Paul, Missy, Violet and Jude's Easter

Hi! I hope everyone had a good easter. Our easter was super fun! This is the first easter Violet was old enough to realize what was going on. We started a few traditions this year, like both Paul and I going to get her in the morning wearing bunny ears and having an easter egg hunt after church. I'd write more but Jude just woke up and is very hungry!

From Andrea....Half Marathon

Thnks for the birthday wish, Jen! I had a good day, minus the moment I realized that I was in the final year of my 20's.....so sad! :)

Well, it took a couple of days, but here is the second half of my last post.

So, two Fridays ago, my good friend and neighbor, Shawnie and I headed up to Moab for the half marathon we were both running in. I was a little bit nervous about the whole thing, but did a bit of positive self-talk and decided that there was no one I needed to compete against but myself. Deciding that helped me to feel less anxious about it and made me more excited for the race than anything. We had a great time, just the two of us, chatting and laughing on the way up and for the rest of the night.
The next morning was race day. We had some breakfast and headed up to the bus stop where we would climb on school buses that would take us up the canyon for the start of the race. It is so beautiful up there and I was excited for the distractions that came naturally on such a incredible course. Getting to know some of the other racers could have been one of my favorite parts of the whole day. I love learning about people and hearing what motivates them to do these types of things.
As the race began, I was feeling great. The first 6 or so miles went really smoothly and I felt like I could run forever. However, about mile 7 I started to feel sluggish and kept myself going by reminding myself how great it would feel to finish. This motivation pushed me for a few more miles. But at mile 10, I felt what others describe as "hitting a wall". I came to a steep upward hill and decided that of all times, this would be my best time to walk. So as I walked up the hill, I was able to build up some more strength and ran steadily for a mile or so. Then, at about 11.25 miles, I was feeling great! I knew the end was so close and I began to speed up and pass people along the way. Again, I felt like I could run forever. I have never been even remotely close to running this much and the idea of finishing made me so excited.
As I reached what I thought was the last leg of the race, I was convinced I only had a quarter of a mile left to run. But when I reached the corner and saw the finish line, it seemed like an eternity away! It may very well have been a quarter mile, but it looked like 3 from where I was! It took all I had to keep running and not just give up and walk the rest of the way. Old me would have, but a new confidence had been built as I came to realize that day that I was doing something I had NEVER imagined I could. Practically in tears from exhaustion, I crossed the line at 2:10:31 and nearly passed out!
Other people describe finishing their first half as exhilerating and the biggest rush they'd ever felt. NOT ME!! I seriously thought I was going to pass out or die!! Either way, I figured I would be happier that way, than the way I was feeling at the moment. I met Shawie, who finished with an impressive 2:00:10 and walked until I got my heart rate down to a less alarming rate and collapsed on the ground. I laid there for a few minutes until I felt I could walk again and headed to the car for a shower and the trip home.
When all was said and done and I was able to think clearly about what i had done that day, I was anxious for my 10K this Saturday and the Provo Half Marathon in April. I equate it to how some people describe labor. It totally sucks most of the way through, but when all is said and done, you're ready to go again. Crazy....I know.

OOPS!

Oops, silly me. I'm still thinking it's Wednesday. I published my last post then viewed it and saw that it said the 13th. So Happy BELATED Birthday Andrea!
Jen

Happy Birthday Andrea!!

Hey birthday girl! Sounds like you had an absolute blast. I can't imagine what Robert would do if I showed that much enthusiasm in public. He would probably get up and move a few rows away. He wouldn't want any attention brought to him. Though I am pretty sure he acts like that at some Duck games. Did Joe just look at you in amazement? It's so funny to picture. Anyway, just wanted to say Happy Birthday and I hope you have a great day.
Jen

Long time.....

Well, I have been dying to post these messages, but have found life (school, really) to be a little overwhelming and hogging a lot of my time. So as not to get the two things mixed up that I want to write about, I will post 2 seperate posts. I'll start with the first....

So, as I mentioned in my last post, my VERY frugal husband splurged and bought us a joint Valentine's Day gift of 3rd row seats, behind the Utah Jazz, against the Mavericks last Monday. I was so excited and counting the days until the big game. Monday came quickly with everything that has been going on around here and the date was a much needed break from reality. We got to the arena about 45 minutes before the game started so that we could watch the players warm up and soak in as much of the "expensive seating experience" we could handle. As we are waiting for the players to come out to the court, I notice a few people lining up next to where the players come out, so I ran over really quickly and asked if I could be a part of it too. Well, to my delight, I was placed second from the front just as the team came running out of the locker room. I stuck my hand out and totally froze. I cheered, but for the life of me, could think of a single blasted name of any of the players. It was so awesome though and that was the beginning of Joe wishing he was a little more openly enthusiastic about fun things like this.

