A couple of updates and one big Bombshell

No updates for a while - because we've been a little preoccupied. BUT - I had to post a few pictures.
Sully started climbing the stairs a few weeks ago without warning.

Sully also received his first real haircut last week. That was traumatic. But I managed not to injure him - even if he did pretty much come away with white-walls.
Here we have the before and after. (Please ignore the disgusting breakfast bib in the first - I figured as long as he needed a bath I could sneak in a haircut.)


But the BIG news is that we put our little house in the Shire up for sale this past week. We've been thinking it over since Sully arrived - and we're finally doing it. We have really loved living here - but I think it's time. The hardest part is facing the neighbors, some of whom I REALLY hate to leave. I don't know what to say. Some of our friends have had a little advanced warning thanks to our kids - but overall I think everyone has been pretty surprised. The next question is - "Where do we go?" Don't know the answer to that yet, but I'm hoping to stay in SoJo. We're looking for more land for our kids and the hyper donkey - and more square footage. And horse property would be a plus for Jessie (can't believe I'm entertaining this idea) just in case we can't just always mooch off my Dad for her 4H stuff.

So - we'll see how it goes.

Mission Accomplished

Whew! We did it!
So... it rained all night before the race and the rest of the day after the race... we had a 3 hour reprieve - thank goodness. We got there to set up at 7AM and I briefed the finish line volunteers on how it was all supposed to work. As far as I could see (and my scope was limited) the event was a great success! For the most part people actually showed up to run in the wet and cold (about 40 degrees). Roy-son, my brother-in-law and right-hand-man, kept time AND kept the timer dry with his ingenious plastic bag. Plus, my sisters came and ran the 5k - which was great - although I missed running with them. But the coolest part of the day was watching Noble WIN the mile. Everyone was standing around waiting for the first finishers to come in, thinking we might see some teenager or adult - when we see this little kid rounding the bend of the river. I think, "That really looks like Noble." It was indeed. So a second grader dominated the fun run - outran 100 people - and scored a pretty decent time too. I had to run to catch him in the chute because he didn't know he was supposed to stop. Me: "Did you run all the way to the pond?" (I was suspicious that he'd cut the course - because Mike wasn't with him) Noble: "Yes." Me: "Did you know you WON the race?" Noble: "No. There was a girl behind me and I didn't want her to pass me." Classic. (There was no danger of that since the girl in question was like 30-40 seconds back). Me: "Noble, did you hear all those people cheering for you?" Noble: "I thought that they were yelling at EACH OTHER. ?" Awesome. (The other coolest thing was the dream Mike had earlier in the week about HIS race - which ironically Noble lived instead. You'll have to ask Mike about THAT. I'm still laughing about it.)
Sadly, the camera's battery was dead when I tried to take pictures. I'm really bummed about that. So you'll just have to visualize.

Game Time

So - tomorrow's the big day. I met with Arb this past Wednesday and he set me straight on race organization. (Wow. I'm glad I talked to him.) Weather forcast is predicting rain off and on...I'm crossing my fingers (I gotta keep that clock dry). ANYWAY...I hope we've planned for just about every eventuality (rain, cheaters, injuries, last minute registrations, etc.) but we don't have a contingency for me just screwing up. It's turned into a much bigger event than anyone anticipated - we'll raise around $10,000 when it's all said and done. Who knows? Maybe we'll grow so big in coming years that we'll break into the prestigeous circle of Ironman qualifier races! :) Or at least the Wasatch 100 (Casey...). Go NPA Eagles!

Spinning plates.

Lately at church we've been involved in the big Temple Youth Celebration which includes every teenager within the temple districts of the new Draper Temple and Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It's a giant music, dance, cultural performance downtown at the Conference Center the end of May. The weekly rehersals have been a logistical challenge - to say the least (especially with our family's schedule). But it really is a cool opportunity for the kids to have some involvement in the process of building a new temple.

I wasn't busy enough SO... I volunteered to help out with our school's fundraising event - a 5k, thinking that they would have me handing out water bottles, pulling tabs in the chute, whatever. Turns out they were desperate for help - because they put me in charge of the finish line committee - and apparently I'm the only one who's ever been involved with racing before. To begin with I asked if we had a race clock lined up. We didn't...and the expectation was that I would locate one...for free. Someone had to do it. So I've been on that one for about a month. Long story short - I tracked down my old cross country coach from High School - Coach Arbogast, to ask for some direction. He graciously offered to let us borrow a clock. I'll be picking it up tomorrow morning from the school (that will be a blast from the past! -walking the halls of Bingham High again - I hope the kids think I'm cool!) Hopefully he'll be able to make it clear how to use it. I don't want to mess up with 220 runners counting on an accurate time. The race is this Saturday (at the same time as Jessie's first horse show - wouldn't you know.) I'll let you know how that goes.

