Ragnar

We did it. We Ragnar-ed it. Dave and I each ran 13.1 miles over 24 hours. It.Was.Awesome. Dave's legs were 6.7, 3, and 3.3 miles. Mines were 5.1, 4.2, and 3.8 miles. All together our team ran about 190 miles.

We had a super-awesome team. And that's what makes it so fun. Our "van" consisted of 3 seminary teachers and their wives. They were well trained. Dave and I weren't.

My mom took the kids, even though they had to bring Mari and the baby home from the hospital that day. She had one crazy weekend! But we were so grateful she did it. And we LOVED our little mini-vacation from responsibility. We went to bed the night before the race with no kids in our house. We've never done that before. It was weird. But cool.

I haven't been on a team in awhile. Not really since cheerleading I guess. I love being on a team. That was my favorite part about the Ragnar relay. You are all cheering each other on. So much so that it seems like every team is cheering all the other teams on. We started calling it the Spirit of Ragnar.

There were 1050 teams this year. There are 12 people on a team. You do the math. That's a lot of people. It seemed like everyone I knew did it. And one of my friends who didn't do it said it felt like he missed out on something big.

We learned some valuable lessons. When van 2 was running we went to Wolf Creek and enjoyed a lovely lunch in the shade. We lounged around, but I started panicking that we were going to miss our exchange. I was shot down a few times, but eventually we mobilized and boy were we lucky. As we drove up the hill to Snowbasin, we watched for our runner. We couldn't see him. We knew we were in trouble. Less than half a mile from the exchange, we finally saw him. We BARELY made it. We tried REALLY hard to make each exchange because it would be pretty deflating to run your hardest and get to the exchange only to sit there waiting for your teammate. We watched lots of people do that, and always felt bad for them. For our next set of legs we drove to the exchange and hung out there. It took 2 hours to go 40 miles. That's why you go there first, you can never estimate how long it will take you to get from place to place.

If you were wondering, the item that you pass off for the relay is a slap bracelet. As you approach your exchange you take the bracelet off and slap it on their wrist as they run away.

Dave's first leg was 6.7 miles. He didn't think he could do it. He ran the whole way. He made pretty good time. 11 minute miles. I fell even more in love with him. I was so unbelievably proud of him.

My first leg was ugly. For me anyway, I thought it was hard. My second leg was quite nice. And my third was fantastic. Although the third had a rough start. I had asked over and over, best case scenario when will she show up. 8:20. Best case. At 8:05 I heard my number called. 695! She totally exceeded our expectations which was awesome. Later I was proud of her. But in the moment I started panicking. Yelling, "You said Best Case Scenario!!!" I did make it in time for the exchange, but I was not ready. I hadn't even used my inhaler for my asthma yet. I think I'll put the video of that exchange on here. As I turned the corner of that mountain I saw around 7 hot air balloons. That was my tender mercy. I loved it.

We already signed up for Ragnar next year with our same van. I can't wait. I hope I can do it.

Our team at the start line

Me. Just happy to be a part of the action.

Celebrating at the finish line


My favorite leg and surprise exchange

Mari

It was brought to my attention that some people have no idea who Mari is, or how she fits into my family. That makes sense to me now, as I tried to never bring up the confusing topic before of adoption and the challenges it can bring.

My family is so confusing. People ask me how many kids are in my family and I get a really un-intelligent, grimace on my face as I try to figure out the number. It has been ever changing since 1992, and as most families only GROW, ours has expanded and contracted at different times.

Here is the story in a nutshell.

In 1971 my parents got married. They had their token two kids, and that was it. Well, you know, one thing led to another, and 5.5 years later they had ME! For 10 years I was the baby of the family. It was fantastic. But after my dad was baptized (my mom was baptized when I was a baby) he agreed that babies come from Heaven, and there were more children to come to our family.

In 1992 my run as the baby ended with the birth of the fattest little Italian baby I've ever seen. 9 lbs 13 oz and 19 days late she was. My baby sister Lauren turns 18 tomorrow. Wow! Four years later, and at the ripe old age of 45 and 10/12 my mom had another baby girl. Baby Kate. My mom still felt strongly that she was supposed to have boys.

