I'm a little behind--like 3 or 4 weeks. Plus one day. But who's counting, right?
This week's recipe is courtesy of the Taste of Home magazine my grandma has been giving me a subscription to for a few years now.
Tuscan Pork Medallions
3/4 lb pork tenderloin, cut into 1 in slices
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 T butter
2 thin slices deli ham, chopped
1/2 tsp sage
2 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 C heavy whipping cream
3/4 C chopped plum tomatoes (I used Roma. I don't know that there's really a difference.)
4 fresh basil leaves thinly sliced
1 tsp parmesan cheese
Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, cook pork in butter until no longer pink. Remove; set aside.
In the same skillet, saute deli ham in drippings until browned. Add garlic and sage. Cook 1 minute longer. Add vinegar, stirring to loosen browned bits from pan.
Stir in the cream; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Add tomatoes and pork. Heat through. Sprinkle each serving with basil and cheese.
___________________________
This turned out to be really good. Wade especially liked the sauce. We served it with rice and rolls and it was a quick meal to put together. About 30 minutes, start to finish.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Intermission
I try to keep things light on here because that's the type of person I am. However, I wanted to take an intermission from my travel log to put my thoughts down. I don't really talk much about this because it's really close to my heart and I don't like to cry in front of people. But I think today merits a few tears and thoughts.
Today marks the 5th birthday of my niece, Shaelee. She's my twin brother's second child.
I remember my brother calling after their 18 week ultrasound. I was pregnant with Josh and it was exciting that they were expecting too, though Amber's pregnancy had been a fairly rough one. I just figured that it was par for the course, considering how my pregnancy had been going.
Scott casually mentioned that they had their ultrasound and it was another girl. And then there was a pause.
"There are some problems. We go back in to see exactly what tomorrow."
Having had a scare with Josh on his ultrasound and finding out everything was normal, I wasn't immediately panicked. Then Scott mentioned that the baby's head was misshaped and there were some other markers present that suggested dwarfism.
I was dumbfounded. I had never heard of someone being diagnosed with dwarfism in the womb, though, obviously, it must happen.
Over the next few weeks, we would learn the severity of Shaelee's condition. She wasn't going to survive and my brother and his wife had to make the difficult decision of deciding whether to continue on with the pregnancy or to terminate it. The decision came easily to them, though the journey was not. They bravely carried little Shaelee knowing full well that they would have to say goodbye to her shortly after her birth.
I remember thinking every time someone would ask me when I was due or what I was having or if we had chosen a name, how hard it must be to have to carry a baby knowing that it wasn't going to live and still have to answer those questions. You aren't going to tell the sweet grandma in the mall or the lady on the elevator the ordeal you're enduring.
I gave birth to Josh on April 25, and my brother and his family made the trek up to see us in the hospital. I could tell that the visit was hard but that they wanted me to know that they were genuinely happy for us.
A month later, Amber went into preterm labor at 32 weeks. Because of the circumstances, the doctors opted to let Shaelee be born by emergency c-section. We were called at about 12:00 at night. We rushed to the hospital, missing the actual birth by a few minutes. From what I understand, Shaelee was born, and Scott held her and gave her a blessing and a name; Shaelee Louise. My dad, my older brother and Amber's male family members were all present for the blessing. Scott says Shaelee opened her eyes and looked up at him during the blessing. Then she quietly closed her eyes again. She never did open them again. She passed away about 2 hours later.
We all took turns holding her. She had such a sweetness about her that was testament to how close to God she was at that particular time. I could feel the presence of angels in the room, helping Shaelee make the transition back as well as comfort those of us left behind. To date, this is one of the most touching and spiritual experiences I have ever had.
The following days were a blur with the funeral services. I had a really hard time accepting this part of God's plan and felt a lot of survivor's guilt afterwards. Why was I given such a beautiful baby, but my twin brother wasn't. I struggled with these feelings for a long time. I was afraid that Josh would be a constant reminder of what my brother had lost.
We went camping as a family that summer and my sister-in-law asked if she could hold Josh. I was happy that she even wanted to. I watched as she lovingly stared into Josh's eyes and I could feel a little of her pain. How hard it must have been for her to sit back and watch while I fed and played with my baby.
