Mesquite, San Diego, catch up before Christmas!!!

I don't know why it's been so hard for me to keep up on the blog lately, but I figured I'd better blog before Christmas so that I'm not totally overwhelmed!

On November 21st, we traveled to Mesquite, NV to meet our good friends, Josh and Lindsey Green (who live in MT), so that Lindsey and I could run the Mesquite Marathon together. The marathon started out fantastic - high 40 degree weather, calm overcast skies, running well ahead of my pace and feeling great - and then it turned disastrous. The first bummer was stopping to go to the bathroom at mile 5 and losing my friend Lindsey. I probably could have caught up to her by sprinting, but I listened to the advice of a guy (who had linked up with me and Lindsey during the first 5 miles because we seemed to be running the same pace) who told me that sprinting was a horrible idea and that I would pay for it the rest of the race. I should have just sprinted! I ended up running the marathon with this guy instead of my friend!

Anyway, that was the least of my problems. At mile 9 we started to feel wind gusts, and it was not just a little breeze. It was a total headwind and was blowing around 50 mph. It was so strong that the volunteers deserted most of the aid stations. Because cups of water would just blow away, the volunteers figured it was pointless to put them out, so they kept the cups in the boxes and when you needed a drink you would have to get a cup yourself and fill it up! Ridiculous! By mile 13, I was totally done. It was absolute torture to finish those last 21 miles in that wind. Many times I would be running as hard as I could and I would look down at my pacing watch and it would show my pace at 11 minute 30 second miles (my usual pace is around 8 min miles!). But I finished! My time was 3:56 (my slowest time by 4 minutes), but I was just glad to finish under 4 hours.

My friend Lindsey was a super star and finished in 3:38. I don't know how she did it in that wind. But I'm bummed I didn't stay with her, maybe I just could have drafted off her the whole race and had a better time! We ran another marathon together in 2002 in UT and I think we need to do a third because this one didn't leave me with the memories I wanted. But we did have a great weekend together in Mesquite and it was so fun to have our kids play together (why I didn't take any pictures of that I don't know).

From Mesquite, we drove to San Diego to spend Thanksgiving with my family. While we were in San Diego we went to the science museum (above), Sea World (below), the beach (of course), fishing on Papa's boat (no fish were caught), and ate a lot of good food with the fam (it was Thanksgiving afterall) . It was a great trip, just a little too cold for my liking!
It took some convincing to get Paige to stand next to Elmo at Sea World, but she got brave and did it and talked about it the rest of the trip.
The cool dudes (Logan and Zack) waiting for the 3D polar express experience.
Thanksgiving Day was the warmest day we had (but still in the low 60's), so we ran down to the beach to play some football. Mason and Logan wanted to wear their swimsuits, so I let them even though I didn't think they would be getting wet. The kids were intrigued with the water and started off like this, just looking at it.

And then the scene looked like this! Mason was totally diving under waves and Logan was getting knocked over. The water temp was in the low 60's and locals walking their dogs (dressed in their Ugg boots and scarves for the winter So Cal weather) looked at my kids like they were crazy! Which they were!
Here they are trying to warm up, notice the wet hair.

Even Paige got in on the water action and had to take off her pants. She would have stripped down all the way if we would have let her.
After the beach and fishing on Papa's boat (of which there are no pictures, sorry) we all gathered together for a fabulous Thanksgiving Feast. My poor sister Kirsten had strep throat so she didn't really enjoy the meal or get to spend much time with us, but we did drag her out of bed to come sit at the table with us. Sorry for the lame picture, it was a last minute effort with a cell phone to capture the moment.
Here's a picture of the two little cuties actually sharing the stool they fight over so much. Of course Paige was being a little mommy here and reading to Andrew. She loves to be in charge!
Last but not least, we have to include a picture of the gigantic deer Eric shot the first week of November here locally. He was pretty excited about this hunt and put in a lot of hours looking for a deer of this caliber. I'm glad all his hard work paid off for him. It is at the taxidermist now, I know you are all jealous :)

Next post - CHRISTMAS!!!

Happy (Belated) Halloween!

