Labor Day weekend

Some people take vacations on Labor Day weekend.  This year, I took on what was supposed to be a 2 day project, I decided to paint the walls of my office.  I found a beautiful light blue and figured with Saturday and Monday free, I would have plenty of time to finish.  Got started and all went well, but then once I painted the walls, realized I needed to paint the ceiling, trim and doors too.  Then, I decided to 'redo' my old ugly metal file cabinets.  Once that was done, my desk needed to match, so I had to paint my desk as well.  Once the office was done, I decided to paint the half bath and laundry room as well.  It was a long process, several weeks of starting and stopping, and finally finished (although I'm still putting things back in my office and reorganizing), and the painting is done!  Now it has caused a domino effect, I'm organizing and reorganizing areas of my house (actually, this all started when I decided to organize my kitchen pantry! LOL!) Yesterday, I finished organizing my bedroom closet and reorganizing my jewelry. I LOVE when everything has a place and everything is in it's place!

I had the most fun redoing the file cabinets! Who knew that they could look so cute!  And easy!  Attached are pics of my jewelry organization in my closet and also the file cabinet in my office.  (Notice the blue walls and white trim?!) Once I get my office organized the way I want it, I'll post a pic of my office completed.  Then, who knows what project that will lead to! LOL!

Elder Alger's mission blog

By now you all probably know that I have set up a blog for Cole's mission details.  The blog address is www.missionsite.net/eldercolealger.  There is a password too, but you'll have to email me for that one.  :-)

Jan 30, 2012

Things are moving along well in preparation for Cole's mission.  We have almost everything ready.  


His farewell will be on February 12, 2012, from 11am-12 (Sacrament Meeting) at our Stake Center, 6270 W. 7000 S., West Jordan.  

I just received a missionary tracker from ldsmissiontracker.com and it just arrived!  Here's a photo:

I'm guessing it hasn't really sunk in yet because it all seems so surreal.  

Welcome *2012*!

Wow, the holidays are over and a new year has begun! I'm so excited for 2012! It is almost palpable the positive energy I am feeling about this new year! It's hard to believe that the holidays are over already! It was such a fun holiday season for our family, one of my very best holidays yet. Paula came into town on December 18 and stayed with us most of the time she was here. It was so great to have my 'older and wiser' :-) sister here with me to help me with all the cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc! The Allen's had a big family get together on Christmas Eve which was a blast. So many of our out of town family was here for the holidays, so we were only missing a few. Lots of fun and food and evening went by too quickly. So good to see our far away family members. Christmas day was nice and quiet for us, Paula went to Cameron and Carrie's (her son and DIL) for a few days, and it was just us. Having one hour of church was odd and coming home after church, it sort of felt like it was just another Sunday. Scott had off the day after Christmas, so it was nice to have him home longer than usual. Our friends from San Diego, The Turners (aka TheFuzzins), took their daughter, Tamsyn to the MTC for her mission to the Idaho Pocatello Mission, where she will be serving as a Spanish speaking missionary on the Idaho Falls Temple Square. After a very long and trying trip, they were able to get her to the MTC just in time for her appointed meeting time, and then came to our house following. It was SOOOO good to see them! We had them here for several days; we ate and shopped and played and stayed up late and all of us picked up where we had left off. (Isn't it great when you can see your besties and pick up where you left off last...true friendship!) All the fuzzins all had a great time. (Poor Kai missed out on a day or so fun when he was down with the stomach flu.) New Year's Eve we decided to celebrate with food, hats, music, etc and it was great! We ate all kinds of appetizers and watched Coldplay live in Austin while we partied! It was great, all of us were singing and enjoying it to the fullest! (Except Grandma Jo who was asleep.) When it was 12:00, it was like the house exploded! We got our horns, poppers, fireworks, and started making the most noise possible. (At one point I was worried that we woke mom up and scared her, but she said she wished she was with us! LOL!) We all went from the front door, to the back door, back to the front door, etc. for probably 20 minutes! Tracy was hilarious, collecting and blowing as many horns at one time as possible! It was so much fun! THAT is the way to start off a GREAT year! Below are some pics of our New Years Eve bash...

Kai, ready to have fun!

Me and my besties: Melinda and Shelly!

