ragnarly

Last weekend I had the pleasure of running the Wasatch Back. Luckily my friend had to pull out 2 weeks before the race and asked me to take his place which I gladly accepted. The Wasatch Back is the Ragnar Relay Race in Utah. It starts in Logan and ends in Park City equalling 188 miles, ran by a team of 12. We all had three legs of the race and they were all different distances and difficulty. Our start time was 6:15 am on Friday and I was runner #2 so my first leg started in Logan and I ran 6.7 miles. I was full of adrenaline and I felt great. The scenery was so amazing and I saw some great vegetable gardens as I ran through some residential/farm areas. I was in van #1 and each van had 6 runners, once we all ran, then we get to rest while the other van does their legs. Our first stop was at Snow Basin resort, I never quite fell asleep but they did have very nice toilets and I took full advantage considering my other option was port-o-potties. Once the other van finished, we were off again. My next leg of the race was through a town in Morgan County, again gorgeous. By the time my van finished our second legs of the race it was 10 pm and we drove to the exchange where van #2 would finish so we could try to sleep. I was on the bench of a van and had 4 hours to try and sleep I MIGHT have fallen asleep for 1 of those hours. I do recall having a very short dream. At 4 am, the other team texted us to say they were almost done and to get ready to start. My last leg of the race was through Kamas and it was an easy 3.3 miles of rolling hills. My legs were tight when i started running and I thought it would be hard after sitting in a van and no sleep but I felt great except one minor detail, I had to poop like a mo' fo'. The entire run, it was awful. At the "one mile left sign", I knew this was it, the last mile of the whole race for me and I got a burst of adrenaline, forgot about the poop inching it's way out and ran my little heart out. I was so exhausted when I got home from the lack of sleep, i slept 12 hours Saturday night. But wasn't at all sore from the run, it feels good to know that I am in shape.
I loved doing this race, it was such a cool experience and the scenery was amazing for the entire drive. I think I weaseled my way into the teams heart because I've been offered a spot on the team for next year.




about to start my first run

the van, loaned to us by our awesome neighbor!

trying to get some rest in the parking lot at Snow Basin





the team crossing the finish line

seriously....so good, huh

This is one of the paintings that will be in Ryan's one man show in August up in Jackson Hole. He painted this in 3 weeks! And this is the shape of the painting. This is a Costco painting because all those other little drawings and paintings are his. Your buying his paintings in bulk.



















was blogging about our financial struggles a way of being humble because I've had two calls today for jobs that I applied for.

remember back in May when I blogged about feeling out of place and I was feeling depressed? Well after I put that in writing for the whole world to read, I felt much better and I look back on how I was feeling and wonder how I was at that point. So I'm a little superstitious that if I blog about my problems, they get better and "go away". Hence my current trial is finances and I'm in need of someone that can relate. I mean really relate like you've actually owned your own business and haven't had any income for over a month and no hope for any income any time soon. Sometimes I question my faith, maybe I'm not being faithful enough but I find it hard to go on living with the mentality that "Heavenly Father will provide a way and there is no doubt in my mind. Not having the money to pay my mortgage tomorrow doesn't concern me because I know we'll get a check in the mail." Am I lacking faith if I go find a job? I know a mother belongs at home but maybe circumstances don't allow for that right now. I'm alway hopeful of upcoming events for Ryan and am very optimistic of what will come of it. Not a whole lot so far. But he did recently get a fortune in his fortune cookie that read "keep up the good work. You soon will be rewarded financially." Don't add "in bed" to that one because I'd like to think that we aren't that desperate. And that's all I"m going to say about that because I feel like I sound whiney and like I'm constantly coming up with excuses when I talk about our lack of income.....but if your dating an artist......
but thank goodness for family, it's always nice to know you have family that cares. Our pantry is full.

On a different note, right into our week in review.



the kids finished a week of swim lessons. They loved it and had such a great teacher. I really like her because she was strict and made them do things right. If I'm paying the money for her to teach my kids, I want her to teach my kids.


We got chickens last week! All I had to pay for was the feed. I got a dog house for free that is the hen house and the fence for the chicken run was also free. And a boy that likes my sister built it all for free. Not to mention our three little ladies were also FREE! The Americana is the grey one and she is the only one old enough to lay eggs. She belongs to Cloe and her name is "Ella". The Rhode Island Red is Abbey's and her name is "belina" from "return to Oz", she would prefer to be in the coop and doesn't like to be held. The Barred Rock is the black and white one and that is Brody's named "cheetah". I will pet them but I don't hold them, they freak me out a little but I love them. I talk to them while I water my garden and if they didn't poop so randomly I would sit them on my lap and sing to them. Tears will be shed if one should die.

a garden and fresh eggs from the backyard, doing what we can to be self reliant ;)

the city fair on the cheap and most crowded night.




I always take pictures of her because everything she does is cute. She's just watching Brody play baseball with her water bottle.

job chart

my friend has a great and CHEAP idea for an "anti-boredom device" but I call it a chore chart. Right now mine are basic and they work, if I have the time, I'll get around to making it but I thought it was clever and wanted to share it with you.
http://therewasabrightflashoflight.blogspot.com/2010/06/newest-anti-boredom-device-for-summer.html

great summer day

of course I only blog about the good days, there were quite of few of those other days last week.

In the morning was our city's annual 5k. They make it a family event with a raffle at the end of awesome prizes so I decided to enter the kids this year. But since I'm training, I needed to actually go for a run to get my miles in so my mom and sister, thankfully took the kids and ran/walked with them. Abbey was very proud to win first place in the "Brown kids" category. I was a little disappointed in my time but my legs were tired from my longer runs earlier in the week.

Thankfully they wanted to come home and rest after the race.

Later they had a birthday party at Chuck E Cheeses. They had so much fun, all four of them and they were spoiled by their friends parents with tokens. The tokens seemed to flow like the salmon of Capistrano. The best was when Charlotte would walk up the skeet ball alley to throw the balls in. You can't go wrong the Chuckie and it's even better when it's free.



We made it home just in time for our neighbors BBQ, perfect weather, good food and enjoyable company made for a great evening. The kids had fun playing on the slip and slide and Charlotte wore the cutest suit.