Our Family Fun Run

This morning we had a blast at the U's annual alumni run for Homecoming week. I ran the 5k and Sarah, assisted by her dad, ran the kids 1k.
The video is a little long, but cute. :-)

Here are the runners before the race Here is Sarah showing off her Ute pride! :-) After the kids race the Ute cheerleaders gave all the kids medals and their mascot ran with them. All the participants also got shirts. It was so cute! I think we're going to make it an annual tradition. There were a lot of families that ran it together and they encourage people to dress up, so it was a lot of fun to see people painted red. Mike really liked the part when the guy ate it face first on the finish line. (I didn't see it, but of course would NEVER laugh at anothers pain) ;-) I liked beating my last race time, although not by much. After the race we took Sarah to the temple because she has been asking to go and when we took her to the Jordan River temple the grounds were closed. She liked spotting angel Moroni and the new family tour the sister's gave us. I love listening to kids reactions the first time they see the Christus statue. Sarah kept asking what Jesus was doing. I love my kids! And last, but definitely not least, Steven slept through the race, but we did get a couple pictures of him with his eyes open. :-) What a fun day!

My Good Samaritans

Friday was probably the worst and most stressful day at a job that I've ever had. :-) This says a lot since I work about 3 hrs a week, but I had a mini disaster and were it not for the help of a couple Good Samaritans it might have been worse than it was.

I do the book keeping for 5 companies that are owned by the same two men and have a weekly meeting with them to go over reports, pick up checks, have them sign things, etc. On Friday I went in and collected 2 checks for the mortgage co, 1 check for Real Estate Inv co, four of my paychecks and some cash someone gave for their rent on a house I manage. Thankfully this was a small week monetarily.

When I got to my car I put my bag inside, but for some reason put my zippered work folder on the top of my car. I got distracted by Steven's crying so I made him a bottle, hopped in my car and headed to meet my sister at the Zoo. It wasn't until I was on Foothill Blvd that I realized I'd left my folder on the car.

When I finally looped back around I saw my folder on the 90th South entrance of I-15, completely broken open and the contents blowing away. Besides the checks I'd gathered, I also had quite a few bank statements and reports. AHHH! I hurry and ran after some of the papers and then hopped in my car, drove a few feet, got out grabbed more, got in drove, etc until I'd ran/drove to the 72nd exit. I'm sure I looked crazy. (I kind of was at the moment)

A lady stopped on the 72nd exit and asked if she could help me, but I explained what had happened and there wasn't a whole lot she could help with. Then she told me she'd gotten off work early because she felt there was someone that needed her help , and that person might be me. I relented and we drove my car back to the 90th S exit to start over. A guy also stopped and helped us look in the weeds around the entrance and along the freeway. The woman then followed me as I ran between 90th and 72nd again and I was able to recover quite a bit. There was a lot that had blown onto the space over the barricade. Quite a few people stopped to offer help to the crazy person, and yes, I know it was dangerous, but I wasn't thinking too clearly, but I waved them on. Had it been my own checks I wouldn't have worried about it, but it wasn't my money or bank statements and I felt bad. Unfortunately I never found the cash, or 4 of the 8 checks.

I was really upset at the situation, not because I thought my bosses would be mad, but because I was so careless. Although I make mistakes all the time, it's tough when my mistakes affect other people. I'm a baby, and was a little emotional during the ordeal. I talked to one of the owners on the phone and he said not to worry at all about the cash or checks, I just couldn't quit anytime soon. (Last week in our meeting I said I might be quitting and one of them chuckled since I don't work very many hours and then gave me a raise)I work for wonderful people.

When I dropped the lady off at her car she refused to give me her name and address so I could send her a thank you card. She actually kept thanking me for letting her help me and do service. She gave me two waters, since I was a little parched, and a bag of cookies. She then tried to hand me an envelope that I could see contained money. I said "no thank you" because my bosses weren't worried about the money and were millionaires, and she then put it in my hands, said she was rich too, and drove off. The envelope contained $505, which was only $45 short of what I'd lost.

I have no idea what her name is, but I'm so grateful she helped me. I'm also thankful she'd followed her feelings that someone needed her help and I was the first damsel in distress she found. The Lord really does work in mysterious ways.

Sarah's Special Thank You

When Sarah had her febrile seizure a few months ago Mike and I were terrified. We didn't know at the time that they weren't very serious, all we knew was that our 2 yr old was having a seizure and had stopped breathing and was turning blue. Mike's brother called 911 and shortly after the fire dept and emt's showed up. They checked her out and her temp was 105, but they reassured us that the seizure wasn't as dangerous and we thought. Just to be on the safe side Mike and Sarah took a ride to the hospital in the ambulance, in case it happened again, so she could get checked. The emt's were great and not only gave her a cute little bear, but we received a thank you card from the fire dept. for THEM serving US. (a little backwards :-)

To say thank you we made them some cookies and took them over to the fire station with a thank you card. Sarah was so excited and wasn't shy with the firemen at all. She felt very proud of carrying them and giving the cookies to them. Then they offered to give her a tour of the fire trucks and she got to sit in one and pose in front for a photo op. It was so nice of them to give us a tour.

Being there actually made me a little emotional, because that day still stands out as the scariest in my life and I'm so grateful they came to our rescue so quickly. I wish public servants made what they were worth, but at least they do it and are there for us when needed. Thank you West Jordan Fire Department.

So...if you want to see a fire truck, make them cookies. ;-) (or ask Jamie j/k)

Where were you on 9/11

When 9/11 happened seven years ago I was in a bubble, and by the time I was out of the bubble, it wasn't talked about as much. I know how I felt about it, but I haven't talked to many people about how it affected them. If you have time, I would appreciate if you would tell me where you were, and what you experienced that day.

