Anniversary Weekend

 Last week it was crummy to get sick and not be able to go to Utah but it was awesome in that I already had a sub lined up and didn't have to worry about work for a bit. I only felt sick for about 24 hours so the rest of the time I was able to get some cleaning and decluttering done. I was also able to work on my ISU classes. I turned in 3 assignments last week. So awesome! I only have one more assignment and I am doing it this week and I won't have t worry about it anymore. So excited! 

We had the kids tested for Covid on Monday and all of them tested negative except for Piper. Piper didn't have any symptoms but had to stay home from school all week. We are hoping she can go back to school tomorrow. 

It was our wedding anniversary on Friday. 16 years, weird! We were originally going to celebrate while we were in Utah but we decided to do an overnighter in Cascade instead. Cascade is smaller and doesn't have the same restaurant options as McCall but it's closer and we thought closer would be better for a short trip. We had one option for dinner and it was okay. For breakfast, we were able to go to a different restaurant and it was pretty good. Scott shared with the server that it was our anniversary and someone paid for our bill. That was so nice! Our hotel room was kind of a little rustic cabin type. It was pretty perfect for the setting. We had a great little getaway. 

Gabby made this contraption so her door would close on its own.

Gabby made some homemade stickers. How? Haha.

Dinner at the Whistle Stop. It was okay. We were glad they were open! 

Cascade Lake Inn

Grandma's for breakfast. Yum! 

We Have The Rona

 Gabby came home sick from school last Friday and she was apparently near a positive kid the previous Friday. It was a pretty mild cold but she couldn't go back to school without a negative test. We didn't want to deal or worry about it so we just opted for her to do her time away from school. Scott started to feel sick and decided he should get tested since none of his co workers are vaccinated. He indeed tested positive. I notified my work and was told I was okay to go to work as long as I was careful since I didn't have symptoms and I am vaccinated. I went to school that day and had the next three days off to go to a funeral and we were supposed to go to Utah. Thursday night my nose started running like crazy. I did have a slight sore throat all week. So I may have had the Rona earlier in the week? It's so hard to tell because I get bad allergies every fall and a sore throat and runny nose are very common for me. Friday morning I felt pretty mild cold symptoms but by about 11:30 I started to feel sick. I had a fever the rest of the day and stayed in bed all day. Yesterday I felt pretty okay. Scott just feels pretty crummy but not terrible. I think our symptoms aren't as bad because we are vaccinated. Gabby is better and the other kids don't seem sick. We are all going to get tested tomorrow. I'm hoping they all get negative tests so they can go back to school sooner. Fingers crossed. Just heard Ryan cough...we will see.

I had a classmate that I grew up with that died of Covid a week ago. I wanted to go to her funeral but I couldn't go because I was sick. Scott and I were originally supposed to go to Mexico this week with our friends but we canceled because we were worried about Covid stuff. Good thing we canceled. We decided to go to Utah instead and visit Scott's family and we had to cancel. That was a bummer. We were going to go to Lagoon's Frightmares and Scott and I were going to go to Heber to celebrate our Anniversary. Oh well. I already had a sub lined up until next Tuesday so that's nice. I will likely need to come up with some more sub plans. I am excited for some extra time to work on my ISU classes. I haven't had time or concentrated energy to work on it so far. I already turned in an assignment yesterday. Huzzah!

My sister Kelsey came into town for my brother's birthday gathering and she dropped off some dinner. So nice! My friend Krista also had some pizza delivered. Yay for friends and family. Now to figure out a grocery delivery and put up Halloween decorations. 

Update: Cleaned the house and put up Halloween decor.

Scott's work dropped this by. Cutest!

Update

 This past week was busy with work but luckily it wasn't too exhausting and I got some annoying things off my checklist. I am figuring stuff out with yearbook. We have a theme and a cover! Bit by bit we will have a yearbook. Gabby was exposed to covid a week ago and she is mildly sick now. She doesn't want to get tested but either way she will have to miss school this whole week. Ugh! I hate this. Hopefully she doesn't have it and hopefully we won't get it. 

