Payton and The Burn!

So a couple of days ago I decided to sign Payton up for a highly overpriced football camp which only lasted 3 hours for a total cost of $50.00.
Gasp. What? I. Know. Me. I paid that much for 3 hours of playing with a football in an indoor arena.

I think I love Payton a little too much... Aaaaawww... What's not to love though???

Aaaaanyway. I think we got our $50 worth since our little guy made the 5:00 and 10:00 news here in Boise! Woot woot!

click here to see his skills!

A Little Behind

So, here it is, July 1, 2009, and I am feeling
A Little Behind.
It's not that I'm not doing anything. I can putter around the house all day and when Billy comes home, it looks as if I have done nothing... Oh, how I have a love/hate relationship with this season called summer.

I feel so rushed during the school year that I go to the extreme opposite during the summer months where all I want to do is:
1. Hike Table Rock - but only on cool mornings
2. Go to the pool and read my book
3. Take a nap while at the pool
4. Go for an evening walk with my hubby

Yep, that's it. Those are the 4 things I want to do and you'll notice that laundry, housecleaning, meal preparation, grocery shopping, de-cluttering, blogging, and doing anything that's productive, creative, or necessary did not make the list.

So, I'm feeling a little behind in most every aspect of my life, but, heck, it's only a couple of months, right?

Sawtooth Relay

What happens when you take 6 women (2 of whom are in their 40s, and 3 of whom are in their 50s) who love to run, put them in a van together with less than 2 hours of sleep at 12:45 AM, gather 2 reflective vests, 2 headlamps, a clipboard, string, a pencil, 2 Garmins, a cooler full of food and Vitamin water, and head out to Stanley from Sun Valley with the intention of running back the way you just came in 9 hours and 13 minutes???


No.

Not crazy. Wrong answer.

It's called the Sawtooth Relay.
Duh.

And WE DID IT!!! We definitely rocked that race and are proud of it!

You see, it works like this. Gather 6 friends who don't care about each other's post run smells. Ride to Sun Valley Friday afternoon (while still smelling nice and fresh) and enjoy each other's company carbo loading at Smokey Mountain Pizza. Go to the local grocery store and pick up lots of replenishing foods for our post run snacks. Oranges, Triscuits, cheese, chocolate, bananas, Power Bars, Luna Bars, Clif Bars, and more chocolate. Determine that it's time to go back to the condo and try to get some sleep before we awaken at 12:45 AM to load into Kris' van and drive to the start in Stanley. First, however, coffee is needed for Kelli, Claudia, and Joni. Drive to 6 locations at 7:30 at night and find nothing open to satisfy the need of caffeine.

***Hmmm... note to self: A good business opportunity for someone in Sun Valley - Some COFFEE place that stays open past 5:00 PM!!! Duh.

Find coffee and drive to condo to get ready for bed. Arrange 3 different changes of running clothes in bags and slip into comfy sleeping bag only to remain awake for the entire "sleeping" time until 20 minutes before the alarm goes off. Wake up - hey wait, I'm already up. Physically get up and put dry contacts in. Pray that they don't get too foggy so I can drive for an hour and a half to Stanley. Arrive at the start line. Put vest on, head lamp on, number on, gloves on, head warmer on, and leave at 3:00 AM after having said a prayer that no mountain lions or bears are up like me and ready for a snack! I leave to start my run and I am grateful that the moon is almost full and the sky is mostly clear. I am surprisingly calm and feel that my prayers are being answered! Yay! The river is to my left and the forest is to my right. There are very few cars on the road: only the ones who are stopping to offer water to their runner. My girls stop at mile 2 and I gratefully accept water from them knowing that I need some human communication! Then they drive off to mile 4 while I continue to run and listen to my breathing and for the wildlife around me. Nothing but the smell of a skunk and 55 minutes after 3:00 I am finished with leg number one and I am handing off the bracelet to runner 2 - Keziah. I receive hugs, praise, and a warm van to retreat into the back seat. Awww... I love endorphins!!!


This cycle continues with each runner and it is like a huge cheering contest as we encourage each other on and show our support for this cool event we've gotten ourselves into.

