Things

Just a few things.

Yesterday evening I ran a 10 mile race. It was the Last Dash Relay. It was an event for USU business week, and proceeds went towards the Huntsman Cancer Institute. I ran it solo, there was the option to relay at 5 miles but I didn't have a running buddy. It was killer the first few miles. That's always the hardest part for some reason, then I just get into a good rhythm. The views from the trail from Green Canyon to the mouth of Logan canyon were beautiful. I did 10 minute miles the whole time! Yeah, I know I talk about running too much, but I am proud of myself! My legs are soooore and tired today though. My mom and dad were great to watch my kids for me.
Oh, and I won a gift card to Al's in the raffle!

James doesn't like to nap anymore. He's 2.5 and naps about every other day, sometimes less. It's ok, as long as I can stave of the 6p.m. meltdowns. He's a sweetie though, I sometimes just let him stay up because he's so cute.

Both of my kids have small feet for their age. And height. James is like a 6 or something? Maybe 6.5 and Naomi is about a 10. Naomi is probably about right, maybe an 11 is average for a 4-5 yr old.
But I think James has tiny feet.

I really dislike figuring out every. single. day. what to make for dinner. It's a chore.

Reading my textbooks for school is interesting, and very informative, and definitely helps my grades. But it's difficult to make myself do. I blog instead....

I got my season pass to Beaver. I've wanted to do this since I can remember. And I got it super cheap because I'm a student. And I got a free pass for Naomi. Awesomeness. Come and ski with us!

Naomi loves, loves LOVES her new preschool. She hops out of the car and waves as she runs inside, "love you mom, BYE!" I'm glad she's not worried about going, but I wish she missed me! Not really. I love my little Miss Independent.

My children are stubborn. More than normal? I don't know. More than I want, that's all I know.

I am stubborn too.

I want these shoes. Who has my name for Christmas this year?

Mini Fashionista

I was looking at some photos from fashion week today with Naomi at Susan's Freshly Picked blog.

Naomi would look through the set, and almost infallibly pick as her "favorite" the most feminine ensamble. Dresses, twirly, full, ruffles, sparkles, those were the ideal clothing items of choice.

One set of photos had only pants and shorts. She looked for a few seconds and decided that she liked "none of those".

I love that she knows what she likes. And what she hates. She occasionally offered that she hated a few get-ups.

Later this evening I was filling up the bath for my little wild things so I could clean off the days dirt. Actually, it's been longer than that since I put them in the tub. Seriously, probably... a while. But that's beside the point right now.

While I was occupied with getting James into the tub, Naomi was in my closet for a few minutes and walked out and announced;

"Mom! I picked out the perfect clothes for you to wear tomorrow! Come and see, come and see!!! You have to wear it, it will look so beautiful."

I walked into the closed expecting to find maybe a dress or two laid out for me. She does this pretty often, she likes to pick out my outfits.

It's incredibly amusing to me. Especially because when she dresses herself it's a totally different style that what she'd pick for me. Yes it's usually dresses/skirts, but it's a lot more mis-matching and lots of colors and weird accessories for herself. But most of the time I just go with it. Express yourself, right?

For me she generally picks out dresses, shirts she hasn't seen for a while on me, and often these ridiculously high black and silver stiletto sandals. They are super practical for playing in the park and picking up groceries.

I turned the corner and this is what I saw:

Naomi laid it out just like this, I didn't touch it.

She even picked out my favorite pair of skinnies.

She went through each piece, telling me why it's "perfect".

I was so impressed, and the scarf? Nice touch. It has gold threads through it that match the shoes.

I love the outfit and I love my girl.

New York runways better watch out, Naomi's on her way.

Aggie Football

Naomi, Henry and Dawson with Big Blue!

The Aggie game Saturday night was equal parts fun, tiring, and disappointing.

I took my chicos and met Dave and Erica with their boys at the pre-game tailgate. The kids were excited and got to meet Big Blue! Everyone but James was thrilled to see him.

He actually started crying and clutched me in terror when I tried to put him down by him. Who knew? He always waves to him from afar and looks for him at the games, like they are besties!

James turned out to be a real keeper during this game. Dave, Erica and I all made the executive decision that the kids are not invited next time. That's the BYU game.