It wasn't until my mom mentioned in passing one day that one of the things that helped Amber process her grief was being able to look at Josh and watch him grow up that I finally forgave myself, if you will, for having the healthy baby. I realized that it was part of God's plan and that Shaelee was needed for a more valiant mission.
It's hard to believe that it's been five years since Shaelee was born. I remember it like it was yesterday. I think about her a lot, though we don't talk about her much when we all get together. My brother and his wife have 3 healthy and amazingly beautiful daughters here on Earth and they steal center stage at our parties.
When Josh was a baby, he would lay in his crib and babble and point to the ceiling. I would like to think that he was talking to his good buddy Shaelee, telling her about his life here and listening to her catch him up on what was going on back home.
Scott casually mentioned that they had their ultrasound and it was another girl. And then there was a pause.
"There are some problems. We go back in to see exactly what tomorrow."
Having had a scare with Josh on his ultrasound and finding out everything was normal, I wasn't immediately panicked. Then Scott mentioned that the baby's head was misshaped and there were some other markers present that suggested dwarfism.
I was dumbfounded. I had never heard of someone being diagnosed with dwarfism in the womb, though, obviously, it must happen.
Over the next few weeks, we would learn the severity of Shaelee's condition. She wasn't going to survive and my brother and his wife had to make the difficult decision of deciding whether to continue on with the pregnancy or to terminate it. The decision came easily to them, though the journey was not. They bravely carried little Shaelee knowing full well that they would have to say goodbye to her shortly after her birth.
I remember thinking every time someone would ask me when I was due or what I was having or if we had chosen a name, how hard it must be to have to carry a baby knowing that it wasn't going to live and still have to answer those questions. You aren't going to tell the sweet grandma in the mall or the lady on the elevator the ordeal you're enduring.
I gave birth to Josh on April 25, and my brother and his family made the trek up to see us in the hospital. I could tell that the visit was hard but that they wanted me to know that they were genuinely happy for us.
A month later, Amber went into preterm labor at 32 weeks. Because of the circumstances, the doctors opted to let Shaelee be born by emergency c-section. We were called at about 12:00 at night. We rushed to the hospital, missing the actual birth by a few minutes. From what I understand, Shaelee was born, and Scott held her and gave her a blessing and a name; Shaelee Louise. My dad, my older brother and Amber's male family members were all present for the blessing. Scott says Shaelee opened her eyes and looked up at him during the blessing. Then she quietly closed her eyes again. She never did open them again. She passed away about 2 hours later.
We all took turns holding her. She had such a sweetness about her that was testament to how close to God she was at that particular time. I could feel the presence of angels in the room, helping Shaelee make the transition back as well as comfort those of us left behind. To date, this is one of the most touching and spiritual experiences I have ever had.
The following days were a blur with the funeral services. I had a really hard time accepting this part of God's plan and felt a lot of survivor's guilt afterwards. Why was I given such a beautiful baby, but my twin brother wasn't. I struggled with these feelings for a long time. I was afraid that Josh would be a constant reminder of what my brother had lost.
We went camping as a family that summer and my sister-in-law asked if she could hold Josh. I was happy that she even wanted to. I watched as she lovingly stared into Josh's eyes and I could feel a little of her pain. How hard it must have been for her to sit back and watch while I fed and played with my baby.
It wasn't until my mom mentioned in passing one day that one of the things that helped Amber process her grief was being able to look at Josh and watch him grow up that I finally forgave myself, if you will, for having the healthy baby. I realized that it was part of God's plan and that Shaelee was needed for a more valiant mission.
It's hard to believe that it's been five years since Shaelee was born. I remember it like it was yesterday. I think about her a lot, though we don't talk about her much when we all get together. My brother and his wife have 3 healthy and amazingly beautiful daughters here on Earth and they steal center stage at our parties.
When Josh was a baby, he would lay in his crib and babble and point to the ceiling. I would like to think that he was talking to his good buddy Shaelee, telling her about his life here and listening to her catch him up on what was going on back home.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Road Trip--Part 3 (Cows and Answered Prayers, For Real)
Day 3 Continued
We left Arches and Moab and headed on towards Ouray, Colorado--about 3 hours away. According to the map, we would be passing through a few towns, namely La Sal, Utah and Bedrock, Colorado. Not huge towns by the size of their font on the map, but they were on there.