Because of where I was, it took me a while to grasp the magnitude of what had happened on 9/11. I was in the MTC in Provo and was set to fly to LA on the 12th. We started to hear whispers around the campus, but since we didn't have any link to the media, we were mostly kept in the dark. One of my teachers snuck in a news broadcast and showed it to us in a closet, and it started to be a reality for me. In a way it seemed so unreal as I watched it, because that one 5 minute newscast was the only exposure I got to it. The MTC leaders never mentioned it to us, but I assume that all of the missionaries found out like I did, or once they got to the field.

A week later I arrived in LA and it hit harder. A sister in the mission was from NY and she talked about it a lot. My visitor center director was a retired Air Force Colonel and ran a lot of drills with us to prepare for a terrorist attack since LA was a likely target and the temple was in the middle of it all. Although I felt completely safe, I knew that bad things happen to good people and we needed to prepare for anything.

It is so sad what happened to all the people affected with the loss of loved ones, and the effect it had on our nation. I will never understand how terrorists can justify killing people they don't know just to send a message. No God would ever justify blowing up a building, or a bus, that may or may not have wicked people on it. They don't know the fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, children and friends that they killed. How could they think that somehow it was justified because they happened to be in the US, and the US is wicked. Their hatred is so misguided and love is the only thing that will ever overcome such hatred. I wish they knew that although we might call him by different names, we really do all worship the same God.

So, if you have time, I'd appreciate your insight into that days events.

I ran my 1st 5k

Today I ran my first 5k and...I'm SLOW! I really thought I'd run it faster, but I didn't prepare myself that well. I've never been a runner, but I thought that since I've been biking, chasing 2 kids and ran a whopping 5X in the last couple weeks that I'd be prepared. HA!

Mike mapped out a one mile route around our neighborhood and I had a pretty easy time running it quickly and two miles wasn't bad either. I guess I should have tried three. :-) I was totally prepared to run the whole thing with 8 min miles. (keep in mind I'm not a runner, so 8 min miles sounded good) I had my playlist on my ipod perfected: 7 1/2 minutes of Enya, 8 min Kelly Clarkson, 8 min Daughtry, and if I needed it, Evanescence followed by a cool down song from Ladder 49.

I knew I wasn't keeping a great pace when I hit the one mile marker and was almost through my first Kelly Clarkson song. :-) Needless to say, I finished it, but not as fast as I'd wanted. It was up at the U and I also wasn't anticipating running up a hill for a while. Next time I'll prepare better and hopefully do better than the ~10 minute miles I did today. I don't think it was a very competitive race though, because the first three people to win ran about 8 min miles.

But, the race was a lot of fun and there were over 600 women. (it was a women's only race) We had little timers on us, so I'll know my "official" time here soon. They also did a 10k at the race, but that will be something I'll have to work up to. :-) Mike had school, so his mom was nice enough to come and watch my kids. (Thanks Lynette)


I wish I'd taken the pics before the race. ;-)


Update: It's the day after the race and I don't care about my time like I did yesterday, I'm just glad I was able to do it and have the aches and pains to prove it. I looked online and half the women, including the fastest, ran the 10k. That's my goal for next year, and I won't worry too much about speed, just endurance. :-) (big talk for a non-runner) ;-)
http://www.strideracing.com/2008/september/WASATCH_WOMAN_5K_OVERALL.HTM


After the race we stayed up at the U and went to a kids safety fair so Sarah could meet Curious George. After waiting for more than an hour and eating free hot dogs, cotton candy and creamies, we finally got to meet him. Oh the fun things we do to please our children. :-) Sarah looks bored, but she was excited before and after. ;-) She also got her face painted. (she's a giraffe in case you couldn't guess)

Fun week

I'm sorry for all the blogs, we came back from our trip and had so many separate things to write about. :-) Here are some of our highlights from this week.

On Monday we went with some friends to the Jack Johnson concert. (Thanks Dan) I'd never been to a concert at Usana Amphitheatre before, and it was awesome. It was a perfectly clear night and his performance was great. He and his band are incredibly talented and I'm glad we got to go.




On Friday Mike had his first day of school for his MBA program at the U. I'm going to have to learn to be more selfless with his time. :-)

On Saturday we went on a short nature hike up the Ensign Peak with our friends the Anderson's. It was really nice because all the kids walked and followed at their pace. They had a lot of fun throwing rocks and looking our for snakes. :-) I really love Utah. There is so much to do in such a relatively small place. It may not be Zion, but I'm still grateful to live here.

Stewart Family Reunion

This year we had our first ever Stewart "family reunion" at Fish Lake. It was only my immediate family, and one sister was missing, so it was a small affair, but we had a lot of fun together.

Though our numbers were few we of course had to have nerdy family t-shirts


Mike and Sarah went fishing with my brother-in-laws Brandon and Nick and their kids Caden and Angelina. Mike caught a fish, but the next fish that bit took his dad's pole into the water when it escaped. Oops!


This next picture has a funny story. Sarah was having a "two-way" conversation with the fish they had caught that was hanging over the boat. Mike tried to catch in on tape because it was so funny, but he didn't get to it in time. Here is the gist of it: (I'll have Mike recite it again when he gets home)
"No, please don't eat me"
"I'm sorry, but we are going to eat you"
"No, please don't cook me"
"Yes, we have to cook you so we can eat you"


Needless to say she was very excited to cook it and eat it that night, but as soon as it touched her tongue she recoiled and said it was "disgusting."

The kids had fun "skipping rocks," which mostly consisted of them throwing them in the water. We also had a lot of fun playing Rock Bank. Who would of thought so many "talented" people could be in one family. ;-)


And lets not forget my sweet Steven. He fell in love with my baby sister Ashley and couldn't get enough of snuggling with her. Not even I get those snuggles.