St. George Half Marathon

Call me crazy, but I love to race.  And by race I mean run at my slow pace and finish.  I decided in about September that this half would be a perfect event to be working towards during the winter.  I was right, it was great to work towards.  My brother Chris was going to run it with me, but he partially tore his ACL so he was out.  No big deal to me, I like running alone.  I can run whatever pace I want at any time and not have to keep up with someone or slow down for them.

I hadn’t run a half in over 2 years so I didn’t know how I would do.  I set a goal to finish in 2 hours and 24 minutes.  I knew that was realistic.  I had been running a lot, but only officially started to train 5 weeks before the race.  I really like going on long races and getting ready for something like this.

So the weekend arrived.  Bryan, the boys and I headed to sunny St. George.  We stayed with our favorite Bingham’s.  They are so fabulous and have a great place to stay.   They have a few dogs with them and the boys LOVED following them around.  They tried to bring one of them home with us.  All Jacob wanted to do while we were there was sit at the bar and talk to Heidi, I don’t blame him.  It was really cute.  We love and miss them.

Well the morning of the race I woke up to see that it was raining pretty hard.  I layered up (even though I was looking forward to running without layers!) and Bryan took me to the race.  I debated back and forth about whether to wear my rain jacket or not.  I finally kept it on and was glad I did.

It drizzled for the first 3 miles or so and then pretty much stopped.  There were several rolling hills and I just kept trudging up them and tried to take advantage of the down hills.  Luckily I learned from Whitney to lengthen my stride while running down and just let my body follow.  I use to tense up on down hills, anyways that helped.  When I hit the 6 mile mark I was right at 1 hour, which meant I was running 10 min. miles.  Feeling good!  There was one semi difficult hill, but I just kept at it.  I hit the 10 mile mark at 1 hour 41 min.  Still staying  on track.  About this point I started to lose steam and the rain started back up (I actually think we ran out of the rain system and then back into it).  I didn’t look at my watch to see how I was doing because I didn’t want to get discouraged.  I just kept on going and going.  At one mile to go I cheered and the rain got harder and harder.  As I neared the finish line I had so much water in my eyes I worried I would trip.

There is something about nearing the finish line of a half for me.  I can’t breathe, not from exhaustion, but from emotion.  My throat swells up, this mingled with rain pouring off my face made quite the sight.  As soon as I saw Bryan and the boys I could breathe again and cheer.  I crossed the line at 2 hours 14 minutes!  I was so happy and proud of myself.  That was a 10:15 min mile average.  I was glad I hadn’t lost too much ground on those last few miles when I was run down.

Ah I get excited just thinking about it.  Such a great time.  I didn’t get to enjoy the finish line events because I was so wet and cold, and so was my family.  I guess I better do another one soon!

The rest of the day was cool and rainy, but we still enjoyed our little get away.  I made up for all the calories burned by eating lots of really good Mexican food and anything else I could get my hands on!  We got to visit with James, Kristin and Annie on Sunday which was so fun. 

Who would have ever though I would be a “runner”?

I can sew?!!!

I learned how to sew, in a very basic sense, when I was younger.  I took Home Ec. class and I think made a skirt.  I probably sewed a thing or two in 4-H club.  My Mom really knew how to sew and so I watched her a bit, but really I don’t know how to sew.  I would like to know how, which is why I wanted a new sewing machine (my Mom’s very old one that I inherited quit working this year).  I was very excited when Bryan got me one for Christmas.

A few days after Christmas I had the opportunity to volunteer to sew some book bags for a service project.  I was very excited to volunteer for this and get my new machine up and running.  Someone dropped off 3 bags for me to sew with the instructions to sew a “french seam” along the edges and that it should take me about 30-40 minutes to do each bag.  I suddenly wasn’t so confident in my sewing abilities, I had never heard the term “french seam”.  Thank goodness for the internet, I googled it and soon was watching a YouTube video on how to sew one.  I would watch the step on the video, press pause and do it myself.  Not too hard at all.

The first bag I completed in 2 1/2 hours, yes you read that right, 2 1/2 hours!  Now I knew what I was doing so the next should go much quicker, oh it did, it only took 2 hours!  I could barely stand the thought of starting the third yesterday, but I did.  That last one only took 1 hour 15 minutes!!, but if you add in the hour of sewing both sides on the wrong side and then having to un pick them, it equals more like 2 hours and 15 minutes.  So a project that could have taken me under 2 hours ended up taking 7-8 hours.  I am no longer confident in my abilities to sew anything I want to, but I won’t give up.

