*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 monday,  I was supposed to go trail running with Jen this morning but she wanted to leave at 4 a.m.  which meant getting up at 3:30 a.m.  Um, NO thank you!  I am already seriously sleep deprived and I couldn't justify that today. So I just ran around town.  It was hot!  The heat exhausts me fast.  My niece Aubrey was on Ch 13 today.  She sang a few songs and she did really well. I am so proud of her.  She is not only gorgeous and talented, but is the coolest girl and so kind and sweet.  

I got stuff ready for Carson's party and the made him a Panda cake.  They went to the pool while I baked.  Had to run to store a few times.  The cake turned into kind of a disaster.  His head stuck to the pan and so it wasn't real secure because it had a couple pieces I had to dowel it and I didn't have any dowels and so I used new pencils.  Hah  But it still kept falling off.  UGH!  I managed to get it to hold it together. Come on Panda!  Hold it together!  You never know what will happen when you make a 3D cake.  On the way to the park for his party, the front of his head fell off.  But he still turned out cute as could be.  

 I embellished him a bit with some bamboo and grass.

 Carson liked him. Look at that face!

We had his party at the park.  It was HOT.  

 It was a lot of fun.  Everyone was so nice and brought him presents. 

Our family is so great to come and support. 

He was so cute opening them.  He got some fun stuff! 

 The Singleton's were walking by and stopped to chat.  The sunset was A M A Z I N G!

We headed to Arbies after to grab some chow.  Carson decided to take my phone and take lots of pictures.  He mostly cut Dave off.  Haha

Love that little face!

dear tuesday,  oh man my run was so so so hot!  I have to enjoy it though because in about six weeks it will be COLD! It was pretty humid as well and that makes it worse. I saw some cute baby goats.  

I played with Carson when I got home.  We went outside.  He decided to get the scissors and trim my geraniums.  He also trimmed my spikes.  Maybe a bit too much! LOL  We also did snakes and smoke bombs on my porch.  Then we decided we better do them in the sandbox. 

I facetimed Taylor, McKay and Nat.  They are going sky diving tomorrow.  They are having fun.  They zip-lined.  I am really sad that Carson and Sarah are leaving today.  We played all morning.  We made an Ivory soap explosion in the microwave.  

We also made sun catchers (forgot to take a picture!)  We made fun shapes, dinosaurs, moon, and even a temple.  They turned out pretty cute!  Sky made dinner tonight and it was good as always.  He made homemade mac and cheese and shish-ka-bobs. Wow - they were so good. And NO pix!  I have been slacking!  hah  Carson's panda plate and cup came in the mail today. He loved it and immediately wanted to eat off of it.  He is so cute.  He kept taking my phone and taking pix of me.  I guess he is paying me back for all of the ones I take of him. Hah

Then they left.  I gave him a hug and he held me tight.  It was really so sad.  He didn't cry or whine. He acted so grown up.  He is so dang cute gonna miss him terribly. 

 They had a hard time getting on plane because her license got stolen.  I guess it was so sad and they treated her like a terrorist. Carson was crying.  I was angry when I heard how they mistreated them.  They didn't even have them seated together on the plane.  Sheesh!

Sarah posted this adorable picture.  They were twins and didn't even plan it.  

I really cleaned out the pantry because we had a pop can explode and there was a lot of stickiness in there after.  I cleaned up the playroom and put all the stuff Carson loved away.  Kinda sad.   I vacuumed...something I have been letting Rinda (my robot vacuum) do it while they were here because I'd rather play with Carson than vacuum. Who wouldn't?   I tried to catch up on things I let go while they were here.  There is still so much to do, but there always is.  I missed RS tonight so I could catch up.  I haven't practiced my harp all week either!  Time to get back on track! 

dear wednesday,  I ran hill repeats today.  Not fun!  But I made it to 15! Yay!  I saw the cutest rockchucks!  They were adorable and I sat and watched them for a long time. 

Looks like he is doing hills as well!