And so we weren't overly concerned when we noticed the gas was a little low. Surely, there would be a gas station nearby.
Oh. There was. At a little place called Hole in the Rock (see Rules of the Road #1). But naturally, we didn't stop. If we would've stopped we would've missed the procession of Corvettes. It started with one and then when there was a bend in the road, we noticed 3 others. As we turned off to head towards La Sal, we noticed another 8 in front of the big truck that was blocking our view. 12 Corvettes in one sighting. Beat that.
700 cows beat that, actually, because before long we came upon a herd of cows.
In the middle of the road.
At some point they all decided to turn and move towards us.
As it turns out, one cow has an odor, but 700 cows REEK.
But they left us pretty much alone, save for a few nasty glares our way. And we continued on, noticing for the first time that our fuel light was on.
Good thing La Sal, Utah was right there.
However, it became very apparent within about 10 seconds of entering the town limits that we would not find a gas station there. How could we be so sure? Because 10 seconds after entering we were exiting out the other side. And headed up into the mountains.
It should be noted that Bedrock, Colorado is approximately the same size font as La Sal on the handy-dandy map my parents let us borrow. For those who haven't consulted a paper map since the invention of Google Maps, a map designates how big the city is by font size. La Sal and Bedrock might be the tiniest font used on a map. Something I noticed as I futilely searched for one smaller to give myself hope.
It was about this time that Wade and I came to a daunting realization. We were going to run out of gas. In the middle of nowhere with no cell service (like who were we going to call? Mom and dad to drive 4 hours south to bail us out?)
I spent the next8 hours 30 minutes in some quasi-reality, trying to decide what we should do when we run out of gas. Should I go off on foot and leave Wade with the kiddos and hope that some strange highway killer man doesn't get me, or should Wade go off on foot and leave me behind with the kiddos and hope that some highway killer man doesn't get me? Whatever the choice, it was a Dateline episode waiting to happen and it involved some highway killer man getting me. And a 13 mile walk one way. To a town that most likely didn't have gas.
We came upon a crossroads to another small town (same size font) that promised (at least one) bed and breakfasts. However, it was 3 miles off the highway. If we took the chance that there would be a gas station there and there wasn't, we might not have enough to get back to the highway. If we stayed on the highway we could potentially get the car a little closer to civilization.
(It should be noted that by this point, we had seen exactly one car and one motorcycle pass by).
The tension in the car was palpable as we coasted into Bedrock, Colorado. As before in it's Utah counterpart, La Sal, we were practically out of Bedrock before we knew what was happening. At the edge of town there was a general store on the side of the road that Wade pulled up to for the sole purpose of asking how far the nearest gas station was so we could mentally prepare ourselves for the task of hiking to it. As he pulled up to it, I spotted this on the side:
I'll admit, for a minute, I thought "what a cruel, cruel joke." But, giving credit where credit is due, I knew this was a direct answer to fervent prayers uttered in a constant stream for the last 30 minutes. I'm pretty sure the pump came directly from God. I ran inside to ask the General Store lady if it was indeed a working gas pump, and to my relief she said yes.
Insert BIG SIGH OF RELIEF here.
At a whooping $3.43/gallon (hey, we would've paid anything at that point), we stocked up with enough to get us to Ouray and we continued on our way, happy, relieved and more relaxed than I have ever been in my entire life. And my teeth had been ground down to a nice smooth surface, so bonus!
Is it possible to make the write up of our road trip longer than the trip itself? We shall see... Tune in tomorrow for Day 4--Tourist Alert
We left Arches and Moab and headed on towards Ouray, Colorado--about 3 hours away. According to the map, we would be passing through a few towns, namely La Sal, Utah and Bedrock, Colorado. Not huge towns by the size of their font on the map, but they were on there.
And so we weren't overly concerned when we noticed the gas was a little low. Surely, there would be a gas station nearby.
