The Winter Runs

No that title is NOT what you were thinking. Yes, I KNOW that IS what you were thinking. That is what you were thinking right?

Well, whatever you were thinking, this post is about what has been getting me out the door in the mornings this past month or so when the temps have been sub-FREEZING!

The runs.

Yes, the runs. I just ran three runs in the past three weeks. Maybe I should change the title to: The Winter Races. Nah... Runs are more fun.

I have always, always, always hated....wait, not sure hated is even a strong enough word...more like despised the cold. I am the kind of girl that likes to stay warm and nothing makes me happier on a cold day than cuddling up by my warm fire in my room with a cup of hot cocoa knowing I am protected from those nasty outdoor elements. So no one is more surprised than I that I actually leave the comfort of that fire and Snuggie (the truth is I do have a Snuggie but prefer my lambswool blanky!) and go out in the cold cruel world in the mornings to run. If someone had told me even five years ago that I would be doing that, I would have bet them a life time supply of chocolate that THAT would NEVER happen. Well here I am, doing it on some of the coldest days of winter. This year I haven't been as good (been a whimp!) as usual because it got so cold so fast that I didn't get that time to climatize slooooowly...

But I still had the runs... okay, the "races".

The Turkey Trot ~ (hmm... Trot? Runs? Same thing...)

The Santa Run ~ yes, did you know Santa has runs too?

The Snowman Shuffle ~ should be renamed: The Runs Are NOT Fun in the Winter

I survived the runs, but now I am not sure what is going to motivate me to get out there in the morning because it looks like the runs are now over. I should be glad, but I am afraid that now I am going to have to get serious and focus on training for the marathon I signed up for in May. Which btw I am having second thoughts on doing. I still haven't recovered from my marathon in September like I had hoped by now. The knees are still not even close to being the same. I am going to give them a little more time before I make my decision.

Anyway, here are some shots of the runs:

TURKEY TROT

I ran it with my great friends Jen and Heather. It was a rainy day, but we escaped it for the most part during the race.

I didn't hate this race quite as bad as I did last year. Oh how I hated it last year. This one was much better partly because the turkey thief wasn't running it this year. For some reason last year I really struggled on this course, but this year it was much more enjoyable. And I WON a turkey for 1st place in my age division! I think Dave was happier about that than I was! He was thinking, "cha ching"!

SANTA RUN!

Heather, Heidi, Julie, and me eating at the Union Grill after we picked up our packets and Santa Suits a few days before.

I had some fun posing in this get up. It's not everyday I dress up like a Santa!

Look who showed up? Yes the Grinch and Cindy Lou Who! I love the Grinch! Mainly because McKay was obsessed with him for most of his childhood. He was the star of the whole race.

I ran it with my friends Heather, Heidi, and Julie. We had a total blast. It's just a fun, no pressure race. We mainly do it just for the insanity of it all!

Even though it is for fun, we still get timed. We all did really well considering unlike other races, we don't really push it and don't really care about our time. We stop and take photos and just enjoy the theme and craziness of the whole thing. I was extremely surprised to see I took 3rd in my age division! Wow, with 700 runners this year, I didn't think I would even make it in the top 10.

BUT...

Julie took 8th overall! Wow! We were looking for her the whole route and since it is a course that you repeat in a circle three times, we should have been able to find her when we were passing on the cross run. We never did. You also pass the finish line twice before you cross it. Unless you are Julie. Julie only passed it once and crossed it on her second time around. She totally thought she was done while the rest of us were running the lap once again. She was so excited to tell us she finished 8th overall. We were laughing so hard when we told her what she had done. Cheated!!! She will NEVER live this one down. We won't let her.

Our wonderful supportive husbands all showed up to cheer us on.

Showing them how much we appreciated it ↓

♪♫ "I saw DADDY kissing Santa Claus!" ♫♪

Ho-Ho-Ho!!!

Three of my boys also came. I promised them dinner after if they would. Works everytime!

SNOWMAN SHUFFLE

I ran this 5K with Julie and Jen.

I have been coveting one of these trophies ↓ the last three times I ran this race. I always came up a little short....er- slow. Here is the display of them tempting and taunting me before the race. I REALLY wanted one of those this year!

Everyone in this photo is from my church. We had a strong showing this year.

Waiting AND freezing before the start.

Crossing my fingers (mittens) I will win one of those trophies!

It's a 5K race. Today was the best weather I've had while running this race. In the past I have ran in blizzards, hail storms, icy wind, and it's almost always at least snowing...today was awesome, other than the air quality was really - really bad. Each breath felt like the air was very thick.

We're off!

