Mission Accomplished!

At the beginning of the year, I set some goals (New years resolutions). First, was running five marathons. Second, was obtaining my hunter's safety in hopes of shooting my first deer. Well, I obtained my hunter's safety the week after my 5th marathon and on the last day of of December I shot my deer. My family gets deprivation tags every year for their property since they graze out of our orchards and/or crops all year. This year, I had a tag with my name on it. I'll admit that Jake and Greg wouldn't take a shot at a deer until I got mine. But anyhow I did it. Now I will have food for my family. I kind of like hunting and think that Jake needs to give me his 243 and he can go get another one.

Christmas Lights at Temple Square

It has been at least 12 years since Greg and I have gone down to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. So when we told the the little kids we were going to see the Christmas lights they said, "huh"!

It was beautiful even in the fog. Of course I love fog, but it messes up the pictures a bit.

Spooktacular Halloween!

St. George Marathon 2010

I did it! I finished my goal that I set for this year running five Utah marathons. The St. George Marathon completed it for me. Although it was well organized and the course was great, the weather prevented me from doing my best.
They had a record breaking hot day for that time of year. When I left the hotel at 4:00 am it was 57 degrees outside and it only warmed up from there, which left me finishing when it was cooking.
I found it odd that they would put bon fires at the start if no one stood around them. Runners were applying sunscreen instead on Ben-gay. It is also the first marathon that I have ever run seeing runners laying on cots lining the roads at the aid stations.
By mile 17, I had cotton mouth so bad, I had a hard time swallowing my GU. I tried to drink extra water/ Gatorade at the aid stations but this left me with a side ache so after 4 miles of this, I just dumped several cups of water on top of me. My legs felt great and my knee didn't give me any problems. Finally, at mile 25 they handed out wet towels which gave some relief to the 94 degrees quickly approaching. I grabbed one and wiped down my body and ringed it out on the top of my head. I finished the marathon in 3:38:24. still pulling a Boston Qualifying time, but I couldn't imagine why everybody thought this was such a great marathon. It wasn't until I got back to the hotel and went out swimming with my kids and talked with other runners in the pool who had run this before that this was extremely unusual and they had a hard time with the heat as well.
I would like to run the St George Marathon again just to gain a true picture of what it is normally is like. I am so grateful for Greg and for all of his support. He ran three miles that day in the heat with a backpack to snatch this picture of me at mile 21. I was in my happy little place in my head so I did not see him at all. Chalisse ran the three miles with him as well so she could let my mom and Jensen know, who were waiting at mile 23, that I was on my way.

Yay I Finished It! -- Top of Utah Marathon 2010

I finished marathon #4 for this year. I love to run the Top of Utah Marathon. It is one of my favorites. This was my third year running it and each time I have improved. After my injury, I was pretty worried about even being able to run this marathon. In the month of August I only ran a total of about 30-35 miles. I was pretty worried, I knew I could run it by September but my cardio had gone down quite a bit. Biking helped a little but not much. What helped the most was seeing a great sports medicine dr that knew exactly what to do and to get me through this. We were pretty agressive the month of September. I went to physical therapy and did under water treadmill running twice a week. I did two long runs outside in September so I felt I was good to go.
The thing with plica syndrome is the more miles you run, the better your knee feels. (That is if you can get past the first 3 or so). By mile 13 by knee no longer hurt, but by mile 17-18 the muscle cramps started so I ran this marathon pretty much in pain the whole time.
I finished the marathon in 3:47:16. which the dr thinks is pretty darn good to have a goal to just finish it.
My reason for finishing this was because I am planning on running the St. George marathon on Oct 2nd. I didn't make the lottery into the St. George marathon this year but I made it into the Grand Slam, so the St George marathon in one of the required marathons to earn the title of a Slammer. The catch is as long as I run the other required marathons, they have to guarantee my entry into the St. George. (That is why all I had to do was to finish this marathon.)
So watch out #5 here I come!

