I Can't Believe It's Over!

Well, we did it!  We ran the Ragnar and I have to say that it was the funnest time ever.  I don't think I have ever laughed so hard, smelled so bad, or been so tired in my whole entire life, but it was so worth it and I would do it again in a heart beat.  And to the girls in my van, I love you all so much and thank you for putting up with my crazy antics.  You all kicked some serious butt.

These were the awesome girls in my van from left to right:  Monica, Kathy, Andrea, Meagan, Amber, and Cara.  Oh, and this was before the race began.  Don't we look happy, rested, and clean?

I was lucky enough to actually begin the race for our team and it was so much fun to jump off of that starting line.  I was so excited and my adrenaline was just pumping.  It was a great feeling...until

I was passed, yes passed, by a man wearing cross-country skis.  That's right, ski's.  When he passed my I actually turned to him and said, while laughing, "You've got to be kidding me." He just looked at me and smiled.

Cara was smart enough to bring her son's super soaker and it was such a great idea because it was so dang HOT.  I can't thank her enough for that.

I had to put this picture of Amber up because she looked so cute during the whole race and she was totally fast!  Amber, you're awesome.

This was a gorgeous meadow that we drove through while one of our runners was running.  So much of the race had scenery like this.  

I was just starting me second, and hardest leg right here.  It was 8.5 miles down Trapper's Loop, but I loved it.  The first part was really uphill, which was very hard, but the last part was all downhill and so much fun.  I was lucky enough to have Jake, Ashley, and Milo cheer me on this part of the race.

Me running downhill and somehow I have a smile on my face.  I guess I was just so happy the uphill was over with.

Finally, after personally running 18 miles and being awake for over 32 hours, we made it to the finish line.  Thanks again to all of my van mates.  Because of this experience, I have five wonderful life-long friends and hopefully we'll do this again next year!

wow, really, REALLY!?

I was looking at my brother-in-law, Charlie's, blog and he posted something that he found to be horrible and after I saw it, I can't agree with him more.  A company in West Jordan, called TheSockObama, has come out with a sock puppet that is in support of Barack Obama.  And this horrific and racist toy is what they came up with:

It's hard to express how awful I think something like this is and from a company that is in support of Obama.  It also saddens me that in 2008, a toy made in effigy of an African American man is made to look like this.  When did we revert back to the 50's, or better yet, back to the horrible times of slavery?  Charlie and I have personally written e-mails to this company and I hope that others will express their feelings to this company and hopefully this "toy" will stop being made and sold.  If you feel inclined to share your feelings with them, please e-mail them at sales@thesockobama.com.  Because of things like this, stereotypes never end and racism never ends and when a toy like this is made for a child, it is only  perpetuated further.  Let's do what we can to stop it.

The Way It Was

About nine years ago, I had the opportunity to visit New York City for about a week and it was a wonderful experience.  We went to the Met, the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art), Time Square, Greenwich Village, Broadway shows, Central Park, but I think the place that was the best that we went to was the Statue of Liberty and I guess going there then means more to me now than ever before.  As I look at that picture and see the Twin Towers behind me, there are so many emotions that I have.  First, I will never be able to stand at that exact spot, at the base of the Statue of Liberty, with my husband and children and have that beautiful sky line behind us.  Second, I think about all of those people who were working in those towers on that day that I was visiting who died 2 years later, who kissed their loved ones goodbye that morning and never kissed them goodnight.  And the third emotion brings me to our election season, the most important so far in my lifetime.  Now that we have our presumptive nominees, Barack Obama and John McCain, it's important that every issue is discussed, every speech is analyzed, and the character behind these men is looked at closely.  I guess what I'm trying to say is that on September 11, 2001, over 3000 innocent people died for a reason that has never been made clear to me.  Do we really need to continue to have our troops, men and women, die every day for a cause that no one really understands?  To me, that answer is a profound no.  I know that everyone has the right and liberty to vote whichever way they feel is best for them and that is one reason that makes our country great, but for me, for my children, their children, and so on, we need a country that is united and a "war" that needs to end.  

It's pretty obvious who we are behind and thanks Matt and Jenny for this cute onesie.  We think it's important to have our children involved in politics as early as possible.  But anyway, I hope that in November we walk into the election booths and vote for who we think is the best person to be the leader of the free world.  And when you do vote, don't vote for the person that you think your parents would want you to vote for, who your church thinks is best, or because of what your friends are saying, instead, vote for the best person that is the best for you and for what you believe in.