I Should Have Listened....

Why, oh why, didn't I listen to my mom when I was younger??? She always preached to me to wear sunscreen. But I didn't listen. Well, I'm now paying for it. Not quite a year ago I had a little spot on my forehead. At first I thought it was a zit (gross). But it didn't go away. I knew then what it was. But I ignored it. The kids had things they needed done first. And Ray was working so far away and was hardly home. Well, about 2-3 months ago when Hazel was coloring my hair her nail caught it and it started to bleed. And by the way, by now it was bigger than when I first noticed it. After her nail got it, it never healed up. That's when I decided to get into the Dr. They took a biopsy, and yep, sure enough, it was cancer. Basil cell carcinoma. Well after that Ray was able to come home, for good. Thank heavens because to remove this cancer they do surgery and I'm such a baby and hate to go alone. Not like a sedation surgery. They just numbed it, but it's still considered surgery. I had it done on the 27th. It went really well and the dr.'s were all very nice. But as we were leaving I got sick. But I have one of the weakest stomachs ever (thanks dad). I tried to take it easy that day. Not easy for me. I like to always be on the go. Then the next morning I had to get up and shower and get ready for work. Uh, showering with stitches in your forehead is no easy task. Have you ever realized how many facial expressions you use when you talk and it moves your forehead? Or when you have long hair and you get it wet how heavy it is and it pulls your scalp and your forehead? Anyway, showering was not easy and I got sick again. (Dang stomach anyway.) But I was able to get to work and put in my 8 hours. Anyway, each day gets better, but I'm really paying for not listening to mom. And I should have gone in when I first noticed it. Now I'm going to have a 1" plus beautiful scar. There are 15 stitches in that incision. That is not how big it was before they cut into me. But the cancer is gone and hopefully I've learned something.

Who's Car??? :)

This is Keanna. Remember, Keanna is now 16.This is Keanna's official new driver's license. (Dang, sorry about the closed eyes. I should have checked the picture.) This is Keanna with the key to DAD's car, that Keanna gets to drive. (lol) Remember, DAD's car, that Keanna gets to drive.This is Keanna with DAD's car, that she gets to drive. Isn't she a lucky girl.?!! She is such a good girl and as long as she continues to keep up the good work she gets the privilege to drive DAD's car. We just can't keep up with her busy schedule anymore. Ray had to keep leaving work to pick her up and take her here and there. And she now works at Michael's with Ambrea and I. This should help out a lot.

...Eating...

I'm eating, again,.....my words that is. I woke up Sunday, the day after the marathon and said "I want to do it again". I know, I'm nuts. But I want to prove to myself that my body can do a little better and not let me down again (I felt like it let me down because I was sick and the leg cramps made me walk so much at the end).

"16"

Happy Birthday Keanna (yesterday). Wow, can't believe you're 16. You're growing into such a beautiful young woman. You were our hardest baby, until you crawled. But you are such a good girl now. You are always so full of life and love to have fun. You light up a room when you walk in. We love you girl and are so glad you're a part of our family.

Toe Nails Are So Over-rated...........We ran our first marathon.

Today Ray and I ran our first marathon, the St. George marathon. There were a lot of people we know who also ran it. It was great seeing people you know on the course. Especially because there were almost 7,000 people who ran it. It was also great seeing people you know at the end of the course cheering you on, as you are wondering how the heck you are going to run just one more mile. And thanks Ambrea, Keanna, Josh and Holly for being at the finish line. It means a lot.

As you know I'm addicted to running. I've been running seriously again for about 1 1/2 years now. I've done I think 5 half marathons, the Lake to Lake relay race and the Ragnar relay race. I've been training for this marathon since the spring. Now Ray on the other hand has had a hard time getting any training in. As some of you know he has been working 850 miles away. Where he has been is very rainy. At one point it rained 40 days in a row. Well, all the rain has made it very hard for him to get any training in.