County Fair 2010 -- Another Success

We had another wonderful year at the fair this year . Fair week is a pretty busy week. For one thing or another the kids have to be out there every day. We pretty much say we live at the fair for a week. I really appreciate Greg taking work off to be there for the kids because it was impossible for me to do so. He is such a wonderful dad.
Jensen brought home two trophies. He received one of them because his rabbit got best of breed. The other one was a management award that they give to a person is 4-H who is dedicated to his club, his project, and participates in activities throughout the year and continually looks for ways to improve his project. Chalisse did a great job on her lamb project this year. And brought in some money to go toward her college education.

This is a picture of Jensen and Chalisse washing their lambs and getting them ready for showmanship.

This is Jensen showing his lamb. He placed pretty high in his division.

This year Jensen also participated in the Rabbit Bowl. He took 2nd place in the junior division and 4th overall in the championship round. I don't know half the stuff he has learned over the years.

I love little bunnies and couldn't resist holding Jensen's new addition. (Although I still think it's mine)

Andrea was a clover bud this year. She learned a lot of new things. This is a pink jewelry box that she painted. All clover buds receive participation ribbons.

Chalisse entered some scrapbook pages that received a blue ribbon and also a state fair ribbon. So check her scrapbook pages out at the state fair if you happen to go.

Carson painted a Halloween picture. Actually he painted some orange and yellow paper and cut it out in the shape of a pumpkin and glued it onto black card stock.

Jensen's rabbit "Pearly" received Best of Breed. He is also one of his friendliest rabbits.

This was Andrea's first year in rabbit 4-H. She learned about rabbits and was also able to show her rabbit at the fair this year.

Labor Day Fun

We had such a great day today. We met up with some friends and spent a couple of hours shooting targets and such in the morning and had a really fun time.

Jensen got to try out my 22, which I named "Oh Henry". He still likes Jared's gun better and shoots open site quite well.

Greg liked shooting every gun up there we had. Of course he did well on the clay pigeon contest as well.

In the afternoon, Teep and Grayce came up and we went dove hunting. Greg shot a dove and it landed in the canal. Cute Lilly got it out and brought it to Teep.

This is our little band of intrepid hunters and their dogs after the dove hunt.

Strength Training -- The Carson Way

Besides going to physical therapy three times a week, I also have exercises to do at home. Carson loves to help me with the exercises. Today however, I think he got a little carried away and decided not to wait for me. I walked in the room to find all the thera bands wrapped around him with my mat rolled out. Perhaps if you use all the bands at once, it wouldn't take half as long. It's amazing what kids think of.

R.I.C.E

Grr! I hurt my knee a couple of weeks ago. I wish I could make up an awesome story, something glamorous, about how I hurt it. But all I was doing was walking in the parking lot and turned and twisted to lock my door. I guess turning and twisting on your knee is a bad thing. Well, I have been following R.I.C.E treatment. Today was my first day of physical therapy. It felt good to at least be on the treadmill even though it was for only a few minutes or so. Next week is underwater treadmill before checking in with the doctor again.
My running in August has been slim to nothing. In fact, everything has been slim to nothing except rest, ice, compression, and elevation. The worst part is where I was at in my training schedule for the Top of Utah Marathon. The marathon is now about a month away, so my goal is to be able to at least finish it.
The worst part is walking downstairs, running downhill, walking after bike riding and bending over to pick something up. My knee hurt some after the exercises at therapy and biking, but not at all on the treadmill while running. Pain scale is now at a 2 and I am eager to try to run again. I tried wearing my running shoes and clothes around the house to see if it would help ease my yearning to be out on the pavement, but it didn't. Grr!

Grandma Anderson's Carmel Pull- Apart Rolls

One thing I remember about Grandma Anderson is her yummy carmel rolls. When she came up to visit, she often made these for breakfast. I think my kids like them as much as I did. They gobbled up the entire pan.

