Kindergarten Graduation

It seems like yesterday that J. started kindergarten and on Friday, he graduated.  It was a bittersweet moment.  I'm happy that he's come so far, but now that I've tasted freedom for the mornings, I'm a little reluctant going into summer break.  My only condolence is that in three short months, he will be back in school FULL TIME.  I'm already counting down the days.

I brought my camera to the graduation, like any good parent, but A. got a hold of it and refused--rather loudly and adamently--to relinquish control.  So most of the pictures you get are courtesy of a two year old. 

It's just how we roll over here.  And have you heard that girl scream?  You'd give in pretty fast too. 

The pictures aren't in chronological order, but rather categorized by items in the pictures.  You'll see.

First up are a few shots I got off before the hostile takeover of the camera.  I thought it would be hard to describe where J was, but he's the tall one in the middle.  The REALLY tall one.  His teacher is standing next to the curtain.  She's only about five inches taller than J.  That is no joke.  I had taken a picture of the two of them, but my camera--of course--ran out of batteries right before the shot and I couldn't get it to take.

Next up are A's pictures.  We have the classic finger shots:

Oh, look.  There's Grandma:

This guy sat in front of us.  We saw him again at McDonald's when we went for our congratulatory luncheon.

And last, but not least, are the pictures of the ceiling:

I was probably the only parent there who didn't have some big fancy camera documenting my child's step in to the big world, but I did the best I could with what I had.  Which was a dinky digital camera and a two year old who, after getting bored with the program, decided the only thing she wanted to do was go sit next to J.  at all costs and it was quite the battle to keep her from stomping right up there and plucking herself down on his lap.

Can you believe that, despite me and my efforts, they still let him pass to the next grade?

Upcoming Races

The number one question I get asked is "are you pregnant?"

Seriously, folks, if that is to happen, I will let you all know.  No need to ask.  I am human.  I get the stomach flu like all you.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.  I'm not trying to be coy or anything.

But the second question I get asked the most is "any upcoming races?"  It's that time again when race season is in full swing and most of my summers have been spent competing and/or training for something.  Back in January after  my less than stellar performance at a half marathon, I vowed to hang up my running shoes for the year.

When I got really sick for the month of February with some sort of cold that lingered on for WEEKS, I figured this was my answer.  I took the entire month of February off from running outside at insane hours and dare I say it was refreshing and nice.  I worked out using DVD's and the treadmill and the bike trainer and when I came back in March I hadn't lost too much of my fitness, which was nice.  I was also excited to be out running again.

But it was insanely hard to get back into the groove.  Which worked to my advantage because our running trio had blossomed into a running quintet and the chemistry was kind of off.  I made the decision to hang back with my friend, who is pregnant, and was slowing down a bit, while the other member of our trio ramped it up with the two new members.  I knew I was slowing down, but I didn't care.  There was nothing on the docket since I had decided to take this year off from any races requiring more of an effort, then say, a romp through a small town on a summer morning.

And then as I'm prone to do, I found all these FUN races that I've never noticed before since I was so heavily involved with training for bigger ones.  So, here's a list of what's up next:

Memorial Day: I'm suppose to run a Memorial Day race with my  brother down in American Fork.  I ran it a few years ago, and it was a lot of fun.  Especially the part where you run through the cemetary where the pathway is lined with flags.  It's a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made by our armed forces.  If that doesn't pan out, I'm going to run the local Memorial Day run that is across the highway at the Benson Grist Mill. 

June 4: 100 Miles to Nowhere.  This is the bike ride for cancer that I'm doing by myself.  I'm actually very nervous about this one considering the longest I've been on my bike in the last year is 25 miles, and it was a very painful reminder as to why more people don't take up biking.  My legs could go forever, but my butt has a limit.  A very small limit at the present time.  Oh, and the weather has been LESS THAN cooperative, so I haven't had much time to train. Oiy.  If I survive the entire 100 miles, it will be my greatest accomplishment to date.

June 17: Wade and I are going mountain biking for our anniversary and while making the reservations for a hotel room, I noticed on the calendar of events an entry for Lunatic Triathlon.  How could I resist?  The tri starts at 10:30 pm and looks to be a total blast.  My only reservations are that there's two groups: Recreational and Competitive.  After polling some friends, I decided that I would much rather come in last in the competitive group than come in first in the recreational group and miss out on placing.  The town is small and I'm not sure what the level of competitiveness is, plus there are no previous results or maps to courses, so I'm going into it completely blind.  But I'm really excited about it.  And excited about the weekend mountain biking.

