SNOW SNOW SNOW

I'm so excited about the snow...and warm chocolate chip cookies!

Antelope inspiration

I sprained my ankle this summer and I've been pretty sick for a while now. Nothing too serious but enough to wear me out and make me miss the majority of my workouts. In fact, when I begin again, I'll be starting over and the thought of where I was in comparison to how I feel now kind of freaks me out.

It's so tough to get started! And I feel like I'm running with someone else's body. Someone else's broken, tired body...

I was laying on the couch today while Jimmy was flipping channels on the television. His remote rested on a hunting show just as the hunter made the decision to use his tag to help an injured antelope instead of waiting for the trophy pronghorn they had seen earlier to come in. The antelope appeared to have a broken front leg and his walking was labored. The hunter took aim with his bow, shot, and the arrow pierced the animal's body. The antelope ran about a hundred yards before it fell to the ground. That scene only lasted seconds but in that short time it occurred to me that when this antelope ran...it was fast. The antelope had adapted to it's injury by dragging it's damaged leg and used only the other three to move. It could barely walk, but it could run... super fast!

How often do I allow my weaknesses dictate what I can do? I feel like I've been doing that a lot lately. I've been tired, and cranky and whining about a sprained ankle and some pesky body aches instead of adapting to what my present circumstances could allow me to do.

ENOUGH!

I'm going to ignore the fact that the hunter shot the antelope and it's now hanging on a wall somewhere and focus on the way that animal moved when pressed. It was awesome to watch and for some disturbingly strange reason, it was the push that I needed to get moving again.

I wish I was here today.

Swimming in the river and laying in the hot sand.

This sheep is stuck on the east wall of the canyon at the dam. I can't figure out how to get it out of there. ???

I did, however, figure out how to master this dyno from the sit start to the ramp on this route. I've been working on it all summer. I'm pretty stoked about it. I can even do it without looking like a total ameteur.

Darby

I love this picture of me and Jimmy. It's funny how we are standing...Olivia took the picture and you can't tell that we are balancing on the guard rail at the top of this mountain pass. It's kind of like having a secret...but one I'm willing to share. This picture makes me think of something much more than the scenery. It is a promise, if only for us, for new beginings and our journey to try new things and REALLY live life together. We drove to Lewiston this last weekend for a golf tournament and a family vacation. We covered new ground and rolled the windows down. We felt the heat of the sun and cooled ourselves in the rivers. We laughed like kids and sang really loud. Don't we look content? and happy?

Memories

I can't wait to go on vacation with my family and make memories for them and for us, Jimmy. Thanks for working hard and making it happen.

Love,

Jen

To my sister!

I love you. I miss you.

Love, Jen

To me, you are

That thick fudgy goodness in the bottom of the drum stick cone!

I love you, Jimmy

OVERCOMING IT ALL

Everybody has trials and issues to overcome, right? Some are more challenging than others but all require us to have the pliability it takes to learn how to manage and to find a new normal. It's Father's Day and I miss my dad terribly. Since his death in 2004 I have had to stretch my soul to try to understand why he left us and how to know him though I can't really ask him any questions. And I mean REALLY KNOW him. Just being aware of how he likes his sandwiches and that he liked to run really isn't enough today.

My dad ran. A LOT. I think he started running because life seemed challenging to him and he needed to de-stress but when he got really good at it he continued to run because he loved the challenge of it and he wanted/needed/craved the instant rewards of winning a race or improving his times. It made him feel worth; like he was "somebody" for a minute. He trained like nobody I've ever known but I think he was always running FROM something. Everyday, he ran as hard as he could away from his childhood, his stress, his inability to process, his insecurities and ran towards a finish line of acceptance.

Most of the technical things I know about running and racing, I learned from him. But, I know I do it for different reasons.

Yesterday, I had a unique opportunity to be part of something big. My friend Lisa, a world-class ultra-runner, concluded a charity run for children in need and I got to walk/run the last 50 miles with her. She has been walking and running 50 miles in each of the 50 United States over the last 62 days trying to spread the word of her mission to raise money to help kids. Her journey has been incredibly challenging and physically battering. Her left foot, most likely broken, was causing her a tremendous amount of pain. But she just kept moving and praying. She has so much faith that God will help her help these kids that she just overcomes any amount of personal suffering for the chance to alleviate the suffering of others.

It inspires me to believe we can endure, and our trials don't have to define us, we don't have to repeat history and we can do more. And yesterday, I did more. More than I thought I could. I covered twice as many miles than I have ever covered before...and it hurt. A lot. But I never gave up.

I thought a lot about my dad and wondered what he would have thought about what I accomplished and the kind of person I have become. Would he have come to watch? Would he have run with me? Would he have understood how "huge" this was for me? What would he have said? Could he have expressed it? Or would he have kissed me on the forehead and said "You know I love you, right?"

