Run. Drive. Sleep? Repeat.

(me in the middle of my second leg)

A few weekends ago, I ran the Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay.

188 miles from Logan to Park City.

12 runners on a team.

3 legs for each runner.

This post title says it all:

We ran, drove, tried to catch some winks. Then pushed repeat.

I ran with my two sisters, some of my twin sister's family members and a few other people. Our team was appropriately named the Rag Tag Bunch and collectively, we spent just about 33 hours running in Utah's beautiful and grueling back country.

My parents surprised us and met our van right after we ran our first legs.

(they drove from Colorado to see us race)

My dad ran my third and most difficult leg with me.

When it was all over, I had run 18.4 miles in just under 3 hours.

Did I mention that

IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!

I was on a running high for DAYS.

In fact, I had been planning on hanging up my running shoes for the summer to get some variety in my exercise, but after the race I realized, I can't give it up.

Tucson Round 2

We spent the weekend away for Marc's company retreat. It was a no-kids-allowed trip to Tucson, AZ just like last year. Here's the run down:

3 1/2 days

3 nights

5 meals out

1 trip to In n Out

1 90 minute pedicure (ahhh)

8 miles of hiking/running (destination shown in the picture above)

1 ankle sprain

1 movie

4 hours of pool side sun

2 sunburns

0 pictures (oops)

Today is back to real life, but I slept in anyway!

Celebrate Life

Four years ago today my sister passed away after battling with her body for 11 years.

She was 14.

So, today is a day for me to celebrate life

and to remember:

My life is a gift

my life has a plan.

My life has a purpose

in heav'n it began.

My choice was to come to this lovely home on earth

And seek for God's light to direct me from birth.

Odds and Ends

My friend Robin uses odds and ends as the title for her blogs that are here and there. . . I like it. I'm adopting it. Thanks, Robin!

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I haven't been interested in blogging lately. Have you noticed? The main reason is this: I've been living my life on hold since oh, um, February. I can't post why, but if you don't already know, just ask. (if you don't live here, shoot me an email or something!) I'd be happy to tell you. On the other hand, I've been extremely addicted to facebook. Extremely addicted. Don't worry, I've gotten my computer time in! Just not in blogging.

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I need to become a person with lists again. Because I am no longer living my life on hold--I have THINGS TO DO!! Decorate. Spring cleaning. Painting. Yard work. I was going to start this week, but I'm feeling under the weather. I'll get my lists made tonight and start tomorrow.

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The Lakers made the NBA playoffs. *surprise* They just won the first round against the Jazz. Sorry Jazz fans. *not really* But I am sorry that I'm not sorry. (Isn't there an exchange similar to that in the movie Dodgeball. Marc thinks that part is so funny. I don't.) The Nuggets need to win 5 more games and the Lakers need to win 4 more games and then the Lakers will play Denver for the Western Conference Finals. We're crossing our fingers so we can go to another game this year. If you're a Nuggets or Lakers fan and want to come with, let me know.

The Price of Children

I listened to Anderson have at least six meltdowns today. He woke up in one and went to bed in one. What a day. And then, I read this email that my MIL sent me. I never once told myself today that I hated being a mom but this email reminded me that not all days are like today--I LOVE my job.

The Price of Children

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a middle income family. Talk about price shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition. But $160,140.00 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into: $8,896.66 a year
$741.38 a month
$171.08 a week
A mere $24.24 a day!
Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is: don't have children if you want to be 'rich' Actually, it is just the opposite. What do you get for your $160,140.00?

Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
Glimpses of God every day.
Giggles under the covers every night.
More love than your heart can hold.
Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
A hand to hold usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites.
Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140.00, you never have to grow up.You get to:
finger-paint,
carve pumpkins,
play hide-and-seek,
catch lightning bugs,
never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
watch Saturday morning cartoons,
go to Disney movies,
and wish on stars.
You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets
and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas,
hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day,
and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For a mere $24.24 a day, there is no greater bang for your buck.
You get to be a hero just for:
retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
taking the training wheels off a bike,
removing a splinter,
filling a wading pool,
coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs,
and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat in history to witness the:
First step,
First word,
First date,
First time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

You get an education in
psychology,
nursing,
criminal justice,
communications,
and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God.
You have all the power to heal a boo-boo,
scare away the monsters under the bed,
patch a broken heart,
police a slumber party,
ground them forever,
and love them without limits,
so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost.