In 1999 my parents traveled across the world to a land called Kazakhstan. They found the sickliest little baby boy (10 pounds at 6 months) which they barely knew if he would survive the trip home, and they fattened him up to a little butterball. I think he had nearly doubled his weight in 2 months. Little Joshua, with his blond hair and huge blue eyes fit right into our family, and quickly made our little Italian Lauren look like the adopted one.

Shortly thereafter a little Russian boy showed up at our doorstep. Literally. There he was, dropped off at our house with about a week before he would return to his Russian orphanage. He won our hearts, and my parents made the journey across the world once again to adopt him. He was old. Maybe 9? Poor little guy had so many terrible things happen to him in his life. He just never could recover. It was strongly encouraged, maybe even thrust at my parents to adopt his biological sister. Maria. She is two years older than him. So they once again made the trip to Russia and adopted Maria. Shortened her name to Mari as it fit our last name better.

Unfortunately they both have been very damaged from all that they have been through. It's a tough world for a Russian orphan, especially when your mother was an alcoholic and gave you problems before you were even born. This little boy couldn't control himself in ways that were very damaging to a family. After months in a hospital, it was determined that he needed to be with parents who were specialized in taking care of children like this. His biological sister Mari followed him around as he bounced from house to house. He was the master of disaster. No one could handle him. At a certain point, when Mari was in a house where she was thriving, it was decided that she would no longer follow him around. So she lived in Arizona with a mother who is pretty darn good at raising these adopted kids.

Mari did well, working very hard in school, and setting records in cross country running for the state of Arizona. Her little 5' tall body with teensy tiny size 2 feet can run like the wind. So she stayed there until she turned 18 and unfortunately found herself pregnant after only 2 months on her own.

Worried about the welfare of the baby and Mari as well, my parents flew her home and kept her healthy through her pregnancy. My dad worked so hard to get things situated for Mari, he spent entire days driving her around helping her out.

This whole situation was very hard for me to figure out for years. Very embarrassing. Where are those adopted kids? Are they my siblings? I just avoided the topic.

Now Mari is very much a part of our family again. We are happy to have her.

How many kids are in my family? Well 3, at one point. Then 4,5 and 6. Then 7 & 8. Then 6 again. Then 2 deaths in 3 months and back to 4. Now 5. But Mr. 6 is still out there. Just not stable enough to really be a part of our family. Jail tends to be his hotel of choice.

Crazy family. But I love them. All 7 of my siblings.

I love my 3 week nephew. He is not 3 weeks old, it's that he is only my nephew for 3 weeks. Then he will hop onto someone else's family tree for the rest of eternity. And that sounds just perfect to me.

Somethings that bug me

My dad asked me to give back this amplifier that he gave us because we weren't going to use it.
I bet that was a week before he died.
I didn't give it back.
And now I can't.
And he doesn't want it now.
And I probably won't use it ever.
And I miss him.

I saw a guy at Macey's walking out with groceries.
He looked like my dad.
Anyone with a bald head and white mustache looks like my dad to me.

And I still keep hoping he's gonna call.
In fact one day this week the phone rang as I was thinking about him.
I said out loud, "That's my dad."
It wasn't.

Sometimes I entertain the thought that he will still call and tell us we were tricked.
In my mind my eyes well up with tears and I say,
"Dad you have no idea what we've been through the last 8 weeks."
And then we catch up on all that has transpired.
It takes us hours of course.
And then a week later or so I go visit them like nothing has happened.
And we talk about fruit trees and basements and new.familysearch.org.
And when I leave he gives me a hug and kiss and tells me he loves me like every other time I left.

Has anyone called his phone lately?
Maybe he would answer.
He had that number longer than anyone else I know has had a cell number.
I think he had it for 17 years.
Does someone else have it now?

I hate death.
It seems really cruel to separate people who don't want to be separated.

But REALLY, all in all, I'm doing really well.
Doesn't mean certain things don't bother me.

Good thing I have a cute baby.
Who just walked into the wall with a big grin.
Not grinning anymore.

My little animal

My little animal is walking 80% of the time now. Finally. Little monkey, loved his monkey crawl and just didn't care about walking. He is so stinking cute. And soooooo much trouble. He can get out of any restraint (luckily not the crib though) and climbs all over the place. He gets in to all his trouble with a smile on his face, huge smile, mouth open as wide as possible, and melts our hearts. We worship this little G. baby, and are glad he's finally walking!!!

