1000

A week or so ago I reached 1000 miles on my Nike plus mileage counter for running. Scott thought that was pretty cool and that I should blog about it. I guess I didn't think to blog about it myself since I couldn't really think of anything to write except that my mileage counter reached 1000 miles. I wish I knew exactly how long it took me, but the closest estimation I can come up with is about 9 months based on when I bought my new Nike plus sensor. Right now it says 1055 because it took me about 55 more miles before I decided to write about it. So, I guess I've officially run 1000 miles to nowhere! That's about all I have to say about that.

This would be a waste of a page in my blog book, so I'll try to think of a few more things to say about other stuff to make it a whole page. I wouldn't want to waste half a page of paper.

--Only about 7 weeks until the Ogden Marathon! Training is going well so far and I'm lucky to not have had any injuries! I'm hoping it stays that way. I take Boston in the stroller about half the time and go really early the other times. I'm so happy the weather is getting nicer because I think Boston does a lot better when we run outside! Yesterday he was SO GOOD! I was shocked. He only threw something twice and the rest of the time he just calmly sat there looking around. I was so happy with how good he was being that I ran 2 miles more than I was planning on!

--I've never been much of a Harry Potter fan, but both of my sisters are crazy fans and I'm pretty sure they have all the books and movies memorized. They told me that they are planning to re-read all seven books in the seven weeks leading up to the release of 7th Harry Potter movie. I don't want to be left out, so I decided I would finally read the Harry Potter books. There's no way I can read them in 7 weeks though, so I thought I'd start now and hope I'm done by November when the movie comes out. I think I'll pick up book numero uno today at the library.

--We have weaned Boston from his binki! He's actually been weaned for a long time now, I just haven't written it down yet. I decided we better do it before he's old enough to know we took it away. I'm pretty sure I had more withdrawals than he did. He didn't even seem to care or notice. That's when I realized the binki was more of a crutch for me than for him. There were a few times when I was putting him down for a nap that I wanted to grab a binki to help him relax faster, but I didn't and low and behold he was still able to fall asleep just fine without it.

--I'm feeling rather attached to my family these days because I know we are moving soon. We have been up there the past two weekends and we have something planned with family almost every weekend until we move! I'm looking forward to temple trips, camping trips, birthday parties, a girls weekend with Scott's mom and sisters, etc. This past weekend we celebrated Easter early with my family because Justin is having ankle surgery next weekend. We had a nice dinner and a little Easter egg hunt with Boston, Ethan, and Alex. It was really cute, and I'll be posting pictures sometime soon. We also had fun celebrating Scott's mom's birthday and going to Hale Center Theater in Salt Lake to see Fiddler on the Roof! It was so good! I LOVE going to plays!


--I lost my car key last night on my run! I've been on lots of runs and I'm really lucky this is the first time this has happened to me! Luckily I was with Sherstin and Trevor so they were able to drive me home to get a spare key. It was a crappy situation and I was so mad at myself for letting that happen even though I don't know exactly how it did happen, but it could have been a lot worse! I was lucky that we had a spare key at home and nice friends to give me a ride! Now I need to go make another spare key, but hopefully this won't happen again.

Well, I think I'll stop there because I really don't have anything that interesting to write about, but at least I won't have 3/4 of a blank page in my blog book now. :)

Get My Free iPhone/iPod Touch App!

It is now officially in the app store! MyStatBox is a sweet little app I made for fans, parents, spouses, and significant others to keep track of your stats at your basketball game! I have bigger ideas for it and will be adding features as time goes on. Be sure to get it now while it is free before I change my mind and start charging for it.

Even if you don't own an iPhone or iPod Touch, please still become a fan on the MyStatBox Fan Page. You'll also find the link on the fan page to get the app.

The fan page is also where you can give suggestions and comments to help me improve the app. Share with me your ideas and maybe you'll see them in the next version of the app!

Basketball Champs and Some Recent Happenings

These tough guys right here took home their championship hoodies Monday night from the Pleasant Grove City basketball league! They played a great game! Congrats guys!

