The "Season"

Tis the Season for guiding.  Tate started 2 weeks ago.  We are surviving and very GREAT:)  I have had a good mom week, 2 weeks in a row.  Well, not every second has been a great Mom second, but I think overall, it's been great.  We have been doing some fun stuff, playing with friends and going non stop.  Tate loves his job, that is the entire reason for us living here in Firth.  I am so glad.  I can't help but wonder if there is something bigger here, a bigger purpose for bringing us to Firth besides Elk hunting.  I think it's to be able to raise our family in this wonderful community.  :)
  I finished my last half marathon of the summer yesterday.  I ran it with my sister in law Shanna.  We had planned on running this same race 2 years ago after our wonderful Ragnar experience but things happened that she wasn't able to do it.  Luckily, my BETTY, came to the rescue and ran my 1st half marathon with me, every step of the way.  2 years later, we were able to do this half marathon together.  We ran every step of the way together!!!  I don't mean to sound mushy, but we have this really great bond, and I can't really explain it, but it means the world to me.  We talked and laughed and teared up.  The last mile we talked about all the reasons why we run.  I kept thinking in my head before this....I run because?  I run because?  I was getting fatigued and knew it and couldn't come up with any better reason.  I told this to Shanna, she quickly reminded me of alot more reasons why she runs and why I do too.  We then passed by a cute little girl, severely handicapped waving to all the runners as they passed, we ran because she couldn't.  It was a great moment.  We sprinted across that finish line holding hands and so happy to be done.  As korky as it sounds it was so much fun.  Shanna told me last year she was making fun of the people that held hands across the finish line, but there was not way she wasn't holding my hand when we crossed:)  Love that girl.
     Kasen is so big and funny.  He says the greatest things.  He is really started questioning the world around him.  Asking alot of why's and what does that mean's.  He will be 4 in a few weeks, and is very excited about his birthday.  A few nights ago, we had a sleepover in my bed, as he was falling asleep, he was breathing kind of heavy and then said.  "Mom, if you got me a ZQuiet, then I wouldn't snore for our sleepover."  He has been asking for a Zquiet for his birthday for at least 6 months.  Tate and him watch the hunting show and apparently they advertise quite alot there.  Last night Tate was laying with him and he asked if he could also have an x-ray for his birthday.  Tate told him probably not, it cost alot of money and you have to go to the doctor to get one.  Well, Kasen thought for a moment and then said. "I could make a car wash and people could come and i could earn money for my x-ray by making a car wash."  He is really stuck on this car wash idea.  We showed him an x-ray thing on Tate's phone and now he is content with that, but still wants to do the car wash to put in his money sock.  We will see how much he makes on his car wash.  He said that Wilford had a dirty car, and that maybe he could wash his car:)  He also wants to charge 20 cents and 1 penny.  Not a bad profit:)
   Daisha is almost 11 months.  She is crawling all over, and cruising like crazy.  She loves climbing the stairs and gets frustrated when she gets to the top and can't  quite decide how to get down.  I have been working with her and trying to teach her how to go down the stairs safely now.  She loves to blink and make noises with her mouth and tongue.  She signs milk and more.  Not all the time, but she will do it if I try hard enough:)  She has just enough hair to put it in a little pony and even pig tails on the top of her head.  We are planning on going to Orderville in 2 days to spend time and do a little canning.  Also hit Celestes baby shower.  I also heard that there is the Kane County Demolition Derby that Saturday.  SWEETness.  Gotta love the demo derby. 

Red Neck

Tate was home from the mountain and played with the kids.  They eventually persuaded me to join in the fun.  Here is Tate's make-shift hot tub.  He hooked the hose up to the washer warm water and made this pool nice and toasty.  Our very own red-neck hot tub, just a tad small:)  It was pretty crowded once I joined in the fun, but still warm anyway. 

We didn't put a swim diaper on Daisha, it of course started to fill immediately and started leaving little floaty's in the water, so we just took it off, and her little bare bum was so cute in the water.  You guess it, she started making the noise, and the face.  Tate and I looked at each other in a panicky sort of way.  I grab her and hold her so she doesn't "go" in the pool.  She eventually did her business, so gross, but better than in the pool right? 

we had a good time.  Tate and Kasen took off to get in the shower first, and left us girls to wait in the much colder water for them.  We had a good time looking at the horses and pointing to the birds.  We are so glad when Daddy comes home:)

Just a Bunch....

