*Monday Memos*

*MONDAY MEMOS*

   

 (If pictures are too small, just click to enlarge) 
Weekly recap of my rather crazy, insane, but fun and rewarding life!

dear international day of happiness and first day of spring!

How fitting that the first day of spring and the International Day of Happiness fall on the same day! Spring makes me happy...even though technically only WE can make ourselves happy because happiness is a choice! CHOOSE HAPPY TODAY!! 😁😆#myalltimefavoritequote 

dear monday, I was very stiff from my 21 miler and so I basically walked and did my PT exercises while I was out.  I spent the day cleaning and then I got a visit from one of my friend's son who used to live here.  His name is Nick and he was so nice to stop by since he was in town to go to the dentist.  I tried to catch up on my blog, but sometimes I can only work on it for so long and then I am...done.  For FHE we had a bonfire and enjoyed being outside in the nice spring weather!  

dear tuesday, I had my harp lesson and it went well.  The only thing I really don't enjoy is theory.  I wish I had learned it all when I was younger because it is really brain cramping to me now!  lol  But, I'll keep trying.  

The City Creek Crew was supposed to meet today but the ones from American Fork couldn't make it and so the ones from here decided to go to Farmington Station instead.   I was a bit late because I had been talking to my harp teacher about running and other things.  It was fun.  We shopped at Home Goods for a long time waiting for Kathy to make up her mind on some outdoor pots.  

Then we headed to Blue Lemon for lunch.  I really like their food!  I had what I usually get, the Curry Chicken and Rice.  So yummy!  I ate it all.  My appetite increases when I get into long miles and I am always hungry!  I have to be careful because running with extra poundage is not easy.  Dawn invited her friend Julie to join us.  She was fun and cute.  It was a lot of fun. 

On my way home, I decided to text Laura to see if she could go visiting teaching at the spur of the moment because I had an appt with Kim either tonight or tomorrow anyway and it would be nice to get it done.  Laura was good to go!  We have some hard ones to catch and so we decided to just drop in on a couple.  It ended up being a great idea because we caught one home that might have forgotten and the other we haven't met and so we just left a little gift on her porch.  We did get Kim, but met at her moms again.  I got to hold Alexander the whole time.  He is getting so big! 

dear hill repeats, I headed to my favorite spot and got in 12 hill repeats.  I did my PT exercises while there since I need a lot of room to do some of them and it was secluded so no one could see me.  I did have a couple of cars drive by and I am sure they were wondering what I was doing.  hah

I was amazed at how much the temple looks like it is on a big hill from this vantage point. 

I took these to check on my form.  Man, I need to do these in a mirror because it's hard to get the form right on some of these.

dear mckay's 20th  birthday!  Oh my, how can my baby be 20 years old already?!  He is no longer a teenager!  It's crazy to think he is spending it half way around the world!  I asked the people on his email list if they would please send him a Happy Birthday greeting since we weren't able to send him a package.  I forgot he was on the email list!  Oops!  So I wrote and told him not to read it even though the email subject said, "Please send McKay a birthday greeting!"  Hah  But, at least he got a lot of wishes!!!
Here's what I posted on Facebook:
☆*☆*☆*☆ С днем ​​рождения!!!☆*☆*☆*☆ to my baby Elder McKay Wilding who turns 20 today (what!!!?) and is celebrating half a world away in Russia! When he turned 8 years old he wanted a Missionary Party (left photo) so along with the invites, I issued pretend calls to him and all his friends. If I am not mistaken, his call was to Russia! (I need to dig out those journals!) And to think he is actually serving his mission now so far away in the motherland! He returns home in 105 days! But who's counting? ME!!! He's definitely not! I think he would stay there another year if he could because he is loving it so much! He prepared himself his entire life to be where he is right now. This kid is an amazing and obedient missionary and there is no place he would rather be at this moment than serving the Lord and the people he has come to love so much in Russia! Sadly, we did not send him a package for his birthday because they keep being returned undelivered (after spending $90 on postage) and so I am very grateful his sweet mission president's wife made him a cake to give him during their zone conference today! 
♥ я люблю тебя McKay! #happybirthday #soproudofthisboy#missthatsmilingface 
#almosthometoYOURmotherland #105days! #vladivostockmission #siberia #РодинаРоссия

I made Borscht in honor of his birthday this year.  Last year we went to Panda Express, but this year I thought it would be fun to make Borscht.  I am surprised how easy it was.  AND it was SO GOOD!  AND it was PURPLE!  I had no idea it was purple!!!  How did I not know this????  I would have been making it all along!  