I will preface this next part with the fact that we are big.....no HUGE Utah Jazz fans. As long as school doesn't conflict, we are on the couch together watching the game in suspense, yelling when we feel necessary and cheering loud enough to wake our kids-we often do. I sometimes find myself wondering what all the effort is for when no one IN the game can hear us. So, as I sat there on Moday and thought about the fact that we were IN the arena, not to mention ON THE THIRD ROW, I realized we were certainly going to be a true part of the action and decided I was going to act accordingly. (As a side note-Joe and I went to a Brad Paisley concert a few weeks ago. This was our first outting of this type and when it was over, Joe had no question where it was Luke got his energy.)

Well, the same was true for this "outting". By the time the first half was over, I was hoarse. It was an incredible game, we were winning and the refs were calling TOTALLY crappy calls. I was having the time of my life-literally. During one of the time-outs in the first half, the camera was scanning the crowd for the "best fan." Every few seconds, the camera would come to a new person who was waving wildly and screaming like a mad person. Well, needless to say (see above), my face flashed on the jumbo-tron for a split second and I felt fulfilled-although I didn't win "best fan"...I got totally jipped. At half-time, I notced my phone ringing and after many attempts to identify the caller, I realized it was my friend Liz. She had seen my face on the screen and located me behind the bench. In her blog she said that once she spotted me, she spent a lot of the game watching me because I was the most animated of my entire section.....I'm so proud.

Well, the best was yet to come. All through the game, I was trying to get a, I thought, much deserved t-shirt from the guys who come out and shoot them into the stands. Well, no such luck--until the 4th quarter. The Jazz dancers came out with shirts in hand and I went crazy believing this could be my last chance. One of the dancers and I made eye contact and she threw one at me. As it was on its way, I began to realize the 40 year old guy in front of me was going to snag it. Well, we both caught hold of it and started pulling. When I realized he wasn't going to give up easily, I gave it a hard jerk-harder than I realized apparently, because I pulled him back OVER his seat and ripped it from his hands. I held it up in victory and started screaming and jumping up and down. I looked down and realized I had the strict looking security guard laughing hysterically in amazement at what had just unfolded. Joe was so proud. I was a little embarrased at first, but realized that he was the punk trying to steal it from me. It was a good fight....and I won.

The rest of the game went just as well and I was hoarse for a few days after the game. We had such an amazing time and began figuring out the logistics of 3rd row season tickets for next season.....we'll see. As we were leaving, a guy behind us says to me, "You know, you should really try to loosen up and enjoy these games a little more." HA! That sums it all up....

P.S. I will post pix soon. Sorry for the long post!

Just rambling

Hello everyone! I'm just sitting here at the computer putting off paying bills. I thought this would be a nice delay for that chore. Actually, I have to admit, once I start doing it, I absolutely love it. Especially entering everything in our Quicken acct. I love the organization of it. I'm actually thinking of keeping financial records for one of my friends just so I can do more of it. Call me crazy but I really enjoy it.
Paul, Missy, Heather, Rob, Robert, all the kiddos and I enjoyed a lovely evening up at Gramma and Grampa's last Sunday. The kids had a lot of fun together and we adults had a nice time visiting. Does everyone realize GGma just turned 95 years young on the 26th?!!!! What a woman! She is so amazing. I only hope all of us can tackle that age with such vigor.
When we moved into our house last year, Missy mentioned it would be a good place for doing a big Easter egg hunt. Our property is in need of some revamping and the weather is only just starting to cooperate, so unfortunately we won't be having an egg hunt this year but please tentatively mark your calendars for next year. Would it be better if we did it the Saturday before Easter? Well, I guess we have a whole year to plan it.
Ideas for a family reunion this summer are stirring. I think we will be hanging out at our house again for the latter part of the day. We will have the pool table, ping pong, volleyball, sprinklers (or slip-n-slide), darts, track ball, etc.. Rob also suggested going to the falls somewhere up past our house for a little hike and nature enjoyment. We all definitely agree that we do not want to go to mud lake again. Eewww. That was gross. As for the date, Andrea is supposed to be in town sometime in July. We want to try to plan it for when she is here. Andrea, when will that be? I guess Bill and Kathy are also going to try to make it this year. Let me know if anyone has any other ideas for activities or if you have other games you could bring to our house. Maybe we could do a scavenger hunt for the kids if we go to the falls, or we could do some type of treasure hunt at our house with a map and all that fun stuff. Just brainstorming.
Well enough babbling. I'm off to play on Quicken.
Much love to you all,
Jen