Ryan is such a quirky little kid. Lately he is obsessed with dogs and with overweight people and overweight dogs. He is very worried about being fat or obese. I kicked him out of the shed the other day and he was so mad because he was trying to burn fat. I explained to him that he didn't need to burn any fat and it was not healthy to be too skinny. Hopefully he will get over this obsession. Today after he did his job he said, "I don't really like when I do two jobs and all I get is kind words." Ha!. He also said the other day when I didn't want to help him with something and told him he needed to do it himself that "it's not my fault if I have a lazy personality."

Piper loves lego sets!

Garden treats

Scott has been taking the kids out on one on one dates.

40th Birthday Marathon

Back in April, I started to feel like I had more time and I wondered what project to take on. I already did a lot of work on my house and tons of mental work getting back into teaching and going back to school. I decided I wanted to take on a hard physical challenge so I decided that I wanted to try to run a full marathon. I also wanted to do it because I'm turning 40 this year. I immediately texted a friend and my brothers Hart and Gabe about it. I got my friend on board and an 80 percent yes from Hart. I signed up that night! I knew it would be hard on my body and I would have to be careful. When I trained for my half marathon two years ago I had to be careful about not running too much because my knees HATE it.  Since the beginning of June, I've been doing one long run of a minimum of 10 miles. I mostly just ran once a week on my long runs and did cross-training the rest of the week. My knees can't handle more running than that. They don't even handle that. I went on runs with my friend Shauna and I got my friend Brittany to join as well. Shauna ended up having to bail out pretty early as she realized she had a conflict the weekend of the marathon. Brittany ended up being my running buddy and we were able to do most of our long runs together. It was so nice to not get up at 5:00 in the morning by myself to go run say 16 miles. We had lots of bonding as we experienced all the things that come with running like snot and other bodily fluids. So much yuck. She also witnessed me fall twice. The ground was flat. There is no excuse! But I landed like a pro. I just roll with it and jump back up and start running.

Gabe decided to join in about a month ago. We thought he was totally crazy but he did it. He's a crazy person. Gabe and Hart had to get last-minute covid test results before they could race and it was really difficult to get tested and get the results in the time requested. I have my covid vaccine so I didn't have to worry about that. Hart thought he was out but he got his results at 2:00 in the morning on the day of the race. So crazy. My friend Brittany and I carpooled and we happened to come at the same time as Hart so we took the same bus ride up to the starting line. It was a fun bus ride up. It was dark and super early and we were laughing and chatting up some of the other runners. I was thinking how much we were probably annoying the non-morning people. It was fun though. We were having a good chat. We hung around for about 45 minutes waiting for the starting time. It wasn't too cold so that was nice. We started the race and Brittany and I ran together for about 16 miles. I was having digestive issues. After my third stop, Brittany kept going, I don't blame her. She's faster than I am anyway so it worked out. It was a lot harder to run that last 10 miles without her. Most of my training has been with her and it's much easier when you are running with someone. At about mile 16 my knees and hips were feeling pretty okay but I just felt so tired. The last 10 miles were a struggle. I had to walk and jog the last 6 miles. I just couldn't keep running. I didn't have the drive to totally kill myself by not stopping so I did a jog/walk to the end. My time wasn't that much slower with my jog/walks so I was pretty happy that it didn't slow me down too much. I almost cried at the end but I didn't quite. I think because I had allowed myself to walk I wasn't in the same headspace of when you are ready to die at the finish line. I mean I was so tired but it wasn't the same as when I ran a full marathon in college and I ran the whole time and pushed myself to the end. I crossed and balled my eyes right out that time. I'm really glad it's done. I'm glad I did it. I wish I could have run it faster but I knew that would be a challenge because training alone was a challenge. It was a good lesson in making adjustments and being realistic but still accomplishing a goal. 

My parents and my sister Trisha came to town to watch us all run our race. It was fun going to dinner with the family and having a visit with my parents. We didn't get too much hang-out time but it was still great.

I am very sore today. I can hardly walk and my knee is very unhappy. I think I will be okay. I need some time to rest. I don't think I did lasting damage. My knee is fine when I don't run. Fingers crossed. 

