*Monday Memos*

*MONDAY MEMOS*

      

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

dear mckay, I should have wrote this on last week's post because we hear from him on Sunday night now.  Dave and I were both up writing our emails when he sent his, but we didn't notice until after it had been 13 minutes.  Luckily he was still on and so he got ours.  I got to chat with him for a bit.  He says he LOVES Russia and is really doing well.  That does my heart good!  I am so happy that his companion cooks and so he isn't going to wither away!  He says he really likes the people too.  All of this is such a relief for this mama's heart!  But STILL NO pictures!  Ugh!  Doesn't he know how much a mama needs pictures!!!  He promised me some next week!

dear labor day, I headed out rather late on my run today because it was COLD!  By cold I mean around 47°.  Yes, I know that is actually rather warm when you compare it with 27° or 40 below like McKay will experience, but it IS still summer and so it is too blasted cold!  So....I waited a bit for it to warm up.  I am so not looking forward to cold mornings!  

I saw these cute little calves on my route today and these guys look like they are starving to death!  Look how you can see their ribs and their bones are poking out!  They came right up to the fence and started bellowing to me. I think they thought I was there to feed them or something.  It was sad.  I called animal control and reported it.  Not sure what will be done.  Dave told me to use my maiden name.  haha  I have such a soft spot in my heart for animals....especially when they are being mistreated!  It makes me crazy.  

I came home and soaked up the sun because it finally warmed up!

Then I "labor"-ed by making some yummy peach pies.

 I used this peach in one of the pies and it was almost big enough to make an entire pie itself! 

 I know I posted these pix last week, but I really made the pies this week.  So you get to admire that quirk of nature once again.  The peach, not me!

 We decided to grill some burgers and invited my parents to join us. 

It was yummy!  But it cooled off again this afternoon.  I know so many people that absolutely LOVE fall, but I am not one of them, unless it lasts REALLY long.  To me, fall represents that winter is on it's way!  I am not a winter fan.  AT. ALL.

 My cute friend Julie dropped this cute ice cube tray!  I love it!  She knows palm trees remind me of Tyson.

dear long weekend, Dave was off again on Tuesday and we had planned on going to Boise to visit his brother, but decided that was too far to drive for such a quick trip.  So instead we just did stuff around the house.  Dave worked in the yard with Bryce and repaired our waterfall. I was so happy they almost have it fixed!  I have missed it! 

 I made some chocolate banana bread and it was SO good that I am not sure I will ever make banana bread any other way!  Mmmmm......   

I ran some over to Mona and while I was visiting with her Taylor called to inform me he was home but only for a few.  I rushed back so I could see him before he headed back and him and CJ were being hilarious as they always are.  Those two are like brothers.  It's fun to watch them.  I love that they are such good friends because I think the world of CJ.  He is an amazing young man.  If I only had a daughter.... :)

As soon as I walked in, CJ pointed to a scratch just below his eye and said, "This is what your perfect child did to me!"  I started laughing so hard because ever since CJ asked me for some good stories on Taylor growing up he always calls him my perfect child.  He had wanted some juicy (bad) stories on him and so I thought and thought and finally told him I honestly couldn't think of anything.  I seriously couldn't and still cannot. That kid was honestly the perfect child.  He never got in trouble.  The only thing I can remember is when he was about five years old and was at his cousin Tanae's house and they got in a closet with the phone and dialed 911 and the cops showed up.  That is pretty much the extent of his delinquency.  Now, as far as the rest of my boys, I have a long list I could have given him...haha....but Taylor really was the perfect child. Even as a baby he was totally mellow and rarely cried or fussed.  We were building our home at that time and so it was a huge blessing to have such an easy going baby.  He is still very easy going and laid back.  It drives CJ crazy that I can't give him some good stuff.  haha

dear hill repeats, I managed to get in 15 repeats this week and I was so happy that I was feeling strong the whole way through.  I hope I am getting stronger!  D day is only a few weeks away!

dear outing with mona, I felt bad I wasn't able to visit longer with Mona the night I took the bread over and so I told her I would take her for a drink or a treat the next day.  We were on our way out and she realized her oxygen tank was empty.  I ran up to her apartment to get another one, but it was also empty.  We headed to the pharmacy and they had some to spare and so we were on our way.  On our way there we saw a wreck at a four way stop.  Two cars decided to go at the same time and one ended up crushed.  It was rather scary how fast those things happen. 

