Goings on

REPAIRABLE.
Nathan's car. He and Andrew were rear-ended two Saturdays ago. Andrew was fine. Nathan has lower back pain--but had x-rays that show no bone or disc issues. Today we found out the car is repairable. Still not expecting things to go quickly . . . and we both dislike paperwork and phone calls, but we are thankful that the injuries were not worse.

SCHOOL started.
5th grade
4th grade
2nd grade

DENVER will be hit with a media blitz showing "I'm a Mormon" ads starting in October. As a result, we've been watching a lot of Mormon.org profile videos. This one about Erick was particularly moving. (And it shows a trans-metatarsal amputation--a surgery Nathan performs). Honestly, I have watched all of them and I like them all. I feel happy to be associated with these people. I would like to meet them in person.

Here is the link to Nathan's profile: click HERE
I am working on mine still.

BIRTHDAY coming up on Friday. She requested cinnamon rolls again.

TACKLE
Andrew joined a tackle football team this year. He is VERY excited about it. His practices for the first two weeks are Monday through Friday, 5:30 to 7 p.m. This is a huge change in our schedule, I am sad he won't be at dinner with us most of those days. On the upside, he looks great in his uniform and the practices are so close he can ride his bike. One more reason to love our neighborhood--he's the only one who rode to practice. (Also the only one who turned up in sneakers--I need to buy him some cleats. SOON).

FAMILY CAMPOUT
Last Friday night, we joined members of our ward for a campout at a ranch the church owns. If they were giving awards, we would have earned the "LEAST TIME SPENT AT CAMPOUT" award. We arrived at 7:15 p.m. and left exactly 12 hours later. We squeezed setting up two tents, cooking dinner, making peach cobbler, chatting with friends, playing with friends, a little bit of sleep, realizing we need bigger tents, and making it back in time for football practice all into those few hours. I took three photos, this is one.

SEWING
Most of my sewing is happening on my other blog, if you want to know where to find it, email me.
BUT, this month I ventured into something new, pattern testing. A lady wanted some volunteers to try out her pattern before she began selling it. I raised my hand. It was really fun. The best part was, she took some of the suggestions I made, and changed them in her pattern. Here's the latest finished garment, a baby shower gift for last Saturday.

5K/Running
One more coming in the beginning of October.
My next running goals include a treadmill, run MWF for a month, and train for a 10K in 2012.
This summer I learned to enjoy taking 5 children out on their bikes for a run with me. One day, we found this grasshopper.

(We didn't have the camera on the day we found the frog). We stopped at the BMX course every time to appease the masses.

Vintage Me

Wearing dresses I wore as a little girl. The red and white one was a favorite of mine. It is one of the best spinning dresses I ever wore.

After they are done wearing them, what should I do with them?
Keep them?
Donate them?
Re-fashion them into doll clothing?

Second place

These gentlemen won 2nd place in their age divisions today.
(We have to convince Dad to register as a runner and not a walker. Probably this ribbon will convince him).

The Rat Race

August 13, 2011
My time 36:40
Nathan's 18:32
Dad  42:30???

Great course.
Mom mentioned how funny it is that last week was the "Human" Race, and this was the "Rat" Race.

I dislike it when race walkers pass me. Much better to have the winner of the 10K pass me (when I am only doing the 5K). Today when the race walker passed me and I couldn't catch him, I decided who I would pass and stay ahead of. I passed her in the last couple minutes of the race.
The Fort Collins H.S. Cross country team came and dominated the race. Fun to watch them run fast. It's safe to say all of them were ahead of me.

Nathan also won a drawing for prizes: He picked out a set of wrenches. They had written retail value $29, so we almost got our entry fee back.

Thanks, Mom for watching the kids while we ran!

The Human Race

August 6, 2011
My time: 36:50
Nathan's time: 18:59


I was stuck in the 39's for so long. I'm happy to be able to run faster.
After Nathan is done with his race, he always comes back to encourage me to the finish line. I feel a boost of energy when I see him. This time he brought Caitlin, too. It was fun to run next to them.

The older children (everyone but Ed) ran in a children's race). The biggest children's race we've seen.  This race was in Old Town--which was fun.

(This is the third of five races this season. Stay tuned).