Tracy just after dancing...darn, I just missed the picture!

Melinda! (looking a little French with her cute beret!)

Kai with his food! Only chips???

Vinson, Chandler and Cole...FUZZINS!

Paula, Scott and Cole having fun!

Update and a new beginning

I haven't blogged in a very long time and when I was blogging it was more of my "running log".  So I'm giving that up for now and beginning a new family blog, aka Cole's mission blog.  Since the purpose of me originally starting this blog was to blog about my family, I've decided to go back to that and blog our lives.  Of course, I'll also blog family events that happen in the meantime, but this will be a place where we'll record Cole's experiences, photos and letters.  Hope you enjoy!  Here are some of the things that have been going on for the last year that I may have neglected.

11.24 Yesterday was Thanksgiving AND Cole's 19th Birthday!  Hard to believe how quickly time flies!

09.21 Cole received his mission call to serve in the Columbus Ohio Mission!  He reports to the MTC on 1.11.12! He's so excited!

It only took 2 days after he got his mission call to get his Ohio State shirt!

10.08 This was the major mission clothes shopping day.  He got some really sharp suits and clothes!  He's starting to look like a missionary!

08.11 Cole's official mission photo.

09.25 Kai's first 'date' and Homecoming Dance.  So cute!

09.18  Kai's Eagle Court of Honor!

09.18 My two Eagle Scouts!

08.05 Kai's photo for the football game program.  Great smile!

I thought this was kind of cool so I had to put it in.  This is a bookmark taken from action shots.  Each player got at least one shot on a bookmark.  Pretty awesome!

09.03 Both boys enjoy playing the drums.  Here's Kai.  Pretty good for being self-taught!

07.01 The boys had the opportunity this summer to go to their first Pioneer Trek.  They said it was an amazing experience!

06.23 Kai's 16th birthday!  Guess what he wanted to do for his birthday?  Eat biscuits and gravy, his favorite!

Can't believe he's 16 already!

06.01 Cole's high school graduation.  Can't believe this time has already come.  

05.22 Cole's seminary graduation.  Great frothers! (friends + brothers)

03.02 Big day for Kai!  The braces are GONE! Yay!

01.11 The boys at their 2010-2011 Football banquet.  Cole finishing his senior year of football, Kai finishing his Sophmore year.  Sad it's over!

That's a quick version of the happenings over the year!  Crazy 2011!  :-)

08.21.11

(Thank you Heather for the kick in the butt to get this going again.!)

I think I've neglected my blog because I've used Facebook and it's so much easier!  I'm going to try to stay on top of this and keep updated.

Another birthday is approaching and I'm feeling it.  I hate it.  Mentally, I feel as if I'm still in my 30's but unfortunately, parts of me KNOW that I'm not!  Tomorrow I've committed (and maybe it's good that I'm blogging this to hold myself accountable) that I will start running again.  I've been seeing friends and family that have been running this summer and I want to be doing that as well, but I've been so overwhelmed that I can't seem to get myself out there to do it.  I did walk/run for a week or so trying to get back, but then had a minor set back and didn't get going again.  So, tomorrow I'm doing it.  When the weather is nice, I love it.  But, know that the weather will be getting cold again soon.  I've got to try and not focus on the weather changing and it getting cold, it seems to hinder my enthusiasm.  (BTW...did I say I hate the cold?...)  I would love to run a 5K or 10K sometime before the winter starts, so here I go making myself accountable.  Wish me luck!

Also, this blog is also going to be my family updates, at least for right now.  Cole's sent in his mission papers and is waiting for his appointment with the Stake President, at which time they will go to Salt Lake.  So, I'll keep the updates here for now, and possibly when he leaves for his mission, I'll start one for that.  Possibly.

That's it for now!...

I'm Baaack!

Can you believe it?  It's been 9 months since I last posted anything.  And it's been since October that I ran last.  In hindsight, I shouldn't have stopped but I'm such a wimp in the cold weather and it does nothing for my motivation.  I hope that this year it's something that I can get over.  Today was awesome.  It felt so good!  I ran about 2/3 of my route!  I really didn't think I'd feel like or be able to do much running, so I was pleasantly surprised. I'm working on upping the length of my routes and my time this summer.  I'll be really happy if I get consistent at 5 miles or more.  I'm hoping that my muscles' memory comes back quickly and I can work up to the 5 miles more quickly than last year.  Today didn't feel like too much of an effort, so I'll see how sore I am tomorrow and what I can do on Thursday.  I'm actually excited to start running again.  Time to get some more good music! :-)

What equals a CRUMMY run!

