Backyard camping trip

We made a trip to the great outdoors for a camping trip.  But we wanted Abram to go with us, and he is a working man without days off.  So we camped in our backyard.

It was awesome.  Fast to pack up and get ready, easy to cook, plenty of seating, a perfect firepit, and clean restrooms.  So convenient!


 Joel entertained the neighbors with his ukulele skills.  They came out and told him he was giving them a headache.  I told Joel to play louder.

We cooked dinner on the coals.

 We set up four tents.

 I cooked some delicious cornbread.

 Noah cooks one s'more while he eats another.

Best camping trip ever!

Catching up

No, I did not have another baby.  But I got to hold this cute little bundle today and he was so cute I had to post a picture.  Our friends had their first baby a couple of days ago, and Mark went to the hospital to take some newborn pictures for them.  He is the best at taking pictures of babies in the hospital.  He has had a lot of practice.

We have had a very crazy month.  I helped Aubrey make a quilt out of denim squares, and am now in the process of hurrying to put one together for Abram to take to college in a couple of weeks.  Boys have been at scout camp, I have been sorting and organizing and sewing.

Here are some random pictures from earlier this summer.

Foot Traffic Flat pictures

In case you didn't know who the cutest little runner in the world is, here you go:

 Noah is the cutest little runner ever.  He had a great 5k for his very first race ever.  I love the picture of him surrounded by all big people.  And I also love the second picture where he is sprinting for the finish.  He ran the 5k with all of his little heart, and beat lots and lots of big people.

Joel is a pretty cute runner, but he is adult-sized, so not as cute as little Noah mixed in with all the biggies.

Below is the most handsome runner I know.  A tangent: Some of the teenage girls from church were talking about what hair color they find the most attractive.  They laughed when I told them that guys with grey hair were the best.  I happen to love Mark's grey hair.  Anyway, this picture shows how happy Mark was to have reached his goal of a 1:27 in the half-marathon.

This runner below was not having such a great day, did not look cute at all.  My knee was hurting so bad, but I pushed through it the last mile and ran to the finish line.  You can see on my face that I wasn't super happy with my race.  But I did it.  Mark made me buy a photo for historical purposes.

Happy Anniversary! A slideshow

This morning I woke up to a crazy thunder/lighting/rain storm.  In my life, that's a good omen.  And not just because I have always been obsessed with the weather.

20 years ago I woke up to the same thing!  I knew when Mark and I got engaged that we could not count on an outdoor reception because whatever day we picked it would rain.  And it did.

Mark is at scout camp with 2 of our sons until tomorrow.  I'm missing him, so I pulled out the photo albums and made this video for him--hopefully they have 4G or wifi at camp!

20th anniversary look back at 1992 from Jill Dorrough on Vimeo.

It's been an amazing 20 years.  7 kids and lots of happy memories.  I'd do it all again.

When we were 2

Savanna and Aubrey found their 2-year-old pictures in a box this morning.  They were both so adorable!  I never realized how much they looked alike.

So then we had to see what I looked like as a 2-year-old.

A metal medal!

Today we ran the Foot Traffic Flat 1/2 Marathon.  It is a great local race.  Last year was our first year running it, and it ended with a very big disappointment for me.  See this post if you don't remember.  But this year's race had a happy ending as far as medals go.

No race would be complete without the traditional night-before bib pinning and posing for pictures.

 I bought my sweet USA outfit at the Olympic Trials last weekend.

 As far as the actual race went, Mark had a fantastic day.  He gave it his all and finished the 1/2 marathon in 1:27:45!  If you care, that is a 6:42-per-mile average pace.  He is on track for a sub-3-hour marathon this fall.

Joel ran the 5k in 25:28.  Noah's first race ever was amazing.  He never stopped running and ended up finishing in 28:29.  Not bad for a kid who just turned 11 and trained 1.5 miles a day 3 times a week for the past month.

My day was not the best.  I had a really great first 1/2 of the 1/2.  I was on track for a 2:05 PR.  But at mile 6 my left IT band flared up as it did in Seattle 11 days ago.  I ran as much as I could, but had to walk from time to time to give my knee some relief.  It was so sad to have plenty of energy and strength to keep running but to not have a functional knee to allow me to do my best.  I sucked it up as much as I could and finished with a 2:23.  Not my best, not my worst.  Now it is time to let it heal.  If you need me I will be aqua-jogging at the pool for the rest of the summer.

But the good news of the day is that this year the race awarded medals made out of---metal!  No cardboard; no recycled bicycle chains.

I gathered all of my courage to run through the pain for the last mile, and as I sprinted across the finish line and received my medal I decided it had all been worth it.
 
The medal met all of my requirements for a medal:
1-It is made of metal
2-It is shiny
3-It is heavy
4-It is waterproof

No matter what my time was, I finished my 9th half marathon in 3 years, and I have a beautiful strawberry medal to add to my collection.

 That's what I'm talking about.

OLYMPIC TRIALS

Mark and I took a trip to Hayward Field in Eugene on Saturday. Months ago we purchased our tickets to the Usatf Olympic Trials. It was money well spent. I cannot begin to describe how awesome it was.

We were it section T, which just happened to be the best spot in the entire place. The field events were right in front of us, and the finish line for the races was just to our left. Best of all, the awards podium was in the stands exactly 4 feet behind us. When each group of winners left the track from their victory laps, the walked right in front of us and up the steps to the podium!

The womens high jump was so exciting. It was literally right in front of us. We had a close-up of the whole thing!  Seriously, I saw Chante Lowe do this right before my very eyes.
Even more amazing than this feat of jumping 6'7" was her awesome dance moves to celebrate each successful jump.  And then to completely dazzle everyone, after she had won the event she went to the side of the track and picked up her two little kids--one a baby!--and walked them around the track with her on her victory lap.  This lady is incredible!

We will be back in 4 years--for more than one day. It was just so amazing.  And when we go next time we will buy exactly the same seats we had for this occasion.   Who wants to come with us?