Running, puppies, and lost teeth

Thought I'd take a second and update a little!! SOOOO much has been going on, it's been crazy!!

I ran the Layton half marathon with my running buddy/coach Dave and it was AMAZING!!! I took 15 minutes off my Top of Utah time running it in 2:03!! It was so much fun and I felt totally more trained for this one. This race is a definite keeper. :)

Ethan and Wade went to a Real Soccer game with Ethan's scout troop.

Playing in the leaves.... I love this picture!

Halloween- Izzy is a D.I. princess (cuz we got the dress at the D.I.), Livi is a devil, Ethan is a vampire, and Abby is a drama queen..... I told her she didn't have to dress up for that, she could wear her everyday clothes.... cuz she's a drama queen already.... Hahaha

Livi lost her first tooth only to be followed by the second one two days later. :)

We added to the family..... her name is Chloe and she is seven weeks old in this picture. She's now nine or ten weeks old. She was the runt of the litter and was tiny!! No, I don't know what I was thinking when we bought her.....

Proof that my kids actually CAN shovel the driveway.... no more shoveling for me!!

Isabelle turned five!! I can't believe she's already five....

Some other stuff that's been going on- I was in 'Scarlet Pimpernel' at the playhouse, in the ensemble. It was seriously the funnest cast I've ever performed with and was the best show I've ever been in. Our leads were FABULOUS!! Sorry, I don't have any pics!

I also recently got hired at Country Pines Assisted Living down the street from my house. I'm working as a CNA (yay!!) and I only work one night a week. The Saturday night grave shift!! Yeah, it's a little rough on Sundays trying to stay awake in church, but I figure one night a week I can handle. :) We'll see what happens when another show rolls around I guess!

Blood, sweat, and a few tears

Well, I did it. I ran the Top of Utah half marathon and survived. Barely.

Let's review the goals I made for myself, shall we?
1- to finish the race without dying
2- to run the entire course without walking
3- D wanted me to run it in under two hours

Now I realize that hindsight is 20/20. But PUHLEEZE!! Those goals were set WAY too high!! ;) lol I think for the next race my goals are going to be 1- put shoes on the right feet 2- don't spill red gatorade on myself whilst running cuz it stains and 3- just be happy that you didn't trip :)

I'm not saying I didn't put my shoes on the wrong feet, mind you. The goals are going to be a little easier to attain next time. Gotta start small.

The race was.... a LOT harder than I thought it was going to be, and totally different from training. I wish someone would have told me this. I had people mention that it was going to be harder, but they should've sat me down and drilled it into my brain. Haha It was SOOOO different!! My neighbor and I drove up to Logan at 4:45 in the morning, arriving at 5:30. It was pitch black. I should've brought a flashlight with me. We recieved our packets (with t-shirts, coupons for stuff and other paraphenelia. you also put any clothes in this bag that you don't want to haul down the canyon while running) and got in line at the rainbow colored porta-potties. Have you ever used a porta-potty in the dark?? It was a first for me! I seriously felt like the stupid thing was tipping over. lol Then we jumped on the school bus to head up the canyon. The bus ride took forever and I kept thinking 'this sure feels like a lot longer than 13.1...' We got to the starting point and it was FREEZING. We couldn't wait for it to start!! Finally the starting pistol sounded and we were off, like slow little turtles, there being 2300 of us... haha

The canyon part of the run was actually not bad. It was super humid, having rained all night, but every once in a while the Lord blessed us with a reaaalllly cold breeze that froze the sweat on my body. The first six miles went by quickly. Going downhill for that long was starting to hurt but I kept pushing. So far I was keeping my 10-minute mile pace which I was happy with. I got to the bottom of the canyon and started seeing people on the sides of the road, lined up to cheer runners on. It was so emotional, I started to get choked up a little. Then off to the side I saw two of my running partners and really good friends and I started to cry! It was so nice to see a familiar face! They started running with me for about 1/4 of a mile and then gave me hugs and sent me on my way, heading back to find my neighbor I had driven up with. That was so cool! The rest of the race from here on was pretty flat, which was nice. My thighs were hating me for all that downhill crap. :)

