All Hail, Oh Mighty Fire Pit!!

ripping out the grass

The Fire Pit!

It is here.  Finally.  The fire pit we've been talking about for years.  Its done.  Easy peezy.  Ok, not easy at all really.  More like blood, sweat, and tears.  The first step involved Jake renting a mini excavator and ripping the grass out.  Where did the grass go?  Well, I'll tell you.  Jake would dump it in a wheelbarrow and I would run it to the dump trailer and throw it in.  After a couple of hours I thought I was maybe going to die.  I told Jake I was his mexican laborer (I apologize if that offends anyone) while he sat up in the tractor.  Good thing my dad had me move buckets of dirt as a kid.  Also a good thing I go to Cross Fit.  I told Jake he's lucky he married me because I don't know many women who could have done that.  Lest you think I'm exaggerating...when he took his dump trailer to dump it the grass weighed 2000 pounds.  That's right, 2000 pounds.  I'm amazing.  And don't think that Jake helped with most of it.  It was all me.

After this first step I will admit that Jake did most of the work.  We had to spread out gravel and then sand.  Jake had pity on me and moved those wheelbarrows, bless his heart.  Then the pavers went down, and now we have a fire pit.  Hooray!  This really was a family project.  Zack especially helped.  It makes me secretly giddy that Zack is big enough to actually, really help.  This child labor thing is amazing.

Now when it cools off at night, like it does in this paradise we live in, I just turn on the fire.  Did I mention it's a gas fire pit?  It is because we're too lazy to light fires frequently.  I figured to get our money's worth I better make it as easy as possible.

So, consider yourself invited to our amazing fire pit.  Wander over any night.  We will be chilling (or should I say warming) by the fire, most likely eating ice cream:)

Daredevil Girl

Sage waterskiing - so cool!

Last week I was gone at girls' camp for a few days (in case you were wondering, I love love love girls camp - I would go every year if possible).  While I was gone Sage decided to make giant strides forward in her activities of choice.

Sage has been slowly working on riding her pedal bike for a while now.  On Monday she finally got serious about it and figured it out.  On Wednesday night there was a kids mountain bike race at Soldier Hollow.  The same one Zack and Kate have done before.  Well, apparently Sage spent the day at my friend's practicing her uphill bike skills so she could do the race.  Yes, she practiced.  For the race.  My three-year-old.  She was apparently quite serious about it.  So she got to the race and took off up the hill with all the other kids.  Didn't even look back.  She had a small wreck, but in her words, "I was ok because I had my helmet on."  First mountain bike race?  Check.  Took me thirty-four years to do my first race...

The next day my awesome friends took my kids out on their boat.  We used to have a boat, but Sage was a baby when we sold it, so its not like she has lots of experience boating.  She loved it.  All of my kids did (now they want to get rid of Tiny and get a boat - whatever).  My friends have an EZ-ski kids waterski thing and some of the kids were doing it.  Sage told them she wanted to go, so off she went.  Big grin on her face.  No fear.  Waterskiing?  Check.

Yes, Sage is definitely more adventurous than Zack and Kate.  She seems to have suddenly become more confident and willing to try new things.  This is new territory for me.  It scares me to death and I think its awesome all at the same time.  Stay tuned for more stories as I'm sure this is just the beginning...

We Love Moab!!!

The Fam on main street

4-Wheeling Cuties

Cutie-Kate

I think we've gone to Moab more than any other vacation spot.  You'd think we'd run out of things to do, but no.  I think we could go a bajillion times and not run out of new things.  The kids love it.  Jake and I love it.  What more can we ask for?

Greg and Tracy managed to get every single kid to Moab.  An amazing feat if I do say so myself.  They made it even better by paying for all of us to stay in a hotel.  Awesome, right?  Jake and I had a hard time wrapping our brains around the words 'Moab' and 'hotel' being used in the same sentence.  This is a foreign concept to us, so we were a bit hesitant.  Not to worry though.  Moab is even fun in a hotel!  Yes, it's true.  It was good fun at that.  We even managed to walk on Main Street and check out some of the fun stores.  Jake's been to Moab like a million times and hasn't ever managed to do that.  He even bought a Moab hat, which I think is well deserved when you've been to Moab as many times as he has.

We did all kinds of fun things.  Tracy even managed to bring skotcheroos (I have no idea how to spell that) to Moab.  These treats are at every gathering we have.  Good thing too because they're delicious.  Anyway, we did do things besides eat good food.  We went on a fun new hike that was short enough that even Sage made it.  At the end of the hike?  A pool of water to play in.  How can life get better than that?  The cold water felt so good.  The best part of the hike was when all of the moms who were there flung ourselves off the tower of death.  Notice I said the moms, not the dads.  That's right.  The "men" were too scared.  We showed them.  It was like 100 feet high, and we jumped off like it was nothing.  Okay, I might be exaggerating.  Just a little.  It really wasn't super high, but I've never done anything like that before so it scared me plenty.  I was still amazing though, don't worry.

