Go AF Cavemen... and Fresh Market!

I stopped by Fresh Market yesterday to pick up a gallon of milk and couldn't help but take a picture of this soda display!  Grocery stores have been making cool displays like this for a while now for everything from college teams to holidays, but it was neat to see the local grocery store using the display technique to support the local high school.

I wasn't the only one stoping to take pictures, either.

Way to go, Fresh Market!

Halloween Portraits?

I have been playing around with Picnik, trying to figure out a way I can get my 6th graders to make a Halloween portrait.  I think it would be super fun...

...if.

If I could arrange for them to all use the premium features.  The free features are not nearly as cool as the premium ones.  I purchased a premium membership for my family, but I don't ethically think that extends to all my students.

If I could make sure they keep their portraits rated G on the gore and violence scale.  There are options that are just too over the top for elementary students.  Blood, injuries, and guts.  However, there are fun fangs, glowing eyes, and other fun (non-slasher movie) things they could enjoy, too.

Here are some portraits I created this evening that range from slightly creepy in a fun way, to down right disturbing and almost scary.  They are all from the same base photo of me.

 Ghost me.

 Creepy-up-to-no-good me.

 Slightly disturbing and headed toward slasher flick me.

Out and out over the top slasher movie she's gonna die me.

Hey, look!  I'm an ogre!  I think the boys in the class will like this one.

So.  I have a week or two to decide.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Caught Red Handed

My student teacher was sick today.  That meant I was running the show today.  The day went relatively glitch free until the very end.  The final class of the day is first grade.  They are painting their very own Starry Night pictures using oil pastels.

At least, they are SUPPOSED to be painting their pictures.

One little boy decided to paint something else, instead.

His hands.

Red.

He got caught literally 'red handed' during clean up time.  I have to tell you.  I am not the nicey-nice teacher when I catch someone who has misbehaved.  I made him look me in the eye and tell me exactly what he did.  Of course, I already knew... I just wanted him to squirm over having to confess.  Then, after ascertaining that he was a 'later gator' (a B-track student heading to recess from my class instead of an A-track student heading for home), I informed him that he would just have to give up his recess, stay in the art room, and scrub his hands clean... because oil pastel doesn't come off very easily.

Oh, you should have seen the hang-dog look on his face!  You would have thought his pet dragon had died.

So, after seeing all the rest of the students out the door when the bell rang, I walked over to the sink where he was waiting with a very gloomy look on his face.

I asked. "What have you learned?"

"I don't know."  He mumbled tearfully.

My older students know I won't let them go until they are able to give me a satisfactory answer on that one, but I cut the 6 year old some slack.  So, I patiently guided him through the thought process that oil pastels are for paper, not skin, and that he would NEVER EVER want to do it again!

Then we scrubbed his hands clean and I sent him out the door with a high five and a smile...


 ...to enjoy the rest of his recess.

Running the Distance

Yesterday I ran my fastest 5K, yet... at 26 min. 57 sec.!  I'm feeling pretty good about that, even though my legs are complaining about it today (I forgot to drink my protein afterward).

There is a website called Runner's World that has distance calculators on it.  You can plug in your time on one of the standard distances and it will guesstimate your probable times on all the other race distances.  It is somewhat helpful in predicting how I'd do in the half and full marathon distances.  I used it back when I ran the half marathon and found it to be a very accurate estimate.  So I plugged my new 5K times in and here are the results...

1500m                  7:31

the mile                8:06

5000m(5k)         26:55

5 miles                44:35

10,000m(10k)    56:08

ten miles         1:32:57

half marathon2:03:45

a marathon    4:18:00

Also based on my 5K time, here are my pace calculations:  

8:40 Pace per mile

6.92 Miles/hour

The site also has training calculators.  These can be very helpful in figuring out the speeds you need to be using for various different drills (speed intervals, tempo runs, etc).  So, based on my current time, this is the recommended chart:

10:53 min/mile Easy run training pace  

9:06 min/mile Tempo run training pace  

8:13 min/mile Maximum oxygen training pace  

7:37 min/mile Speed form training pace  

10:53 - 12:14 min/mile Long run training pace  

4:13 min/800 Yasso 800s training pace  

Sunday Thoughts

Today's Sunday services were really packed with people.  The chapel overflow wasn't even enough to hold the congregation and the 'cultural hall' (aka the gym) had to be opened up to accommodate everyone.  The reason?  Missionaries.

More specifically, the speakers this week were a congregation member returning from his mission and another congregation member about to depart on her mission.