So I felt I was fairly ready for this. I had set a goal, which I now realize was kind of high this being my first marathon. Well, I did really good for the first 15 miles (a marathon is 26.2 miles for anyone who didn't know this), but then at mile 15 I start to get cramps in my hips and thighs. And this time at about mile 8 I got a gut ache. One of a runners worst nightmares. So up until mile 15 I was doing fairly well, but the cramps hit and it just makes it hard to run. So I would walk a bit, then run. Back and forth trying to still keep ok time. Needless to say I didn't make my goal, but I still didn't do horrible. I'm just frustrated and discouraged. I had hoped to do better and I want to figure out the gut and cramp problem. I took all the advice that 2 experienced runners had given me and applied it in my training and today, so I just question where it went wrong. I did it in 4 hours 27 minutes. Ray was able to do it in 5 hours 18 minutes which I think is great considering the farthest he has ran in the past 3 month is 10 miles. (Since he is back home I put him in some serious marathon training for 2 weeks :) ).

Right now we are saying we will never do a marathon again. I will probably eat my words though. I had said I would never do a marathon period. Boy, I ate my words on that one. But seriously the half marathons are a lot of fun. Just long enough for a challenge (13.1 miles) but not so long that you kill yourself. But maybe if I get figured out what I'm doing wrong I won't kill myself on marathons.

It another check mark on out bucket list though. Something new and different we experienced. We are always looking for some kind of adventure. It keeps life exciting.

"13"

Happy Birthday Asthon!! I can't believe it, you're 13. Thirteen years ago today you came into this world, and have brought us so much joy since then. They told us you wouldn't be born alive, and look at you now. An official teenager. Aaahhhh. :) You are such a good kid and we are very greatful to have you as a part of our family. Thank you for being so awesome.

Missing You

I miss you dad. :( Ray and I have been faced with a very big decision this past week and its been so hard not being able to call you and get your opinion. We've talked to mom several times. And she is very good to give us counsel, but dang I wish we could talk to you also. It may seem weird but I did feel you giving me comfort one night. I've woken up every night last week at 4 and couldn't go back to sleep because this issue has just been weighing on me. Sure makes for a very tired week. :)

Head Bands

A girl I work with makes these fun headbands. She sews little beads on that are called sead beads. You can choose pretty much any design you want. The cost for one is $10, unless your design is very detailed. If you provide your own headband then it is $8. I wear the 13.1 one when I run, of course. If you are interested in buying one just let me know.

!!!First Day of School!!

Wednesday, August 11th was the kids first day of school. I really was not ready for them to go back. Even though I work part of the day I enjoy having them home. We had a fun summer and don't consider summer over yet. We still have things planned.

Ashton is now in 7th grade. He goes to Fossil Ridge Intermediate, where there are 6th and 7th graders. So this year he is "the big man on the campus". I can't believe my baby is in 7th grade. :) And this is Keanna's first day of school. Ashton had gotten the stomach flu about a week and a half before school started. But it was just a 48 hour thing. Keanna kept telling him she better not get it. Guess she cursed herself. She got it, but she got more than just the flu. Hers started on a Thursday night. By Sunday she was still really sick. When I say sick, I mean really sick. She was running a fever of 102, and even when I gave her advil it would only come down to 100. One night she really scared me. She was really feverish and shaking. We layed her on the tile and put cool wash clothes on her. After about 30 min. she started to cool down. Well by Tuesday she was still so sick. She literally was sleeping about 18-20 hours a day. So that evening we took her to the dr. Her supposedly 48 hour flu had turned into a bad case of strep throat. The next day was the first day of school. But by dr.'s orders she couldn't go to school for 2 days. Oh my goodness, poor Keanna. She is starting high school and couldn't go to her first day. How horrible. Finally by Friday she was able to get up and go to school. But then on Saturday she had to catch up on sleep again. Then by Monday she was feeling pretty good. But even by the end of the week she said she still gets tired easy and her appetite isn't fully back. She lost 4 lbs. (she didn't have 4 lbs. to loose in the first place). But she has jumped in and gotten on track with what she missed the first couple days. Wow, she had us worried for a few days there.

[Happy Birthday Ambrea]

Happy Birthday Ambrea. Wow, you're making me feel old. You're not a teenager anymore. Where did the time go? I can still remember so well the day you were born. There were so many people there to welcome you into the world. What a blessing you have been to us. We are so proud of you and so thankful to have you as a part of our family.

