Last Saturday and Sunday

On Saturday morning I woke up and saw fog sitting low on the mountains.

I had a list to do and knew I needed to get out and run before it got nasty.

Turns out, in the time it took me to start getting dressed, the rain began.

I kind of ughed inside, but went anyway.

So glad I did.

Ran up the hoofer hill right by house and kept going for 40 minutes.

I was soaking wet.

But every time I work out after or in a beautiful snowstorm, or with rain falling all around (and on!) me, there is a great quiet inside.

Something about being in the element creates something still inside me.

I forget how much I love this until I do it again.

I pushed hard and came home.

It felt so good, and I was so glad I hadn't let the cold keep me inside.

Took this dorky picture of myself to try and show you guys how soaked I was. (I was trying to get my wet legs, not my face and upper body---clearly this didn't work.  And my hand below almost looks like a black spider...what's up with that?)

This one is a bit better.

Notice how much lighter my spandex is towards my feet??

We bought a couch over the weekend.

We've wanted leather, something with classic lines, chocolate brown, simple.

Found it.

Love it.

We ate some yummy food.

Had a date night (I love being with him!).

Took the kids to their first official concert of baroque chamber music and then out to ice cream.

They did so awesome, and we're already trying to figure out what our next cultural outing will be with them.

Sunday was spent at church and in time together.

After dinner we read for an hour out of Where the Red Fern Grows.

We were gonna make cookie dough and bake some warm gooieness, but didn't get there yet.

That sounds like something yummy for my to-do list sometime this week.

Yes, please!

I love this time.

Busy Doing Calisthenics

Last Friday, I was in the shower after doing plyometrics.  

Benji was in my room, right outside the bathroom, busy.

He told me he was exercising.

I thought it was kinda cute and figured he was just goofin around.

But when I got out of the shower, he was busy doing this.

I am so loving the boots.

He was focused.

He went back and forth, up and down, for a good 15 minutes or so -- with only small breaks in between.

You could tell he was totally proud of himself, kind of struttin his stuff.

I was impressed (and amused).

And he was cracking me up with his use of "despicable" yesterday.

He was at the table, matching letters, when I heard him say,
"I am despicable."

I heard it other times as well.

I think he's trying it on for size because I don't think he has any idea what it means.

Funny, funny, funny.

I think I've got a little Superman in training.

Weekend Athletics

(These are our men before the race started.)

We had a really fun Friday and Saturday.

Drove down south with some good friends, sans children, for Scott and Steve to compete in their first sprint triathalon.

I believe we've just started a new tradition of athletic events we'll do together (aside from running).

We went out to eat, got frozen custard, swam in the pool, stayed up talking late.

Relaxing and enjoyable.

(Before jumping in the pool to begin.)

Steve placed 2nd in his age division, and Scott placed 3rd in his.

It was a lot of fun.

We had some good laughs.

Made a good memory.

Definitely want to do it again.

And...do you want to know who won the giveaway????
Lisa Judd! 
Congrats!!

Friday Nothings

What's on my mind?

• Scott's triathalon tomorrow morning.  He and our good friend are competing and it's gonna be a blast.  We're going to have a good time as a foursome.

• Christmas decorating.

• All the stuff I have yet to do and the Christmas season is officially two weeks away.

Ah, well...

We just finished breakfast and this gal was voice for the prayer.

Let me tell you, when this girl prays, everything is beautiful.

She's thankful for her beautiful blessings, the beautiful day, the beautiful food, the beautiful Isaiah (or Benji or Mom or Dad or whoever she's looking at).  She might look around the room and pray for all the beautiful things her eyes light upon, too.

I'm pretty sure I should try looking through this lens and view everything beautifully.

Especially this morning after doing P90X's Plyometrics workout.

Just under an hour of merciless jumping and squatting and tucking and lunging.

Sheesh.  

It's been a while since I've done that workout.

I felt like I might throw up at one point.

Now I'm walking like a gimp, my legs are jelly.

I think my buns are gonna fall off.

(The giveaway drawing is today at noon.  You have just over two hours to enter if you still want to.
Go HERE to know what to do.  Good luck!) 

Saturday

This morning I had a banana milkshake. Frozen bananas blended with whole milk = Deliciousness. And I had some toast with butter and peanut butter on it = 'nother deliciousness. And then I thought I was good.

But then we were snacking on apples and yogurt.

And then I opened a couple of snack-size M&Ms and Mia and I and 'Saiah and Benj and Scott shared them on Scott and I's bed.

I filled up my big nalgene with water and started to fold laundry once the kids were down for naps. Started to browse the computer, and after a while...felt hungry again.

Went upstairs and pulled out the box of See's Nuts & Chews on top of the microwave (such a healthy food choice, right?)...and proceeded to eat like three or four of them. And then I ate some mashed potatoes and gravy from the other night that was yummy and then I ate some ice cream.

Sigh.

Oh well...I was going to be good today and not eat any junk. It's like my friend Kimi says in her blog description about herself...she likes to eat so much that she also likes to run, too. I can relate to that. I love running for running's sake -- and have for several years because I love to be active in general, but it is nice that it has its asthetic points too.

On another note, having lots of little hands makes for lots of work.

This morning I swept and mopped my kitchen floor, which hadn't been mopped since (oh dear) we moved in. I know. That's disgusting. I can promise that it was swept probably at least twice a day so it was clean that way, but can't say much for the mopping -- except for down on my knees with a wet rag.

Anyway.

I swept and mopped the kitchen floor and mopped the front room and entry floor too. Then I windexed my windows in and out in the kitchen and the big front window in the front room to clean off all those constant smudges. And then I took a rag and was wiping down the doorways and back door where you get dirt from small little fingerprints and shoe scuffs and all that stuff. Oh, and I wiped down the fridge and the front of the oven.