My church is a proselytizing church.  Members can choose to put aside the cares of their own lives and serve the Lord for 1 1/2 to 2 years.  For young members, age 19-21, it is a proselytizing mission somewhere in the world.  For older couples and single adult members, it could be a proselytizing mission, or a service mission.  My mother-in-law performed a service mission as a botanist at a church run summer camp for girls.  Other retirees have used their life and work experience to serve as educators, in the welfare program, or building wells and bringing clean drinking water to developing countries.  There are many ways to be of service.

The first speaker was Eliza G.  She is about to leave for a mission to Frankfurt, Germany.  She will serve a 1 1/2 year proselytizing mission.  She is 21 years old.  She is currently a student at BYU, but will be setting aside her college plans while she does this.  It is amazing to me that she is old enough to go on a mission!  She is our next door neighbor.  I have watched her grow up.  Even though she is 3 years older than Helena, she used to come over and play Barbies with Helena when they were young.

Her talk was about being careful not to judge other people from the very little you actually know about them.  She used the story of Mary and Martha in the New Testament as an example.  Most Christians know the story.  Jesus comes to visit.  Mary sits down to listen to the message Jesus has to share.  Martha bustles about with the cares of the household, serving, cooking, and cleaning.  She asks Jesus to chastise Mary for leaving all the work to her, but Jesus' response was that Mary was attending to the work of the spirit.

Many people have taken this story as a teaching tool; painting Mary as the good sister who is spiritually in tune and Martha as the 'bad' sister who was too preoccupied with worldly cares.

However, later in the scriptures, Martha is the one to come to Jesus and declare his divinity at the time he raises Lazarus, her brother, from the tomb.  It is a powerful declaration of her testimony in Christ.  It also highlights the fact that Martha gets a bad rap because too many people take one moment out of her life and define her with it.  Think about it.  All of us have our less than stellar moments.  Would you want your whole life to be judged on that one moment in time?

Eliza's talk centered on the fact that the only one who truly knows each and every one of us through and through is God.  You may think you know someone from your limited interactions with them, but there is no way you can truly know them the way the Lord does.  Eliza said the best we can do is love everyone, knowing they are God's children and that they have an infinite worth that we can barely comprehend.  After her talk, she told me she forgot to give her favorite quote and told it to me, so I told her I would put it here.

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
― Mother Teresa

 The second talk was given by Tanner C., another 21 year old, who recently returned from serving a two year mission in Concepción, Chile.  His talk centered on fulfilling the tasks appointed to you by God, and more specifically, on the responsibilities of young priesthood holders.

The young men who bless and pass the sacrament every Sunday are doing that as part of their priesthood responsibilities.  The priesthood is the power and authority to act in God's name.  As young men in the congregation get older, they progress in priesthood responsibilities from passing the sacrament, to preparing it, to blessing it.  Adult priesthood holders can perform church ordinances in the name of God, like baptisms, confirmations, and blessings for babies and the sick.  

The priesthood is held by men.  Some would say that is outdated and sexist.  Perhaps.  But, men cannot bear children.  Women can.  If you believe in the divine creation of man, then the division of labor (quite literally) is divinely appointed, too.  Men carry the priesthood forward.  Women carry the species forward.

Besides.  I really have quite enough on my plate without adding one more responsibility.

Anyway, there was one comment in Tanner's talk that stood out for me.  He said that if he found himself standing at the Judgment Seat at the end of his life and had to confess that he did not fulfill his responsibilities on earth because he was lazy, he would die of shame.  Of course, if he is standing at the judgment seat, he is already dead... but the sentiment is accurate nonetheless.  We all have responsibilities in this life to act as Christ's disciples, to lift and encourage others.  Don't let laziness stand in the way!  Imagine facing Christ with such a feeble excuse for poor choices and inaction.

All in all, it was an excellent Sunday service and I want to thank both Eliza G. and Tanner C. for their excellent talks!

Saturdays Mean Lacrosse

At least for the next several weeks, that is.

I went for a short run this morning before we all headed out for Will's lacrosse game at 1:00 pm.  The game was held at Mountain Ridge Junior High, but it didn't start until 1:30 because the other team had such a hard time finding it.  Originally, the game was supposed to be held at AFJH, but the venue got changed the night before.  Apparently the Alta HS coaches weren't as good at sending out e-mail notifications of the change as our coaches were.  When they finally arrived, the parents were grumbling a lot over the travel distance and difficulty finding the school.  I don't have much sympathy.  We drove to Bountiful last week and had no trouble finding it.  They were also short one very important player...

... their goalie was not there.

