30 p.m. - Zumba on baby!

I always knew my handsome husband could stop traffic...

Now I have proof.

The other part of our coast trip I didn't detail was that while playing on the beach we were witnesses to a crazy car crash. Coming too fast around one of those fun sharp turns that are common on the windy roads around the coast, a car flew out of control and landed upside down. The driver (the only occupant) staggered out delerious and seemingly crazy from shock.

Matt, being the awesome responsible citizen that he is, went with a few other people to check on the driver and assist. Matt was soon put in charge of helping control traffic while waiting for an ambulance and a police car.

The funny part of this story is that while Matt was helping, and once it was clear no one was hurt, I, thinking of the blog potential, grabbed a camera and took a couple of pictures. A lady, having just passed the wreck, slowed down enough to tell me, "You know, you could help instead of just standing there taking pictures", but didn't slow down enough to HELP herself!! Oh, it's so easy to judge...(I am also assuming she didn't see the THREE children in my car!)

The not funny part of this story, is that it turns out the driver was just flat out drunk and it took several men watching over him to control him in his drunkenness. The scariest part is that the driver almost hit a car full of a couple and their kids, who were crying from the scary almost-collisan. The man driving his family turned around and had to be restrained from pummeling the drunk driver who could have killed one or several members of this mans family.

You never know what is around the corner in life - may we all cherish the time we have with our loved ones!

The Coast - Take 2!

In May we went to the coast for the second time and loved it all the much more. It's such an amazing day trip - we go through the Redwoods and then go play on the beach by Crescent City, all in one day (even leaving after a soccer game that ended at 10). We love it! The sights are amazing - the redwoods are just beautiful and the beach is always a hit by the kids (who weren't as impressed with the "big trees" the second time as they were the first - guess they had already been there done that!).

I'll never forget reading in the scriptures the verses about how everything around us testifies of Christ while I was an art major (one of my original majors at BYU, which ended up being demoted to a minor later). I literally spent the entire 2 hour art class one time drawing ONE leaf. The intricacies and beauty of nature are so incredible and truly testify of Christ and the presence of God. Seeing things like the coast and the redwoods just reiterate that to me.

With that, here is our trip, in picture form:

This was the biggest tree we could find in the certain grove we went to. Wow!

Carter had a yuckie bug that weekend, with a fever, cold, and general gunk so there weren't too many smiles from him, poor guy!

I had to put this one in there - it's similar to the one above that I love of me and the boys, but in this one below Carter just has an all out FROWN. Not happy!

Just look what you see when you look up! Amazing!

We stopped by the tide pools in Crescent City and I loved watching Nathan and Matt explore. They are such birds of a feather with their intrigue in animals and their habitats.
I thought this one was especially sweet as Nathan held onto his dad for support while they explored.


One of those picturesque views that look like they came from a travel book - this shot of a lighthouse in Crescent City.

When we hit the beach for the only time that day, we got our Carter back. He couldn't resist the fun of getting sand in between your toes and mom allowing (actually encouraging) you to get messy. However, the happy moment ended when a huge random wave hit and Matt and I only had time to grab one or two things before it hit. Matt grabbed Luke, I got the cameras...Carter got drenched (don't worry mom - we knew it wasn't enough to carry anyone into the ocean, just enough to get those sitting soaked, which would ruin the cameras vs. Carter's mood). It just wasn't his day!

Luke, true to form, just wanted to get into things - which included continually trying to crawl into the ocean, as well as eating sand (which is a normal Michaelis boy trait). But, he's still a cutie nonetheless!

Nathan, thanks to much time spent on Florida beaches, had no problem embracing the sand....

Also at this little beach there is a small creek, and the boys, of all ages, found joy in throwing rocks and sticks into it.

As we were walking towards our car to drive home from this great day, I turned around and this is what I saw.

As we drove home, Matt and I were so greatful for the beautiful things outdoors that are so wholesome to enjoy together as a family!