*Monday Memos*

*Monday Memos*

 

dear teenage girls, I always love it when I open the door and no one is there, but when I look down there is some kind of creative sign or object asking one of my boys to a dance, or answering one of them.  I usually make my boys let me take a photo of the invite before they clean it up and I really should go and compile all of those pictures that I've taken over the years.  Between my five boys, I would have to look through a lot of photos.  In fact, the picture below, I've probably got at least three or four photos of one of them being asked in a similar way.  Peas are a peasing pleasing way to say peas please.  One was really funny though and said something like, "I was so excited you asked me that I "pee"d my pants."  That was an answer to one of my sons.  I just love the creativity that some of them come up with.  So. much. fun.  This one was left on our porch last Monday asking McKay to Morp (prom spelled backwards - it's a very informal dance).

 

 I found a few that were on one of my computers and so I compiled some of them.  

dear mckay (aka my baby), I know you don't get this, but wow it's hard watching you grow up and turn into a young man.  17 already.  It just does NOT seem possible to me.  I do love seeing how handsome, funny, and how well liked you are by everyone, but I still long for those days when you were my little boy and wanted to be with me more than anyone else in the world.  You were a mama's boy and I loved it.  Out of all my five boys, you were the one that wanted to still sit on my lap when you were really way too big for me to even support you, and as your big bros would tease you about it, I always told you that you would never be too big to sit on my lap.  That always made you so happy.  I used to read you the book I'll Love You Forever and I always loved the part where the boy is a grown man and he is still being rocked by his mom...old as she may be... as she recites: 

I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always;

As long as you're living,

My baby you'll be.

You really got ripped off this year due to prom being on your birthday.  You had to wait until the next day to even open your presents when everyone could be present with your presents and their presence to enjoy your presence as you enjoyed your presents. ☺ And then you had to wait again until Monday for your family party.  Hopefully you will love your new bow and arrows and all the other stuff you got.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be...

dear mother nature, you definitely have some bipolar issues going on that is for sure. I guess I should be used to it by now since I have lived here most of my life and it is really like this every year.  This week on one of my 10 mile runs, I experienced rain, thunder, lightning, snow, AND hail all in the same run.  It was crazy!  Or maybe I'm crazy to even be out there in that craziness!  But nevertheless I was.  There are two things I really hate to run in, and that is the wind and hail.  Hail is very painful especially when it is pelting down on your face.  It hurts!  And wind just makes you feel like it's pointless to be running because it takes so much energy to even get anywhere because it's fighting so fiercely against you.  Here are a few of the pictures I took on my run when I was blasted with your PMS and bipolar mood swings.

dear spring in utah, this photo that my son Bryce took yesterday (only a couple hours apart), pretty much sums you up:

Found this one online:

dear city creek and fun friends, oh what a fun time I had with you all.  Dawn brought us these cute little chicky head things to wear (so we could be some cute chicks!) and she brought us some jars filled with Smore Love to hand out to whoever we felt needed a little lift.  Isn't she simply amazing?  Seriously.  It was a fun day!  We ate lunch at the Blue Lemon and news anchors Michelle King and Mary Nichols were sitting right next to us.  I even ran into Russell, a boy in my ward that just returned home from his mission to the Dominican Republic the night before!  He was there with his dad looking for a cell phone.  We spent a lot of time at Sephora's getting beautimous and stopped in a couple other stores.  That was about the sum of the shopping we did.  But it was still a lot of fun.  Just being with others is so much fun.  All these women came to Gina's Relay for Life and so I had met them there, other than Lisa, who I went to high school with and I've known for 35 years,  but I was able to get to know them much better this time.  Life is good.  I am so grateful I have such amazing friends and such great opportunities to be with them and I'm so glad Dawn invited me to join them.  I enjoy being around her so much. She always makes every event a party!

Click to enlarge

Here we are in our "cute chick" attire!  Spreading Smore Love!  Top right photo is with Russell the newly returned missionary. Pam gave him Smore Love.  Dawn gave hers to the Sephora lady.
 

 This my person that I chose to give Smore Love.  I just had a feeling she needed it and when she said, "You have no idea how much I needed that!", I knew I picked well.

Some cute chick-a-dees!

Getting the works at Sephora! I am covering my face because I couldn't breath!  He was spraying so much of that hair product, that I am sure most of the contents of that can went into my lungs and NOT on my hair!

CHEESE!

How do we look?  Huh?  Not too bad for a couple of old chick-a-dees!

Ready for the town!

Michelle King and Mary Nichols sitting right next to us at Blue Lemon.  Normally I would have been the one over there, but Debbie beat me to it.  After she did, I decided to let them eat in peace. haha   I had the BEST turkey avocado sandwich along with some PURPLE potatoes!  Mmmm..........  Dawn keeping with her goal of visiting every men's room in the state.  hehe

A fun day was had by all!