We love "Sweet's Sanitation" portapotties. Yeah, that was the name of the company! I know!

The rain started around the time I was ready for my second leg. The backside - yes, downhill - of Galena Summit. It was a little more difficult to run after I'd been sitting in a car for 5 hours, and we had a lot of elevation up on that thar mountain! I dug deep and kept trying to visualize the backside of Robie Creek, which is harder by far according to me!!! I tried to listen to Lindsay's ipod but Kelly Clarkson and the Spice Girls just didn't do it for me so I took out the earbuds and enjoyed listening to my own breathing...heehee... Handing off to our next runner was AWESOME! I was finished and could now enjoy cheering and eating and encouraging and laughing with my team.

Ahhh...Warm and dry at last!!!

When it was all said and done our team finished in 9 hours and 13 minutes. We felt pretty good about ourselves and the fact that we finished so well for the Women's Master's Division! I think the part I liked the most was the comraderie that we felt being together in a van for 9 hours striving for a common goal. Ahhh, Teamwork is a beautiful thing and I know I definitely want to do this race again next year.

Kukimbia Kumamas Rule the Hill!

A girl after my own heart!

Saturday, June 6 was a busy one in our household: Bill and Payton were on a boy scout campout, Kris and Kourtni were at a basketball tournament, Alyssa had to work, and Lindsay had signed herself up for the annual Capital Classic race. Hmmmm.... no family around to cheer her on! No friends who signed up with her! Rain, rain, rain!

Lindsay is not easily deterred when it comes to a race. The weather didn't affect her. No friends in the race didn't affect her. She was in true form and ran the race quickly by herself. Alyssa managed to get some time away to drop her off and pick her up so she had a way there and back.

I am grateful for sisterly love.

Hey, it's all worth the cute shirt!

Mountain Lions, Snakes, and Bears, OH, MY!!!

I'm not the world's best tent camper. Or overnight hiker. Or day hiker. Sure, I'll hike up Table Rock - heck, I'm close to civilization up there! But, please don't even talk to me about taking necessities in a pack on my back and climbing up high mountainous trails with bears and mountain lions lurking around each wooded turn of the trail. Nope, I'll stay close to where all the humans are, thank you very much.

So, needless to say, I have two reasons to start worrying about mountain lions, snakes, and bears, oh, my!

Reason #1: The Sawtooth Relay
A couple of my teaching/running buddies and I thought we should tackle the race from Stanley, Idaho, to Sun Valley. Easy enough: take 6 ladies, run 2 legs of about 5 miles a piece, enjoy the gorgeous scenery of the Sawtooth Mountains, ride in a van for the duration of time you're not running, play loud music to psyche us up, and basically just really enjoy the company and the experience.
Ummm, not too sure that this will be the case. You see, our team, The Kukimbia Kumamas, has a start time of 3:00.

A.M.

And guess who's runner #1?

ME.
So, to recap:
I'm runner #1, starting my leg at 3:00 AM, on a dark mountain road, with who knows what kind of critters lurking on the dark sides of the road as I, all by myself, run 5.6 miles to where I hand off to runner #2.
AAAAAAHAHHHHH, I really don't like mountain lion, snakes, or bears at 3:00 in the morning on a dark mountain road!!!
But,
Bill told me he would bring his motorcycle up and ride next to me while I run in case one of the said mentioned critters decides they want to make a 3 AM snack of me...
Isn't he the nicest husband? He doesn't want his wife to be alone on that scary mountain road.

I love him!

Reason #2: 4th year level leader at girls' camp
I love girls' camp. I loved it when I got to go to it as a girl and now that I'm an adult, I have loved going to it as the Young Women's President. Cabins to sleep in, food prepared by the camp director, swimming pool to swim in, a lodge relax in, etc... Yep, girls' camp is great - or so I thought until I found out the other night that I was needed to be in charge of the level 4 girls. No problem, I said. You have to go on an overnight hike with all the girls, she said. But I don't like to hike or camp or mountain lions or bears or snakes, I said. Laughter on the other end of the phone. No laughter on my end. More laughter on the other end. Seriously, I don't like those things, I said. That's ok, you'll have some other leaders with you, she said.