Me and Jen just about to cross the finish line. ↓ I was so ready to be done! I did not enjoy this race ONE bit! For some reason I really struggled with my cardio. That last half mile was not fun. I am not sure if it was due to the air quality or the fact that I haven't been running as much due to injured knees that still haven't recovered from the marathon. I was wanting to be done about one mile before it was. I think this was my least favorite and hardest 5K I have ever run.

Look what I found! Yep, Tyson was there to support me too...

The best part of all was I WON FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!! Yippee! I was soooooooo excited that I finally got one of those coveted little snowmen!

He's all mine!

Posing with our awards.

Our ward's awards! We kicked snow!

The awesome shirt and my CUTE CUTE CUTE trophy!!!!

Is that not the cutest trophy you have ever seen?

I guess the Winter Runs are not so bad after all...

Always In Our Hearts... Never Forgotten...

~♥~Tyson~♥~

July 15, 1988 ~ December 2, 2005

Always in our hearts...

Never forgotten....

" I can shed tears that he is gone, or I can smile because he has lived. I can close my eyes and pray that he'll come back, or I can open my eyes and see all he's left. My heart can be empty because I can't see him, or I can be full of the love we shared. I can turn my back on tomorrow and live yesterday, or I can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday. I can remember him only that he is gone, or I can cherish his memory and let it live on. I can cry and close my mind, be empty and turn my back, or I can do what he'd want: smile, open my eyes, L❤VE and go on." ~ David Harkin ~

We love and miss you bud more than words can say...♥

♥CHERISH THE MOMENTS♥

For more photos go to his birthday post HERE

~The Boys of Fall~

Never Let it Rest, Until Your Good is Better and Your Better is Best.


















Taylor had an amazing season this year. He played linebacker and tight end on the high school football team. Football is really almost a year round sport with the conditioning and strength training added in, but they also started practicing as soon as school was out last year. Or was it before? Then it goes until fall.

I am just happy we escaped serious injury. He did come home almost every day from practice with bruises, cuts, and ice bags covering various body parts. He needed stitches on his head after one of his practices and drove himself to the clinic to get them. He didn't even tell me when he got home. I don't think he was even going to say anything. I finally noticed. Whenever I would question him about his battle wounds, he would just reply, "It's football Ma." No big deal to him. Sigh...

According to the Deseret News, Taylor ended the season as the leading Defensive player on the Varsity team with 90 tackles, 2 sacks, and 2 interceptions. He also had several fumble recoveries and blocked punts. It appears he is number two in our region and in the top five in the division. Not bad for a junior.

When the season began he wasn't even starting Varsity until game two or three. He worked hard and earned his spot as starter. He was also playing JV at the beginning but once he became a starter he no longer played JV. I am sure those numbers would be even higher had he started as a starter. I do have to admit that was sometimes hard to watch him out there against all those 300 pounders (one 400! on Highland's team!) hoping that his bones (and brains!) would stay intact. I always breathed a huge sigh of relief as soon as the game ending buzzer went off. He had no fear... just his mother did.

It was an exciting season as we were tri-REGION CHAMPIONS with Mountain Crest and Logan. Two of the games we lost were only by one point, and the reason for both of those losses is questionable. We also beat Spanish Fork who is not in our region, but one tough team. We were not predicted to win that game. We shut out Ogden High 49-0 and beat Logan for the tri-region win. It was intense! But oh so fun! I loved each and every minute I was able to spend watching and cheering on the Bees! The Bees haven't gone to the state playoffs in a long time so this was an especially exciting year. I am having withdrawals now that the season is over.

But... one of my favorite parts of each game was when the song--- "Start Wearing Purple" would come over the loud speaker. It's on here on my playlist for YOUR listening enjoyment as well. ☺ There is nothing like a purple song to really get your spirit up!

A "few" (haha) highlights of the season...

At Box Elder after the Purple and White pre-season game.

Copper Hills JV game

My cute little Jaida bug came and sat by me for the whole game at one of our home games! LOVE HER!

*Spanish Fork JV game*

Taylor is somewhere at the bottom of that pile

We were playing at Spanish Fork and so stopped inProvo and picked up Bryce and Chris on the way.

My VERY supportive parents made the journey too.

The little guy is my friend's little grandson. He wanted to be in the picture! Cute...

Taylor and Tyler #4 (my sixth son - he calls me Mom) were only allowed to play the first half since they were going to be playing Varsity.

JV Team

We hit IN & OUT on the way home! Taylor and Tyler heard we were going and so got permission to ride with us instead of the bus.

Gotta love the grass stains!

We also stopped off in Salt Lake to say hi to Skyler. Luckily he just got back from the gym and so we caught him home!

And his roommate the hilarious Jeremy.

