More Of My Crazy Life! 

My Running: I decided very last minute to run the St. George marathon the 1st weekend in October. It is one of my favorite courses! Corom was already planning on it even though he has only run once every other week the months leading up to the race. 🙂 So I knew that I would regret not running it come race day… We left around 5:30 p.m Friday night (with Mike Fullmer) to make the 3 hour drive. We did the whole packet pick up/expo thing, then drove up to the starting line to sleep in our van. 😊 Yes as you can see… I am not racing this one! I went into this hoping to just to come close to a 3 hour time. (Mike and Corom did sleep in the back of the van while I slept on one of the benches up front.) Not the most comfortable but it was cheap and we were at the starting line. 😊 I began the race a little more conservative. Going into it, I had no expectations. About half way in, I felt great so I picked up my pace. I could tell I was out of shape, especially the last 5 miles but I was able to finish with a 2:56. I was pleasantly surprised with that time. I ran back up to mile 24 to meet up with Corom and Mike. They ordered a pizza from Pizza Hut and had them deliver it to them at mile 24. It was so funny! They came in around 5:30-5:40. After I ran them in my mother in law called and said she wasn’t doing to well. I met her at mile 24 and walked in with her the last 2 miles. I will have to say that I have been trying RunGum out and absolutely love it!! I didn’t take any gu’s, shot blocks or anything except for the gum. It worked great! I contacted Nick Symmonds (the 800 Olympic Runner) and wanted to become a Rep/Ambassador for the product. So starting in 2017, I will be an Ambassador for RunGum! I’m super excited. 

2nd Daughter’s Birthday: My 2nd child turned 9 (September 6th). She is one of the funniest, corkiest people I know. She is so amazing, beautiful, and a very thoughtful young lady. She is growing up so fast and such a joy to be around. We invited the entire 3 grade over for a birthday party…. We pretty much let the kids run around and play. 😊

3rd Daughter’s Birthday & Baptism: My 3rd daughter turned 8 November 5th. 8 is a big birthday. She was able to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She was so excited and so beautiful! She is one of my best helpers around the house, is the best cleaner, always worried about others and so very thoughtful! Our family wouldn’t be complete without her! A week later she had a bday party. We never go all out but we do invite everyone in their grade so no one is left out. And we always put on the invitation (for all of my girls’ parties)… no gifts! That would be way too many presents! 🙂 There were about 25 kids that showed (out of the 60). It was a house full. 😳 But the kids had fun. Corom and Mike (our pediatrician) dressed up as clowns and took care of all the games. That was nice for me. 
Teaching Moments: A few weeks ago as I was picking up the girls from school, I noticed my oldest was on the verge of tears. Before the other girls came out I pulled her aside and asked what was wrong. She just burst into tears and started crying. For the record… My oldest really never opens up to me. She said someone said something mean to her. I just hugged her and said, “I want you to remember this moment! I want you to remember how you feel right now, so you know to never make anyone feel the way you do right now. You make sure you are always nice to people no matter what.” We talked for another minute about the situation. Inside The mama bear in me wanted to find the kid and yell or something, but I suppressed those feelings and didn’t make it a big deal for my daughter’s sake. Once all the kids were loaded in the car, we drove home and everyone started to walk into the house. I noticed my oldest daughter bypassed our front door and went straight to the rake. She picked it up, walked across the street and raked our neighbor’s lawn (an elderly couple) for 45 min to an hour.  I watched her for a while and knew that she would be ok! Not just at that moment but in life. She is learning that if you do service when you are feeling low, your low feelings will change immediately! When she came back, I asked her how she was feeling. She had a big smile and said she feels good. 

Halloween: Halloween is always a blast! I love it… so therefore my kids have to love it. Trick or treating, school parties, etc…so fun! 

Japanese Student: We had a Japanese student stay with us for a little while. His stay was cut short due to a tragic accident that happened with another host family and their exchange student. It was so fun to have him and we were saddened by the accident that took place. 

Thanksgiving Week: We drove to my parent’s house in Hollister, California for Thanksgiving week. My sister and her family (and my Aunt) also came for Thanksgiving. It was so nice to be there with family. 

Corom’s Birthday: We celebrated Corom’s birthday the day after Thanksgiving (the 25th because the 26th, which is his bday, we were driving home from California). We went to the beach, then to Denis the Menis park, then Corom, my sister and bro-in-law (Missy & Mike) went out to dinner for Coroms bday. My parents and Aunt Georgia took all the kids home. They decorated the house and made a cake for him. 

Our jobs: Well Corom just got a new job the week of Thansgiving. Yes many jobs since the jail job but this job fits Corom! He was hired on as a social worker for the school district. He works at the Jr. High right next to our house and a neighboring HS. He is really good with the youth! And now he has his summers off, all the days off the school is out for holidays and he is home by 3:30. Totally fits for him. I’ve been subbing a lot at the girls’ school and catering at the Clarion Gardens a lot. I enjoy doing it while the kids are in school. And my 2 older girls have been helping at the Clarion as well. It has been so good for them! They love it. 

Cross Country: The high school kids ended a good season. Our boys went into Region not expecting to make it to State. They all stepped up and made State by 3 1/2 points. It was an exciting race to watch. The girls were on the bubble to qualify and they, too, ran exactly how they were supposed to. State was an awesome experience and the kids raced well. We just finished our season with our last race in California. It was Footlocker. We had a blast in California… The beach, running, Disneyland ,the race, etc. 

School Pictures: As I said before… I’m at the school a lot with PTO (PTA) stuff and subbing. Red Ribbon Week was awesome and my oldest was Cleopatra for Night At The Museum. She was so great!!  

Random Pictures: 

Running Pictures: Chicago Marathon just emailed me these pictures a little bit ago. I ran my PR on that course (2:48) but that was the course that I thought I had it for the Olympic Trials. Bitter-Sweet. I absolutely loved this race/course.