Since this is fall lacrosse and is meant more for skill building than anything else, our coaches offered to let them use our varsity goalie (who happened to be there) in order to play the game.

They creamed Will's team.  The final score was 10 Alta, 0 AF JV.  Still, it was our varsity goalie blocking every shot (no wonder he was so good!) and Will had a great time, which is all that really matters to me.

Here are some shots of the day's action.

 Will looks like he is about to skewer the opposing team player!

 Same shot, zoomed out so you can see how enormous the mountains look in the background!

 I just love all these action shots!  Can you see the ball in the top right corner?  Will is focused on it and headed right for it.

 I was really amazed at how many action shots I got of Will with the ball this time!  I am not usually so lucky.

 In this shot, Will is running a screen so his team mate (who is a mid-fielder) can pick up the ball.

 The goalie had just thrown the ball to Will so he could send it to the attack players.

 Helena taking what are probably much better pictures with her awesome camera.

 Bill creating his own shade for the game.

Toward the end of the game, Will got put in the 'penalty box' (I have no idea if that is what they really call it) for giving a slash to the head... hitting another player across the helmet with his stick... oops.

The game was nearly over, when Will got put in as a midi (mid-fielder) instead of a denfenseman.  Midis have run the entire field and play both attack and defense.  I was surprised to see Will in that position, he's never played it before.  When the game ended, I asked him about it and he just said he wanted to try it out.

So, there you go!  Your shot of lacrosse until next weekend!

P/T Conferences and "Ginger"

I have two children in high school, now.  That means trying to see twice as many teachers on parent/teacher conference night.  16 teachers, in fact.  OK.  Only 15 because Helena and Will have the same English teacher this year. 

Still.  That's a LOT of teachers!  Especially when there are long, slow lines for several of them.

Needless to say, we did not see all of them. 

We didn't even try.  We prioritized and went to the teachers who a) were giving out late pass slips to kids who brought their parents in; and/or b) needed to know that I was aware of the bad grades and what can he/she do to bring it up?

My son is currently failing art.

Yup.  Go ahead.  Laugh it up.  I realize the irony of the art teacher's son failing art.

He has one missing assignment which the teacher will be happy to accept late, so that is a temporary condition, chuckles.

He is struggling in a couple of other classes, too.  We have discovered that his Algebra 2 teacher primarily teaches AP Calculus and AP Stats... with just a couple of Alg. 2 classes thrown in.  He is a tough teacher.  However, I don't necessarily see that as a disadvantage.  If Will can adapt to his teaching style, that will give him such a HUGE advantage later!

The most wonderful thing has happened!  Helena loves all of her classes this year.  She is happy.  She is bubbly.  She is excited to go to school and her grades reflect that!   I am so glad she is enjoying her senior year.

IT IS SO NICE!

*******

Now.  About that other item in the Post Title.

"Ginger".

That is just one of the obnoxious names used by people to put down red-haired people.

"Fire-Crotch" is another.  I had honestly never heard of that second one until my son got upset at being call it.

Grrr!  Nothing hurts a mom more than knowing your child is hurting, and you are powerless to make it stop.

Actually, that is not completely accurate.  I am not completely powerless.  I can build his self esteem and teach him that people who say such things are insecure and not worth listening to.

Still, you know the old saying "sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me"?

That is a lie.

Names do hurt.  Even when you are confident.  Even when you know they aren't true.  Even when you know the person saying them isn't worth listening to.

Will went into the Chemistry room after school today to get caught up on a chem lab.  There were lots of kids in there and the teacher was busy with another group on the other side of the room.  A boy Will doesn't know came in and sat near some friends, and Will.  For some reason only known to him, he started calling Will "Ginger" and saying "Gingers don't have a soul."  And "You shouldn't bother going to seminary, because Gingers are all going to hell."

?!?

Really?!?

Will got up and left.  He felt himself losing his temper and thought it would be best to remove himself from the situation.  Of course, that meant that he did not get his chem lab done.  Great.  I contacted the teacher and the principal over the incident, because it qualifies as bullying.  I have heard back from the teacher already, apologizing and hoping to figure out who the boy was.  Will has no desire to point him out for the teacher, though, because he doesn't want to be shunned by other students as a 'snitch'.  Instead, he wants me to sign him up for karate.

To me, "Ginger" doesn't sound very obnoxious.  But then, I don't have to hear myself called that over and over for my entire life.  I am sure some people might be using it as a friendly jibe.  And I am even more sure that most of them are just being rude.  And mean.

I kind of liken it to blonde jokes.  Why do people think they need to tell me every blonde joke they've ever heard? 

