Mother Racer

Saturday 28th: I was a little lazy getting out the door for my run. All my girls were playing with cousins, my sisters, Corom, in laws were hanging out eating breakfast and I couldn’t eat yet because I had to get my run in. I stepped out the door and the roads were awesome! 😉  

 My plan today was to run a 14 miler with 5 x 1 miles no faster than a 6 min pace. Umm… This is going to be a hard one with how slippery and icy the roads are. I soon found out that I had to alter my workout… Every time I hit a good section in the road I began my “mile”… The 1st one I actually ran 1.7 miles before the road turned bad, 2nd I ran 1.8 and the 3rd I ran just 1 mile. All of them about a 6-6:05 pace. It was not the most ideal running conditions but I got it in. And I finished the 14 miles. I felt like I was running in sand a lot of the time due to some of the snow conditions, so it was quite the workout today.    

 I came home to see that my youngest was contained…   

 The cousins were all playing and having a great time!   

  We took all the kids to the heated (hot springs) swimming pool. The dads stayed while U.S. Girls went shopping. It’s says a lot about swimming (in the cold) when I would rather go shopping.   

 There were times when they would get really sad when they knew their time was running out…. The cousins were leaving way early Sunday morning so after dinner we had to say our goodbyes. 😦  

 It has been a fun, fun week! The girls fell asleep so fast tonight! 

Sunday 29th: Everyone was a little tired and grumpy this morning but not as bad as I thought it would be. Corom had meetings this morning and then we traded and I went to my meeting. He prepared a talk (he has to give a talk in Sacrament meeting) and then I helped my youngest with a short talk she has to give in primary. (This was her talk: I know that my Redeemer lives and loves me and all of us. He shows his love for us by giving us a gift… A powerful gift and that gift is prayer. Jesus wants us to talk with him all the time. With prayer, we can talk with him whenever we want. We are never alone. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.) Short and to the point (she is 5 and did a great job). Corom and I also gave the 5th Sunday lesson in primary. We accidentally made a little boy cry but other than that it went well. 😉  

 We had dinner and celebrated Corom’s bday up at the Fullmers…   

  
Monday 30th: It is taper week! 🙂 I had an easy 6 miler. Oh that was nice! I slept in until 6 and it felt great. When I stepped outside it was only 12 degrees out. It is getting so cold! The rest of the week is supposed to be the same. I quickly got ready and helped with what the girls needed help with… Corom left for work and I left to go to the girl’s school. I am subbing today for my daughter’s kindergarten class. 😋 I am excited.   

  It is fun because each of my girls come in for a quick visit. One more than the others (my 3rd) but I look forward to seeing them. I had CC practice today… The kids went on an easy 6 mile run. It was crisp out today for them…  

 We had family night and then all of us went to my indoor soccer game. We lost really bad but it was fun playing! (I think the score was 15 to 6.) We were a bunch of old ladies playing against young recently graduated girls. It was tough but way fun!  

 Yes I am warming up… I’m old and am afraid to pull anything! 😁 I read to the girls on the way home (the Harry Potter book). They love it. They were quiet so that was nice. It was straight to bed when we got home! 

Tuesday Dec 1st: It is December already! I actually really love the month of December. Well I went out on an 8 mile run. Half of it with Mac and the other half with Amber. It was nice to run with people. 🙂 I worked at the Clarion Event Center for a little while this morning…   

 
After picking up my kindergartener we went home and cleaned and packed. (Corom and I are going to California for the weekend-leaving Thursday.) A really fun, cute couple is watching our kids. We had a cc meeting/practice today (went over our CC California trip). Our 1st activity for December was decorating the house. 😊 It turned into a quick mess but the kids had fun!  

 Amber and Rachelle stopped by to hang out for a bit. Always great to see them and hear their encouraging words! 

Wednesday 2nd: I had a short speed workout this morning. 8 miles total and I ran 2 x 1 mile at race pace. I was supposed to do 4 x 1200’s at a 6 min pace but when I went out running I could not remember the workout so I did this one. I ended up running a 5:55 the 1st mile and a 5:51 the 2nd. Yep… I’m still very tired. But we will see how this race goes. I’m not stressed or nervous for this one. I don’t know if that is a good thing or not. 😁 After I dropped the girls off at school, I went and worked at the Clarion again. I peeled a little over 50 lbs of carrots. My arms were actually getting a good workout. It goes to show I am week in the arms.  

