Ghosts and Monsters

I forgot to tell about Mark. Last Friday, was a little crazy. Alex took the morning off to hear Christopher read a story at school and since we only have one car since we left California and public transportation can take a while, I offered to drive him to work. I had to pick up my packet for the marathon anyway. So, as I was driving Alex to work, we passed by Arlington Cemetary. Mark pointed at the tombstones and asked me if I knew what they said. I asked what they said and he told me, "They say, don't come in here because there are ghosts and monsters!" It seems as though Halloween and the movies he saw at that time are lingering until March. Never underestimate the power of a good scary movie and a child's memory!

National Marathon

So, I finished the marathon in one piece. Below are some of the highlights. I would like to say that the body is an amazing thing and I can't express enough how happy and grateful I am to have a healthy one. I feel strong and capable of pushing even harder after accomplishing something like that. I finished in 4:23 which was a little less than my goal of 4:30. Jackie was a great friend to keep pushing me and to even get me to commit in the first place. I was content sticking to my normal running routine. We had a pasta night the night before to get us properly nourished. Jana and Laura (on the left) ran the half marathon and did a great job. Jackie and I ran the marathon. We started early in the morning. The temp was in the 30's. Not great for observers, but perfect for running.

Jackie and I before the start. I was lame enough to drop my timing chip at the car and was paranoid I wouldn't be able to do the race, but luckily Alex was able to retrieve it in the nic of time!

While Jackie's family and mine were waiting, they were freezing, so they piled in the van and watched a movie and stayed warm!

I was impressed that Alex had gotten Anna to keep her bow in. I have a hard enough time doing that!

Here are Jackie and I coming to restock at around the 13 mile mark. Alex and Aaron (Jackie's husband) were ready and then pushed us right back out to keep going.

We were totally wiped out, but also had a sort of energy from finishing! I will say that gu's are awfully wonderful at refueling, but I am so sick of them. Alex bought me 2 gel packs (green apple) and those were much better, but I think no matter what you are taking you get sick of them. Still, I wouldn't have done without them. PayDays at the end of a really long run are like heaven!! The last six miles were worse than the first 20. I looked at my timing cycles on the official site and found that I was running 9 1/2 min miles for the first 20 miles and then slowed way down for the last six. It didn't help that for the last 2 or 3 miles it was hilly and spectators kept saying "One more hill and then there are no more" Well, there were a lot more and there was even an incline going into the stadium where the finish line was. But, next time I will know not to relax or have expectations of it getting easier until it is finished!

Author's Chair

Christopher goes to a great school and they have the first graders write and "publish" their stories. They then get to read them to the class and the parents are invited to listen as well. Two of Christopher's stories have been about his family, but my favorite was titled "The Perfect Parents." The story then went on to tell how he has the perfect parents. Mom stays home to help him as much as possible and dad works hard for him. It was very sweet and wonderful to think that at least one person out their thinks that I am perfect!

Bath Time

Just some fun pictures at bathtime.

Strange Fun and My Husband

Our VCR died last week and Alex was very excited because he thought it would be fun to take apart with the boys. The boys got so excited you would have thought we had told them we were taking them for ice cream! Christopher is still carrying the motor around and Anna even got in on the fun. I would like to take a moment here to say what a wonderful husband I have. He takes opportunities like these with our children. He teaches me lessons. Christopher had been having some trouble with one of his best friends and Alex left him a note in his backpack telling him how much he loved him and hoped things would get better for him. I didn't even think to do something like that! He takes time to teach and help. Over this last weekend he was loaded down with a lot of school work. We were both speaking in church and the boys were singing. He helped to iron the clothes on Saturday night, helped with the housework and still did all of his school work. He is an amazing man and I feel so blessed to be married to him!

American History Museum

We went down to the recently re-opened American History Museum over President's Day weekend and boy was it crowded! We were lucky to look at one display. We settled for seeing the flag which inspired the writing of our national anthem. We couldn't take a picture as it is in a special display case with lighting that is dim to protect it, but it was great to see that piece of our history. And, even with the crowds, we had a great time just being together. Mark loves guitars and jumped to this case right away.

This was his favorite. Sorry for the glare. My photography skills are severely lacking.

This is a statue of George Washington and a lady was nice enough to take a shot of all of us together.

This is an old chair that can turn into a table. We could have used this in our apartment in New York!

This is a metallic flag at the entrance to the rest of the flad display.

I really liked this quote...

Just a picture of the many people.

New Year's Resolutions

To be honest, I am not usually one for New Year's Resolutions. I try to frequently re-evaluate. It seems as though once a year is not often enough. However, my kids and I decided to try to come up with some using the nine Gordon B. Hinckley's B's. Christopher has a natural inclination to look at the less than bright side of things, so he picked to Be Grateful and Be Positive. WE sing 'Count Your Many Blessings' often. We printed and laminated and put some at the dining table area and some on his bed to be a constant reminder. Mark is a wonderful boy but likes to be a little sneaky and doesn't always tell the truth. So, he chose to Be True. Every so often we convince him to be honest on the first try!

Here are all nine of the B's that we see every time we eat! My goal is to Be Involved.