Oh. There was. At a little place called Hole in the Rock (see Rules of the Road #1). But naturally, we didn't stop. If we would've stopped we would've missed the procession of Corvettes. It started with one and then when there was a bend in the road, we noticed 3 others. As we turned off to head towards La Sal, we noticed another 8 in front of the big truck that was blocking our view. 12 Corvettes in one sighting. Beat that.
700 cows beat that, actually, because before long we came upon a herd of cows.
In the middle of the road.
At some point they all decided to turn and move towards us.
As it turns out, one cow has an odor, but 700 cows REEK.
But they left us pretty much alone, save for a few nasty glares our way. And we continued on, noticing for the first time that our fuel light was on.
Good thing La Sal, Utah was right there.
However, it became very apparent within about 10 seconds of entering the town limits that we would not find a gas station there. How could we be so sure? Because 10 seconds after entering we were exiting out the other side. And headed up into the mountains.
It should be noted that Bedrock, Colorado is approximately the same size font as La Sal on the handy-dandy map my parents let us borrow. For those who haven't consulted a paper map since the invention of Google Maps, a map designates how big the city is by font size. La Sal and Bedrock might be the tiniest font used on a map. Something I noticed as I futilely searched for one smaller to give myself hope.
It was about this time that Wade and I came to a daunting realization. We were going to run out of gas. In the middle of nowhere with no cell service (like who were we going to call? Mom and dad to drive 4 hours south to bail us out?)
I spent the next
We came upon a crossroads to another small town (same size font) that promised (at least one) bed and breakfasts. However, it was 3 miles off the highway. If we took the chance that there would be a gas station there and there wasn't, we might not have enough to get back to the highway. If we stayed on the highway we could potentially get the car a little closer to civilization.
(It should be noted that by this point, we had seen exactly one car and one motorcycle pass by).
The tension in the car was palpable as we coasted into Bedrock, Colorado. As before in it's Utah counterpart, La Sal, we were practically out of Bedrock before we knew what was happening. At the edge of town there was a general store on the side of the road that Wade pulled up to for the sole purpose of asking how far the nearest gas station was so we could mentally prepare ourselves for the task of hiking to it. As he pulled up to it, I spotted this on the side:
I'll admit, for a minute, I thought "what a cruel, cruel joke." But, giving credit where credit is due, I knew this was a direct answer to fervent prayers uttered in a constant stream for the last 30 minutes. I'm pretty sure the pump came directly from God. I ran inside to ask the General Store lady if it was indeed a working gas pump, and to my relief she said yes.
Insert BIG SIGH OF RELIEF here.
At a whooping $3.43/gallon (hey, we would've paid anything at that point), we stocked up with enough to get us to Ouray and we continued on our way, happy, relieved and more relaxed than I have ever been in my entire life. And my teeth had been ground down to a nice smooth surface, so bonus!
Is it possible to make the write up of our road trip longer than the trip itself? We shall see... Tune in tomorrow for Day 4--Tourist Alert
Monday, May 24, 2010
Road Trip--Part 2 (Arches, Cows, Answered Prayers)
Day 2--Arches
We woke up in our luxurious accomodations and ate breakfast. (Free continental breakfast!) J. surprised us by actually eating (a very itsy, teeny, weeny) part of an apple. Unsolicited. Scurvy avoided for one more day.
We packed up, checked out and headed the 50 miles to Arches. I gave J. his very own camera (a one-time use camera) to use for the trip. It held 27 pictures, so we talked about how to conserve your pictures and not to take pictures of everything (like your nose). He was a little confused as to why he couldn't see the picture right away, but pretty soon he caught on. I could almost hear Wade's eyeballs hit the top of his head as he rolled his eyes, but even he'll admit that this was probably the best idea I had all trip. Certainly much better than the treat buckets in the backseat.
Once at Arches, Wade and I debated for a little bit about what hike to do first. My vote was Delicate Arch because it's the one we HAVE to see and if J. decides that he can only hike one hike, it should probably be this one. Wade wanted to try something else--the details are murky--but I won.
It was like 80 degrees, but to our northern skin, it was closer to 400 degrees. Undeterred we set off.