Hmmmm. Looks like I have a couple of things to worry about this summer.

Maybe Bill can ride up the mountain trail on his motorcycle, too?

Houston, we have a GRADUATE!

Yeah, this pretty much sums up the feelings of our oldest daughter right now!

What a night for Alyssa and for our family: Grandma Virchow, Drake, and Morgan all came up to spend a few days with us celebrating.
Jeff surprised us by delivering Grandma Ball to the Taco Bell Arena after a trip to Idaho Falls to pick her up! (What a NICE guy!) He brought Tresa to the graduation, too! Since she is his wife!
Bill got strep throat during the afternoon and was completely bed ridden with body aches, head aches, swollen glands, and complete misery. He was able to make it to see his darling daughter walk across the stage but left a short time after she received her diploma.
(That is why you will see no pictures of Dad with his family... maybe we can "stage" another graduation photo op at a later date when he can remain upright for longer than 5 minutes...)
Tons of picture taking with Alyssa and her cute friends!
A trip to Flatbread (closed). A trip to Lucky 13 (closed). Finally a late night graduation dinner at the local IHOP for a delicious meal of omellettes, stuffed french toast, and pancakes..yummm
A newly liberated daughter off to an all-night party of air brushed tattoos, yucky Boondocks pizza, hypnotists, and a final good bye to many of her classmates.

What a night.
For those of you who have young children, a word or two of advice:
The next 7 to 10 years will absolutely fly by. Seriously. It will fly and you will find yourself wondering who this beautiful (or handsome) young woman (or man) is that was just barely born and just barely started Kindergarten.
Yep, you'll wonder where all those years went. You'll wonder who sped up the clock and who morphed your baby into a smart, intelligent, contributing member of society.
It flies by and you'll definitely wonder what the heck happened.

I know I do.

Top 5%

Click here

to see how proud we are of our Lyssie Lou!

Wow. Top 5% of her graduating class
AND
one of 100 students in Boise who were honored at the
Century Scholars Awards Banquet.

Yep. We be proud!

Ode to the dog

Guarding the homestead - or maybe just taking a breather...

With the some of the family after doing what he loves best - running free up a hiking trail while peeing wherever his little heart desires!

Recently Griffey turned 12 years old, and the older he gets, the more he definitely wears on us. He's a part of the family and we get a kick out of the zany things he does. He's not the wanderer he once was: he prefers to stay closer to home now that he's a "senior citizen dog", but he still yips in the morning when he hears the dresser drawers open because he knows that it means someone is getting up, getting dressed, and probably going for a run and he does not want to be left out of the fun!

Here's a poem that sums our dog up:

My Dog May Be a Genius
by Jack Pretlutsky

My dog may be a genius,
and in fact, there's little doubt.
He recognizes many words,
unless I spell them out.
If I so much as whisper "walk",
he hurries off at once
to fetch his leash...it's evident
my dog is not a dunce.

I can't say "food" in front of him,
I spell f-o-o-d,
and he goes wild unless I spell
his t-r-e-a-t.
But recently this tactic
isn't working out too well.
I think my d-o-g has learned to
s-p-e-l-l.

Happy Birthday to the world's smartest (and fittest) dog. Not sure there are many 12 year old dogs out there with the energy, stamina, and anticipation of Griffey the dog. We like him and hope he continues to take us for runs for a long, long, long time!

Robie Creek Rocks - now that it's over!

That's me on the very far right - I don't have a sunburn. yet.

There's Alyssa, bottom left. No sunburn for her either. Yet.

Awww. The whole family came to support us! They are so sweet!

Two racers - both in the blue theme of the race.

Oh, my.

Finished with another Robie Creek, my 6th one to be exact, and Alyssa's 2nd one. It was a gorgeous day with temps in the upper 50s when we started out at high noon. There are a lot of tricky things about this race, but the start time is probably the trickiest part for me. I'm used to running at a very early part of the day, then coming home to my bowl of oatmeal, honey, and walnuts. But on Robie race day, I have to change my schedule all up. Eat my oatmeal first thing, so it has a chance to digest and give me the needed energy to power up the hills. Drink water but only up until 2 hours before the race - you don't want to spend any unnecessary time at the portapotties on your climb up. Then drink about 2-3 8 oz cups of water 15 minutes before start time.