Quote of the Month

Talking to Jessie about how it's her turn to change and wash the sheets - Tillman walks past and says conversationally, "Yeah, I think I peed the bed again." - as if this happened days ago - and he wants Jessie to get on that. ...and then he just walks away. ???

Save the Planet - Eat Your Food!

(This is a Soap Box thing for me)
When people talk about saving the planet they usually want to talk about driving your car less, wind energy, organics, re-usable shopping bags.... but I've been gnawing away at something else recently. So, in the spirit of Earth Day....No, actually this sort of fits in a more inclusive category for me - requiring an observance of its own: "Quit Being So Spoiled Day".


Here's the thing, as a country/western culture we consume a lot of stuff, I think we've established that. One sure measure of our oppulence is the number of picky eaters among us. Kids & adults alike. To me this shows a serious lack of understanding about where food comes from and the rules of graciousness. I have strong opinions ...I make fun of myself for being kind of a food nazi when kids eat over ("In our house we TRY it"). And my kids have heard on NUMEROUS occasions: "There are people starving in the world." Which brings me to my next point. I was listening to the radio a week or two ago and listened to this guy say basically, "Yeah, the 'economic down-turn' is tough...but there are a lot of people in the world who have it worse. They actually starve to death." The University of Arizona did a study in 2004 showing that on average, American households throw away 14% of the food they buy - $590 worth a year. When you add food producers into the equation the number goes up to like 40%, wasting millions of tons of food and huge amounts of money. There are programs out there attempting to chanel some of that wasted food (mostly from mass food producers and restaraunts) to places where it can be used. But what about on a personal/household scale? Maybe along with our attempts to use less of everything else we should try to only USE what we need of food and EAT what we use. (Been on a cruise? Yikes.)
It really all comes down to a sense of gratitude. When I was in high school my Dad took me with him bow hunting. We rode around on horses for several days looking for deer. When one of the guys killed one we all gathered as he skinned and cleaned it. I had never been on a hunt, and I was a little worried that I would be squeamish - never be able to eat meat again. Surprisingly, as I watched him carefully work over the animal - I felt this sense of reverence - among all the people there. It was amazing.
While studying in Russia in 1995 I stayed with families living a very different lifestyle than the one I knew. They offered me their food - some of it strange to me, some of it hard to eat. But that food represented a sacrifice, a gift to me. It would have been SO wrong for me to reject it.
We have grown so prosperous, and food is so accessable that we have become disconnected from it's use, it's meaning, and a proper sense of thankfulness. My kids tell me about how certain school mates throw away apples, bananas, etc. without eating a bite... regularly. ??? That's crazy - and wrong. What have we become that we show so little reguard for the plenty we've been blessed with? I can't help but think that we'll be accountable.
No dessert until you've cleared your plate!

http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Financial-Industry/US-wastes-half-its-food

Sully in the Spring

Gettin' Jiggy on St. Patrick's Day

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What's going on?

Random updates -
Sully began to crawl, actually army crawl, Sunday. He's still pretty slow - but we can now say that he's semi-mobile. I've decided that the same developmental switch in his brain that flipped for crawling also controls the ability to spit. He spends about 2 hours every day spitting... which is pretty cool (especially when you're within range). But the face he makes while he's doing it is priceless. It looks more like a "bathroom" face: flushed (no pun intended) with intense concentration. The other kids LOVE it, and they spend quite a bit of time coaxing him to spit more. So, they stand there face to face with him spitting back and forth. I've told them I don't mind his spitting - but theirs is too much. I'll try to get a video of that.

Mike's big news of the week is that he won his first ESSAY CONTEST. (Seriously, he's proud of this.) He was poking around this website, www.snowshoeutah.com, and noticed that they were hosting a contest to win snowshoes, gaiters, poles etc. for the best entry about your favorite trail or why you want to start. Mike gave it shot, telling how he got all of us snowshoes for Valentines Day but that he was just skinning up his old telemark skis to go with us - and that he'd like his own. Anyway, of course they loved it. He's stoked. He'll pick up his new equipment tomorrow. Check out his moment of glory on their site.

Grace will be in the St. Patrick's Day parade down town. She'll be dancing with her little Irish Dance class (the Shamrocks) afterward for anyone who wants to come. Sat. March 14 - 9:00 AM at the Gateway. She's pretty excited.

And, on a little more serious note: as a non-contentious response to all the "Big Love" hubbub I'm posting this sweet video the church put out. It's cool how the church can turn something so lame around, giving people an accurate glimpse of the purpose and experience of temples. So, if you haven't seen it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x_-TQivCx8

For Angie's Birthday

Here we are taking a rest after snowshoeing up the trail below Timp.

Just after Mike took this shot we watched an avalanche up on the slopes of the mountain way up behind us. That's when we decided we'd gone far enough.

...later...we came back down the trail and found this cool amphitheater - the kids LOVED exploring it. Mike had to try a few tele turns on this little hill above it.

We had a great day.