The Stream

Friday, October 18, 2013

Fundraiser Check!


Whew! Being PTA president, as well as wearing other hats (T-shirt coordinator and fundraiser chair) has challenged me to hold my head up high and carry on. There have been many a self talking to meself "I can do this." "Stay calm Mic." "It will end and then you can cozy up with a book." "Slow and steady said the turtle." "Don't swear Mic."

The fundraiser was nerve racking.  It's hard knowing you are responsible for making budget of $16,000.  What a mountain. I am happy to report we did it.  The community was very generous with supporting our kids in our school spell-a-thon. We can buy the supplies we need and give our teachers some money for their classrooms.  

There were many parents who put in a long couple of days with me, counting money and helping me out--and they were so happy to work with too. Joyous. I wanted to talk more to these ladies, but I found myself loosing count. Wah. Wah.  I felt like we turned the PTA room into a bona fide accounting firm.  We were faced with tie for 1st (one who happened to be my daughter! awkward!) and a close 2nd.  We were forced to buy two iPads for the winners to be fair and we gave the bike to the 3rd place winner who missed it by $5.  So sad. Ugh. I wanted to cry and crawl in a hole. And. Never. Come. Out.

With this position, you quickly join yourself at the hip with who you can trust and depend on. They become your dearest friends because they have saved you from that dark, dank, cold,  place when you felt like you had to do it all on your own.  My faith is constantly restored in these solid people. Thank goodness God blessed this earth with incredible, diligent souls who are willing to help their fellow desperate not wanting to be PTA prez.  

Spellathon

Spellathon

The winners.

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My calculations:

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Now I get to relax and have fun with my family playing soccer and enjoy the Fall weather.  I'm so relieved and excited for Fall break.

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Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Marathon


I wrapped up a gorgeous morning run before we headed down south to participate in the actual marathon.

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They inducted my grandpa into the "Road of Fame." 
This is my aunt Liz receiving his award since my grandpa passed away last October. Side note: The lady in the stripes took 1st place in this year's race and the gal in the polka dots took 2nd in the women.

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A couple things I want to remember about what I learned from his induction ceremony.

-Sherm Miller had the idea to do the St. George marathon. However, my grandpa saw it through and set it up. I knew he was a part of it, but I didn't know how important his part was.
-The St. George marathon was originally set up for the first week in November, but it was too cold and it was later moved to the first weekend in October.
-My grandpa had to recruit/beg runners to run the first couple of marathons.  They used to manage the city pool and out of all the lifeguards, two said yes to running it that first year.  One of them has run it every year since the beginning, pregnant or not. The St. George marathon today has 7600 runners. I got choked up while running passed Baker Reservoir seeing thousands of runners for miles on a course that one dear person to me created.
-My grandma gets a lot of credit, along with her kids, because while my grandpa was running the marathon she would manage it.  They would shuttle runners up to the starting line. Then they would drive 5 miles down, set up a card table with snacks and aid to pass out to the runners as they passed by.  When the last runner crossed the 5 mile mark, they would pack up the table and goods, load the kids into the car, drive 5 more miles down the course, and set it up all over again. Repeat. Repeat.  My grandma would keep track of each runner's splits while managing the aid, snacks, and her children.  Once they got to the finish line at the park, they would record on a stopwatch as the runners crossed the finish line.
-My grandpa could not stand bandits (runners who hadn't paid to run and had no number).  He would personally tackle them and take them out if he saw them approaching the finish line without a proper number.  When the digital chips were in place and they could easily tell who was legit and who was not, he still tackled them. He was later asked to stop, although I'm not sure he agreed with it.
-At the age of 52, he set a personal record finishing the race in 3hr 4 mins (wish I had that skill!)
-My grandpa did lots of research about running--he entertained the thought of intervals to help you run faster and he pushed his workouts with cross training and building strength. He would clean up the community as he ran picking up trash in the gutters and kicking rocks back into their places.
-One time when my uncle Scott was 10yrs old,  he came back from trick or treating saddened by the fact that two older kids had stolen his candy.  My grandpa slipped on his tennis shoes and asked which direction the culprits went. My grandpa caught up with the kids and they started to ran faster.  If the kids were only warned about the endurance and experience my grandpa had with running they would have stopped sooner.  When he caught the winded boys, he brought them back to the house and he called the cops.  When the cops arrived the boys said, "we thought we could out run the guy, but he never stopped!" The candy was returned to my uncle Scott and justice was served. I told you my grandpa couldn't stand bandits.


October 5th, 2013:It was a beautiful day to run! 72 degrees and a tail wind.  My knee was giving me trouble so I said a quick prayer to my grandpa pleading with him to let me finish.  I was inspired to get icy hot smothered on my knee and thigh and it pulled me through.  I ran with my neighbor around the corner, my best friend from high school and an old friend from North Carolina.

The kids made some signs and unfortunately I missed seeing them when I ran by. Sad. Next time.

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Crazy me signed up to do another marathon in May and I'll probably do the St. George every year that I can get in.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Donuts in the Drive Way


Thanks to Mat's parents and tons of donut dough we partied while eating fried dough.  This years toppings: Orange creamsicle, Almond coconut, chocolate, vanilla, maple cinnamon.  Almond Coconut was popular.  We also had all sorts of crumby sprinklings to stick to that icing.  It's a fun tradition and I'm glad people come to visit.

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Sunday, October 13, 2013

Sunday Afternoon Play

On Sunday afternoons, my kids like to spend their time contemplating how to make my drawing mannequins into zombies. Yours?

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not to mention blanket houses.

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Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Back Porch

We finished up our back porch.  Mat worked on it every night last week to get it done.  We're not very patient when it comes to projects around here.  We like to see the project complete and the mess cleaned up.  Mostly the mess. Well, and the product.

I hope to enjoy our porch next summer, I think we're a tad too late in the year to use the fans....

Before

During

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Our good friend Corey, helped us to wire it all up in between primary song practices and a busy life!

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AFTER

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