Holy Hail

On Friday June 26th we had a crazy storm come through Idaho Falls and surrounding areas. We had hail the size of a water bottle lid. It stormed for quite a while too. We were so worried about our garden. Everything that was smashed with the hail was able to come out of it. We have one plant in my herb garden that didn't do too well but luckily it didn't die. Enoch sent the pictures into the paper and they were actually in the article about the weather. Pretty cool. I think that pictures tell it all.

The whole side walk was covered with water.

Hail pile at the side of our house.

Water covering the whole street

Hail on our trampoline.

Large hail.

Hail on lid of water bottle.

More water in the street.

Another hail pile in neighbors yard.

Wasatch Back

(Our team about 3 minutes before our first team member started the race at the starting line)

On June 19th and 20th I did one of the hardest physical things that I have ever done before. In January I signed up with 11 other individuals in my neighborhood and ward to run a relay from Logan to Park City. I at first was not sure what I had signed up for. I thought that when I signed up for this race it would a relay where we each run 5 miles. When I found out that I would run 3 times including in the middle of the night I had many thoughts go through my head of what the heck was I doing and this could be fun. I should let you all know too that before all this I had never run a mile straight in my life. For years I have wanted to run but never knew how to do it and where to start. I tried many times but almost killed myself and then never kept trying. This race has a training schedule for beginner runners. It says that for the first month you try to run for 15 minutes straight. It also says that if you are unable to run the whole time you can walk but just keep moving and don't stop till your 15 minutes is up. After about a month your time increases every few weeks by 5 minutes. It's a pretty easy schedule at first and it made it easy for me to do it. I was running on the treadmill at this time. I was not improving as much as I would have liked. I was getting worried because my race was in a few months and was not anywhere near to running that far. My goal too for the race was not to care how fast I ran but to run the whole thing. In April I started to run outside with my friend Natalie. I used to walk with her and we both said that we could not and may never run. I found out that she had been running about a mile a day because she was trying for amini triathalon that she was doing at the end of May. At first it was hard to run outside. My legs were so tired but very quickly I got to where I could run a few miles. Natalie had a harder time and still does but we ran together. I got her ready for her race and she got me ready for mine. There were many times that she would stop and walk while I ran and then I would run back to her. I didn't mind because I enjoyed running with somebody.

On May 15th I ran my first 10 KM. Everyone of us on our race had to run it to determine our starting time for the race. They take our average time from the 10km and then determine when we will start. The slower you are as a team the earlier you start. I was so scared for my 10km but did it and ran it the whole time. I actually did it in less than an hour. I was so shocked. I was so proud of myself. Our starting time ended up being at 1 PM. We actually were supposed to start at 2 PM but we called and asked to be changed to 1 PM because we thought that 2 was way too late in the day. The last teams for the race started at 6 PM and the first teams started at 7 AM. Pretty much everybody on our team had been running for years. I was the only one that had just started running.

Our team name was Random Runners. We all bought matching running shirts as well. So the race starts in Logan and then we run the 187.7 miles to Park City. We run one at a time. We have to vans per team. 6 runners per car. Van 1 starts with runner 1, they run and then at the trade point you trade with runner 2 and then they run, etc. So somebody is running at all times. I was runner number 7. The 1st runner for our van. When your van is running your van will play leap frog with you. It will drive ahead till they can't see the runner, they will then sit and wait till you catch up and pass the van and then the van will drive a head again. If you need water the van will stop and give you some.

The day of our race Enoch and I left in the at about 9:30 AM with 3 others from our team. We all drove together. Enoch was not running in the race but was actually a volunteer for it. One of our team members brother from Utah was running the race. The rules for the race were that if you had a team member closer than 100 miles of the race course you had to have three volunteers to help at the check points during the race. Enoch was one of our volunteers. He was volunteering at check point number 14 or exchange number 14. I was happy that he could come with us. The car ride to Logan was good. When we got to Logan we met as a team, went over last minute things, got our little goodie bags and then decorated our car. Everybody goes crazy with decorating the cars. We didn't do much. Most of our team didn't want to do anything but then afterwards said that next year they wanted to do more. It is a fun part of the race. It is easy to spot certain vehicles on the race course. We just put footprints around the car with our names on it and them we put our name on the back. We also had "together we = 187.7" on the vans.