WHY DIDN'T WE DO THESE THINGS BEFORE WE HAD KIDS?

July 4: Tooele 4th of July 5k. This will be my fifth year straight running this run.  I LOVE this run because it truly embodies the small town feel of the July 4th holiday.

August 12: Moonlight Half.  I got talked into this one ONLY because it was a no pressure race.  The idea is to guess how long it will take you to run the half marathon (13.1 miles) and then cross the finish line as close to midnight as possible.  The winner isn't necessarily the fastest runner.  It's the person who crosses the closest to midnight.  However, I still have to train for it. 

August 20: Stansbury Days Tri.  This is my signature summer event.  I LOVE this race because of how organized, cheap and fun it is.  I'm hoping to hit a sub 1:20 this year which would put me in contention for top 5 position, plus placing in the top 3 of my (new) age group which is arguably the HARDEST age group in the entire race.  At the beginning of the racing season (roughly end of March/beginning of April) this was the only thing I had on the docket. 

September 11: Stansbury Olympic Distance Triathlon or Viking Man Duathlon. The triathlon would mark my first venture outside of sprint distance triathlons to a longer, more challenging one and I'm nervous about that.  However, I figure if I can ride 100 miles with hardly any training, I can probably do an olympic distance triathlon.  The Viking Man Duathlon is a run, bike, run event that I would be doing with a friend who is coming back from the birth of her third kid.  That's still up in the air. 

For a year I was going to take easy and not do much, it's pretty jam packed.  But with my Mother's Day gift of a gym membership and no records I'm trying to break, I think it's shaping into a pretty decent season.  And I'm shaping into something of a toned athlete. 

Book Review Sunday

This week--I promise.  I'm going to be on the wagon and share some stories.  Promise.

Book: A Three Dog Life
Author: Abigail Thomas
Pages: 182

Heartbreaking.  Tragic.  Devastating.  This book was immensely hard to get through. Had I known, I probably wouldn't have picked it up.  I really thought it was going to be about three dogs and how each dog represented this person's life.  That's what I get for not reading the inside cover.

However, with that being said, I really enjoyed this book for what it was.  It's a memoir about coping with the traumatic brain injury of her husband, who had been hit by a car.  He lives in a care facility and she visits him daily.  Most of the time, he doesn't know where he's at, though thankfully, he knows her.  He has fits of paranoia and throws temper tantrums and she goes home, feeling guilty that she gets to move on with her life while her soul mate is stuck in some in-between world. But she doesn't get to move on.  Her life is him.  And he's there while she's not. She is left to feel the twinges of survivor guilt and wondering if she did everything she could.

Oiy.  I can't even write about it without tearing up.

It was the last line of the book that pushed me over:  the author asks her husband how long he thinks they've been married. 


"About a year." he answers
I shake my head. "Seventeen years," I say, "we got married in 1988 and its 2005."
"Abby," he says, smiling, "our life has been so easy that the days glide by."


When I ran a half marathon in January with the wife of Wade's cousin who passed away we talked about this very thing.  That it would be infinitely harder to have your spouse holding on in some shell of a previous self then to just have them die.  This book is a reminder that there are worse things than dying and to take time to appreciate everything that you have on a daily basis.

What's For Dinner Wednesday--Ham and Cheese Cannelloni

Oh. My. Heavenly. Goodness.


If I would have omitted the ham, that is.

I found this recipe in my Taste of Home Magazine. I think it was one of those recipes courtesy of a product they are trying to sell. Whatever it was, I LOVED it. And I probably would have loved it more if I would have had the right cheese (again!)

1 C ricotta cheese
1 C shredded mozzarella cheese
1 large egg
1 15 oz jar Classico Light Creamy Alfredo Sauce
8 egg-roll wrappers
8 slices deli ham
1/2 C grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

* Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, mozzarella and the egg.

* Reserve 3/4 C of the Alfredo sauce and spread the remaining sauce in he bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish

* Arrange an egg roll wrapper on a work surface. Spread 3 T of the ricotta mixture overthe wrapper, cover with a slice of ham, then roll up to form a log, jelly roll style. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and place the cannelloni, seam side down, in a single layer in the baking dish.

*Spoon the reserved Alfredo Sauce over the cannelloni, top with the Parmigiano-Reggiano and bake for 20 minute, or until golden brown and bubbly.