 It kept getting MORE purple!!! 

Here is the recipe:

Russian Borscht

Ingredients  8 servings 128 cals

• 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced potatoes
• 1 cup thinly sliced beets (can use canned)
• 6 cups vegetable stock or water (I added about 3 tsp of beef bouillon to water)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onions
• 1 teaspoon caraway seed (optional)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 large carrots, slice
• 3 cups coarsely chopped red cabbage
• black pepper to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh dill weed (I used more - it HAS to be fresh!)
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 cup tomato puree
• sour cream, for topping
• chopped tomatoes, for garnish

Directions

1. Place sliced potatoes and beets in a medium saucepan over high heat; cover with stock, and boil until vegetables are tender. Remove potatoes and beets with a slotted spoon, and reserve stock.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onions, caraway seeds, and salt; cook until onions become soft and translucent. Then stir in celery, carrots, and cabbage. Mix in reserved stock; cook, covered, until all vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.
3. Add potatoes and beets to the skillet. Season with black pepper and dill weed. Stir in cider vinegar, honey, and tomato puree. Cover, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer at least 30 minutes. Serve topped with sour cream, extra dill weed, and chopped fresh tomatoes.

His mission president's wife sent me some photos of the cake she made him and the little surprise party she threw for him at Zone Conference which was on his birthday. I actually emailed her asking if she would have the zone sing to him on his birthday, but she was already on top of it and immediately emailed me a photo of the cake she had already made for him.  I felt a bit silly after that.  But, that is the only time I have emailed either of them asking for anything.  We are so blessed!  Here is what I posted on Facebook:
McKay's mission president's wife sent us some photos today of the Zone Conference AND his birthday surprise she arranged! What a great blessing to have such amazing people leading and watching out for our sons and daughters so far away! It did this missionary mama's heart good to know he is being loved and taken good care of! ♥♥♥
She sent this with the photo: "We surprised Elder Wilding who was conducting the meeting, with singing "Happy Birthday Trifecta" to him and splurged with cake and ice cream before lunch!"

 LOVE LOVE LOVE!

 McKay was conducting Zone Conference because he is the District Leader.  His mission president's wife told us he did a great job.

 He sent me these:

 With Elder DeSandre who he trained.  He had some good times with him.

Love their reflection in this one

dear pt, I went back to the physical therapist on Thursday and did the same thing as last time.  I think it really helps.  He watched me do the exercises he gave me last time and I am so glad he did because I was doing a few of them wrong!  I think they are working though.  He is great and I enjoy going to him. His staff is also amazing.  Stephanie was working today and it's always fun to talk to her.  It was raining like crazy when I came out. That nixed the run in the bud.  I just wasn't feeling like a cold freezing run in the rain today and so the stuff I did at the PT would have to suffice for my workout today. 

I put this together so I could remember what I am supposed to do because these were only on video and so I took screen shots and copied the explanation.  It has helped me a lot.  I am supposed to do them 5-7 times a week.

dear play, I got Dave and I tickets to go see The Music Man at the middle school because our good friends son is the lead (Marshall).  I got two extra seats to invite Troy and Carol but Troy ended up having surgery and so we took Dave's parents.  It is one of his mom's favorite movies.  They did a good job.  Our little town has some amazingly talented youth! 

dear looooooooong run!  I had really been dreading my last 20 miler for days.  20 mile long runs are really hard and I wasn't looking forward to it at all, especially when the temp was only 35°.  The last one was in the 50's and 60's and so I was hoping for another good day, but I was pleasantly surprised how well it went! In the end I think the cooler weather is why it was such a good run.  I met Sherrie, Sherry, and Robin at the crack of dark thirty (6:15 a.m.) and we ran in the dark for about 45 minutes or so.  I was worried I was going to trip on something because we didn't take headlamps.  I probably should have, but I could see pretty well for most of the route.  It was so fun having four people to do the long run with! There is something about running in a group that makes it easier!  Probably because we are talking non stop and it keeps your mind off of it.  It's fun to run with different people once in a while as well.  

When we started.  Too dark for a photo of us.

Sherry only wanted to get in 8 miles and so at the sewer plant she split off and headed home.  