Can't wait to party it up next week when dad is home. Sorry we have to put it off.

{Dad's Funeral}

I'm warning you now, this is a long post. I couldn't choose just a few pictures. And a good friend of mine has regrets for not enough pictures of a funeral, so we took a lot. Which by the way, thank you Natalee and G-pa Hardy for taking pictures. I had given Natalee a list of pictures I wanted and she got them all, and then some. Thanks also Natalee for coming over the day he passed away and providing hugs and a shoulder to cry on. And Lacey, for giving up your track training the next morning to give hugs and go with me on a "therapy" run. Also to everyone who traveled to come to either the viewing or funeral. And the cards, food and just all the support everyone has provided. Thank you so much.



The funeral turned out really nice. Dad had planned it all out the last month. Mom said the only wish she did not fulfill was her speaking. He had asked that Sherri and I spoke. (Oh great) The grandkids all sang and Ambrea accompanied them. She also played a solo. Way to go Ambrea for pulling those two songs off with just a couple days notice. Then all the grandkids told of one of their favorite memories. The bishop who dad had served in the bishipric with in Salina spoke. It was really neat to hear of stories about him in a church leadership calling. And my cousin Bill also spoke. Jim gave the family prayer. He did great but that was a hard time for me, when they closed the casket. Morgan gave the prayer to open the funeral. On our way to the cemetary as a family we commented on what a beautiful prayer he gave, and we all commented that it made us cry though. lol Dad didn't want it to go over an hour and we kept it really close to that.

This is the hurse pulling up to the church after the morning viewing. (Friday July 23)
Carrying the casket into the church.

The hurse and the procession arriving at the cemetary.

At the cemetary

Jim's family with mom.

Ray and Lynn, a good friend, getting Rick to the graveside.

Ray dedicating the grave.

Lynn presented the flag to mom. Dad served in the Korean war. It was really special to have Lynn be able to present it.

After the funeral mom and dad's ward had a wonderful lunch for us.
Later we went back to the cemetary to see the grave.

We all chose some flowers from the grave to make a bouqet. I have some of mine in a phone book hoping to preserve them. There were so many beautiful arrangements.

Jim, Morgan and Heather.

[Birthday]

Happy Birthday....to me (last week.) It was just a quiet day. Ashton and I spent the evening together running a couple errands and just being together. Keanna was at girls camp and Ray was out of town. Ambrea had visited the night before. Mom had some beautiful flowers sent and on the card it said "Love, Mom and Dad". It made me cry, but it meant so much to me. Mom also called in the morning before work and sang ato me. My day started out with a run, of course, with Lacey. We ran 16 miles. :) She was feeling bad that we did such a long run on my B-day, but hey. It was something I love to do. We had a great time, running through every sprinkler we could find. Anyway, I don't really like to have B-days so much anymore, but I must say this one was nice. Just quiet with not much hoopla.

{Dad}

Warren Gail Shaw, the best husband, dad, grandpa, brother, son and uncle, my dad, passed away this afternoon about 1:30. He was diagnosed with cancer about 4 months ago and developed complications with his lungs due to the cancer and chemo. He has been pretty sick for the past few weeks, but when he decided it was time to go, he didn't wait around. He has always been that way. Don't make him wait for you lol. Mom had called me this morning and I was planning to come home from work, pack and head to Salina. He couldn't wait for us. We believe there was a grand reunion in heaven though. His mom died when he was just a baby. We believe she came to get him. We know and understand that he is happy, but it sure is hard for those he left behind. I'm so thankful to know that I will be able to be with him again someday. In the meantime we already miss him something horrible.

Happy Birthday G-ma!

On June 30th G-ma turned 101. Wow. I've had the opportunity to go be with her and Rick while dad was in the hospital in Provo. For the most part she was very pleasant and funny. One night she got angry over something but Rick was able to calm her down. Because her mind is like a child she will be happy one moment and angry the next. She sleeps a lot also. I will treasure the time I have spent with her, and Rick. We love you G-ma.

