Where Is Annie Oakley When You Need Her?

I swear I'm not a women's lib gal. I do lean a little to the independent side. I used to flat out lie straight down on the independent side, but getting married straightened me up a bit. Not in a bad, my husband expects me to stay in the kitchen sort of way. Just in a, I really don't like taking out the garbage, and if you're going to do it, I'm so okay with it, kind of way.

But I was born in 1980. Not 1935. I was raised by a woman who once took her husband to Hawaii on a sales trip she had won. Twice. So the mantra of "anything you can do, I can do better," kind of resonates with me. I understand that men and women have their differences, I get it. I'll never be able to do more than 2 pull-ups and his hips will never have the ability widen when needed.

But if one more person sees the Ragnar sticker on our van and immediately asks Chris if he's a runner, I think I'm going to scream.

(These aren't people just from the older generation either. I'm talking OUR generation people.)

Women DO run! It's 2011, in case you haven't noticed. And, just so you know, I can actually run MUCH further than my husband at the moment. So, (tongue sticking out in a really, classy, lady-like fashion) there!!

And for full disclosure: both guys passed me about 50 yards before the checkpoint. But then I passed orange shirt guy again. I never said I was the fastest runner there ever was, but I DO run.


My marathon is only weeks away!

As Of Late

In last week's episode, our heroes were living in the beautiful mountain valley of Heber, Ut. They have now moved and are residing in the suburban neighborhood of Cottonwood Heights.


Yup. It's done. We have officially switched zip codes. A few things I miss about Heber:

• living close to my family
• Day's Market
• familiar running routes
• neighbors and friends I hope to keep in touch with
• the quiet beauty of the landscape (sigh)

But, I am finding the bright side of our new locale:

• literally 5 min away from stores I used to plan a Saturday around to shop at
• closer to Chris' side of the family (Grma Linda said: "It's my turn!")
• more time with dad since he isn't commuting an hour each way
  
• and I'll keep you posted with more...

There are a lot of stairs in our new place. So teaching the babies how to use them has been a focus and priority. (I know, gasp at the fact my 18 month olds don't know how to navigate stairs yet. We're working on it!) We do have lots of lovely trees around the place and a garden plot I've yet to tackle. We felt so fortunate to have so much help getting our little family of 5 to a new address. It was a project! So a big giant lump of gratitude goes out to everyone that helped us. Seriously.


Quick shot of the backyard via the GIANT playroom above the garage. Is that a clothes line you ask? Yes. Due to the complications of moving into a new place, we were without a dryer for 48 hours. In most households this might not be a big deal. But in ours, it is. So I asked Chris to rig up a clothes line. My romantic, read too many books about the 1930's side imagined my sun kissed face gingerly pinning up my kid's pjs and my husband's work shirts (read: t-shirts) while the wind gently blew, drying our clothes. But the first batch on the line happened to be a bunch of cleaning rags. These are true rags. Tattered, falling apart, etc. So as soon as they were up, I immediately wanted them down. It definitely didn't look like the clothes line I imagined. We looked like squatters in someone's backyard, trying to wash out some of our hobo wear. The dryer's fixed, but crib sheets gently blowing in the wind still appeals to me. So the line is still up.


I'm sure many (maybe one) of you were wondering if I ran my virtual 5k! You better believe it!

I set out all by myself on a sunny Friday morning and raced my silly heart out. I usually like to take pictures at all my races. So this one was no exception. Even if I took it myself, looking like a goon, holding up my watch so you can see my time. 28:33 in case you were wondering. I do believe it is my fastest 5K yet. (Don't worry about the stuff behind me, we were still unpacking.)



My little bear figuring out mom's giant running watch. I see this sweet expression all day. He is concentrating. You can tell because his little tongue is out.

So, that is the latest my friends! The next big thing we are all looking forward to around here is Ragnar! Woot to the double woot! 188 miles. It's a family affair this year. Can't wait.