When we got to Walmart we stopped and used the nice, clean, indoor potties!  Beats porta potties all to heck!  But probably not good training.   haha  When we got on the west road south of Walmart it got really cold and windy!  It stayed that way for a couple miles and then the sun came out and it felt so good!  Robin stayed with us up to mile 14 and then Grant picked her up on the old highway.  She had to get home by 9 o'clock for a girl's weekend.  Then it was just me and Sherrie for the rest of the way.  I started to feel yucky about mile 13.  I felt like I had a bladder infection coming on and that is hard to run when feeling like that.  But once I got in my groove I was okay.  It was just when we would slow down to fuel and then start again that it was bad. However, at about mile 16, it was worse.  I ran through it and happily I started to feel a bit better by mile 19.  My Garmin was off by half a mile because it wouldn't catch the satellite when we started and so I had to keep adding a half mile to whatever it said. On mile 20, we ran up the hill on 7th north (simulating Heartbreak Hill at Boston) and I felt good!  It wasn't even that hard.  I was so excited that I was feeling good at the end of my 20!!!  On my last 20 when we ran up 9th north, I wanted to die!  And I had to walk half of it.  I was loving that I was feeling as good as I was this time.  I still wanted to quit every step of the way, because 20 miles is just a looooooong way and I really wanted to be done, but when we got to my house we had ran 20.5 miles and I didn't want to end on that and so I said to lets make it an even 21 miles.  Sherrie was totally good with that. She would go another 20 if someone would go with her.  I'm not kidding either.  We ended up with 21.2!!! I was so happy!  Mostly happy because I was feeling so good!  I did not feel like I usually do after a 20!  I'm not really sure why I felt so good but I wasn't nauseated (prob due to cooler temps) and I wasn't really hurting (my injury was feeling great - thanks to Advil probably - and possibly all the stuff they did on me at the PT yesterday) and I felt like I could have easily gone the full 26 miles. Not easily, but I could have.  I just don't usually feel that way after a 20 miler and so that made me VERY excited and it was a confidence builder for Boston!  Yippee!  That's done and I survived!!!  Such a huge relief to have that over with!  Now I just have a 12 miler and an 8!  And then BOSTON! 

This is off a half mile.  So actual distance was 21.2

Facebook and Instragram post (to document): Last 20 miler Boston training run this morning at the crack of still dark thirty with these awesome running pals!!!! Actually 21.2 to be exact! I felt great the entire run which hasn't happened in a long time. I'm hoping that means this injury is finally healing! Thank you Sherrie (and Advil!) for keeping me going those last few miles (and the bonus mile!) Three and half weeks until the gun goes off! I'm getting nervous as heck, but also soooooo excited!!!#lovetheseladies #bostontraining #roadtoboston #relievedtohavethatdone


dear boston runner's passport, YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!! My passport came in the mail today!  I was so dang excited!  This is getting real real fast!  I was so excited I had to post it on Facebook!  I am sure some people are getting sick of me talking about Boston, but I really want to document it and so oh well!  

My Facebook post:
The excitement keeps building and rose to a new level when I got the mail yesterday! This is getting real! #yikes! #passport #bibnumber #wave #corral#bostonbound2017

dear date night, I was really starving by dinner time after my 20 and so we decided to go to El Toro for dinner.  Sky joined us which was so fun.  El Toro had a 20-30 minute wait and so we hit Costa Vida instead.  Mmmm, that tasted good!  
After that we came home and Dave and I watched the movie Passenger.  It was a really good movie.  I would recommend it.


dear saturday, it was pouring rain in the morning and since I had just done 21 miles, I mean 21 POINT 2 miles (can't forget that point two), I decided to take the day off and just enjoy that I didn't have to run today!  I usually never run the day after a 20, but today I could have because I wasn't even sore.  I wish I knew how to make the stars align again like they did for that run for the actual marathon!  It was sweet! 

Weston and Mary dropped by to visit in the afternoon.  It was a lot of fun to catch up with them.  Dave and Sky were here as well and so we all had a fun chat.  We looked through a bunch of the old calendars and all the photos I added on them.  It was a stroll through memory lane.

dear general women's meeting, Dave and I headed to the church for the women's meeting.  He had to sit on the stand.  I sat by Pauline and Jackie.  It was a great meeting.  They always are!  Sadly, Pres. Monson was not in attendance.  