5 hours of sleep + 95 degree temperatures, that's what! UGH it was awful and I couldn't wait to get home. Not only was I HOT (what WAS I thinking?), I was dying of thirst and could hardly walk the rest of the way. One more lesson learned. I also realized that I need to do 'something' on the off days of training. I'm afraid I'm at the point now that I need to get some type of cardio in every other day of the run. Not sure what that will be yet. Wednesday is my 5 mile day and Friday is *6 miles*! It's getting hard, but the reward is awesome! I think I'll be sticking to early mornings and evenings until it cools WAY down.

Farther than EVER!

Oh my goodness! I just came in from my run today and I ran farther than I EVER HAVE in my LIFE! I'm soooo happy that I have pushed myself to this and am accomplishing something so challenging! I even ran them in under 15 minutes per mile! OH MY GOSH!!!! (Again the time thing isn't anything except that it is a measurement to me of how I'm doing.)


The boys have been in football conditioning for a few months. They have on occasion complained about how hard the coaches have been working them, harder than they have ever worked. They sometimes dread practice and come home sweaty and worn out. We've had constant conversations with them (especially one who is really having a hard time "digging deep") that they can't quit, they have to work hard and give it their all. Stretch themselves. So that they CAN be a better team, and when they DO win, they will realize that they deserved it. On Wednesday, when I couldn't get myself to get out there, but finally did, as I was toward the end, I thought about my boys. I realized that I can't expect them to do hard things if I'm not doing it myself. As I was running today, that went over and over in my mind. And how rewarding it is to accomplish those hard things. I think we are all growing by this experience and I'm glad we are sharing it together.

Thanks to all of you!  You are so supportive and I appreciate you so much!  :-)

This has nothing to do with running, but I have to say that I'm getting SO excited for football season! I love summer and don't want to hurry it away, but I can hardly stand waiting!  Today the boys got their helmets and practice jerseys, #11 and #32 are in the HOUSE! LITERALLY!, which they start practicing in this afternoon. Next Friday is our first scrimmage and the following Friday is our first GAME! It is the endowment game at home playing Syracuse.  I grew up with my brothers playing football, football on TV, radio, married a man who played and coached football and now 2 boys that play, well, you might say were destined to play, but I have come to LOVE the game and everything about it.  So, I saw this video and thought I'd post it.  It is my life, from a spectators perspective, a football mom, and I love it!  I hope you enjoy it! (I'm not much of a fan of country music, but I can't help but like the song because of the video, of course!)

Kenny Chesney - The Boys of Fall

W3D2 - AWESOME!

Honestly, this morning I was looking for ANY and EVERY excuse not to go.  I was planning on not running today.  But then, something dragged my lazy butt upstairs and got me dressed and out the door.  I think the motivation today was that I ran a different route.  I decided I would try a flat run today, so I ran Grizzly Way.  It was GREAT!  I'm excited that I was able to finish without walking at all (despite my negative attitude earlier) and even more excited that I timed myself at about 17.5 min. miles.  Now, I'm not worried about my time in this marathon, although I would love it if I wasn't the slowest in my age group.  This time "mark" is a mental thing and helps me see my progress, and is so gratifying.  The best part is, that I ran 1 mile more than Monday and it's getting easier!  AND I LOVE IT!  It feels sooo good after a good run...even the sweat. (hee hee)  SNOW CANYON 1/2 MARATHON...HERE I COME! :-)

W3D1

So far, so good.  Since last Wednesday's hard run, things are going great.  I ran the route again, and ran all but up the hill.  It felt really good.  The night before we had pasta and I was thinking that the carbs may have had something to do with the run feeling really good.  Maybe we need to have a pasta dinner the night before the 1/2.  Anyone tried this?  This morning the run was really good, no stopping and I'm feeling strong.  Over the weekend I actually thought "I think I can do this!"  I'm getting excited!  (But still a little scared!)  :-)

Week 2 Day 2

Wow, I thought this wouldn't be so hard, at least for the first few miles...I've done this before. But I think from having some time off, I've had a hard time getting up to where I was before. It's a little disappointing, but I'm hanging in there. Like I said, I'm going to do my best to run as much as I can of the 1/2 marathon, but I'm sure I'll be walking some.