(Enoch with me right before my first run)

(Before my first run in Liberty, Utah)

When we started at 1PM van 1 left to follow their runners and van 2 just hung out. My starting estimated running time was 6:30 PM. We ate lunch and the boys played ultimate Frisbee while we waited. We had 8 men on the team and 4 women. We were signed up in the mens catagory. We had to do that because we didn't have even numbers of men and women. When we started our run it was about 85 degrees outside and when I ran at 6:30 PM it was 80 degrees. It was really hot. When I started my race I started in Liberty. We run the back roads and through the small towns in the area. When I started my race our van had to leave me to go and drop Enoch off at his volunteering station. When they left me I was doing great and didn't need water. I only ran 4 miles the first time. Well it was hot and when I got to my exchange point with my next team mate they were not back and had left no water. ( a side note we don't carry a baton to pass off to each teammate we carry a snap bracelet. You snap it on your wrist while you run and then pass it off to your other team member when you get to them) They actually dropped all the runner but the last two off at their starting points. They then drove Enoch to his check point. Well on the way back they tried to take the main freeway to avoid the runners and all the vans. Oh yah their were just under 700 teams on the race so tons of vans and people. Well after dropping Enoch off and they headed back to the race course. Well they didn't know that the exits were all closed for construction so they had to back track to Odgen and get back on the race course. So as they were trying to get back I was sitting and waiting for them at the exchange point with no water. I waited for two hours for them. I finally caught a ride with a guy who worked for the race. He took me to the next exchange point to find my other team mate who had been sitting and waiting for an hour as well. Well while I was waiting the sun started to go down behind the mountain and it sure got cold. I was freezing. The whole time though I was worried that maybe they forgot me and that the next person would not be there when the runner got to their exchange point. When I got to the next runner he was freezing too. When we finally were picked up the other girl in our van kept saying how sorry she was. She said that they drove over 85 MPH in a 55 MPH zone to get to us. Luckily they dropped everybody off and only the second to last runner had to wait a couple of minutes for us.

(Running my first run. My team left after this picture was taken)
Well as you all know that I got sick a few hours afterwards. We now think that it was because of altitude sickness. Even though it was not much higher than Idaho Falls I still got sick because I had not water. With altitude sickness you need water to help you. I was very nouseaous and had a headache. We also think that because I had no water for so long my body started to freak out. Well the rest of the race I was so sick and dry heaved for most of it. It was so awful. I was so glad to have Enoch with me. Well I didn't sleep because I was sick either.

My next run was for 2:30 AM. I was so sick and not sure it I was going to beable to do it. I got ready to run with another of my teammate ready to take my place if I needed. Well my teammate before me was coming and so I didn't have much time. Well he got their before I oculd decide what to do so I ran. It was my hardest run but my favorite. It was totally dark and I couldn't see really anyhting but runners near me and my own head lamp. I loved it though. I loved the cool air the stars and the not being able to see anything ahead of me. I had to acutally run up a few large hills. On the hills I was able to pass other runners. I acutally felt amazing as well running. When I got to the exchange point I was so happy. I had the biggest grin on my face. I was so happy that I ran it and finished it and felt great.

Ofcourse my grin did not stay. It was not much longer after I finished that I got sick again. I tried to sleep as best as I could but really couldn't. It was a long night. I did actually sleep for about 2 hours in the later morning just before my next run.

(Rob one of my other teammates sleeping in a sleeping bag under a table to stay fry from the rain. It was only drizzling at this point)

(Hanging out before our van started to run)

I ran again around 12:30 pm. It was really windy when I started to run.
(Before my first run)
I thought for sure that I was not going to be able to run it because after 1/2 mile I was so tired. I had not slept, not really ate all night and then I had the wind. Luckily though it started to rain. We pretty much ran the rest of the race in the rain. I was really wet when I finished but it kept me cool. My team was amazing too. They would stop all the time and run and give me water if I needed it. the last mile of the race too Enoch got out of the car and ran it with me. That was really nice of him. I loved running with him.
(Hanging out before I ran my last run. It was really windy and cold)