We had some spooky creatures lurking around our house this year. It all started when Mason wanted to be a skeleton and Logan thought that sounded like a great idea and decided he too wanted to be a skeleton. Mason wasn't going along with that plan (since Logan copied his vampire costume last year) this year, so he changed his mind and created his own character - "A Little Creepy Guy." He described what he thought a little creepy guy would wear (a long black robe with a hood) and how a little creepy guy would look (crazy black hair with a pale face and little cuts), but I was worried I wouldn't be able to flesh out the vision in his head. Fortunately for me, he was thoroughly pleased with the final product.
The first round of dressing up came Friday for school. Mason had a parade and party in the afternoon and Logan had a party and parade in the morning, so I was at their school most of the day!
Here is Mason with his best buddy, Oliver.
Logan getting ready for the parade with his mask on.
Logan and his buddy, Joni. These two are great friends but don't like to admit how much they enjoy being around each other. Logan loves her because she will come over and look for bugs with him for hours! I think this picture is so funny because you can totally tell they like each other but are trying to pretend like they don't (Logan with his smirk leaning away from Joni, Joni with her slumped shoulders, but eyes towards Logan). So funny! Joni's mom and I are secretly planning on a marriage between these two in 18-20 years!

After school, we carved pumpkins with the kids. I changed Paige's clothes so they wouldn't get ruined with pumpkin slime and of course she chose her Flag shirt. This is her favorite piece of clothing and wants to wear it 24/7. She wasn't into pumpkin carving or cleaning. Her face here pretty much sums up her enthusiasm towards it.
Logan had grand designs for his pumpkin and wanted Eric to use his dremmel tool to get it just right.
See those eyes? He wanted those little lines coming out of the eyeball on top and bottom and the eyes had to be triangle shaped! This guy is so particular about things! I'm just glad Eric was able to make it perfect for him.
The finished product - Logan's, Mason's, Paige's.
On Saturday we dressed up a second time for the ward party and trunk or treat. Paige had her eyes closed for every picture! She was going to be a fairy, but it seemed too cutesy with a skeleton and a creepy guy in the mix, so we changed her to a witch. Not sure why this witch costume had bat wings, but we went with it. She looked very cute when her eyes were open! I actually tried to get her to look a little scarier with some black make-up, but she didn't want anything to do with it. I couldn't believe it since she is always into my real make-up! I guess she only likes to look "pretty" not "scary."
I had to include a close up of Logan's face since I just loved how those blue eyes popped with the black make-up around them. I wish I had those eyes!

I'm really glad we didn't choose to do anything Sunday night because dressing up a third time would have been a little much. We had a very low key night at home and not one trick-or-treater. I guess that's what you get when you live in the "country" and are surrounded by old people! Hope you all had a very fun and safe Halloween.

Countdown to BOSTON 2011

I've been anxiously awaiting the day to register for the 2011 Boston marathon and now I am so glad that the day was circled on my calendar! Registration opened at 9 am EST on October 18th and closed at 5:03 pm EST!!! The Boston field size is limited to 28,500 runners and that many people registered online in less than 8 hours - UNBELIEVABLE!! Last year the race was filled in two months time and even that registered a lot of hype. There is a marathon in Ohio called "The Last Chance Marathon" that is run in February because up until recently you could run a qualifying time in that race and still get in that years Boston marathon. NOT ANYMORE! Thank goodness I registered while I was still in my PJ's. My dear friend, Brecken, tried to register this morning and found out the bad news. She was the only friend I knew of who was planning to run Boston. Does anyone know someone who actually got in to the 2011 race to link me up with so that I'm not a lone soul among 28,000 other runners?

What? A New Post - SHOCKING!

I know people have probably given up on me blogging ever again, but I've been feeling the guilt and decided to get caught up. We've had a really fun last half of summer and it needs to be documented!
WARNING!!! Picture overload beginning now!