I was sad when Scott told me the championship game was going to be at 9:30 because that meant I would have to stay home and miss it since Boston would be sleeping. Then my visiting teachers came to visit me the day before his game and just before they left they asked the usual, "Can we do anything for you?" I thought about saying the cliche, "No I'm good!" Actually, I think I started saying that, but I really wanted to go to Scott's game, so in mid sentence I changed my mind and despite being slightly embarrassed I said, "Um, actually Scott has a game tomorrow night after Boston goes to bed and I really want to go." It felt a little weird at first to say something other than, "No I'm good!" because it's like we're programmed to say that, but my visiting teacher was happy to come over and babysit (more like house sit) so I could go to Scott's game! It was a win win situation. I got to see Scott win the championship, and my VT got to see the Jazz win at our place with her hubby and take home some chocolate cupcakes!


During the game I not only got to watch Scott play since I wasn't chasing Boston around, but I also got to (attempt) to keep track of his stats using the new iphone app he just made! Scott is now an iphone developer. His app worked great and I think it's going to be a big hit! I can see all the high school boys getting it and making their girlfriends keep track of their stats for them. Ha ha. Or all the Jr. Jazz dads getting it and keeping track of their boy's stats and buying them an ice-cream each week they improve. Scott has been working hard on this app for one of his classes, and it's going to be FREE! He's also going to make a nicer and more complicated one and see if he can earn a little money off of it. Good job Scott on your iphone app AND your great game! According to your stats you played awesome! :) Ha ha.

And some other Recent Happenings that I wanted to write down....

Yesterday I took Boston to the daycare at the gym for the first time. I was planning to do my interval run before Scott left for school, but he told me he had to be at school early that day, so I had to take Boston running with me. After barely managing to do 2 miles I decided to take him up to the daycare. Since he's never been to daycare or nursery before I was a little hesitant and not sure how he would do. As I was explaining this to the daycare lady and telling her to come get me if Boston got scared, he was practically jumping out of my arms and in to the daycare where he could be free to run around and play. It was quite funny. I don't think he'll have any problem whatsoever when it comes time for him to go to nursery. He was a million times more happy playing in there than he was running with me, and I was a million times more happy letting him play in there than forcing him to run with me. If money weren't an issue I would take him there everyday during my run! It was bliss (for both of us). It's only $2 per hour which is not bad at all, but it sure would add up fast if I did that a few times a week, so I'll have to settle for taking him there just once in a great while.

On another note, I got released from my calling as 1st counselor in the relief society. Just another reminder that we are moving, and it's coming soon! I really enjoyed being more involved in the ward and serving in the relief society presidency. I didn't even realize how much I enjoyed it until I got released. It's funny how things always seem to work that way huh? I'm going to miss seeing the other girls in the presidency each week at our meetings and visiting all the new girls when they move in. Looking back, I can't believe how much I've changed in just one year from having this calling! When I first got called one of my first thoughts and biggest fears was having to stand up in front of the entire relief society and conduct, let alone teach. Somehow I managed to do those things despite being paralyzingly scared at the beginning, and although I can't say that I love to be up in front of the entire relief society, at least I can say it's not paralyzingly scary anymore! This calling definitely took me out of my comfort zone, which is always a good thing. Despite the intimidation and stress I felt from the calling, I'm really grateful for the learning and growing experience that it was. Why does it seem like we always have to leave as soon as we get comfortable? Oh ya, because comfort means we're not growing anymore, so that means change is on it's way. I love our ward and I'm glad I got to know all the girls better and make so many friends there! It's been a lot of fun!

Lastly, we are days away from having our condo officially SOLD! Scott signed some of the closing papers yesterday, and I think there's just a few more things that need to be signed! What a blessing to have that taken care of and have everything work out so smoothly! Now we just need to find a place to live in Texas!

Ready or Not...

Here comes CHANGE, and lots of it!

I think I have been slightly in denial that I'm about to leave my happy little bubble of familiarity here in Orem where I have everything I could need or want within hours. Little signs keep popping up to remind me that we really truly are moving to Texas in just two short months. For example, Scott only has 5 weeks left of his entire college career! He will be graduating in about a month, and graduation means we need a job, and that job is in Texas. Another sign that our comfy little life here in Orem is coming to a close is that we are going to close on our condo next week!