 We headed to Maddox Drive In and sat outside on the tables.  It was a gorgeous day!  We wanted fresh peach pie but they wanted $5 for ONE little piece.  So I ordered a whole pie because it would only be $3 more and I would have some to take home.  It was heavenly!  We have fun together.  She is excited because it looks like she may have sold her house.  Yay!

dear fantasy football, we did our picks on Wednesday night and I was lucky enough to get Tom Brady, Steve Smith (for McKay), and the Carolina Panthers as my special team (also for McKay!).  I am not really sure who most of the other players are that I drafted.  But, lets hope I win again!

dear shopping and lunch with mom and her pals, my mom asked me if I wanted to go shopping to Farmington Station this week and I told her I would love to.  I thought it was just us, but it ended up being her two friends Kathy and Linda as well.  I didn't mind.  I love meeting new people, especially ones that I have heard about for years but have never met.  They were a blast and I had a really fun time.  

  We hit my favorite store Home Goods first (their idea not mine!) and then Marshalls and Gordmans.  We were ready for lunch by then so we headed over to Twigs.  This is the third time I have been there and I have loved it every time. 

 It was yummy!  

 With my cute Mom!
After lunch we hit Charming Charlies and then sat down and they rested for a bit.  It was really hot and the heat was getting to us all.  We got some ice water and just chatted for a while.  Then we headed back and I dropped Kathy off in Hooper where she lives and she wanted us to go in and see her new bedroom.  I was running out of time, but we hurried in real quick. It was a lot of fun to hang out with these guys.  I left at 9:30 AM and got home around 5:30 PM, so it was a long day.  I'm glad I went even though I had a million other things I "should" have been doing, but at this stage in my life I realize that making memories (especially with my Mom) is one of my biggest priorities right now.  I feel very blessed that I still have my Mom because the majority of my friends have lost theirs.  I try and take every opportunity I get to spend time with her. I was so happy she invited me.  She has invited me to several things lately and I am wondering if she is thinking that we need to get more time together as well.  Whatever reason, I am just so grateful I have the time to hang out with her.

dear national pickleball tournament, our little town was privileged enough to host the Pickleball Tournament of Champions!  It happened because the director was dissatisfied with Ogden and so he pulled it out of there and brought it here.  It was awesome!  Dave spent a lot of his mornings before work watching the players who came from all over the world.  This was a big deal!  There were players from Spain, Scotland, all over the United States and even one from Russia!  It was pretty amazing.  I went over one morning after my run and watched them too.

We headed down on Thursday night to watch the Women's finals.  It was amazing!  They were just so GOOD!  It was so fun to watch how skilled they were.  Most of them were tennis champions before they became Pickleball champions.  One of the women was the Russian.  I was rooting for her team, but they lost.  The winners were five times national champs.  

 I wish I could have gone and watched even more.  But it was also Peach Days this weekend and so that interfered with my time.

 I am standing with the Russian lady (bottom left).  I was sad the photo is blurry because I wanted to send it to McKay.

dear american mothers state board meeting....we met at Maddox again and I love it when we meet so close to my house!  I almost didn't go because I had plans with friends for Peach Days, but I figured I could do both if I left the meeting early.  I am glad I went because I got some great ideas for my Humanitarian calling.  Also because Marilou (who I adore) is leaving the state board because her and her husband are going to go on a mission.  She is the most amazing woman. I have learned so much from her.  She is the sister of Margaret Nadauld who used to be a vice president in American Mothers.  Marilou serves as co-president right now. I think it will be her last meeting.  Diane cried when she told us and the rest of us teared up too.  But she will be an amazing missionary. 

Marilou is on the bottom left photo two away from me.  Dixie (bottom right) told us to quit taking pictures because she was trying to talk. haha  She is a hoot.

Those in attendance on the State Board.  These women are seriously the cream of the crop in our state.  Each one is amazing.

dear peach days, in keeping with tradition, I rushed to meet Jen and Robin after my AMI State Board meeting so we could shop the booths and eat lunch.  We like to go Friday morning because that is the ONLY time it isn't crowded.  

 We shopped at our favorite clothing booth for a long time. We all ended up with some super cute things.  Robin and I got the same shirt because it was just. so. cute.