I decided I wanted to make some chocolate chip pancakes but needed to get some strawberries and whip cream from the store. I had to ice my knees, take some IB profin, and take an Epsom salt bath first. After that, I felt like I could drag my legs to get the supplies. I decided to get some bacon and orange juice for a belated Piper birthday breakfast. It was yummy. I used a recipe I have my students use and it is good!

I met a fellow FCS teacher for lunch today to help her out. FCS is so overwhelming and the information is confusing. I think I helped her out. She was really overworking and stressing. I shared a bunch of my stuff with her and I think she will feel much better. I was happy I could help her out. I had lots of help when I started which was a lifesaver. 

Alright well, enough novel. Peace!

I went to pickup my bib and I got #1. Woot! 

Prerace Photo with Gabe and Hart

Pre-race pic with Brittany.

Finish line!

Sooooo tired!

Cute family

Sweet friends

Awesome family

Post run pic

Fan club

My phone stats

Belated birthday breakfast.

Update

Monday was labor day and we went to Pojos for more Piper birthday celebration time before the Cannons headed back to Utah. The kids always love to spend time there. Nothing much else to share. Somehow the school week felt EXTRA long even though it was a short week and I was tired and cranky all week. I'm hoping this week at school is better. I was in a mood! I have two BAD classes and that is hard and I'm not great at being super strict and mean. Ha. I just have to think that some of the really hard boys in my classes probably struggle in every class and my class is their favorite since they get to cook. I try to think about it from that perspective sometimes to help me have a better attitude about them and try to let them and myself have a good experience. It's hard and I have more patience at times and much less at other times. 

My marathon is in 6 days! I went on a 10 mile run yesterday and it was hard. Some running days are just bad. My knees and hips hurt. I also rolled my ankle on a rock and couldn't walk last night. Luckily after some ice and rest I can walk today. I hope I can make it through my marathon and I hope I have an okay running day. Please everyone, don't let me run another marathon. Thank you in advance.

Cute! Haha.

Pojos!

Garden onion!

Gabby friend project.

Cute!

 

Piper's Birthday, and Cannons Visit

As far as I know things are going well so far with the kids at school. Things are going pretty smoothly with the exception of lack of school bus drivers. Scott has had to drive the kids to school in the morning and then take a late lunch and go pick them up after school. I hope they get a driver soon! I've adjusted pretty well to working again and have a pretty good rhythm. I haven't felt overly stressed out or tired so that is nice! I went on a 3 mile run on Wednesday and it hurt my body! I guess I wasn't recovered from my 20 mile run. I didn't do a long run this weekend because of that. I rode my exercise bike for a few hours yesterday. My marathon is less than 2 weeks away. I hope I can do it! 

Gabby's rat Clover died on Friday. There have been a lot of tears. Rats are social creatures so I made the mistake of buying two new rats without realizing that they can't be introduced immediately. I had to go and buy a separate cage. Oy! Pets. Not my favorite thing!

Piper's birthday was on Thursday. I made her favorite dinner (lasagna) and made her a chocolate cake. We had cake and opened presents that night. The Utah Cannons came up for a visit per tradition this weekend. We have had a great time so far. Friday night they came and we had taco soup and chatted and Piper opened some presents. On Saturday we went and rode bikes and scootered the green belt. The Cannons are staying at a hotel right next to the river and the greenbelt. It's a fun location. That evening the kids went swimming and we had pizza in the hotel room. The Utah Cannons woke up early and went and watch the hot air balloons. I asked my kids if any of them wanted to get up at 6:15 and go see the balloons and they all said no, (hooray). The Boise Cannons a had a lazy sleep in morning. Today we have mostly been hanging out around the house. Nicole took Piper to the mall to pick out some birthday gifts. She came home with some blinging stuff. Tonight after dinner we walked to Jullion park. I'm not quite sure what is happening tomorrow but I suspect Pojos is in our future.

Spirit of Boise balloons

Hotel shenanigans 

Playing in the river for a bit.

Our greenbelt adventure.

Papa riding Gabby's bike because she stole the electric scooter.

Presents!

Gabby got this present for Piper. 

Ryan fell asleep upside down on the love sac. 

Presents!

She's 10!

Farewell party for Jaynee last Sunday. I will miss her! 

I took Piper on a subway date last Sunday.