Run, Forrest, Run!

Today was the Hermiston Education Foundation Fun Run, and the kids and I all participated in some way or another. (Chris had to work) At first, some of them were not too excited about it, but I talked them into it and they were all glad that they decided to go. We had so much fun!

Carson ran the 5K and kept pace with me. After every mile, they had tables full of trinkets for the kids. Daniel has been sick this week so he didn't run, but he helped out at one of the trinket tables and served as our paparazzi as we went by. Thanks Daniel!

Keaton is such an awesome big brother to Jantzen. He walked it with her, and carried her a little bit of the way, too. I think I've said this before, but Jantzen is so lucky to have him for a big brother. He is so good to her. At an age where kids are starting to become "too good" for their families, Keaton shows no signs of that. They had a great time together, and when I passed them Jantzen was so excited to show me all her little toys that I had to check them out real quick. My apologies to the other people who were captured in this shot. I'm sure they wouldn't mind my posting this, based on how sweet Keaton and Jantzen look.Here's me, running with Cathy. She's the one responsible for getting me mixed up with this whole half-marathon idea. Then she had the nerve to leave me in the last little bit and beat me by about 30 seconds to take first place.

Chris was able to take an ambulance and leave work for a little bit with Dan, whose wife was also running in the race. They were at the finish line when we got there. I was glad to see them because I thought I might need a shock with the defibrillator and some oxygen.

We can't wait to do it again next year!

Lurkers, Show Yourself!

I know that I've been guilty of lurking on several blogs. But somehow now that I have my own blog, I find myself wondering who comes here. So today things are going to change. That's right. It's the dawn of a new day. Today is the first day of the rest of our lives! I will vow to lurk no more if you will too. So show yourself. In other words, leave a comment. You can say something as simple as "I was here." Or just type your name. Who knows? I may be lurking on your blog too. And wouldn't that be funny?
I don't know why I'm so curious about this. I guess if I knew that my great great aunt was reading, I would probably dress my kids in the hideous clothes she sends and post pictures of them on here for her to see. Just kidding. I don't have a great great aunt that sends clothes. But you know what Imean, don't you? I'll see you in the comment section.

Toilet Paper Graffiti

As our friends prepare to move to Portland they have been going through their things and doing what every American does before they move...They get rid of everything! And so because their house is only a block away and Keaton and Carson consider it their second home, they have run home begging me to buy various things. Last week things got really ugly around here when they decided they REALLY wanted one of their hamsters. The funny thing is, they never really wanted one until that day, and then all of a sudden, they wanted it BAD! The dinner conversation was a pretty heated discussion:

Me-- "Hamsters are for kids whose parents won't let them have a dog."

Them--"No, they're not!"

Me-- "You don't take care of the dog you have."

Them--"Yes, we do!"

Me-- "Hamsters stink."

Them--"No, they don't!"

And so it went. On and on and on and on. Voices were raised. Tears were shed. Doors were slammed. And signs were hung. Wait. Huh?

Allow me to explain. When Keaton was in second or third grade, they stopped having a salad bar at school. This occurred at a time when the kids happened to be learning about health and nutrition. They were outraged that such a terrible decision was made without their consent. So they did the only thing they knew how to do. They made signs and hung them all over the school. "BRING BACK THE SALAD BAR!" was pasted on every classroom door and everywhere in between. And guess what...It worked.

So when Keaton REALLY wanted something and he didn't know what else to do to get his way, he drew upon that earlier experience. Never mind that he can't spell hamster. This is genius!

On my bedroom door

In the front entry

On the ceiling above my bed.

On my bathroom door

Yes, this IS the back of the toilet seat. This is getting a bit personal.

And my personal favorite...On the toilet paper.

Each and every square.

And, oh yeah, he still lost.

Let 'er Buck!

On Friday we were able to take the kids out of school for the Pendleton Round Up, er, doctor's appointments, I mean. Yeah, that's it. Doctor's appointments! Man, those were some fun doctor's appointments. I think we'll do it again next year!

Something about a man holding hands with his little girl makes my heart melt. Aren't they cute?

Daniel had a cross country meet in Monmouth so we brought Peter along to use up our extra ticket. Everyone had a great time!
This is the Indian Village that is set up next to the rodeo. The native Americans in the area stay there all week.
I always love the rodeo clowns. This one was pretty funny. Except when he did an imitation of an olympic gymnast. That hurt my feelings. haha
Some dude on a horse. I don't think the horse liked it too much. He kept trying to buck him off.
The bull riding was awesome. I think it's so funny to see how angry they get and how they throw their hind legs around. They put up this PVC fence during the bull riding. I don't know why they think it would keep the guys safe out on the field. This bull rammed it with his head and sent it flying. It was so funny to see all the guys scatter.After the bull riding, everyone starts to get up to leave, thinking that the show is over. But it's not! In my opinion, they saved the best for last...The wild cow milking! I had never seen this before, but what a kick in the pants! First they realease several cows onto the field. They also realease several men onto the field. They are in teams of two- one man on foot and one man on a horse with a lasso. First, the man on the horse catches a cow, then the man on foot tries to milk it. You can see in the picture the two men being dragged across the field by the cow. If you look really close, you can see the trail in the grass of how far they have already been dragged. The funny thing is that that's just a small portion of the round trip they took around the field. One guy was dragged around by his foot when he got it stuck in the rope.