Boston/New York

The week after shchool was out Keanna took a trip to Boston/New York. The trip was scheduled through her school with Smithsonian. They spent a week touring these two cities. They were up at 6 and didn't get back to the Hotel till 10 or 11. She saw many fun and interesting things. I have posted a few of her pictures. She took over 900 :). I am so thankful she had this opportunity.

This is at a restaurant in Boston. She tasted a lot of new and interesting food. She said it was all very good but they serve such large portions she could never finish it.

This was in New York, obviously.

Boston

New York

They got to see the Red Sox field.

So like I said, this is just a few of her pictures. Now she has her work cut out documenting all 900 pictures. It took her two days to tell me about her trip, and she stills keeps remembering things that we haven't discussed. She is such a cutie!

Spoilin' Em Rotten

About a month ago Nate and Hazel came down to have a little family vacation with Hazel's family. Well, we got to watch the kids while they spent time with the family. It was great, we had the little one's during the day, spoiling them rotten, then Nate and Hazel came home at night. Wow, it couldn't be any better.

Of course we went to the water park to play. If you haven't notice yet this is one of our favorite water parks. They have one in almost every other neighborhood but this one is down town and the little river is a lot of fun.

Then we found some ducks on a golf course and fed them. I only brought one bag of bread though. What was I thinking? That wasn't nearly enough. The kids went through that fast.

It was a very fun weekend and we can't wait for them to come visit again very soon!

Oh, and who's boy do you think this little stinker is?? He liked me if no one else was around but when gpa was around that's who he wanted. Now when mom is around she is the only one he wants. I still love the little stink to death.

Easter 2010

We had a great time at Easter this year. Nate, Hazel and kids were able to come.
This is everyone getting ready for the egg hunt. Fun coloring eggs.

They turned out beautiful!

Catching Up...

Well, I haven't posted for forever, so I have some catching up to do. This post might be a little boring because I'm not including pictures right now. Ashton needs to put them on the computer for me. :)

A couple weeks ago Ray ran his first half marathon with me. Holly also ran it with us. It was in Gunnison so it was fun because mom was at the finish line waiting for us. It was foggy, windy and freezing cold at the starting line. But we soon ran out of the fog into the sunshine. Holly and I were pretty much keeping together for quite some time. Then she needed to make a stop at a water station so I was able to get ahead of her. (Whew) I was able to get a new personal record which is 1 hour 49 minutes. Holly came in right after me and Ray wasn't far behind. He was dissappointed he didn't finish in the time he wanted to but I'm still proud of him for doing it. He has a hard time getting as much training in as I do.

It was good to go visit with mom, dad, rick and everyone else. A few weeks before this we had gotten some not so good news. We found out dad has cancer. They diagnosed it at Hodgkins Lymphoma. He started chemo on the 6th. He will have a treatment every other week. I talked to him yesterday (mother's day) and he is feeling pretty good. It is so scarey but he has a good attitude and is being taken good care of (by mom).

Let's see, then Ashton, Ambrea and I had the opportunity to go see Kurt Bestor in concert with the South West Symphony. Natalee came with us. Our friend Bryce plays with the symphony so they were able to hook us up with tickets. They played at Tuachan. It is so much fun there. It was fun, but different to have Kurt conducting pretty much the whole time. He only played the piano twice. It was still fun.

The next day Ashton Keanna and I volunteered at the Iron Man. Keanna and I were there most of the day. Ashton got tired so Ambrea took him home. Anyway, it was so cool. In an Iron Man they swim 2.6 miles, ride a bike for 112 miles, then run a marathon, 26.2 miles. I can't believe people can do it. There were a handful of people that we know who did it. It was fun to be able to be there and cheer them on. We plan on volunteering again next year. It was a great experience.

Then yesterday was mother's day. For me it started on Saturday. Ambrea and Josh took me on a hike in Zion's. It is so beautiful there. Ashton and Jeremey (Joshs brother) also came. We packed in stuff to make sandwhiches. It was a lot of fun. Thanks guys for taking me. Hope to do it again soon.

