Nils and Katrina do 13.1... again

Remember last time we did this, and I wanted to quit the last mile (but I didn't, by golly), but then when it was over I wanted to do it again and see if I could figure out how to not want to quit the last mile? You do? Aw, how sweet of you.

We ran the Utah Valley Half Marathon on Saturday. It is a fab race. I use the term "race" loosely, since I don't hope to beat anyone. 7 miles down beautiful Provo Canyon, then six down University Ave. in Provo- pretty nostalgic for li'l ol' me. The weather was perfect, it was shady for 99% of the canyon run, and even running down University was pleasant because of the cool, but not cold temperatures. 

Facts:

• We beat our last time by over 2 minutes. Hoorah!
• At mile 10, my quads started to cramp and charly horse. I really felt good besides that, so I prayed for the last 3 miles. I prayed and prayed that I would be able to keep going and my legs wouldn't knot up. They had spasms the rest of the way, but didn't knot up. Overall, I felt waaaaaay better than last time, I just have to figure out all of these little annoyances that slow me down.
• Gu does not give me a stomach ache! Hoorah!
• Nils felt awesome the whole way. So awesome that when we got home, he signed up for the Deseret News MARATHON on July 24. I will not be participating with him.
• It's dorky to wear your race shirt on race day, but seriously, I'm not going to wear it around town so I don't really get that. Anyway, we're dorky so whatever.
• Nils is nice and runs slow with me, so I'll be curious to see how fast he runs the marathon.
• As we were getting close to the finish line, all these people were cheering like crazy, because the winner of the marathon was coming right by us. It feels good to get lapped by 13.1 miles. No it doesn't, that guy is a FREAK! But really, ya know, good for him.
• I was sick all week with the stomach flu, and Friday night I was cursing myself and my lack of intelligence in doing this stupid thing, having to wake up at 3 in the morning, etc. Why is this sort of thing appealing? Why? Anyway, I didn't want to NOT do it, because I paid 70 bucks to torture myself and roped Nils and my friend Jenny into it. So lame. 

Okay, so overall I'm pretty pleased with how it went. I really felt like complete crap all week, and I didn't do very well training for it. The longest run I did was like 8 1/2 miles, so the fact that I felt stronger and beat the last time is pretty swell. And yeah, I want to do it again, but I really can't figure out why. 

This race is really awesome. It was very well organized and the course could not be better. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in this sort of nonsense.

Right before the start. I like to call this, "We got three hours of sleep and we're idiots!"

Don't know what's going on with my hand, but I was semi-delirious, so I need to not be judged.

Mr. "I don't need to train for a marathon." Unbelievable. 

I get weepy for teachers

Ah yes, another school year has drawn to a close. My goodness, I can hardly believe it. This year has been just plain fantastic. The last couple of weeks of school I kept feeling all weepy and gratitude-filled. Anders and Addie both had teachers who went above and beyond, and I just can't get over it. The time and energy it takes to simply show up and teach every day is astounding, but these teachers obviously spend countless hours outside of school planning, preparing, and investing personally in each of their students for no extra money. Man, it makes me weepy just thinking about it. Thank you to these wonderful teachers, for helping my kids love school and love learning. What a gift they give.

Addie and Mrs. Richins, who sent Addie a postcard during Christmas break, and then dropped by our house the day after school got out to bring Addie her pumpkin plant...I could go on. Seriously, I love her.

Anders with his last day of school mohawk, and Mrs. Burgon with her last day of school colored hair. I don't even think they coordinated that- what a pair! She is the kind of teacher that every child would have in a perfect world.  I can't say enough!

 Here is Aani's preschool class. They're so freaking cute, I can't even handle it.

Off to kindergarten next year. WHAT?!

Now we just have to figure out how to stay happy and busy for the summer! So far the kids have art camp and karate during June. All I can say is they better have their black belts by the end of the month, or I'm demanding a refund from those community ed people. Word 'em up.

The Day I Met My Internet Friend

Over 4 years ago, I met Mary Ann, from Rochester, NY through ye olde blog. She left a nice comment on a post I had written about one of the best books ever written, These Is My Words. I figured that if she liked that book, she had to be a nice person. So we've become friends via blogging for the past few years. Pretty cool, right? She called me a few months ago and told me she was coming to Salt Lake to go to the Family History Library, but I know the REAL reason she came was so we could meet and spend a day together. Tee-hee!