Baby Boy

My sister Mari had her baby boy last week. It was really quite an experience. Ever since we found out she was pregnant, we worried how she would get that baby out, she is so tiny. But that 5 foot tall little Russian girl birthed like a champ, and surprised us all.

Mari was dilated to a 3, and due to upcoming vacationing circumstances on the part of the doctor and my mom, it was decided she was in early labor and would be helped along that afternoon.

I must start the story by telling you the incredible feeling in that delivery room. I don't know if I have been too distracted to feel that in my delivery rooms or what, but I walked in and got choked up knowing what a sacred room this was. I know there were a lot of angels in that room, I didn't recognize any specifically, just felt like the room was really full, much more full than it looked. It was neat.

So at 3:30 we showed up at the hospital and she got hooked up to an iv. Mari has a fairly low pain tolerance, and hates needles, so getting the iv was a huge deal for her. Around 5:00 the doctor showed up and by 5:15 her water was broken and she was hooked up to pitocin. It got pretty dicey after that.

She started having contractions, but they weren't showing up on the monitor, and with her low pain tolerance we didn't think too much of them. I recommended that she get an epidural, but she insisted she wanted to feel some contractions. The anesthesiologist took off to a c-section and another girl signed up for her epidural, so unfortunately the epidural was now way off in the distance.

Contractions started picking up on the monitor and were less than 2 minutes apart. Crying and cringing, and lots of complaining were taking place each time. I went outside to ask the nurse for some IV meds. They gave her a push of Fentanyl, which calmed her down a lot. But within an hour the contractions were every minute and the Fentanyl was gone! So I begged the nurse for more. I also asked her to turn down the Pitocin so Mari's contractions weren't so close. She brought more Fentanyl in, and the anesthesiologist followed shortly.

I haven't had a natural childbirth with pitocin, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I remember saying that if it were me I'd be thinking the baby was coming soon with contractions so close together.

As soon as the epidural was done, he told her to lay down and when her head hit the pillow she got the urge to push. The nurse was skeptical as this was just 2 hours after she started and it was a first baby. The nurse felt pretty certain the baby would be born the following morning. But she checked and sure enough Mari was right. We rushed to call the adoptive mother (we had planned on calling her when Mari was a 6 or 7, but she was only checked at 3 and 10). The adoptive mother came in time to see the delivery and be the first to hold the baby.

23 minutes of pushing was all it took. I tell you what, that girl is a birthing fool. She is amazing. She did really well, and did almost all of it without an epidural.

The baby is beautiful. He does look a lot like Mari. He is half African American as well. He's adorable, and I can't wait for him to join his new family. This family has already adopted a boy, and I am so thrilled that he will have a brother. What could be better than two boys? (Maybe four boys :)





It was such a neat experience being there with Mari. Watching how natural the birthing experience is, a person who has no clue about it can do it with their natural instincts. I was grateful that she had so much support in the room to help her through a crazy fast 2.5 hour delivery. It was the first birth I've ever really seen, it helped me understand it on a greater level. Thanks Mari for letting me be there! Good luck with your placement! And to baby boy, I know you'll have a wonderful life with your new family. Please know how much work it was for everyone to get you there. It took time, stress, money, prayer, given by SO many people. But everyone is thrilled for you. It wasn't easy, but you are one lucky boy. We all love you.

Happy Father's Day!

Just wanted to say Happy Father's Day to the hottest dad I know. I really love this guy, and I feel so lucky to be married to him. Our four boys are so lucky to have him as a dad. And I fell even more in love with him this weekend watching him run the race. Happy Father's Day Dave. And here's to many more!

House for Sale!

Not mine, my mom's. We haven't gotten all the pictures taken yet, but her house is looking really nice. I still have a room to repaint completely, and then some touchup, so I'm bringing down my sprayer next time. Other than that, it's looking awesome. I'm so grateful there isn't much to fix up! It's in quite good condition.

Please, if you know anyone who might be interested, please direct them to the listing. Send an email, the listing number is wrong and I can't seem to fix it. I would REALLY like to get my mom moved up close to me soon. It would be so nice!

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=475&ad=11176558&cat=279