Hot Hot Hot

I am not unacquainted with hot weather. Growing up in Salt Lake City, we had plenty of hot summer days. When I got married and moved to Omaha, I really learned what hot was. Summers there were suffocating. Temperatures around 100 degrees with humidity to match. Thanks goodness we had air conditioning there. The day Aubrey was born it was 107 degrees, and had been above 100 for about 10 days in a row. Stifling. Miserable.

I thought moving to a more temperate climate would make those hot days a distant memory. I love the cool, rainy weather of the Pacific Northwest. I actually LOVE rain. Summers here are generally pleasant, with a few days where the temperature toys with 100 degrees, and then back down to more pleasant temperatures. This week has been incredible, though. We have been over 100 degrees for 3 days in a row, and last week it was in the 90s each day. Today is supposed to be another scorcher--but down to 102. That should be nice.

Really, what do I care? I get up at 5:00 and run before the heat comes, and then I stay hidden in my air-conditioned house, and bake premium baked goods outside in my roaster oven. If I do venture out, it is in my air-conditioned car to drive to an air-conditioned store or the air-conditioned dental office. It's my own little paradise. But the kids are not so easily amused. They like to play outside in the heat.

I have always told the kids I would never buy a "Slip N Slide." This comes, I'm sure, from my parents refusing to buy one, always explaining, in very nice words, that they were a piece of crap and a waste of money. My dad would make things fun for us, though, by spreading out a big tarp or long piece of plastic and putting the sprinkler on it. We had fun--who wouldn't have fun with my dad around?--but despite the fun, I remember still coveting the neighbors's official slip n slides. And then I grew up and realized I was just like my parents.

So far the kids have been OK with no Slip N Slide. They actually haven't even asked for one for a few years. If somebody mentioned it while looking through the Sunday ads, one of the other kids would jump in for me and say, "No. They are a waste of money and will break within one day."

But desperate times call for desperate measures. On Monday, the kids started talking about a Slip N Slide. It was over 100 degrees, and the sprinklers were losing their excitement. I figured that if there ever was a time to blow $20 on a Slip N Slide, even if it only lasted one day, it would be worth it this week. Tuesday morning I began a search for a Slip N Slide. At the fifth store I went to, Big 5 ironically, they had one left. I handed over my $20, and headed home to the kids.

We got it all hooked up, and they spent 5 hours out there the first day. To my amazement, the thing was still in tact when we pulled it off of the lawn on Tuesday. Yesterday we hooked it up again, and within an hour, the thing had totally pulled apart on the bottom, making any water making it through the holes in the slide impossible. The kids didn't complain. They just put the hose at the front end and did without the fancy spray technology. 5 more hours of fun yesterday.

I must say I am very proud of my white-ys. 10 hours in the sun, and no sunburns. Let's hear it for SPF 50!

So many helpers

One of Mark's favorite sayings is, "Many hands make a large job small." This is true for the most part. However, if making cookies is the job at hand, I would actually say, "Many hands make a small job almost impossible." But I love having the kids around--I really do. I will be sad when school starts up again. We have a lot of fun together. And I will savor these years that they think I am cool and they want to hang out with me. I know it won't always be that way.

Mark snapped the above pictures while I was making cookies a couple of Sundays ago. It was the day after I returned from girls camp, and we were packing up Abram's stuff to leave the next morning on the high adventure. The kids had gone through cookie withdrawals that week, and so I was attempting to make some double chocolate chip cookies for them. If you look closely in the picture of me, you will see that all 7 kids are RIGHT there within 3 feet of me. That's pretty much what my day looks like. I go on with my things I need to do, and some of them, usually not all of them, follow me around to help or to just keep me company. I have really great kids. They even sing with me. Just don't tell their friends.

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday was my 17th anniversary. I cannot believe how time has flown. I was just a kid finished with 2 years of college, and Mark had just finished at BYU and was starting dental school. We got married and a week later moved away from everyone we knew to Omaha.

So much has happened--I graduated from college in '93, Abram was born in 1994, Aubrey in 1995, Mark graduated from dental school and we moved to Oregon in 1996, where Jacob was born later that year. We built our dental building and opened our practice just before Joel was born in 1999. Noah came in 2001, we built our house in 2002, Savanna 2003, Zachary 2006, and here we are today.

Mark is still as handsome, snuggly, smart, hysterically funny, appreciative and hard-working as he was when we married. He is an amazing dad for our kids, and a very fun guy to be married to. We've had a lot of very fun adventures, and I know many more are ahead.

June Birthdays

We had 2 birthdays last month. Savanna turned six on the sixth, and Noah turned eight on the 22nd.
Savanna always has a party planned for every day of her life, and her birthday was no different. She requested a butterfly cake, even though I tried really hard to talk her into choosing the Krispy Kreme cake. I made a very beautiful butterfly cake, which she then re-decorated with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs toys. Random. But so Savanna. We were going to go see a movie, but she asked if we could just stay home and watch Animaniacs instead. Mark and I were painting our bedroom that weekend, and we were happy to grant her request so that we could finish the painting project. We went to Red Robin for dinner, and it was a perfect day.

Savanna is such a sweet and independent girl. Very stubborn and determined, but very fun, creative and loving at the same time. We love our girl.

Noah's birthday was the day after we got home from Utah. He wanted a Rhino cake--Rhino the hamster from Bolt. Noah is Rhino. Crazy, wild, hyper, funny, fearless, and so super cute. He even has the exact dentition as Rhino. I made a really great Rhino cake, and then at candle time, I remembered that our candles were gone. Oops. As a last-minute substitution, I stuck 8 matches in the cake and lit them. I probably won't do that again. Noah is the happiest, spunkiest, most coordinated, strongest, cutest 8-year-old boy I know. He makes every moment fun.