I cancelled my ortho cause I still have one aligner set left.   I practiced harp for about 90 minutes then headed to Ogden to shop.   I had my harp lesson in the afternoon and so I went to that.  It was an hour lesson this week.  Right on the dot or maybe not quite.  I felt like it was a good lesson.  I won't have another one until school starts.     After my lesson, I went to Farmington Station and did a bit of shopping.  I love that place.  I love the Madbrooks Donuts and stopped and grabbed a few.  I have really been trying to be good as far as eating junk.  I have gained three pounds since Boston and need to get it back off.  I feel better without that extra.  Sounds minimal I know, but not when running.   Dave has been on call this week and he had meetings tonight.  I had a Becky Edwards Webinar on Heaven Journaling that I watched tonight.  It was interesting.  It's a lot like what I do though not as intense I think.  I sure do miss Carson!

dear thursday, I ran 5 miles this morning and it was a good run. It felt good.  I headed to El Matador for the Boston Sista lunch. Only four came. Bonzo was so funny. She made the lunch fun.  She cracks me up.  It would not have been as fun without her.  We got some pix. 

I then did some shopping at Costco, TJ Maxx etc. McKay was home from Hawaii when I got home.  He had a blast!  They went sky diving yesterday.  Dave and I went to Clive's viewing.  So sad. I am going to miss that man. I can't believe he's gone. The veiwing was more like a party than a viewing and that is what he would have wanted. 

dear friday, I didn't really run much because I want to save my legs for the dam race tomorrow.  I hurried and got ready and rushed to Clive's funeral.  I was on time (even almost 5 minutes early) but they had started early.   It was a great funeral. He was a great guy.  So many funny stories.  After, I talked to peeps from our old ward.  I came home and worked on balloon cards for Tyson's party.  Ran to the Dollar Store and Walmart.  I bought stuff for the party.  We didn't have a date tonight. But we did have pizza with the boys. 

Saw this pet bunny by the school this morning.  Hope he made it home safe.

dear dam race, this morning was my 10th Anniversary of when I ran my first race.  It is also Tyson's 29th birthday!  10 years ago (not to the exact day- or maybe it is) I ran the Mantua Dam Race.  I mainly did it for the t-shirt that said, I SURVIVED THE DAM RACE!  More about that at the bottom on my FB post.  Dave sacrificed his Pickleball match to come and support me. I tried to get him to go to it, but he said this was my anniversary and he is always there.  He is but I felt bad.  

Robin and Grant were there.  There were about 240-ish runners this year.  We lined up and we were off!

There was a guy who is my age that about mile 1.5 caught up to me.  I think his plan was to pass me but I put on the gas and was able to keep the lead the rest of the way.  He did catch up to me the last half mile and I was glad because sometimes you need that kind of motivation to run faster.  And I ran super fast so I would beat him.  I love having someone to catch or to not let catch you in shorter races.  It's the push you need to dig deep sometimes.  

I ended up with the time 41.46.  PR is 41.17 last year. So I was very happy!   I got 1st place in my age division!  Yay!  23rd overall woman and 64th overall runner.  The USU track team was there so that changed things a bit. But my pace was 8:21 pace.  Not my best, but not bad for a five mile course.  Robin did really well and got 3rd place.  Talked to Bob and Linda S. and didn't really know too many others.  Robin and I fought over an ugly hat they were throwing out.  We stayed and got our medals.  Dave stayed and then had to go so I got a ride home with them. Saw him pulled over on way home with Singletons.  

I was laughing so hard at Robin when she went and got her medal. She was posing for Grant to take her picture but he was having a hard time getting the ribbon going. 

 FB Post↓

This morning I ran (and survived) another Dam Race in Mantua to celebrate the birth and life of my son Tyson who would be 29 today, as well as to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of my very first race! I took up running in 2007, a couple of years after Tyson passed away, and it has been a big part of my life since. The Mantua Dam Race was my very first race (mainly so I could get the t-shirt that said, "I Survived the Dam Race!":) ) and now 10 years later I have run 8 full marathons, 27 half marathons, countless 5 and 10K's, and many other distances. Running has blessed my life in ways I could have never imagined when I first began, but the greatest blessing has been the connection I feel with my son Tyson as I pound out those miles. It has been great therapy mentally, emotionally, and physically and I hope I can continue to run until I cross that final finish line. I often get asked why I run and my simple answer is that I run for those who can't. I feel greatly blessed that I have the health and strength to be able to run and I dedicate my miles to those who are not able to. I feel Tyson cheering me on with each step I take and I know he runs with me at times. Happy Birthday in heaven Tyson! I hope you are having a party with fireworks and blowing things up! ˆ◡ˆ. I love and miss you every single day! #isurvivedthedamrace #heavenbirthdays#runlongandneverquit #runningisagreatteacher