We did have a lot of fun most of the time, but between the cannons for the touchdowns and cheering on the Aggies, there was a lot of this:

"sit down", "don't touch that", "leave him/her alone", "stop kicking!" The poor people in front of us... And it gets better.

Erica and her boys got to run out of the tunnel for the first ever Junior Aggies stampede, it was super cute. Naomi and James liked the excitement and the band music and especially the treats.

I got us some chips and salsa, Chili's was selling at the game again. Yum.

Naomi and James wore matchy game-day t-shirts and looked so cute. I don't get to dress them alike often enough.

I ran Naomi to the bathroom at one point and talked James into staying put next to Erica and G. Jesse. When we got back Erica was laughing her head off and James was a bawling mess. He had somehow managed to gag himself, maybe on a skittle? And then threw up. And it got on the people's stuff in front of us. Ooops.

Yeah, that's disgusting. I felt really bad, but what could I do besides clean it off, it wasn't much, and say I was really sorry.

I did some musical shirts with Naomi and James, N had two layers on. Jackets went on and we were as good as new. Whew.

At that point, or sometime in the game around then, Erica turned to me, and talking about the spirit squad, said, "I know what happens in the fourth quarter..." and I interrupted with "yeah, the Aggies loose".

And they did. They just fell apart. It was so disappointing but sadly, really familiar and not much of a surprise. Dang Aggies.

I hate to be a fair-weather fan. But come on Aggies. I'm hoping for the rest of the season to be better. And the BYU game will be huge. Can they do it? Maybe.

It's fun to take my kids to the games, it's a lot of work, but they love it, I love it.

Next time I take them I need to remember to bring lots more treats, snacks, goodies and drinks.

Go Aggies!

Dave and G. Jesse

James eating my creamy, it's all yours baby...

Naomi looking awesome

Go Aggies!

What do you read?

Blogs, what blogs do you read?

Do you read The Sartorialist? I do. It's interesting and sometimes entertaining. And I don't have to actually do much reading, more like "looking". Just a quick click and see. Here's a link for you. http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

I also read design mom, I've mentioned that before. I love her blog. LOVE it. And here is her link.

http://www.designmom.com/

I have buttons on my sidebar for a few others I like to read, like SSB. If you don't think she's funny, then something is wrong with you. Ok, maybe not, that's rude. But seriously, you're not offended by her, right? And you know it's satire? Right? http://seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/

I like The Onion because it's just plain awesome. http://www.theonion.com/

And I read http://freshlypicked.blogspot.com/ and http://www.makeit-loveit.com/ and sometimes I look at http://www.sweet-juniper.com/ especially the "terrifying nixon-era children's books" and good ideas from here http://melissaesplin.com/home/ and not to forget http://thepioneerwoman.com/

So that's it. When I'm clicking around the blogosphere that's where I'm usually headed.

Share with me where you go, maybe I could use a new destination.

Wellsville Mountains

Last Saturday I went hiking with my parents. It was fun, I felt a little like I was a young again, just me, hanging out with the 'rents.

I invited them to hike the Wellsvilles with me, it had been since I was about 14 since any of us had done that hike. Last time it was Jesse, Me, Natalie and my Mom and Dad. I remember a lot of bugs and the beautiful view from the top.

This time we went late enough in the season to miss the bugs, yay! But we also missed the wildflowers.

We drove to the Cold Water trail head in Mendon after stopping to ask directions. We couldn't remember how to get there, it had been too long. I packed my water, granola bars and some candy and started hiking! We stared out pretty solid, but slowed down once we started gaining elevation quickly. My mom decided she was done about 3/4 of the way and my Dad and I hiked on without her to the top. That last bit was seriously steep and we were kinda tired. But we made it!

It was really a beautiful hike, lots of shade and challenging but not killer. I was not being smart that morning and thought it would be a good idea to wear shorts, so I wouldn't be so hot. My shins are nice and scratched now. I love being so brilliant.

Next time I want to start at Deep Water canyon, also from Mendon, and hike up, and then along the ridge all the way over to the canyon. You have to leave a car at each end and it would be a longer hike, but you would enjoy the views for so much longer. Hiking is awesome, and it saved me from doing a long run that I was feeling super unmotivated for that day.

It is such a spectacular view from the top. Amazing. You can see for what feels like forever from there. Those mountains are the world’s steepest range (as measured by the ratio of width to height).