We tried on the clothes in this little tiny tent like thing and it was SO hot and so Robin and Jen just stood in front of the door so I didn't have to zip it closed.  (Bottom right photo)  It was fun though.  We looked around at all the booths.  Jen wanted Waffle Love and so did I but I didn't dare because I have a half marathon tomorrow and the last time I had one of their waffles I was sick for the rest of the night.  They are very sweet!  I ended up getting Iron Gate Grill's pork salad.  It was excellent.  Robin got a huge BLT.  I don't remember it being that hot before as we shopped.  I was dying of heat!  But it was fun!

dear carb loading with taylor and brad,  Taylor was running the Peach Days 10K on Saturday.  Yeah, I was super bummed I wasn't. I run it EVERY year!  And the year he does, I can't.  Oh well.  His friend Brad was also running it.  Brad actually trains.  Taylor never does.  We headed to Pizza Hut because Taylor said he needed to carb load.  That cracked me up.  Dave and Bryce took off to go fishing at the cabin, so it was just us.  They asked for some running advice and I tried to help them out as best as I could. They wanted to know about side aches and what to do and I told them how to run the course because it is a really hard course.  It is said to be the hardest 10K in the western US.  I have never ran another 10K so I am not sure, but I have ran this one so many times that I can attest it is hard!  I hope they do well!  I really felt bad I was not running it with them.

   We got a lot of food!  I wasn't even hungry so I didn't eat much, but those two ate nearly all of it!  We did take some home, but not much and they were eating more of it when we got home too!  It was fun to be with them.

We saw this in the parking lot as we were leaving.  I wonder if they escaped the Peach Days car show!  haha  CRAZY!  It looks like something me and my friends would do. 

 I came home and was going to watch a movie I had rented (Age of Adeline) but it was getting late and by the time I got all my running gear together, it was after 10 and so I bagged the movie.  I set my alarm for 3:15 AM!  I was already SO tired!  Zzzzzz.......... 

dear big cottonwood half marathon,  I didn't sleep well at all, but that is normal for when I have a big race coming up and when Dave is gone.  I left for SLC around 3:45 a.m.  It was so early!  It always amazes me how many cars are on the road at those crazy times.  As I was trying to find a place to park I saw Robin and Grant walking on the sidewalk.  At that very moment she was calling my cell phone.  I yelled at them.  What are the odds of seeing them?  I parked and hurried to the bus loading place and found them.

 We wanted to be on the last bus so we would have less time waiting at the start because it's always so much colder up there.  We were getting in line to find a bus and saw some nice big vans.  I asked them if they were taking runners to the start and they said they were and so we hopped on one.  We rode a LIMO to the start!  We felt like elite runners!  That was a first!  Pretty cool! 

 This start was different than any other I had been to.  The Porta Potties (PP's) were about a mile away from the start!  Seriously!  They were so far away!  We immediately got in line and did our thing and then hurried to drop off our clothing bags before the truck left. It was still pretty cold. 

 We got right back in line for the PP's again...as we always do.

 Big C always puts space blankets in the packet bag and so it was so cool to see everyone in their blankets.  It looked like Lost in Space! 

 We looked like Hershey Kisses!  :)

 These dudes looked like they had Jiffy Pop on their heads!  Too funny!

 Like I said, it was one of the strangest race starts ever.  We never heard anyone round us up and we never heard a gun go off.  The photo above is at the start.  At this time a lot of runners had already taken off.  In most races EVERYONE lines up at the same time and then the gun goes off and you all take off. Not this time. The race had started but people were just standing around still.  Everyone started when they were ready.  We all had timing chips and so it doesn't matter, but it was just so crazy.  I wasn't happy because I wanted to stay with a pacer and they were long gone.  Oh well. 

We started 10 minutes after the race did.  I did not like not having a pacer.  I wasn't sure what my pace needed to be to finish in 1:50.  This course is fast and so I knew I needed to hold back a bit at the start, but not much.  I ended up getting ahead of Robin because I could not hold back.  I know she wanted to run it together but you really do have to run your own race.  I stayed with her for almost two miles and then I just took off at my pace. 

 These photos are blurry because they are official race photos and I couldn't enlarge them.

 I love the downhill course!  Downhill is my favorite. Some people hate it, but I love it.  Your legs do take a beating for sure, but it's usually the day after when you feel it the most.  I was just so happy I had no IT Band issues!  Yay!  And I was very happy that I didn't trip!  Sherrie sent me a text at 4:00 a.m. wishing me good luck and telling me not to trip!  Aagh!  I didn't need that in my head! 

