Six for Sunday

1. The Olympics Well, I guess this will be my last chance to comment on the Olympics.  I am ready for them to be over.  I love watching them, but after two weeks of late nights and early mornings, I need some sleep!! I think that the cross country skiing events were my favorites to watch.  I love the biathalon and the relays were fun.  It was crazy after how long the races were, so many of them ended with a sprint to the finish line.  I love it.  So much fun to watch.  The mens snowboard cross was awesome.  There were so many wrecks that took out several people.  Awesome!  I've seen a headline for the closing ceremony even though I haven't watched it yet and I think I just have to give some kudos to Russia!  Since I have a nephew serving a mission in Russia, I have a new soft spot for the country.  So, farewell to the Olympics.  I'm so glad they changed the format so that I only have to wait 2 years for the next summer Olympics!  Yea!

2. Gymnastics I love watching gymnastics.  The University of Utah has a really good team and the meets are really fun.  Plus, they always give out free seats in the upper bowl so we try to go at least once a season.  Matt could not think of a worse way to spend an evening so he gets to hang out with a friend.  Jerry and the girls come along with me, but they're usually bored halfway through.  Oh well, they're good sports and popcorn and sprite help them last!  

 Even Abby gets into it!  She claps along with everyone else.

Kate had the most fun last night.  Sara had the most fun dancing along to the music.  It was a fun night.  We made it to two meets this year.  Success!

3. Spring fun We've had some warmish days this week and Sara and Abby love being outside.  I'm not sure where the desire came from but Sara has really been wanting to ride my skateboard.  Usually they sit or lay on it and mess around, but Sara was riding it for real!  I was so proud!

4. Happy If you remember, we love to dance while doing the dishes and lately our song of choice has been Happy from Despicable Me 2.  Now whenever Abby hears that song, she'll come running and start dancing.  She won't dance on the carpet, she has to be on the tile and if someone else is dancing, she'll get even more into it.  At about 50 seconds in the video she starts really dancing.  It's hilarious!  Sara is also quite funny!

5. What if? During the Olympics I asked Jerry if he had to live in another country, which country would he choose.  I think I'd have to choose Spain.  I've always wanted to visit Spain and I'd love to speak Spanish and I imagine there is so much in Spain.  There's so much history and I could watch real flamenco dancers and a bull fight and all that.  Plus, Spain has the mountains and the beach.  I think it would be a fun place that could keep me entertained!  Which country would you choose?

6. Kudos Jerry ran 5 miles yesterday.  Yes, you read that correctly.  He is running a 5 mile race when I run my half.  He runs two or three times a week depending on what he has going on and he says it is slowly getting easier although he really can't wait for the mountain biking trails to open up!  Kudos to him!

Some thoughts on Saturday

1. Happy Valentine's Day  For breakfast on Friday morning I made the kids heart shaped waffles with strawberries for breakfast.  Matt picked up his plate first and said, "Oh, that's cute, mom."  It was only a little bit sarcastic!  Abby loved them though.  I ate breakfast after the kids had left and Abby enjoyed a second breakfast off of my plate.  My tag on Instagram said, "Just shared a breakfast of heart shaped waffles and strawberries with this Valentine.  She needs her diaper changed, she needs her nose wiped and her hair smells like lasagna, peanut butter and jelly and now syrup and I couldn't love her anymore."  It is so true.  If Abby could tag a post I hope she would say, "I just ate all my mom's strawberries off her plate.  She needs to take a shower and she's kind of a dork and I couldn't love her anymore."

2. The Olympics It has been so fun watching the Olympics.  I was really really hoping Shaun White could have won the halfpipe.  I was so nervous that night watching it all unfold.  He was very gracious in losing, but oh my goodness, can the cameras just leave these poor people alone?  Especially Hannah Kearney, I mean she was sobbing, hard.  It was hard to watch them try to interview her.  And then for her to get all that backlash that she was being whiny.  To spend all that time training as hard as she did and sacrificing as much as she did and then to lose as close as she did.  It's horribly devastating.  It almost breaks my heart.