My Dad, view of Box Elder county- West

About half-way up, this is the Cutler marsh/wetland area in Cache Valley

At the trail head

Baby Shower!

Natalie, my gorgeous little sister is expecting her first baby. She and Paul are the cutest, they are so excited. Really, Natalie is just ready to be done being pregnant. I remember feeling like that. I wanted nothing more in my life than to just lie down on my stomach and go to sleep. You take stuff like that for granted when you're not pregnant.

So we Low girls threw her a baby shower! Holly graciously hosted. Her house always looks so great. I love it. Natalie was teasing her that it looked like pottery barn. I wish my house did!

It was fun getting together with my sisters and Mom, but we missed Aimee and Brooke. And it was nice to finally meet Paul's sister and sister-in-law's. We really had a good time, lot's of laughs. And some delicious food. What's a party without good eats?

We played a game where we all measured out a piece of string the length we thought was how big around Natalie was. Ginger, who initially said "Oh I cut mine too short!" was almost exactly right on. The rest of us..... way, way overestimated. Sorry Nat!

We also played the game where you guess the baby food. Kinda disgusto. But funny. I actually missed one, I mixed up peas and beans. It's been a while I guess. At least we didn't have to sample them, just smell.

Natalie is now a little better prepared for this little guy, and hopefully he won't keep her waiting too long. Early babies are always welcomed!

Probably this is overkill with the photos, but it's fun, right?

I love these girls.

Ginger and Holly

Erica and Me

Natalie and Me

Erica playing paparazzi

My cupcakes, I am obsessed, I know. I added blue sprinkles too.

Natalie showing off her belly!

This was such a cute present! Our cousin Debbie made this little matchbox car holder. It's cloth and folds into thirds and velcros shut for taking along with you, like to church, in the car, etc. Win. The cars "park" in the tan corduroy slots. I want to make one, has anyone done this before?

My mom holding baby Sophia, This is Holly's baby, and she was the only babe allowed, good thing she's so stinking cute.

Erica and Ginger

Sophia posing for us, she kept getting into this position, it was so funny.

Me and Nat

Doesn't she look great?

Weekender

Labor Day weekend I took the kids and we made a run for the warm weather down South.

Thursday afternoon we packed it up and drove into the night, we made it to St. George before midnight and the kids were both asleep by that time.

Friday we played at the pool all day with Talia, Wes, Dylan and Trey, and Brooke and Hailey. I love having family there and it's so good to see them more often now. That's such a perk about living back in Utah now, I get to see all my family, a lot.

St George was so nice! We had been having some cold weather up here and going to the pool was just what we needed! My parents so generously let me use their place there, it's wonderful. And I knew that with school starting that things were going to get busy quickly, so one last trip to end the Summer.

Saturday we all headed down to Las Vegas for the Battle of The Bands! Wes's band, (and Mike and Justin's band too) Shallow Day competed in the finals at the Hard Rock Cafe. They rocked the house, it was great. They didn't end up winning but it was such a fun show. Talia and I made iron-on t-shirts for our kids the night before. Whoever said that kind of stuff is fun was a few screws loose. We hate iron-on's now. It was a pain. But they ended up looking super cute! My kids seriously love their "Shallow Day" shirts. They say "Rock On" on the back. I caught a random guy at the show snapping a pic of James from the back while he was wearing his new t-shirt and his noise cancelling headphones. He did look adorable.

After the show was over and the winner announced I headed back to St. George. In and out, Vegas is not my favorite place to play, especially with my little ones.

We had a fun remainder of the weekend just hanging out with family. It involved playing fugitive in the dark on the golf course, cupcakes, good food and Chad running through the screen door. Awesome.

Monday we cleaned up, packed our bags and made it to the pool one last time. The last time for the year too I think.

Afterwards we stopped by Brooke and Mike's to say goodbye. Naomi loves Hailey, they are cute little buddies. She has a pet rat, it's pretty cool. Except that right before we left James came walking into the family room bawling his eyes out with blood all over his hand! He had stuck his hand in the rats cage and got a bite. Poor baby. It wasn't bad at all, but it was bleeding like crazy! He was traumatized, but just temporarily.

Remember when he was bit by a bunny last spring at Baby Animal Days? He must just be delicious.

It was a perfect weekend to end our awesome Summer.