That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Quote of the Day

Here's an Easter funny for you:

Before my parents left our house last night, they pulled out our new Gospel Art Book and began teaching Carter about the reason we celebrate Easter. When my mom flipped to the picture of Jesus washing the disciples' feet, she explained that the people back then wore sandals and walked on very dusty roads. She asked Carter if his feet got dirty and needed washing after wearing his sandals to play at the park. I think it was at this point that Carter actually noticed what Jesus was doing in the picture because he said, Hey, Mom and Dad do that. They use wipes.

Yes. Yes I do.

Good Eats

I feel like I'm still in a food rut, but in the other direction this time. I discovered (and in a few cases, rediscovered) some real gems to make this month and now that's all I want to eat!

Here's a list of our GOOD EATS!

Cafe Rio's Pork Salad

After the first time I made it, I decided to do omit the black bean recipe and make a black bean and corn relish instead. I just tossed together one can each (drained and rinsed) of black beans and corn, some finely chopped red onion and jalapeno, cilantro, salt and the fresh lime juice. All to taste. Yum. Don't skip the rice though, it's the first cilantro lime rice/spanish recipe I like. And I've tried to make quite a few.

Grilled Chicken Pesto Panini

Don't change a thing on this baby! Especially the roasted red pepper. Making your own roasted red pepper is not an exact science. I wash a red pepper, put it in the oven at 450 and turn every few minutes when I see that the skin has blackened on one side. When the whole pepper is decently black or blistered, I take it out, put it in a plastic bag for 10 minutes. After that the skin comes right off and I slice it open, seed it and slice into strips.

Tomato Soup

I double or triple the batch so I make sure I have plenty because once you try it, you'll want it for lunch all week. I promise. I've used fat free half and half (thanks for the tip, Paula!) or evaporated milk instead of cream keeping it as healthy as possible. Serve with either of the panini's listed here and you'll never go back to Panera again!

Cream of Wild Rice and Chicken Soup

I've been in a soup mood lately!

Beautiful Kelly's Veggie Pita Pockets

To give credit where credit is due, I kept the title of this recipe the same for the post, but since I'm pretty finicky with pita (it just has to be fresh and I rarely have fresh pita!) I just throw the veggies together for a salad. Thus, I call it. . .well, uh, I don't actually call it anything. It's salad.

The Ultimate Grilled Cheese Sandwich

In finding some of these recipes, I found two new websites that will give added menu inspiration in the coming weeks!

Marc's taken some flack for the Valentine's Day mishap, but that certainly was not my intent when I wrote about it. Our anniversary is only 2 weeks after Valentine's Day and he had our anniversary plans up his sleeve way before Valentines. Here's what we did:

FRIDAY NIGHT WITH FRIENDS:

The Cheesecake Factory was a real treat. We haven't been in years. We made it to the game at half time, which I thought would disappoint Marc, but since they played one of the worst games they've EVER played *literally, Marc looked it up, they've only played one other game as badly since they moved from Minneapolis to LA in 1960, YIKES!* he wasn't too disappointed.

ON SATURDAY BY OURSELVES:

We caught a matinee of He's Just Not That Into You. Cute. We ate dinner at The Blue Star--a trendy fine dining place downtown. We stayed at The Cliffhouse Inn overnight. I think the most romantic thing Marc did was make sure that since he was surprising me and we'd miss our church meetings on Sunday, he made sure that the sharing time I was supposed to give was covered. He thought of everything!

In the recent months I have become more grateful for the life Marc has built for us. He's incredible--I could never have imagined the blessings I would have because I chose to marry him seven years ago.