Carmel Pull- Apart Rolls

1 cup butter
1/2 c brown sugar
1 small box non- instant butterscotch pudding
2 cups hot water
4 TBSP sugar
2 TBSP yeast
1 tsp salt
4 tsp oil
6 cups four

Dough: Place 2 cups of hot water in bowl. Add 4 TBSP sugar and stir to lukewarm. Sprinkle 2 TBSP yeast on top and allow yeast to bubble up. Add 1 tsp salt and 4 tsp oil. Add 6 cups of flour and knead. Place in greased bowl covered with sprayed plastic wrap and put them in the oven on warm for 30 minutes.
Spray bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray. Roll dough into 24 rolls and cut them in half and roll them in dry butterscoth pudding mix and lay them into the pan. Sprinkle remaining mix over the top.
Heat together 1 cube butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar until butter is melted and syrup is formed. Stir well and then pour over the rolls. Cover with sprayed plastic wrap and place back in warm oven until doubled in size or even with bundt pan.
Remove wrap and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Tremonton Fun Run

This has been the second time our family has run the Tremonton Fun Run. I can describe the 5K in three words. Run, free, and food. You just can't beat a free race that gives you a free pancake breakfast for running it!Greg did his long run the day before, so he volunteered to run the 5K pushing the stroller. Out of anyone I thought he got the best workout since he ran the whole thing pushing a stroller with two kids in the windy weather. Jensen loves to have a running buddy so he stuck pretty close to dad. Jensen's finishing time was 30:22, and Greg's time was 30:48.

I actually was the first woman to come in. (Being the twelfth runner overall). Therefore, I took home a pretty nice piece of hardware. My time was 20:42.

Chalisse had a new PR at this race. She came in first in her age group running in at 24:08.

After I finished running, I ran back along the course to find Andrea because she wanted to run as much of it as she could. We ran her last mile together. She finished it in 30:34. after Jensen gave her a little competition.

We took home a free watermelon that they also gave out free to the runners and then we ate a delicious pancake breakfast with sausage, scrambled eggs, and orange juice. The best part for me was no cooking or clean up. Heck yes I'd do this again!

Loving the Outdoors

Greg and I took a break from our hectic everyday life to spend time with our family camping and hiking. We went up to South Fork (around the Monte Cristo area). It was beautiful as you can see from the picture of our camp spot above. Our spot had a nice fire pit and picnic table, a shady place to pitch our tent, and an outhouse close by.
The first thing we did even before setting up camp was a hike along Wheeler Creek Trail. It was an easy 4 mile (out and back) trail with beautiful views of the Ogden River and wild flowers that dotted the pathway.
These are different pictures along the Wheeler Creek trail. The trailhead is actually along the Ogden Marathon course and close to Pineview Reservoir This is the view at the end and it is well worth the short hike. After that we left to go set up for camp and cook our hobo dinners before eating smores and turning in for the night.
The next day we had sausage and pancakes (which Greg cooked on his griddle) before heading to Causey Reservoir. Causey Reservoir is beautiful and we decided to take in a short hike. This Reservoir has many different trails around it that vary in difficulty.
We chose Skin Toe trail which was a 2 mile (out and back) trail. This one was a little more difficult for the little kids and not as well groomed. But the sights were gorgeous. After that the kids were requesting to go back to camp for lunch and have some free time.
Carson and Andrea loved going down to the river. Carson loved throwing rocks and seeing them splash before they disappeared over the waterfall.

Chalisse brought Uno which we played multiple times. I must admit that my kids ganged up on Greg a little so I could win seven games in a row. Gotta love my kids!

By the time Carson woke up from his nap it was time for Greg to get the coals ready for some yummy Dutch oven chicken. However, he told Chalisse and Jensen that they had to start the fire. They had to do this by using whatever Greg had on his hiking belt. Chalisse found the flint and steel and Jensen dug further and found the matches. Carson insisted that we have smores again so that was desert. We then went for a short walk around South Fork before going to bed. Chalisse and I woke up around 2:15 a.m. and looked at the stars in the skies and then we were cold so went back to bed.

The last day we had cinnamon rolls and cereal for breakfast. We rolled up our sleeping bags and packed up our belongings and headed out. However, we decided to take in one more hike.

Andrea requested on seeing more wildflowers. So we hiked Green Pond trail.

