Highway to Hale Run

Before I start delving into all the Halloween festivities, I thought I would get this out of the way.  Dan and I ran the “Highway to Hale 5K/10k” today.  Dan mentioned in August that he wanted to run it, and then 2 days later my cousin, Amy called, and told me that she was signing up, so basically I should get my butt moving and sign up as well.  I’m so glad she got me into it.

So for the past 8 weeks I have been “training”.  It wasn’t really bad, since we usually walked 3 miles every night as a family.  I just had to get used to the faster pace.  It was also nice to have the goal to reach.  If I have that, it is amazing the lengths I go to to finish.

Alicia’s goal for this race:  1) Finish in 35 minutes  2)  Run the entire route. 

Stats from the race:

Alicia’s 5k:  31 min 42 seconds (no stops….not even on the hill!)

Dan’s 10k:  58 min 21 seconds

Yeah, Dan totally rocks the house.  I was proud of my 10 minute mile, and then my husband (who hasn’t actually ran a 10k….like ever) totally kicks my butt.  Oh well, that’s one reason I love him.  He  just thinks, hey I’ll run a 10k this weekend, and then do it without any practice.  Now let’s see if we do the “Hale’s Frozen Over” in January.  Maybe, we will take baby steps, and simply do the Turkey Trot for Thanksgiving.

Oh, and extra bonus, I’m now officially at pre-pregnancy weight….YIPPEEEE! 

On a completely unrelated note:  We are scheduled to close Monday morning.  Cross your fingers!

Fall Break Fun

With the gorgeous weather over Fall Break, I tried to be good about going out with the boys.  The boys kept on asking when we would go on our next adventure.

Thursday we took advantage of the “Pass of All Passes” we picked up this year for Trafalga/7 Peaks.  We did some mini golf with friends and then headed up the canyon for a picnic.

Garrick is convinced he can golf as well as his brothers.  He does great just running around carrying his ball and club.

We headed up the canyon to scope out sites for family pictures.  South Fork was great as usual, and we found the Big Springs park farther up (Thanks Grandma for the heads-up on that park!  It was awesome).  The boys loved running along the trails next to the streams as I was looking for picture spots.

On Friday, Steph and I took the kiddies to Farm Country’s Barnyard Boo at Thanksgiving Point.  It was great for young kids.  Enough stuff to keep the older kids interested and the younger kids could easily participate.  The other big bonus: Great price for members.  Not to mention a lot of the activities ended up not using the punch cards.

First activity: Decorating cookies, of course!!

Garrick loves to throw food at the geese.

Haden’s favorite activity was “ghost bowling”.  He is always a sucker for knocking things down.  Oh yea, and then there were the funky erasers as prizes.

Overall, a successful fall break.  Mom is more than ready to have them back at school though. 

New Digs?

We made it through the inspection without any major problems, so to celebrate I am posting some pics from the new house.  We are on track to close the first week of November.  Then it is onto some minor cosmetic work, and then moving in around Thanksgiving.

 

Back of the house from the far corner in the yard.

Dining and kitchen area.

Looking from kitchen into the family room. 

So that is all the somewhat decent pictures we have at this point.  Y’all have to come and see after we get finalized!  I will give you the general specs though.

It is in Pleasant Grove under the G on the mountain.

6 (7) bedrooms

(There are no storage rooms, so I am trying not to  feel guilty about using a bedroom for my food storage)

3.5 bathrooms

2 car garage with RV parking – for our trailer.

It is about 2.5 times the sq. footage of the home we currently live in…..YIPEEEE!!

I will now be able to fit my family around the kitchen table, and have room to spare!

We are really excited about this opportunity, and trying hard to not be too bummed about leaving such a great neighborhood.  Luckily, we are keeping our current home as a rental, so we will still be around. 

Caterpillar Part II

Do we all remember the caterpillar experience from this last spring?  Here we go again…only this one has a long back story (sorry).