I was grateful my car was still where I had parked it and bootless.  The restaurant where I left it where I met Dawn so we could ride together had a sign in the back saying you could get towed or booted up at your expense if you weren't a customer.  So Dawn wrote a note that I left in my window just in case!  It said to please let us park there because we love this place... haha! She cracks me up! Neither of us have ever eaten there, but we still love it! ☺ Even more so now, that they didn't tow my car away!

dear long run, I really hated you last week but this week I am so happy with you!!!  What a difference a week makes!  Wow!  I am still so psyched that you went so well for me.  I was really dreading you this week and worried a lot about surviving you and just was not excited at. all.  But now I am just so happy that I was able to have a great run and with some kicking trash speed too!  I started out on my own because I had to get in 20 miles and Jen was only going to go 15 because she is still building up miles due to her injury.  By the way, "only going to go 15" is meant for comparison purposes only because running 15 miles should never be preceded with an "only". ☺ 15 miles is a LONG ways!  Just sayin...   Anyway, I ran around the dam and a bit through town to get in 5 miles before Jen met up with me.  The wind was BRUTAL!  In every way!  And it was all head wind. Not sure how that is possible, but trust me, it was!  It was in the 50's but it felt much colder due to the wind chill.  When she got there, I had gone 5.6 and her husband took us up to the sheds at the top of Sardine.  We ran down from there back to the dam and around it. That made two times around the dam for me. The wind was still brutal.  It eased up a bit halfway around the dam, but once we headed back down the canyon, it was fierce once again.  We had planned on doing the last half of our miles faster than the first half (negative split) and we actually did it!  It was tough when we reached the hill on the over pass, but we kept pushing.  We kept it up and at mile 13.1 (for her) which was mile 18.7 for me, we had ran it at an amazing pace!  Our time was 2:05 for the 13.1 miles just like the last time we ran the canyon.  I was very surprised once again, but Garmin's don't lie. I was mostly excited because I was almost on mile 19 at that point!  We finished in the west part of town and called Dave to come and pick us up.  He had to wait just a bit and watch us run for a few more minutes because in order for her to get in her full 15, I had to go a little bit extra. When we had reached 15 for her, my watch was only .20 away from another half mile and so we just ran that extra half mile or so at a 8:30 pace.  When we finished we high fived each other and I think Dave thought we were a little whacked. Truthfully after running 20.5 miles, I was!  But more psyched than whacked!  I was soooooo happy I was able to run that distance at that pace.  Our overall pace was 9:30 for the run.   I just never thought I could do that before on a 20 mile training run. By mile 20 I am usually ready to collapse!  What made me even more happy is the fact that if I can run that pace during the marathon, I would almost qualify for Boston.  I have to get my pace down to a 9:10 in order to qualify!  Is it possible?  YES it is possible!  Can I do it?  I don't know.  I would love to! Running Boston is every runner's dream.  But to have it so close within reach is really exciting for me!  They changed the qualifying times a couple years ago and so now it's harder to qualify. If I wait until I'm 55, then I get an extra 10 minutes to finish.  I could use that now and then I KNOW I could do it.  Only time will tell.  And all this just when I was about to give up all my long distance running.  After last week's dreadful run, I was pretty bummed about running any more marathons.  After this week, I've never been more excited!!!   

After the second time around the dam

With Jen

Our time for that 13.1!  Yea!

How we felt and STILL do!!!

dear muscles, thank you for not being too mean to me after making you run that far.  I am very appreciative!!! I can NOT believe I am not more sore.  I didn't even have to walk down the stairs backwards this time. YEA!

dear general women's meeting, you were incredible!  It was such an amazing meeting with such a strong spirit. I was holding back the tears numerous times.  Even though I don't have a daughter to take, Mona was happy to go along.  It was truly a wonderful meeting.  So glad I could attend.

dear fast sunday, why did you have to come after I ran a 20 miler?   After a long run I always get the "runchies" for a couple days.  And I also get so thirsty after running that far.  But since we were asked to focus our fast this month on showing gratitude for the moisture we received after fasting for it a couple months ago, I had to do it to show my deep gratitude for prayers that were answered.  And I survived.  What a wimp I can be!  haha

dear elder wilding, you are one amazing missionary and I am so proud of you!  You write us amazing letters and are so faithful to write each week.  You are getting transferred this week to Barcarena and so I am anxious to see how that goes for you.  I know with your positive attitude about everything and anything that comes your way that you will love it no matter where you go.  Change is always hard, but you have proven that you can do hard things and continue to do them.  Being the Zone Leader for a zone that got 25 baptisms in one week is a pretty good feat!  The people love you over there and it's easy to see why.  Of course, I am biased, but not too much!  ;) 

King of the wedding!

 Macapa Zone -  Elder Wilding is on back row 6th over from the left, right behind President Scisci.

dear week, I survived another one.  Onto the next! ☺