I ran most of the way til just after mile 11. I had walked a little here and there, mostly to catch a breath and give my legs a rest. Suddenly at 11 my body started shutting down. I couldn't catch my breath, my thighs were literally on fire, I had to pee like you wouldn't believe, I had a pain shooting down my right leg into the arch of my foot, and my knees were hurting so bad I could barely hobble, let alone run. So I walked. Well, attempted to walk. And I cried. Cuz this wasn't how it was supposed to be! I had trained for this! I thought I was ready! Clearly, I had gone into this way too cocky. So I was knocked down a couple of stripes. As I walked and cried the song "Big Girls don't cry" came on, I was listening to the Broadway recording of Jersey Boys, and I thought 'good thing I'm a little girl and I can cry' lol . But I stuffed the tears away, had a good little pep talk with myself and started a slow jog. By this point I was passing mile 12 and I could see the finish line. I remembered seeing a lady with a sign earlier in the run that said "Don't think. Just run" and that became my mantra. I picked up my pace and really started running through the pain. The finish line was a wall of people on both sides, cheering on their loved ones. I saw my dad and mom-in-law, my parents, and then Wade and the kids. I high-fived them all as I ran past and crossed the finish line at 2 hours 18 minutes and 33 seconds. It was a personal record for me. ;) As I did the math in my head I realized that yeah, I was 18 minutes over my goal of two hours. However, I kept a ten-minute pace for the entire race until that life changing mile 11. Had I kept my pace through to the end I would've finished at 2 hours 10 minutes. I was only 8 minutes over!! To me, considering everything I went through, I was THRILLED.

I learned a lot from this race. I learned that it's ok to not keep up with everyone else, even though it's tempting when people pass you. It's kinda fun to pass other people too. haha I learned that A LOT of people run into the bushes (in the canyon, not in people's yards, gross) to answer nature's call cuz they don't want to wait in line at the porta-potty. I learned that I would probably prefer to run with someone next time. It's a little lonely being surrounded by 2300 strangers. And I learned that it's totally ok to walk. Other runners totally don't care and they totally understand. You think that everyone's looking at you, they're not. They're concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other just like you are.

I loved and hated this race at the same time. It was by far the hardest thing I've ever done. But I can't wait to do the next one!! :)

Top of Utah here I run!

Well tomorrow's the big race. 13.1 miles. The course is down Blacksmith Fork Canyon and into Providence. I'm super excited that it's finally here and just a little nervous! I'm nervous about the unknown, the weather, and the fact that I have to get up three hours before the race even starts. Yeah. Not so much used to that.

I have three goals, two of which seem pretty attainable.
1- finish the race without dying. I'm not so much worried about that.
2- run the entire course without walking. Yeah, that one I already know I'm going to fail on. haha
3- D wants me to run it in under or very close to 2 hours. I think I can do that as long as the miles are marked so I keep my time.

I'm not nervous about the 13, I got that. It's the .1 that scares me. ;)

Summer... it's a wrap!

Ah!! So many things to blog about so I'll try to sum it up in a few short paragraphs that will actually be quite longish and then you'll spend half your day staring at the computer screen wondering what put you here in the first place until you finally realize that your left leg has fallen asleep and your children have ended up eating poptarts and koolaid for lunch. No... that's not from experience. ;)

Summer has been FABULOUS!! Weird right? Usually I hate summer and can't wait for school to begin again. Not so this year!! I'm so not ready for school! We've had a blast! I don't know if it's cuz I've been way more active and so I'm trying to get the kids off the couch and unglued from the tv, but whatever it is, it's been fun! We swam a lot, got multiple sunburns and great tans, and Ethan even had an almost-almost-drowned story. Every kid's gotta have one, right? I still remember mine... Any rate...