Yesterday, I learned a great deal about overcoming our issues and the stress that will inevitably find us in this life. And while I have peace and a new normal without my dad, sometimes, I just wish he could come over and answer my questions.

Or take a nap on my floor.

For you, Barb. Happy Mother's Day

Pictures for you from the girls plus Jaren trip to Salt Lake for the wedding of my neice Kylee. We had a great time. Love you!

Little Cottonwood Canyon

I wish we had these boulders in my backyard! Jaren, the girls, grandma, and I had a great time.

Bella Rosa

http://bellarosabikes.blogspot.com/

Want to know a way to kill 10 minutes?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 . . . listen to your four year old count as high as they can. Which, in this case, happened to be 300. It takes a while.




Um, who taught that kid to count that high? I'm sure it wasn't me.

How to survive a windy day!

So, it's super windy. I mean, it is March in Idaho. I should be used to it but I'm not. It still makes me want to crawl in bed and watch netflicks all day. Or DVR movies, if you have any good ones. Which, I don't. But, I was already wrapped like a burrito on the couch so I thought, "I might as well watch something." So, I turned one on.

And then, Claire came over to play with Izzy.

I was watching the girls watch the wind as they licked pink frosting off the beaters (my other windy day survival tool) and I then I had to laugh when Claire said,

"Boy, It's a buffoon out there! You know, a really bad storm."

It was funny.

DVR just might be overrated.

500 days

I'm feel like I'm kind of burnt out! It's cold. It breaks freezing temps. It snows. It melts. I get excited for spring and then it snows again. It's almost as nauseating as a roller coaster and I've had enough. Even the kids are so stuck in their routines that they can't see what's happening. I took Ty and some friends on, what I thought, would be a fun excursion and after the wildlife museum, the geology museum, a run around the indoor track, and a stop at great harvest for some pumpkin chocolate chip bread the boys said to me, "When can we go play? This, is just hanging out with you, mom, we want to go home and play." Is it cabin fever?



I'm ready for a change of season. A transition or something.

So, I watched a movie called 500 days of summer. I know, it's been out for a while now and I've wanted to see it but . . . who has time, right. Anyway, it's about a guy who, kind of, has settled in his professional life but has high expectations for romance and love and finding "the one" and such. He chronicles his life with Summer, who he believes, is "the one" by showing the viewer different situations from the 500 days that they are in each other's lives. I'm not really giving away anything here, the narrator tells you immediately that this movie is not a love story.


She's not the one. But, she is the one who helps him realize that he's capable of more and reminds him that his romantic ideals are not crap even though her rejection of him makes diarrhea out of the "soul mate" fuel he fed his future with prior to meeting her. Professionally, he writes sappy, lovely greeting cards driven by the inspiration of a happy heart followed by "I understand the misery" type cards in the aftermath of the break-up. And later, she has to remind him the loves really does exist after she took it away from him.

Man, he was miserable for a while. Soul-sucked and drained.

Kind of like how I feel these days. I need sunshine. I need spring.

On day 500 the misery ends and new "prospects" begin.

I need some new prospects. Warm weather. Running shorts. Sweat that doesn't freeze.

How many years has it been?

How long has it been?

Since we ate cheesecake at that coffee shop in Fort Worth?

And those bikers with big beards and bandannas joined us at our table and I thought they might kill us but you made fast-friends with them and talked to them about the history of the Hell's Angels and bike clubs?

And I wore that really awesome green dress that you bought me which made me think it would be ok if they killed us because at least I would look good?

And we kissed as we walked down the street in the hot Texas heat and we talked about our future. And I thought for sure we'd get married and live happily ever after and we'd take good care of each other and who ever else came along?

Well, we are still together and I still have that green dress in our closet and I still like to kiss you and we still take care of each other and everybody else who has come along and I'm glad you protect me from getting killed on the street.

Thank you for all the years from then to now.

I love you.

Happy Anniversary

TIRED

SOOOOOOOOOOO TIRED. I have to give a talk in Church. Please pray for me.

BELLAROSABIKES

Check this out.

http://bellarosabikes.blogspot.com/

I double dog dare you. :)

TY SAYS:

"Hey Izzy. You're pimp! That means cool. Pimp, means cool"

"THEY GROW UP TOO FAST!"

Remember this?!

Today I had a conversation with Ty.

It went like this...

TY: "Mom, I spilled the cereal."

ME: "Ok, pick it up and eat it."

TY: "Mah-ummm, I AM NOT A VACUUM ANYMORE!"

That's a change, I thought. But then again, I never did find any spilt cereal.

A NEW COLLECTIONS OF SORTS

"Mom, I love you so much...I could pop your head off."

"Oh mom, I love you so much, I want to squeeze you! Tight, like a lemon!"

"Dad, I want to squeeze mom like a lemon and smash you like mashed potatoes."

"Mom, I love you 100 and 62."

Stay tuned...I'm sure I will get to add to this list.