Mom, Witches Don't Read!

Every morning before Andrea goes to school we read, do math facts, and go over spelling words. Yesterday was costume day at school. Andrea decided she wanted to be a witch. We borrowed a witch costume from my mom that Grandma Anderson made for Marlyse when she was a little girl and she looked darling.
When it came reading time, Andrea turned to me and said, "Mom, witches don't read." Of course they do! I replied. They have to read the recipes for witches brew and goblin mix. Then it came time to do math facts. Andrea turned to me and said, " Mom, witches don't do math." Of course they do! I replied. They have to know how to count so they will know how much to put in. Then Andrea turned to me and said, "Mom. witches don't spell." Of course they do! I replied again. If they can't spell, they can't read. Finally, I turned to Andrea and said, "Andrea, what do witches do?" "They fly" she said.

A New PR - - Top of Utah Marathon

A few weeks ago, I ran the Top of Utah Marathon. It was great! Last year, it was my first marathon, so I really wanted to see how I would do running it a second time. The picture above is at mile 14 where you come out of the canyon. It was the first place I saw my family. Greg, Chalisse, and Liz were right there and Josh and Kaleena were about mile 16. This is my favorite part of the course because it is pretty much gently rolling down hills.
This is at mile 23. I think almost everyone agrees that mile 21-22 are the hardest on the course weaving in and out of neighborhoods. It's really a mental thing. Coming down this hill at the end of mile 23 was a relief to me because I saw my family again. (Apparently Josh and Kaleena were trying to get my attention at mile 22, but I was in my happy little place in my head and completely didn't see them.) Greg, Chalisse, Liz, Jake, Josh, Kaleena, and Grayce were there, cheering me on. I saw my Dad and mom at mile 25 and Marlyse and her kids about mile 25 1/2 Grayce paced me the last couple of miles until the finish line. This year after I finished, I felt a lot stronger. Even Greg said he noticed a big difference. The people in the picture above from left to right are Chris (my brother- in -law), me, Andy (Chris's brother), and Jeremy (Chris and Andy's Uncle). I was pretty excited to see that I was beating my record. At the Top of Utah last year, I ran it in 4:05:34. This years time was 3:53:11. I had two goals. The first was to beat the 4 hour mark and the second goal was to not stop. Well, I made the first goal, but not the second. I drank Gatorade at every aid station and took GU at mile 7, 13, and 19. Everywhere on the course there were oranges, I took an orange. And of course chocolate milk 1 hour before I ran and chocolate milk after I finished. It's my favorite!

5 Seconds Short of a PR!

Earlier this summer, my sister- in - law, Grayce invited me to run the Pocatello Marathon or Pocatello Half Marathon with her. I chose the half marathon because I also wanted to run the Top of Utah Marathon 3 weeks later.
So on September 5th, we ran the half marathon. If anyone gets a chance to run it, I would recommend it. The race was well prepared and started on time. All participants got a free bag of potatoes, an awesome duffel bag -- not the cheap ones, and a shirt. (You know the good kind you can actually use to run in, not the T-shirts.)
Grayce fixed a perfect meal the night before, and I had a good night sleep. So I was ready to go! The weather was perfect for running. It didn't matter if it took you 30 minutes or 6 hours because it was overcast the entire day. I would describe the course as gently rolling hills. At about mile 10, I thought my timing chip was coming loose around my ankle, so I stopped to fix it. I am attributing that to make up my 5 seconds or so. I finished the half marathon in 1:46:07 (which was good enough to finish third in my age group.) Then I drank some chocolate milk (my favorite after a race), grabbed a slice of bread, and ran back to find Grayce so I could run in with her. Greg did a great job taking pictures again and my mom always makes the best cheerleader!

County Fair Time Again!

Well, there has been so much going on lately that I'm not sure where to start. I think I'll start with the County Fair since we spent a whole week there. I know most of you are saying, "Why a whole week." Well, Chalisse and Jensen are involved in 4-H. Many think of 4-H as horses, sewing, or cooking. This is somewhat true. 4-H does offer the opportunity to learn in the areas of horse riding, sewing, and cooking, but this is actually only a little part. 4-H areas include citizenship and civic education, communication and expressive art, consumer and family sciences, environmental education and earth science, healthy lifestyle education, personal development and leadership, plants and animals, and science & technology. Basically you can participate in about anything. I usually ask my kids what they would like to learn and then go from there.

Chalisse has participated in public speaking and talent contests, portfolio contests. She has taken modeling classes and given demonstrations on first aid. She also has participated in each of the above categories as well. This year she showed a lamb ($$$ for education $$$), and participated in expressive art, consumer and family sciences, healthy lifestyle education, and science and technology. She actually has three items that are down at the state fair now. So if any of you are going to the state fair look for her items. They will be in the Deseret Building. I had to put this picture in because Chalisse loved working with her lamb.


Jensen has participated in demonstration contests and other categories as well. He finds his love of 4-H in learning about animals. He actually belongs to 3 different 4- H groups. This year Jensen wanted to raise and show a lamb at the fair. Since he also has his own rabbit business, he wanted to show his rabbits as well.
So, here is Jensen in the showmanship contest. He is showing one of his rabbits that was born in June. He received a blue ribbon in showmanship where they judge how well he works with his animal and knowledge about his animal. All five of his rabbits also received blue ribbons.

This is auction time at the fair where they take their lamb into the auction barn and their animal is auctioned off. The money he earns from this goes into savings for education.
This is a picture of Jensen during the lamb showing. This is where his lamb is judged.
It was another successful year at the fair. Yippee!