She agreed to let me pick her up in Salt Lake and drive her all over tarnation. I mean, what if I were a psychopath? I picked her up and we went to church. Then she had the guts to go to my mom's house for a Vander Werff family dinner. Wow, what a gal! I have to say, she is one of the nicest, loveliest people I know. I felt totally comfortable with her, like we've been friends for years and years. We chatted away in the car; actually, I'm pretty sure I just blabbed my head off the whole time. Nils and the kidders took to her right away and were sad when I had to drop her off that evening. It was a fun day that went by in a flash.

Thank you, Mary Ann, for trusting that I wasn't a sociopath and spending a lovely day with our crazy family! We look forward to seeing you again and again.

What happened in Aprilish

What? I'm blogging? Yeah, that's right, baby. It has been quite a month. All sorts of junk's been goin' down round here. 

3 things happened to Addie this month: 

• She got her ears pierced. We were at the mall buying stuff for Anders' pinewood derby car, and I said, "Hey Addie, wanna get your ears pierced?" She was like, "Um, maybe?" and I was like, "Okay! Let's go!" Then I told her she didn't have to and it was her decision, of course, but oooh! Look at the pretty earrings! Long story short, she went through with it, but I felt bad afterward because I think I was living vicariously through my child, as I wanted nothing more than to have my ears pierced when I was 7. And the experiment of motherhood continues. She likes her earrings now, and my guilt has eased. 
• She lost her first tooth. Hooray, hooray! Her adult tooth started growing in before the baby tooth even fell out. The tooth fairy gave her a buck.
• She broke her collarbone. She was swinging her legs back and forth, with one hand on the kitchen table and one hand on the windowsill. She slipped and fell forward, landing on her shoulder. She's doing great, she just has to wear her splint for a couple more weeks.

Anders has started the orthodontic process. All of our children are doomed since it seems they inherited my ridiculously small mouth. He's got spacers in his molars now, and will have an expander put in next month, along with braces on his front teeth. All of this is no fun, and he claims that he doesn't care that his teeth are crooked. Yeah, well, you're welcome, future Anders with straight teeth. You are WELCOME.

Aani continues to be her wacky little self. She has to play with friends every day, or the day is an utter failure. She is very lucky to have a plethora of little girls her age around the neighborhood to play with. Her preschool group is ending in the next couple of weeks, which is crazy and sad. My last turn was a couple of weeks ago, and it was really cute to see how the kids have become a good little group of friends, and really have the drill of preschool down. I couldn't have asked for a better group of kids and moms to do this with. 

Ava is a complete nut. She figured out how to climb out of her crib, so now she gets out whenever she pleases. Sometimes this is at 3 in the morning, and I have the bejeebers scared out of me when she's breathing in my face in the middle of the night. She climbs all over the place all day long. She can pull herself up on the kitchen counters and get herself a cup. It's so not cool. She loves chocolate milk and pronounces it "chotnit noot". 

Nils and I got strep throat at the beginning of the month. I was sicker than a dog and thought I might pass away. Nils felt sickish, but he was still functional. How does that work? Anyway, that knocked us back a good couple of weeks. Then we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. We ate at Zupas, which is really all I need in life. Nils and Zupas. And our children.

Okey doke, here are some pictures, in no particular order.

Aani and Ava do this pose every time we walk into the gym, and they see the picture of the guy below. It's super awesome when they block the way of other people trying to walk into the gym. It's funny and I refuse to stop them. 

The inspiration for my yoga girls.

Anders finished out the year of chess club with a couple of tournaments. It's funny to watch elementary school kids play chess and talk smack to each other. "Check. Check. You're blocked in. Check mate."

Addie's freshly pierced ears. 

I helped serve cheesecake at a wedding reception. For whatever reason, the powers that be didn't want the cheesecake served until the last half of the reception, and since this is Utah (where you go to a reception, shake hands, get a snack and leave) people were confused. Finally, a 90-year old man got up and served himself a piece of cheesecake. Oh man, it was fuuu-nny. 

Took the kids to Culver's for lunch over spring break. Such cute little stinkers.

Addie getting her x-ray for the collarbone. She was scared and wouldn't open her eyes. She also wore her bunny ears for this entire process.

Today I'm happy for mediocre health insurance.