Of Cuties!!

 While we were making our batch of brownies, I of course let Kasen lick the bowl.  It kept him occupied for quite a long time.  I decided next time I need to get anything done, I will just put a thin layer of brownie mix, in a bowl and that will give me time to do most anything:)  He is SO my son.  While he was licking and scraping he said, "Mom, I could eat brownies all day."  Me too Buddy, Me TOO:) 

Here is our little 10 month old.  She has four teeth on bottom and 3 1/2 on the top.  Its so cute to see those little teeth in her mouth.  It makes her look different to me though, but still cute.  She loves to dance and wiggle.  She is a goof ball too.  Anytime I am feeding her, she blinks her eyes and shakes to some sort of tune and always gets a laugh out of me.  She has my rythm though, hopefully it will get better as she grows and practices.

EPIC

The 12th and 13th of August I ran in a relay race called EPIC, from Logan to Jackson Hole.  It was intense, crazy, fun, tiring, exhilarating and all the other things I can't think of right now.  We had a wonderful Pasta party a few nights before and finalized everything about the race.  My van consisted of Liz Killpack, Stacy Taylor, Hailey Wilde, Kenna Bame and Karisa Hillman.  Boy did WE have a BLAST.  I swear, these ladies are some of the most amazing women I have ever been blessed to associate with.  The other van was filled with GREAT friends also, who we didn't see very much, but I know they had fun too:)  My first leg was a hilly 7.2 miles. It was in the heat of the day which made for a more challenging run, but I finished and was able to check it off........

 One down, 2 more to go:)  Here  I am checking off my first run.  Whew, it was nice being the first runner in my van, I like being the first, I get it done faster and dont' have to wait around to run:)

 Me, Kenna, Liz and Stacy.  So wonderfully fun:)  Our team name was Soled Out.  My favorite saying for the weekend.  "Bless your Sole."

 Never thought I would be so happy to see a sign before, but this one I loved :)  Best sign ever:)

 Here we are handing off to our other van.  Waiting around for our runner!! 

 After our first legs were over, we drove to Soda Springs and found a bunch of weeds to have a nice lunch/dinner of sandwiches and fruit.  We layed out our sleeping bags and tried to get some sleep but I don't think that one of us got any sleep.  My favorite, I was laying by Karisa, I sat up a little bit, I think she heard me, and she sat up and whispered, "Are you asleep?"  It reminded me of some sort of fun sleepover where you can't sleep and just want to play:)  We ended up talking for quite a while, it was so nice.  Then we decided to try and get some rest, when all the sudden, MR. head light man started running around.  A guy started running with his head light, making the most noise I have ever heard someone make while running. 

Kathy was kind enough to let a few of us rest in the cabin that she rented for a few hours.  I ended up going to Kenna's parents house which was a little slice of heaven, but before we left we went to get some breakfast.  I was pretty sure that  Iwasn't suppose to be in the back where the fridge was, but there was eggs in there and a hot griddle so I whipped me up some scrambled eggs and put it on some toast.  I was craving protein and it was definately calling my name.  I then left and the team overheard the in charge lady complaing about someone being in the room with her griddle.  Oops:)  Egg sandwich never tasted better:)

This is my last leg.  5.3 miles.  The first 2 miles were an average 10% incline.  I swear I was so nervous and dont' remember the last time was that nervous.  I wasn't nervous about running up that hill, I knew I could make it to the top, if I had to walk the whole way I could do it.  I was nervous about doing the BEST  Icould do and making myself be a better runner and making me more mentally tough.  I made it pretty far before a bug was in my eye.  I had to stop and walk a few times, but overall I was proud of scaling that mountain.  I had the best support and teammates ever.  I couldn't have done it without them.  I then had to run another 3 miles which was harder than running up the mountain.  There were hills everywhere, small ones and you would think that after doing a 10% that a litte 3% would be nothing but it really hit me hard.  I think I ran passed 10 snakes, whether dead or alive I am not sure, but still made me jump a few times.  Man, I was so happy to be done with that run.  I can do hard things:)  Yeah!!!

Here is our team finishing.  We finished in 33 1/2 hours.  Pretty good I think.  Still we had a great time.  Loved it!  A few times I wondered to myself, what in the crap am I doing?  Why am I doing this?  It's all worth it crossing that line shaking those cow bells:)

We are missing Liz, but this is our van.  Love these ladies!

