Our Son is Engaged!

I would like to announce that our son Owen Jeffrey Kimball is engaged to be married!  It is a little sooner than we expected, but I'm sure they will be very happy together.

I wasn't too surprised to find out about this engagement when last night as I walked downstairs I overheard him telling his brothers, much to their amusement,  that he was going to ask a girl to marry him the next day at school.  He was even practicing getting down on one knee and saying those famous words, "Will you marry me?" as his brothers were giving him tips on how to do it right.

Up until that point, I didn't realize he even had a girlfriend.  But, I calmly found out that her name is Kate and they have known each other for a very long time.  Ever since school started last week.  "How do you know that she likes you?" I asked.  "Because she chases me around at recess." he replied.  A very sure sign of affection indeed if you ask me.

He originally wanted to give her this lovely box that he made at art camp this summer as a sign of his love.  However, after thinking it over, he realized that his teacher wouldn't let him take something that big out to recess.  His next idea was to get a silver twistie and make it into a ring.  But after he finished, let's be honest here, it looked cheap.  I thought at that point, maybe this idea would fizzle and I forgot about it.

But, after school today I asked him if he proposed.  And sure enough he did.  He decided on giving her a plastic bracelet and key chain that he found in his hoarding drawer.  A much better option if you ask me.  "And what did she do?" I asked.  "She took them and went back to her friends" he replied.

And there you have it.  An engaged boy.

Hmmmm why do I get the feeling this kid is going to give me grief in a few years? :)  

We Love a Good Demolition Derby!

Sawyer and Chasey lovin' the show.

Especially when cars roll completely over!

Girls vs Boys

Do you want to know the difference between girls and boys? I have the perfect example.

These are three things that the 3 oldest boys wore to school on their first day.  There is nothing wrong with these items of clothing except for a few things.

1) They are stained and/or snagged
2) They are not the new clothes I bought them.

Normally, I wouldn't blink twice about these clothes, but I foolishly assumed that on the first day of school they would want to wear something new. (My girl mind thinking of course.)

However, my boys could care less about what they wear, even on the first day. After the first one emerged and I noticed that he was not wearing anything I had just bought him, I kept my mouth shut for about 5 minutes.  Then I couldn't stand it any longer, so I casually commented to him that his shirt had multiple snags all over.  His response.  "Nobody will notice."  Alrighty then.

It makes me wonder why I even bought them a few new clothes to begin with.

Girls on the other hand..... That's a whole other story.

Perfectly Said

We were at the grocery store the other day and I let the boys each pick out a piece of candy. When we got to the check out line, Owen asked me if this was his money he was spending or mine. Meaning, was he using his allowance or was I just going to buy it for him. I replied that I would buy it for him. His response: "So you are wasting your money and not mine."

Yes Owen. That is correct. 

Mt Timpanogos

Rewind 13+ years ago.  Scott and I and some of my various relatives, whom I cannot remember decided to hike Timp.  I thought it was a great idea.  What I didn't think about was that I was out of shape and had done little to no hiking or exercise.   I very distinctly remember that hike and how miserable I was.  I only made it to the meadow and had to wait while the others made it to the top and then returned.  I also vowed to myself then and there to remember how miserable I felt and to never, ever hike that again.  I kept that vow until last Monday.

At the beginning of summer, Scott and I thought that Taylor was old enough to hike Timp.  We talked to Taylor and he was excited to go.  I also knew that hiking 15 miles didn't really fit into my training schedule anywhere for my half marathon, so we scheduled it right after the race.  I was also pretty confident that if I could run 13 miles,  I could certainly hike 15.  And that I did.  It is amazing the difference a little exercise can make! 

The wildflowers were stunning.  You know, you just can't beat Mother Nature.  She does beautiful work.

Taylor did a great job.  He became a pro at picking out the M&Ms from his trail mix and leaving the raisins.  A man after my own heart.  When we got to the saddle, a point where you can see the entire Utah and Salt Lake Valley his first response was "Wow."  It was so worth it!

We were the 3rd group to make it to the top that day.  The first was a couple that got engaged just a few minutes before we made it up.  The second was an older man that hikes this route regularly.  So regularly that the day we met him, was his 551st time.  Yes, 551 times to the very top.  That is amazing.

 Till next time.....

I ran 13 miles

Well I guess 13.1 to be exact. And I write the story, because I know if I just post a pix about my race I will get questions about my hip. My hip is my most popular body part! So here goes.

In June I signed up for the Timpanogos half marathon. My two neighbors signed up and asked me if I wanted to sign up with them. I was quite hesitant for two reasons. One, running in a race has never really appealed to me. I have been running for several years now and I do it because the times I don't hate it, I love it. For me, it is about feeling good mentally and physically. I was also worried that forcing myself into a training schedule would tip the scales more into the hate category. I definitely didn't want that. It is a fine balance.

Two, despite taking 9 months off to let my hip heal from surgery,  it was still aching after running and I couldn't get an answer from my Dr. as to why. So to push myself further didn't really seem like a good idea.

But, since my Dr. hadn't told me to stop running because of the aching, I signed up and started training. My goal was to run 13 miles. No times to beat, just to be able to run the entire time.

Finally about three weeks ago, after my hip was continuing to ache a lot, I nailed down my Dr. His best guess (and it was a guess) was that my hip capsule was tight and I needed to stretch it out. He told me that if that didn't work then another MRI would be needed.

So, I got online and found 4 stretches that are suppose to stretch your hip capsule, whatever that even is, and I added them to the ever growing list of stretches that I do religiously after every run.

And you know what? The aching is gone. Totally.

Waiting to start

And my race? Other than a stretch around mile 9 and then again at mile 11, I felt good the entire time. I would never call running 13 miles easy by any stretch, but I was surprised that it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. Not only did I run the entire race without walking, I finished it faster than I thought I would. So, all in all it was a good experience.

Will I run another? Well...never say never. But for now, I am very much looking forward to running just because I love it. That is of course, when I don't hate it.

Our Movie Night!

Way back at the beginning of summer, the boys and I talked about hosting an outdoor movie night for all of their friends.  Last night was the big night and luckily the wind left us alone!

As soon as Scott set up the screen the boys reserved their section of the lawn for their friends.

We loaded up on popcorn, soda and candy.  And let me tell you, those boys know how to put it down!

There are definitely some things we would have done differently, but everyone had a good time!  Even the ones who fell asleep before the movie was over.

Hmmmm we may need to make this an annual summer event at our house.

Let me define irony

You make a bad decision and decide to take all 4 boys with you to buy shoes for only the oldest 2, Taylor and Bennett.

Once you are on your way you realize the youngest two didn't bother to put on shoes before you left.

At the shoe store the youngest is running around barefoot, while the second youngest is making due with 2 jumbo-sized right footed flip flops that he scrounged up in the van.

The two youngest are loudly whining the ENTIRE time that they need shoes, while I repeatedly tell them over and over through clenched teeth that they are not the ones that need new shoes. It is the ones who are wearing shoes that need them.

That is irony.