One of the downsides to Nils' job is that there are no benefits. We spent a couple of months trying to find a family health insurance policy that wouldn't suck us completely dry, and that would actually pay for things like regular office visits. It sounds a lot easier than it actually is. Shopping for individual health insurance is one of the most frustrating and exhausting things I've done. It was so aggravating that we really considered just bagging the whole thing and saving the money every month in case of any medical expenses. But, I don't know, what if someone has to stay in the hospital or breaks their coccyx and has to have surgery, or worse? I was just never comfortable with being totally uninsured. Too scary.

At any rate, we were finally able to find a plan that only sucks us a little dry, and is only moderately mediocre... and today I'm actually glad! I've been sicker than sick for the last week or so. Extreme fatigue, aching body, sore throat... snot! So much snot! Hacking cough from H! Then I gave it to Nils. Then Aani dropped. Super awesome. Anyhoo, both Nils and I have strep and Aani has a double ear infection. After a day on antibiotics, I am a new woman! I think of how much it would have cost to self-pay at the doctor for all three of us, and get all of us medicated; I think it's safe to say the insurance paid for itself this month.

Now if I can just get a refund for all those months that nothing happens, that'd be greeeeeaaaaaat. Oh man, I am FUNNY!

The Death of Pretty I Love You

Remember Addie's fish, Pretty I Love You? After 2 1/2 blissful years, she kicked the bucket. It was rather pathetic. She started swimming upside-down and laying on the rocks while glub-glubbing all sad-like. I was worried about Addie, based on her reaction the last time we had a fish die. Fortunately, this time we had a few days to prepare.

I told Addie that Pretty I Love You was probably going to die soon, so she suggested that we take her to the vet. When I broke it to her that the vet probably couldn't do much for the fish, she said, "Maybe we can donate her to the Bean Museum!"

We came home from church a couple Sundays ago, and Pretty I Love You had stopped glub-glubbing. She never floated; she just laid on the rocks. We flushed her, and not a tear was shed!

Thanks for the memories, Pretty. Or as I used to call her, PILY. Just kidding, I never called her that.

Why I'm not vacuuming out the van anymore.

I think it started when I saw someone else's van, and it was really clean. Like freakishly clean on the inside, and I was like, "WHY is your van so clean?" And the owner was like, "UGH, it's not clean, it's DISGUSTING!" And I was like, "Honey, come look at my van and you will see what disgusting is..." Etc. etc. So I went home inspired, and proceeded to clean out my van. And it truly was disgusting. I got all the garbage out and vacuumed, and I was shocked and dismayed to realize that we don't need food storage. If ever we're starving, we just need to head out to the ol' van and have us a smorgasbord of crushed Cheez-its and petrified chicken nuggets. And it irritated me that my precious children treat our vehicle as if it is a trash can.

On Valentine's Day, the kids came home from school and dumped their loot out on the living room floor. Along with their coats, backpacks, homework and shoes. And blankets. (Oh, curse those wretched blankets that plague my life. They are everywhere always.) I asked them approximately 47 times to pick up their stuff, while I was busy getting our special V-Day dinner and dessert ready. I had envisioned a Valentine's dinner by candlelight with our little darlings, expressing how much each of them mean to me, saying loving things and whatnot. I was so annoyed by their slobbishness and apparent inability to hear and heed my requests, and by 7:30 I was hiding in my bed and I just wanted to be left the heck alone.

I was a slob when I was kid. My mom would make me clean my room, and I would literally sit for an entire Saturday in the middle of my messy room looking through old stuff, reminiscing about the good old days, and not accomplish a thing. I think I'd end up stuffing everything under my bed just so my mom wouldn't kill me, but I didn't care that my room was a disaster. It didn't bother me then. Obviously, even now I can go a couple of months driving around a cesspool van, but once I realize what has happened, I can't believe it. Anyway, whatever. I don't know what my point is. I like clean, and they do too, they just don't know it yet.

Tonight Addie was given the job of sweeping the kitchen floor, and she sobbed and sobbed that it was too hard, and would sort of toss the broom forward with one hand and cry about it being so difficult, and I thought I was going to wring her neck. I lost my cool and told her she was stubborn, then defined stubborn for her so she would know what I meant, then felt like crap, then showed her how to effectively use the broom and dustpan, then picked her up and held her while she cried and rubbed her back and told her I was sorry for getting mad and that I love her. She held my hand and walked me to her bed to tuck her in, all splotchy-faced. And I just think sometimes, I have no idea what I'm doing, and where is the line between showing your kids that you're serious, and giving them a break because they're just kids for crying out loud?

So yeah, I'm going to have Nils vacuum out the van from now on. Serenity now.