 When we got to the fork where the full marathons split off and the half marathoners go straight, I was SO glad I was not running the full!  I was hurting just running the half at only mile 8 or 9.  I was really pushing myself.  I passed the 2:10 and 2:00 pacers but never caught up with the 1:50's.  I figured they must have started 10 minutes before me.  But I could tell by my watch that I was making really good time and that I would finish at 1:50 or less.  I kept pushing it though, and at mile 10 when the downhill ends for the most part, I was feeling it!  But I knew I could dig deep and go even faster because I did it in TOU and I knew I had some left in me because of the help Mr. Russian guy gave me.  He instilled in me a lot of confidence!  I wish he was there today!

The course is absolutely beautiful.  I wish I had been a little less focused on my time and enjoyed the scenery a little more...but when I am running hard and hurting everywhere, I try to tune out and just listen to my music.

Some of the scenery

The finish line!  Not sure how I did two of the same photos in this.... oh well.

I got a new PR!  Not only that but I finished way under my goal time!  I finished in:
1:45:19!

 I was SO excited!  I didn't think I would ever get 1:50 in a half let alone 1:45!  Not in my wildest dreams!!!!  I was SO thrilled!  But I wasn't able to fully enjoy the moment because I wasn't feeling too well.  I pushed it HARD and I was paying for it.  I had planned on running an extra four miles because I was supposed to do a 20 miler today, but I was not feeling well enough to do that.

There were several times I was running a six something minute mile!  ME!  I was so surprised!  My average minute per mile was 8:03.  My fastest yet!  Here are my splits.  Totally jazzed about this!  It may never happen again and so I am ENJOYING it!

 With Robin at the finish.  She also got a PR.  She finished in 1:54.  

 They always have THEE cutest shirts at this race and they did again this year.
We headed out around 10 a.m.  I was feeling bad I didn't get in those extra four miles, but I told myself I would do them later in the afternoon.  Yeah, right!  Once rigor mortis sets in!  Not gonna happen!  And it didn't!

dear taylor 10K race, HOLY COW!  This kid took 17th OVERALL out of almost 300 runners!  That is amazing!  Even more amazing is the fact that he never trains or even has real running shoes.  I told him I hated him.  LOL  If he actually DID train and even ran a little bit, he would be winning everything!  He ran a 7:04 minute mile on this hard course!   I was impressed. In a big way.  To him it was no big deal.  His buddy Brad took 11th overall.  Amazing too.  But he DOES train.

dear peach days, I stopped and parked for a bit when I got into town and watched a little of the Peach Days parade.  I LOVE parades!  Always have!  Dave and boys not so much. Not even kinda much.  But I'm a sucker for a parade!  I love being in them as well.  I have been in them for so many things. Just so much fun! 

It was Zan's 2nd birthday party at Dave's parent's house.  Taylor and I headed over for cake and ice cream.  I was amazed that everyone was there.   

LOVE this picture.....

 I was not feeling too hot and had to come home and lay down for a bit.  I think I overdid it in the race today.  I then went and got Linda and Mackenzie to go to the concert.  Parking is a joke!  Our city's population TRIPLES during Peach Days.  It is crazy!  Apparently when I was parking (I had let Mickey and Linda out) I was backing up and almost hit a guy and Mickey told me he was cussing me out.  HAHA  Peach Days always has a big name (well big for Peach Days) to sing on Saturday night. This year it was Thurl Bailey.  Karen came later.  Me and Mickey walked around and saw a lot of strange peeps! I told her to count them as we walked past the carnival and she got to 138.  I am sure there were more like 10,000!

 I was ready to go home once it was over.  Dave and Bryce didn't get home from the cabin until after 11:00.

dear bryce and dave fishing trip, these guys packed in a lot of fun for just a little over 24 hours.  They caught some nice fish!

 Bryce with his catch

 Nice looking!  The fish isn't too bad either!  :)

 The leaves are already changing! 

I am glad they had so much fun!

dear quotes,

dear facebook quizzes, I'm STILL having fun with these!  SO silly, but so funny!

Hah Dawn!  This one is a little creepy!  ↓

GETTING EXCITED AND NERVOUS!!!

Only 19 more days now!!!

And a funny... 

Poor squirrel...