Tracy decided to continue to be amazing and watched our kids so we could go mountain biking with Brandon and Laura.  We do stuff with them like twice a year.  Its lame.  Anyway, yes we went mountain biking in the middle of the afternoon.  In the blazing sun.  Why wouldn't we?  Brandon and Laura had to rent bikes.  The first place we went to the lady wouldn't give them to us.  She said it was a bad time of day to go and people die every year of dehydration in Moab.  Not to be deterred we just continued down the road to the next bike rental place.  They were more than happy to take our money (or should I say Brandon and Laura's money).  This was Laura's first experience mountain biking.  She did awesome.  We all had good fun and didn't even die.  We're amazing.

Anyway, I've rambled long enough.  Other high-lights of the trip were 4-wheeling, Jake and Zack mountain biking, swimming at the hotel, 4-wheeling in the Pilot, and all kinds of other fun things.  Kate was so tired she was actually asking to go home.  A sign that we played hard.

PS - I don't have many pics because the rest are on Jake's phone and it could be years before I take the time to get them...

Mom of the Year and Other Stuff

Pics from our last camping trip

cute kids

Sagie Lou

Summer is officially here.  The kids are out of school thus I am now expected to entertain them with super fun activities all day long.  Good times.  No really, I do love summer.  For example, summer mornings are the best.  The best.  No more rushing, dragging the kids out of bed, throwing lunches together, etc., etc.  This morning I let the kids wake up when they wanted to wake up.  Fabulous for all parties.  They still had to do chores, but I didn't care when they got them done.  Again, fabulous.  I am being the mean mom this summer.  They WILL be doing some kind of school something every day.  I'm also getting them going with more chores around the house.  Don't get me wrong, they always have chores.  But during the school year I do back off a bit because they're so busy with everything else.  This summer?  Be prepared to work kids.  Zack's been doing the laundry today, Kate dusted, and there will be more, much more.  Vacuuming, sweeping, loading the dishwasher, weeding, weeding, and more weeding.  Just trying to keep up the Spjute tradition of weeding our brains out.  Spjutes excel at weeding.  It is vitally important that I pass this gift on to my kids.

Now, to the good mom part.  My kids brought lots of papers home from school last week.  Lots of papers.  Like why in the world did they have so many papers at school?  One of the many papers was some paper that said "unplugged" at the top.  I admit, there were so many papers that I glanced at it and then went on my merry way.  Then I started hearing whisperings of a cool community unplugged program.  So I looked it up online and what do you know?  It was super cool.  So I asked Zack and Kate if they had heard about it.  Oh yes, they knew all about it.  Kate even came home with a lanyard (I had no idea this is what they were called - I called them necklace things) for her brag tags.  (click on the above link if you want to see what brag tags are)  So I asked Zack why he didn't have a lanyard.  He said, "I could have gotten one but we don't usually do things like that so I didn't take it.  I figured we wouldn't do it."  Yes, I am the mother of the year.  Apparently we never participate in things like this.  I can't think of anything that we haven't participated in, but in Zack's mind we don't do cool things like this.  Just a quick reality check in case I was actually starting to feel like I'm a good mom.

Anyhow, this summer we will be earning brag tags, spending more time than I would like at Seven Peaks, and lets not forget Tiny.  Tiny will be a big part of our family this summer.  Let's hear it for summer!!!

ps - I think I see a salesman coming down the street.  The bad part of summer.  Got to run so it looks like I'm not home...

She Remembers

One of the things I hate most about Linz and Mom being gone is that my kids don't really remember them.  They were so little when everything happened that their memories of them are limited.  So it makes me really happy when they say or do things that show that they really do remember.

Yesterday Kate brought home her writing journal she's been using all year.  I was flipping through it and came to this page:

I know you can't really read this, so let me translate.  The top of the page says, "Think of someone who has made an impact on your life.  What makes them so special?"  Then it says, "Who is your inspiration or who has made an impact on your life?"  Kate wrote, "Grandma".  I asked her which grandma and she said Grandma Lou (that's what we call my mom).

In the three stars below she listed reasons why she thinks this person is special.  She wrote, "she taught me how to read, she believed that I could read, and because she likes to play with me."  The back of the page says, "Give one example of a memory with this person."  She drew a picture of my mom reading to her.

This just makes me happy.  Kate and my mom did have a sweet relationship.  I just love that when Kate had to choose someone who's made an impact on her life she chose my mom, even though Kate was only three when she passed away.  I love, love, love that my mom is still impacting my kids lives.  Love it.

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

The Medal.  I wore it all day yesterday (just kidding)

This has become my motto of late.  I really do believe it, even though I don't like it sometimes.  I kept this running through my head yesterday while I ran the Ogden Marathon.  I trained harder for it than I have for any of my other marathons because I wanted to qualify for Boston.  I've been feeling super strong and thought I was ready for the race of my life.  Well, it didn't happen.  The Ogden Marathon chewed me up and spit me out...again.  I've only taken over four hours on one other marathon, and it was the Ogden.  Apparently it is not the marathon for me.  Ogden Marathon two, Laura zero.  Point taken.  I admit defeat and officially declare that I won't be running the Ogden Marathon again.  So there.

