Running Blind in Ragnar

Do I love running? No. ..
Did I love running the Ragnar Race? No. ..
Do I love having run? Yes.
Do I love having run the Ragnar Race? Yes!
Wasatch Back Ragnar Race -Logan to Park City=188 miles & a team of 12 people to run it.
Our van group (and the sa-weet van): Katelin, Brett, Becky, Nikkol, Jeremy, my mom, and me-legs 7-12. We each ran 3 different legs of the 188 miles.
Jeremy used his skills and conveniently located handicap hanger secured from an unknown parking lot to be our driver. I'm pretty sure he convinced a guy he was paralyzed so that we could have a front row parking spot once. But that is not for sure, so no one can arrest him.
Prerace...happy, nervous, clean, excited, well-rested... Notice Brett's shorts. Everyone wants a pair of those shorts.

My mom started our van off. Here she is waiting to pass off the orange flag and get the bracelet. June 18 was the day of the race...her Birthday! But not just any birthday, her 60th birthday. What a way to celebrate. We all hope we're running at 60!
Team Running Blind action shots:Becky pulled up the last leg of our first runs and passed off the bracelet to the first van. Go Katie! As you can see night fell during our second round. I ran my 9 1/2 miler at 12 p.m. woo hoo.
We all slept maybe 2 hours that night.But don't worry, we were very visible.It was beautiful scenery, but I took a picture of this because if you squint you can barely see there is a city down that mountain. That is where I started my third run, and I finished just by where I took this picture. If I may add some over-information here too, there are 36 legs and I stopped at about 30 porta-potties so it is a small miracle I made it up the hill...At the finish we rode up the gondola to run with our team to the finish line.I actually thought this was as hard as any marathon I've run, but we did it!

Lake Powell 2010

Since I blogstole these and can't get them below my little intro, here is some fishin with the Spiderman pole. It provided Ben and Cody hours of entertainment! Royal Rumble-one of my favorite traditions. This year in wetsuits-thank goodness!

The theme this year was Cowboy Up!

My camera was 'lost' most of the time, but this is what I came up with until I steal everyone else's pictures off their updated blogs (hint, hint). We had the best spot for the houseboat that we've ever had this year...a nice beach for the kids to play on all day!

Cody absolutely loves tubing, and all sorts of adventures for that matter. He also insisted on going off the slide that is about 15 feet high (I'm so sad I didn't get a picture of it). It actually freaked him out afterwards, but he was sure excited to go down! Here's the slide off the back-

We all took turns going tubing as little families:

Here's Cody flexing in his wetsuit. Pretty impressive, eh?

Four little kiddos is an action-packed houseboat!

all their cute bums (notice Cody's cowboy up shirt)

There is nothing cuter than little babies in wetsuits

Cody, Lucy and Grandma:

I just learned the difference between a trip and a vacation. A trip includes kids and a vacation would just be Ben and I. This was sure a fun family trip! (we'll go on a vacation someday:)) I love spending time with everyone, 'letting my hair down,' and eating nonstop (a great way to prepare for an upcoming race...ha). One of the best parts of this trip is that Macey decided she loved everyone:)

Cody the Peacemaker

Today Ben and I were arguing. Not yelling or too overly-heated, but an argument:) Anyway, in the middle of it Cody hollers, "Dad, don't talk to mom that way." We stop and Ben says, "How should I talk to mom?" Cody says, "Just say..."(wait for it) "na na"(in a very sweet monotone way).

We suppressed laughter. He really is a peacemaker. What a blessing.

And, We are headed to Utah tomorrow!!!

Shades of Green / 18 Months

I think this time of year is so pretty on the palouse. The fields are a rich shade of green...that my camera does not capture, but you get the idea.

Macey had her doctor appointment today. She did GREAT with the shot. The nurse I nicely asked the office not give Macey shots...well, she slowly gave Macey her shot today (actually it was a faster version of her slow method). But she only had one shot and only cried for a few seconds. Cody was the most frustrated with it all. He did not want Macey or him to have to get any shots. When the nurse walked in the room he nicely informed the nurse "I'm not getting any shots today."

Macey is 23 lbs. 7 oz. (35%) and 35% for height. She loves putting on shoes. She knows what she wants and will yell for attention to get it:) She has started slowly putting small sentences together. Yesterday Cody told us to "Cut it out" because he heard someone else say it, and Macey yelled cut it out for about 10 minutes. The one downfall to all this is that she CANNOT whisper-and yells in church. She is now old enough for nursery...we'll see how that goes:)

Today

Today was a good day: went running, showered AND got ready (those rarely happen in chronological order), went to the science center-played and had lunch, Macey napped, Cody watched Toy Story II (fav of the week), I made bread and dinner, went to a friend's house, had a good conversation about faith, dinner, bath, bed for the kids, talked to my hubby (instead of shouting over the kids to him at dinner:)). There were still time outs and Macey did crush one of my new contacts; that's life. It was good.

At the science center, Cody is standing by his favorite snake, holding the snake he made:)

Oh, and I was attacked by a bird on my jog. Seriously. I ran by a tree it was in on my way out and it swooped and squacked but I thought it was my imagination that it was directed at me. Then on my way back the bird chased me, swooping and squacking, while I sprinted home, for about 300 yards. That is one FREAKISH bird.

Words of Cody / Words of Wisdom

In place of yes, or any affirmative answer, Cody now says "Totally."

Cody: I don't want to sit in this seat.

Me: Why?

Cody: It makes me weird.

Me: It makes you weird?

Cody: Totally.

Cody: Can I get a sticker at the dank?

Me: What's the dank? (Heading to the bank) Oh, the bank?

Cody: The dank.

Me: It's Bank. Bee. Ba. Bank

Cody: Bee Ba....(a few seemingly thoughtless seconds) Dank. I want a sticker at the dank.

Cody, upon arrival at the bank: We're at the Bank!

And Macey in her cute words asked yesterday as we were getting ready to eat: "Cody sleeping?" Yes, Cody fell asleep on the way home from church, but Macey was grumpy all day. Her nap start time can range anywhere from 11:00 to 2:00. Incidentally, our church goes from 11-2:)

And, speaking of church. When Elder Bednar came when our stake presidency was recently reorganized he kept saying that the Lord qualifies who he calls. Those are words of wisdom.