Ode to a 5k

Oh, you treacherous fiend.

You seducer of fools,

with your promises of water bottles, t-shirts

and prizes that you must be present to win.

How did you do it to me again?

You cajoled, courted and wooed me, and I submitted.

I paid you for pain.

Surely there will be a day of reckoning for these abominations.

Today is that day.

Heart pumping, feet pounding.

I don't think I can do this.

I want to stop.

And I've only been running for three minutes.

Yes, on Saturday I decided to run the University Place 5k. It was a beautiful day for a run! I didn't realize until after the race that I hadn't actually run that far since before I was pregnant with Emme! But I did all right.

 I missed having you guys there so much!! Meggie, do you remember when we convinced you to run with us the night before a race? That was so fun though, running together, even if we weren't actually together during the running!

Anyway, considering that I have been doing no running at all lately, the race was great. I think I got 5th or 6th in the women. I think there were maybe 9 or 10 women running. :) Danny brought the kids and it was really fun to finish and have the kids come running up to hug me, yelling, "You did it Mommy! You won!!" They are my best fan club. Then there were pancakes for everyone and prizes, where I won a Famous Dave's t-shirt that I will save for Danny's birthday. (I actually had that on my list of birthday ideas for him, so that was pretty cool! )

I hate the first three minutes of the run, when you are sure you won't be able to finish, because you have used all of you energy worrying about whether or not you will be able to finish!

 Lisa Burt was there and that was fun to run next to her. She was actually running the route twice because she had to get in 6 miles that day. Crazy girl! She kept talking the whole time, whereas I thought maybe I would die if tried to say hello.

I wish I had pictures, but just imagine me all sweaty and icky and you've about got it. For a better mental image, Alaina wore my running number on her shirt the rest of the day everywhere we went. She thought that made her really cool.

So, all in all, it was fun to see how I did and the kids had fun and I got a t-shirt! I can think of worse ways to spend $25. Of course, I can also think of better ways, too!

So far, this is the oldest I've ever been.

   I turned thirty this year. It's a pretty big deal to enter a new decade for only the third time in your life. I always wonder why people make such a big deal over getting older, but Danny says it's not getting older they mind. It's looking older. Well, I'm not quite that vain, and I say better to get old than die young! I have to say, I love being thirty! I was a little afraid of it. So many people say things about getting older. "Oh, just wait until you're thirty. Then you will..." blah blah blah. They said the same thing about getting married. And do you know what? They're wrong! So, in honor of all my new laugh lines and wrinkles, here are a few things I like about getting older. (And just to keep it from being too boring, interspersed are some more pictures Meggie took of our family. We are a verry challenging family to get good pics of, since half the time we are just trying to get the kids to hold still! Thank you Megan for helping us to get some good pictures. It's a miracle!!)

(Alex kills me in this one and another one. He just looks like he is such an angel and all perfection. But we know what he was doing while we were trying to take pictures. Oh yes, we know. )

1. You are so much more comfortable with yourself. I feel like I know myself better than ever and can trust myself. In certain areas. I've had time to see how I react to different things and in different settings, and though I will always be a work in progress, I feel okay about who I am.

2. I'm not intimidated by people. I never feel nervous or worry about what they will think. Just imagine what I will be like when I'm 50! I'll probably just walk around naked and tell people to get over it.

(I loove the pics she got of Tristan. I just wish, oh wish, that we had gotten some individuals of Lainey that day, too! )

3. I've been married for 11 years now, and I love it! I was always so afraid of what it would be like when you are in the midst of raising your kids and your crazy lives, and I can easily say, this is the most fun we have had so far! We've loved every different part of our lives together, but we just love having these crazy kids and all the funny things they do and say. We love having kids old enough to talk to and do fun things with and to teach funny things to. And we know each other so much better. We rarely disagree, and when we do we get over it quickly. We're still sometimes grumpy or tired, but now we know that's what it is. When you are newly married every time something weird happens, you think, "Oh no! We're never going to be happy together!" I don't worry about that now.