This was a 2.5 mile trail one way. It is one I would do again and again. The trail ends at Snowbasin. Andrea loved the wildflowers all along the way.
A little bit off the trail is a another trail which you can go and see Green Pond. I thought since we were hiking on this trail we might as well see the Green Pond. There was a little picnic table at the pond and we stopped and had a few snacks that Greg had in his backpack before heading back.

Our Ragnarly Experience

Since 2004, the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay has taken teams on a 188 mile journey through Utah's back roads from Logan to Park City. The Wasatch Back is likely the largest relay race in the country with nearly 12,000 racers running three legs of varying length and difficulty and running distances between 12-21 miles. That said, it is an experience everyone should have.

I was so excited this year when Greg decided to run it with me. The cool thing about the relay is the race is built so runners of various abilities can still push their limits. We had an awesome team this year. The Marabellas are missing from the picture, but from left to right (back row) are Jody, Blair, Braden, Matt and Greg. Front row (left to right) are Jeanne, Jessica, Amy, Cherilee, and Christy.
Greg did such an awesome job. He helped our team shorten our time because he was such a speedy mountain goat and he also drove most of the time which means no chance to sleep. Yep! That's me wearing the reflective vest, butt and head light. The rules are that you must wear these from the hours of 6:30 pm to 7:00 am. I was runner 3 and had a total of 18.5 miles to run. I was glad my legs had recovered from the Utah Valley Marathon the week before. I was 4 minutes ahead of my time on my first run. 20 seconds ahead of my time on the 2nd run and 2 minutes behind on my third run. (I was trying to average it all out to a 8 minute/mile pace).
Anyway, we finished it in 29.48.39.8. In the coed overall division we finished 171 out of 491 teams.

26.2 Miles Of Pain That You Enjoy

I ran the Utah Valley Marathon on Saturday while it was raining cats and dogs. I'll say the 26.2 miles is the enjoy part. The rain is pain part. I'm not sure how I managed a 3:29:11 PR at this marathon.
The course was new this year and I loved the beautiful canyon for 18-20 miles. There were about five pretty good size hills. However, what goes up must come down and so I used these to the best of my advantage. My time at the end of mile 13 was 1:45:00 which is two minutes slower than Ogden, but the same as the Salt Lake Marathon.
Several people came up to me at the end of the marathon and commented on how I kicked it in about mile 20. Perhaps that is when I saw my family and got excited. I don't have one of those cool watches to time my splits so I just run and enjoy every minute.
Thanks to Jake who let Greg and I stay at his home. Greg for all your support in everything, and for mom and dad for coming to cheer me on.

Ogden Marathon 2010 -- A New PR

This last weekend I ran the Ogden Marathon. This was my second marathon of the year, but the first of the Grand Slam. I am really glad that I could turn this marathon around for me. I was able to pull out another Boston Qualifying time of 3:30:57. This is my personal best so far. It rounds it off to a 8:07 min mile. Not to shabby!
Marathons are great when you can meet up with old running buddies and also make new running buddies, and this was a marathon when I could do both. I am excited to see what the future brings.
Thanks Greg and Chalisse for coming to support me!

Global Youth Service Day

Our family went out to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge today to pick up trash (bird traps). We spent 2 1/2 hours out there. I was amazed how much trash we found within a half mile radius. After that we went back to the main building and got popsicles. Carson was so excited with his popsicle that he asked if we could go again tomorrow. I'm glad the kids had fun helping out. I love the outdoors a ton, so I'm glad we could give a little service back.

Spring Break

So I think everybody but our school district had spring break a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday was the last day of spring break for the kids so Greg and I decided to take the kids out to Antelope Island since the weather was going to be perfect. It was a terrific place to go. We went on a 3 mile hike, looked for wildlife, and played on the beach.

Jensen and Chalisse didn't want to leave the water. It was probably the best place to experience the Great Salt Lake.

Greg and I had fun as well on the beach. It was the perfect way to relax after a hike. We really enjoyed being together as a family.

Andrea and Carson decided that the Greg mobile would be the best way to get back to the car. I think they just didn't want to leave the beach.

Carson was so excited to see all the sand. He has never been to a beach before and when he saw all the sand he said, "Look the sand box is everywhere".