Too Much

We had a great Thanksgiving. We've been able to spend 5 days together as a family. It was like a mini-vacation. I got what I asked for and had plenty of turkey and pumpkin pie, not only on Thanksgiving Day but every day after that. We were given lots of leftovers. Over the course of the long weekend, I've personally eaten an entire pumpkin pie. I'm still working on the turkey ( I had to wait until I had cranberry sauce). Good thing I ran 12 miles on Friday, that right there expended 1600 calories. Too bad a whole pie has 2275 calories. Oh well, better half than nothing. Hope all of you had a great holiday and remembered to GIVE THANKS.

Countdown to Turkey and Pie

Everywhere you look you see stuff about the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Is anyone else's mouth watering as much as mine? Having a husband that doesn't really like turkey and having kids that don't like pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving is my time to gorge on these otherwise never served foods. As of now I have 2 days and 2 hours left until turkey and pumpkin heaven!

What's better than leapin' in leaves?

MORE leaves and MORE people! On Saturday we had a family barbeque and leaf jumping party. We even wheelbarrowed leaves from the other side of the yard to make the original pile even bigger. We had my 2 brothers and their kids as well as my sister's girls join in on the work and the fun.

Leaf Leapin'

Our huge backyard Maple tree finally dumped it's leaves this past week. Gabriella worked hard (although I'm the one with the tired arms) to rake them into a huge pile which Caleb and Michelle promptly jumped in. I love this time of year, especially the days that are 50 or 60 degrees, in my mind that's the perfect outdoor temperature. I guess that comes from having lived in the mountains of Colorado.Caleb likes to take candid shots, he never told us when he was going to click the picture. To think this is the best shot of the 4 he took. Gotta love digital cameras! With a camera using actual film I'd never let the kids take pictures for fear of wasting the film. Oh the good ol' days.

Goodbye Blisters! Hallelujah!

Podiatrists are PHENOMENAL! Ever since I've started running I've been plagued with BOUS's (blisters of unusual size). I've tried everything to prevent them to no avail. Then I gave up and went to see a podiatrist that a friend recommended (if only my brother-in-law lived closer). I won't give you the whole long story but it turns out my blisters were being caused from inside the foot. Suffice it to say that now I wear orthotics (shoe inserts) and my feet and legs have never felt better. It's now only a matter of time until the blisters start to fade. Now a marathon is an actual possibility! CAUTION: the following photo is not for the faint of heart, but I had to show you proof of the plague.

The picture doesn't do the blisters justice (yes that's a bulging blood blister on the left foot). These are my feet after the HALF marathon my husband and I ran last July. I shudder to think what they would've looked like if the race would've been a FULL marathon?!

The Cutest Wolf

Last Thursday night was Cub Scout pack meeting for Caleb. He received his Wolf badge, a gold arrow point and a silver arrow point. That night was also the Pinewood Derby. Caleb and his dad worked very hard and made a pretty cool car named the Golden Racer. The den gave it the award of "Most Futuristic".

Have Horrendous Hair?

Having 3 girls ages 6 and under and all with long hair (they're born needing haircuts) I often face this hair challenge.

I've discovered a few magic potions to help with this challenge. Not only do they work GREAT but they're easy on the wallet.

The one on the above left is VO5 daily leave-in conditioner (Detangle and Shine) 10 fl oz for less than $4 at Walmart.

The one on the above right is Pantene Pro-V deep Fortifying treatment (undo 3 months of damage in 3 minutes) 8.5 fl oz for about $5 or $6 at Walmart.

This morning I used the detangler spray on Gabriella's knotty mess and this is the result (after waiting a couple minutes for the spray to start working and a couple strokes of the brush).

TPing practice

So I'm upstairs cleaning Megan and Gabriella's bedroom. I come downstairs to find Megan in nothing but socks and underwear. When I walked into the kitchen I found she'd been doing while I was cleaning her room. She'd unrolled the toilet paper from the bathroom and strung it around all 6 chairs at the kitchen table the tucked neatly into her toy toolbox. She had the most pleased "look-at-what-I-did" expression on her face. Needless to say I was not very pleased, especially since we've been going through T.P. like crazy around here. We spent the next 10 minutes rolling the toilet paper back up and as doing this I suddenly thought "hey I should've taken a pic for my blog". But it was too late. Besides, if I would've taken a picture it would've made her think what she did was acceptable and I certainly don't need her to continue TPing the kitchen--just think of what she might do when she's a teenager, maybe TP a boat or something.

While I was typing the above post, Gabriella went into Michelle's room, found some markers and proceeded to color in a book and on Michelle's sheets. Days like today explain why I've come to love running. After my interval speedwork session on the treadmill this morning, I didn't have enough energy to get too upset with the girls. I just sighed heavily and told them not to do it again. Why should I pay for anger management classes when running is free!

Thanks to all who Serve

I love waking up and seeing the flags that have been posted in everyone's front yard. My kids love it too because they know it's a holiday of some kind. It's a great conversation starter and teaching moment. I appreciate all those that serve in the military, both past and present. I also feel for the families they leave behind. I get chills every time I see a flag waving in the wind.
To quote Lee Greenwood:

"I’d thank my lucky stars,to be livin' here today.
‘Cause the flag still
stands for freedom,
and they can’t take that away.
And I’m proud to be
an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I won't forget the men
who died,
who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up, next to you
and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA."

Just Runnin' in the Rain

The ground was dry as I set out running this morning, but before I'd run a block the rain started. My first impression was to run right back home, but I perservered and actually had a great run. Having the maiden name of Rains, I'm used to the rain coming at inopportune times. I could go on and on about the vacations, in deseret areas mind you, that were truncated due to rainy weather. But back to this mornings run. The rain was more of a mist or a drizzle. As I was running my last mile and admiring the awesome mountain view, the theme song from "Man from Snowy River" started playing on my mP3 player. All of a sudden I replayed the great horse running footage from the movie and I felt myself running faster-it's an awesome thing, the magical effect of music!

Season Opener

All my life I've been surrounded by sports so I thought that'd be a fitting title for my first ever blog. So far the hardest part of blogging was thinking of a title or name. Then once I found the perfect fit, it was already taken. Hence the one and only drawback of being a Smith. I actually love being a Smith. Since becoming a Smith, I almost never have to spell my last name, and when people do ask, they soon feel stupid for asking such a no-brainer question. I enjoy the anonymity that comes with the name too--there's at least 4 other people in the county with my same name, not to mention a sister-in-law with my same name.

Speaking of sports, last year my husband and I took up long distance running. This morning during my 8 mile run, I passed the 1,000 mile mark. I raised my arms up and cried out, "Yes, I am so awesome!"--too bad no one heard me, that's the breaks when you run at dawn and the temperature is near freezing. I feel much better now that it's been published on the internet.