Mothers Day

 My mother passed away on February 1, 1989. I wasn't at all prepared for it. When Jackie called me and gave me the news it was surreal. It seemed like a bad joke.

At first I thought about her all the time but as time went on, those moments of reflection became fewer and fewer. For the last several years memories about my mother have been sporadic often triggered  by some thing that reminds me of her.

For some reason this mothers day has been very different than most of the mothers day over the past decade or so. Mostly I have focused on my wife and our own family but today everything reminded me of my own mother. The talks at church, the primary songs that the children sang and even my wife. Perhaps it is because of the up coming family reunion that Jackie is planning. We talked quite a bit about Mom on the phone the other day. What ever the reason, today I really miss my mother.

Happy Mothers Day Mom

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Research suggests that women who have children are smarter than women who don't

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The least favorite household chore for women is vacuuming the stairs

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Sarah & Sam Came to Visit

I'm so far behind in this blog that I don't even know where to begin. I guess to keep it simple and not to overwhelm you I will just talk about this last week.  

Last week Wednesday Lisa and I were sitting on the couch talking when the door bell rang. We don't often get visitors that late at night so we were curious who would be ringing and to our surprise it was Sarah and Sam. Lisa has been feeling really sorry for herself because everyone we know in Utah has met him but we haven't. I guess Sarah and Sam decided to take care of that problem. They emptied their piggy banks and gathered up all of their change (literally) and drove on down here to visit with us. It was a great weekend. They wanted to surprise us but they wanted to make sure we would be home so Sarah had conspired with Ben and Sharley. Ben and Sharley told us they would be coming down so of course we made no plans. Except for the PQ5K Fun Run. That was planned. In fact I've never missed one yet but my toe was still very sore and while I'd hoped that I'd be able to run it alas, my hopes were in vain. I was still limping so running a race just wasn't going to happen.

I was at the starting line to cheer them on and I was so sad to see them running off into the distance. :(  I then hurried on to the finish line and it wasn't all that long before I saw Ben, Sharley, Sarah  and Sam coming across the finish line. No mother was present. So they all drank a glass of water and then Ben, Sarah and Sam headed back down the course to find Mom. It was only a few minutes when they came back with their mother. 

Saturday morning was a bit rough for some of us because we were up late the night before. We all went to see the Avengers. Patrick and his girlfriend met up with us at the theater. It was a great movie. 

Saturday we went to the beach but the water was a bit cold so Sharley and I sat and watched Ben, Sam and Sarah play in the waves. After the beach we all went out and celebrated Cinco de Mayo in style at Rodrigo's. I do love Mexican food. 

Of course the best activity of all was when we resurrected the potato cannon. When Ben was a kid he really wanted a potato cannon and that sounded like a lot of fun to me so we built one. The ignitor has long since corroded away so I bought a new one and voila. We fired a half dozen potato's into the canyon. About the time we decided to call it quits our neighbor from down the street knocks on the door. He was quite worried and asked if we had been lighting of fire crackers. I could see how that could concern someone since our canyon could go up in flames rather quickly so I assured him it wasn't fire crackers (his kids thought we were shooting guns) and I explained my potato cannon to him. 

He looked like an all around fun guy so I asked him if he wanted to shoot it. You should have seen his face light up. I figured that the best way to keep him from getting me in trouble would be to involve him. He is now going to make one for himself. 

After a very tiring few days we wrapped it up with a nice roast beast dinner after church and then we bade Ben and Sharley farewell. Monday morning I said goodbye to Sam and Sharley and off to work I went. They were supposed to be leaving right behind me but I've heard they never got out of here until noon on Monday. 

So that was my week. How exciting eh? I do have some rather scary news to share with you. I put my name in for the St George Marathon. It is a lottery so there is no guarantee. I figured I've got a good head start so why not go for it. I want to run one before I die and I'm not getting any younger. When I decided to enter Alycia, Ben, Sarah and Sam decided to enter with me so we've submitted our names as a team. Justin and some friends have entered also as did my friend Phil so it would sure be a blast if we could all get in. It is a rather strange situation for me though. I will be happy if I get picked but I think I will be happy if I don't get picked. Weird. Now I've just got to get my toe better so I can run again. Today was the first day I could walk without a limp. I'm hoping to go for a short run next week. 

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80% of the cost of a fish is the cost of the fuel for the fishing boat.

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Ouch

I know it is nearly Wednesday but I'm only now getting enough time to tell you about my Saturday. The morning started out great as Lisa and I went and volunteered with the Stake in the canyon. We had several jobs to choose from so we volunteered to pull non-indigenous weeds. I learned a few new plants such as Fennel, Mustard and my favorite, Curly Dock. Some of those Fennels (smells like licorice) were huge. The early Padres actually planted the fennel mark the El Camino Real trail because they grow so tall and they're quite hardy

After the volunteering Lisa had a baby shower so I decided to head out for a run in the canyon. I hadn't run since the race last week so I was just itching to go. It was a beautiful day and I was loving life but as I headed into the trees at the bridge I guess I was just too excited about getting to my favorite spot that I got a bit careless. My foot didn't quite clear a tree root and the toe of my shoe got caught underneath a tree root. Down I went but with my toe stuck in the root it bent my toe completely back. It hurt really bad. I hobbled on to the bridge and sat there letting the pain calm down a bit and then I realized the predicament I was in. I was three miles into the canyon meaning that I had three miles to get back out. I could scarcely put any weight on my foot at all but Lisa couldn't very well come and carry me out.. At first I thought I'd be a man and bear the pain and run my way out. That didn't even last a quarter mile. I was hobbling pretty bad and the pain just got worse and worse. I finally stopped and walked. If you look at my mile times you can see my first mile was ten minutes, my second mile was eleven minutes my third mile was eleven minutes and then I fell and slowed down a lot. My fourth mile was fifteen minutes (when I tried to run), my fifth mile was nineteen minutes and the last mile was more than twenty minutes. I was nearly crawling at that point. 

So when I got home I took my shoes off and tried to do some errands around the house. I actually got the lawns mowed but my to-do list didn't quite get all checked off. Finally before I went to bed I took my socks off and was a bit surprised to see that my big toe was all black and blue. I knew it would be swollen but I never bruise. I really think I may have broken it but there was no way I was going to spend five hours in emergency to have them tell me to spend $100 on an x-ray and then another $100 on a boot. It looks pretty straight so I will just tape it and try not to hurt it any more. 

Today when I looked at my toes every single toe but my pinky is black and blue. It still really hurts. What bugs me more than anything though is that this Saturday is the PQ5K fun run. That is a community 5K run. We run from the stake center to our church and it is exactly 5K. I've done it every year but I really don't see how I'm going to manage it this year. I'm so upset. 

To make up for it though I've decided that I am going to put in for the St George Marathon. I think I've also got Alycia, Ben, Sarah and Sam talked into doing it with me. Justin has already applied. I'm a little bit scared but if I win the draw (or would that be lose?) I will be committed and then it is the big leagues for me. Oh well, I want to do it once before I die and it isn't going to get any easier. 

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Melanoma has increased 800% in women under forty. No more tanning booths Kira.

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