Where to Start

I will start off with my running (or lack thereof) and then get on to more of the funny, normal things in our life. And everything will be out of order but oh well…

“I firmly believe that the only disability in life is a bad attitude.” Scott Hamilton

“While a positive attitude doesn’t always work, a negative attitude almost always does.”

I have been so discouraged with my injury and obviously lack thereof of running! I’ve been out since June with most exercises. I have ran just a small handful of times (which I probably shouldn’t have) and only biked a few other times. But I have noticed that my attitude is everything. There is nothing I can do about my injury except to rest and let it heal. Some days are easier than others (mentally) but I am trying to stay on the positive side.  I am slowly coming back but I still feel a pain and tightness in the back of my knee.

I’ve been to the docs for a lot of physical therapy work… Today is Monday, December 18th, and a few weeks ago I was given the ok to start running, every other day, not going over 5 miles for each run! I have been loving it. It is not much but I will take it. On the other days, I bike, do a strength training class (which I so lack in), swim (well once so far in the 2 weeks), the elliptical, etc. It feels good to be able to do stuff again but I have a ways to go. I do have the good days with the not so good, but I have no doubt I will come back.

We finally got family pictures done (after 6 almost 7 years of not taking one):

My 2nd oldest had her 10th birthday. We invited the entire 4th grade over (all the girls). We put on all the invitations for no gifts! I do not want that many gifts coming in. 😉 Yes it is loud and crazy for an hour and a half but we didn’t want anyone to feel left out. A month after my 2nd child’s birthday was my 3rd. She turned 9. We had the 3rd grade girls come for more noise and chaos. But it was fun (with that many people, you don’t really have to plan activities because everyone just plays). They are growing up way too fast and are both turning into beautiful young ladies.…after my 3rd child’s birthday was Corom’s birthday… well today was a day of payback for people to get Corom back. Corom is always pranking people. It started off at midnight with a couple of kids coming to our house and wrapping our car with plastic wrap.

Corom was freaking out because all he heard was the dogs barking (and it was the people are near our house bark). Corom put the dogs in the garage so the neighbors wouldn’t get annoyed. Then about 10 min later we saw a cop drive around the school (next to our house). After the cop left he saw 2 cars pull into the school parking lot, get out with something in their hands and run towards our house. (By this time it was about 12:30 a.m.) Corom lost sight of the boys and began running from room to room looking through the blinds. A few min later he let the dogs back out. He had me call the police, once the dogs were barking again. The 2 kids took off because of our dogs as corom is giving me a complete description of the cars and where they are going; which I would quickly relay that to the police. We went out front to see exactly which direction the cars went when corom noticed his truck was wrapped. We told the police to call it off and it was just a funny prank. I felt so dumb telling the police that… they got a kick out of it.

We then woke up to our porch full of stuffed animals and a happy birthday sign… <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
n church, our neighbor took a picture of our good friend, Mike, wrapping our big sprinter van in streamers, plastic wrap, foil and Oreos… It made me laugh! Even better that we caught him. I told corom he had it coming to him with all the things he does to others. His birthday was fun spending time with both our families! My oldest made his birthday cake… she made a pig. I thought it was pretty clever. We took our girls to Moab and did some river rafting. One of the coaches I coach with (Alex Crystal) is a river guide in the summer and took us out. It was a blast!!! My girls loved it. We did some pretty amazing hikes as well. Halloween is always a great time! Trick or treating, Halloween runs, parties….

Thanksgiving… my parents were able to come for a visit. It was a great week hanging out with them, my sister and her family and my brother and his family. The weather was great all week. The boys and kids took the boat out for tubing and water skiing a couple of times, we played games, did crafts, swam and just hung out. we did do the whole Black Friday thing… holy mad house! Corom was followed by the Walmart cops and then asked to search his jacket and bags as he was waiting in the line to leave. We were not with him, otherwise, there would have been a ton of pictures. 😉 It was hilarious because he always gets pulled over, stopped, etc… so this wasn’t a shocker. ..but he does look a little crazy 😜 ! And the stuff in his bag was a little too funny. I had the opportunity to help cater a Republican Party event for the man running for president in Mali. It was a great experience and I was able to meet some pretty amazing people. A few of the “Railroad Underground” people were there and have done some wonderful things. With school now going, we have kept our days full. I have been subbing at the elementary school where my girls go and at the High School where I coach at… Our cross country season has been going strong. We have had great times, not so great, sorrow and team unity this year more so than any other. Lots of service and friendships with this group. They ran really well at region and then once again at State. Then it was off to our California trip. Disneyland, the beach, then the Footlocker race.

We keep busy on the weekends with Jamie (our guy from England) trying to stay out of trouble… Anywhere from big wheeling down steep mountains to rope  swinging into the ponds. We had a hard time Once Jamie had to leave. He has been a part of our family for about 7 months and fit right in. We can’t wait until he comes out next summer!

The girls played city soccer and little kids city cross country was going on … and yes, Corom and I coach all 4 of our girls soccer team; and I coach the cross country team. Corom also became the Jr. High cross country coach. It has been busy but we are loving it… and it’s fun having the girls enjoy it with us. Once soccer ended, we put the girls in city basketball. I love that the city has all these sports throughout the year. It’s cheap and convenient for us.

Here are all the rest of our pictures throughout the past few months…

Red Ribbon week (I was in charge of at the elementary school):

5 mile hike round trip to the hot springs with the Harris’s… Playing, redoing our basement, etc…