...And then it was Dark

So after our trips to Maryland and Arizona, and while Dave was still in Ireland on a business trip, we had an ice storm. I was ready for all of this "family time" to be balanced out with some school and Christmas shopping. It was not to be.

We lost power Thursday night, and got it back on Monday night. Dave came home Friday night. It was a long time without power. But we had a working gas fireplace, hot water, and a gas cook top. The kids missed four days of school. They were ecstatic! We went to see the movie Bolt, and the Boston Children's Museum. We also got creative with the camera. Here's a little documentation of our electricity free time. :-)

Pictures of our yard and neighborhood ↓

(Click on any Image to enlarge)

The sun sets at 4:00 pm. So we had to find things to do when it was dark. The camera was one of the distractions ...along with Dave's PSP and Rachel's iPod and Nintendo DS.

This picture ↓ is an image of Rachel "writing" in the air with her flash light.

It was so dark, that Dave and the kids created composite images by using a flash light to highlight different places of an image and moving around during these long exposures. It made for a few fun images. None of these images were edited using Photoshop. ↓

Our family room "camping" arrangements. This was the only place in the house we had heat. Wander too far away and the temperature dropped into the 40s and 50's.

This shot of Ethan just makes us laugh ↓

Thanksgiving Run - The Frederick, MD Turkey Trot

For the past three Thanksgivings, Becky and I have run in Frederick's 5K Turkey Trot. Although I don't know if last year can count as a "run" since I was pregnant with Sarah. This year Mike joined us for the 5K, and Rachel ran the 1K "fun run". Dave, of course, was our 'professional' photographer. It was super cold, but a fun way to start our Thanksgiving Day.

(Click on any Image to enlarge)

Rachel was excited, but a bit apprehensive to run the 1k. ↓

...but she ran great passing many kids older than her. She was easily in the top 20 for all kid's ages. ↓

Becky and Mike seemed in their element as they prepared. Personally, Mike's super cool "mushroom" hair style could have been the funnest part of our preparation ↓

Dave had a lot of fun pointing out all the young kids who beat Mike. : ) ↓

David's comment: You can see the great sense of almost overwhelming accomplishment on Mike's face. At one moment I swear he almost teared up. He is now ready for the Salt Lake Marathon. Everyone is hoping it's cold enough for Mike to wear same lucky headband ; ) ↓

Dave was cold and was simply looking forward to a warm car. (Rachel took this picture :) ↓

After the run, we came home, enjoyed a yummy dinner, and Sarah sacked out. The entire weekend was a joy. Becky is always a terrific host. ↓

Tagged

So, my sister Stephanie tagged me forever ago, twice. I started to work on it, and kept on getting interrupted. I then promptly forgot about them. I have since discovered my handiwork, and decided better late than never. So here are my two tagged items.

1. Go to your pictures file.
2. Go to the 4th file.
3. Go to the 4th picture.
4. Post it and tell the story.


So we can't quite do that so well. Stephanie has no idea how many levels there are to our pictures. So I did the best I could. This picture was taken in December 2006. We were going Christmas tree shopping, and Dave decided to document it. As you can see, it wasn't super cold, and it appears that Rachel had just come from basketball practice.

4 Random Things I like About Dave

1- He always wants me to be happy.
2- He wants to know whatever I am thinking.
3- He encourages me to reach my goals, and will support me 100%.
4- He is super creative, inquisitive, and determined. (That qualifies as one item, right?)

4 Jobs I've Had

1 - Sorting Mail by zip code at BYU Mail Services
2 - Secretary to the Chair of BYU Canadian Studies (don't be too impressed, it was him and one other man in the department)
3 - Service Merchandise cashier
4 - Computer Software Trainer (the most interesting class I trained was in an unheated Purina dog food factory in Davenport, IA in January for a week. Good Times)

4 Movies I've Watched More Than Once

1 - Casablanca
2 - Cars
3 - The Christmas Story
4 - The Nightmare Before Christmas

4 TV Shows I Watch

1 - 30 Rock
2 - Bones
3 - Lost
4 - Project Runway

4 Favorite Foods

1 - Chocolate Mousse Cake
2 - Mexican
3 - Appetizers
4 - Italian

4 Places I'd Like to Visit

1 - Ireland
2 - China
3 - Australia
4 - Antarctica (if only to actually see and experience it)

4 Things I'm Looking Forward to in the Coming Year

1 - Painting and finishing the master bedroom. (the rest of the house is pretty much done)
2 - Having a child old enough to babysit!
3 - Watching Sarah learn to walk. (although that will present a whole new set of challenges)
4 - Actually running a half marathon. :-)

4 People I Tag

It's taken me so long to respond, I'm just going to let anyone answer who wants to!

