A Glimpse into MY Life

Todd: "There's poop smeared on the walls in the bathroom"

Me, to myself: "Again!?"

26.2

What is the significance of 26.2? Is it just a number? Well, if you were to ask any runner, they would tell you that 26.2 is not just a number, but it is a challenge either waiting to be had, or triumphantly fulfilled. 26.2 is the amount of miles in a marathon. You can see here why 26.2 miles was designated for a marathon, and even where we get the title, Marathon.
26.2 also has a significance with me personally. For I am 26 years old and while being 26 years old I ran 2 marathons. That's right, I ran another marathon this year.
I had heard about the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon and decided to do it, especially since it was held on a Saturday.
Even though for my first marathon, I totally trained by myself, I have been running my longer runs with Melissa and was nervous about having to run so far alone. I had run the St. George Marathon with my mom, and it really is amazing how time flies when you're talking (there still are moments that totally suck, but not as many or long enduring). So I got my ipod all ready and music cued up.
Once Todd got off work the evening of Friday the sixth we headed to Indianapolis. First we dropped Grant off at Yvonne's house, who was gracious enough to watch him while we went. During our drive I tried to map out a route for Todd to go to be able to cheer for me in more than one spot. He brought his bike with a child seat on it and a pull behind trailer for the other 2 boys. We didn't get to Indianapolis until after midnight. We checked in our hotel and went to bed.
I woke up early, ready for the race and even though we ran into some detoured roads, I made it in time to check in and stretch out before the race.
As the time got closer I got more excited. If you've ever run a race before you know that you get strong butterflies in your stomach and excitement is exploding inside of you. I kissed my boys goodbye and lined up at the starting line.
The spirit of the race is so strong and energetic at this point. Here you are standing with thousands of people, not really listening to someone give a pep talk on the loudspeaker, sensing the nervousness and excitement in eachother, trying to get one last stretch in, wishing they'd start the race already, your heart is pounding, sizing up the competition but really knowing that just finishing is an accomplishment, pushing down a thick energy goo, breathing in and out. Then the bell sounds...
I started running feeling great. I left my music off for the first part because there's nothing like the sound of the music on the loudspeaker combined with runners and spectator's applause and shouts of encouragement. I found myself trying to hold back. I am terrible at keeping a good constant pace. I always want to go faster than I should, which is why it is so good for me to run with someone who can help me set a good pace. I was feeling great. I was coming up to the 3 mile mark, where I should see Todd and boys for the first time, but couldn't see them anywhere, but then again I was running ahead of schedule. They found me a few miles later and rode the bike down the sidewalk nearest me. The boys were such a great encouragement. They were excited to see me and yelled me on. Todd was able to be with me for about a mile before he had to go another route.Around mile seven I was having a hard time. I was still running ahead of what I had anticipated, my body was feeling great, my lungs felt encouraging, but I was so terribly BORED!!! It really is so difficult to go from running with someone to running alone, especially for such a long distance.
There weren't a whole lot of spectators, but I did have my little fan club consisting of the boys of my life.
There was one spectator though that I thought was amazing. He was a man in his 50's that stood on the side of the road clapping and cheering for the runners. I don't think he was there for any particular runner for he stood there shouting out to people by using their numbers saying things like: "Keep going 2543........You're doing awesome 1847..." He shouted out to me and I was grateful, but then a mile and a half down the road I saw him again. I was so confused wondering if I was just imagining that it was the same person for traffic was not making it possible for someone to keep up with the runners. Then I saw him time and time again. As the miles wore on, the runners got more and more acquainted with him. People would run out of their way to run by him to give him a "five". I did not know this stranger, but I was grateful for him and his encouragement.I reached the half-way point, the 13.1 mile marker and was so surprised because I ran it in 2 hours. This really is fast for me. I was so thrilled, but unfortunately my joy didn't last long.
Around mile 15 I hit the wall. It was hard, I was bored, I was tired, I had pushed myself too hard up to this point and didn't reserve enough. I kept running, but not very fast at all. I kept wanting to quit or for it to be over, but then I remembered that this was all part of the experience. How often do people run marathons? And even when you do run a marathon, the actual running during a marathon is such a short time in comparison to how much time you spend training and thinking and remembering the marathon. So, I tried to focus on enjoying and relishing the fact that true, I was doing something difficult, exhausting, and painful, but that I was overcoming it.
Around mile 21 I was thinking, "Only 5 more miles.....but it still seems so long!" When Gary Allen's song, "Tough Little Boys" came on my ipod. I love that song and listening to it made me think of my dad. When the song ended I called my dad (the ipod I was using was my iphone....how convenient). It can be very difficult to get a hold of my dad, so I wasn't holding my breath, so imagine my joy when not only did my dad answer, but that I was on his speaker phone in his car where my sisters Lyndee, LeNae and brother Reagan were all riding with him to go to a wedding. I took a moment and told my dad how much I loved him, then I talked with everyone. It was awesome to be able to talk to them. They didn't even know beforehand that I was running the marathon , so they were impressed and encouraging.
With just 3 miles left I decided to walk for a bit - big mistake. Once you walk it is so difficult to start running again. I started running with walking intervals. It was incredibly frustrating to do this, but at this point it was all that I could do.
I was still bored and frustrated out of my mind when I noticed this lady in a pink shirt that we kept passing eachother. I decided to strike up a conversation with her. We were both grateful that I did. We were able to talk and get our focus off of our bodies and running. Her name was Jessica, from Chicago and she ran the Chicago Marathon about the same time I did the St. George. We ended up crossing the finish line together, but never saw eachother again. It doesn't matter though, we're both grateful for the help we were to eachother, both going through the same thing, both needing someone.I was so happy to finish the race. It was so hard. Even when we hit mile 26 I wasn't sure I could make it. It was so good to see Todd and the boys afterwards. They were such a great encouragement and always knew I could do it. Plus they were such good sports. I finished the race in 4:53 - so they rode around on the bike for almost 5 hours, just to get in a car and drive 5 hours home (but we did have lunch before leaving).