3 beautiful bags

It only added to my discouragement when my BFF’s 13 year old daughter texted me a picture of a skirt she had just made out of an old pair of levis!  Maybe I can learn from her.

And Christmas 2011

What a day!  It was wonderful, a little disjointed, but great.  We woke up to Jacob’s air horn sounding.  We had to wake up Jonah as usual, everyone was so excited!!!!

Anxiously awaiting….

Looks like Santa came……

All he wanted……

A compound bow and things…..

Shoes and every sports ball made……

Very cool, homemade race track Brandon made for Jonah…I don’t know which of them was more excited about it.

Break from opening to get ready and go to church.  I LOVED going to church on Christmas.  I wish we did every year, just not at 9:00 a.m.  We had a wonderful meeting and it was so fun to get to wish so many that I love a Merry Christmas.

Back home to pajamas and unwrapping.

His always gift to me….

Sewing machine, Cuisinart ice cream maker, new pans, several shirts, dance central 2!!!!!, and a laptop…..I was completely shocked.

Super fun day for everyone.  Some of my family members came over during the course of the day….not every could be here at the same time.  We don’t do anything formal, eat whatever we find, do puzzles, watch movies and just relax.  I loved it.

And now I am enjoying the best week of the year with no schedule, no places to be and no reason to ever get dressed!

Christmas Eve 2011

Fantastic, of course.  Christmas Eve was a little different this year, Jen wanted to host it at her house and I gladly obliged.  There are pros and cons to doing it at my house and away.  I still had to work like crazy all day…OK mainly because I was not ready for Christmas (I never am) and I had to run 9 miles.   Christmas Eve day was so fun for Brandon and Jacob because they spent the day with Ryan and Brandon Beck.  They washed and vacuumed their cars with them and seriously could not stop talking about how much fun they had. 

The night was great.  We missed having Judi with us, she was with her Dad who died that night.  The rest of us had such a great time together, we always do!

Blurry action shot that Brandon took.

Maybe someone will send me the pictures they took and so people can actually be seen!

I can’t find where Picasa went on my computer so I am not going to be able to collage these pics!

I love being with my family on Christmas Eve. 

Pre Christmas

I started a new tradition, on December 22 I told everyone we were having a family sleepover around the Christmas tree.  It had to be the one in the living room because the family room is WAY too cold to sleep in.  The boys were all very excited.  They decided to set up a TV and playstation in there and play is all night long.  I let them do whatever they wanted.  They started playing at about 9:00 and by 9:30 they were all asleep, that is why I can let them do whatever they want at night!

Even Bryan joined us,  he usually doesn’t want to sleep anywhere except his bed.

The 23rd we had the Sowby family over for breakfast.  We try to have dinner or breakfast with them each year before Christmas, it sometimes happens and sometimes doesn’t.  We enjoyed waffles and being able to spend time together.  The kids exchanged gifts and the adults exchanged laughs (oh that just sounds magical).

Fun, pre Christmas events.

The Night of all Nights

Back in July I was told I would be in charge of our ward adult Christmas party.  At the time I told the RS president to not talk to me about Christmas in July, really I had to keep telling her to stop.  In September I started to think about it.  I was given the instructions that this should be a wonderful night, the most spectacular of evenings, it would be our (MY) gift to the ward.  I had menus turned down because they weren’t night of all nights quality.  Entertainment ideas quickly shot down, needless to say the pressure was on.  In a nutshell I recruited my committee, asked for additional star power to help and got to work.  I had never done something at this level before so it was A LOT of work and extra time for me.  Decisions were made and worked out and then they had to change and be done again.  I easily spent 300 hours on this party, and tried to keep my family and home running as well.

The theme of the night was “Christ is the light of the world”, everything was done around light.  Lots of christmas trees and lights, candles, spotlights on pictures of Christ, luminaires leading to the door of the church.

Without further ado, here are some pics of the magic.

2 days of setting up, yes you read that correctly 2 days!

People hanging from the basketball hoop.

Testing everything out.