Eric completed his first road bike race in the beginning of August with our buddy Doug (and his friends Marc and Stephanie). It was called the Copper Triangle and it was an 80 mile ride from Copper Mountain, to Leadville, then to Vail, and back to Copper. It you are familiar at all with the mountains around Vail, you will know what a hard race this was. Not only was he racing at 10,000 feet, he was doing some serious climbing!
We met the crew (from left Stephanie, Eric, Marc, and Doug) at the base of Vail pass so that the guys could drop their warm clothes and lighten their packs in preparation for the hardest climb of the race.
Here are the kiddos staying entertained by the DVD player in back of the car while we waited for Eric.
I guess we should have been spending the time making signs like Shauna and her kids did for Doug.
The guys finished in good time and said it was a great race. I was really proud of Eric for completing such a tough course.
The cheering squad! It was weird for me to be the one cheering this time instead of the one doing the event (not that I really wanted to do the 80 mile ride), but I was really glad I was there to see him race.
The next weekend we went up to the Grand Mesa for a quick family camp out. We found an awesome campsite and had a blast. We had tinfoil dinners, smores, campfire stories, and fishing, what could be better?
You can't really tell in this picture, but there were flowers everywhere. It was so beautiful!
Paige spent most the time throwing rocks in the water. It was fun for me the first hour and then I was wishing I had brought my book.
While Paige was throwing rocks, the boys and Eric were fishing the lake. They caught a ton of fish but I don't have any pictures because they released them all. The boys were in heaven!

The next Monday the boys started school. Logan is in Kindergarten and Mason is in First Grade. Logan was way more nervous than I thought he would be, but he did great saying good-bye to me and came home very excited about his first day. He picked out this new outfit especially for the first day of school and thought it was super cool. When he came home from school this was our conversation,

L: "Mom, nobody stared at me today."
M: "Why would people stare at you?"
L: "Because I looked so cool. When somebody looks so cool, you stare at them."
M: "Ohhh...I guess everyone was so busy with getting settled in their classes that they didn't have time to realize how cool you looked."
L: "Yeah, probably (totally disappointed and bummed here)."
Mason was a little nervous too because we switched schools when we moved to our new house, but his buddy from church, Thomas, was in his class, so that made the transition easier. It was harder for me to say good-bye to Mason rather than Logan because Mason's school day is from 8:45 to 4:00. I didn't like having to give him up for a full day. But we've all adjusted now and school is going GREAT!
The boys started riding the bus after the first couple days and Paige was so sad that she couldn't get on with them. I told her she has to be five years old before she can go on the bus. Now at least three times a day (no exaggeration here) she tells me, "When I am five and big, I go on the bus." She really wants to ride that bus!
In September, Eric went to Alaska with his buddy Josh to hunt moose. As you can see, he was quite successful! It's amazing to me that one little (well placed) arrow can take down such a massive animal. He had an amazing trip and said Alaska was everything he hoped it would be.
Here is Josh and his moose...
In order to spot moose, the guys would climb up these big trees and use their binoculars to find the moose and then hike to where they were. I thought that was pretty funny (Eric didn't see the humor at all).
Beautiful Alaska mountains
Post card picture perfect, I wish I could have been there just for the scenery.
While Eric was gone, I completed my first Olympic distance triathlon. It was roughly a mile swim, 25 mile ride, and 6 mile run. I did it with 7 of my girlfriends and we had so much fun. We didn't train very much or very seriously (and paid the price for that lack of training!), but had a great time.
I was most concerned about the swim, but that part seemed the easiest to me on race day. Probably because it was the first event! I thought the run would be a cake-walk, but it was killer! It was almost 90 degrees by the time I was running, and I was dehydrated and super tired. But I survived and learned that next time I will carry my own water (not rely on the super sparse aid-stations) and train better! I'm kind of hooked on tri's now, they are addicting!
Also in September was Mason's birthday - he turned 7!!! He wanted a Chuck E. Cheese party, so we rounded up five of his best friends and partied with Chuckie! Throughout the party, Mason kept coming up to me and hugging me saying, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He really is the sweetest kid around and I am so lucky to be his mom!
Chuck E. Cheese's was totally empty that night so the boys pretty much had free reign of the place - it was perfect! My mom flew in to stay with us since Eric was gone in AK, so she kept track of Paige while I monitored all the boys. It was so nice to have her there for Mason's B-day!
Here is Mason, Logan, Calvin, Connor, Sawyer, Oliver, and Thomas. All super cute kids. Everyone but Oliver are on the same soccer team, which is really fun for Mason. It's been such a joy watching Mason mature the last year. He really seems so grown up now, which is bittersweet. He's still the perfect older brother to his siblings and tries so hard to please us.
WE LOVE MASON!

