Back update:)!

I am happy to report that a visit to the chiropractor and some rest days helped and now my back is back :)! I never realized how important my back is and how much more careful I will treat it from now on!

Dave's Work Christmas Party

We had a fun time at the party with all the kids getting their pictures done by the artists.

They had a coloring contest and Amber won 2nd place for her age group.


This last picture was done right before we went home. Lindsay was yawning (wish I had got a shot of that) and trying to smile in between.

Injury, ugh!

Okay, so now that Dave and I are thinking about the St. George Marathon in October, I am trying to train seriously (for me anyway). Dave has been lifting weights (small ones in our home) for the past couple of months. I have learned that running well involves building up muscles in areas that you don't think that you use in running, like arms and stomach muscles. So Monday morning I got up earlier with Dave and had him show me some of his routine. When we were finished I went to put the weights away, and the stupidest thing in the world happened! I hurt my back! I didn't even pick up the weights all the way, I just started to and I could tell they were too heavy and put it back down. I could tell that something was a little off, but I thought it would just go away, but as the day progressed it got worse! What a bummer and for hardly anything! Oh well. I broke down and went to the chiropractor today because all the ibuprofen and ice were helping, but it felt like I needed something more. That was an experience in it self! My new years resolution is to always use my legs when lifting cause this lower back stuff STINKS!!! I am actually pretty functional, just a dull ache until I move the wrong way and then comes the sharp pain. Hopefully it will heal quickly.

The Aflac Iron Girl Run in Tempe

I guess that I have been hit by the running bug. A couple of weeks ago I got an email about a race that was going to be on Saturday, December 6th (somewhat rare...lots of races on Sunday) that was open only to women. It got my attention until I realized that my kids had a performance that same morning. Then Monday we got the message that the show was bumped to the next week and I started thinking about the race again. I tried to sign up online, but it wouldn't go through and so I went and signed up on Friday. It was a nightmare trying to find parking around the Tempe Town Lake...but it finally worked out!

This is before the race.

Dave and Amber came with me for support and to cheer me on. I tried to ask some other women if they wanted to run, but I guess the 10 mile course sounded a little daunting to them, or maybe the late notice was a factor. Dave was sweet to come and later told me that he was happy that I was now a runner of my own free will. Remember he is the one that got me into this sport.

I set my goals (3 different times...slowest time (I can live with this), medium time (I would be happy to achieve this), and the fastest time (this will push me to my limit)). I ran the half marathon averaging 10 minute miles. So my slowest goal was to match my pace from the 1/2, my fastest was to run 9 minute 30 second miles (which really doesn't sound that fast, but it is fast for me! Well it was a beautiful day and I felt good.

Right before the start.

It was fun to have a cheering section and I reached my goal within just a few seconds! I ran the 10 miles in 1 hour and 35 minutes and 12 seconds!

After crossing the finish line.

It feels good to have some goals and start to be able to accomplish them! Our next race is London's Run in Queen Creek on January 31st (it is a Saturday), come join us. They have a 1/2 marathon, a 10k and a 2mile fun run. Just google London's Run Queen Creek.

Officially Over the Hill

The big day finally arrived...my 40th birthday. So I decided to celebrate with a nice easy run with Dave in the morning followed by a visit with the family to Krispy Kreme donuts. I had found the coupon card for "buy one dozen get one free" that I bought from the PTSO at our school two days before they went out of business. That of course is a whole other story for another day.


I figured that it was my birthday and one donut would be a great treat to start the day off. Dave had made arrangements for several of my friends to get me out of the house for most of the day. We spent some time at the Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, then we went to lunch at Joe's BBQ in downtown Gilbert (where they give you a free meal on your birthday). We chatted and ate and then off we went to watch Twilight. After the movie I went shopping for a while by myself to kill a little more time before the big birthday shindig that Dave had planned for me.

I came home to a decorated house and this birthday cake and chocolate chip cookie. I freshened up and soon people started arriving.

I thought the saying on the cookie was clever!

Okay, I put this in the right way, but something turned it around...technology...I seem to know just enough to get in trouble, but not enough to fix things when they go haywire! Dave had made a questionnaire about me to see how much everyone knew. It was multiple choice, which could make it easier or harder depending on how much information you knew. Some of my friends brought me some gag gifts. See that big red package below...you know that saying...beware of the big ones? Okay so maybe there is no saying like that, but there should be!


We played several games including, name that tune...which ended up being harder than Dave thought. He had gone through our old cassette tape collection and cued up the songs and had people guess the song and the artists. We played another game that he called "Big 40" which is a clapping game like "Categories" that we, as a group, struggled to figure out. It made me laugh so hard that once we figured the game out it wasn't nearly as funny to me.

Here I am with the gifts open. The glasses are part of the gag gifts (hopefully I won't need them for a long time:)!) I can't tell if you can see, but the plunger has an electric cord coming out the top! Someone has a good sense of humor, or too much time on their hands...just kidding...it was hilarious! Yes, that is a real commode. There is a story behind that one too. If you really want to know, just ask me.

We ended the evening with a PowerPoint answering the questions on the questionnaire. Dave had gone through my old photo albums and baby book and put together a great presentation. I really appreciated the work that Dave put into making my birthday fun for me...I hope the other people had a good laugh at least.

Christmas PJ Tradition

PJ's with Grandma Hugh

Every year for the last 5 years my mom has come to our house and made pajama pants with my kids. She is very patient and lets them do the sewing with her tutelage. It took a few years to figure out the best pattern, but we have it down now! Here are some pictures with everyone except for Amber who was playing at a cousins house that day.

As you can see the instruction becomes more advance with those that have some experience!

It is a great tradition and it is fun to look at our pictures and guess the year by the pj pants that we have on on Christmas morning!

Turkey Trot & Thanksgiving 2008

Here we are before the race began. It was a little chilly and had rained off and on, but the most rain didn't come until we had finished the races!

Check out Lindsay, Kent & Amber "stretching" to get ready to run the one mile fun run. My dad ran with the kids, he was a great sport! He said that Lindsay would run and then stop and walk and just as he would catch up to her she would turn around and start running again! She was determined to beat Grandpa to the finish line!

We met up with my niece Kourney after the race (she also did the 10k). We took a friend from our ward with us and he came in 2nd in the 2 mile run. My mom took 1st in her age division. (If we would have stuck around she would have taken home a turkey...but we had a timeline:), sorry mom!). It turned out to be a great day. Both Dave and I improved our times from last year! Dave came in at 47:37 and I came in at 57:23.

We went to Thanksgiving dinner at Dave's brother Richard's house...we affectionately call it the "Garner Resort". There were about 45 people there including my parents and several other "in-law" parents. It was quite the group and we all had a grand time.

My sister-in-law took our family pictures with her nice camera and they turned out really nice and will be on our family Christmas Card. While we were waiting to get our pictures taken one of my other sister-in-law took this one with our non-fancy camera with my mom and dad in there with us. I thought they turned out pretty good too.