Pictures from Utah Valley Half

Here are 2 pictures from the Utah Valley Half Marathon I ran last week:
I'm not sure where in the race this one was taken...

but this one, was my sprint to the end! There was a girl and I who were neck in neck for the last mile or so. I wonder why she's not in it with me?...

The longest....but funnest day...

Okay, so today has been a long day....and I mean, LOOOONNNGGG! Let me begin at the start...

This morning, I woke up bright and early...2:30 am to be exact, to run the Utah Valley Half Marathon. I still don't quite understand why they do this. The last bus leaves at 4:30, but you need to be there before 4:00 to be able to get a seat. So, I woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast, and drove the 40 min drive to Provo, where I boarded a bus at 3:45, and rode it to the starting line, only to wait there, huddled around a fire for an hour and a half!

So, at 6:00 sharp, the race began. It started out fast, and I maintained a good pace for most of the way. I wanted to get top 5, mainly because 5th place got $75, and that would have covered my registration fee :). I ended up with 7th place, and a time of 1:22, which is a 7 minute personal best on this course over last year. My time this year would have put me in 3rd place last year, which goes to show how fast the girls were this year! It was a lot of fun, and I will most definitely do it again! Here is a link to the race results (if you like checking those things :) )
https://www.raceit.com/results/default.aspx?event=5230&r=682

Last year, the race ended at the mall, right by where we parked, so I was able to get right in my car, and drive home. This year they moved the starting line, to about a mile away from the mall. I didn't have time to wait for the bus, so I just ran back.

I hurried home, and made it home just in time for the kids to eat breakfast! This is just the way that I like it. I love to run!...it is something that has been, well, "me" for so many years...it is something that I need. However, when I became a mom, I never wanted this to take away from me being a mother. This is why, whenever possible, I do my runs before they wake up, and I try to do my races the same. I want them to know that I run/ exercise, but I don't ever want them to feel like me exercising, in any way, takes away from them, or is more important to me than my family is. My family is ALWAYS first!

Moving along...I got home also just in time for Adam to take Anderson to his soccer camp. And, me, being the one who thinks we can cram a million things into a day, may have overdone it, by scheduling Anderson's birthday party for today. As crazy as our last week was, with soccer camps, etc,. I had no time to even plan it. Anderson did say that he wanted to have a sports party, which is absolutely fitting for him. He told me that he wanted to have sports stations. So, that is just what we did. I had to run to the store to get everything, and I made it back just in time to get the kids lunch, and set up for the party. We had the party in the back yard, all sett up with sports stations...

Golf and bowling....

Trampoline Basketball..

Soccer...

I also didn't have time to make cookies (which is what he wanted, since he doesn't like cake). So, I bought some Oreo cookies, and frosted them to look like soccer and basketballs (as if Oreo cookies didn't have enough frosting to begin with ;) ).
Along with them, we had Squeeze-its...the ultimate soccer mom drink of champions!
While they ate, they watched what else, but sports bloopers! It was so fun to hear all the boys laughing at all the athletes as they ran into each other. So funny!
It was a fun party!

Presents...

In the middle of the party, Adam had to go to his school to be the the "dunk tank" as part of the "Saratoga Splash" festivities...one of the perks of being a head coach, I guess.

Meanwhile, I was getting Aspen ready for the next round of craziness...dance recital!...Well, "tumbling," to be exact. She is in a little tumbling class, and she does really well, despite my inconsistencies in practicing with her :/. Here's a picture and a video...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KUKweRuL2Q


All in all, it has been a great day...long, but really a great day....that I would rather not repeat for quite some time....

On a side note...completely unrelated, my oldest daughter, Aspen got her ears pierced, yesterday. She has been asking for a while, and I wasn't quite sure what to do. I didn't get mine pierced until I was eight, which was fine with me. However, Adam and I hadn't really decided on an age for our own daughters. I knew that I didn't want to do it when she was a baby, because I wanted it to be her choice. When she decided she wanted to have it done (mind you, I have NEVER brought this up to her...it is purely her own idea, based solely, I'm sure on pier pressure), I discussed it with her, and told her that she would have to take care of them. She agreed, and so far, so good.!
Here are some pics of the "Beautify Aspen Day.."

She wanted "Rapunzel hair." I did my best...

Beautiful ears...
Ace was feeling a little left out, and asked me to take a picture of his hair. Check out the steps!...

playing hookey

The other day, I kept Anderson and Aspen home from school, because I wanted to have a day with just us...just like it used to be before they were in school. Here's a video from the park...

A family of Jumpers/flippers...

When I was 4 years old, my parents got a trampoline, and ever since then, it has been one of my most favorite things to do. So, as I got older, I promised myself that I would have one for my kids to grow up with. This is one tradition that I am beyond happy that I was able to pass on.

To hear the audio on the videos, you will have to pause the playlist...

This first one is a little silly....

Well, I'm going to start off by wishing Aussie a happy third birthday! He is such a good little guy, and we are so blessed too have him in our family :).


It is a tradition in our family, that when they turn 3, they get their own bike. It is also a tradition (not my favorite, mind you), that they practice learning how to petal, in the kitchen....It's not so bad, i guess...I can keep better track of them this way :)


This week, being Spring break and all, I have had the urge to not only spring clean, but to get some projects done around the house. And, if you know me, I love, love, LOVE to paint! Our house is an eclectic array of colors, and I just love it! Having 5 young kids, it is almost impossible to not only find the time to paint, but to do it without kids all over me. It doesn't help matters, when, as soon as I get the paint stuff out, all of them ask if they can help. So...I have found a fun solution to this problem, and here it is...