(Running my last run, wow ugly sweats I was wearing)

(Legs of one of our runners after running in the rain and mud)
I was so happy when I finished. I acutally fell asleep about an hour after and woke up after the last runner started. We finished the race in Park City and the last 150 meters our team finished it together. It was so exciting to finish together. It was really nice aswell to have my team members come up and hug me and tell me how awesome I did. Enoch has mentioned many times how proud he was of me and how impressed he was with what I did.
(Our whole team after the race)

(Me after the race in front of the official Ragnar van)
I now have this awesome metal to show for it and knowing that I ran my first race. I was sore afterwards too and sore for many days. The day of and after I couldn't walk down the stairs without moaning. We started at 1PM and finished at 6 PM the next day. Our team ran the race in 28 hours. We came in 66th out of 165 for the mens and 167 out of all the teams. We did amazing. I was so impressed with our whole team. Oh yah Mom Team Powdered by tahitian Noni came in 76th.
(Van 2 after the race)
We had tons of fun on the race. Joking with eachother and just hanging out. We have acutally signed up again for next year. Next year there will only be 650 teams and so you have to sign up right a way. We signed up after we finished. I am excited to run it again. Enoch is going to try to do it with me as well. That will be fun. I am excited to keep running.

I didn't run the week after the race but did start up again this week. I ran 4.5 miles on Monday without any problems. I am just so happy to have accomplished something that I thought that I would never have been able to do. I learend that if you really want to do something and put your mind to it you can do it. I still can't beleive I did that. Wow.

Thanks too for everybody for your prayers and support. I love you all.

Ragnar Race In June

Here is the video that was put together by one of our team mates of our Wasatch back Race in June. There is also a slide show of all of our pictures that we put together. I will try to upload that soon. There are not many videos of me because they left me the first time I ran. The second time I ran it was in the early morning hours and I am not sure why they didn't film any of us running at night. The last time they got me. I would have liked the night run filmed cause that was the best. Oh well next year. I really love this video especially the naked man. Enjoy watching it.

Happy Birthday To Me

Happy Birthday to Me. This year was a great birthday but different. Rachel is in Boise still and so she wasn't around for my birthday. She wasn't too sad though because she spent the day at Roaring Springs water park.

I started off the day with Jacob coming in to wish me a Happy Birthday. It was so cute and he was so excited to wish me one as well. Oh I guess Enoch wished me Happy Birthday at 6 AM when he left for work. After I got up we went to Jacob's baseball game and then spent the rest of the day tiding up a little and then watching a movie. I watched 27 dresses. Much more vulgar than the edited version I watched first. I still enjoyed it though.

Enoch came home early from work to wrap presents and stuff. We then just the four of us, Enoch, Jacob, Kaelen and I went to Texas Road House to eat. It was really good.

This year because Rachel was gone and I wasn't feeling like cake till after my race this weekend I said that I wanted ice cream instead. So to change things even more we all went to a movie. We saw "UP". It was very cute. Jacob loved it and Kaelen loved the balloons. He would point to them and say ball. Kaelen fell asleep during the movie and acutally stayed asleep even after we got home. The movie was longer than I thought and so we didn't get home till after 9. I still had to open presents too.

(Us at the movie theater)

Well it was even weirder opening presents with just Enoch and Jacob. I don't know when the last time was it was that quiet on my birthday. Jacob was so fun though. He hid all my presents around the room and made me play 'hot and cold' to find them. He didn't know though that I already knew where they were. I being a good mom though looked around in odd places and made him laugh.


I got almost everything I asked for this year which was amazing and only because what I wanted was not cheap and yes not your normal gifts. I first opened a 24 count mini muffin tin. Yes I am a total homemaker if that is what I wanted for my birthday. Next I opened three new bread pans. I have one really nice one and wanted three more. Well I got them. I am very excited to be able to make bread and not have to borrow other peoples.



I then got an amazing shirt from Layers clothing that I have wanted for a long time. It is so cute. My next present and biggest was a bike trailer. I am so excited. I got a new bike a couple of years ago and have been able to use it really because I have no way of taking the kids around with me. Well now I do. We are going to use it a lot this summer. I want to bike to swim lessons and stuff. I was so excited that we set it up and put it together right a way.



