*Monday Memos*

*MONDAY MEMOS*

 (If pictures are too small, just click to enlarge) 

dear running humor, not sure why I always laugh whenever I see a real fork in the road, but I do.  And then there was a fork in the road....  bwhahahahaha!   I also get a kick out of seeing a chicken cross the street.  I try not to ask why he's doing that, but...it's hard.  On my Monday run I saw a fork in the road but instead of a chicken crossing the road I saw several turkeys doing that.  It's really not hard to find the humor in life.  It's all around us! Sometimes you just have to go for a run to find it!

dear homemade bread, Dave and I have been trying to visit several people in our ward the past couple weeks.  We have made it to several of the new move ins, but still had some to go.  We also have a great man in our ward who has just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and things aren't looking too good for him.  I like to take a baked treat to people when we go introduce ourselves and I wanted to do something for the family who just got the bad news and so when you feel helpless and can't think of anything else to do, what do you do?  You bake bread!  Okay, so I don't always do that, but my fam wanted some homemade bread anyway and so I took the time to bake some.  This time I did just white.  I usually make whole wheat and grind the wheat right before I bake it, but Dave prefers the white.  Saved me some time, so I was happy to do that.  

It turned out yummy, but as luck would have it, I was the only one home when it came out of the oven.  And everyone knows that bread tastes best right out of the oven as you smell it baking.  But, I enjoyed it!  :)  Dave got home not too long after and so he got some while it was still warm.  We ate dinner and then headed off to make the visits.  It's so weird to not be having FHE with the boys!  Taylor was working and Bryce had gone to Zion's.

We visited most of the new move ins a few weeks ago but we missed one family and luckily they were home tonight.  As we were talking the woman (Joy) told me that she had read all about my running and my son that passed away in a book recently.  I said, "What?!"  I had no idea what she was talking about!  Then I remembered that an acquaintance of mine named Lori had asked me if she could interview me for a book she was doing.  She was mainly interested in my running experiences and how running has affected my spirituality or if it even did.  That was four years ago! She told me that if what I provided was selected, she would contact me within the next few weeks, but even then she could not guarantee that my responses would make the final edit of the book.  If they do, however, she said she would provide a copy of the final edit for my approval.  But I never heard back from her and so I just assumed nothing ever came of it or it was edited out.  Joy tried to find the page that I was on while I was there, but couldn't.  So later this week I went and bought the book and found it.  This is the book: 

I did a separate post on it HERE.

I have to say I was really excited until I saw that she had made a MAJOR error!  Instead of saying my son Tyson passed away, she said my son Skyler had.  Oops!  Not exactly the best kind of error to make.  There is the reason right there for signing a release of approval!  Somehow that slipped through the cracks.  The interesting thing is the fact that I never even put Tyson's name in my response back.  So somehow she had to do some research to try and find his name and got it wrong. 

 Here is a scanned version of it.  In the post HERE I added my answers to the questions as well.

Forgive the bad scan.  The book was too thick to get a good one.

It's a great book though!  She did a really good job. I just wish I had known about it and that I would have been given the opportunity to approve it so the mistake would not have been made.  Had we not gone and visited that new family, I would never know I was even published in it.  I guess that was a perk (blessing) for doing that!  God works in mysterious ways. ☺

dear still celebrating, yes, I am still celebrating my birthday!  I even got some awesome gifts from more friends this week. Thanks Brooke and Janet!  I get spoiled by my friends.  I think that may be the best part of having birthdays!  It makes getting older worth it!  That must be the reason why the tradition of giving gifts on birthdays began...so it makes the aging process a little less painful!  hah

dear sista lunch at the oaks, I have been looking forward to this lunch since it was planned.  The Oaks is up the gorgeous Ogden Canyon and I used to go there with my Grandma Mae when I was growing up.  We always bought the pink popcorn whenever we went.  It was called Mother Goose popcorn and you can't find it anymore.  I meant to look inside and see if they still sell it or some version of it, but I never did. I also run past this place every time I run the Ogden Marathon (or half) as well.  But I haven't been there since I was a kid, so I was excited to go!  

I was also excited to go because my good friend Carol Cogdill said she was coming. We were such good buds in high school and I just loved her to death!  I feel bad we lost touch, but thanks to Facebook we have been reunited once again!  I ran into her in Costco a few months ago, but we didn't have much time to chat.  