 The display was a tribute to the 175th birthday of the Relief Society and it was amazing!

After the meeting, I talked to Marci (she ran Boston in 2015) and she was so excited for me and gave me some hints.  They served the best sugar cookies! I got the recipe.

The frosting recipe is: 8 oz cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, and about 4-6 cups powdered sugar.

I rushed home to tell Sky goodbye.  He is heading to Puerto Rico for a week with his bud Jeremy.  He lucked out in getting Jeremy to go because his wife is going to Arizona or he might not have been able to.  Sky was originally going to check out a house to buy as a rental but the lady pulled if off the market yesterday.  Why didn't she do that before they bought their tickets?  But, they will have a great time spear fishing.  He hasn't been for a long time and he is super excited!

dear sunday, Dave spoke in our sacrament meeting because it was ward conference and he did a really good job.  He is a natural at speaking and teaching a principle.  He always has been.  I guess I should have seen this coming when he taught gospel doctrine and they had to move his class into the cultural hall because so many wanted to attend.  He has a gift. I had to teach Sunday School today and since it was ward conference we had a visitor from the stake.  That's always fun.  Hah I had each of the students do an object lesson that I had brought and they just had to demonstrate it and explain what it meant.  They did a great job.  It was fun.  At the end I felt like I needed to let them know how life is sometimes just hard and sometimes we feel like we are the only ones struggling but everyone struggles. Everyone at one time or another has hard things to overcome or doubts their testimony.  I told them about what it was like when we lost Tyson and we were going through other trials at the time and I was feeling a little picked on.  Dave has always told me there is great equality in our trials and I always told him I didn't believe that because I have seen some people that go through SO much more than others (my cousin Shelley for example) and other people seem to just smooth sail their way through life.  He doesn't agree and he probably knows because of his calling - he hears it all I'm sure. But I told them sometimes it is hard but that is why we are here.  We are here to see if we can overcome our struggles.  And even if we fail, that's okay because we have been given the atonement and it covers everything from sin to heartbreak to illness to discouragement, to doubting our testimony, to everything! We are so blessed to have been given that gift. We just have to remember to turn to the Savior at those times because He is willing, ready, and able to heal us from ANYTHING that we need help with.  What a blessing. What a gift.  Why don't we use it more?  I showed them a crisp $1 bill ( I should have taken a $100 bill to make the point a little deeper so I told them to pretend it was $100) and I asked them who wanted it?  They all did.  Then I crunched it up and smashed it and asked them again.  

They still all wanted it. Then I told them to pretend I dropped it in the toilet. NOW who wants it? They thought about that one for a minute, but eventually they said they would still want it.  I told them that the Savior still wants us as well no matter what we have done.  No matter what life has put us through.  No matter how beat up we are. He still wants us because our worth is STILL the same.  It has not changed one bit just as the $100 is still worth $100 no matter what happens to it.  

dear travel plans, UGH!  I sometimes want to scream when it comes to planning this Boston trip!  I have spent hours and hours and hours just on lodging and flights and now one hotel that I cancelled who had a free cancellation policy up to the day before has charged our card!  I even have an email saying it has been cancelled and so I was on the phone FOREVER trying to work it out to no avail!  UGH!

This kind of stuff is what might keep me from traveling even though my dream is to travel the world. I really wish we had some kind of Marriott points or a time share that we can just get when we go somewhere and not have to deal with all the hassle!  It has exhausted me! 

Yeah right!  There is a reason I didn't become a travel agent!

 Oh, and by the way be sure to...

Or go incognito on your browser. At least I knew that when I booked flights a couple months ago.

dear mr. cat, some days he really likes to listen to me practice the harp. Other days he runs up the stairs when I play!  I loved how he came and laid on the piano and curled in his paws while I practiced and just listened intently.  It was so cute.  

 He spent a lot of days doing this this week.  We got a lot of rain!

He likes to lay on my clean clothes in the laundry room before I get them put away. Hmmm.........  maybe I should put them away quicker.  Dang cat!

dear random, look at this purple shamrock Carson made for me!  He sent it in the mail!  What a cutie!

Our home teacher Brother Packer, sends us some pretty amazing emails from time to time.  These lighthouses might top them all!  WOW!  Just WOW!!!

My cactus plant is in full bloom and so pretty!

She's baaaaaack and out of hibernation!