We went to Island Park with Wade's family and camped in the new tent, came home with a thousand mosquito bites each (not kidding, I think Livi had 12 on just her legs), floated the river and came home with an appreciation for NOT packing the coolers at the bottom when it's snack time (I was not smart enough to figure that part out... it's for further reference). We spent the night at Park City and went school clothes shopping for like a hundred hours with 4,000 of our closest friends. We went to multiple shows and learned things from each show- like don't sit on the front row if you have to sneak out during the last song before intermission in order to work the concessions, don't sit on the same front row with a four year old who always has to pee at the most inopportune moments... don't take four gazillion snacks to an outdoor show, nuff said.

Wade participated in Pioneer Trek with the Youth and loved it. Came back and promptly bought new hiking boots. haha Ethan had his surgery on his lip and realized that Yes, IV's suck. (he was a total trooper, I was so so proud of him!!) He also went on two scout hikes after which I had to throw away his socks... bleh... Wade and I both had the honor to speak at different Youth functions- he spoke at the Special Needs Youth Conference and wow... those kids are amazing. You can really see the light of Christ in their eyes. And I spoke and sang at the Stake YW medallion dinner, what a great opportunity to share in those wonderful girls' spirits and attempt not to lead them astray. ;)

Wade and I had the opportunity to clean the temple one night from nine to midnight. It was a total and complete blast. Man that place is spotless!! I guess if I started vacuuming and dusting and wiping down my entire house every night it would look amazing too! We went to countless reunions and shook hands with countless relatives and I started rehearsals for my upcoming show, "Scarlet Pimpernel"!! We even put some veggies in at the Stake Fair and our anaheim peppers (wade's actually, I have nothing to do with them except eat them) took first place! Ethan put in some of his drawings, Abby put in her business card collection (450 and counting!) and I sang for twenty mintues or so, knocking everyone's socks off finishing with 'The Wizard and I' from "Wicked". IT WAS AWESOME!!! I'm running like crazy getting ready for my Top of Utah race in a little over a week. Aack!! I'm not worried though cuz D has been running my legs off - today we ran 12 miles for the second time and this time I actually ran a little faster than Superman. ;)

So that's been our summer! Tons of fun, lots of laughs, and some great memories! Let the school year begin! :)

Watch it...

Isabelle told me this morning that this is how she's going to deal with a bully:

"I'm going to walk up to him and say 'Look in the sky! There's Santa!' and then I'm going to walk away and LAUGH!!"

:)

Surgery

Ethan had surgery on Monday and did so well!! He had that pyogenic granuloma on his lip removed by a plastic surgeon this time- last time it was just our GP that did it. It kinda sucked cuz we had to be there at 6:45 in the morning and he didn't get operated on til 8:20. That's hard for a little kid who was told not to eat anything after midnight the night before.... Oh man he was STARVING!! But he handled everything so well- I was super proud of him! He cried a little with the IV, but then so do I... I seriously wondered if I have the stomach for being a nurse cuz I almost passed out when the nurse missed the first time and said they had to try again.... ;P

The surgery itself went really well- he had a hard time in recovery but once I got him dressed and outside he started feeling a little better. He came home, laid on the couch and watched a marathon of Star Wars for the rest of the day. :) By the time I went running that evening he was playing outside like nothing had happened. Kids are amazingly resilient, aren't they?

Wade went on Pioneer trek last week with the stake and had a blast. They got rained on the entire second day but he said he stayed pretty dry, until they walked through a river on the third day. He came home so dirty and wet I made him change in the garage. Hehe

I ran eight miles with D (my partner) last week- it was surprising easy!! We ran 8 in an hour and 20 minutes, so we were going about 10-minute miles! When I run by myself I do about 11-minute miles, but I have a tendency to walk a little more when by my lonesome. I have some friends trying to talk me into the Top of Utah half.... I'm thinking about it. Gotta ask coach. ;)

Run joey, run!

I've fallen in love with something. Something I never in all my wildest dreams thought I would fall for. Something I mocked other people for. Something that I hate more than anything whilst doing it, but look forward to it every time the next day. Do you want to know what it is??

Eating ice-cream sundaes. Hahaha No, not really. It's RUNNING!!

I know, right?? I'm as shocked as you are!!

