St. Lukes Women's Fitness Celebration

My 4th annual St. Lukes Women's Fitness Celebration 5k was today! I was so excited to finally get my bff and some of her girls with us, and my Mom and Sister came in from Seattle! It is a great time to celebrate together as sisters, daughters, mothers and grandmothers!

We were up and on our way downtown bright and early...

Well maybe not so bright... it was still dark outside when we arrived!

The Moose!



We danced (YMCA) to stay warmed up while we waited for the race to start (along with 20k of our new best friends... you can go to the local news station and we made the front page of their website http://www.ktvb.com/news/celebration09/)



This was cool, when they released doves for those who have lost their battles to disease.


And when the St. Lukes helicopter flew over to designate the beginning of the race.

I really love the girls racing in the wheelchair division... The winner of this wave did it in 13 minutes! Amazing!!

The elite runners!

Jerad from Subway!!

and there off...

Carolyn Holly from our local channel 7 news...

More dancing...

And finally we are off...

A look backwards at the capital building and all the women...

a view of the city from the ridge, it was so pretty.

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I turned to my sister when we were crossing the ridge and I hadn't even remembered doing "the hill" this year... so that must mean I am in better shape than I was ever before.... because I always dread the hill... and one year, it about killed me to do the hill! Yeah me, not even noticing I was climbing a hill this time!! small victory for me!!!

At that point we decided we wanted to run it next year!

So here it is... a record of our comittment for next years goal to run the 5k!!

And tuxedo row.... our favorite fan, ready to greet and encourage us with high fives...

And this one will even give out hugs!!! So cool!!!

We found his family in the park...

It was a great walk...

And a good time was had by all!!!

Girls Weekend Begins...

My Mom and Sis arrived from Seattle! It is our annual girls slumber party sleepover for the St. Lukes Women's Fitness Celebration.

I thought since I hadn't slept very well all week, because I was so excited for them to get here... I would sleep like a log the 1st night... but here I am 2:45am wide awake! Good thing I have something productive to do, like blogging.

We went from the airport to eat some brunch at Cracker Barrel(they were up really early and missed breakfast, but it was still too early for lunch) .

Then we went to the women's show and Lynn, well she is a "hat girl"... she just can't pass by a cute hat without trying it on!

This sursee was for me... "trick or treat". I love it, so cute!!!!

Thanks Mom!!!

We had shrimp boil for dinner and engaging conversation about arrow heads and hunting.

Sheesh! and I get all the gruff for talking with my hands... LOL, you are so busted honey!

And I got an early birthday present, Wii Active! Yeah!!! I am so excited!!! Thanks Lynn!!!

So we got a good work out learning how to play with it.

Fun day... I hope I can get to sleep soon, for more festivities tomorrow!

We Click...

Have you ever had a friend you just clicked with?

I am having so much fun getting to know my visiting teaching partner! I have been around her girls for a number of years now working with the youth group at church and I love them... and finally got an opportunity to serve with her! I was so excited when I found out, and I have not been disappointed! We just click!

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It is really hard to coordinate 6 different schedules, but with her it doesn't seem like a hassle at all. It comes together every month... so cool. She doesn't blab like I do about things I am not happy about, or things that bug me, or all the little stuff happening around me. So I have to find out about her through her likes instead of what she dislikes... she doesn't complain! But even that is hard, because she is a really good listener (which means around me she doesn't get much of a word in edgewise).

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We switched the lessons around for August and September, so this month we were learning and sharing about lifelong learning and education. I loved this lesson because each one of the sisters we visit has different talents... and part of the qualities of a lifelong learner is to "share" your talents with others. But I am most excited about learning from her. Because she isn't one of those "put it all out there" kind of girls; her talents are more quiet and behind the scenes.

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So far I know she is an amazing seamstress (I have seen the costumes in the musicals she worked day and night to get altered), and when we talk about the sewing machine, she uses words I've never even heard of before. I can't wait to learn more from her behind the sewing machine.

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I know that her family has an amazing garden and she knows how to can everything under the sun, so I can't wait to glom onto her when she is doing some apple canning this fall (she doesn't know it, but I am secretly asking her all kinds of questions to find out when and where so I can show up on her doorstep to borrow a cup of sugar or something).

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And something else I have known since the first time she taught a lesson in our relief society class is that she is a great teacher... I almost wish we had 12 other sisters to visit when it's her turn to teach because I always walk away with something applicable and tangible that I might have never pulled from the lesson on my own. And when I hear her talk about her kids and what they are reading or interested in for that week (she has amazing, smart, curious, high achiever kids that she manages to stay steps ahead of to keep them learning and growing), you should hear the love and excitement in her voice when she talks about her kids; the other day, I learned just a simple phrase to help me cope with all the crazy questions that a kid could come up with... "tell me what you think it means?" And she says it puts it back on them, and they will search and learn and grow in a direction their mind takes them. Brilliant!

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About age 7 I was so happy for the world wide web to turn Jacob towards with all his crazy questions about where clouds come from, and many more that I never knew what the kid was even thinking to come up with all the questions he did. The bad news is I would get so frustrated by the 400th question, that I was put off, and I didn't go with him to learn it too. I wish I would have known how to turn it back on him, and not tried to take all the burdens of his mind being ahead of mine (or in a different direction than mine) and not known how to capture and re-direct that energy to something useful.

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I just know there is sooooo much more I can learn from her talents and attributes as a good mother, wife and daughter... I can't wait! I know God puts people in our paths for a reason, and I am so happy and excited, to learn what he has in store for us together. I feel like I could climb a mountain with her by my side, we just click!

The Fish Story...

My Strong Silent Mysterious Man took the 11 year old scouts and their Dad's on an overnight camp out this past weekend, to a fishing hole he came across while doing some work for one of his clients.
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The man was very nice to let them come to his private place... they had a great time and brought home some great "fish stories". Except this time he brought pictures to go along with the stories too!

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The first night, some of the scouts put their poles in the water but apparently they were having so much fun playing and being squirly... and not watching their poles very well... when this one hit a pole near Jim and he grabbed it before the pole was pulled into the water...

I think after that, it got their attention, and all poles were in the water!

(sometimes the proof is in the puddin' when your 11 years old)

I loved this series of pictures... the first night's catch, Dad is holding the fish for the photo op! (you can tell by the look on his face, they were trying to convince him to hold onto it himself... to no avail)

By the next morning, he was almost a pro and would let the fish "touch" him... but only barely! (I didn't even know fish had lips?)

Then by that afternoon... he had both hands on his fish!!

This scout was sooo excited at this point... the rest of the troop checked out around noon on Saturday, and we heard from his Dad, he couldn't get him out of there until it got dark on Saturday night!

So exciting he got the "fishing fever"... and it sounds like a good time was had by all!

Peanut butter does NOT go with everything...

One of my favorite snacks lately is celery and a tiny bit of peanut butter. I learned that the peanut butter is a great source of protein; but like with all good things, it has to be eaten in great moderation. (when our stock goes down some, I am going to "invest"... I say that because it is sooooooooooo expensive here, in some almond butter. I hear that is even better for you than peanut butter!

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So when I allow myself to indulge, I try and balance out my peanut butter with a ton of veggies! I found it is also a great way to get my daily veggies in, since I am not a huge fan of many of them, so I can get burned out quickly.

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So today I had a whole plate of veggies for lunch and a tsp of peanut butter with my celery, and some got on my green pepper slices... *** note to self - green peppers and peanut butter is really GROSS!!!

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Who knew?!!!