U of U Homecoming Race

Yesterday the kids and I ran in the University of Utah's annual homecoming 5k and kids 1k. It was the most eventful year yet. :) Although the weather had been stormy the night before it was only supposed to be overcast. Because of this I left my nice, lightweight rain jacket at home. Curse you weather.com! ;) It was Sarah and my 5th year, Steven's 3rd and Amelia and Adam's 1st.

After we signed in the kids looked at their swag and took a picture with Swoop the mascot. The boys didn't want to wear their cool new running shirts. They both had on red so they didn't see a point in changing.

When my race started it was just drizzling but it started raining harder after a couple minutes. I was drenched! There were puddles everywhere. The cool air was nice for running though. :) Here I am with the kids once I made it inside.

The kids 1k was a lot of fun. We missed the start, so the kids had to play catch up. I was SO proud of Adam. Not only did he not ask to me carried, but he ran the whole thing. I held his hand up the hills, but other than that he wanted to do it on his own. I know I'm biased, but he is so adorable when he runs. We almost caught up to the three older kids, but they kept pulling ahead.

Here they are showing off their medals.

After the race they give out scholarships and prizes for top finishers and also give out some random prizes. Sarah was not so randomly chosen and won this kayak. She is itching to go use it but unfortunately Target was out of life jackets. 

 Mike got called out on a week long trip so Lynette was kind enough to join in on the fun. It's so nice being near family again.

Here are the pictures the professional photographers took

Cuteness overload! :)

My results weren't as good as I wanted, but I get to blame it on the rain and donating blood 15 hours before the race. (or a case of wussitis, because I stopped and walked up a hill) ;) The first two miles felt great but the third mile I lost energy. My total time was 28:17 for a split time of 9:06. Since I didn't run much before moving to Mississippi this is my fastest Utah 5k time, but I should have done better. :)

There were a lot of photographers there taking pictures, so I'll post the ones they took when they're up. Maybe next year I can get Mike to join me.

The Ant and the Grasshopper

A friend recently posted an article on Facebook entitled, "When the CDC Tells Us to Prepare for the Ebola Pandemic, Things are About to Get Real". Although I think the article is a bit sensationalized it made me think even more about emergency preparation. When I was young and heard people talk about needing a year of food stored, 72 hour kits, water storage and such I always thought of end of world stuff. Now that I've added a few years, these things have taken on new meaning.

Food Storage- Our church recommends starting with three months of food storage with food we eat and rotate through. The longterm goal is to build up to a year supply or temporary and long term food storage. Having a year of food storage seemed like overkill. I never thought the government would provide but I always figured I'd have access to food. The "great recession" changed my thinking. I had a friend who's husband lost their job and one of the ways they stayed afloat was by dipping into the food storage they had saved. When there are natural disasters the grocery stores are picked clean and sometimes looted. What if there is a great sickness and we need to stay home for a little while. Food storage could mean the difference between life and death.

Water Storage- Between home use and watering a new landscape we went through 70,000 gallons of water last month. (I know that sounds ridiculous, we were both shocked) There have been a lot of emergencies around the country where people have been without water. Contaminated water, broken water pipes etc can make a water supply an absolute essential. Portable water always sells out when emergencies strike. We just purchased six 55 gallon drums which won't last forever, but if our public water were contaminated, this would tide us over for a while.

72 hour kits- I attended an emergency preparedness fair and met a lady with an amazing 72 hour kit. She was prior military and her 72 hour kit would prepare her for any terrain and circumstance for 72 hours. Ours aren't equal to that. We have backpacks with some food and water, but we plan to do better.

Our church has a great website dedicated to being prepared. It's called Provident Living and covers not only Food storage but finances, emergency preparedness and other important topics.

While writing this I was reminded me of the Aesop fable The Ant and the Grasshopper. The Ant saves for a rainy day when supplies are needed while the grasshopper wastes his time and when he needs food he shows up on the ants doorstep and asks for mercy. The ants turn him away because they worked hard for what they had and needed it to survive. We're far from being as prepared as we could/should, but as I read the news and look to the future I want to do a better job preparing.

First day of school

A few weeks ago the kids started a new school year. Sarah is in 3rd grade, Steven is in 1st and Adam is in his last year of preschool. Once again our plea for them to stop growing wasn't heeded. :)

Sarah was nervous to start school because this is her first time having a male teacher. We went to the back to school meeting where she met Mr. Colver. He's been teaching forever and knows how he wants things done. He said he didn't need room volunteers, because he has his own methods, and he doesn't assign homework because he thinks the kids have plenty of time during the day to learn what they need to. Sarah likes him and has been happy in her class.

Steven couldn't decide if he wanted to do the Chinese immersion program at his school. He really wanted to, but then his excitement wained when he found out he'd be on a different track then his sister. He's loved meeting new friends but he struggled with all day school for a week or so.

Here is Steven at his orientation with Mrs. Ackley. I had to take a picture because her room is the most organized and well decorated room I'd ever seen.

Adam started his 2nd year at Little Learners Academy. He had Miss Aubrey for a second year along with Miss Carley. His first day of school he came home and said, "Guess what Mom? School is really fun!". We are carpooling with the mom of a kid in his class named Trevor and the boys have become good buddies.

In front of his cubbie

There is a one way glass window so parents can look in on their kids without interrupting the class. It's always fun to see what the kids do when they don't think mom and dad are watching. :) 

After school picture (no bright sun)