I cannot believe I didn’t take a picture of the mayhem at my house.  Most of the food was prepared in my not industrial sized kitchen.  Pots and pans and food were everywhere.  After hours and hours and hours it was time for the festivities to begin.

Appetizer table with Aliska standing to the side.

The pictures do not give justice to the beauty of the room.

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Me and my reign.

It looked like a wedding reception, really I wish we had found someone to get married, such a waste we didn’t.

Centerpieces on the tables.

We started out with appetizers, cranberry salsa with cream cheese served with chips, baguettes with pesto, fresh mozzarella and sundried tomatoes, fruit in little cups with sprite.  They were all fantastic, pretty much every last one was eaten up.

The main course was salad de maison, homemade rolls, pork tenderloin with a gravy sauce, scalloped sweet potato stacks and a stuffing with 3 different kinds of bread, apples, golden raisins and sausage.  There was no time to get pictures of the food, but it was heavenly…..absolutely delicious. 

Dessert was homemade ice cream pies, also delicious.  Pretty much a 5 star restaurant kind of meal.  Si and I did most of the cooking, but really Si held my hand through the whole planning and preparing process.

The program was written by Jolene Cash (I can do hard things as long as she is right by my side!)  Beautiful narration and songs by different talented people in our ward and/or their family members.  We then watched a DVD slide show which showed pictures of different members of the ward holding up a white board which had written on it, a time when they have felt or feel the Saviors light in their lives.  Let’s just say that was the most amazing thing that could have been done.  Definitely the icing on the cake.

The spirit was so strong at the end of the night.  As soon as the closing prayer was said, I turned to the person next to me and said, “That was worth every second of work.”  Maybe I am not on the same high now and might not say that tonight as I have put another several hours into the clean up and returning of items!

OK I have gone on and gone and on.  The last highlight of the night was the 650 luminaires we  made and had the young men deliver along the streets of our neighborhood during the party.  Everyone (who left before they had burned out) drove home along a lit path. (Another of Jolene’s amazing ideas)

Everyone pitched in and brought down the days and days of work in no time.

Even Bishop’s hanging from the hoop.

Without her, this night would have just been any other regular party.

The kind words we heard from everyone and continue to hear were really nice.  People loved the night.  It really was MY gift to everyone!

Thankful

Yes, I am very behind on blogging.  That is just how it is going to be.  In a nut shell, Thanksgiving has passed, but I am still thankful for many many things.  Too many to post right now, but  I still am.

Thanksgiving was nice and warm in sunny Arizona.  We had a very enjoyable time with our friends and family there.  I got to see my childhood best friend and meet her new husband, it was so nice to see her so happy.  Bryan got to go golfing with his childhood best friend and we went to dinner with he and his wife.  In fact we ended up driving his wife back to Utah so she could go to her Grandmothers funeral.  We had a very nice time with them.

I hosted my first annual Melanie is in charge 5k/10k.  The only rule was everyone had to finish at least a 5k, I was the only one to continue on.  Bryan, Brandon, Jacob, Gavin and Stratton and I burned those holiday calories!

It was so nice to run everyday in the warm weather!

We ate Thanksgiving dinner with the extended Sherwood family.  Lots of people, lots of food, lots of fun.  Jonah was thrilled that in his mind he looked like Santa Claus!

Jacob and Kate playing at the park, once again in the warmth.

Brandon and Gavin enjoying the warmth.

Jonah and cousins bouncing to his hearts content.

The trip went faster than usual and the drive didn’t put me over the edge…what is up with that?  It must have been that I spent so much of the drive working on the ward Christmas party planning!

Thankful for the many many years and memories of this tree.  It made me really sad to see it go, even though it was way too tall misshapen and in the way.  It was the crazy wind storm of December 1st which brought this and our 2 front fences down.

Thankful for people like Trent Price who worked hard to get it off the Barlow’s house!

The aftermath of trees all over the front yard.  So thankful for the many people who worked very hard on Sunday to clean up all of Bountiful.  3 pickup trucks hauled our tree away…..I didn’t know the people who belonged to 2 of the trucks.

Thankful Jonah was sooooooo excited to meet Santa.  He had the biggest grin around. (not so thankful I missed the picture with him looking at the camera)

Thankful Jacob would still participate, even though he couldn’t come up with anything to ask.

And most thankful for all the people who have helped me with this way over my head planning of the ward party.  3 more days and I am free!!!!!!!