 Rebecca made a stuffed salmon dish and I am so sad I was not around to work the actual event! It would have been yummy. I ditched out on CC practice today because I had to get ready for tomorrow… The 2 older girls went to activity days, then the 3 older girls went to piano, then the 2 younger girls went to the city dance class. We put the Christmas tree up for our Christmas activity. Busy! Busy! We are leaving for California early in the morning. 

Saturday 21st: I didn’t have time to go on my run this morning so I had to wait until 3 p.m. It was a busy morning. We had both our girls birthday parties today. (My 3rd daughter’s from 10-11:30 and my 2nd daughter’s from 1-2:30. We invited all the girls in their entire grade, so it was a little busy today! But all the kids had fun. This one is my 1st graders…  

   And this was my 2nd graders:  
   I was really tired after the 2 parties but I still had to go on my 17 mile run. So off I went around 3 p.m. I was supposed to run the last 6 miles starting at 6:30 pace and then going faster for each mile. Well, I had a pretty good pace the entire run (about a 7-7:15) and waited to tempo the last couple of miles. I was tired! Corom and the girls put the lights up while I was out running…  
 I had a mile to go by the time I got home so I had the girls (and dogs) join me…  

 I had to work at the clarion for a couple of hours (and Corom and the girls went hot tubing at the Fullmers)… I went hot tubing after I got home from the Clarion. It was so nice.

It was bed time shortly after that! 

Sunday 22nd: Church day! The girls got ready with plenty of time to spare. They were being cute!  

   Church was good and the girls were good. We had 3 families over for dinner (a last minute thing) but that is how we roll. We had a great time! After everyone left, Corom and I put the kids to bed and cleaned house. My sister and her family are coming in to town tomorrow (from Washington). We are excited. 
Monday 23rd: I went out for a easy 8 mile run. I met up with Beth for a couple of miles. It was nice even for those 2 miles! The girls and I helped with the Thank-o-grams before school started. This is a fun fundraiser for all the kids. My girls were a big help.  

 I was so tired today that I went down for a 20 min nap that turned into an hour!  It felt great. Corom snuck in a pic. I wish I could take naps every day. 🙂 

 I did head off to CC practice after we picked the girls up from school…  

 Corom and the girls came with me to my indoor soccer game… They played a little game before ours started. (My 2nd daughter wore a sweet bunny outfit.)  

 Then my sister, sister in law, and friends played our game.  The girls stayed up way late tonight waiting for their cousins to come in. Then they stayed up even later hanging out! School will be interesting tomorrow.  

 
Tuesday: It was quite the morning. I went to the school to help out with the PTO Thank-o-grams while my kids slowly got ready for school.  

 They wanted to stay home to hang out with cousins but they wanted to go to school because of the Thanksgiving “activities”. So I let the girls stay home during learning time and then brought them to school for their little celebration. Yep that makes perfect sense. 🙂 I helped in my daughter’s kindergarten class.  

 Corom, our youngest and I took my sister, Trina & Gary and their family to the Bean museum at BYU.  

 We hurried back to the elementary school to go to the Turkey assembly. My oldest was in the turkey strut/call contest. She was cute to watch. She ended up winning the strut for her grade. She was pretty excited!  

 At home the cousins just played!! It was lots of chaos and lots of fun! 

 All the kids put on a fashion show… It could have lasted a lot longer than what it did but after almost 2 hours of a fashion show, the adults were done. So cute, though. The girls room was a total wreck with every dress and outfit on the floor. But it sure was entertaining. 
 My sisters and I had a “worm” race and then all the kids tried it. We would always try to see who could do the worm better. Some pretty good laughs. 

 A very late night for all of us! 

Wednesday 25th: I slept in until 7 and helped all the kids get breakfast and ready for the day… With 12 kids in the house it was quit the process. My sisters and sister in law went out shopping while I went out for my 10 mile speed workout run. Today was a hard day to do speed… It was very windy! I turned my run into a fartlek run because of the wind. I tried to do my 1st 800 and when I ran against the wind I felt like it was impossible. I did 10 x 1 to 3 minutes hard. The majority of them I had the wind against my back. I was glad to get that workout done. We (all the kids, Corom, my brother & brother in law) met up with my sisters at In-N-Out. That was quit the experience, too. The kids were actually really good there.  

