Michelle's 5K

Okay. So I have always wanted to run in a 5K, but every time I have started I just quit because a) I really don't like running and b) I really don't like running. It's really boring to me. But when Bryan started training for his triathlon he needed someone to run with him in the morning, so he asked me to. I figured that if I was getting up and running, I might as well have a goal. So that's how it happened.

There was a Santa Clara Swiss Days 5K that I decided would be good to run. It was the week after Bryan's triathlon, so we would still be running and it wouldn't be too bad because I could run the course a few times to get used to it. So I signed up. I also convinced my Uncle Don to sign up too and he then convinced his daughter, Kristina, that she needed to come out from California and run it too. I was pretty excited but told them that, since I'm slow, they should feel free to leave me behind.

I ran the course (at least what I thought was the course) every Saturday for a month to get used to it and I was pretty excited. But I was still nervous because it's a long way and I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of my family (yes, it's a pride issue).

Friday morning Courtney got sick and began throwing up. I kept her home from school by after a few hours she was bouncing off the walls. Then on Friday night (after Ethan sang for Swiss Days) he got sick and began throwing up. I will NEVER eat a certain type of pizza ever again! So we were up a lot during the night, but Bryan took most of the shifts to let me sleep. When I woke up on Saturday morning I wasn't feeling all that great (a bit nauseous) but I was excited to be running.

I drove to Snow Canyon High School where they had shuttles set up for the runners and then I met up with Kristina, Mark, my parents and Kathy. Don was sick (they think it was from the flu shot) and so he didn't run with us. Kristina and I had pictures taken (which I'll post later when they email them to me) and then we went to warm up with the other runners.

Now, I have never run a race before so I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew enough to realize how weird it was that they had an aerobics instructor warming us up. Yup, right in the middle of Santa Clara drive were about 500 runners doing aerobics. I about died. It was so odd!

Anyway, then we lined up, waited forever, the gun went off and we were gone. Kristina runs pretty fast so she lost me after about 3/4 of a mile, but I did okay. I was really tired from being up and I didn't feel all that great, but I kept going. The route was different from what I had been running so that threw me off a bit, but it was okay. I finished in 34:35, which isn't bad for my age group, although I am slow. But I finished and it was fun. I felt sad that my family was home sick in bed and didn't get to see me run, but my parents, Kathy and Mark were there and Kristina finished 2 minutes ahead of me, so she was there when I finished too. It was fun. I'm going to sign up for another 5K next month and see how it goes.

I'll put more pictures on when I get them for proof!

My proof:

Ethan and the Cougar Choir

Ethan is in the choir at school and he loves it. The elementary school is in Santa Clara so for the Santa Clara Swiss Days, the choir was asked to sing at the opening ceremonies. We went to dinner with my parents, Don & Kathy, and Kristina & Mark beforehand and then went down so Ethan could sing. They did a great job and he was so happy to be up there. They have 90 kids in the choir and one awesome choir director!!

Ethan is in the middle row, second from the left.

Cute Carter

Lisa (Bryan's sister) and her little boy Carter have been here for a few days. Lisa is in St. George at some training meetings so I get to watch Carter during the day. It's been fun. Ethan and Courtney LOVE him so they help out a lot. Carter even helped them practice the piano the first day he was here. (No, Courtney isn't in piano lessons, she just likes to pretend.) It's been fun having them here.

Here's the Hole!

Ethan wanted me to post a picture of his smile now. I think it's super cute but he is having a rough time saying the "f" sound because of the hole. I told him to just hang on a little while and it will fill in. But the tooth on the other side is loose, so we'll see what happens.

Cute kid!

Cute Ethan

Last night Ethan started messing with one his teeth that is loose and it was really bugging him. He really wanted to pull it out and got a tissue and started tugging. There was blood and everything, but the tooth just wasn't coming out. I told him to keep wiggling and it would loosen it enough that it would come out on its own.

(Personally, it really grosses me out when people are trying to pull their own teeth, but this is what Ethan has always done with loose teeth. It's like running their fingers down a chalkboard!)

Anyway, he never got the tooth out and he was a bit upset about it. But he decided to just keep playing with it and see if it would come out on its own.

About 12:30 today I got a phone call.

Me: Hello?
Ethan: Hi Ethan...um, hi Mom this is Ethan.
Me: Hey kiddo, are you okay?
Ethan: Yeah, my tooth fell out.
Me: Wow! How did it happen?
Ethan: I was playing with it and it fell out.
Me: Did you save it? (One of his teeth was lost on the playground in Kindergarten so this is an important question.)
Ethan: Yeah, teacher put it in a baggie.
Me: Are you okay? Do you need anything? Do you need me to come up or something?
Ethan: No, teacher just let me call you to tell you. Love you. Bye.
Me: Love you too. Bye.

What a sweet kid. He was so excited that his teacher let him call me. I certainly hope the Tooth Fairy is close by and remembers before 3 days pass like last time! Slacker Tooth Fairy. ;)

Ethan's Touchdown!

Last night was Ethan's 2nd flag football game. He is loving it! And he is doing pretty well too. I think he is at the age when he is able to understand the game better and he gets the strategy part, which helps. He has quite a good arm and was able to play quarterback a little bit, but he likes running the best. I don't think he likes being the one in charge, but he likes being the one to do the "action."

The best thing of the night was that he made a TOUCHDOWN!! He was so excited.

Here's a photo of the hand off before his touchdown:

Lion's Rodeo Parade

It was a BUSY Saturday. Saturday afternoon Courtney had a parade for the Lion's Rodeo. It was a huge parade with almost 100 entries. It is the place to see and be seen. Courtney's dance group, Pizazz, had an entry in the parade and so she got to be in it. They had an option of either riding their bike decorated or riding in the truck. She was a bit nervous that she wouldn't be able to ride the entire route on her own, so she rode in the truck. She had a great time waving at everyone and doing the Pizazz cheer! But her favorite thing was the make-up. I have a real hang up about putting make-up on my 5 year old, but they asked for it to be done. Courtney was in little girl heaven. She only had blush, lipstick and mascara, but it was enough to see that she is a really "girly-girl." And I also discovered that she has really long eyelashes. I put mascara on her and then put her glasses on. When she blinked, there were little trails on mascara down her lenses of her glasses. She said, "They always brush, it's no big deal." Funny girl.

After Courtney's group passed by, I walked down to the finish of the parade and grabbed her and took her back to where my parents and aunt and uncle were watching. She got to catch candy (there were some vicious candy grabbing kids around us but she held her own!) and wave at everyone. It was a fun day! Bryan and Ethan missed it because they were at the Scout Celebration, so it was a girl's date. ;)

Cute girl!

She's on the truck (her name is right over her so you can find her):