When people ask me how I feel about moving to Texas I don't really know what to say because I honestly don't dwell on that thought very often. Right now I'm just enjoying the last bit of Utah bliss, and I'll decide how I feel about Texas when I get there. I do know that change is always hard at first and everyone is always a bit wary of change in the beginning, but eventually we adjust and are almost always grateful for the learning and growing experience the change has brought to us. So that's the mind frame I'm going to try to keep when I move to Texas. I know it will be hard at first, but I also know I'll eventually adjust and most likely end up loving it there. I'm not thrilled about being so far away from family, but trying to look on the bright side, I know it will make our own family stronger because we'll have to rely on each other a lot more.

Even though we won't have our family an hour away and that will be really sad, we are lucky enough to know quite a few people in Texas already, so that makes me feel a little better about the move. My friend that I ran the Boston marathon with a few years ago moved to San Antonio after she graduated, and I also have a good friend that I met when we did our internship there. We also know some people from Scott's program that have accepted jobs with USAA.

We had a fun time last Thursday getting together with Scott's old ISYS group and their wives for dinner and games. Lance, Micah, and Scott had a good time getting to know each other throughout the ISYS program by doing group projects together, and I got to know their cute wives. Micah (the middle one) has accepted a job with USAA also, and they have a cute little girl Boston's age! We are glad they decided to have one more get together before graduation! The dinner was delicious Katie! Thank you so much!


Boston had fun playing with Maddie, even though he still needs to learn how to be soft and not hit little girls in the face. He gets excited and swats people in the face. He's not trying to be mean, but I'm working on teaching him how to be soft. Boston frequently swats me in the face and I just tell him no and grab his hand, but when he swatted Maddie in the face she started crying which then made Boston cry too. It was pretty cute. Maybe he'll learn faster now that it's not OK to do that.

We are having a lot of fun trying to squeeze in as much family and friend time these next two months! It's going to go by WAY too fast!

Let the Races Begin!

I had my first race of the season on Saturday! I'll start with an analogy of how I felt when I finished, and then I'll explain why. Imagine how you would feel if someone told you that you won $200. Pretty excited and happy right? Now think how you would feel if they said, "Oops, I meant $20." Most of that happiness and excitement just turned to disappointment right? It's still awesome that you won $20 though, so why are you disappointed? Everything comes down to expectations. If you never thought you won $200, you would have been thrilled with the $20 without the slightest bit of disappointment.

Now I'll explain what happened to me on race day. I'm running along the course enjoying my 8 new songs I just purchased from itunes, feeling great, and I see the sign that says we have completed 5 miles. I'm a little confused because I had my Nike ipod attachment that counts my miles and it's usually pretty accurate, but it says I have more than 1.2 miles left (10k is 6.2 miles). I ask the guy running next to me, "Do we really only have one mile left?" He says, "Actually it's more like 1.2 miles." Still, my ipod said closer to 2 miles left than 1.2 miles though. Hmmm. I guess my nike ipod mileage counter isn't as accurate as I thought because this is an official race, so I'm sure they measured the course at least five times to make sure it was accurate.

Well, (supposedly) 1.2 miles later I crossed the finish line and looked down at my stopwatch to see a 42:37. I was expecting to finish closer to 48 minutes, so I was really happy with that time, but I still had a little bit of an unsure feeling. It was one of those "too good to be true feelings." As I was waiting in line to get my timing chip cut off my shoe I saw that same guy I had asked during the race if we really only had one mile left. I asked him again if he thought that was really a 10K. He said, "Ya, why?" I told him it just felt a little short and my time was a lot better than I expected it to be. He assured me it was a 10K, and this time I believed him.

As soon as my timing chip was off I immediately started looking for my two boys to tell them the good news. A few seconds later I saw them and excitedly ran over with a huge smile on my face to tell them I just ran a 7:00 min/mile pace. I was pretty proud and satisfied with that pace because I was only expecting an 8:00 min/mile pace at best. I did tell Scott that I wasn't sure if the race course was measured right, but at this point I decided to let that concern go and just be happy that I ran a great time, possibly my fastest 10k. (I'll have to go check now what that is.)