What happened?  Well, I can only speculate but I do have my theories.  I know you're dying to hear.  First, the weather.  Oh the weather.  The week before the marathon they sent out an email saying it looked like it was going to be really hot for the race, so practice running in the heat.  Well, they were wrong.  Oh so wrong.  It wasn't hot, which if you have Spjute genes that's a good thing.  But it rained.  A lot.  The whole time.  I've never been so wet and cold in my entire life.  Ever.  In my whole thirty-five years.  For reals.  Have I made myself clear?  IT WAS COLD!!!  I could barely open my gels because my hands were so cold.  Props to the volunteers for helping even though it was dumping rain.  I was impressed.  My clothes were so wet I was probably carrying an extra five pounds of water.  I think every runner was probably in the early stages of hypothermia.  I started shivering on the way home and didn't stop until I climbed in the tub.  So cold.

I would love to blame my awful performance solely on the weather, which is out of my control.  But if I'm really being honest I have to admit that I hold some blame.  Let's put it out there that sometimes you just have a bad race.  No matter what you do, how ready you are, sometimes it just happens.  But in analyzing and trying to learn from the race so that something good might possibly come, this is what I've decided.  I went out too fast.  I know, millions of runners say this.  I know this can be a problem, so I was watching my pace.  But in hindsight (20/20 I know) I think I should have held back even more.  Miles 8-15 have quite a few hills.  I should have gone a lot slower and tried to make up the difference on the downhill in the canyon.  And that's all I have to say about that.  What's done is done, whether I like it or not (and I don't).

So there you go, my awesome race in a nutshell.  When did I finish?  A spectacular 4:08.  I know, I know.  Just running a marathon is an accomplishment.  And I'm happy I finished.  But I've finished marathons before.  This time I wanted to finish fast (well, fast for me).  It just wasn't to be.  Wasn't in the stars.  A bad race.  An off day.  Crappy weather.  Any excuse that takes the blame off of me is acceptable really.  In the midst of my pain yesterday (because it was painful) I vowed to never run again.  Really.  I've never thought that before, that's how much pain I was in.  Now, in the light of a new day, I think, "Am I a quitter?"  "No!"  "Am I going to give up on Boston?"  "No!"  So that's why I'm already planning my next marathon in September.  The Big Cottonwood Marathon.  Its pretty much all downhill, so I've at least learned my lesson there.  I'm sure you're wondering why in the world I would put myself through this pain again.  I can't explain it, but if you've done marathons or anything like it you understand.  There's just something about crossing the finish line of a marathon.  Agonizing and wonderful all at the same time.  And I just can't stand to stop marathoning on such a bad note.  Unacceptable really.  So I guess I'll give it a shot again.  Boston or bust right?

PS - I have not a single picture of myself running yesterday.  And I am totally happy with that.  Thrilled really.  I'm sure I looked even worse than a wet dog.  Ugh.  On a side note...Jake said there were some girls who crossed the finish line with mascara all over their faces.  Really?  You wake up at o-dark-hundred to put makeup on?  Before a marathon?  Well, (and I say this with all the love in my heart) you deserve to finish with mascara all over your face.  Seriously.  If any of you are offended by this, just remember that Jake seeing these mascara-covered girls means they finished before me.  Maybe that was my problem...no makeup.

Zack is the Man

Getting ready to start - ok, so there wasn't a lot of competition - we take what we can get

Getting ready to launch

I have amazing camera skills

Proud Zack with his rocket

Zack isn't into team sports, and I'm down with that.  Jake and I are both more solo sport kind of people...antisocial to the core I guess.  Anyhow, during the winter Zack loved skiing, and now that summer's here he's really digging mountain biking.  I love it.  Last night was a kids mountain bike race (yes, these are the kinds of things we do in Midway...we're cool, I know).  Zack was so excited to ride his bike.  You could do one, two, or three laps.  Zack did three.

Quick side note:  Kate also raced - on her Walmart bike with no gears.  She was supposed to do two laps, but was happy to stop after one.  She doesn't have a competitive bone in her body, but she is one determined girl.

Back to Zack...He won the race, by a lot.  I was proud, but he was even more proud.  He's been telling everyone that he won.  He insists that he wasn't trying to win, but there was a definite competitive look in his eye while he was racing.  I've never seen that on him before, so it made me happy.  Good times mountain biking.  Yet another thing that my kids will be better at than I am.

Today at school Zack got to launch his rocket.  He's worked hard all year to be able to do this and was super excited.  These little rockets shoot up really high.  Zack painted his rocket orange, his favorite color.  Good times for Zack.  He is, most definitely, The Man.