And I finished and thought, "Well, it will look clean...

...for a few hours."

And one other thing: I'm a sock loser. Does anyone else have this problem? My question into the void today is this: why is it that every time you do a load of laundry, and you put PAIRS of socks into the wash, there always seems to be at least one lone sock when you are doing the folding? Where do they go?

And this: Why will one of my three-year-old sons pee his pants when he's awake in the daytime, but wake up from dreamland during naps to come upstairs to go pee on the toilet?

I really don't get that one.

Marvelous in My Eyes

Do you know that I only have 126 posts to date? And I believe I came to blogdom in 2004?

Oh, well.

I do deep breathing in between each post as I take in the world around me. I have this thing about not spending too much time on the computer, because when I'm here too much, I am not really "in" my surroundings. And that really bothers me.

I need to LIVE my life, not think about it as I sit here. Maybe some of you have figured out how to do both, but I haven't yet. (I still feel like I am trying to figure out how to really LIVE, let alone handle much of anything else!)

I've been busy with spring, folks. What does it mean to you?

Yesterday was a bit chilly in Utah. I felt a bit quiet all day, and sometimes gray days are a bit hard with these boys because we can't be outside. I think we all get stir-crazy.

After eating dinner, I decided I needed a run. Even though the night before's run was not super enjoyable, I donned my black pants with white stripes down the side that I've had since 2001, my blue striped shirt and my sporty green long-sleeved overshirt. Grabbed my cozy black gloves, my iPod, and a piece of gum.

Walking out the back door, the air was crisp.

I loved every minute last night. I saw pink blossoming in the evening light, sprouting green on trees, all the while backed by the still-covered-with-snow mountains in the background. I felt at one with my body, as if my thoughts and emotions could spill freely out of my head into the air, diffusing and finding peace with the beauty around me.

I thought about my children, the beauty and love and joy they have brought to my life. Beginnings. Endings. Fears and hopes.

The first two songs that came up on my shuffle were both progressive-family songs, and that seemed to perfectly fit my mood. Sometimes I feel like I always write about the same things -- namely, motherhood, wifehood, my family. But these are the day-to-day issues for me. How can I be a better mother? How do I translate my desires to be a better wife into action? What kind of an imprint am I leaving? I am constantly thinking about these things.

It's not that I never think of anything else. I think about all sorts of other things/issues in the books that I read. But the crucial questions for me are always revolving around what I find most important in my life.

The songs marched right into rhythm. One talked about watching a little girl grow up, realizing she was the best thing that had ever happened.

I'm always reveling in that continuous revelation in my relationships.

The boys and I went to the duck pond this week. Deliciously warm with beautiful sunshine. Fresh duck poop that Benj put his hand down into and then got it on his shorts. Biting off pieces of sour cherry jolly rancher for all of us to share. Watching the ducks and birds around the pond, making music with our hands at the base of a light pole. We went up by some amphitheater-style seating benches. The boys have fun climbing up and down the stairs and walking down the aisles. I sat, bathing in sunlight and watching them, feeling a bit wistful, loving each second. We have spent all our time together this week, and yes, we always do, but I haven't tried to do other things at the same time. It has just been us, together. I held Benji's hands as he walked across the top of the benches, and he thought that was really something. I found myself thinking... "And one day they walked."

When did this happen? As quickly, quietly, and invisibly as the day they started smiling. The day they came into this world, and the few days following, when already I could recognize their individual sounds. The way those zygotes grow, imperceptibly to the eye, until, one day, you can see evidence! As fast as they started saying their first word and verbally communicating. These are hardly my babies anymore; I look and look away and look back and they are walking together, giggling together, commenting on their surroundings.

Beginnings. Celebrations. Living. The balloons bobbed on the back porch next door, where I knew there was a family bridal shower going on for Michelle, and each time I made my loop around, I looked in the front window from the sidewalk as I ran by. Looking for people at the food table, people celebrating, laughing together. Loving and celebrating and creating ties afresh. This was also a happy, wistful thought. I felt sincere joy for her, excitement.

I feel like I am always watching. There is so much to celebrate, and everyone is at different crossroads. It is exciting.

Being with children makes me see the world anew. It is beautiful, hopeful, full of wonder.

Being with friends helps me find common ground in day-to-day issues, gives me a sisterhood with other women.

Being with my husband forces me into constant growth and evaluation, building something of this relationship that became so much more than a friendship, and fast, early on.

Being a daughter and granddaughter fills me with gratitude, giving me big shoes. I feel like I step into them the same way my boys' feet fit in mine.

Being a sister gives me my best friends, women who bless my life in ways I can't possibly express.

I am feeling grateful for this circle I call my life, albeit a small one. I'm grateful for this season of spring, where I find, like always, I've got plenty to weed out. There are new flowers, too, and many residual flowers that I love -- blooming, brilliant colors with the familiar comfort of years, but without the fading.

Here we go again!

http://www.saltlakecitymarathon.com/

Well, I'm in.

April 19....here we come!!!

Oh, the beauty!

God told me He loved me today by this:

Beautiful, bright blue sky

(It has been a bit dreary in Utah of late),

A good run with some great tunes,

Tree branches silhouetted against the sky,

Green shoots forshadowing spring lovelies to come,

Sunshine and 38 degrees!

It felt right at home to be hearing Cat Stevens' words:

"Oh love is better than a song,

And love is where all of us belong,

So don't be shy---

Just let your feelings roll on by."

It's hard not to feel loved in so much beauty.