Today I went out of my comfort zone and tried a different route. A big challenge....7000 S. A friend told me yesterday to give it a try and just run it. She gave me a few tips, said to start off with an Ibuprophen before and one after (which I have yet to take...maybe I don't need one?). Then, go all the way down 7000 to Grizzly Way and back (which is 3 miles), but on the way back, from 5600 to the first fire hydrant to sprint. So, I decided I'd try. The way down to Grizzly was great, it wasn't too difficult and it felt so good. I turned around at Grizzly and just that slight incline started making a difference and it got harder. I ran up to the pasture and ran/walked alternating from lightpost to lightpost. Then at the first lightpost after 5600 W., I sprinted to the next lightpost! Wow! That was tough! But I did it! I was trying for the fire hydrant, but couldn't quite get there. I was pleased with myself that I did that much! Then the rest of the way up 7000, I walked. It was a BEAST! UGH! I am going to work on trying to run it, but I think I need to work on distance more. So, we'll have to see. I'm thinking I did pretty good today.

W1D3

This is Week 1 Day 3 of our 16 week training. Our race (St. George Snow Canyon on Nov 7) will be right on W16D3, so we may not make it all the way through the training but hopefully it will be ok.

Monday I ran and it was OK. I did better than I thought I would, but I struggled and did a bit more running than walking. Wednesday, I was about to give it up. It was a HARD day and the mental pressure it was giving me was too much. Then I thought about my friend who said "I have no doubt you can do this!" and all of you that are supporting me and encouraging me, and I realized that I can't let anyone down. So at that moment I was doing it to not dissappoint (one of my personality traits...) and do it. But as the day went on, I started looking forward to it and it turned out to be a great run. Very little walking and running the whole way. I was so proud of myself! I'm looking forward to today's run. I think it's going to be really great, hopefully no walking.

I've realized that these blogs and letting other in on our goals is what is going to keep us going sometimes. I had to reach deep down inside me to find something to motivate me to keep going and had it not been for you, my friends, I'd have quit. So, thank you. I'm hoping I'll thank you much more along the way, and of course on the afternoon of Nov. 7th!

"Oh no you DIH-ENT!" (finger waving in an "S" shape with hand on hip)

Scott came home a few weeks ago and I'm on the couch with my foot propped up on pillows, wrapped in ice and said that he promised some friends that we would run the HALF MARATHON in St. George in November! OH NO YOU DIH-ENT! (didn't) I can't believe it. At the moment, I had many emotions; FEAR ("oh my goodness, I barely made it through the 5K in May, how could I run 13 miles?!), ANGUISH ("I'm nursing a sprained foot right now and am I ever going to be able to run?"), ANXIETY ("a HALF MARATHON!?!? Are you KIDDING ME???")...among others. (A friend told us that from our house to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple and back is about 13 miles.) oh. my. GOODNESS!

I haven't ran since my mom was in the hospital, so as of today, it's been about a month. I feel like it won't be too bad to get back out there and run, but I know I am going to have to start slowly to get back to where I was when I stopped. After the shock wore off, I've started to entertain the idea a bit. I have resolved that I am going to do it, even if I have to run/walk! It is a HUGE undertaking for me, I'm really scared when I think of the actual race, but maybe that won't be so bad once I start training. Although, I have been really comfortable running in my neighborhood and to think of going outside that comfort zone is making me a bit nervous. I know that sounds weird, but I can't imagine running down 70th, down Grizzly way, down 90th south or Skye Drive, and toward the OM Temple...it just makes me nervous. (I think because it is such a long way from home!) I wonder if any of you have had these same emotions. If so, please let me know and what you've done to decrease/resolve the concern. And any other helpful tidbits you can give to this novice runner would be MUCH appreciated.

As I always say "You eat the elephant one bite at a time", so I'll be taking baby steps to get to the 13 miles. I love having to log my running details on this blog and your encouragement is priceless. Thanks all...and I'll keep you posted!