The Cowtown Half Marathon

I ran the Cowtown Half-Marathon again this year. This year was a lot of fun because several people in my ward were participating in the races this year. Four of us did the half and another four did the 10K. Nick did the Ultra Marathon (31 miles) and did ultra awesome. Sam brought the kids down to see me finish. Their favorite part was riding the shuttle bus. I ran my personal best and was super excited about my time. Here are my stats:
1 hour 56 minutes 40 seconds
72 out of 438 in my age group 30-34
1125 out of 4753 overall
8:54 minutes per mile
The kids and I with my metal.
Jen, Carrie, and me after the race.
Nick and me after his ultra.

Cowtown Newsletter

I have been running in The Cowtown for the past couple years. This year I am signed up for the half. The race organization has been sending newsletters and one of them included this picture. This was taking in 2008 when I ran the marathon.

Preschool Week

It was my turn to teach preschool this week. Monday was Pancake Day. We made pancakes from scratch for lunch. We also did a scarf dance, which the kids loved. Wednesday and Friday were about taking care of our teeth. My friend Carolyn is a dental hygienist and she came today and gave the kids a cute little lesson about taking care of their teeth. We made “mouths” for our snack out of apples, peanut butter, and mini marshmallows. I really believe that co-op preschools are great for many reasons and I am so grateful to have fun friends to do this with. I enjoy teaching but it is always a relief when my week is finished. My house is s a mess!

Little Boy

I am guilty of babying Carter for way to long but he also looks about a year younger than he really is. I would probably still be dressing him on the changing table if Nick didn’t teach him to dress himself while I was in Italy. I am working on it and when he asks me to do things that I know he should do I will say, “Carter you are a big boy, you can do this.” His usual response will be, “No, I a little boy.”

Pretty

At church Renée leaned over and whispered to me,
“You are the prettiest one here.”
“Thanks, Renée.”
“and I am the same pretty as you.”

Machines At Work

Carter’s favorite book is Machines At Work by Byron Barton. He also likes to ask Sam where he is going. He will say. “Hi Dad, are you going to work?” One day he asked Sam if he was going to work and Sam replied yes. Then he asked, “Where is your shovel?”

Bath Time

I was trying out my new flash on Carter. He likes to dictate which way I swivel the flash head.

A Party for Me

Several of my friends talked about doing a get together for my birthday, but because of Sam’s schedule, there wasn’t a time I could go. (He has been working 2nd shift on the days he doesn’t have school, which basically means I am alone every evening.) I decided to have a get together at my house after the kids went to bed. My mom teased me about throwing a party for myself, but it was exactly what I wanted. It was a wonderful night just hanging out with fun friends and great conversation. I was so touched by my friends in this area who came and I feel truly blessed to have such wonderful friends here.

Bodies Exhibit

Gavin loves to learn about anatomy and always gets body books from the library. When we saw the adds for the Body exhibit, we knew Gavin would love it. Sam worked 2nd shift so he was able to come and we pulled Gavin out of school at 10 am. We spent about an hour looking at all the specimens. It was very interesting, but it also made me a little queasy. Gavin and Sam loved it but about half way through Gavin wasn’t as interested in having all the parts pointed out to him. I think his brain was full. In one part of the exhibit you got to touch a real human heart. When we got in line he asked Sam to touch it first. Then on the way out I asked him if there was anything he wanted to see one last time. His response was that he wanted to touch the heart again. It was fun to do something that Gavin loved so much. Afterward we went out to lunch.

Reading to Carter

I found Renée reading to Carter one afternoon in Carter’s room. Renée doesn’t know how to read, so it was really cute.

Bulletin Board

Alycia and I take turns volunteering in Gavin and Blake’s 1st grade class on Tuesdays. Mrs. Barkman had me make a desert scene for the bulletin board one week. The next week Alycia added the flowers to the cactuses. We are very proud of the results.

Valentine's Day Party

Because of the snow day, the Valentine’s Day party in Gavin’s school was held on Monday. The kids had to bring their own mailboxes in. Gavin wanted a heart that was on fire.

One Year Older and Wiser Too

Sam had to work on my birthday but before he left he made pancakes and a special 31 pancake for me. He also decorated the family room with streamers. It was really sweet. After breakfast I opened all the presents I got from friends and family in the mail. I have been blessed with the best friends and sisters.
We had stake conference instead of regular church. Good news was it started at 10am instead of our usual 2pm. Bad news was there aren’t childrens' classes, so I had two hours with the kids in an adult meeting. Nick helped with Carter so it wasn’t that bad.
Alycia made us dinner and we had my party at her house. She even made chocolate covered strawberries.
Sam took the kids shopping for my birthday presents. Gavin was specific and wanted purple lipstick from Walmart. Isn’t it lovely? Renée got me scissors and Carter got me a turkey baster. Sam got me an external flash for my camera. I have wanted one ever since I got my camera. Alycia and Nick got me a Ninja to use to make my green smoothies.
We finished our celebration with ice cream cake.

Valentine's Day

I got the kids a little box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day. They ate it for breakfast. Sam and I celebrate Valentine’s on a night we can go out to dinner together.

Noise

I was playing my favorite relaxation CD, When It's Time For Letting Go, while Renée and I were drawing. Renée said, "That's a beautiful noise mom."

New Dining Table

It came and I love it!

Sister Birthdays

Alycia and my birthdays are four days apart so we get together in between for dinner. We started it when I lived in Frisco and we would meet half way and exchange gift and go out to dinner. Now that we live a mile apart, we keep doing it just for fun. This year we went to Lili’s Bistro. We started with Wasabi Wontons and then I had Pistachio-Crusted Rack of Lamb. It was really fabulous.

Snow Day

Can you believe we got a foot of snow? The kids and Jinx were in their glory. Carter especially loved it and would play in it long after the other kids were cold. I did dig through the attic and found some of Gavin’s old snow gear from when we lived in Maryland. Renée and Carter were set but Gavin and I still had bags on our feet.
We went sledding on BYU dining trays on a hill near our playground. There were other families there and one had a snow tube, which was fun. Another family was using a laundry basket. Jinx liked chasing people while they were sledding down the hill.
The snow was the perfect wetness for building and it was fun to see what people were creating. Almost every yard with kids had a snowman. This igloo was at a house near the park. A friend took this pictures of my kids in front of it.

So Much Snow

I don’t feel like I am in Texas today we got so much snow. Probably about 7 inches which is crazy for here. Gavin actually had school today but came home early with an early dismissal. School is already closed for tomorrow.
Sam was working 2nd shift so he was able to play with Carter and Renée in the back yard this morning. They threw snowballs and made a snowman. After Gavin got home we spent about two hours playing outside in the snow. I put plastic bags on the kids feet and then duck taped them around their shins. Even though they looked really ghetto, they had dry feet. I shoveled the driveway and remembered how much I hate shoveling snow. The kids were in heaven running around in the snow with all the kids on our street. The snow should stick around for tomorrow so we will have more fun playing in it.