Cameron's Poem

Cameron had a contest in her class to see who could memorize this poem and perform it the best. The winner got to perform it for the morning announcements this past Monday. And the winner was... Cameron! She did a great job and I'm very proud of her. Maybe she should consider some acting classes?

E-I-E-I-O

We had Adam, Bre, and Michael over for dinner for Adam's birthday and Bre caught this with her magic video camera.

Austin

Breanne made this video for me. It makes me cry everytime. The part where Austin walks around she filmed during a family party at our house last summer. Austin took his first steps that day in front of everyone, including Bre's camera, perfect!

My Wild Animals at the Zoo, Happy Faces

On Friday we went with Jacque and her kids to the Hogle Zoo. It was a beautiful morning. But I think the rest of Utah valley agreed because by 2:00 the place was packed. Fortunately, everyone was animaled out by then. As we were leaving cars were still pouring into the parking lot and we were glad we got there early.

The kids had a blast running from one crazy animal to the next. Most of the creatures were stirring and some put on quite a show. Sorry, no pictures. If you want to see the real wild animals you can visit the zoo yourself.

Poor Austin was walled off from these "pets" by big walls and fences, so he settled for kissing the air. I was really proud of Eden, though, who walked the whole time and never complained, even though we discovered blisters all over her toes the next day.

My Wild Animals at the Zoo, Playtime

Cameron displayed her monkey skills by scaling a tree at the playground and Dallin showed off his manly crocodile hunting. Dallin was also a great big brother. He took Austin all around the playground to see the smaller animals in cubbies. His favorites are the bats but I'm not so sure Austin shared his enthusiasm. All in all it was a wonderful day and a great end to Spring Break 2008!

Thanksgiving Point Animal Farm

We had a lot of fun this week for Spring Break. Monday the kids and I went to the grocery store and picked out fresh vegetables to make yummy salads this week. (Okay, so I tricked them with that one).

Tuesday I took the girls to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. Lucky Dad stayed home with poor Dallin, who had the flu, and Austin, who doesn't go to movies yet.

Wednesday, everyone was healthy so we went to the Lehi pool. Austin wasn't sure what to make of it at first but Dallin and Cameron headed for the twisty slide and weren't seen again for at least an hour. Eden had a lot of fun wandering away from mom and dad. And finally Austin realized it's a lot warmer if you lay on your tummy and move around completely under water, except for his head, of course. Afterward we went to Chili's to spoil our kids who never get to go out to eat. Austin was very polite to the server and said "thank you" for everything. He also ate all of Eden's mac 'n cheese. Eden was very clear with the server that her drink "tasted bad" and she needed a different one. Then, as soon as that was gone she said, "Hey guy! I need some more juice!" The poor guy was sweating when he finally asked if we wanted any dessert. Cameron said, "yep". When all was said and done, it was a fun day except for all the moaning from full tummies on the drive home.

Finally, we get to our charming pictures. Thursday we went to the petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point. It was windy and chilly but I don't think Austin noticed at all. He screamed at every animal he saw and I'm pretty sure he kissed everything, including the donkey with the "Watch out I bite" sign and the goat with big horns that was trying to get corn from Cameron's hand. If it had a nose or a head that could stick through a fence Austin kissed it. That includes the donkey, a few horses, baby pigs, goats, a llama, and different size sheep. To top it all off he went on his first pony ride. I don't think I've ever seen him so happy.

Dodeca what?

Just wanted to share some pictures my dad sent me. He made these! The first one is called Dodecahedron, the second is a goblet and the third is a shell ornament. They are all made out of different types of wood. He made Cameron a beautiful jewelry box covered in sea creatures with an octopus on top and he made Dallin a turtle box. Both boxes my kids designed. I'll upload the pictures later. What a talent! Guess retirement really has its benefits.

Something's Stinky

Somethings stinky. What could it be? Oh wait, it's me!

Don't worry Austin, it's Cameron to the rescue! Hooray for Cameron.

Now put one foot in front of the other

I've decided to run the Speedy Spaniard, 10k in July! I've never run more than a mile until about two weeks ago when I went out the door and came home 35 minutes later having run 2.8 miles without stopping. For me this was huge!

I hate running. Usually my lungs burn and all the fat in all those unpleasant places jiggles until it burns and finally so many things are burning I think I'm going to die. For the most part that happens within the first mile and all I want to do is go home and take a hot shower (the only kind of good burning I know of).

But after I ran that amazing 2.8 miles, nothing was burning and I actually felt great. So, thinking it was a fluke I went out again last Friday and went 3.3 miles and, except for very painful shin splints, I felt fantastic. So, I think I can do it.

I heard of a great website, that I'm now addicted to, http://www.mapmyrun.com/, which lets you track your training and of course map how far you run. So I'm excited and I think with the three and a half months ahead of me I can get ready for this 10k. I also checked out http://www.halhigdon.com/ which has a great training schedule I'm looking forward to trying. One thing that stuck out for me from all his great advice was when he said, after stretching and warming up, "now put one foot in front of the other." That's it, no so complicated really.

I realize for most people this is no great feat. But even when I was in my best shape in high school playing water polo and swimming three hours a day I couldn't run more than a mile. I hated it. So, what's changed? I don't know but here are my ideas:
1. I get to be by myself, always a plus.
2. I play my ipod so loud I can't hear myself gasping for breath or my feet shuffling along the ground so I think I'm actually doing a great job.
3. My lungs don't burn at all! Thanks to all the yelling I've been doing teaching kickboxing twice a week.
4. Did I mention I get to be all by myself.

So, all I have to do is figure out how to get rid of shin splints and I'm on my way. How exciting! Come July 25th I'll be writing - I did it!