2008 Greenville Spinx Marathon

After months & months & miles & miles of training, Scott ran his first marathon ever! He started back in late June or early July and couldn't even run a mile without pausing to walk. He has run 3-4 times a week since then including several very long runs on the weekend. The course was so beautiful. It wound around through Cleveland Park, through the streets of Greenville, under the River Falls bridge, and finished in the Greenville Drive stadium.

We the spectators spent time running between here & there in hopes of catching the runners at various key points. Scott & Ken & Danielle ran the whole 26.2 miles, Jacob Armbruster & Lisa McMurtrey ran 13.1 miles, & Christopher ran 3.1 miles. Christopher had a P.R. today of 23:08 & came in first for his age group. Lisa finished at 2:01. Danielle was about 3:32. Scott & Ken were about 3:38. So incredible & inspirational to watch. These people have all trained long & hard to be able to complete these long distances.

We were especially lucky to have Grandma & Grandpa Smith visiting from Utah to see the boys race. They were also able to see Ryan play a baseball game for the first time ever on Thursday night. We know how hard it is to come out this far & are so appreciative that they would change their schedule to be here for this important day.

The Really Big Wall of Pictures

One of the things that I love (& hate) about our family room is the high ceilings. However, they make for really big walls & everything seems to look really dinky. I saw an idea on Tara Whitney's blog & copied her. TW's is WAY cooler - but she's a professional photographer & I am not. I took all of the pictures except the Toyota jump at the temple & the cruise picture. These frames are just shy of 20" square so the top of the arrangement is at 8'.

It took me months & months (& months) to make the trip to IKEA in Atlanta, decide on pictures, & get them hung. I am happy enough with the result. I love my new laser level that Scott bought me to make the whole process easier. I only had to reposition one nail. (!!!) We like it because it represents a lot of aspects of our lives together - living in the Pacific Northwest & the South, mountains & sea, cool architecture, & travel. This project makes me think that I need to paint my walls a color other than this, but with 20' ceilings I think we might just live with it!

What's cooking Wednesday

Tonight we were in a hurry for dinner because of Cub Scouts & Boy Scouts. This is an un-recipe but it was very, very tasty.

Pocket-less pitas (Costco)
Ham (lots of thin slices)
Muenster cheese

Layer the cheese, & the ham on a pocket-less pita. Cook on the George Forman grill until there are good little marks on the ham. The grill makes cute little grill marks; layering the cheese on the bottom keeps it from sticking too much. Fold in half.

You will probably feel ripped off by today's recipe until you give it a try! We serve this with grapes & carrot sticks.

Where have you been in the USA?

visited 32 states (64%)
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Happy Birthday Bonnie!

Two of my nearest & dearest friends - Mimi & Bonnie.

Bonnie is one of my best friends. I have known her since the fall of 1990 when we moved to Renton, Washington. She was my visiting teacher. We were fresh out of BYU & far away from home & family. She had two children & I had none. (She now has seven & I have three.) She was the Young Women's president & I served as the Laurel advisor. She has been an awesome friend & sister for as long as I can remember. I would love to write a beautiful essay about how much she means to me, but I don't want to proofread & rearrange & all of that. So instead, I will tell you 20 random facts (or until I run out of ideas).

• She & her husband met in seminary when she was 14. They married after his mission.
• She is wise & is able to cut through extraneous information & quickly come to a decision.
• She is the mother of seven children - a son on a mission for seven more days & a daughter just starting college & 5 more involved in football, baseball, ballroom dance, soccer, & swimming (all at the same time).
• She juggles a schedule that would make me weep. Whenever I think that I have to do a lot of carpooling, I talk to her & realize that I have it easy - really, really easy.
• She has a strong testimony of the gospel.
• She is a great travel agent. When I drove from SC to FL to WA, she talked me through the crazy journey. She was the other adult in the car with me keeping me sane. When I would be lost, she would get on the internet & find out where I was & how to get to where I wanted to be. (Hopes of having an 11-year-old be the chief map reader were ill-founded.) She would suggest my stopping point for the night & then help me find a good hotel.
• She is a patient psychiatrist. When I moved to SC, I was very very very homesick & pregnant. I talked to her EVERY day for years.
• She has an uncanny ability of hopping in the shower or shopping at Fred Meyer's when I call her. ;)
• When we drove home from the hospital with our new baby Christopher, we came home & she came over to see us. She immediately sensed that we had no clue what we were doing & needed some basics - she helped set up a modified changing table on the kitchen table (a towel folded in two) and a makeshift bassinet (a Rubbermaid box beside the bed).
• She gives countless hours of selfless service to people in her ward. She is not one to boast & rarely lets her left hand (me) know what her right hand is doing.
• She serves as the bishop's wife.
  
• She is soft-spoken & kind.
• She is super practical. (the carpet)
  
• When I was turning 40 & so stressed out, she & Scott worked together by phone to have her come & surprise me on my doorstep. She even called me during the day when she was on a layover so that I wouldn't get suspicious.
• When we lost our baby at 18 weeks, she comforted me & helped me work through a depression that was deep & long-lasting.
• She scrapbooks & is almost up-to-date on all 7 kids' scrapbooks & a family book (with fancier pages). She has made several wonderful scrapbooks for me as gifts. When we left Washington, she contacted people in the ward we lived in to make a going-away book for us. It included a picture, addresses & phone numbers, & memories of people & when they met us or what we meant to them. So precious.
  
• She has everyone's phone numbers memorized just like I do.
• She is an avid genealogist & has submitted a lot of names for temple work. She has worked on & off for as long as I can remember at gathering names on her husband's family.
• She does not gossip. Since we haven't lived in the same ward for 16 years, we don't know tons of people in common; but even if we did, she is not a teller of tales. She is the VAULT & if you tell her something, it stays there.
• She loves to travel as much as I do... and has been to many more exotic places than I.

I have lost track of how many points that is and I know I've forgotten some key ones - but HAPPY BIRTHDAY my friend.

It's Wednesday - what's cooking?

One of my friends does words of wisdom every Wednesday. And I like that. But I am not the wisest cracker in the barrel. However, I like to cook. Every Wednesday (until I forget about my pledge) I will be posting something that I've made recently. And by posting on Wednesday, I am not saying that I cook on Wednesdays. Jack (-in-the-box) cooks for us on Wednesday.

PEACH COBBLER by Jonna (Jenna's mom)

1/2 cube butter
1 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar +1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup milk
3-1/2 cups sliced peaches (big can or frozen)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter in shallow glass casserole dish. Mix flour, 2/3 cup sugar, baking powder, & milk; pour over melted butter. Pour in peaches (if using canned, drain first); do not mix. Add vanilla by sprinkling over the top of peaches. Sprinkle remaining 1/3 cup of sugar over the top. Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes. Check at 30 minutes. Makes 6 servings. Cobbler is done when top is golden brown & inside is cooked. A little overdone is better than a lot underdone.

I must confess that this is as good cold for breakfast as it is hot for dessert.