I'll admit. I was a little skeptical of J.'s hiking ability. But, I was proven wrong. He was such a trooper. He made it all the way up the trail to the top with minimal complaining. Even when it looked like this:
Once at the top, we decided--unwisely--to let A. out of her pack. The quest then turned from gazing at Mother Nature's beauty to keeping A. from running off the cliff.
The view, of course, was awesome.
This is as close as we dared to get with the kids in tow. Especially our little fearless one. Besides the German Tourist League was out in full force, practically pushing us all over in their excitement to stand under the arch. We were content just sitting and gazing for a bit, and J. took a picture of us:
Everyone looks good from the ground looking up, don't they? It is kind of interesting to see what we look like to a five year old though. It was at about this time that A. flipped around in my arms and sent a water bottle careening off that rock behind us. We--along with the German Tourist League--and a few other people watched as it bounced down into a bowl of rock located smack dab in the center of the area.
Wade set off to retrieve it and we waited.
and waited. Finally I spotted him:
He was able to retrieve the bottle, now completely useless. But at least we didn't leave it behind to be carted off by birds and accidently killing their babies.
We hiked back down and let A. out of her pack a little ways before the parking lot.
I don't have time for this people!
Such a diva! A. spent about 20 minutes running up and down the bridge, squealing at all the other tourists, and basically having a ball. J. just sat and watched.
Next, we went to lunch at the picnic area.
I was lounging against the rocks because the wind would travel through, chilling me, and the rocks were warm. Wade had other ideas:
And A. took it upon herself to move the rocks--one by one--from here:
to here:
We decided to try one more hike. Skyline Arch, about .20 miles. Nothing too strenuous. We even let A. walk what she could:
She was determined to be leader of the pack.
Skyline arch was pretty, but it became apparent that the kids were done.
So we headed to our next stop in Moab (ahhhh....Days Inn. We're living the high life here.) A. pretty much summed up how we were all feeling:
She took a little snooze and then we went swimming. I brought out the boat that I had gotten J. for the trip. He was really excited until I blew it up:
I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of it is. You obviously can't float on it. It's much too small and the picture on the package did not show it as being this dinky. He still loved it though.
After swimming we headed into town for dinner. I was a little disappointed in what I got, we were all tired, and J. was lucky he was still alive, given his antics between swimming and dinner. (Rules of the Road #8--we may actually have a warrant out for our arrest--stemmed from an incident involving J. and Wade and a stranger. To protect the innocent, I'm not going to relay the story. Just suffice it to say that dinner was delayed an hour because of it.) Not to mention, it was Wade's birthday. So, we stopped to get Frosty's, but since J. was such a brat before and during dinner, he just got to watch us eat ours. Later, we both commented that we didn't really want Frosty's but, out of principle, we had to eat them. Boy, did we show J.!
Best of all, the kids fell alseep right away and we got to watch a little tv that wasn't cartoons.
Day 3--Arches (again).
We all woke up feeling a little better, headed to our free continental breakfast, packed up, checked out and went back to Arches for a few hours.
Tuesday night, for J.'s bedtime story, I showed him pictures of where we were going. He became fixated on Balancing Rock. That was our first stop today. He took his time with his camera, trying to get the best shot. We hiked up to it and around:
A. was insistent on doing it herself, so she clambered around like she was in charge.
But little feet get tired, so she needed a breather:
It was really windy, and for whatever reason, I didn't get a picture of balancing rock other than in this picture. But, I know J. did. And, look, I came on the trip too:
Our last stop in Arches was the Park Avenue hike. Neither one of us had ever done this one. It's a one-mile hike through a series of formations that look a little like Park Avenue in New York. We were going to let A. hike as much as she wanted and she ended up doing about 3/4ths of it. Not bad for someone that just learned to walk 2 months ago.
She needed a little help from daddy to climb over the bigger rocks. And it's harder when you insist on carrying your sippy cup too.
The idea is to have someone pick you up at the end. However, since we were both hiking, one of us had to go back for the car. I chose to be the martyr because it gave me 20 minutes of alone time.
We packed into the car and headed off to our next destination: Ouray, CO.
Part 3 tomorrow really will include cows and answered prayers. And 12 Corvettes.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Road Trip--Part 1 (of some indeterminate number)
A few months ago, we decided to take a road trip.