I give them each their own sponge paintbrush (30 cents at Wal-Mart), and their own bowl of paint (empty cottage cheese containers work well). I, then give them something large, that they can paint. Make sure that it's something you don't care about. I have given them old wood scraps, boxes...today, I found some large bulletin boards that I wasn't using anymore. I let them paint those, while I did my projects.
Even though they were done before I was, it satisfied their need to paint, and then they were perfectly content to play outside, while I finished up...and yes, it was messy...but that's all part of the fun...and it is exactly what bathtubs were invented for :). Fun, fun day :)



Here is the wall I painted in the preschool/ play room. I found an old picture frame, down in the basement, and I painted it a cream color, then sprayed it with some high gloss, clear finish. I, then taped off a square, and used some of my left-over chalk paint, and painted it on the wall. While that was drying, I painted the outside of the green, a red color (as you can see :) ). I found this metal star, that I inherited from my mother-in-law. I spray-painted it gold.
I will use this wall as my "Star of the Week" wall in preschool, where we will write things about the Star of the Week...A little Christmas-y, I know...but who doesn't love Christmas?!
I can't wait to use it!...

Finally, I found another empty frame, and did the same thing as I did in the preschool, but just on a smaller scale, and put it in the kitchen. The chair, below, I also painted. I like how it turned out :)

I am looking forward to the summer to do more fun projects around the house...

Note from my brother, Joel

Here's a note from my brother, Joel, who is serving in Mito, Japan...



I am right now in a church in Abiko (closer to Tokyo). We were evacuated out of Mito yesterday by the Mission Office because of the continual tremors (I always think of Kevin Bacon whenever I say `tremors`) and because of the exploded Nuclear Power Plant 11 miles to the north. Mito was also hit by a tsunami and this was a problem, too. We were told to pack for a week. But, the problem was that there was no way out of Mito. The express way was closed, the train line was broken, the local roads were bumper to bumper, and no one could give us a ride out of Mito. However, our Super Hero senior couple, Elder and Sister Hobbs, took the 5 hour drive and picked us up and got us out of Mito last night. Thank you all for all of your prayers. I am so grateful for every single prayer that was said. So, the big 9.0 earthquake happened last Friday at 3-ish o`clock. From Thursday afternoon, I was in a town called Tsukuba on splits with an Elder named Elder Cooper. Friday afternoon, we took the train back to Mito to meet the other Elders to switch back. We said goodbye, then started to walk out of the station and to our bikes. Tiny earthquakes here and there are pretty natural here in Japan. When we got to our bikes, we started to feel an earthquake. It started off really small, and we shrugged it off. We were under a bridge, and then the shaking got worse and we started to see dust and rubble falling down from above us. We ran away from the bridge, and then the ground started to crack and sink and slant and the glass in all of the buildings began to crack. All we could do was just crouch down, cover our heads and watch the buildings sway back and forth and side to side. It went on for what seemed about 3-5 minutes. Once it ended, the first thing we wondered about was `Where are the Tsukuba Elders?` So we ran back into the station to find them, but we couldn`t find them anywhere. As the streets flooded with people evacuating the buildings and searching for shelter, there was no hope to find the Tsukuba Elders. Another quake came right then that wasn’t as strong, but shook us up none the less. Our cell phones wouldn’t work and we couldn’t make any calls. We tried to call them several times, but no luck. We went all around looking for the Tsukuba Elders (we thought they were trapped inside the Station). The phones everywhere were down. We were having more tremors and we were getting pretty worried for ourselves and for them. We were ready to go and look somewhere else. However, we received a miraculous phone call, out of nowhere. It was from the Tsukuba Elders. How we received that call at that time, and weren’t able to make or receive any other calls, I don’t know, but we received that call and were able to meet up with them. To make a long story short, we decided to walk back to the apartment and as we were on our way, we found a lot of people that needed our help. As we went, there were houses that crumbled, and shops that were crumbled and glass everywhere. We helped an old man and his wife clean up there shop (which was also their house). They didn’t want to bother us with helping them, but we took the brooms and pans and helped them clean the glass and broken stuff as quickly as we could. The man thanked us, but really, it was such a wonderful thing to be able to help them. They were so frightened by everything and didn’t know what to do. As we walked away, the man walked out onto the sidewalk and thanked us in a loud voice. It was a pretty humbling experience. I don’t want to take all this time by just telling about the effects of the earthquake and what not, but that is just a little bit of what happened. I would just like to show my gratitude and testify of a God of Mercy and Miracles. I am so grateful to be here and have the opportunity to serve among these people and see the Light of Christ evident in every single good deed anyone does. So many people were helping others as much as they could. Seeing acts of kindness which receive no recognition and seeing people serve their fellow men during this time was so amazing. This time is definitely a time to count the blessings, focus on the things that matter most, and strive to lose yourself in the service of others. I love the work and I love being a missionary!

Love, Elder Einfeldt

Christmas!

Was it just me, or did Christmas come waaayyy too fast, this year? Before I knew it, Christmas was here, and gone just as quickly. Thankfully, we were able to get everything done without a hitch, and it was a wonderful time for all of us.

First, we HAD to make cookies for Santa (oatmeal chocolate chip--his favorite!)


The finished product, with carrots for the reindeer.

Waking up early in the morning.


Aussie is not yet to the excitement of Christmas stage. He wanted to sleep in.

At the bottom of the stairs, before the big reveal. Anderson's face is priceless!

Presents!