 The girls (sisters) and I did a little bit more shopping for Corom’s birthday (tomorrow). I don’t like shopping but it was actually fun with them! Dinner was always a process this week but we had a nice system with all the kids.  

 We had them work on little projects (rubber band balls, etc),they played more, built forts and then eventually went to bed… Kind of! 

Thursday 26th: Thanksgiving and Corom’s birthday!!  

 I actually went and paced a Thankful 13 half marathon early this morning. I had to get a 12 mile run in (so what was 1 more mile)… My friend wasn’t able to pace it and last night I told her I would do it for her. It was freezing this morning!!! My partner that was pacing with me had to drop out at around mile 8 or 9 due to stomach issues. It was fun and I had a pretty good sized group with me.  

I had the 1:40 time (a 7:38 mile pace). I came in at 1:39:59.6. 😉 It was a perfect training run and the time went by fast. I took off right when I finished to meet up with Corom and the rest of the gang. We were meeting up at the indoor soccer fields.  
We played for an hour and a half. Kids and adults… So much fun with everyone! Some of my cousins showed up with their kids.We would trade off where the adults would play “competitive” for 10 min and then play with the kids for 10 min… Lots of fun!  

 The kids didn’t want to leave but we had to get back to get the turkey going!We had another family over for Thanksgiving dinner (the Halls) along with my 2 sisters and their families and my brother and his family. It was so awesome being together! I truly was grateful to be with them. 

 We of course had pie, brownies and cake for Corom’s birthday. Quite the celebration!  

 As Corom was opening gifts (a little later) I was warned that a surprise was coming for him. We sent the kids downstairs and put a movie on. Corom had a friend show up with a nice little song. 😂 He left shortly after that but it was funny!  

 My brother, 2 sisters, brother in law and Corom went and experienced our 1st Black Friday (well now it’s thanksgiving day). We were there for about 20 min and then headed home. It’s weird to say that I was excited to see the huge hype of the shopping and great deals but lost it pretty quickly. So many people out getting everything they could. Too much. We messed around and Corom was pretty funny but like I said we came home shortly after.  

That was the 1st and last time with that experience. But It was a great day with family and friends! Good times and good memories! We stayed up so late again and the kids probably stayed up even later.  

Friday 27th: I had a free day of no running. It was nice to be able to get up and not be stressed of when to get my run in. We all went to the discounted movies (watched Pan)…  

 … We headed straight to my nephew’s soccer game (the kids played on the little field while we watched the game).  

Then went to my sister, Missy’s house for the rest of the day (well the next couple of days). Our aunt Georgia came over, Uncle Mark and a couple of his kids Tracy & Rich, Christian (& his kids) to hang out.  
It was a fun night of hanging out with family. We don’t get together often enough!   After everyone left and all the cousin were settled down for the night (kind of), the boys decided to go hot tubing at the community hot tub. Us girls didn’t want to go because it was 15 degrees out.  (My aunt did go with them… She’s a trooper!) 

 I tried to go to bed somewhat at a decent hour… I think a little after 11. I have a 14 miler with speed tomorrow… 

Friday the 13th: I went out for a 8 mile run. My legs are achy and tired! I’m still trying to decide if I can physically and mentally race CIM up to level I want to race at. Some days I think I can but the others, I just feel… tired. I did go into the school for PTO stuff for awhile and then headed to the Clarion Event Center to help Rebecca cater a wedding. 

  Corom had today off so he took our youngest out on their one on one. A cute little bike ride to the grocery store for ice cream…  

    
 I picked the other 3 up from school and then my 3rd child and I went on our one on one. We, too, went to the grocery store for a treat and grocery shopping…   

   I took my oldest and her friend to the library for a little while… 

  We headed over to my nieces 2 year birthday party. Always fun hanging out with family! 

 Corom helped a friend out building their house as I went to bed. He didn’t get back until 6 a.m. I don’t know how the guys can pull all nighters!  