4. I feel more confident as a parent. I don't second guess everything I do and worry that I am warping my children. Now I know that I am warping them, and I take pleasure in it! Haha, only joking. I know they are pretty much who they are, and I'm okay with that. I can't change who they intrinsically are, for better or worse.  And we have developed a sense of family identity, who we are as a family together. We are happy, outgoing, crazy, willing to let the house get messy for some fun or to do things together, and find ourselves to be the best things to laugh at.

5. It just feels nice to have thirty years under my belt, and still be myself. When I was little I would worry that the grown-up me would be totally different from who I was then. But I'm pretty much the same person.

6. I can still do the splits. And lots of other weird stuff. I still hang upside-down on the monkey bars and read my books in the tree sometimes and can still do a backbend and stand up out of it. I'm pretty proud of that.

Ummm.. there are lots of other things I like about getting older, but a lot of it is just about becoming comfortable with who I am and accepting myself, which in turn allows me to accept others as they are.  I don't mean this post to sound like I am bragging on myself, I just thought it was worth mentioning that so far, getting older is a-okay with me. I thought that might be reassuring to someone out there. Then again, two of the four people who read this are older than me, so I guess you don't need to be told!!
 
  On a last note, when I turned 30 Danny gave me a big kiss and said, "I've never kissed a thirty year-old before." I said, "I have. It's not that great." Hehehe.....

This is the other picture where Alex looks like he is pure angel. Do you see that sweet face?! No one else looks that great, but he looks like he should have a halo around his head.

The stars are aligned...

