St. George Half Marathon 2010

So I decided I better get in at least one half-marathon this year and the more prego I get, the harder it is going to be. So, since Tom's family was coming down for this one, I figured I better go for it.
It was a super cold rainy week. It seriously rained Sunday through Saturday, basically non-stop. Luckily, I got in a 10-miler on Saturday before the storms rolled in. That was my longest run in a long while and it wasn't easy (even though I am not that pregnant-18 weeks makes a difference though). So I didn't really run even once the rest of the week. I intended to, but the rain and my moodiness prevented it. I attempted the treadmill on Thursday before the race, but kids, interruptions, grumpiness and lack of motivation helped me run a whopping 2 miles over an hour.

The rain continued to fall and actually turned into snow Friday night. I was not really looking forward to the race, but I had paid my 35 bucks and would do it. Tom's parent's, sister and family, and Tom's brother and family came to run and cheer. We had 10 Dansies in the 5k and half-marathon and a cheering section and they were all troopers.

Luckily for us all, the moisture subsided by the start of the race and just left chilly air in its wake--nothing layers couldn't combat.

I had plans to run the half in under 2 hours and I made my goal. I finished in 1:54. I only wish they had a prego division. Tom rocked the course, as always, in 1:28.

I love this picture, because I seriously have the most bizarre running form in the world, and this showcases it beautifully.

Here are some of the finishers: Brother Dan, nephew sam (who smoked his first half-marathon in 1:32), niece, Sophie, bother-in-law, Tom, and of course, my Tom.

Post race, we enjoyed In n Out and relaxing with the family on Grandpa's hats. It was a great race as always, and I look forward to the next one.

2010

I guess it is time to publicly declare my resolutions for the year, so that maybe I will be motivated to achieve them. I have being thinking there is a lot I want to do this year and I am hoping that by doing these things I will become a better person: spiritually, motherly, physically, intellectually, etc.

1. Read the Book of Mormon. Last summer, I challenged the young women in our ward to do it with me. And for some bizarre reason, I was just a few chapters from the end when the deadline and ice cream party came rolling around. I got my ice cream sundae minus a cherry and whipped cream (because of the missing chapters), and promptly forgot to finish the Book. How horrible is that? So this year, we'll start again, but I will finish it. I want to read it with companion text to help me get more out of it. Seminary manual? Gospel Doctrine manual? Any other ideas?
2. Keep a clean house. I want my house to a place where the Spirit can dwell for freely. Tom is the nicest person and never criticizes what I do (or don't do) all day, but every once in a while hints that he would like to come home to a cleaner house. I need to be more specific about how to keep my house clean. But here are a few ideas I have: make sure the front room and kitchen are clean when Tom gets home from work. Mop my floors once a week. Make my bed every day. Do some laundry almost every day and fold 1-2 baskets of clothes twice a week (I am hoping that will help me stay on top of it, without it being an all day, horrible, over whelming task).
3. Spend time with each kid individually. I would like to do this weekly. Tom has started doing outings with each kid once a month. I don't need to do an outing, but sit a read a book with them, or paint nails, or drive trains around. Just something simple and fun.
4. Run a marathon and do a triathlon post baby. My sister is doing her first marathon this year and I thought it would be so fun to be able to run with her. So I plan to do the St. George Marathon just a little over 3 months post baby. I signed up for the Kokopelli triathlon because it was cheaper than it ever has been and anyone who knows me, knows I can't pass up a good deal. I signed up for the Olympic distance but reserve the right to drop down to the sprint if I want to since the race is less than 3 months after babe is due.
5. Have a healthy babe. I know I dodn't have complete control over this one, but I plan to do all I can to ensure the healthy arrival of the babe in June. This doesn't mean I can't downhill ski or eat a little bit of junk and drink an occassional Dr. Pepper. But I need to not overdue my indulgences and listen to my body.
6. Don't yell at my kids so much. I don't know what I need to specifically do to accomplish this one, but life is too short, especially childhood, to yell at them over silly things.
7. Go to the temple once a month. We made this goal last year, and failed so we'll try again. There is so much to be gained by going there, and I have zero excuse for not.

So here's to a fun and uplifting year!

Happy Birthday Tom!

Tom turned 33 today!

He is by far the most awesome person in the world: the best husband, the greatest father, and there isn't anyone I would rather spend eternity with.


Here are a few, of the countless, reasons I love him:

• He is the most selfless person in the world.
• He is super hot on a road bike.
• 
• He has a great, albeit bizarre, sense of humor.
  