Now here comes the "oops you only won $20" feeling. I got talking to a girl that was wearing a garmin on her wrist. I expressed my concern to her about the accuracy of the race distance and she said, "Oh ya, I noticed that too. My garmin said 5.6 miles when I crossed the finish line." That's when my giddy pride of a 7:00 min/mile race got deflated. Talk about getting your parade rained on, your bubble burst, and all your pride squished. It was quite the effective lesson on staying humble. If the course would have been the full 6.2 miles my time would have been an 8:00 min/mile, which is exactly what I was expecting, but suddenly that time was nothing to be happy or proud about. Had I not thought just two minutes before that I had run a 7:00 min/mile pace I would have been completely satisfied with the 8:00 min/mile, but like I said before, it's all about expectations. As soon as I thought I had run and was capable of running 7:00 min/mile, I expected nothing less than that of myself.

I still have not heard anything from the officials about the race course being off. I'm really curious if anyone told them that they measured the course wrong, and there's still a teeny tiny part of me that wonders if the course was accurate, but I really don't think it was. I'm sure there are hundreds of runners out there oblivious to the fact that they still had about .6 miles to go. At least they'll enjoy their surprisingly good race times. What you don't know can't hurt I guess.


Even though it was a major kick in the stomach to realize that the course was measured wrong, I'm glad I figured that out because now I'm more motivated to keep training hard so that I can reach that 7:00 min/mile pace, especially since I got a little taste of what it would feel like to run faster than I expect of myself. It was a good feeling, and I really enjoyed it....for a few minutes anyway.


My next race is May 1st. It's the Provo half marathon, so I can't expect a 7:00 min/mile at that race since it's twice as long, but I can expect to be pleasantly surprised with my time as long as I put enough effort in to my training. I want that good feeling again, but I want it to last longer than two minutes, and not be followed up by a "oops we meant $20" feeling. So here's to some more painfully early-morning training runs!

A Few Things on My Mind This Morning

1. One second I was running, and the next second I was sliding on the track like it was a slip n slide. No injuries, just a little raspberry (It was a smooth indoor track, which made for quite the slide). It was actually kind of fun, like I was sliding in to home base, except I would never actually dare to do that on purpose.

2. Boston is starting to give hugs and lay his head on my shoulder. It melts my heart.

3. There are A LOT of things I'm going to miss about Utah when we move to Texas in a few months, but I'm pretty sure snow in March is not going to be one of them!!!

4. Stephen's pumpkin spice hot chocolate. Mmmmmmm.

5. It's March, why am I still drinking hot chocolate!?

6. I really like going running early without Boston, but it usually takes until I'm at least half way through my run to stop thinking I'm crazy and ridiculous for voluntarily getting up that early to run. And, I've noticed I actually feel way better and LESS tired on the days that I run early than the days that I take Boston at 8:00 or 9:00. Weird huh?

7. Boston really, really loves music. Last night when he was playing in his room with Scott, I turned on American Idol, and he came crawling out to the living room as fast as he could and started dancing. He seems to especially like acoustic type stuff like Kalai and Jack Johnson, but really he'll dance to anything with a beat even if it's not music. We may have a little drummer boy on our hands....

8. My first race of the year is next Saturday. I'm excited for it, but I hope the snow is gone! I'm doing the Rex Lee 10k at BYU. It's a fundraiser in honor of the former BYU president, Rex Lee, who died of cancer.

9. It's only 9:40 in the morning and Boston is already taking a nap! He came up to me acting all sleepy and cuddly, so I wrapped him up and put him to sleep! That means I get to take a long, hot shower in a few minutes! Today is a good day. Boston also took two naps yesterday for the first time in a loooong time. It was heavenly. He was worn out because he had two play dates that day.

10. I'm excited to take Boston to see the fishies today. It's fun that he's old enough to start enjoying little outings like that now. It's even better that simple and free outings like going to a fish store, or a pet store will thrill him to death.

Parks, Ducks, and First Steps!