The photo shoot

Mark's brother Josh http://joshuagenephotography.com/ is amazing. He is nice and funny and cute and sweet. I have loved Josh from the minute I met him more than 17 years ago.

And he is a phenomenal photographer. His wedding photos are stunning.

The day after the marathon, Josh and Kristy fed us a delicious breakfast. And then Josh had the idea to shoot pictures of us with our medals. Well, this was very nice of him and all, but I hadn't taken a shower, or even brushed my hair. I had rolled out of bed and put a hat on for our drive back home. I didn't know I needed to be cute.

You see in the pictures that everyone else is wearing their race t-shirts. I put mine on for about 3 seconds that morning, looked in the mirror and ripped it off. I was disappointed by the boxy, mannish cut of the shirt. It's nothing I can't handle with my sewing machine--I will take about 4 inches off of the sleeves and the body in about 6 inches. I will make it cute and then I will wear it. After all, I worked very hard for it. Had I known that we were going to have a group picture taken, I would have worn the shirt temporarily for the photo-op. Details.

Thank you, Josh and Kristy. The pictures are great. We can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks!

Jake and AbramMy little sis Nancy and me. She ran the full marathon. That's why she has the cool green ribbon.
Jacob

Bed-head-no-race-t-shirt Jill.

Abram

My foxy 40-year-old husband. Boy, can he run fast.

Happy Camper

I'm back from girls camp. It was a very fun week, and I loved every minute of it. The camp was at a new location this year, which I thought was absolutely perfect. The food was excellent, as usual, and I'm so thankful to all the leaders who gave so much of their time and energy to make it amazing.

My group was the 4th year girls, and my friends Betsy and Jen were with me. We had a very energetic group, with a few moments of drama that 15-year-old girls naturally bring along, but they got along very well, and we had a blast.

The theme was "Bloom Where You Are Planted." Betsy, Jen and I knew that we needed not only a cute group name, but also a name that would provide easy and abundant opportunities for decorations and ridiculous accessories. We chose "Hibiscus Hotties" for our group name, and along with that came everything Hawaiian you can imagine. Betsy, Jen and I wore our head leis and kukui nut leis all week long. I made everyone in the group a lava-lava to wear around, and their nametags were, of course, leis.

The cabin was the cutest, and we were the beneficiaries of WalMart putting a ton of luau decor on clearance about a month before camp. We stapled a grass banquet table skirt to the roofline of our cabin and around our pop-up-shade, which made us look very tropical.

I took every opportunity I could to knit while I was there. Once I start, I can't stop. I also had to sneak home Thursday and bake cookies. Aubrey's birthday was Friday at camp, and she wanted Monster Cookies for her "birthday cake."

As much fun as it was, I was very excited to come home and see Mark and the kids. I missed them, and I am so thankful that Abram and Jacob did such a good job of babysitting the kids while Mark was at work each day. They made it all possible. I don't know what I'll do if girls camp and scout camp ever end up on the same week!

Double Trouble

The kids took full advantage of our air-conditioned house yesterday to film a new dance video. Noah choreographed this one, with Jake, Joel and Zacky as his backup dancers. Aubrey was the videographer and editor.

What is a marathon?

I never thought I would have to write this post. I don't know when I learned that a marathon was 26.2 miles, but it seems like I've always known. Maybe it was from my early childhood watching the 24th of July marathoners come down the road while waiting for the parade to start. It's just one of those things that has been a part of my knowledge base--just like 3 teaspooons in a tablespoon, 4 cups in a quart, 4 pecks in a bushel..... I have heard WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too many stupid questions over the past couple of months about marathons. Hopefully this will put them to rest, and you won't have to be one of those people who end up in this conversation:

Jill: I'm running a 1/2 marathon at the end of June.
Stupid person: Oh, really? That's great! How far of a marathon?

or

Patient: Wow, Doc! You have lost so much weight. What have you been doing?
Mark: I've been running a lot. I'm running a marathon at the end of June.
Patient: No kidding? How far is your marathon?

Other similar conversations--Abram, Jake, and my sister Nancy also report that they have been presented this same silly question. "How far is your marathon?"

A marathon is 26.2 miles. A 1/2 marathon---stay with me here--- is 13.1 miles. Got it? Good. Don't ask again. A better question might be: "Why is a marathon 26.2 miles?"

That's easy. Take a trip with me back to ancient Greece, in about 490 BC. It seems the Persians were trying to take over the world, and the Greeks were fighting like crazy to keep their turf. Back in those days, the fastest way to get information back and forth was with professional runners--like Phidippides. He ran 140 miles from Athens to Sparta to ask for help. The spartans, due to superstitions, were unable to keave immediately, and Phidippides ran back to Athens to tell the army that they were on their own. All this within a week's time.

The Athenians and Phidippides marched to the plains of Marathon to begin to battle the Persians. This surprise attack helped the Athenians to great victory, but as the Persians were retreating, they were planning to re-group and march on Athens. The army sent Phidippides on a final run from Marathon to Athens--26 miles--where, legend has it, he said, "We are victorious," gave news of the victory and impending battle, collapsed and died right then and there. Voila. 26 miles.

What about the .2?

For most of recent history a marathon was 24 miles. But at the Olympic Games of 1908, 2.2 miles were added to the course so that the finish could be right in front of the royal family's viewing box. 26.2 stuck, and became the offical length of a marathon.

More than you wanted to know? Great. That's what I'm here for. Just please don't ever ask a runner how long his or her marathon was. I'm a brat, I know.