2013 Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk

The Boston Marathon has been a bucket list item for me.

 For a very long time.

I had given up on ever running it, because, well, 

the doctor told me I shouldn't.

I never even thought about walking it...

until this year when my sister Becky said she was going to walk it for the Jimmy Fund.

The race date was September 8th, 

which happens to be our parents' anniversary.  

52 years for them, and 

the 25th year for the walk.  

The Jimmy Fund raises money for Dana Farber, which is an organization dedicated to cancer treatment and research.  

Our dad started on his cancer journey ten years ago 

in the Halls of the Dana Farber Institute. 

 I'm so grateful for all that's been done for dad, 

and for the individuals who do it with such compassion.

We couldn't think of a better way 

to celebrate my parents' 52 years together, 

than by helping to contribute to such an important cause.

At 6:10 am we began our 26.2 mile walk.

It was a PERFECT day.

We were surrounded by amazing people 

and had tremendous support all along the way.

We talked, we laughed, we were inspired by the stories and the people and we just thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

 We did a bit of running along the course, which felt great.  It's the Boston Marathon course, for goodness sake!  I mention that because the light running actually helped alleviate some of our stiff parts in the later miles.  We had sore muscles, achy joints, blister pain and we trudged through it, talking about those who suffer through chemo and radiation and the fall-out associated with cancer treatment.  It was a humbling journey.  I couldn't have asked for a better walking partner.  

We couldn't have asked for a better experience.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

*

The day after 26.2?

I can hardly move without pain.

I know it will be gone in a day or two.

Like some, I won't have to fight it for weeks, months or years.

A gigantic THANK YOU to everyone who helped support us.

YOU are why our walk was possible.

I'm gonna keep my walkin' shoes on.

I can't wait to sign up for NEXT year.

Introducing The Mormons

Last Fall a friend at church asked if I would help him with a project.  The Church had asked him to help put together some videos introducing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, its members and various programs as a way to familiarize people unfamiliar with the church and how it operates.  He was planning to do some filming during our regular church meetings, and wanted to know if I'd mind being part of it.  It was a fun experience.  There are lots of other people from our ward congregation in the clip as well, and you might recognize a little blond-haired boy I'm especially fond of. 

I'm grateful to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life.  I'm grateful for the organization of the family, and the central role it plays in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It's reassuring to know that Christ would organize his church in our day, after the same organization of His church when the original Twelve Apostles walked with Him.

Knowing that Christ cares about me and my family, and knowing that he would then logically love and care about EVERY individual on the earth just the same helps me to strive to be a little kinder and recognize that ALL of us are children of a loving Heavenly Father.

Shouldn't we all just try to get along?

UMass Marching Band: preseason glimpse

Recently we hung out with Enrique post band camp.

 He had some impressive tan lines.

 In addition to being in the marching band, he's also enjoying his membership in UBrass, a student run New Orleans-type jazz ensemble with eight other marching band guys.

 Their first home football game is tomorrow at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.  It's exciting to use the Patriot's stadium as home field.

 At 400 students strong, the marching band puts on an EXCELLENT show.

 We now say that we go to watch the marching band, and there's some football going on in between their performances. 

(I do hope the football team has a better season this year)

GO.U.MASS!

(end of) week-at-a-glance

 Garden Produce!  Lots of it.

Sorry about poor picture quality.  My camera's been out of commission of late.  I'm grateful for the cell phone.

I have at least a bushel of tomatoes laid out on the table waiting to be sauced.  Green peppers, cukes, beans... pay dirt.

Here's how today's veggie-laden batch was put together.  I even used local honey as the sweetener.   

 High School Soccer!

It has begun.  Rooney (our freshman) is on the varsity team. Here's how that went down in our little town:  In August 19 girls tried out.  I believe you can officially roster 20 girls on a Varsity team. Which means we didn't have enough bodies to even form a JV or Freshman team.  I'm blaming it on Field Hockey.  And attrition.  And, well, living in a small town.   Last year there were 12 senior girls on the team.  This year?  There are actually two eighth graders to round out our very young numbers.  We have three senior players this year.  I think we'll call this a developmental year.   Whichever way you slice it, it's pretty exciting to be playing at the varsity level as a ninth grader.  Being a spectator is pretty great too.

 Look at my freckle faced third grader!

Sporting his new specs.  He loves them.  I say if he gets any cuter, I'm going to be eating him for breakfast.

And finally, since I'm now an American Picker, here's another one of my cool finds from our barn date the other night.  It's a wringer.

I picked up a washboard last year at the Brimfield Fair.  I'm on the hunt now for a wooden wash tub.

American Picker

Dub and I had a date last night.

We drove to the town of Oakham to look at an antique car.

The car was housed in a large garage that was attached to an OLD barn.  The owner of the car/barn told us he was trying to clean out.

We had fun "picking" through his barn, and came home with a few treasures.  These old grain sacks are one of my favorite picks:

It's September and you know it (clap your hands)

Next thing you know it's a new month.

Here's what's new:

There was Labor Day Weekend, which included some laboring (giving two cats a flea bath should get a new place in the dictionary under the word labor) sprinkled with some weekend fun and an afternoon of lounging on the back patio thrown in, just for good measure.

Sunday after church the stars aligned and my three daughters approached me separately asking if they could

1) bake a cake

(to celebrate the cats turning 6, but cake is cake, right?)

2) make biscuits

(how do you EVER say no to biscuits?), and

3) cook dinner

BAM! Add leftover fruit salad and Sunday dinner is born.  No labor pains.  I knew that giving birth to daughters three consecutive times would provide days like this.  Being released as Relief Society President has coincided nicely with my girls' sudden need to explore their domestic sides.  I'm embracing the 'rest' part of 'Day of rest.'  Thus the afternoon of patio lounging.  While reclined I watched, mesmerized, a cluster of very large dragonflies swooping over the chimney for almost an hour, and even lingered until dusk, hoping to catch a few bats at work.  Every Sunday should include some nature appreciation, don'tcha think?

Monday night we had our Family Home Evening, which went very well on the scale of family happiness and solidarity ...until we got to the activity portion of the night (a group game of pool) and a family member or two nearly had their heads taken off by an errant pool cue.  Maybe the stick wasn't literally errant--just a few attitudes needed adjustment once things got competitive.  Competition cancels out meekness and humility chez nous, and, well, without those, the whole family unity thing just doesn't go well.  Then we ate cake.  We were going to go out for ice cream, being the last official weekend of summer and all, but since a few of us were no longer on speaking terms, we gave great thanks for leftover cake.

After more than two decades of striving for family home evening perfection, I've learned to hold on to the scattered moments of success and let go of those times when we turn to the dark side.  We can usually laugh about it the next day.

Oh, and here's the newest house guest:

The parents have flown to Colorado and the step-sister is back in town.

Canobie Lake Park love

A list of reasons why I DON'T love amusement parks would definitely be way longer than the list of reasons why I do.  So let's skip the downers and move right to the good stuff:

1- I'm usually there with someone I love

2- views from the top

3- happy noises

4- great people-watching

5- conversations while waiting in lines(see #1)

6- cotton candy!

7- dangling feet

8- leaving on a high and knowing it won't happen again for another year

9- old wooden roller coasters

10 - Again, #1