Next time, I am definitely omitting the ham. I'm not a huge ham fan, and it was such a distraction from the cannelloni. Also, I need to find me some of that Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese because this is the second meal to be less than stellar because of my substitution with plain ole parmigian. Otherwise, a quick and easy meal that was just as good as a restaurant. And with as many calories as well.

Book Review Sunday

I've sorta fallen off the radar.  I totally intend to make my way back to the map this week.  But we'll see how it goes. 

Book: Into The Wild
Author: Jon Krakauer
Pages: 203

This was an incredibly fascinating nonfiction book about a kid (he was 24, which is now CONSIDERABLY younger than my ancient self, so I can call him a kid) who disappears into the Alaska wilderness to never been seen alive again.

The most interesting thing about the book is how Krakauer took a straight forward news item and was able to stretch it into a book that was, for the most part, gripping right through the end.  I mean, some kid goes off into the Alaska wilderness, intent on living off the land, and his starved body is found six months later.  That was about it.  However, Krakauer retraced Chris McCandless's route through two years of trekking around the country.  He was able to find peope who had come to love this vagabond and told about the bonds they had made with him. He weaves in stories of other people who have met similar fates. It really is an exceptional book.

I love the wilderness as much as the next person and have spent some time isolated from the world, but I have had, and still have, no desire to leave civilization behind and live by myself in the most isolated parts of the world for months on end.  But, I do love reading stories about it.  I can't say enough about Krakauer as a writer and I will be picking up his other books as well.

The Big 3-0

I turned 30 on Sunday. Crazy because 30 use to seem so old.

And I'm definitely not old.  Even if I have the same swimsuit as the old lady at the pool.  Even if that swimsuit is better suited for a 70 year old than a 30 year old.

So Wade offered to take me to Salt Lake for dinner on Saturday.  We stopped at a bike store to look for my birthday present and then headed off into the sunset for dinner.

As we pulled up by Hires, Wade slowed down and pulled in.

There are some interesting facts to note: (a) Wade never asked where I wanted to eat.  (b) Every surprise party my family has thrown in the last 20 years has occured at Hires.

So you can forgive me for jumping to the obvious conclusion: Wade had thrown me a surprise party for my 30th birthday.  At Hires.  And I was a little disappointed.  First, the kids were being babysat by one of my closest friends and I know that her vehicle is not big enough to ferry all her kids and my kids to the party, so obviously, she wouldn't be there.  Secondly, I knew that my entire family all had plans.  And not just "oh, we're hanging out with friends" kind of plans to throw me off the trail. Serious, verifiable plans. So who exactly would be at this party? Thirdly, it was Hires.  Again.  Site of both my dad's and my mom's 60th surprise birthday parties, Wade's surprise graduation party, my 16th surprise birthday party, and a host of other parties.  It's been done.  I was sorta hoping for a new venue.

But the joke was on me because there was no surprise party.  Just two unrelated parties that had nothing to do with me.  Wade said that he had always wanted to do that--take someone from my family to Hires on an occassion that would warrant a surprise party, and there not be any party.

He thinks he is so clever.

We enjoyed our dinner and then headed back home to pick up the kids and watch a redbox with them.  That was Wade's idea, because I don't know that I would ever think "hey, for my birthday, I want to watch a kid's movie with the kids."

We stopped at my friend's house to pick up the kids.  When someone finally answered the door, there were 30ish of my friends, all there to surprise me with a party!  It was a complete surprise.  I had NO idea.  All of my friends did really well at keeping it a huge secret.  Nicely done! They all brought gag gifts and we had a blast with a ton of food and fun.  All in all, it was a total success.

I did a lot in my 20's and I certainly don't regret any of those accomplishments, but I'm looking forward to ramping it up during my 30's.  There are a few things that I would definitely like to cross of that list sooner rather than later.

I'm still trying to get use to the idea of being 30 though.  30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30...it just seems so OLD.

Picture Imperfect Tuesday

I haven't showered in two days, haven't exercised in three days, took exactly one picture for J's birthday, and haven't read the book for book club this month, which I am hosting at my house on Thursday, despite my house looking like it has endured a nuclear attack, even after having cleaned it for the majority of yesterday.

Added to that was my failure to take A's immunization record with me to her 2 year check up (yeah, she's 2 1/2) and inadvertently having her reimmunized for everything.

And then there was the jar of salsa that rolled out of the back of the car when I opened the hatchback.and smashed so elegantly on the driveway.

Oh, and I turn 30 in 5 days and I am not ready to say goodbye to my 20's quite yet.

Sigh.

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