• He is an awesome marathoner. (7 or 8 marathons to his name)
• He has great work ethic.
• He cleans the house.
• He makes a mean alfredo and hollandaise sauce.
• He is so kind to his parents (and mine).
• He is patient.
• He always puts his family first.
• He honors his priesthood and strives to be like the Savior.
• He lets me sleep in every morning and gets the kids going.
• He watches enough sports to be manly, but not too much that it's annoying.
• He watches chick flicks with me.
  
• And he looks great in a mullet.

Basically, there are too many awesome qualities that this man possesses, so I won't bore you with them all.

But I just wanted to shout out a Happy Day to my rad guy.

It's a . . .

. . .I have no idea, but we are super excited to be welcomimg a new one into our family sometime in June. This ultrasound was taken a month ago, when the babe was merely the size of a lime. He/she is now the whopping size of an orange.

We are all excited and can't wait for the new one to join (and proabably complete) our family.

PS: I finally got my pictures from the past 3 moths uploaded and will hopefully post some of the highlights of our life in the coming weeks.

Thump, Quack, Moo

Man, I haven't posted for a while. Life has been crazy! But fun. The last thing I started posting about was Porter's storytelling festival back in November, so I guess I ought to finish the post.

Porter entered last year and won for the first grade with his telling of "I am a Seed." This year he progressed to a longer, more involved story, "Thump, Quack, Moo." He did marvelously and won again! We were so proud. He was by far the loudest and most confident second grader out there. He practiced every day and really worked hard on his voice and hand motions.

Bountiful Basket: Hurricane

Bountiful Baskets has arrived in Hurricane!! I am super excited that we have our own site here and invite all my Hurricane peeps to check it out and join the co-op. Or if you are in Northern Utah or anywhere in Arizona, there is probably a pick-up near you.

Basically, Bountiful Baskets is a food co-op that distributes seasonal and regional produce at a great deal. As a participant, you contribute $15 ($18 the first time) to the co-op on Tuesday or Wednesday. That money is used to buy the produce. On Saturday, the produce is delivered to volunteers who distribute it equally amongst participants. At 9 am the produce is ready for participants to come and retrieve at the Coral Cliffs Cinema. It is all done by volunteers. Volunteers come an hour early and help distribute the food and in return get an extra piece of produce for their basket.

The co-op usually offers extra as well. This week a citrus pack can be added on: $18 for 22 lbs of grapefruit, tangerines, lemons, limes, and oranges. They also offer great whole grain bread: 5 loaves for $10.

I am super excited and just wanted to share the news. Click here or here for others who have tried and loved Bountiful Baskets.

Chile Rellenos with Roasted Tomatillo Sauce

So with the yumminess found in my first experience with Bountiful Baskets, I made chile rellenos. They are my all-time favorite Mexican food, but they are always hit and miss and restaurants, so I don't order them too often.

My Mexican Pack came with 4 giant, dark green poblano chiles. They were beautiful and instantly called out to me that they wanted to be made into chile rellenos. Luckily for me, I had a plethora of other Mexican produce to compliment them and an awesome friend/chef just posted a recipe for a tomatillo sauce. The pack had all the necessary produce.

I altered her recipe a tiny bit. I think I used 8 tomatillos. I didn't use the sour cream (although I might if I was using it as a dressing), I just used olive oil. I added some roasted onion. I added one roasted chile (I don't know what kind it was and I wasn't sure how spicy it was. It was yellow and about the size of a jalepeno.) Next time I'll add two. And I just roasted all the veggies, including the garlic, on my grill. The sauce was what really made the rellenos awesome.

Now for the actual Chile Relleno recipe.

4-5 Poblano Chiles (Anaheim also work well, and I used one plain old green pepper for the kids)
Filling
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c. grated cheese (Jack or any mexican cheese are best, but I ended up using cheddar)
1 clove garlic, minced (I should have roasted another 1 or 2 cloves for the filling)
handful of chopped cilantro
2 T chopped onion (I should have roasted that as well)
salt to taste
Batter
4 eggs, separated
flour
salt

Roast the whole poblanos on the grill until the skin is nice and blackened all over. Place in a paper bag and close for 15 minutes. Remove skin from chiles and carefully deseed, if desired. (I left two with seeds for Tom and extra spiciness. Mine without seeds had the perfect level of heat.)

Mix filling ingredients. Carefully slit each chile and stuff with filling and fold back closed.

Whip egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold in yolks. Dip each filled chile in flour with a bit of salt and shake off all excess. Dip in egg batter and immediately fry in skillet with hot oil. Fry until golden brown on each side and filling is hot.


Serve with Roasted Tomatillo Sauce, Mexican Brown Rice, gaucamole and fresh corn tortillas.