Then we tossed around a few ideas and settled on Northern California. However, looking at the age of our car occupants, we tamed our ideas down and last Sunday, decided to take a road trip to Ouray, Colorado via Moab.
Yes, last Sunday.
So we made the reservations (or did we?) and Wednesday was our target date to leave. The plan was to drive to Green River on Wednesday night and then head to Arches on Thursday. Spend the night in Moab Thursday night, play around some more in Arches on Friday, and then head on over to Ouray for Friday and Saturday night.
Wow. There was a lot to get done in such a short amount of time. So Wednesday rolls around, and Wade showed up at home about an hour and a half earlier than I expected. Oops. No one was packed. The house was slightly chaotic. But we left about the time I thought we would, 7 pm. I figured A. and J. would sleep once we got out of Provo and all would be good. And look I was right:
Then we tossed around a few ideas and settled on Northern California. However, looking at the age of our car occupants, we tamed our ideas down and last Sunday, decided to take a road trip to Ouray, Colorado via Moab.
Yes, last Sunday.
So we made the reservations (or did we?) and Wednesday was our target date to leave. The plan was to drive to Green River on Wednesday night and then head to Arches on Thursday. Spend the night in Moab Thursday night, play around some more in Arches on Friday, and then head on over to Ouray for Friday and Saturday night.
Wow. There was a lot to get done in such a short amount of time. So Wednesday rolls around, and Wade showed up at home about an hour and a half earlier than I expected. Oops. No one was packed. The house was slightly chaotic. But we left about the time I thought we would, 7 pm. I figured A. and J. would sleep once we got out of Provo and all would be good. And look I was right:
Too bad it didn't last. It was at this point--about Spanish Fork--where I came to realize Rules of the Road #2. I had inadvertently only packed one binkie for A. And it wasn't tethered to anything. So her favorite game became Throw the Binkie and Then Squeal Until Mom Contorts Herself Into a Pretzel to Find It On the Back Seat Floor in the Dark. Repeat.
Meanwhile, I had a fleeting thought that I should call the hotel (the illustrious Super 8 in Green River) to inform them that we were going to be late. I called and they informed me there was no reservation under my name. Looking over my carefully printed confirmation papers, I realized that in my haste on Sunday to make reservations online, I did not actually hit "Reserve Now" on this particular hotel. I then had to call the 1-800 number and get a reservation. So, I was trying to set up a reservation, I had squealing banshee girl in the back competing with what is possibly the LOUDEST tires on the planet and trying to interpret this guy from India.
After everything was sorted, I could relax. We were driving through my old college stomping grounds and the drive from Price to Green River brought back a lot of memories. It's been a while since we've been down that way and a lot has changed. We were on an adventure, and for the first (of many times throughout the 4 days we were gone) I thought "why didn't Wade and I do things like this more when it was just the two of us?"
We made it to Green River around 10ish relatively unscathed and checked in. I got my Wyndham Reward Points. Wade got his ice bucket. The kids got cable tv. We were all happy and excited to be on vacation.
Part 2 Tomorrow--Arches, Cows, Answered Prayers and where 90% of the Rules of the Road were conceived.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Rules of the Road
1. You should never pass up the gas station at Hole in the Rock.
2. No matter how many you pack, you will never have enough binkies.
3. Family road trips might deserve a reality show of it's own.
4. There is a point in time, maybe at two children, that you will feel out of place when you go out to eat in a tourist town.
5. There are, in fact, no other families with small children traveling at this time.
6. You can overbuy road trip treats.
7. Cabin fever will make you do crazy things. Like agree to run another half marathon in 10 days.
8. We may actually have a warrant out for our arrest.
9. I see now why a lot of our "family vacations" growing up centered around Provo and Ogden.
10. While spray-on sunblock was the best invention ever, it should not be used by idiots. Namely me.
11. A. is a GIRL! A GIRL!!! Who puts their boy in hot pink shorts?
12. The human family unit was never meant to spend so much time together in such small, tight spaces.
13. Making memories is hard work.
14. Whatever line we're in will invariably be the slowest. If, for some reason, we do pick the "right" lane, we will then pull up directly behind the RV going 20 mph.