"Ha, ha!  You're a blonde!  You'll get a kick out of this!"

Really?  You think so?

Think again.

Mom=Bad Guy

I wish it wasn't so.  I wish doing my 'mom duty' didn't also turn me in to the 'Bag Guy' in my kids' eyes.

I don't like being treated like a traitor because I insist they get homework done, first.  I honestly didn't call up their teachers and ask them to assign it.  In fact, my life would be so much happier if they didn't have any homework... or if they just got it done cheerfully on their own.  It is seriously not my life's ambition to be a nag.

However, I do know how great they will feel with all responsibilities completed and with good grades to back it up.  I know how great it feels to enjoy free time completely guilt free.  I know how great they'll feel to actually understand what the teacher is talking about, because they practiced it at home.

They just don't know it, yet.  So I am the 'Bad Guy'.

My Trail

I decided to go on a run on 'my trail' this morning.  This is the trail that starts just a half block from my house and winds it way up to the canyon.  When running, I don't go all the way to the canyon, at least, not until I am ready to put in the long miles in marathon training.  For now, I just wanted to do a 5 mile round trip, so I turned around at an appropriate spot.

It is really a beautiful trail, so I decided to 'take you along' with me today by snapping pictures along the way.  So here we go!

 The trail meanders through several residential districts in town, following a stream/river.  It ducks behind houses from time to time.

 There are several little neighborhood parks along the side of the trail.  I often pass by families playing.  Today all was quiet, though, since school is in session.

 The first field.  Open and sunny!  I usually try to not squash the insect life that crosses my path.  It is not that I am a freak about 'honoring all life' or something.  I just don't feel the need to squish everything I see.  There are lots of grasshoppers that jump out of the way, and beetles that ramp up their back ends in defensive postures (so cute and funny considering their size relative to mine!).  But today a spider came scuttling out of nowhere, right under my shoe as it came down.  Oops.  Tragic end for him.

 I had to stop and take a couple of pictures of these sunflowers as a representative of the flowers along the path.  There are a lot of sunflowers right now.  Must be the season.

 The trail cuts right through the middle of Art Dye Park, which is a sports park.  There are baseball diamonds and fields on all sides.  Weekend trail runs lead me right through baseball, soccer, and lacrosse games.  It's awesome.

 I had to take a picture of my self, too.  There.  See?  My leg.  That's all you're gonna get.  Sorry.

 Art Dye also makes an excellent watering hole so I don't have to carry water with me.  On long runs, there is another water fountain, but it is another 4 or 5 miles up the trail, where I didn't plan to go, today.  Art Dye marks the 2 mile mark for me.

 Leaving the park, there is a new little avenue of trees leading into the woods that wind up behind and above the golf course, which is hidden in the trees to the left of the trail.

 This is one of my favorite sections of the trail.  It is so shady and beautiful!  I have friends who don't think I should be running this part of the trail, especially at twilight, because it is pretty isolated.  But I go anyways.

 See!  Look how pretty!

 Coming out above the golf course, and out of the shade of the trees.  This is field number 2.  You've seen this one before, because I tend to take pictures of the snow levels.  Notice that the snow is finally gone... in mid September.  Just in time for new snow to arrive in a few weeks!

 This is the end of the road for me today.  If I was going farther, I'd keep going past the end of the pavement and continue on the dirt path.  It connects back up to pavement in the next town over.  I turned around, here.

 Heading back home gives me a whole new set of views to admire!  Here is the golf course below me and the lake in the distance.

 My favorite part of the trail, again!  This time going downhill.

 A large part of the trail actually does follow the course of the water, so I thought I'd include this picture of the stream/river (depending on the season... it is a stream right now) so you can see what I see off the trail.

 In the early summer, I posted a picture of these trees.  They were in the water, then.  At that time this was a river, not a stream.  The city tried to put up caution tape to keep people off the trail while the water was so dangerously high, but people just tore it down and used the trail anyway.

 Nearly home.  The trail is the sidewalk.  I wear sunglasses while running.  That gives me the chance to surreptitiously watch the drivers.  I noticed several men 'checking me out' as they drove by.  Of course, dirty old men will check out anything female.  Nothing new, there.  But I also noticed some women checking me out as they drove by, too.  That makes me feel good!  Not in a creepy way.  I just think that maybe they are noticing me and thinking, 'if she can do it, so can I.  I should start running again.'

 Nearly home!  This is half a block from my house.