I didn't get a photo of just us and so I cropped the group one down.☺

We reminisced a bit about how we would go pose in the window by the sewing room and pretend to be manikans.  There were usually manikans in the window showing off the clothes people had made so we would join them and just hold the pose and watch people as they walked by. It was hilarious!  One of my favorite high school memories!  We were also in the play Bye Bye Birdie together and made some good memories with that.  After school and on some Saturdays, I used to help her clean some offices at Kier Corporation.  We also talked about how we would go to 7-11 every day for lunch and get a Barq's Orange soda pop and a candy bar.  We didn't eat too healthy back then!  Carol was such a great friend to me. We did a lot of fun things together.  She sat at my book at my wedding reception too. 

 We had a pretty good turnout.  We started with only five, then Chris showed up, then Jolene, then Robin. We ended up with a good group. There were many that I wish could have come that were unable to, but that's always the case. 

 You just never know WHO is going to show up.  There are five or six of us that regularly do and then there's usually a couple that we haven't seen for a while.  I was also SO happy to see Lisa!  We were good buds in high school too and have SO MANY fun memories.  We talked about when we drove past Bonzo's house when she was at the doorstep after a date with a guy I used to date.  We ducked down and kept driving past.  It looked like no one was in the car.  What idiots!  But now, we about pee our pants when we talk about it!  We also reminisced about the time we sent a pizza with anchovies to a guy that was not treating her very nice and we watched as it was delivered.  Oh good laughs!  Lisa has the funniest sense of humor and is so witty.  I have missed her and I was so glad she came!  I just love being around her.  She rarely comes though because she teaches school.  So many good memories!

Lisa is the one in the purple sweater.

Some FLASHBACKS ↓ 

 Carol sitting at my book at my reception.  She seriously has not changed one bit.

 Here we are in high school in our Bye Bye Birdie costumes. Good memories!

Me and Lisa.  The very first selfie before selfies even knew they were selfies!  Most likely taken with a camera that had a little flash cube on the top of it.  Now that shows talent that we could do that without even being able to see our faces in the camera!  Obviously...since half of Lisa's face is cut off!  hehe  I love the look on the guy's face in the background!  There you have the first photo bomb before photo bombs were photo bombs! ☺

 Some other oldies I had to add of Lisa and some of the others.  Oh my, we really had a TON of fun back in the day.  We still do actually!  Lisa is in the yellow sweater in the top left photo. I'm in the hideous green dress.  We were getting ready for a skit at our LDSSA Aspen Grove Leadership Camp.  Top right is Shauna's wedding after we decorated her car.  Bottom left is our senior trip to Bear Lake.  Bottom right is when I moved to my new house in Farr West and they all came out.  I was actually doing the splits in that photo but I cropped out my legs.  lol

GOOD MEMORIES!  I am SO happy we all have stayed in touch...for the most part anyway.  Anyone who says Facebook is of the devil is wrong.  So wrong.  It has brought these wonderful women and so many others back into my life that without it would not have ever happened.  It's been a huge blessing to me.

dear wedding reception, Dave and I went to our friend's son's reception (the Ashdown's) and we discovered the bride served an LDS mission in Russia so I had to pick her brain a bit.  She basically said the food was awful, but she loved everything else about it.  She was in Moscow though and so things are a bit different there.  But...I was glad to hear some positive things about it for a change!

dear speed work!  Yep, you're back!  I haven't done you since April.  I was a little worried that it would not go so well since it's been so long.  I headed off to the track and when I got there the entire football team was on the grass practicing.  Nope!  Not gonna do it.  I headed back and decided to just give Jen a call to see if she was interested in doing it with me even though I knew it was a long shot.  I wouldn't mind running the track with the team there if I had some company.  Miraculously she said she would!  I came back and got her and then we headed back.  By the time we got there, they had moved to the south field.  Whew!  We decided to warm up a bit and after that we decided to just not put any pressure on ourselves for that first 800.  Did we ever surprise ourselves!  We did the first one in a 3:44!

I think that might be a new record!  A PR when neither of us have even done any speed work for so long.  We gave each other high fives!  Talk about a confidence boost!  SO excited but also SO in shock!  We were not expecting that kind of time.  The next three were a bit slower, but not much.  We even ended pretty fast.  I am SO glad I didn't have to do them alone!