About a month ago Garrick got a bloody nose after falling (okay let’s be honest, Connor pushed him) off a chair.  I grabbed a paper towel to clean him up and this lovely specimen was in the bloody mess:

Okay, it only got a little yelp out of me.  (I’m pretty proud of the fact of how little worms and insects bug me these days.)  I yelped for 2 reasons.

1.  The thing was HUGE!!

2.  I still don’t know if it was actually INSIDE MY BABY’S NOSE!!!!!

The only explanation I could come up with is this:  We had a bunch of peppers from the garden sitting on the counter next to my paper towel roll.  I “believe” the caterpillar was hiding out in the peppers, and migrated towards the paper towels and happened to get in the one I used to wipe my baby’s nose.  Please, let’s just go along with this theory.

Anyway, we had the caterpillar sitting  in a jar on the counter for the last few weeks.  I honestly thought it was dead, since it turned brown a few days after we caught it.  The boys insisted it was in a chrysalis.  The poor thing got jostled around quite a bit as the boys tried to look at it.  I thought there was no chance for it emerging.

Well, tonight I decided to just throw the thing out.  Dan agreed that it looked hopeless.  Go figure, I dump out the jar and there is now a moth sitting in the bottom of the jar.

Ugly little sucker and can you believe it: HE IS STILL ALIVE!!  I tried to put him outside, and he flew back into the house.  I am taking pity on him right now, and will give him tonight inside, then he better head out the door, otherwise it is a matter of starvation.

The boys were excited to see the moth.  So there we go Sister D.  Haden finally got to see his caterpillar life cycle.  Only about 6 months late:)

Scratch?

Story.  We came in from our run last night.  It ended up being a lot warmer of an evening than I anticipated.  Which threw the idea of hot chocolate for FHE treats out the window.  So I asked the boys if they wanted hot cocoa, or cookies for treats.  Connor was emphatic about cookies. 

Connor: “I’ll go down and pick out the type I want you to make Mom.”

Mom:  “Downstairs?  Don’t you want me to make ones from scratch?”

Connor: “What’s scratch?”

(Insert Daniel’s laughter from upstairs)

What can I say.  Betty Crocker is my friend…when it comes to cookies. 

In my defense, I did forget that I had cookie pouches in our food storage.  So Connor threw me a little bit.  Oh, and you truly have to have talent for making cookies.  They never seem to turn out the way I want them to.

It’s Official!

We are under contract to purchase a new home.  It is funny how things work out.  Well, at least to this point.  We will see how the closing process proceeds.  Anyway, if all goes as plan we will be moving sometime in November/December.  It all depends on how much fix-up we want to do before we officially move in. 

God is getting back at me for all of the jokes I have made about PG in my life.  We’ll post more when things move along.

Where Did September Go?

Okay, I know I didn’t post much last month, it was crazy what can I say.  I felt like my entire life was school, soccer, and swimming.  Then I am emptying my memory card and found that we did a few other things.  So here are the pictures in all their unedited glory. 

Dan’s work threw their annual Family BBQ.  This year was at Boondock’s.  It was a beautiful evening.

I thought Garrick was going to jump out of the boat, he was so excited to try and get the squirt gun to work.  It was hilarious watching him.

The bumper boats were the biggest hit, at least until we were done, and the shade was really hitting the park.  Led to a little bit of a chill.  Luckily they dried off quickly.

The great thing about having family work at the same place:  There  was always someone available to sit out with Garrick.   Thanks Heather!!  Oh, and thanks for the arcade tokens.  The boys are still flinging their swords around.

We ended the evening with a friendly game of miniature golf.  Garrick insisted on getting in on the action.  He was adorable  running around to try and catch, or kick the golf balls.

A couple of weeks later it was haircut time. 

Look at that shaggy hair.  Garrick hid out in the corner of the yard, trying not to attract attention.

But then he cheerfully submitted to getting his buzz.  Perfect!!  There were no tears at all from him.  It was a great experience!!

It is amazing what a good example of older brothers can do. 

So there is September.  Wow, can I say how glad I am that it is over!