 
Saturday (14th): Today I had a 20 miler with 2 x 5 miles at a 6:15-6:25 pace. I felt good for the 7 miles before the tempo and even for the 1st 3 miles in the tempo (that’s because it was downhill) but the last 2 miles of the 1st set my legs were achy… Maybe because I went to flat and slight uphill for those 2 miles. I still held onto a 6:15 for those 2 (the 1st 3 were about a 6:05 average). My recovery 2 miles in between we’re back up a steep hill. I once again used the downhill to help me with my tempo run. I was tired! I ran 4 miles at the tempo pace (about a 6:10-6:14) then cooled down the rest. It was a tough run. I had no water and took 3 shot blocks. The girls played on our stairs with their new mattress (thanks Corom for finding a free baby mattress on the Internet somewhere).  And the girls and neighbor kids had fun in the backyard with the fire… 

 I worked at the clarion again for a few hours today for another wedding…  

 Then Corom and I got a babysitter and went out with our friends (The Cooks). We had so much fun! We have not gone out on a date for awhile and bowling for that matter…  

 We ended up at an ice cream place and meeting some “under ground gamer” people. It was very interesting. But we had a fun time on our date. 

Sunday (15th): Church was a little rough… The girls were a little more restless than usual. And with Corom on the stand… It stank! I was glad when it was time to go to our classes. 🙂 We went to the Clarion for dinner today. Rebecca & Rick had left over food from yesterday’s event so we decided to do dinner together. Sophie, their daughter, played a lot with my kids… Bless her heart! She was a trooper.   

 
 Corom and Rick started to work on something but I left with the girls to get them ready for bed… My 3rd took my phone. 🙂   

Monday (16th): I went out for a 10 mile easy run. Still not feeling fresh but I got it done. My youngest and I went to Corom’s work for lunch at the jail. The inmates make all the employees (guards, sheriffs, receptionists, therapists, etc) lunch. (I’m not aloud to take pictures in the jail but I was able to in Corom’s office.) 😊 My youngest and I went to his office to hang out for a bit…   

 Then it was home for us… Clean up, pick up kids and off to CC practice. It made the other coach and I laugh when we saw one of the kids talking on his cell phone and another kid was wearing just shorts and a tshirt on a freezing day. Pretty entertaining…  

 
Then we had 5 young families come over for dinner. We had a fun time getting to know each other. My kids did a family home evening message for everyone. We talked about the God Head. I think my 2 younger girls were more confused when my oldest finished the lesson. It was rather entertaining!  

 Tuesday 17th: I had an easy 10 miler this morning. I met up with Beth for 7 miles of it and that was great. It does make it easier to run with someone, so thanks Beth! It snowed  during our run and throughout the morning. The kids loved it!  

 I was able to meet up with some good friends of mine for lunch. We have not gotten together in so long. It was fun to hear what everyone has been up to. (Corom did come to pick up Danica and hung out for a little while.)  

 The girls came home from school and were excited to see their rooms all switched around… We put their desks in one room. So now it is their homework room. They loved it!  I loved it; They did their homework. 

 We went to our cross country banquet. It was a nice catered dinner from the clarion event center. The banquet was great. Good kids! We had a good size group earn lettering points and awards.  Our kids had fun with the clean up. 

 We came home and put the girls to bed (they are all now sharing a room). We are reading Harry Potter right now so it will be nice to read with them all in their beds…  

 
Wednesday 18th: I had a speed workout this morning. It went lousy!! I could not hit my marks. Ugh! I was supposed to run 12 with a workout of 6 x 1 miles at a 6:10 pace with a 1 minute recovery… Well I think I ran 11 total and turned it into a fartlek. I had no energy to run the full mile at that time. Not a good confidence booster at all today! I talked with my coach and he told me to take tomorrow off. I was relieved to hear that. I helped at the school today for PTO stuff and then cleaned house. The girls and I had CC practice, Activity Days, piano lessons, the city dance class and then I had my RS meetings/visits. Not that much at all! 😉 Wednesday’s are my busy days! Corom did have a random drug test today… I guess working at the jail comes with perks. 😆

 
Thursday 19th: I was able to sleep in (for just a little bit), but it was nice not having to go out and run. I needed the break. I worked in my daughter’s kindergarten class.  