There you go.  Home again!  All totaled, our distance today was 5.25 miles.  As soon as I get home from exercising, I mix up a protein drink to make sure my muscles have what they need to repair themselves and so I can recover faster for the next adventure!

I hope you enjoyed our run today.  Don't you wish you could come with me for real next time?

Homecoming 2011

I could write about Helena's homecoming experience, but I really wasn't there, so everything you would hear from me would be second hand.  Instead, click HERE to go to Helena's blog, where she wrote all about homecoming in her own words!

The only thing I can tell you about Homecoming is I wish Helena wouldn't be so against letting her family enjoy the moment when she is picked up by her date.  I want to take pictures and just enjoy this moment of being the parent seeing my child off on a formal (or semi formal) date.  She just gets annoyed with me and acts all embarrassed that she has parents who want to take pictures.  She is in a super hurry to get out the door, I guess before we do or say something that her date will think of as weird?

Anyways, I think she had a great time, and that makes me happy.

Provo River Parkway Trail

This afternoon we decided to go on a family bike ride up Provo Canyon on the Provo River Parkway Trail.  This is a very well developed (meaning paved) trail that winds along the Provo River.  Duh.  Probably why they named it the way they did, huh?

Anyways, Helena didn't want to come, so our family bike ride was down to Bill, Will, and me.  The trail is gorgeous, with lots of full grown trees arching over it cathedral style and the beauty of the canyon walls and river to enjoy as you go along a rather gentle incline.

There is a waterfall right next to the trail, called Bridle Veil Falls.  Since it is so easily accessed by car (there is a parking lot right there), Bridle Veil Falls attracts A LOT of tourists.  So many, in fact, that Parks and Recreation put up signs making that section of the trail walking only.  We had to get off our bikes and wend our way through all the sightseers taking snapshots of each other on the trail directly below the falls.  There used to be a hiking trail up to the base of the falls themselves... and another more difficult one that could take you higher even.  But those trails have been shut down due to injuries in the past.  Not that that stops people, though.  There are still plenty of people willing to blaze on up the side of the canyon for a more up close and personal experience with the falls.  Back in my college days, my roommates and I used to hike the falls, and I even remember hiking out to a particularly precarious ledge above the falls with a boyfriend, once.

A few other interesting facts about the falls...

Once there was a cable tram ride up to the top of the falls, where there was an overlook (and a restaurant?).  An avalanche destroyed the tram and it was never rebuilt.

One year another avalanche blocked the trail for a long time.  It completely redefined the look of the lowest part of the falls with all the scree it left behind.  We hiked up to see it that summer.  Yes, it was still there!  At the time, there were huge ice caverns you could climb into if you were foolhardy enough to attempt it.  Those are tree trunks sticking out of it, by the way.

The falls freeze solid during the winter and people have been known to ice climb on them.

Well, back to our adventure today.  Since there were so many people on the trail, we decided to detour out to the road for that section on the trail coming back down.

Not long after the falls, we came across trim and petite elderly lady who was walking her bike down the trail.  Bill stopped and asked her if something was wrong with her bike?  She had a flat tire.

I sat and chatted with her while Bill patched her tire for her.  He is always so prepared when he goes out on his bike!  I am going to need to have him teach me how to do tire patch repairs on my bike before much longer.  While we were sitting there, Bill's niece, Bridget, and her cute little family came by!  She and her husband, Devin, were out for a Sunday canyon stroll with their two little boys, Boston and Tagg, in strollers.  Bridget keeps a sweet blog of her little family of boys and their adventures, so it is easy to keep up to date with what is going on with her, but it was still great to see them!

Oh.  And at one point while sitting there, a little red headed boy of about 3 or 4 years old walked right up to me, showed me a stick and said; "I saw lots of snakes!  This is my snake hunting stick and I'm going to catch lots of snakes with it!  That's my mom over there... see ya!"  And ran off happily to catch up with her.  So cute!  I do have a fondness for little red headed boys.

Although we had a good time (spending time together and enjoying the beauties of a September afternoon in the canyon), we probably won't bother going back to the trail any time soon.  It was too crowded!  Lots of families with little kids (not in strollers) and/or pets who dart out at unexpected moments, and long boarders!  Tons of young adults zooming down the trail on long boards, not always following trail etiquette.  I have already commented about the joggers on my local trail, this was much worse.

That is why Bill prefers to disappear up onto lonely mountain biking trails.

I'm going to stick to roads.

Update:  Just a few days after this adventure, we got a box in the mail.  It was from the petite elderly lady.  Her name is Mary.  She sent us a thank you card and a box of Cliff Bars!  So sweet and thoughtful!