The Best Dinner in the World

Tonight Jamison asked the biggest question of the day: What are we having for dinner? Expecting moans and groans I enthusiastically responded, "The best dinner in the world!" His ears perked up and hopefully responded, "Oh, Hamburger Helper?" Exasperated I said, "No." "Oh, then Cow Tongue?" "NO!"

Okay, where have I gone wrong when a child, who has been exposed to might I say with the pride of a homemaker, some rather fine cuisine, thinks that Hamburger Helper and cow tongue are the best dinner menus in the world?

Half Marathon Race

Race day finally came. I don't think my nerves could have handled another day waiting. I spent the entire summer training from 1 1/2 to 3 hours almost every day to be able to run 13 miles on Labor Day. I was really stressed out because the last two weeks, and most important part of training, I started having foot problems which translated into knee and hip problems. I could hardly walk, let alone run, and I was upset that after all my hard work I may not be able to race. After lots of cross training, iceing and heating and heating and iceing, and prayers, I felt good enough to race. The four of us that raced together stayed in a hotel at the location for moral support and a lot of well needed laughs. I was so incredibly nervous. We all bounced out of bed at 4:45 am and headed to the America the Beautiful Park. The line to the bathroom was so long, and I had to go so bad after hydrating like crazy, out of desepration we took an outdoor leak behind a statue at the park! It was just in time for the race to start. It was a beautiful trail. It went up for 6 1/2 miles and back down the the last half. By mile 8 my feet were hurting quite a bit, by mile 10 the pain was terrible and just got worse. The good news is my feet hurt so much, I couldn't even feel me knees. I wish I could've had the stronger run I wanted, but I still finished in just over 2 hours and in the top 1/3. It never felt so good to be done running! Denise said she would rather go through another high risk pregnancy than run an actual full marathon. It was a goal I never thought I would accomplish, especially since my New Year's resolution was to just run a mere mile around our loop without stopping. I learned to love the meditation and stress relief of running and really hope I'll be able to resolve my "pain" so I can train for a faster race next time.

Race Day

A Mouse!?

When I was on the computer, I heard mom yell, "Ahh! Jay, a mouse!" (Jay is the one who gets rid of them.) So Jamison rushed into the room, Mom said she heard a tap-tap somewhere, but, only ended up being Spencer! What a stinker!

Water World

Dad took the Boy Scouts who earned 5 Merit Badges to Water World. They had a blast! More towards the end of the day, the clouds started to roll in. It started to rain, and thunder & lightning was also amungst us. So the life guards blew the wistle, and everyone had to leave the water. It was about 30 min. and it cleared a little bit! Most of the people had left, so there were practicly no lines! It was a lot of fun! Next year, maybe Elitch's Garden (aka Six-Flags)!

B of M

Together as Young Women & Leaders, we all read the Book of Mormon...in 2 DAYS!The reading began @ 8:oo a.m. and ended the next day @ 9:15 p.m. It was truly a spiritual experience. The leaders thought it would be a great idea, since school is on its way. Every single person who attended, had finished, with big smiles on their faces. When the night was coming on, reading got even harder to concentrate on, for we were all really tired. But we pushed through, and it was worth it!

On one of the breaks, it was dark out side, so, me & my close friend Alihah, sneaked out side. Most of the Young Women were down in the basement (at my house). Our plan, was to go, and bang on the windows to scare them. But...two laurels went out side where they could see us if we went to the window,so the plan changed. I decided for us to jump out at them, and say boo. Alihah thought differently. She decided, to growl. So she did, and it scared the laurels completly! They ran back inside screaming, and told all of the other gir ls what they heard. Me & Alihah raced back inside, and pretended to be scared also. But we couldn't handle it, so we started to laugh out loud! It was so funny! The secret went out, and they all knew it was us.

To be able to read the Book of Mormon, cover to cover, is amazing by itself. But to do it in 2 days, is amazing! My dad really wanted to do it with the Young Men, but all the g irls didn't think that would work out well. Even some of the Beehives (not including me) wanted to get away, and played in a corner in a far off room with toys. It was hard, but we made it!

Oregon Pictures (beware:a lot)