Spanish Fork on OUR turf now! Varsity game. Taylor was no longer playing JV, but starting defense for Varsity.

What an intense game! We beat em' 28 to 25!

The students went wild and ran down on the field to sing the school song to the players.

~Playing my Alma Mater the Bonneville Lakers. And YES I wore purple NOT blue and gold- though it WAS tempting! We killed em! ~

Taylor's awesome INTERCEPTION against Sky View!!! It was one of the highlights of the season for him.

Game against Mtn. Crest at their Homecoming...

Game against Morgan High in Morgan.

We had lots of family at this game. Have no idea who the guy in front with the Binos is. But he seems to enjoy being part of the fam! lol

Me with my cute nieces and new nephew! He loved the game!

Amazing game against Logan!

McKay's version of this tackle:










I like his version better! Especially the dynamite and arrow!

~ BIG WIN!!! ~ Our win meant we were tri-region champs if we beat Ogden the next week. Which we did. We shut them out 49-0.

These boys were excited!!!

They only look calm in this one. Inside they were doing the ~victory dance!!!~

What an exciting win! It came down to the last 2.2 seconds of the game. We were behind 14-17 with only seconds left in the game and we scored a touchdown!

The students went wild and were ready to run on the field as soon as the buzzer sounded. They had to hold them back until the team shook hands with Logan. It was crazy exciting!!! There is NOTHING like high school football!

And they're off!!!

The team running into the crowd. Taylor is on the left - the one with his helmet on... ~#42~

VICTORY!!!

State Playoffs

Two of my favorite pictures ↑ ↓

"You Mess With One Man, You Got Us All"

Since it was a three way tie for the Region Championship they resorted to a coin toss to determine who went to State ranked as what. Mtn. Crest got #1, Box Elder #2, and Logan #3. That, of course, determines what team seed you play against. We were up against Highland High. They had a 400 pounder and many over 300 pounders! Wow!

Taylor is the one tackling the ball carrier almost on the ground.

That's a lot of tackling going on!

Taylor is the air-born horizontal one

He almost has the ball ....

He also got a great sack in this game.

An intense game...

They were pretty equally matched but we made some stupid mistakes that ended up costing us the game. :(

Far left on the ground - he has him...

Got em!

All of our boys made it and both the grandparents and Taylor's Aunt and Uncle.

This may have been the sack. Not sure. He's the one touching the QB.

He always seemed to have at least two guys trying to block his tackles.

He's gonna get him!

A sad ending BUT a great season!!!

The Highland Rams went on to win the STATE CHAMPIONSHIP and so we didn't feel too bad since we played so well against them!

Way to go BEES! You played your hearts out and gave it your all!

~Thanks for an amazing season Bees!~

Dave and the boys...

Love the intense look in Taylor's eyes in this newspaper photo!
This was just before the sack I think.

None of us wanted to see this season end. These boys gave us so much to be proud of this year. They were all amazing and were all great team players. They were so fun to watch. A lot is to be said of the great coaching as well. The coaches are focused on character development as much as (if not more so than) muscle development. And that is what they will take with them when they can no longer run a football. Luckily Taylor has one more year and I am looking forward to that with great anticipation.

As for now.... he just made the Varisty Basketball Team and so no time to breath or mourn the end of football!

"The reason women don't play football is because eleven of them would never wear the same outfit in public." ~Phyllis Diller

This is WORTH watching!!! To turn off my playlist before watching, scroll to bottom to purple playlist and hit the button that looks like an = sign to pause it.


Never Let it Rest, Until Your Good is Better and Your Better is Best...

The Boys of Fall lyrics:
When I feel that chill and smell that wet cut grass
I'm back in my helmet cleats and shoulder pads
Standin in the huddle listenin' to the call
Fans going crazy for the boys of fall

They didn't let just anybody in that club
Took every ounce of heart and sweat and blood
To get to wear those game day jerseys down the hall
King of the school man we're the boys of fall

Well it's turnin' to face the stars and stripes
It's fighting back them butterflies
It's call it in the air alright, yes sir we want the ball
And it's knockin heads and talkin trash
It's slinging mud and dirt and grass
It's I got your number, I got your back
When your backs against the wall
You mess with one man you got us all
The Boys of Fall

In little towns like mine it's all they got
Newspapers clippings fill the coffee shops
The old men will always think they know it all
Young girls will dream of The Boys of Fall

Well it's turnin' to face the stars and stripes
It's fighting back them butterflies
It's call it in the air, alright yes sir we want the ball
And it's knockin heads and talkin trash
It's slinging mud and dirt and grass
It's I got your number, I got your back
When your backs against the wall
You mess with one man you got us all
The Boys of Fall

We're the boys of fall...