 For CC, we took the HS kids to a park with some good hills. My kids love when we take the HS kids to do this workout. They get to play on the playground there and they join in on their workout.  

 Shortly after I fed the kids (and Corom), I went to a nice dinner for the RS ladies and neighbors. 

Friday 20th: I went out for an easy 8 mile run. It was nice having yesterday off. My legs did feel a little more refreshed. We had Thank-o- grams for a little PTO fundraiser  

 And then we had a jump roping activity for all the kids at school. Each grade level came at a different time. It was so much fun! As you can see… Corom had a little fun (we actually did a little double Dutch together). Good times!  

 I had to work at the Clarion Event Center for a wedding today. I found out it was for a kid that was on the track team. It was fun to see him and his new wife!  

 In the evening we got a babysitter and Corom and I took a group around on the bus for Sadie Hakins. Corom is too funny!  

Thursday November 5th: I met up with Amber this morning early! It’s my 3rd daughter’s 7th bday today so I wanted to get back earlier than normal (even though I usually get home before everyone wakes up). The run went well. My legs are tired but that is normal. I did head over to the school to help in my Kindergartener’s class… Then we ate lunch with the birthday girl at school. 😊

  A friend of hers came over after school… She opened a couple of presents…
  Then opened a couple of more at dinner. We decided to go out to dinner to a new Chinese restaurant in town. Yeah the kids were not the best but we managed to get through dinner quickly. 😁
 We of course had cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday…   Our 2nd child was a little pouty over who knows what but soon got over it when we were eating cupcakes. 
 
Friday: I went out for an easy 8 miles this morning. It was nice to have only 8 to run. I dropped the kids off at school and then headed to meet an old friend of mine from high school. It was so fun meeting up with her (Amber Miller)… I think I’ve only seen her twice since HS. We had a great visit and the food was good!  (We went to Zuppas.)

 I went to another friends house to see how she was doing. My youngest and her daughter are really cute friends! 

 I ran to my 3rd daughter’s class for her animal show and tell. She wanted to show off her kittens… I found them out in the field eating the chickens scraps. I promise we do feed the kittens. After school many of the neighbor kids came over. 
  We had about 12-13 people come over for game night and snacks… We had fun playing some “old school” games I played growing up. 
 I went to bed way too late! It was about 12:45 a.m. 😕 I am getting up early to run with a friend. 
Saturday: I met up with a friend from Park City (Danya) for my wonderful 16 mile run… It turned out to be a great run. We ran the 1st 9 in a 7 min average pace and the last 9 in about a 6:10-6:20 pace. I am so glad I met up with her to run. We pushed each other and made what could have been a long, boring run, a fast and enjoyable one. It was quite the workout!   

 At home we had our typical Saturday… Chores (which usually our 3rd daughter is the only one who really cleans… And is way good at it), yard work, and then fire time in the barrels.  Corom did head over to that sheriff’s house to plant a new pear tree for him. (On Halloween night Corom knocked over his tree by backing into it with his bus.) Trees, I come to find out, are not cheap!! Way to be responsible, Corom! 
 I just had to take this picture because it was too cute! 
 
Sunday: Today went smoothly with getting the girls ready and attending church. They listened and were good! We had a few families over for dinner and then a church fireside at our house. All the youth (12-18) in our ward came over for scones and message. We had a great turnout but I guess when you tell the kids there will be food… They will come! 

 Then my girls were just having fun with the camera!  

    
 My kids are way too cute! 

Monday: I started off my day with a 12 mile run. It was a no faster than a 7:30 pace. It was hard to get going this morning that I don’t know if I could have gone faster than 7:30. It was cold and dark but I got it done.  I helped in my 3rd daughter’s 1st grade class this morning. I absolutely love working with the girls. 

  Then Corom, my youngest and I met up during his lunch break and went to buy a tree for our yard…I didn’t want to go at 1st but  Corom and I have had a rough couple of weeks, so I thought it would be good to spend more time like this together. Now if only he would grow up! 😉 Totally joking because that’s what I do love about him is his ability and personality to have fun whenever and wherever we go. Anyway… Fun times on getting a tree.   I had CC practice this afternoon and sent the kids on a hilly, long run. 
  For family night, we played games…  And then I took the 2 older girls with me to my indoor soccer game. I really enjoy playing with my sister, sister-in-law and good friends. It is so much fun! It was also fun to have the girls with me… They were the perfect cheerleaders (maybe too loud at times 😑). 
 