Um, the water thing didn't happen.
I couldn't stomach drinking that much water and risking my bladder turning on me at mile 7... I needed to focus on other things like what cool Robie tattoos I could put on my body before the start. I needed to focus on taking a good picture for posterity. I needed to warm up with the girls before the start, and I definitely needed to shield Joni from any oncoming runners when she needed to go to the bathroom behind a car 'cuz the line was too long... 5 minutes before the start.

There are a lot of tricky things about that race! Here they are from my perspective mostly in the order of which they happened:

-Sunscreening up before the race and forgetting to do your shoulders and arms.
-2,400 other runners' breathing patterns
-Losing Alyssa at the start line
-Finding Alyssa at about mile 2
-Getting sunscreen in my eyes for about 5 miles 'cuz I.Am.A.Sweathog.
-Deciding that Banana Boat Sunscreen makers are liars. Their sunscreen is not sweatproof!
-Seeing older women and men pass you without breaking a sweat
-Figuring out when to take your gu before it gives you a rash between your boobs 'cuz that's where you had to stash it...
-Deciding to say good bye to Joni 'cuz she was just too fast for me!
-Somewhere losing Alyssa
-Choking on water as I gulped it greedily from a cup and sniffed it up my nose
-Being sticky between the boobs 'cuz my gu was REALLY warm after I took half of it at mile 5.
-Listening to my FM radio/MP3 player on a classic rock station because I'm too lazy to download songs and getting BAD reception with every swing of my arm 'cuz we're up so high in the mountains
-Wondering if the Red Bull they gave me at the summit would actually give me wings like the commercial said it would (it didn't)
-Deciding how fast I'll have to run down the backside if I want to cross the finish line at 2 hours
-Deciding I can't calculate anything in my head when I'm running pell mell down the mountain
-Screaming at myself in my head to KEEP RUNNING! DON'T WALK! for the last 2 miles
-Trying to envision what a mile really is compared to what the Robie organizers say it is - I swear the last mile is 2 miles. Seriously, people.
- Crossing the finish line without running into someone as they make us STOP and give them our timing chip
-Wishing that we had a camera in our stash bag at the end so we could take a picture of how dirty, salty, sweaty, tired, and happy we were!

The Race to Robie Creek really rocks no matter how tricky it is. In fact, that's why I love it so much. The challenge. The training. The craziness. The competition. The after party. The t-shirt (even if it is ugly and white). The friends you make while standing in the portapotty line and bus line. The delicious cookies, bread, macaroni and cheese, potatoes, chili, and diet pepsi. The gnarly sunburn I got on my arms, neck, and the back of my calves. The 3 toenails I'll definitely lose. Alyssa getting an award for finishing 2nd in her age group. The cheering for the winners as they accept their eccentric prizes. It's all worth it. It's the experience!

Thanks Rocky Mountain Sailtoads! You guys are awesome! See you next year, hopefully 7 minutes faster.

Tagged!

My 8 favorite TV shows:
1. LOST! Man, oh, man, do I look forward to Wednesdays and all the utter confusion that show brings with it!
2. The Fat Show (The Biggest Loser) Nothing like a little Bob and Jillian to shake things up a bit with those slowly morphing into thin people contestants. I'm sad Sione is gone. :(
3. 24 - Yep, we love killing, shooting, espionage, illicit goings on under the covers, and such on a Family Home Evening night... Heathens, aren't we?
4. On The Road Again - Cooking show on PBS with Gwyneth Paltrow and a bunch of other foodies as they go through Spain eating and driving in beautiful cars while the wind rustles their hair ever so gracefully. They even make wine look yummy as they caress it in their mouth...
5. Saturday Night Live - OK, I am a heathen, but I love this show! Bad thing is, my kids also like it and that isn't a good thing. My favorite segment is Weekend Update but without Amy Poehler, it's just not the same.
6. TODAY Show - I can't get ready for school without this playing on my bedroom TV. It makes me anxious, nervous, and panicky about the economic future of our country, but for some sick reason, I love to listen to Matt and Meredith go on and on!
7. The Office - what more can I say? It's comedy done right! Another reason to love and look forward to Thursday night!
8. Survivorman - This dude is OVER THE TOP! But, hey, he's one calm, collected guy as the temperature plummets to 40 below or goes above 130! Love to see what cool ways he collects water, cools himself down, or takes apart a jeep to make butter. Yep, he's cool.

