5K? Or Was it?

C ran his first 5K on Saturday.  It was for a foundation established by the family of a little girl that passed away with a rare type of brain tumor.  Our elementary school supports this foundation every year.  All the 5th graders were invited to train for the race by practicing with one of the teachers after school.  About 8 kids decided to do this.  C was one of them.  He ran in 100 degree heat at 3 pm every day and he loved it.  He trained and trained and trained.

Finally, the big day was here.  He was excited and ready.  The teachers and students that were around all commented on how C was fast and how he was the one that ran the whole way at practice.

 Here he is right before the race.  :)

 And, they are off!!!

And then, we waited and waited and waited.  The first runners came back at about 16 minutes, but there were not very many.

And, then more and more came back.

The girls that trained with C came back, all saying that C was ahead of them, yet no C.

Hmm...odd.

One of the teachers that is a runner came back and said that the course was not well marked and she had run at least an extra .4 of a mile.

Hmm...30 minutes....35 minutes...40 minutes....

The principal that walked/jogged the whole thing came back.  No C.

The teachers started to talk about how the male teachers hadn't come back yet and last year they ran it in 26 minutes.  Hmm...odd.

People that definitely walked the whole thing came back.  Pregnant women pushing strollers came back.  No C.

45....50....55 minutes.... No C and no teachers.  Hmmmm....

C's dad started to worry that he'd been abducted.  Because the teachers weren't back either, I started to worry that C had twisted or broken his ankle and that they were carrying him back.

Finally, at about 58 minutes....he comes running in!!!

We found out that the path was not clearly marked and most of the lead pack went the wrong way.  They estimate that they were off course about 2 miles.  C said he ran the entire way, stopping only for a few seconds when they realized they were off course and turned around. 

He was disappointed, yet I was still proud of him.  He ran much further than the race for which he had trained.  He kept going even when he knew that his being gone for so long would mean he did not have a super race time.  I am one proud Mama.

Now, I hope he finds other physical things to do with his time.  This daily raced training he did really helped him to be happy and have a great attitude.

One final note:  At school yesterday, they presented him with a medal.  I guess that after he left and they did the ceremony that he placed 2nd in his division (0-10 boys), so a teacher got it and brought it to him.  I saw many boys cross before him, but perhaps they were 11 or 12.  Either that or they realized the race course errors and were able to re-calculate.  I don't know, but it is very cool that after all the work and all the frustration and all the heartache that he came away with a medal.

Happy Birthday, J! Five-years! :)

 Today is my little J's 5th birthday!  I am so happy to have him in my life.  It is shocking that he is really this old, but he really acts like a 5-year-old.  He woke up this morning at about 5:30 ready to begin his birthday.

He is our only child to have a birthday on a school day and this means some early present opening so we can all be together.  Of course, he chose this big present to open.  He loved them all.  It was fun to see him open them.

 Then, I took him to ride the minature train.  He loves it and it really is fun.  We took a friend with us, too.

 This engineer was super sweet.  When he found out it was J's birthday, he went and gave him some Cracker Jacks and then had the whole train sing to him.  What a great time!  And, it was near 100 degrees today and we went early enough that it was a pleasant ride.  :)

 On the way home, we stopped at a donut shop.  J wanted to go there so much!

 Later that afternoon, J wanted to help me make his cake.  So, he did and he loved it!

 (Including licking the beaters!)

 Here he is working with creating Yoshi (one of his presents).

 He also requested Yoshi for his cake.  Here is what I did:

 For some reason, I have no talent as an artist, but I can usually use a can of frosting and some food coloring and create a decent cake.  I guess this is my one artistic talent.  :)

Happy, Happy birthday, J dear!  :)  I love you!!!!

Honeymoon

So...I am trying this new Blogger interface.  The old one you had to have the pictures in reverse order to get them in the right order in the post.....I guess this new one you don't.  :(

I have had enough trouble posting any pictures....that I am just going to leave it in reverse order.

Thursday, August 4, 2011:  Leaving our Honeymoon Cabin.  Doesn't it look nice?

 Wednesday, August 3, 2011:  We went to Yellowstone.  It was fun and beautiful.

 Tuesday, August 2, 2011:  We hiked Mesa Falls and we went on a 5 mile canoe trip down the river:

 Monday, August 1, 2011:  We went to the city of West Yellowstone and also enjoyed watching the storms roll in from our porch.  This double rainbow was so close to us!

We had an amazing honeymoon.  It was so much fun, so relaxing, and so wonderful to be together, enjoying our first week of marriage.  Oh, yes!  We are so blessed.

Busy and Tired

I really have many, many posts pending....but, I haven't done them. :( I have found myself extra busy this year with my calling, a 7th grader, a 5th grader, a pre-schooler, piano, scouts, young women, etc. It seems like there are never quite enough hours in the day to do it all.

I also have been extra tired and exhausted....probably due to the above reasons.

So, I am alive. I am happy. I have more blessings than I can count. Life is good. Like the title of my blog, I truly "Have a Good Life."

First Day of School, 2011-2012

Today was the first day of school. C is in 5th grade, K in 7th. J missed the cut-off to start Kindergarten by less than a month. Oh well. He is in Mom Preschool and loving it. :)

C was in Kindergarten when our elementary opened its doors. Now, he and his classmates are the first class to make it all the way through the school. Pretty cool.

The bus stops were changed this year....further away and I cannot see the stops. Makes my Mommy-Heart a little nervous, but they are big kids.

This picture is C before he left for the bus stop (he did NOT want me walking him to the bus stop!

My two kiddos:
K before going to her bus stop almost an hour later....and, wow!, she looks so old to me today!
I have to say that this is the first year in quite a few that S has not gone to school with us on the first day. I know she is definitely old enough not to, but we did miss her.

A tradition continued.....first day of school cookies. YUM!
Another tradition (as of last year at least)....Yogurtland. We did this for our Family Home Evening tonight. It was fun.

C and K, I hope you have a wonderful year! Do your best, be nice to everyone, smile even when you aren't enjoying life, and always remember that your Mom loves you!!!