I mentioned above that I didn't want a cake. Yes I didn't want one for the reason of cake right now does not seem great to me because of my race this weekend but also with not many of us in the house a cake would just sit their. So instead I asked for some yummy ice cream. We put a candle on it and Enoch and Jacob sung happy birthday to me. I still am not sure why Jacob stopped singing in the video. Maybe he felt that his Dad needed a solo.

For my birthday as well I got lots of phone calls and emails. It was really awesome. My favorite of course was from Rachel who called me twice and then also wanted to know about everything I got and was so excited when she heard what I got. We are actually going to celebrate my birthday again when Rachel gets home. We are going to go to Red Robins to eat and then have a cake and open my present from Rachel that she bought while in Boise. Rachel was sad to miss everything so I told her that we would celebrate it again later. I don't mind that one bit.

I had a really nice birthday this year so far (I get to have it again next week) I was spoiled from my whole family and I knew from friends and family that I was loved. I am grateful to everybody who made it special. I enjoyed getting another year older.

Kaelen drinking from hose

I mentioned in a previous blog about Kaelen love drinking from the hose. He loves it. He loves to have the water on outside and get soaking wet. He will put his mouth right over the hose and drink the water. It is so funny.

I love how wet he is. His pants are soaking wet. They are actually shorts but looks like pants because of how wet they are.

I love this picture with his tongue sticking out. He is will lick the water.

Hmm yummy.

Visiting Adam

These pictures are a few weeks late in posting but I really loved them and wanted to share them with you. Every year on Memorial Day we all go to the Iona Graveyard and visit Adam's grave. Adam is Enoch's little brother that died 28 years ago this August. My kids always enjoy going. They always get a picture in front of his gravestone. They also really enjoy walking around and looking at other gravestones. Kaelen really loved walking around this year especially with Grandpa Heileson. I just really loved these pictures.

Kaelen grabbed Grandpa Heileson's hand and walked around with him. It was so cute.

I love this picture. It is one of my favorite pictures.

Kaelen loved all the flags that were around the cemetery. He grabbed one out and loved waving it around and walking everywhere with it.

We usually will all sit around and talk. The kids will sit with us or play around. Kaelen sat down next to me for quite a while. It was so cute.

Bear World

Jacob and I had the opportunity to go to Bear World before school was out (May 21st, 2009) for a class field trip. It was my first time their. Jacob went with his preschool class last year. It was so much fun. The bears were totally out playing. It was so fun. I loved Jacob's reaction every time he saw a bear. We saw the bears in the bus. We also saw wolves, dear, moose and other animals. After the tour of the park we went to the petting area. It was so much fun. They had a really large pig that growled at you when you would pet it, turkey's and chickens but our favorite was the baby dear. It was so cute and it would let you touch and pet it.

Jacob acting crazy on the bus with his friend Ethan.

Looking out the window.

The brat pack. These bears will actually stop cars and climb on them. The big light brown one will stop the cars and while the cars are stopped the other bears will actually climb on the cars. That is where they get their name.

Large grizzly in the background.

Jacob looking at the 6 new baby grizzly cubs. (Jacob wanted his hair like a yak for bear world)

Jacob looking at the dear.

Jacob laughing. I love his cute little smiling face. He thought that looking at the dear in the eyes was so funny.

They are staring each other down.

Angelene with the dear.

Feeding the turkeys. Every time the turkey would come and eat off of Jacob's hand Jacob would scream because the turkey tickled his hand.

Whole kindergarten class at Bear World.

Mom and Jacob at Bear World

Rain Rain Go A Way...

Okay the rain is starting to drive me crazy. It has been raining since Tuesday. It has rained off and on for a lot of it but yesterday it rained all day. If it is going to rain like this everyday I wish that it would just rain at night. We have had baseball games canceled for it already. We are in desperate need of moving the lawn as well. I have less than two weeks too till my race and am really needing good weather for running each morning. I don't mind the rain but it is really chilly too and so it is not very fun. I am not a crazy runner either like some of my friends who get up at 6 am to run. I have a hard enough time getting up at 6:45 to do it so running in the rain is something that is hard for me.