Under the Table

My boys, like many children, love to play underneath the tables. They will play there for hours.
Grant will get upset if all the chairs are pushed in too tightly, not allowing him room to climb under.There they are allowed to go into their own little worldAnd they do it together

Is it any wonder that I am constantly washing dishes?

My boys LOVE to get into my plastic bowls and put them on top of their heads. Then they will line up at the door to the garageThen one by one they take off runningAnd of course I am required to shriek, "NO, NO, NO..."Because having Mom yell insanely always makes things more funAnd then they jump off the step into the living room.

A little crazy, if you ask meSide note: I'll be honest, I don't always wash these bowls after being played with, so be aware if you ever eat anything at my house.

Four Years.....

What have you been doing for the last four years? What has taken several hours of your time each week for the last four years?

After four years, I have been released from Young Womens. This wasn't a huge shock to me, I knew that it may be coming to an end, but I still am sad to see it end.
I was first called to Young Womens after having just moved to Athens with two little boys, the oldest not even old enough to go to nursery, and my baby Roger. Having such young babies, and being new to an area, I was so grateful to have something to be involved in, and enjoyed going to the weekly mutual activities on Tuesday evenings because unlike my babies, these girls spoke English!!

There I met some of the most amazing and wonderful girls. They are awesome and have such strong testimonies of the Gospel. These girls found a place in my heart, and I still keep an eye on them (mostly through Facebook) and love them dearly. They are and always will be, my girls.

I also got to know one of the most wonderful woman walking this earth. Ruth. Just as the biblical woman she is named after, Ruth has incredible patience, love, and acceptance. I love and appreciate her so much, I even requested her presence at Grant's birth, which she fulfilled even though it meant driving 4 hours one way.

After moving up here I was excited to meet people, but my heart also desired to be with the Young Women. The Lord knew my heart and again I found myself being called to Young Womens. There I met some more wonderful girls, and as we all know you soon feel great love for those that you serve. The girls loved and embraced me, as did the leaders. Most of the women that I served with had young children and we were able to relate to eachother very well, I found I instantly had many friends. During all my time in YW, I was amazed how very few mutual activities I missed because of Todd's schooling/working.

Serving in the Young Womens is very interesting. I saw myself in so many of the girls, and saw that I could relate to many of them and their lives. I became increasingly grateful for my leaders from my youth and grateful that I lived my life in a way that I could be happy of.

So, with a heavy heart, I hung up my Young Women calling, but excitedly took on my new calling: Primary Chorister!!!!

I cannot describe how excited I am about my new calling. I have always loved children, and after seeing my mom fulfill this same calling several years ago, I decided that someday I wanted to have this calling. It consists of singing and playing with children...it is so meant for me. I've only done it a couple of times, but sincerely love it, and the great thing is....I've got Tuesday nights off.

Dinosaurs

This summer the zoo had the exhibit, "Dinosaurs". Let me tell you, this was AMaZinG!!! I was going to the zoo at least once a week so that we could see the dinosaurs. Several times I even brought a book or two to read to the boys about the particular dinosaurs on display.
Saying that the boys loved this exhibit is a huge understatement.
One time the boys were looking at a plant-eating-dinosaur. Mikey proclaimed, "This dinosaur has women teeth."

I had no idea of what this meant, who was this chauvinistic child that I had? A mother was standing near me and looked at me for an answer to what he was meaning. So I asked Mikey what he meant by that.

"It means that the dinosaur is really good and nice"....awww my little gentleman.

T-Rex was a hit. The first time we saw the dinosaurs, William got scared by the giant T-Rex...but he soon got courage, as seen here:
Grant never got over his fear of T-Rex.
The boys would get so consumed with looking at the dinosaurs that it was difficult to get a picture of them looking at the camera.
The last dinosaur of the exhibit sprayed water onto unsuspecting visitors. So of course the boys loved standing in the spot that the water would spray, anticipating the surprise when the water actually emitted from the dinosaurs' mouth.From this exhibit the boys have really learned a lot. They learned the terms herbivore, carnivore, and omnivore. They talk a lot about dinosaurs and their fossils. They talk about the fact that God needed the earth for humans, so He had all the dinosaurs die. And Roger always mentions that Saltipus is in Heaven.