That's what Boston's been up to lately, along with cutting all FOUR of his top front teeth and surprising us with a few words here and there. We have heard him say ma ma, da da, and yes. We think we've heard him say ball, duck, and quack. He also shakes his head yes and no. But, his preferred method of communication at the moment is yelling as loud as he possibly can until I figure out what he wants. It's still hard to tell just how much of this stuff is coincidence, and how much he understands.

Standing all by himself! Something he wasn't interested in doing until the park that day, then all of the sudden he was loving standing and trying to walk! He wants to play at the park and finally realizes that walking is better than crawling!

I'm so happy that we've finally had some nice enough weather to go to the park! Boston absolutely loves the slides and swings! I went to the Salem park with my friend Maija-Liisa and her baby Ava on Monday and it was so fun! That's when Boston made some big progress towards taking his first steps, which he did later that night when we got home from Scott's basketball game. It was just three steps, and he hasn't done it again since, but we have our video camera out on the table waiting for it!

Ava is such a doll!

I love how she's crinkling her nose in this picture! She's 6 months. Such a fun age!

I discovered one of Boston's new loves...DUCKS! He kept pulling on my finger so I would help him walk over to the ducks. If I picked him up and tried to leave the ducks he would scream and throw a temper tantrum. It's crazy that I now have an independent little person on my hands rather than a baby that goes and does whatever I choose for him to do! Despite the mini temper tantrum they caused, I thought it was adorable how much he loved the ducks! We will definitely be visiting ducks a lot this Spring!

Things are changing so quickly now with this little guy! It was like I woke up one day and all of the routines and schedules I was used to for the past several months were suddenly gone! Two naps? Ya right mom! I have better things to do like open all the cupboards and take everything out the second you turn your back, and dig through the garbage cans and see what I can find! Sit contently in my jogging stroller while you run? I don't think so! I want to run with you now! Take me out of this thing!

(Seeing what dirt tastes like for the first time)

I definitely wasn't prepared for how much and how fast my life would change when Boston hit toddler-hood! It happened so fast! I was just getting used to the stay-at-home-mom routine with a baby, and then WHAM! I had a toddler and everything changed. Now I'm working on slowly adjusting my attitude and expectations for the day so I can get the hang of being a stay-at-home mom to a busy strong-willed toddler. Rather than try to get things done all day like I used to, I need to plan things AWAY from the house all day after Boston wakes up from his nap. It's too exhausting trying to keep him out of things he's not supposed to be in to at the house, and he won't play with his toys. I'm really lucky if he plays with his toys for five minutes, so we'll be spending A LOT of time at the park and with play-groups this Spring/Summer. Boston really loves to be around other kids!

I wasn't prepared for the amount of time and work toddlers take, but I'm slowly adjusting. He sure is a fun and sweet little guy (most of the time). I adore him.

Running Rambles and a Little Funny Story

Well, I knew it would happen someday, I just didn't think it would be until I at least had two kids. The time has come to get my run done in the wee hours of the morning before Scott goes to school if I want a decent run without a huge battle to fight with my strong-willed one-year-old. The last straw happened on Friday. For the first time in 13 months I took Boston out of his stroller before we got home and I ended my run early because he was absolutely and completely impossible that day. One of my senior citizen friends who has the joy and entertainment of watching us fight our battles everyday while he walks around the track was right when he saw me carrying Boston and walking and said, "Looks like he finally won today." I said, "He sure did. Don't think I'll be taking him running too often anymore."

So... 5:45 a.m. rolls around this morning and I quickly turn off the annoying alarm on my cell phone. First thought, "Crap that came way too fast." Second thought, "I can just take Boston with me in a few hours and sleep some more. It won't be that bad." Third thought, (actually it was more like a vision in my head of picking things up left and right as Boston yells and chucks them out of the stroller.) Fourth thought, "Get your butt out of bed now and get your run done."

The fourth thought surprisingly won, and I L-O-V-E-D it! It was so nice to go to the track without snacks, sippy cups, toys, diapers, a huge stroller, and a resistant toddler!!! It was so nice in fact that I think I'm finally willing to get up early on most days and get my run done before Scott leaves. I'll probably still take Boston a couple days a week on the days that I don't have to do any speed or intervals. That way I don't have to get up early everyday, and I'm sure I'll end up taking Boston every once in awhile on the days that I just can't make myself get out of bed that early.