Somehow we managed to smile after that killer workout!  It's always fun AFTER!

dear dinner with the "relatives", I was invited to go to dinner at Olive Garden for my cousin Angie's daughter Chelsea's birthday party.  I love love love Olive Garden and I also really love my relatives and since I rarely get to see them, I was in!  My mom was also going to be there and it's always a blast to be with her. 

With my Mom and Robin.  Aunt Cathy (she's really my Mom's cousin but I've always called her Aunt) and my cousin Angie bottom right.  Cathy didn't want her picture taken!  lol

There were around four peeps I had never met before (not relatives) but it was still fun.

With my cute Mommy.  We looked all springy.

These guys are all my relatives!  And they are a blast!

I have some good memories with Angie (top right) of our shenanigans as kids.  Many involving my brother and his 65 Mustang!

dear middle child day, Wednesday was National Middle Child Day and so I had to post this in honor of my middle child Bryce.  

I chose these pix because he is in the MIDDLE in them. :)

He is one great kid and even though he has been a challenge at times, he also has the softest and biggest heart of anyone I know.  He would truly give you the shirt off his back. And his shoes, pants, hat, socks, and even his wallet!  He is so generous and is always giving to others and continually works and does things for us around the house without being asked. He is one of the hardest workers I have ever met.  He never complains either.  He is loved by all who know him because he is just so nice and so sweet.  He has always been my hugger and loves to give hugs.  He was always a little full of mischief, but he has definitely kept our lives full of adventure and there is never a dull moment with him around.  When he would be done with his dinner when he was little, he would always say, "I'm full of it."  We always laughed because truer words had never been spoken.  hah   When he turned five, he put up all five fingers and said, "I'm a whole handful!"  Yep.  haha  He is very athletic and gifted in all sports and can scale a wall faster and with more ease than Spiderman.  He is an amazing disc golfer, soccer player, hockey player, football player, fisherman, long-boarder, snow-boarder, wake-boarder, surf-boarder, etc.  Funny he's so good at those "board" things because like I said we are never "bored" with him around!  Most people describe Bryce as nice. He is most definitely a Nice Bryce. I love this boy!  He has made my life so much brighter!

He headed to Zion's National Park this week with his friend Dallin.  Here are some photos of them at the Narrows.

I love this one of him:

dear mckay, oh man, this is your last week in the MTC!  I can't believe the time has come for you to go to Russia!  Those nine weeks went fast even for me!  I think I would be happy to keep you there in Provo for the next two years but I know you want nothing of that!  You are ready and excited to move on and get on with your mission. 

This is your name tag in Russia.  Not sure how you can read that, but WOW!
This is getting real now!

 With his high school friend Daniel.  They were both called to Russia!  McKay calls him "Little Deeds". He is anything but little!  He's at least 6'5"!  His last name starts with "Deeds".  His comp Elder Brower joined them.

Daniel was called to Moscow.  They are on two separate parts of the country!  McKay will fly out of SLC to Vegas and Daniel will fly out of SLC to New York.

dear run out west, as I have said before, I love to run out west sometimes because there are just no people and I enjoy the peace once in a while. Oft times when I run alone I will meditate and pray as I run.  Today I was praying for some specific things and right then I saw some geese flying overhead. Something about the order of the way they were flying and just the miracle of nature made me stop and I knew it was Heavenly Father's way of telling me that all is well and that I was being heard.  Makes no sense I know, but trust me, it did to me!  lol

I did some running on the trail at the Bird Refuge too.

It's very peaceful out there.  I am usually the only person on the trail.

Well, me and few hundred birds!  
 

dear mr. cat,  you definitely have a mind of your own.  Some days you LOVE to be in the hammock, other days you HATE it.  Today you wanted nothing to do with it.  Probably because I put you there.  A cat is a cat is a cat.

dear 20 miler! I have been dreading this run a little.  Mainly because my 19 miler last Saturday wasn't too great. My time was great, but I didn't feel great.  Today it was just Robin and I because Sherrie couldn't join us.  We started very early in the morning....as soon as the sun came up.
We had Dave and Bryce drop us off at the sheds in Sardine on their way to the cabin.  In order to get more miles we decided to run TO Sherwood Hills and then back up to the sheds and down the canyon.  It wasn't as bad as we thought it might be.  The hardest part was running up Sherwood's road to the golf course. 

