Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Runaway Spring

Last day of April brought snow and the big race.


One chilly beautiful morning. This half marathon goes through the Thanksgiving Point Gardens during the height of the Tulip Festival, then the golf course and the Jordan River Parkway along the river. It's a challenging run over hills (and in the snow!) but the spring-fresh scenery charges your mind, spirit, and body. Matt powered up, set his pace, and hit cruise control.

Victory smile. He felt great. Did great. And it showed - not to make this about me, but I was jealous. I wanted to be in his body and feel that amazing feeling that can only come from hard work. I'm so proud of you baby, and inspired. Matt has signed up to do Run the Slam, which is four Utah Valley half marathons, and only 150 people can sign up for it. I have decided to get off my duff and join him on his last one (Hobble Creek), which is not till August (whew - not that jealous). Matt's time was 8:14 per mile!!!! For 13.1 of them - total time 1:47. Out of about 1,000 people he was #100!!

The kids were so excited for their 1 mile fun run.

Bell ran her little heart out

Jarom a few minutes behind - don't let that face fool you. He took it nice and easy.

I was one proud momma and wife behind the camera.

THE BEST!!

After the races we all gather to hear and cheer for the winners and to see if our names are called for lottery prizes. Jarom is rolling around the grass asking for the one millionth time if we think he will win a trophy. He had asked me before the race and I told him he just might if he tried real hard. That didn't happen. And before Matt has time to answer this last time we hear JAROM'S name being called. No one was more shocked than him. He won third place in his division. He was beaming ear to ear. Still is. Bella had a good cry, for she clearly won him. It wasn't until the times were posted that it all made sense. Bella came in 4th out of 36 girls. She was three seconds behind the girl who got third. She claims that was because she slowed down so I could take her picture. Jarom on the other hand, won third because he was third. There were only three 8-year old boys who ran. It was fun to see that the boy who got second was also really slow. It was probably a fun shock for him too. Even though Jarom didn't try his hardest he has been signing up for sports the last few years just to get a trophy. It has been a dream of his for a good while. It is really cute to see him talk about it. I was worried that he was going to be upset when we told him that there were only three 8-year olds but he was pretty pleased and said - wow, I was going to win no matter what! :)

Spring awakening


Stretching, mane in the breeze, feeling awesome..... time to teach the kids a little about the birds and the bees.

Thanksgiving Point has an animal farm that we have blogged about many a time. We couldn't go home without visiting all the new baby animals, and it just so happened that the farm was throwing them a birthday party with games, cake, and rides.

Cutest little billy goat. We all loved every single animal.

Sweet, gentle baby cows

The kids wanted to go on the pony/horse ride, but as we stood in line we watched one young girl try to get off her horse only to be kicked and stepped on. Being completely freaked out and feeling awful for watching and not being able to help I quickly marched the kids over to this very safe ride. Only......

Mister Spoiled had other plans.

We don't have it in us to pass up free cake

2 comments:

In a nut shell... said...

ohhhhhhh myyyyy goshhhh... lol So that's where the expression "hung like a horse" came from. wow

moonshinejunkyard said...

AMY!!!! i've never laughed so hard from a blog post, i'm crying. i called darin in to read him the story too. JAROM!!! he is the most hilarious kid. darin says he wants to make a documentary about him. his attitude about sports is the most unique and entertaining thing i've ever heard. HIS SMILE! he is utterly stoked to have that trophy and doesn't give a hoot if it actually means he was last place. oh dear how i love that kid and want to hang out with him every day. you guys are so lucky to have such a one in the fam. just incredible. bella's reaction is hilarious too. darin and i love that she thinks it was the picture that slowed her down and hey, it probably was! she is one quick little sprite, she'll be a runner like her mom and dad!

and then the horse! perfect most hilarious caption ever..."feeling awesome." seriously amy your words are THE BEST going along with the pictures. you make me smile so big it hurts. i love you guys. and great job on your run mattie. you are so inspiring and maybe someday i'll get into it and feel good from running like that. from now it comes from working up a good sweat mowing my backyard (the first one of the spring/summer is the incredibly hard one, mowing down weeds so thick and high it's like a jungle. took four hours of straight hard work. i felt like i'd climbed a mountain).

love you all. thanks for bringing the cheer and joy and sheer exuberance of life.