3. In Sara's words This afternoon we were sitting downstairs watching the Olympics and Sara brought down a bowl of pretzels.  Abby stole most of them.  So, Sara went upstairs to get some more.  She brought more down in a different bowl.  I said, "Sara, why didn't you just use the same bowl?"  She paused and said, "Well, I brought some down for Abby." She quickly put some in the bowl Abby was holding.  Then she turned to Jerry and said, "I had to come up with something."  We all laughed really hard.

4. At taste of spring We have had some really spring like weather this past week.  It has been a huge relief.  I know we'll still have some cold days to come, but to get a break from cold and to have clean air has been so nice.  There are even some bulbs poking up in our front yard.  I love crocuses.  There are some that were already planted here, but I wanted more.  So, last fall we planted at least a dozen more.  I can't see any of those poking up yet and I'm really wondering if I messed them up, like planted them upside down or too deep.  Wouldn't that be funny!  We'll see in the next couple of weeks if anything starts to come up!

5. Missing school I keep forgetting that Monday is President's Day and the kids don't have school.  How awful will that be if I get the kids up early and take them to school and no one is there.  I'd be so mad!  I'm sure I'll have to still get up early to run so Jerry can go to work, but maybe afterwards I'll come home and get back in bed and watch cartoons with the kids... ooh that sounds nice!

6. Running in heaven  one day this week I was thinking about my running and the thought crossed my mind wondering if there was running in heaven. I really hope so. It's been a rough running week. Since I've been training for this half I have remembered just how much I really love running.  But my body has not been cooperating. It was taking me much too long to get my times down to where I wanted them and I could tell I wasn't recovering as quickly and then I got sick and hurt my back.  My back is better and I've been running mostly as far as I want but not as fast and I still have some pain.  I'm not exactly sure what the problem is but I've considered everything from oh it's nothing to it's something very serious that could limit or stop my running for the rest of my life.  I can't imagine not being able to run. That would be devastating. When I turned 34 I realized I had been running pretty competitively for 20 years and I made a secret goal to run for another 20. So, with that goal in mind, I've slowed my pace down.  It's hard to admit that I'm getting older and my body doesn't work as well.  More body parts hurt after running and I don't seem to recover as quickly from long runs.  It's hard to let go of being fast, not just fast for my age group.  I knew it would happen at some point, I mean how many 60 year olds do you know that run a 7:30 pace?  I just really thought I had a few more glory years.  So that got me thinking of how great it would be to run in heaven with a body that feels no pain.  You could literally run forever! The night I was thinking about this my sis in law posted a picture of a library with the #whatheavenislike or something like that.  I hope she gets her library in heaven if I can have my open road!

Some on Sunday

1. The Olympics I am so loving that the Olympics are on. In fact, I'm rushing through this blog post so I can pay better attention.  It is so fun watching all the competing.  I can't wait for the Snowboard Cross.  That's my favorite.  I plan on being tired for the next 2 weeks because I won't be making it to bed on time.  It's all good.

2.  The many phases of Abby And Abby is again the spotlight of the blog.  In fact, if it weren't for the fact that she changes every week, I probably wouldn't even blog this week.  I love looking back though and remembering how she's grown.

 She loves to push this stroller and baby around.  And then she'll stop and take the baby out and put it back in and then she'll walk some more.  So fun.

 She hates it when I cook dinner, but she loves it when I let her help in some way.

 When I get ready in the mornings, she comes in and out of my room and entertains herself.  I cracked up when one morning this week she busted out of my room and came back with the Rainbow Loom.  She so badly wants to be like the big kids! 

But she also really likes to play with her toys.  She loves to put these puzzles together and she's getting pretty good at it.

Matt really loves being with Abby and is pretty proud of himself for teaching her how to give knuckles and high fives.  We also laugh when we ask her to kiss us and she head butts us.  And sometimes she'll come up behind us and give us a hug for no reason.  It's pretty darn cute!