I can't figure out if this event is real or if it's just for laughs. They definitely accomplished the laughing part.

Eight

Today I ran EIGHT MILES!! Nuff said.

Surfs Up!!

Notice any changes? Tonight my friend Heather educated me in the fine art of cutting and pasting. Not like kindergartners do...like people with actual computer skills do. I really can't believe I've gone all these years without knowing how to do this. It's quite embarrassing, actually. But anyways, I have some exciting news to share and I wanted to roll it out with a little bit of fanfare, so now I can! Drumroll please....
For our 15th wedding anniversary in November Chris and I will be celebrating in the sunny and beautiful land of Costa Rica! And because I'm not too humble to boast, I'm posting the link to the resort that we'll be staying at.
Go to http://www.occidentalhotels.com/grand/Papagayo.asp
I'll be expecting all of you to visit the website and drool all over your keyboards, OK? Oh, and sorry about the Beach Boys music. I just couldn't resist. And the tropical surfer background, too. And I'm apologizing in advance for the countdown thingie that I'm hoping to post, too. (If I can figure out how) By the time we actually leave for this trip you are all gonna hate me and will probably vow to never ever visit my blog again. But I feel like I can brag about this one because we rarely get to take trips like this. Like once every 15 years. If we did this every year and were torturing you with the details I could see how that could be nauseating. But I think you can handle it once every 15 years, can't you? And be happy for us?? OK, thanks I appreciate that. Cuz we're going anyways.

Curious??

Many people have been asking me how things are going with our new oldest son, Daniel. I realize that I haven't really posted much about our new adventures of having a high schooler. (Insert excuses of being busy here) So here we go.

This is one of our few pictures of him. It was taken on the Deschutes River in August. We had planned a day trip for some more rafting, just knowing that the weather would be nice and HOT at the end of August. But wouldn't you know it-we had this weird cold front move in and it was windy and 70. That is way too cold to be sitting on a raft in a cold river. But the guys toughed it out and had a good time anyways. The kids and I were happy to drive the shuttle and take pictures from the road. But anyways, I'm getting away from my original subject matter.

Daniel is a very nice boy, and gets along well with the kids. They anxiously await his arrival every evening after cross country practice. His english is very good, and we don't have any problems communicating with him. He is always happy to go along wherever we are going and to do whatever we are doing.

I think he is somewhat of a novelty at school. In a small town like Hermiston, you don't get much exposure to other cultures. When we went to get him registered before school started, I noticed a lot of people looking at him, and he got the royal treatment when scheduling all the classes he needed. He told us last night that when he was walking down the hall yesterday he smiled at some girls and one of them was so busy staring at him that she walked into a garbage can! How embarassing for her, but we got a good laugh out of it.

This picture is from the Hermiston Invite last week.

Carson, Jantzen and I helped out and were able to watch the races from where we were. Daniel did really well, and said that he passed about 12 people. Lots of the kids who run cross country do it all year in preparation for the season. But Daniel doesn't have many opportunities for athletics in Germany so he is at a disadvantage in that respect. But he is doing really well and is improving very quickly. Naturally, I love to hear about his workouts and races because I'm involved in the same thing right now. I could never come close to competing with these kids. I'd probably be the one coming in last that everyone feels sorry for.

All in all, everything is going along quite nicely. It really has been a fun experience for our family. I would definitely recommend hosting an exchange student to anyone who has an extra bedroom and a little extra food in their pantry.

Preschool Rocks!

Yesterday was the blessed first day of preschool. Jantzen was so excited, and had been counting sleeps for a long time in anticipation of the first day.

Notice the backpack hanging almost to her knees!

On Tuesday she and I took a shopping trip to Tri-Cities to get her a few things for school. She needed some comfortable stretchy pants because at her preschool they do gymnastics also. We always have trouble buying her pants because she is so skinny and small for her age. (I know, she'll be a perfect gymnast! The next Shawn Johnson!) The 3T fit in the waist, but was a little too short. The 4T was a little big in the waist, and also a little too long. The girl is almost 5! Shouldn't she be wearing a size that corresponds to her age?? But I opted for the 4T in hopes that it would shrink. Why am I telling you this boring jibber jabber about her pants? Well, partly because it's a major dilemma in my life, partly because I don't really have a life, and partly because these are some seriously SPECIAL PANTS! You see, yesterday when I told her to go get dressed she ran to her room, so excited to wear her new clothes. For the first time in her life she actually did what I told her to do. I went in to check on her a few minutes later and caught her standing in front of her mirror, admiring herself. And then she said something that I'm not proud of. Something that may be an ominous sign of things to come. Something that totally blew me away. She said, "I look so good in these pants. These pants are going to make me popular." Please send help.