dear overdue garage cleanout, Sky decided it was time to clean the garage (should have been done a couple years ago) and took everything out. Bryce and McKay were helping thank goodness!  I would have but I was booked full all day.  They are such great kids. I am so blessed and grateful!

dear happy birthday tyson, I almost didn't do a party this year due to crazy scheduling conflicts but my Mama heart just could not not do it.  It's my way of keeping Tyson's memory alive and he would want that.  We had to do it during the hottest part of the day (5:00 pm) so my parents could come.  They had to pick up my Aunt Dixie and cousin Mike from the airport who are here visiting from California and then going straight to Bear Lake.  I feared no one would want to come at that time. But......I was wrong!  We had a great turnout!  Brooke and fam didn't come because she is expecting and the heat makes her sick.

It was a fun party!  It was a lot fun to have Mike and Dixie here!  We ended up with  lots of peeps. 

 

Balloon launch

Me, Mike, Dekyln, and Miles were the only ones dressed in Hawaiian. Oh well.  (top right)

 This is actually a very pretty sight!

 Fireworks!  Tyson was a pyro and LOVED fireworks!  They were LOUD!

And of course, we MUST have Chocolate Ecstasy for dessert.  Tyson' favorite! 

Maxx was the cutest!  He kept asking me to come and run through the sprinklers with him. I said, "You bet!"  I was hot and it felt good! 

Those who came.  Great turnout!  I told everyone we would be out of there in 30 minutes, and we were close, but everyone still stayed longer.  I was glad.  I love it when people like to gather especially in memory of Tyson.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY in heaven TYSON!!!

We went to Golden Spike for burgers (I had salad - I felt deprived!) and saw Lynn and Linda and fam as well as the ortho in our stake.

Tried to work on the blog.  It's sure nice to have some big events over. Now to Bear Lake this week and Alaska next.

dear sunday, I woke up feeling blah.  I got ready anyway and went to church.  It was a great meeting.  But I had a hard time sitting there. I really felt like I needed to lay down. Might not look good for the SP wife to do that in sac mtg.  Troy asked if I could meet with Brother P after. I figured it would be a release of my RS calling. One of them anyway. It was. No longer humanitarian chairman.  No complaints. I was more than ready to be released. I have run out of ideas in that calling. I have done about everything in the city that can be done ...twice.  They need some new blood and new ideas.  Now I am down to only three callings. I will miss helping on the RS board though.  After that I decided to go home and get some Tylenol but once home I had to lay down.  I didn't go back. Didn't feel well.  Dave made a great dinner and I ate and then laid back down.  Our HT came and we had a great visit as always. 

dear boston marathon certificate, Yay!  It came!  I guess it's official now. I ran the Boston Marathon!  :)  hah

 I also got a great magazine all about the 2017 race!

It has the results posted inside!  Pretty cool! 

The lady in the picture is my friend from Utah!  She is the one I met at the Lucky 13 Half.  She is 62 and looks 40! 

This all still feels like a dream!!!  What an honor and a blessing for me to have run the Boston Marathon.  It truly is!

dear random, Sunday was Carson's birthday.  Sarah sent me this picture!  He has the shark towel on his head and playing with his new Noah's Ark he got for his birthday.  What a cutie!

 This animal!  He is NOT allowed on the counters and there he was just casually laying there as if to say, "I am the king! I will do what I wish!"  That didn't last long!

McKay's HAWAII trip to see Taylor with Nat 

 Sky diving!  This is the same place I went when I sky dived on my 50th birthday!

 FUN FUN!

My Dad sent me this!  Just love that little Kahlani!