15. There is a certain elapsed time between when you buy your RV and you stop realizing that you are holding up a bazillion cars. We are close to pinpointing exactly how long you have until you sink into that oblivion.
16. One has to wonder what happened when they went from following 12 Corvettes to being charged by 700 cows.
17. Seriously? How can 12 corvettes and 700 cows even be on the same road trip?
18. There are a lot of German tourists.
19. Panicking will not put gas in the vehicle, make the baby stop making herself throw up, or find an open ice cream store. However, fervent prayer will accomplish at least one of those things.
20. There are pictures and stories galore that should entertain the masses. Tune in next week to find out the rest of the story.
2. No matter how many you pack, you will never have enough binkies.
3. Family road trips might deserve a reality show of it's own.
4. There is a point in time, maybe at two children, that you will feel out of place when you go out to eat in a tourist town.
5. There are, in fact, no other families with small children traveling at this time.
6. You can overbuy road trip treats.
7. Cabin fever will make you do crazy things. Like agree to run another half marathon in 10 days.
8. We may actually have a warrant out for our arrest.
9. I see now why a lot of our "family vacations" growing up centered around Provo and Ogden.
10. While spray-on sunblock was the best invention ever, it should not be used by idiots. Namely me.
11. A. is a GIRL! A GIRL!!! Who puts their boy in hot pink shorts?
12. The human family unit was never meant to spend so much time together in such small, tight spaces.
13. Making memories is hard work.
14. Whatever line we're in will invariably be the slowest. If, for some reason, we do pick the "right" lane, we will then pull up directly behind the RV going 20 mph.
15. There is a certain elapsed time between when you buy your RV and you stop realizing that you are holding up a bazillion cars. We are close to pinpointing exactly how long you have until you sink into that oblivion.
16. One has to wonder what happened when they went from following 12 Corvettes to being charged by 700 cows.
17. Seriously? How can 12 corvettes and 700 cows even be on the same road trip?
18. There are a lot of German tourists.
19. Panicking will not put gas in the vehicle, make the baby stop making herself throw up, or find an open ice cream store. However, fervent prayer will accomplish at least one of those things.
20. There are pictures and stories galore that should entertain the masses. Tune in next week to find out the rest of the story.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Ogden in Pictures
Saturday, I ran the Ogden Half Marathon. It was a gorgeous run, made even better by the camera I had rigged up.
At the beginning of the year, I had this great idea to start carrying a camera with me on my races. I spend all this time training for something and then I run it and then I try to (inadequately) put in to words what I was experiencing. So, why not actually show you what I'm experiencing?
It's taken me this long to actually take the time to rig up a camera bag to carry with me. But, I finally did it. And lo and behold, here is what we have:
(This is for the benefit of those who don't follow me on Facebook (aka: my entire family). So if you do follow me, you've seen the pictures. However, since this is my blog, I can use a lot more words to describe the pictures. So you could just look at them again and read more of the story that doesn't have to fit into a word number constraint.)
We spent the night at H.'s sister's house in Kaysville. This got us a lot closer to Ogden then if we would've driven there the day of the race. Which was good, considering we had to be on the bus at 5 am.
If I looked even half as good as these girls do at 5 am, I would be in the picture too. But alas...5 am is not my best time of the day. That's M. on the left and H. on the right. M. doesn't typically run with us (something about us being crazy for running at 5 in the morning in the winter), but C. didn't sign up for the race and M. did. So she became an honorary member of our squad. I did an 11 miler with her on my birthday and a 10 miler with her the following Wednesday. Just for kicks. And because I needed the extra training. And because M. is so cool who wouldn't want to run 10 and 11 milers with her?
This is us at the top, waiting to start. It's about 5:45 in the morning and the race doesn't start until 7 am. And it was a tad bit chilly. Hence the jackets and the hats. (And the gloves and long pants you don't see.) There were a plethera of people who thought we were running in Florida or something because they showed up in practically their underwear (note to self: need to practice getting secret shots of people so they don't suspect you're taking a picture of them). Luckily, there were fires built up to keep us a little warm.