We saw this sign and knew we had to take our picture by it since we were running 20 miles that day!  When we got up to it we saw that it said: Patrolled By Robin Hood.  I made Robin stand by it for a picture.  We are documenters and so we need pictures!

Today's run has to be an all time record for "potty breaks".  Not mine....hers!  haha  We stopped about 8 times in those 20 miles!  We also left some water, Gatorade, energy bars, and a banana at our own makeshift "aid station".  We arrived at it about mile 13.5. It was awesome and I was ready for some fuel!  I did a gel about mile 8 and some blox and other stuff along the way, but there is nothing like "real" food when you're running that long.  I am never hungry when I run unless it's over three hours.  Even then I'm usually okay unless I smell food cooking.  Today we could smell the chicken at KFC!  Oh man!  However, when I run past Kent's early in the morning and can smell their donuts, I get VERY hungry!  Sometimes I smell bacon or pancakes cooking in people's homes and that makes me hungry too. 
 
Here we are at our "aid station".  Clark came riding up on his bike and when he saw it was us he stopped and laughed at us for a bit.  He told us he has about four of his own aid stations on his route too.  We made a pact that he could use ours anytime if we could use his!

I found two pennies and a heart on the way down the canyon!

Overall the run wasn't too bad.  It was feeling long for sure, but there is no way out of that.  Our time wasn't that great, but I didn't really care since I stayed at marathon pace last week.  Today I really tried to stay in the mile I was running instead of always thinking how many more I have to go.  That strategy is really helping me.  I still have two more 20's to do before race day.  We finished by running all the way down Sardine to Main Street and then home that way.

 These are the posters we saw when we stopped for a pit stop at the golf course.  I loved what they said and so took some photos. I need all the motivation I can get when running long. 

I was tired, but nothing like last week when I felt so sick.  I felt pretty good after.  But I could have used a nap.  Too bad I didn't have time for one today! I headed to Ogden to return some things and check out a robot vacuum.  Then I came home and made Twix bars for my Sunday School class because that was the deal if they wrote in their journals!  And they ALL did!  I am so proud of them! 

Or three or four hours!

dear frustration!  Ugh!  I hate it when my computer decides to do whatever it wants without my permission!  This week for no reason at all it deleted ALL of my photos in Picasa!  Yeah, that's NOT good!  That is where I organize and store ALL of my photos!  It also wouldn't let me download any photos from my phone anymore either.  And it had a hey day with a few other glitches that were driving me crazy!  I stayed calm and tried to figure out what I needed to do to fix it.  The solution came to my mind immediately.  CALL SKYLER!  He is my IT man and can fix anything technological.  He is so smart with computers.  He coached me over the phone and helped me to get things going the right direction.  It took a lot of time (not how I wanted to spend my alone time with Dave gone) but I am so thankful for his patience and willingness to help me out even when he is clear across the ocean!  I am also running out of disk space and so he hooked into my computer from his and spent a few hours deleting things that I didn't need to free up some space.  When I got up in the morning I found this on my computer....

 How cute is that?  A post it note!  I had no idea you could do electronic post it notes on your computer.  Now that I know, I am going to probably have them all over the place on my screen!  Just more proof that something good always comes out of something bad!

dear cabin improvement, this is the before and after of what my son Bryce and Dave did all day Saturday at the old cabin.  Looking good!

Bryce with Brian

BEFORE AND AFTER

dear random pix, I loved this one of Bryce and his Grandpa Jo.  His grandpa asked him how to do something on his phone.  I just thought it was so cute.

This picture of our temple was on an LDS sight and I just loved it!  Not sure how they took it (shy of a helicopter), but it's cool!

dear facebook quizzes, I FINALLY got PURPLE!  YES!  Now maybe I can stop doing these silly ridiculous things!  haha

Here's  a few more.  I do have to say they give me a pretty good laugh or two! 

Some of the results are so far off, they are hilarious!  Especially the one that said "this will happen in 2015 ....a BABY!"  YIKES!  lol

dear quotes,  I saw this on some Oprah web page and I loved the definitions.

CHERISH THE MOMENTS!

Oh, I do this way too much!

This is so romantic....

Amen to that!

Haha!  My friends!

Let it go...

My baby!  Heading to Russia!

Accept instead of expect!

Love this!

 

Not on your life!   Would YOU?