Tuesday: Another morning run of 10 miles. I felt pretty good this morning and held onto a pretty consistent pace of about 7:20.  I got back and as we were getting the girls ready, realized we didn’t take our trash can out as the trash man was already across the street heading down the road. Our trash can was full! Crap! On my way to dropping the girls off, I saw the trash man coming down our street but across the intersection… I called Corom to run our trash can about a quarter of a mile down the road. I didn’t think he would really do it, until I saw him when I was driving home. 😊 Yes, I picked him up and drive him and our trash can home.  

 I ended up in my Kindergartener’s classroom again and then helped with PTO stuff…  

 The girls had friends over and then it was a pretty quiet night. 

Wednesday: I went out for a very hilly run this morning. I met up with Beth for 8 miles and continued on to total 15 miles. I went well but the hills were brutal! I was tired the rest of the day. My youngest and I went with my friend Misty and her daughter (and misty’s sisters) to lunch for Misty’s daughter’s birthday. The girls had fun!  

 My girls and I headed to CC practice…  

 The 3 older girls had piano lessons and then the little City dance class. 

 corom came home early tonight (Wednesday is his late nights) and I went on RS visits. Busy day! 

Thursday: I struggled through the easy 10 mile run this morning. But once again, I got it done! I am substitute teaching today for the Kindergarten class at my girls school (the other kindergartener class from my daughter’s). It was so fun but also very draining. I don’t know how teachers do it day after day! I learned a few kids names very early on! 😁 I really enjoyed it and it was fun to have my girls visit me throughout the day.  

 For CC it was another hill/speed workout. It was tough.  

CCorom had church meetings and the girls and I hung out. I started reading Harry Potter to them… That took up most of our evening. 

Friday October 30th: I went out for an easy 8 miles this morning. I was a little rushed this morning with getting the girls ready for school and all their Halloween “stuff”, getting our Japanese student off to BYU, and then getting myself ready (with all the Halloween classroom party supplies). I went to the school to do the last drawing for Red Ribbon week. Corom and I stuck around after the PTO stuff and watched our Kindergartener in her Halloween parade. So cute!  

 We went to her (my youngest) class soon after to help with her Halloween party.  

 Corom and I were able to run home and clean house before we returned back to the school. We helped in the other 3 girls classrooms as well. There was a time lapse between 2 of the classrooms so my mother in law came to help. 🙂  

 I was in charge of doing a craft (in each classroom), so I chose this along with making the ghost suckers.  

 For my oldest’s class, we did do the crafts along with a donut eating contest. 🙂 Of course we had their teacher, Corom and another dad show the kids how it was done. As you can see, Corom still has his megaphone in hand.  

We stuck around for the older grades parade…  One of the teachers announced she was expecting (her husband joined her in the fun, little parade). 

 As we were driving home, I noticed Corom was on the phone talking to people in the most annoying way… It never ends. 😉

 Our Japanese boys came back from BYU and we all hung out. (My mother in laws student is going to stay with us for a couple of days… They have more fun together.)  There English is not the greatest and my Japanese is not there at all. We used google translator… It was quit funny at times. For example, I asked them about dinner and the response Google have back from their answer, “I don’t mean to be a nuisance but I want to eat you for dinner.” It was fun with them… 

 
Saturday: Today is a big day for us. Lots going on! I got up at 4:45 a.m. to get my long run in. I couldn’t find my garmin and I didn’t have time to find it so I just ran for time (about 2 hours). I went straight to the HS to set up for the 5k race this morning, then ran home to get Corom, the girls and the 2 Japanese boys. No surprise here… Corom has his megaphone in hand giving out a cheer right before the race started…  

 My 2 older girls and Corom ran the 5k and the 2 Japanese boys, my 2 younger girls and I ran the mile race. It was a fun time!  

 We did have to hurry home and get everyone ready for my 8 year old (2nd daughter’s) baptism. She thought it was so cool that the day landed on Halloween. I went down to get the boys (to leave). I think their jet lag has set in!  