My little bathing beauty

What a cutie. I could just eat him up!

Talia!

Can you see Naomi's sparkles? She was glammed out. And that's Dylan in the background.

Besties! Naomi and Hailey

Rocking out, James, Naomi, and Hailey

The end of the show with Shallow Day's biggest fan's on stage with them :)

New Tradition. 2nd Day.

I am one of those awesome moms who always remembers everything and does everything perfect and my life is always way fun and I make special first day of school presents for my kids.

Yeah... not so much.

So yesterday was the 2nd say of preschool and the 2nd day of ballet for Naomi. So we are starting a new tradition, we take photos on the 2nd day! This will probably be our tradition until next year. Maybe I'll change it to the first day. Or maybe the 3rd.

Honestly I felt badly about forgetting to take the classic first day photos, I mean really, what kind of a mom am I?? I did take a photo with my phone of Naomi and her buddy Jagger after their first day of preschool. But it's on my phone, so not very high quality.

Naomi started preschool at the USU child development lab this week. I am so happy about it, I love, love, love the atmosphere, curriculum, class size, price, location, time, etc, etc. There is a strong focus on child-directed play. They have self-selected activities for a large portion of preschool time and they focus on social interactions as well. For Naomi this is wonderful. She is smart and has known her letters and sounds for a long time now and is beginning writing and sounding out words with me at home. So for preschool to give the opportunities to do the things we don't do here as much is perfect. She's thrilled about getting to do "whatever I want!"

Naomi also started ballet classes at Cache Valley School of Ballet last week. She goes once a week with a small group of little girls. It is so adorable. Seriously, little girls in pink tights and black leotards and tiny pink shoes is just the sweetest thing. The Whittier Community Center is where she has ballet classes, it is a very old spacious building with a lot of character. The wood floors make it ideal for ballet classes. I took ballet there when I was a little girl and then later as a teenager. I loved ballet and I have always wished I had stayed with it longer. Naomi loves everything about her little class and is excited about going, so far.

James gets to be my little buddy at home for one more year. Except for while I am in class! I have a class on campus Tuesdays and Thursdays and another online. I am ever so grateful for loving and willing Grandma's to help me with my little James! Naomi and I have class at the same time on those days, it's all very convenient.

Naomi and James at Ballet

SECOND day of School!!!!

Happy School Year to everyone!

*Post Edit*

I guess the photos weren't showing up? So I uploaded them again. Hope it works. Ironic isn't it?

New Tradition. 2nd Day.

I am one of those awesome moms who always remembers everything and does everything perfect and my life is always way fun and I make special first day of school presents for my kids.

Yeah... not so much.

So yesterday was the 2nd say of preschool and the 2nd day of ballet for Naomi. So we are starting a new tradition, we take photos on the 2nd day! This will probably be our tradition until next year. Maybe I'll change it to the first day. Or maybe the 3rd.

Honestly I felt badly about forgetting to take the classic first day photos, I mean really, what kind of a mom am I?? I did take a photo with my phone of Naomi and her buddy Jagger after their first day of preschool. But it's on my phone, so not very high quality.

Naomi started preschool at the USU child development lab this week. I am so happy about it, I love, love, love the atmosphere, curriculumn, class size, price, location, time, etc, etc. There is a strong focus on child-directed play. They have self-selected activites for a large portion of preschool time and they focus on social interactions as well. For Naomi this is wonderful. She is smart and has known her letters and sounds for a long time now and is beginning writing and sounding out words with me at home. So for preschool to give the opportunites to do the things we don't do here as much is perfect. She's thrilled about getting to do "whatever I want!"

Naomi also started ballet classes at Cache Valley School of Ballet last week. She goes once a week with a small group of little girls. It is so adorable. Seriously, little girls in pink tights and black leaotards and tiny pink shoes is just the sweetest thing. The Whittier Community Center is where she has ballet classes, it is a very old spacious building with a lot of character. The wood floors make it ideal for ballet classes. I took ballet there when I was a little girl and then later as a teenager. I loved ballet and I have always wished I had stayed with it longer. Naomi loves everything

Just time for an fyi

It's probably past due that I post something about this. This blog is not private so I don't really know who all is reading it. But it's a place to put this out there, kind of an fyi for you all.
I am divorced now. It's been final for a little over a month. I am doing really well, the kids are doing just great and everything is ok. It's a healthy situation I am in now and I feel really good about it.
My closest friends and obviously my family are well aware of the events in my life over the past year, but for some of you, my far away friends this is news to you.
Call or email me if you want to talk. I am so grateful for all the love and support I've received. Love you all!
-Trish

Top Of Utah Half Marathon!

