October 2017

I realized after my last update that I had forgotten quite a few things that I had wanted to write about plus I had my half marathon since then so I wanted to write about that too. 
Halloween and apple season:

First a funny thing that happened at the Y while I was there to do some cross training for my race. I was just getting on the elliptical machine and putting in my age and weight and such when an old man walked up and stopped right in front of my machine and was just staring at me. I smiled and said ‘hi’ and he says “you are so beautiful, can I give you a kiss?” he completely caught me off guard (especially because I do not get cute to go to the gym and was actually pretty grungy that day.) I laughed and said “Well thank you, you are very kind” but he was persistent and said “all the pretty girls like my kisses!” I laughed again awkwardly and said “but what would my husband think? He might think you are trying to steal me away!” he says “nah, he won’t mind me giving you a kiss at all” I am bright red at this point and everyone around us had basically just stopped working out so they could watch and see what happens next. This adorable old man with hearing aids standing in front of my elliptical machine wearing a black veteran’s hat (I think it was for Vietnam, but was pretty flustered so I’m not even sure, it was just pretty obvious that he was a veteran of some sort) and smiling up at me. I shake my head and laugh and get off my machine and give him a kiss on the cheek. He clutches his chest dramatically and says “oh man, I am going to need to get another pace maker for my heart… I’m pretty sure you just broke this one!” then he grabs my hand and places a Hershey chocolate kiss in my palm and says “and here is a kiss from me! I told you all the pretty girls like my kisses!” then he winked at me and says “but I sure like your kisses better!” I am laughing pretty hard at this point and shake my finger at him and tell him he tricked me pretty good. He chuckles as he hobbles away and I hear him say “now off to the heart doctor!” everyone watching sure got a kick out of it and I wonder how long he has been running that particular scam, the sly dog! Haha it made me laugh every time I thought about it for the rest of the day.

Colton the other day made me laugh because we were in the bathroom fixing his hair to go somewhere and he is really looking closely at his reflection in the mirror. He moves his head side to side and askes “do I have something under my nose, on my lip?” I am concentrated on parting his hair so I glance up and say “no, it is just the way the lights are in this bathroom, they cast a shadow on your face.” He leans in towards the mirror and completely seriously says “no, I am pretty sure I am growing a mustache and I am going to start needing to shave soon.” As he rubs his fingers across his upper lip. I inwardly giggled at that. But I just said “well you are getting pretty big!”

Kaci has learned how to whistle and the trick now is to get her to stop whistling. The other day I woke up to a strange sound in the middle of the night. It was Kaci, whistling, at 3:30 in the morning. I had to go in there and tell her to cut it out before she woke up Owen, who shares a room with her. A few days ago she asked me why we have lips. I tried explaining how they help us chew and talk and stuff but she shook her head and says “I think it is so we can wear lipstick.” I shrugged my shoulders and said “well that too I guess!”

Preston is my little bud, and is very possessive of me. He always wants to hold my hand everywhere we go, and has to give me hugs and kisses every time I even leave the room. Once we were out on a walk and Owen (who absolutely flat out refuses to hold my hand) was falling behind. I stopped to wait for him and said “hurry up Sweetness!” Preston looks at me with furrowed eyebrows and says “he’s not your sweetness, I am!” I said “well you both are” Preston puts his nose in the air and says “nope just me”. A few days after this Preston and I were in the kitchen and he tells me “Mom, you’re my favorite.” I said “well thanks, but you need to love Daddy too.” He says “well I do, but he already has a lover… Owen is his lover, so I will be your lover!” (heehee I was thinking to myself while he was telling me this ‘you keep using that word… I do not think it means what you think it means’) but I think what he was trying to say was that Owen really loves daddy and follows daddy around and wants daddy to snuggle him and do everything for him so Preston wanted me to know I was loved and not feel left out. Either way I enjoy having him as a ‘lover’.

Owen is getting pretty feisty and well, truthfully, pretty ornery! But he is just so darn funny it is hard to be mad at him. He is pretty bossy and does not hold back on his opinions. If I don’t do what he wants me to he gives me the stink eye and says “I flick you!” so then of course I have to say “no you don’t flick Mama or I have to flick you!” and we go the rounds on that until he flicks me and I flick him back and then he acts like I am so jerk for actually flicking him ect ect ect… he is such a goober though and we sure enjoy him, he loves to sing and dance and jump and just wiggle. He is so wiggly!

I ran my half marathon last Saturday and it was SO MUCH FUN! I loved it! Weldon was a saint and got a massage table and lotion and foot massage stuff and fabric for a scarf and some other things for me for after the race when I would be tired. Then he made sure the kids were up and ready on time on the day of my race so I wouldn’t have anything to worry about and it was just really nice. It made it so I could just concentrate on my run.

Saturday morning I got up early and ate breakfast and got ready and had a while to just zone out before it was time to go. It was really nice to go into the race without any expectations or goals other than running the whole way and finishing the race. It was quite cold when we got there, but not too too bad, it made for great running weather. All the people I talked to before it started were so nice and encouraging and just told me to have fun. Once the race started it was really cool to look ahead and as far as I could see there were runners ahead of me, and when I glanced behind me all I could see were runners behind me! It was an awesome experience to be part of something that big! The route that we ran was decorated with signs and posters of encouragement and the neighborhoods that we ran through got really into it and decorated their neighborhoods just for us. One neighborhood did Halloween and every one was in costume cheering us on, and another did Christmas and they had lights on their houses and Santa and elves cheering for us and Christmas music playing and were even passing out Christmas cookies. Kids lined up along the street to give us fives and that was really fun. One group of boys, probably 11 or 12, gave me five and told me ‘good job’. I told them ‘thanks’ and one of them replied with ‘You’re welcome, Sweetheart!” I laughed and thought to myself that I almost have a kid his age! That’s crazy!

I wish that I could remember what some of the signs they had posted said because they were so funny! It was really nice because I was paying attention to reading all of the funny posters and didn’t feel very tired at all. The hardest part was mile 7 because people would cheer and say ‘you’re more than half way done!’ but all I could think was ‘yeah but that just means I still have 6 more miles!’ After mile 7 though it did go pretty quickly and at this point the neighborhoods started handing things out, like bananas, plastic leis, bottled water and get this… they even had beer stands set up outside their houses for the runners to come grab a cup just like the water and Gatorade stations. It just cracked me up but made me wonder why someone would want to drink something that is going to dehydrate them while running such a long race.

All in all the comradery and the volunteers at the water stations and the people who came out to cheer and support every one running was really neat. When I came into the stadium at the finish I was so pleased with myself for finishing and so tired from running 13.1 miles that I had the strangest feeling of wanting to cry. That went away though and when I finished I was so happy to get my medal and see Weldon and the kids, they were so sweet and were so proud of me and really made me feel good about myself. Colton kept telling me all day that he was sure proud of me for doing such a hard race and over the next few days they even gave me several really nice foot rubs. It was great. After the race I was so dang hungry that I ate a double cheeseburger and then I was tire so I took a nap, and it was delightful! All in all it was a really fun experience and I am glad that I did it.

November was Kaci and Preston's Birthdays

Christmas!!!