 We piled into the car and of course there was a wasp in there… I hate wasps!!! Terrified of them!  

 We met up with my sister and her family (my niece was getting baptized, too), my parents, brother and his family and my mother in law and her husband. It was so neat to see my daughter and niece get baptized and take those covenants. They are new members of the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints.   

  It was a special time for our daughter. She is a sweetheart and always so caring for other’s needs!  We love her so much!  The boys from Japan thought it was “cool” and very different to see a baptism. We went back to my sister’s house and had a late lunch. Shortly after we left to go trick or treating. We went to our church’s “trunk or treat” first…  

 Went trick or treating around my neighborhood… Hit up another trunk or treat:  

 …and then got together with my parents, brother and his family and sister and her family and drove around to a different neighborhood on the good old bus. It was quite the fun times! The 2 boys from Japan loved it. (Well one did and the other didn’t know what to think. :))  

 Corom did hit a plum tree and broke it in half, when he was backing the bus up. Of course it had to be a sheriff’s and a sheriff that he works with. Out walked the sheriff’s brother in law and it was a guy that served a LDS mission with Corom (in Costa Rica)… What are the odds!  

 But not surprising either… Almost expected with Corom. Halloween just got expensive with how much we will have to pay for a tree. But at least We came home with a lot of candy!!!  

 A friend of ours came over (the Lambs), for scones and hanging out. They have a Japanese student and the boys wanted to get together to play pool and eat.  

 It was a great day! The best part being with our 8 year old and her baptism. 

Sunday: The girls and I hung out with the boys before church started (Corom was at a meeting)… Then Sarah (my mother in law) picked them up after her ward was over and took them up the canyon for a little hike. We went to church… After we got home, Sarah dropped the boys off and we met up with 8 other families at the park also hosting boys from Japan.  

 
Monday: I went out on a 10 mile run. I felt good this morning and not knowing my pace due to losing my garmin, I think I pushed the pace, but who knows? 😉 The boys went to the local junior high this morning and then I had our PTO meeting right after school started… It’s always fun hanging out with other parents/teachers/school staff. There was an assembly for the kids today. It was a group of students that jump ropes professionally. It was really entertaining!!!  

 The girls and I headed off to cross country practice…  

 We went to Corom’s moms house for dinner, then went to our friends house, the Carter’s, for hot chocolate & cinnamon rolls.  

 Putting the girls to bed was quite the experience for Corom. What a trooper. The Japanese students fell asleep early tonight! They were so tired. 

Tuesday: I had another 10 mile run this morning. I didn’t feel as good as yesterday but I still got it in. Corom left early to take the boys back to BYU. And I got the girls ready and drop or then off at school. I did go into my 3rd daughter’s class for her spotlight. She is so dang cute and I adore her teacher! All my girls have excellent teachers.  

 The rest of the day was pretty low key. The girls played with friends after school and then the normal homework, dinner, bedtime routine. I did go to the movies with some ladies in the neighborhood. It was nice to go do something. I came a little after our Japan student… And the 3 of us hung out for a while. 

Wednesday November 4th: We all got up early to hang out with Takashi and Haruto (our Japanese boys)… They are leaving this morning (flying to San Fransico) so we wanted to be ready and say our goodbyes.  

 At least when we took the “family” photo, the boys had a good smile. 

 We said our goodbyes and then Corom took them to BYU to meet up with all the other students. After I dropped the girls off at school, I went on my 12 mile speed run. This one was so mentally hard!!! I hit my marks on the 10 x 1000’s and even ran faster on the majority of them. But I did stop after 8 and sat there for a minute wondering what I was doing and why I was training. I wanted to just run home and call it good. But I knew if I didn’t finish, I would regret it… So I finished the workout and the 12 miles. I was grateful that I did but I really struggled. We will see how the rest of the week goes. I was able to clean house and run errands today… Then it was the busy Wednesday! Cross country practice… 

 Activity days for the 2 older girls, piano lessons right after for the 3 older girls, dinner, then dance for the 2 younger girls.  

 Wednesday’s are crazy but it’s how I am. The girls went to bed early and I went and played bunko with some friends. (Corom fell asleep with the girls too at 7. :)) Fun times…