I took almost a week off, recouperated my blisters now  Iam gearing up for my last race of the year, I think.  Top of Utah Half Marathon with my sister in Law Shanna.  This is the one that really means something.  So excited. 

Time Out

Today, Kasen got sent to his room.  He got some crayons and colored all over the couch.  Isn't he over that stage?  I actually am going to admit that he really hasn't colored on too many things, I guess he just couldn't help it.  Anyway, I sent him to his room and he was NOT happy about that one bit.  But life is hard sometimes.  He was crying for about 5 minutes, then would settle down.  About 5 minutes later he was crying softly and yelled downstairs.  "But Mom, how can I do any chores if I have to be in my room?"  I then told him not to worry, there would be plenty of time for him to do chores when he was out of his room.  He then started telling me that he would eat his mac and cheese at the kitchen table instead of his little one he loves to eat at.  He finally got out of his room and had to scrub both of the couches.  I have to say, I am pretty impressed at his cleaning job, they do look a little better than they use to, even though crayon doesn't clean up so easily. 

No More

Well, everyone, I did it.  I took the plunge.  I am taking over a NEW LEAF.  I deleted my facebook account.  Why?  Well, it was taking over my life.  It is honestly quite imbarrassing to admit but I think I was addicted to Facebook.  Hello, my name is Jana and I am/was addicted to facebook.  Silly?  I think yes, but real?  Yes I think so.  I am going to be honest, it was a little hard last going through and actually deleting (deactivating?  I didn't know how to delete it completely?)  it, I had alot of anxiety.  I knew that is what i needed to do though.  So here I am, just going to be a better Mom, and person for not having that thing in my life!  To many of you, you have no problem of just getting on once a day and checking it out, I had it on my phone, and I was checking it constantly, for no particular reason just cause it was there and I could.  I found myself doing that all day long, so bye bye friends and acquaintances.  My blog will still be here, I love to look back and remember MY life.  Remember MY family and the things that we have done.  I am hoping to see a change in how I act throughout my life and spend my valuable time with things that are important!!!

Family Reunion

This past weekend we drove to Utah and spent the weekend with Tate's family at his Dad's side family reunion.  We went to Moon Lake camping and it was a blast.  We were in a tent where as 99% of the rest of all the families had campers, but we didn't mind.  It was so much fun.  There is just something about going out into the mountains and being with your family that is just so wonderful.  The minute that we drove into the campground Kasen took off and found his cousins.  He is lucky because he has 3 boy cousins that are his exact same age and a few older boy cousins.  He played and ran with them the entire time we were there, pretty much NON stop.  Only to sleep and eat a few bites of food.  He was so EXHAUSTED by the end that he was sick.  Literally.  Poor little fella!  He took 3 naps on Monday while we were at Tate's parents house and even slept on the way home, which was nice! We played horse-shoes, which by the way am not very good at.  Tate on the other hand is quite the horse shoe player, what a stud I know:) We played alot of card games and learned a few new ones that were way fun.  I had a good time just being able to talk with my sister in laws all weekend.  It was alot of fun.  My sister in laws went for a nice little 5 mile run in the mountains, 2 1/2 downhill and 2 1/2 all uphill.  It was a good run and so beautiful, besides the fact that it's an open range area and the cows were freaking me out.  I didn't get attacked though, so that was good.  All in all, it was a GREAT, Wonderful weekend.  Tate starts guiding in 1 1/2 weeks.  Next weekend I am running in a sweet relay race from Logan to Jackson Hole, so this was pretty much our last hoorah for the next 5 months. 

 Check out those moves.  He was striking some great poses for us:)   Being silly, silly  Kasen

 The whole heard of boys.  Not all of them either!  yeah! 

 There is my little dirt eating girl.  She loved playing in the sand.  She loved getting down in the dirt and water even though it made me cringe when she kept eating it.  Oh well!  We were camping right, it's okay?

 Getting water for the hot tub that Tate dug out.  Then getting more water for the waterfall off the hill they made. 

So much fun.  To my wonderful surprise my good friend Kenna Bame came up with her family for a few hours on Saturday.  Kazia and Kasen are wonderful friends and did preschool with each other this past year.  It was so so great seeing her and her little kids and husband.  She is just one of those down-home GREAT people.  We are running in the race next weekend together and I couldn't be more excited!