I guess one advantage of the rain is that I seem to sit and read more. I actually read 5 books in 5 days. Well not in 5 consecutive days. I read them in a week but it took me one day to read each one. I read three of them in one weekend. Took a break and a few days later read another one and then on Saturday I read another one.

I read Annelise's favorite authors book. The author is Tracy Hunter Abramson. ( http://www.tracihunterabramson.com )She wrote undercurrents, ripple effect, and the deep end. She also wrote freefall and Royal Target. I think out of the five that I have read so far freefall was the most logical. They were good books. I wouldn't go crazy and tell everybody to read them but I enjoyed the fun fast reads. The crazy thing is that I read over 1000 pages in the last little while. Crazy.

Heidi wanted me to post what our Stake President has asked us to do as a ward and family. He challenged us to do this at our ward conference last month. He called it the "No Skips Program."
We are encouraged as a ward and family to not skip on the important things like scripture study and family home evening.

No Skips
Daily
Prayer-personal and family
scripture study-personal and family
repentance

Weekly
Family Home Evening
Renewal of covenants at the sacrament table
Church attendance
Propper Sabbath Day activities


Monthly
Home/Visiting Teaching (every home)
Attend Temple and keep covenants
Tithes and Offerings
Fast with a purpose

We have always been good but on the weekends we seem to not be so great about prayer and scriptures. We decided as a family to do this and it seems to be going great. We read our sciptures every night and make sure that we have family prayer. We still have a lot to work on but we are going to keep on trying.

We also were challenged in December as a Stake to turn off the TV. The stake President said that he still loves his college football games but really there is nothing great to watch on TV and that we could be spending our time doing other things. I agreed to some extent with him but I still had a few of the shows I liked and it was nice as times to just tell our kids to watch to TV. We didn't really follow this but a month a go I finally got fed up with the kids fighting and disconnected the TV. They no longer can watch TV. We still have it hooked up for movies but they have to ask to watch a movie. It has been wonderful. We have not watch one show on TV for a month. I don't know what is going on in the world either because I don't watch the news. It has been really nice. Do my kids still fight. You bet but it is nice to find time to do other things. I do sometimes want to go connect the TV so I can watch something but then I will think about it and I change my mind quickly. So we have turned into a no TV family. I don't think that I will connect it anytime soon either. We still watch movies and rent them but there is no TV during the day. I love it. I know that it is not for everybody but I am liking how well it how worked for us. So if there is a new show on TV and you want to know if I have watched it don't ask because I probably won't have heard of it.

I guess I just know that as a family we could be doing better at everything and I want to try to do that. I want my family to be stronger and to do the things we need to make us that way.

I guess maybe that is why I have time to read. Hmm no I just read easy books and I figure that if I get my house cleaned really quickly in the day then I can then read and do something for myself. We all need our time esepcially Mom's. Am I right?

Piano Concert

Rachel started piano lessons a few months ago and last night (Wednesday June 3rd) she had her first concert. She was so nervous but did so well. She played two pieces. One by herself and the other as a duet with her teacher. Rachel loves piano. We were so proud of her. Grandpa and Grandma Heileson came and watched. Because of the limited space we couldn't invite a lot of people so I made sure to film it for everybody.

Rachel takes lessons on Thursdays and she looks forward to Thursdays each week. I never have to ask her to practice either. She just sits down and does it. Her teacher Michelle stood up and introduced everybody before they each played their first songs and about Rachel she said that Rachel comes with the biggest smile each week. When she opens the door Rachel looks so happy to be there. She also said that Rachel loves piano and she assumes this with everything she does that if she loves something she will work so hard at it and excel in it. I wish that I had filmed what she said because it was so awesome.

I love that Rachel loves piano so much. I think that she will always love it and will excel in it. She came home today from her lesson and said that it went well but she has some hard songs she is learning but excited to learn them. What a change from her Mom growing up. I am excited to look back years from now and see the change in her piano abilities.

We are all proud of our Rachel.

Her Comes the Parade

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.