Running the race before us

Marathon weekend is upon us!  We love taking part in the activities of the FM marathon.  They have so much for the whole family and it is an awesome event!  This year 4 out of 5 of us did races.  Connor and Carson were first with the mile run on Thursday night.  Carson is very competitive and really wanted to do his best.  In school this spring he ran the mile in 7 mins. 31 seconds.  Here they are waiting for the race to start:

Such serious faces- concentration and determination at it's best!  

It was a very hot day- 90 degrees. There were about 200+ kids in their age category and Carson came in the top 15.  Connor was not far behind and I'm pretty sure he beat his school time.  He ran the whole mile which he hadn't done before.  So proud of them!  They are talking about doing the 5K next year.  It would be a fun goal to work for.

On Friday evening I had the opportunity to walk in the 5K with a bunch of people from Westside.  We were walking in honor of a special little girl.  One of the paras at Westside has a young daughter who was recently diagnosed with Lupus.  We decided to walk in honor of her and to get the word out about finding a cure for the disease.  There were 55 of us who walked with the other 9,500 racers.  It was 95 degrees, but it was a ton of fun!  People along the route put on sprinklers for us and squirted us with water guns to cool us off.  I walked the route with Lizz Peterson and a few others.

On Saturday morning, we cheered on Andy in the half marathon.  It is so exciting to see all of the runners working so hard to accomplish this major event!  We made some posters to encourage him towards the end and stood at mile 7 to cheer him on.  His knee was a bit of a distraction.  Actually a lot of a distraction.  He was really hurting when we saw him, but he pushed through it and made it to the finish line.  To say I am proud of him is an understatement!  He worked hard and didn't let the pain keep him from his goal!  

Our camera is not very good for these types of things, but here is a photo of him after crossing the finish line (He's in the orange shirt).  

Can't wait for next year! 

Blessings

I sure am blessed to be the mother of these three amazing kids!  

Celebrating Mother's Day was a weekend affair in our home this year.  We went out as a family on Friday evening to Olive Garden!  MMMmmmmm!  Then on Sunday we went out to eat with Andy's aunt Arline and her sons Darren and Jason and Jason's wife Kat and daughter Kaycee.  Jason and family live in Kansas so it was a special treat to be able to visit with them.

Sunday was a very relaxed day.  I sat on the deck and read a book for about an hour!  I don't do that very often, so it was a great treat!  We also walked to Tutti- Frutti and enjoyed some frozen yogurt!  Boy, do we love that place!  It was a great day!

On Friday, Carson's class had a Mother's Day Tea that I was able to attend.

We were treated like royalty:

And serenaded with poems:

I was told how much I was loved:

And given gifts straight from the heart!

One thing I noticed about this Mother's Day that was different from the previous ones:  The boys especially have really been able to communicate their feelings and love in a special way.  It wasn't just teacher made gifts that they signed their names too.  They really put in some thought to their words and I sure felt appreciated for the things that I feel go unnoticed so often.