I can't even remember how it started- I think it was when I decided I wanted to run the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure 5K this year. We always walk it as a family on Wade's side- his mom and sisters and some of the kids. But this year something made me want to try running it! So I started training a month before. At first I could barely run a half mile.... so sad.... haha Within three weeks I was running 3 miles on my treadmill in like 50 minutes. Then I got strep.... I literally had to take a week off. The day before the race I tried running and couldn't even go a mile and half! I was crushed!! The day of the race I was determined to run the whole thing, no matter if it killed me. I figured there were a lot of people there, I'm sure someone in the crowd would know CPR. ;) I ran the whole 5K in forty minutes, cutting 10 minutes off my time!! I was so pumped and excited!!

That following week I found I had a really hard time running. I talked to a friend that had just run the Ogden half-marathon and he said that it was cuz I didn't have a goal to work towards anymore. Then, being the brillant friend that he is, he invited me to run the Layton half-marathon with him in October... I decided what the heck!!

So now I'm training for a half-marathon!! I have a running partner (the same that started all this torture by inviting me) and he tried to kill me on my first 6-mile run, the first mile and half being straight up a mountain. Lol Most of the time I run by myself, and run with him once a month. I'm up to running 5 or 6 miles a day and I love it!! I seriously can't get enough of it and hate days that I can't run. LOL Oh man.... NEVER thought I'd hear myself say that!! I probably should've stuck with the ice-cream sundaes. ;)

Easter weekend and then some

This was the Easter egg hunt with Wades' work- Ethan won a bike and Olivia won a dvd!! A lot better than what I remember getting as a kid..... Hahaha


Ethan got stitches after he had a pyogenic granuloma removed from his lip. We just told people he got it from kissing too many girls!!


Easter finery:

Family picture!! This was Ethan's birthday actually. :)

My parents with all the grandkids- the boy on my mom's lap is my sister's son Brock. They live in Idaho Falls (Ammon actually) and we went to visit them over Easter weekend. It was really just cuz they have a giant flatscreen tv and we wanted to watch General Conference and feel like we were really there. :) Hehehe

Killing, I mean Dyeing Easter eggs. Can't have an Easter weekend without killing a few dozen eggs, eh?

Checking out the goods, seeing if there's anything worth stealing later on.

Setting up the new trampoline that my wondrous parents gave us for Christmas!! (this was a couple of days ago actually)

I had to be the first one to try it out. Yeah, I had to pee afterwards.

Two buddies :)

It's all in my head

I wish you could read the blog that goes on in my head all day long. I have all these ideas I want to blog about and by the time I finally find time to sit and blog about them, they're gone. And I speak so eloquently in my head too. Everything makes sense, is super hilarious, and flows naturally. Yeah, not so much once I start typing. Lol

Things are crazy and busy as ever in the Page household. Wade's new calling (second counselor in the stake presidency for those of you who are just joining us) is keeping him a lot busier and gone a lot more than we thought it would. I'm going to be super-duper-lay-it-all-out-for-you-here: I'm having a hard time with it. I thought it would be so easy to get back into the routine of him being gone again, but I'm not. I really enjoyed those three years of freedom that I had.... probably too much. Haha And even though the kids are older and it should be easier, it's not. It's harder cuz they understand that he's doing what the Lord wants him to, but they don't understand why he can't sit with us anymore in sacrament meeting, let alone come to church with us, and really? he has meetings again?? Yeah... I know the schpiel, the blessings we receive are ten-fold, but sometimes it's just hard. I'm good now. Thanks. :)

Other stuff going on- I'm trying to be a better mom and get the kids more active. I get so frustrated when all they do is fight over who gets to play on the computer and what show they get to watch on tv. I tried teaching piano lessons.... that's a SLOW and frustrating process.... We did really well for a little while but again it's really hard to try and teach/sit by a child while they practice, get homework done, and get dinner on the table all at the same time. The kids did really well though! Livi is going to be my sightreader- she could just sit down and totally fake her way through. Ethan is my 'everything has to be perfect before I start playing a note' child. Abby loves to play, but LOATHES to practice. Lol To each his own, eh?