Okay, I think those are the highlights. We've had a lot of fun visits from friends, and to friends, that aren't shown here, but I didn't want to go too crazy with the pictures. We are sad that our pool days are over now (just as of this week, the week before we still had high 80's), but excited for the change of seasons and upcoming holidays. So, please don't give up on our blog. I'm committing today to be a better blogger!

Classic Logan

Logan is OBSESSED with catching grasshoppers. He used to keep 5-8 in his cage at a time until they started eating each other - GROSS! Now he keeps them separate, but tries to use sippy cups to keep them in - GROSS! So, I've been trying to dissuade him from catching grasshoppers by teaching him about animal cruelty. Tonight I was telling him how he really shouldn't just keep his grasshoppers caged up to watch them slowly die (although he does put grass in and water droplets to help keep them alive) because it's mean and sad.

He looked at me and said,

"But Mom, they get resurrected."

Fourth of July

When I was a kid we spent a couple vacations at my uncle's ranch in Boulder, UT. It is a tiny, tiny, tiny town, but is a kids paradise. This year, we had a Borgquist family reunion there for the Fourth of July. I have been delaying this post because I wanted to get the pictures of all of us together to post on here, but I give up. Let me just tell you, there were A LOT of Borgquist's at the party! Somewhere around 70 (50% of them under the age of 8) and I'm not exaggerating! If I ever get a picture of everyone, I will post it. It's quite a site!
We ate the best chocolate donuts from a local bakery at least twice a day. The dining table was covered with about 15 boxes of these donuts and you could always count on seeing someone walking around with one (which in turn would make you want one!). The kids thought it was heaven to have chocolate donuts day or night!
My dad and uncles built this tire swing many, many, years ago and it is still the most popular swing around. Paige and Andrew never wanted to get out, but they always had a line of kids waiting to get in!
My uncle arranged for horses to be available and the kids couldn't get enough.
Mason got to ride all by himself, which was the highlight of his life. This kid has been crazy for horses since he was one - Idaho blood runs in his veins!
Paige must have the same Idaho blood because she could have stayed on the horse all day. If she ever got a minute alone, she tried to find her way to the barn to feed the horses.
There are so many amazing hikes around and this one in particular was to a place called Upper Calf Creek Falls. It's a series of little falls that end in nice swimming pools and then a big fall at the end. Everyone (except the smart ones) took turns diving/jumping off these rocks into this pool of the most freezing water you have ever felt! Mason even jumped in, without a moments hesitation! This picture is of my brother-in-law Chris showing off his superman moves.
Here is Mason on a natural little water slide.
And a bunch of the kids watching Chris (showing off again) jumping into a deep crevice between two rocks. You can see down at the end of the shot where the huge waterfall drops off the rocks.
Hanging out eating lunch and more candy. I don't think Paige ate a single health item the entire weekend!
The kids also got to go fishing at the most perfect little water holes. They would throw out their lines and immediately have a fish on. I told you this was a kid's paradise!
Proud little Logan!
Boulder has an annual Fourth of July Parade that we decided to participate in. We decorated a trailer and truck and brought festive shirts, headbands, tatoos, etc. for the kids and set off down "Main St."
Paige thought she was pretty cool riding in the back of the truck!
Some beautiful Borgquist women...
A highlight of the weekend was the Borgquist Family Talent Show. My sisters and I made tutu's beforehand and choreographed a dance number to "She's a Grand Old Flag." I had to include this picture to show proof that I can jump (it's been a family joke for years that my vertical jump is only about a 1/2 inch!).
We put on a grand performance and made our parents (and kids) so proud! Haha, it was really a big joke, but we had a blast.
I love these sisters of mine!
My kids had their first experience with sparklers and thought they were super cool. From sunup to sundown we were having fun every minute. I am so grateful to be part of such a fun, loving, supportive family, and I can't wait for the second Borgquist Family Reunion!