way better than church

I'm kidding, mom.

Sunday morning was an awesome experience. I finally got to run in the Tunnel to Towers run.
Here we are towards the end of the race. Mrs Finkle, Nicole and I are in this picture but Joanna was ten paces ahead. (Mrs. Finkle is in the gray shirt in the middle, Nicole in the blue shirt next to the lady in the hat, me in the white shirt on the other side of the lady in the hat.)

I don't even know how to begin to describe this event.

As a girl who cannot make it through singing the national anthem without crying, this event was overwhelming to my patriotic senses.


First, we line up with 15, 000 other people for this run. Some of them are firefighters in full gear, some of them are military men and women, people who lost loved ones
on 9/11 and they are blasting Neil Diamond's Coming to America over the speakers. I am a sucker for Neil Diamond anyways and this song always gets me. (In the above picture is a squad of men and women in their full battle fatigues with their packs. Wow.)

Then we sang God Bless America and the Start Spangled Banner.

Did I mention that I cry during the national anthem?

It took us 10 minutes to get to the starting line after the race started.

These men and women chanted their way through the tunnel. It was an amazing sound and sight. Again, I got teary.

You exit the tunnel to see a line of firemen holding American Flags and pictures of all 343 firefighters who died that day. That first picture is of Stephen Siller whose family started this race in his honor and to honor all of the rescue personnel. Again, I got teary.

As you run past these men, they are cheering, smiling and giving high-fives.

The men wearing their firefighting gear were amazing. The tunnel was so hot and I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I cannot imagine running with all that extra weight. One man that ran by me was in shorts and t-shirt but wearing his helmet. He was dripping with sweat.

We did it and we're going to do it again!

(well at least I am and anyone who wants to join me.)

Thanks to Seleta and April who watched Addy for me so that I could run.

Check out all of the links for more pictures and stories.

http://wcbstv.com/local/tunnel.to.towers.2.827550.html

Grateful

"Everywhere in nature we are taught
the lessons of patience and waiting.
We want things a long time before we get them,
and the fact that we wanted them a long time
makes them all the more precious when they come."

~Joseph F. Smith

My favorite part of our trip

The coastline of Maine was so beautiful.

Did I mention that I loved the coast?

The beach was my favorite and I am pretty sure that Jack would live on this beach too. It had tidal pools, rocks to climb on, sand and water. Can't get better than that. Every time I get out this sweatshirt for Jack to wear he says, "Beach?" I wish we could go here everyday but Ryan reminds me that I may not like Maine if we visited in January.

One of Ryan's favorite parts of the trip was eating lobster. Lots and lots of lobster. Oh, and the best clam chowder we have ever had.

Reasons why I chuckle during my day

I took these pictures over the past few days.

They still make me laugh.

Number One:

This is Jack feeding his cousin Willa a piece of bread.

I guess he thought she was hungry so he took down my sister's family picture and started to feed Willa and saying, "Here you go, Whilwa."

Reason Two:
He made is own bed this morning.

Usually I help and put the blankets and sheets flat on the bed so it is all neat and tidy. This is Jack's version of making the bed. Not my style but ordered just the way he wanted it and he was very proud of himself when he finished because he said, "Good job, Jack." I say, good for you for making your own bed. We'll continue to work on technique.

Reason Number Three:
Nakedness

I walked in the living room and saw this.
We're getting ready to get serious about potty training so there is more nakedness in my future.
Wish us luck.

Where have we been?

We spent a lot of time in our car last week on an unexpected, meaningful, enjoyable trip to Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. We survived the 8 hour days in the car and lived to tell about it.

Jack travels really well and his sister took her cues from him. They slept and talked to each other as we drove. Granted it helped that we had an endless supply of chocolate milk for Jack and double-stuffed Oreos. As you can see below, Jack licked out the filling and handed the cookie part back to Ryan with the words, "More, please Daddy."

Once Jack was released from his car seat in Sharon, Vermont, he ran to the first puddle and started to do a little rain dance. Let's just say that he had some energy to spend and ran up and down the hill.
Sharon, Vermont is beautiful and so peaceful. I needed both of those things when I got out of the car after driving 7 hours. I am glad we took the time to visit the birthplace of Joseph Smith and see this beautiful part of the state. It really is the middle of nowhere. I thought my parent's mission was the middle of nowhere but at least it is on the way to somewhere.

I'm pretty sure Jack is giving some sort of talk in this picture. Not sure what he was trying to tell us.

Again, we see Jack's energy as he dances around the monument.
You may also notice that he is wearing his pajamas. We had to get up early and get ready to leave so he did not get to have his gradual getting ready time. When I got him dressed in clothes he cried and cried for his pajamas and I said, "What do I care if he wears his pajamas in the car all day" and put them back on. He traveled comfortably in his pajamas and we were all much happier.


The missionary who gave us a tour of the site thought Jack would like to ride in the golf cart. She was right. Jack yelled, "Faster. Faster" and she drove faster. He loved it and I think spending time with Jack made the sister missionary miss her grandchildren a little less.

Why did the Police Show Up at the Labor Day Picnic?

It wasn't to control the mob of cute girls trying to hold Addy . . .

or because they thought Jack was having too
much fun on the slide . . .

It was to check out the rockets.

Jack talked about rockets all week.
This was the highlight of the picnic.
(the rockets, not the police.)

Nummies

Thumb hors d'oeuvres

Rice Cereal

"Mom, you're too slow. Give me that spoon."

Got cereal?

More!

First taste of Solid Foods: August 31, 2008

She LOVES her cereal and she's tried sweet potatoes, pears and peaches. All are a hit.

Special Thanks to Mary for the cute dress and bib worn in this picture:)

Is this going to leave a scar?

I answered the phone and a few minutes into my conversation I hear Jack crying from downstairs. My first thought was that he got too close to Addy's grip again and that she was pulling his hair. But as I turned the corner I saw all of the cushions on the floor with Jack in the middle crying.

I checked him out and he seemed fine because he went back to playing within a minute or so.
It is only when he is back to playing that I noticed the large red line on his forehead.

Upon further inspection, I see that he has a long scratch that I assume came from the red chair (see above picture) that he was trying to jump over, into, or onto as he perfected his daredevil skills.

It doesn't seem to be bothering him and he can always cover a scar with his beautiful curly hair. Heck, I couldn't see the cut through his hair and it was bright red so the scar should just blend in, right?