The kids have been loving this nice weather- they're riding their bikes like crazy and playing outside as much as possible! Even now as I type this it's ten minutes past bedtime and I can't get them to come in. :) I've been loving it too cuz I've started jogging!! I know!! Shocking!! I started last week and could only run about half a mile. Yesterday I did two and a half miles!! I love it! I can't believe how good I feel afterwards and how I love getting away for that 30 minutes or so. I want to run a 5K this summer- hopefully a bunch of them. Lol Any rate- thank goodness for nice weather!

I don't really know what the point of this blog was.... maybe just to get some stuff out of this steel trap I call a brain... :) Thanks for listening.

Famous last words

Isabelle's newest guilt trip: "Jesus is in my heart, and when you get mad at me you're hurting Jesus's feelings."

Ethan's excuse for not wanting to go to scouts the other day: "I'm paralyzed. I WANT to go, but my body just won't let me."

Isabelle's words of wisdom (notice my little play on words there) to my 86 year-old Catholic grandmother: "You know, that coffee is gonna kill you."

Back in my day....

I teach the 7-turning 8 year-olds in Primary. It's never a dull Sunday. Haha

A couple of weeks ago I was teaching how Heavenly Father protects us and gave the example of how He protected baby Jesus by sending Joseph an angel to take his family to Egypt. I was supposed to give an example of Heavenly Father protecting me. I shared with the class of the time when I was in highschool, dating a kid that lived literally over the mountain, and my car broke down on the side of the mountain, in the middle of the night, two or three miles from civilization. I explained to them that we didn't have cell phones back then (you should've seen the disbelief on their little faces). I told them that I prayed (I really did! Not making this up!) and that a few minutes later a young woman came driving by that took me to her house so that I could call my dad.

Several hands went up at this point.

Me: "Yes?" calling on one of my favorites (you all have a favorite. don't deny it)
Kid: "I thought you didn't have a cell phone."
M: "I didn't"
K: "But you just said you called your dad. How did you do that without a cell phone??" Other kids voice their agreement.
M: "I used a phone at the girl's house. Don't any of you have phones attached to your walls at your house?" Receiving completely blank stares now, like I'm asking them how many of them have elephants in their back yards. I try again. "Do any of you have.... cordless phones?"......

"OH YEAH!!! We have those!!"

Oh. My. Lands. Yeah. Felt my age that day. Hahaha

Ah do dehclair

Don't you hate it when you can do the most amazing knock-your-socks-off Southern accent, akin to 'Steel Magnolias', and the only one around to hear it is the four-year old who asks why you're talking so funny?

Cruise, ah how I miss thee

I thought I better blog some pics real quick about the cruise so I can still make people jealous about how warm and loverly it was.... whilst it's still somewhat cold here.... haha :) Last month we went on a cruise to Grand Cayman Islands and Cozumel with all of Wade's brothers and sisters and their spouses and mom and dad to celebrate Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary!! It was tons of fun and well worth the wait. :) I have to say, a cruise is well worth the money cuz you're waited on 24/7, there's a 24 hour ice-cream and pizza bar, you don't have to worry about transportation, and you stay in the same room the whole time. And they leave the cutest towel animals on your bed at night!!

We went swimming with stingrays in Grand Caymans. I was so mad cuz when we got home we got our water-proof camera developed and had about 30 pictures of stingrays. I don't know why. A little excited, I guess. Haha

This is me saying, "no thanks, I don't really want to hold it." ;) I did touch one, though. They felt like gravel on the top and smooth and slimy on the bottom. The rays were so big and easy going and beautiful to watch in the water. I could have stayed there all day!

Fish we saw whilst snorkeling. No, we didn't touch any. Haha

The next stop (different day) was Cozumel. OH MY LANDS I COULD LIVE THERE. Lol It was so warm and colorful and gorgeous and laid-back and easy going...... when you see pictures of beaches with white sand and gorgeous blue/green water, yeah, those aren't doctored up at all. They are for real!!

Going kayaking and getting ready to snorkel!!