I have to admit, I was a little sad that I wouldn't see the same people there that I see at 9:00 everyday, but maybe after a few weeks I'll start to gain some 6:00 a.m-er familiar friendly faces at the track. Although, it will be a lot harder without Boston because he's the only reason why any of the 9 a.m-ers smile and talk to me.

The only cons about going early in the a.m. are that it's creepy walking outside and driving to the gym by myself when it's still dark and eerily quiet outside, I had to cut my run a little shorter than I wanted to because I was going to make Scott late for school (Which I probably did anyway. Sorry Scott! I will be better at getting there on time!), and the last one I probably shouldn't mention, but I will because it's true...digestive woes. It takes awhile of being awake to get that system going, and I'm just not willing to get up an extra hour early for that! All in all, I think the pros outweigh the cons when I need to get a good quality run in. However, on the days that I just want to run and don't care so much about the quality, I think I'll take the extra sleep and bring Boston along. Maybe he won't hate it so bad if we don't do it everyday. We'll see.

That's enough running rambles for now. This is going to be a long post because I still have to tell my funny little story that happened this morning. So here it goes.

I was expecting the appraisal guy to come appraise our house today between 9:30 and 10:00. I got home from my run and made sure every crumb and spec was cleaned up. The floors were swept and mopped, the counters cleaned, the dishes washed, the beds made, the carpet vacuumed, etc. etc. I even froze my hands off washing out the dang freezer. 9:00 a.m. rolls around and the house looks pretty dang good, but I'm still in my sweaty running clothes. I have thirty minutes to take a quick shower. I put Boston in his bouncer in front of a Baby Einstein movie where I know he can't escape and destroy something in the house or injure himself, and jump in the shower. I lather up my hair with soap...and DING-DONG! That's where pure panic sets in. I'm naked in the shower, my hair is full of shampoo, and the appraiser just rang my doorbell!!! And let me just add that it was super important that we get our house appraised today because the deadline for it is tomorrow! I was terrified that he would walk in and see me naked because I was originally planning on being gone running at 9:30 like I usually am, so I told our realtor (Scott's mom) that I would just leave the door open for him and leave a note on our door. Since I decided to do my run early I didn't leave the note on the door and I was just going to let him in instead.

Back to the panic in the shower... I squeezed the shampoo out of my hair as fast as humanly possible wide-eyed with panic, jumped out, and made a mad dash for my bedroom so I could throw my clothes on and answer the door. I tried to dry off a little bit with a towel, but apparently I didn't get very dry because I couldn't get my bottom garments on over my wet skin (I get the spandexy kind, and spandex and wet skin don't mesh). I realized that I did NOT have time for that, so I threw open my drawers and threw some sweats on. Then I ran to the door, (mascara dripping down my face because I hadn't even been in the shower long enough to wash my face), and flung it open. I caught him just in time! He was walking away! I said, "Sorry!! I was in the shower! I thought you were coming at 9:30!" He said, "No. I said between 9:00 and 9:30." (Well, I didn't say this to him, but I KNOW he told our realtor between 9:30 and 10:00. I still have the email that proves it.)

Anyway, he started doing his appraisal thing and I told him that me and Boston would just go outside and play while he did his thing. He said that he'd be done in a second so we didn't have to leave, but I figured he was just being nice, so I grabbed Boston's coat and headed outside in the chilly air with my wet only shampooed, not conditioner-ed hair. I walked to the mailbox to check the mail, and on my way back the appraisal guy was walking to his car and waving to me. He said, "I'm done! Thanks!" What!? You're done? But but but you just got here a couple seconds ago! I cleaned my butt off for you! And did you even notice that I had a sugar cookie candle burning for you? Did you even open our freezer and see that I froze my hands off cleaning it for you? I think not! How in the world can he say what he thinks our house is worth if he didn't even spend more than five minutes in it!? I hope it appraises for at least what we were asking! I don't know how it all works, but I was a little disappointed in the amount of time I spent getting our house ready for him verses the amount of time he spent appraising it. At least he didn't see me naked, and next time we sell our house I'll know I don't need to clean the dang freezer for the appraisal.