Still cold, but we had to strip down so they could take our clothing down to the finish line. (Ha. Made you look!) They ferried our coats and long pants down to the bottom. We're saying goodbye to H. who was taking her place in the faster quadrant of the race. M. and I were headed further towards the back. I'm just finally seeing that I may have the biggest head EVER. Seriously, like 2 of H.'s heads could equal one of mine. How come I've never noticed this before?
This was taken after the bell or the gun or the cannon went off. I didn't hear anything but everyone started migrating towards the start. Turns out, it took M and me two minutes to reach the starting line.
This is the last picture of M. and me before starting. I'm so glad my parents paid a fortune to straighten my teeth.
This is the sea of people running. I love that there are people wearing everything from tank tops to jackets. Surprisingly, the crowd really never thinned out much. You were always running with a group. It wasn't stifling or anything. Just kind of weird that there were this many crazy folk out on one Saturday morning.
This is my first self portrait. I'm trying to take them picture while maintaining a sub-9 minute pace. Turned out pretty well, didn't it? It's sometime during the second mile and I'm listening to Kelly Clarkston's My Life Would Suck Without You (and it would!). Why do I remember this? Who knows.
This was taken after the bell or the gun or the cannon went off. I didn't hear anything but everyone started migrating towards the start. Turns out, it took M and me two minutes to reach the starting line.
This is my first self portrait. I'm trying to take them picture while maintaining a sub-9 minute pace. Turned out pretty well, didn't it? It's sometime during the second mile and I'm listening to Kelly Clarkston's My Life Would Suck Without You (and it would!). Why do I remember this? Who knows.
I've ditched the hat and the gloves by now and then I had a really weird experience just before this juncture (about mile 4). I was having a hard time catching my breath. My legs felt fine. My head felt fine. But my chest felt like an elephant was sitting on it. I've never experienced that on a run that was primarily downhill and I wasn't going top speed. I slowed down to a walk and M. caught up with me. So I ran with her for a few minutes and was finally able to bounce back. Hence the smile.
As we were crossing the dam at the edge of Pineview Reservior to start running down Ogden Canyon, I turned and caught this awesome shot. Seriously, this is why I run. Where else would you see this except at 7:45 in the morning while running with 3000 other people?
This is M. passing me by at about mile 6. I was having some technical issues concerning my hair (see next picture). I kept M. in my sights for close to a mile, but then I lost her.
This looks like a grimmace because it is a grimmace. I'm at 6.55 miles--exactly half way--and I want to shave my head bald. I have hair ALL OVER the place. Layers are so overrated. Because I was carrying the camera, I couldn't fix it on the fly either. I had to stop, unwrap my camera bag from my hand, and readjust my hair so that (a) it wasn't flying into my sweaty, sticky face and (b) wasn't draping across my neck. I then had to refasten the camera bag to my hand. Good thing my hair was drenched with sweat because that helped glue it down for the remaining 6.55 miles. Oh and all black was a BAD idea. I was SO hot. And not in a good way.
I took a picture here because I was so happy I made it this far. At mile 9, I was really struggling and I think if I would've had enough moisture in my body, I probably would've cried. 10 miles meant that there was only a 5k left and I've run a ton of those. I could finish 3 miles.
This is the next picture I took. I was running, jogging, walking, lumbering along and thinking "I should take a picture" but of what? Certainly not me. I was in no shape to smile for the camera. And then the mere effort of taking the camera out of the bag was too much to comprehend, so I would just keep going. Mile 12 meant I only had one more mile to endure.
I might be slightly tired, because from here on out, the pictures are slightly lopsided. This was taken as you came out of the parkway and met up with Grant Ave. The finish line was on Grant Ave. and 25th, so about 4 blocks away. There were some horse statues to the side, but naturally, I didn't get a picture of those. Just a lopsided picture of people who look like they are walking but are still moving faster than me.
Inside my head, I was thinking "okay, you're on the homestretch. Smile big for the camera." And I really thought I was giving the camera my best smile. This, however, more accurately displays my true feelings at this point. It's true--the camera doesn't lie.
See. A little tired. My official time was 2:16:42. So not bad. Not great. And definitely not what I was hoping for. But I had a few miles in there (particularly 9-11) where I got to dwell on my missed goals and by the time I hit the finish, I was just happy it was over.
Crossing the finish line. Woot! Woot!
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