I loved loved loved our cruise!! So much fun and so many other fun things that we did on the boat- we won a Scattergories contest, competed in a bean-bag contest, Wade won a "name that TV theme song" contest, and I tied for first place in a Karaoke contest, but told the judge the other guy could have the prize cuz it was a bottle of champagne, and I'd be happy with a plastic trophy that looked like the ship. :) Our waiters were both from the Philippines, which Wade was thrilled with cuz then he could brush up on his Tagalog. It was so much fun to spend so much time together and nice cuz the day after we got home Wade was asked to be second counselor in the Stake Presidency.... Yeah, we should have moved when we had the chance. Lol

Bedtime.... yawn.....

Oh my lands I hate bedtime. Actually, hate is too nice of a word. I LOATHE bedtime. If I could hire someone to come and put my kids to bed every night and deal with all the bedtime drama and shenanigans, I would take out a second mortgage on my house right now. I put my kids to bed at 8:30 tonight and they all finally fell asleep at about.... ten. Yeah. You know who the worst one is? Yeah, you all know exactly who it is. Little miss Izzy. hahaha

Over the Christmas break we decided to switch the kids's bedrooms. Abby and Ethan were downstairs together, and Olivia and Isabelle were upstairs together. A & E were getting to the point that they were fighting every single night, every single day, Ab wouldn't sleep in her room anymore, yadda yadda yadda. So we switched Ethan and Olivia, and now Liv is downstairs with Ab, and Eth and Izzy are together. NOW none of them will go to sleep cuz they're all too busy talking like they haven't seen each other in twenty years! Lol So back to Izzy- she has now found a gossiping relief society lady in Ethan. As long as she keeps him talking, she can stay awake. And she has to have the lamp on cuz she gets scared, according to her. Hahaha Poor Eth got the short end of the stick, I'm thinking. :P

So tonight I had them all in bed, settled down and quiet. Long story short, (Too late!!) an hour and some later Iz was still talking Ethan's ear off. I finally went in and turned off the lamp, and turned on the night light. Oh man, all heck broke loose. She starts hollering that she can't see, that the shadows are too dark, yadda yadda yadda. I climb into bed with her and try to make her see reason that it's SOOOO late, Ethan has to go to school tomorrow, etc etc etc. She doesn't care. Lol Now, with Izzy, all you have to do is literally get her to hold still for about two minutes and she's out like a light. But getting her to hold completely still is the trick. I told her that I would start counting quietly (and slowly!!) to see how high I could get before she settled down.
I got to 21 before I realized she was mouthing the words..... started again.
I got to 11 and she started singing... started again...
I got to 14 and she complained that this was taking FOREVER!!!
I got all the way to 60!! And just about started to cry when she opened her eyes and told me that she could mouth the words if she wanted....
I kept going and she actually yawned at 79..... she rolled into her favorite position at 120 and was sound asleep at 134.....

Pick your own punishment day!

Tonight Ethan got in some trouble (yes, dad. YOUR grandson) for something I'd already warned him about twice, and consequently got computer privileges revoked for tonight and tomorrow (I was ready to sell him to the gypsies. He's lucky I decided to keep him). He proceeded to get a stool from the kitchen, set it in the hallway, and set the timer on the microwave for ten mintues. He then sat down on the stool with an innocent look upon his angelic little face.

"Whatcha doing?" I asked, pretty much already knowing the answer.

He replied, "I thought I would sit in time-out for my punishment instead".....

I told him if he'd like he'd be more than welcome to do both. Aren't I the nicest mom?? ;)

Good morning to you too!

The other morning Izzy climbed in bed with me at about 6:30 due to a bad dream. We laid (layed? lain? layeth?) there for a while talking quietly and trying to get back to sleep until she piped up with, "Mom.... you look creepy. And you have stinky breath."

Honesty from the pulpit

I heard the best testimony in sacrament meeting today. It was this seven-year old boy in my primary class and he got up and said, "I love my mom. I love my dad. I love my brother...... *BIG PAUSE*...... AND my sisters....."