Family Picture Time

Every autumn Dave takes a family picture in our back yard. Ironically, as the kids get older, getting everyone to look in the same direction is getting harder. :-) So here's the best shot we were able to get of everyone.

- Click on the image to enlarge -

Baltimore Marathon & Half Marathon

As many friends and family know, while still pregnant with Sarah, I committed to run a half marathon in Baltimore in October. I thought it would be a good way to motivate myself to get out and exercise post-baby.

Well, this past weekend, I "ran" my first official half marathon. I went into the race feeling pretty good about it. I had run 10 miles the week before, and felt really good. My time wasn't wonderful, but not hopelessly embarrassing. But then race day arrived, and it was not a pretty scene. By mile 3 (of 13.1), I felt like I had nothing left. By mile 6, I really wished Dave had not convinced me to leave my cell phone behind. I would have called Dave to come pick me up, or if he couldn't, I would have found a cab. :-) I'm not kidding about those thoughts. The only thing that kept me going was I had committed to this, and I was determined to see it through. So, through a combination of running and walking, I finished in 2:55. I guess it could have been worse, but I'm not quite sure how. :-)

Becky ran the marathon, and stayed with one of her running buddies who wasn't faring so well. She finished in 5:22. Mike signed up for the half marathon, and kicked all of our booties by finishing in 2:10. Way to go Mike! So we have included some pictures from our trek down to Maryland, and the end of the race.

We took some shots of the kids as we drove down to Becky and Mike's

Dave and the kids set up shop about 1/2 a mile from the finish line. He got there in time for pictures of me, and then Beck and her group. Mike was just too fast, and got past before Dave could get there.
But we all got really nifty medals for finishing :-)
Dave and the kids were really good and patient waiting for me to finish. Dave even braved wearing the dreaded Baby Bjorn carrier. :-)
Becky stocked up on Halloween candy in anticipation of our visit. That front hall basket was a popular destination.

Flashback Friday - Old Friends

This last week my Father lost his oldest Friend "Merit (George) Trusedale." He died of a heart attack - his first one. ...I am sorry Dad for the loss of your friend. : (

When my dad and I last spoke he reminded me again how his earliest memories of Merit included them riding tricycles together.

I too am lucky to have had a number of close friends over the years. However, only Greg and Gretchen go back as far as we were born. We even hung out in Sun Beams together (our old Sun Beam teacher, Bea Peters, used to tell me stories of how Gretchen would ride on my back driving me around the classroom like I was a horse ; )

We grew up in the same Rochester II Ward, went through our awkward early teen stages together, and dated a few friends. Gretchen, in fact, was with me the first night I met Bethany at the Sherwood's home. She was actually the one who invited me and Paul Wonnacott along. Greg was always the guy every boy wanted to be like. He was the youth standard I always seemed to measure myself against.

We followed each other all the way through High School and on to college. Though our lives eventually took us on different paths, it’s really nice to know the people who you have known, loved, and have accepted you since your earliest memories remain good friends.

This last summer Greg and Gretchen came back to Rochester to attend their 20 year High School reunion. I swung up and we hung out a bit to catch up. I think their visit may have been the highlight of my summer.

I am so glad to see them both happy, successful, surrounded with wonderful families of their own.

I dropped in a few "Flashback Friday" pictures of Greg for old times sake and also included a couple pictured Gretchen took of all three of us last July.

Greg, Mark Adams and I at church (the painted cinder block walls give the location away ;). ↓ Note my super cool pants.

Greg and I in Cub Scouts at the Johnson's home. We were learning about photography that day. ↓

This picture demonstrated the one skill I had at that age. : ) ↓

1981 Cub Scout's Pine Wood derby. I guess Greg's dad was running the tracks that day. ↓

Kodak's Softball League in 1981 ↓ I wasn't that good. However, if you look close you'll also see Steve Johnson, Mark Cross, and Danny Cousineau.

Always a good picture ↓ 1983 Scout Camp. There are a lot of fun faces in the picture. : )

Steve Johnson, David Nolan, Andrew Schwendiman, Kurt Theil, Danny Cousineau, Greg, Paul Wonnacott, Stuart Johnson, unknown, and Todd Wonnacott.