I started this post Saturday afternoon, after the race, here is what I had so far:

"This morning I got up at 5:30 to get dressed and ready for the Top of Utah half marathon.

I was so nervous that I had a hard time eating. I ate some cereal and orange juice and hoped it would be enough!

The finish line is just a few blocks from my house and I needed to be there by 6 to ride a bus up to the start line. The race started up Black Smith Fork canyon at the Hyrum electrical plant and went downhill through the canyon until we turned onto Hollow Road in Nibley. From there we ran out to the highway for a short distance then back into Millville and then South until we made it to the finish line at Zollinger's park in Providence."

This race was awesome. During training for this the furthest I ran was barely over 7 miles. I just have a hard time going any longer. It's a total mind game. So I was positive I would be walking at some point, I just couldn't run 13.1 miles continuously.

My brother in law, Brock ran the race too, and he listened to Harry Potter while he ran. I think he made it to Potions class by the end of the race. I think I might try loading a book on my shuffle for my next long run, what a great diversion. I found Brock at the start line before the race and we started off together but ran separately after a while.

About a mile in I found a friend I had talked to before the race, Makaylee. She's a friend from high school and it had been since highschool since we had seen each other. She said she was only going to listen to her ipod when she really needed a boost to get her going, and I liked that idea. Save it for when you need it. We turned our music off and just talked and caught up on the past 10 years of life. It was nice running without music but talking to a friend made the miles literally just fly by.

By the time I saw a mile marker we were at mile 8. And I was feeling really good. I just couldn't believe I was still going strong, it was an amazing feeling. Race Day Adrenaline was playing a big part I'm sure.

My feet and left calf were feeling sore around mile 11 but I was so close, and they were just achy, not enough to hold me back. I wore my IT band strap to help stabilize my leg so my knee wouldn't hurt. It worked like a charm, I had no pain there at all. I also paid attention to where I was running on the road, totally avoiding the bank on the left side so I wouldn't put extra strain on it.

At mile 10 we decided it was music time and then Makaylee started really going fast! I kept up and we just kept on going. Before I knew it I could see the finish line in the distance, about a mile or so away. I was there!

The last half of a mile was packed with people cheering everyone on. I was feeling a little exhausted but it felt so good. It was so awesome to cross that finish line! I am so proud of myself for running the whole race! I never thought I could really do it, but I did!

I admit that I did have to walk while drinking water or Gatorade at the aid stations for a few seconds, I just haven't mastered drinking-from-a-paper-cup-while-running. I did try, and ended up with a sticky arm. Skills to work on I suppose. There were also orange slices which were awesome. Brock said something like "I have never had oranges that tasted so good. In my life" and that pretty much sums it up.

My final time was 2 hours 23 minutes, that is the chipped time. I crossed the start line about 2 minutes after the start gun so my time on the clock as I passed the finish line was 2:25.

I took about 20 minutes off my last half marathon, that was my first one too. I did the St. George half marathon last January and ended up walking off and on the last half of the race.

The reason I stopped running during that race was because of my knee, it was hurting because of the IT band issues. I didn't know what the problem was. But after I slowed down I got cold and my body was tired. I was also less prepared.

Finishing that race was hard. This race was such a different experience, so much better! I'm looking forward to the St. George half again in January, I'm hoping to run a 2:10 race. It's a colder run and it's not downhill like the TOU half, but I think I can do it.

There were around 2300 runners for this race. It was an impressive sight seeing everybody at 6 a.m. in the cold, dark morning air boarding buses. The start line was an amazing sight too. It's a good feeling to think, we're all in this together. I can do this because they can too.

I love running now. I know I still gripe about it sometimes but it's been such a great hobby/sport/activity for me for the past year. I finally understand why so many people run. It feels so good.

I don't have any photos from race day, just the ones the zazoosh photographers snapped.

Here is a link to a photo of me from the race. I look happy, and I am!

View Photos from Top of Utah Half Marathon

Registration will open up in, I think, April for 2011.

Who's with me next year?!