3. Date Night  Matt has been really looking forward to the Lego Movie coming out.  I decided to surprise him and go see it on Friday, the day it came out.  He was excited and we had a great time together.  I thought the movie was a little random, but it was fun to go with him.

4. Jimmy Fallon I just have to say that I'm so excited for Jimmy Fallon to be taking over The Tonight Show.  I don't have anything against Jay Leno and I don't even really make a point to watch it, but Jerry usually has the t.v. on when I go to bed so I've gotten used to falling asleep to Jay Leno.  Well, I think Jimmy Fallon is way funnier and I might even stay up on purpose to watch a few things.  #jimmyfallonissofunny

#jaylenoistooold 

Six on Saturday

1. Things we learned this week 

 Abby learned that soap does not taste good.

 Mom learned not to yell, "EEEW! Don't eat that!" when Abby eats the soap because that's really scary for a little girl!  But a hug and playing with the phone make things all better.

 Abby learned how to clean up spills on the floor.  She also loves to get her own broom and sweep right along with me!

2. The Blue Bowl My family will have to just skip over this part but someday I will want to remember my blue bowl victory.  My kids were so excited for it and so excited to drink Coke out of it.  It was a really big deal when it came in the mail.  We are taking full advantage of having it this year because who knows if I'll ever win again!

We had a lot of fun making this video.

3. The end of January I have to admit that I'm happy to have made it through January.  It seems like every year this month drags on and on and then the rest of the year just flies by.  But there is always some feeling of success after having made it through January!

4. Background Noise Right now as I'm typing all this Jerry is at a late movie so I'm staying up late and wasting a little time.  I have Saturday Night Live on in the background and I keep getting distracted by it.  I always tease Jerry for always having to have background noise.  I prefer to turn everything off so I can work on whatever I'm working on and focus.  Too much stimulation is not good for me.  How do you feel about background noise?  But I do have to say that that version of Radioactive that Imagine Dragons just performed was really cool.  I didn't understand a single word of what that guy was rapping, but all the instruments and drumming were really cool.  It's probably on YouTube by now, you should look it up...

5. The Superbowl I am really looking forward to this Superbowl being over.  I really don't care that much about it.  Even though I grew up in Colorado, I've never been much of a Broncos fan.  I don't really have any preference in who wins the game.  And all the commercials have already done viral so I'm really wondering, what is the point in watching it?  I probably still will though.

6. Running  I decided that my goal for my upcoming half marathon was to run a 7:30 pace.  I picked that pace because the only other half I've run, I ran at that pace.  When I ran that race, it was during my year of 1000 miles and I kind of just randomly signed up for that race.  So I thought if I really focused on training a bit I could run that pace again.  It was a little overwhelming because I have to run early in the morning and always by myself so it's a bit harder to push myself.  But I've been working really hard and have been pleased with my efforts.  And then adversity struck... First I got a cold/flu and it pretty much knocked me out for a few days.  That was a bummer, but I felt like one slow week of running was something I could probably recover from.  Then I went running on Monday.  The run was slow and painful and I could tell I just wasn't quite over my cold which was fine but still disappointing.  I came home and stretched like always and went on with my day.  A couple of hours later, my back was so stiff that I could only awkwardly move and could barely bend forward at all.  I don't know what I did, but I was so bummed because I knew I wouldn't be running.  Each day it got a little better but I definitely had to cut back my running.  I ran Thursday and it hurt so I ran slow and short.  I was afraid that I'd set the recovery back, but it didn't hurt any more that day.  In fact, it still felt a bit better.  And the next day... even better.  So I ran today and it was a bit sore but it never got worse and at the end of the day... less sore than yesterday.  This has been the weirdest injury I've ever had.  But I feel like this next week I can get back to my regular running schedule and I'm really glad.  Missing all this running as reminded me how much I love to just get out there and run.  At the beginning of the week, I wasn't sure I'd be recovered in time to run the race and I was so bummed.  Now, I'm just glad I think I'll be ready to run it and I care less about my mile pace.  It was a good reminder of why I run.