8 things I did yesterday:
1. Went to the gym at 5 am and did weights and elliptical - no running!
2. Taught 5th grade and enjoyed the afternoon while the class watched Bedtime Stories as part of our party we earned.
3. Helped plan a volunteer appreciation lunch with several ladies at school.
4. Sat down to read a paper and almost fell asleep.
5. Took Kourtni to her friend's house to watch scary movies.
6. Made salmon for dinner for Bill, Lindsay, and me.
7. Went to a movie with my honey - Taken - if you have teen aged, forward, independent daughters, you should take them with you. It's scary!
8. Picked up Kourtni and Hannah from their friend's house - no scary movies were watched!

8 favorite restaurants:
1. Cafe Rio - only in Utah, sigh. This place is the bomb! If you like Mexican food, and your name isn't Bill Ball, you'll love this place for its sweet pork and delicious tomatillo dressing. Oh, and for its yummy handmade tortillas. It has really good diet coke, too. Oh, you should also try the cheesecake flan and tres leches desserts also! Pure deliciousness!
2. Andrade's - only in Boise! Delicious chips, warm beans, and salsa! I love his seafood enchilada called Enchiladas Cancun. Yummmmm...
3. Macaroni Grill - love their bread and olive oil! Drool... They also make a great Penne Rustica that I order each time. And they have good chocolate cake too!
4. Sonic - yeah, I'm bad, and even though they get our order consistently wrong (must be the 6 different personalized orders we have to give them) I love their sonic burgers and Route 66 ginormous diet Coke with their delicious soft ice....ooooh, and don't forget to try a strawberry lemon cream slush! Heaven!
5. Cheesecake Factory - they have divine fried macaroni and cheese. Whoa, comfort food to the max!
6. Fanci Freeze - in Boise only. They have great shakes! Shake on the bottom and sundae on top. No lack of calories there!
7. Costco - love their $1.50 hot dog and diet Coke. Ummmmm! (Only once in a while though...)
8. JCW's - only in Utah. They serve up a mean burger and skin-on fries and they have the most outrageous shakes! They are monster sized and sort of monster priced as well. It's a great splurge though and I'm over the $40 lunch for me and 4 kids. Yep, I think I'm over it..

8 things I'm looking forward to:
1. Summer and the warm weather and the bike rides and the hikes with Jen in the morning and swim team and brown legs and fresh tomatoes and no schedules and the walks with Bill in the evening and the books I get to read and the family vacation we'll hopefully take and the excellent morning running temperatures and the cool air conditioning- yes, summer.
2. End of school. End of story.
3. Getting Robie Creek out of the way!
4. Training for a marathon this fall.
5. Getting a tan at the pool!
6. Getting a helmet so I can go for motorcycle rides with Bill!
7. Sleeping in a bit more this summer.
8. Catching up on the reading I want to do.

8 things on my wish list:
1. That our house was paid for.
2. That Bill was more happy with his job.
3. That I could have felt more at ease teaching 5th grade earlier than now.
4. That I could find comfortable, cute, stylish shoes to wear to school. My feet are paying the price and looking pretty un-cute. Why can't I find any?
5. That Alyssa will be happy and satisfied with her college choice!
6. That we could take the whole fam on a huge trip with warm water, warm sun, warm beaches in a very tropical locale.
7. A new Volvo hard top convertible - cherry red or black - either color will do, I'm not picky.
8. That Bill and I will have good health to enjoy all those years of retirement that will be here in less than 13 years... oh, and that we have enough money left in our 401K to be able to enjoy those years as well!


OK, I'm supposed to tag 8 people, so here goes!

1. Alyssa
2. Lindsay
3. Aly
4. Leslie
5. Terrie
6. Nisa
7. Amanda
8. Stephanie