Yes, I think that even God may be on my side, as the computer won't let me onto any site without saying, "Operation Aborted" and then going blank. Any site but my own blog, that is. So, I was trying to catch up on all of your blogs, but instead I will write quickly on mine.
  A whole summer has gone by, with nary a post, so I will never get everything written down. I will, however, write about the rest of our trip to Meggie's, but since I am on my laptop and there are no pictures on here, I will write about other random going ons. And yes, it is nice to use the laptop and be in a comfy chair, instead of in the kitchen on a hard kitchen chair, except that the battery in this doesn't work and the cord keeps coming unplugged, so it has randomly turned off on me like 3 times now. I think we will invest in a new battery.
  New things- School has started! A little bittersweet. Especially with Tristan starting. In Kindergarten they still seem so very little, with their backpacks sticking up past their heads and crammed with all their supplies. How can he survive in the world without me? What will he do if someone is mean, or doesn't pick him for their team? What if a big kid tries to pick on him, or he gets lost on the way back from the bathroom? But amazingly, I seem to be the only one concerned. Tristan on the other hand, is happy and confident and loving school. He has two of his friends from church in his class, which I feel like was a real blessing, and they play together a lot. I do worry about the kids in his school. His one friend in his class from church apparently was coming out of the bathroom and was knocked down and kicked in the back and the stomach by two third graders. He didn't tell anyone until his Mom picked him up. If that happened to Tristan, I think I would hunt those kids down and... well, I don't know what I would do then, but it makes me soo mad just thinking about it!! So I told Tristan that from now on he isn't to go anywhere by himself and I am going to talk to his teacher about my concerns. He doesn't know anything about the bigger kids, and thinks he has to have a buddy so he doesn't get lost. He is just so happy and sweet, I can't stand the thought of anything changing that. And I think I would want revenge on someone if they did change that for him. And I think in the meantime, I am going to just get on the waiting list for a charter school. But, besides my worries, Tristan is loving school! Oh, and I helped in his class on Friday and had to convince a boy to stop coloring his picture of a teacher to look like there was blood dripping from his arms to his shoes. Lovely.
  Alex has had an amazing first two weeks of school and has been almost exclusively in the regular second grade classroom. His teacher is amazed and we are delighted! He has been earning stars by doing well in school, and today earned his last star at church to get a zhu zhu pet. He was so excited and happy and went to bed with it in a ziploc bag next to him.
  On Labor Day we went to the State Fair and Kattie and Justin came, too. We spent all day there and had soo much fun! We brought most of our own food to save on money, but did buy ice cream cones and curly fries. The kids had fun as usual, especially in a big sandbox they had with toys in it, and on the bike that blew bubbles when you rode it. Alas, our camera is broken and we are borrowing Mommy's, but I can't find the battery charger anywhere, so I didn't get to take any pictures! (No pictures of first days of school either. Sad. Don't worry Mommy, it is here, and we will find it!) But here are my favorite memories of the day-
  1. Tristan asking all day if he could ride the ferris wheel. When I told him I wasn't sure because it cost a lot of money, he said, "Justin can pay. He has a lot of money." And when all was said and done, he was right. Because in the end Justin did end up paying for me and Tristan to ride it together. It was so high and I tried not to let Tristan see just how uncomfortable I was and just kept smiling and trying not to hold onto him too tightly. But he loved it!
  2. Sitting in the bleachers listening to a bluegrass type band with fiddles and such play. But what made it so memorable was Alex dancing in the stands. Facing backwards for the benefit of the people behind us. And you guys know how Alex dances. So. Funny. We could not stop laughing.
  3. Walking around the animal barns, and as I passed under a sign, I jumped up so high because a huge spider had just dropped down in front of me! Then I heard a guy laughing, and realized that it was a fake spider and he was controlling it, making it drop in front of people to scare them. I guess you've got to do something when you are stuck next to cows all day. Of course then we had to make Alex and Tristan go under the sign, too and scare them. Why is that so much fun?
  4. In the pig barn there was a clipping from a newspaper of a letter that someone had written to them. The letter said this, "All you people who go out and hunt for meat to eat should be ashamed of yourselves! You should go to the store and buy meat like the rest of us, where it can be made and no animals are hurt." Can you believe that?! Next to the article they had written, "And just think, this person probably votes and may already have reproduced!"
  5. Possibly the most fun I had all day was riding a ride with Kattie that swung back and forth and went backwards and upside down. Justy was going to ride it with her, but convinced me instead. I tried to convince him to go, but really deep down I really wanted to. Oh, it was sooo funnn!! Crazy fun! And we were laughing so hard the entire time. At one point, they let you hang upside down for a few moments, and I could not stop laughing, and drool starting running up my face. How can you put a price on that? Luckily, I didn't have to, as Justin had paid for me. Thank you Justin, for giving me two of my best memories of the fair! And I think they had quite a lot of fun, just watching Kattie and I almost wet our pants.
  6. Last, but not least, after that ride Alaina was crying because she wanted to ride it, but obviously she was too little. I was about to give in and spend $10 so she could ride something with me, when a lady and her teenage daughter came up and asked if I minded if they gave Alaina a stuffed monkey they had. I told them they didn't need to, but they were welcome to if they wanted. The teenage girl gave her the monkey and Alaina was instantly soo happy and loves it and wouldn't let go of it even when she fell asleep in the car. After they gave it to her, they left really fast so we could hardly tell them thank you. But wherever you are out there, thank you, for not only doing something kind for a little girl, but for reaffirming my faith in humanity.
  So, that's all about the fair. So much fun. Still managed to spend $50 even bringing our own food and with Justin paying for the rides. (How can that be??) But it was well worth for the memories and the tradition. I love doing things like that with the kids.
  A couple of last things. The other day Alex got stung by a wasp on the forehead. He grabbed his forehead and said, "Ow! It's hot!" While holding him down so we could spray anti-pain stuff on his sting, I pointed out to Danny how loose his other front tooth was. So then we held him down a little more until that was pulled out! Poor kid, we can't leave him alone. But he was happy once it was out, and it was a good thing we took it out, because the new one was already coming in!
  Mommy was here and reading a kids Book of Mormon story to Tristan and Alaina. Tristan raised his arms and said, "I'm a Nephite! I'm a Nephite!" Not to be left out, but still wanting her to be herself, Alaina raised her arms and said, "I'm a Dora-phite! I'm a Dora-phite!"
  And lastly, Alex had to have blood drawn to test his med levels in his blood. He barely squirmed when they put the needle in his arm and just said, "Ow." Then he just watched while they took one vial of blood. But when they started on the second one he pointed at it and said, "That's dangerous!"