Then on Sunday I got to take a nap and Keanna made dinner, chicken enchiladas. Then the kids all gave me a scrapbook organizer thing. It's really cool. Now to just figure out where to put it and get organized.

Anyway, we have been very busy but are having a lot of really fun, neat experiences.

Is it a Full Moon???

Some of us at work are wondering if it's a full moon this week, because people are on a rampage this week. As you know, Ambrea and I both work retail together. And I'll tell you what, people have been rude all week long. I've been yelled at twice this week. And I'm not sure that I did anything to deserve to be yelled at. The lady who was the worst I had even given her a better price on what she was buying. And she was still rude. Just a reminder to everyone out there that just because we work retail doesn't mean we are dumb and don't know what we are doing. We have feelings too and try to make peoples shopping experience pleasant. Please be nice to the people who are helping you.

Happy Birthday Ray!!

Happy Birthday Sweetheart. I hope you have a great day. I'm just so sad you had to be out of town so we can't celebrate together. How blessed we are to have such a wonderful husband and dad. Love you!!

Want to Visit??

This is Ambrea. :)
This is where Ambrea now lives.

This is her roomate Megan.

This is their other roomate.

Want to visit?? :)

I'm Addicted!!

Im addicted. At least that is what some people are saying. To running that is. I just love to run. Holly and I ran another race on Saturday. It was called the Freedom Run. It was a 10k which is 6.1 miles. Actually, they had their mileage marked wrong and it ended up being 7.3 miles. But hey, it was all good. This was their first time doing this run, so there are some kinks that need to be worked out. There weren't a lot of people, maybe 50. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and Holly and I did pretty well. I came in 2nd in women's, Holly came in 3rd. I came in 3rd overall, Holly came in 4th. A female came in 1st and she was dang fast. She passed me at about mile 4 and I tried for a while to keep up with her but just couldn't do it. Then the guy who came in 2nd was pretty fast also. I was able to run like mile 6 and 7 at his pace but then at the end he left me. My time was 56 min. 42 seconds. Like I said in my last post I need to practice being stronger at the end of the race. This race once again proved that. Anyway, we had a great time. And luckily the weather held off. Shortly after we got home the wind started to blow really hard and it was raining. That is one of the things I love about living here. Generally the weather is great and you can find a race close by at least every other weekend. And I love how friendly the other runners are. We are always cheering the others on and the winners are never pompous about it. Like the girl that won told me what a good job I had done and I gave her a run for her money. :) Anyway, I love it and look forward to keep on running.

Lake to Lake

On Saturday I had the opportunity, thanks to Lacey, to run the Lake to Lake relay race. This race started at Gunlock Reservoir and went 50 miles to end at Sand Hollow Reservoir. We had a team of 5 of us. Lacey and myself, Joy who lives in our neighborhood, Angie who works with Joy and my friend Holly who I work with. The race is broken into 10 legs, so we each ran two legs. Each leg is rated from 1 to 10, 10 being the most difficult. I ran legs 5 and 10. They were both rated at a 7.

In this first picture Lacey is literally running to the starting line. We pulled into the parking lot with only 3 minutes till start time. Poor Lacey didn't get to stretch or anything before she took off running. And it was in the morning so it was pretty chilly. And we were kind of in the mountains. This is Angie just finishing up her first leg. Her first leg had two pretty good hills in it. The second one is pretty hard. Lacey and I know because we ran it when we ran the River Run Half Marathon.

Looks like Lacey is giving some good instructions here. :)

This is Holly finishing up her first leg.

Off I go to run my first leg. By now the weather was starting to warm up. Lucky me.

Holly's second leg had a really steep hill at the very end. And it was dirt road. Luckily she likes running on dirt roads. She was awesome on the hill. This is her coming down the hill. And the wind had started to blow a little at this time and she was running into the wind.

This is Holly switching legs off to Lacey. This was Lacey's second leg which was rated a 9. Wow, you go girl. She had dirt road and some really big hills to climb. Not to mention the wind was really starting to blow hard now. So she also had to fight the dust in her eyes.
Here I am starting out on my second leg. Being out in the open with the wind was not fun. I was running to Sand Hollow. As I got closer to the lake there is a lot of sand and the wind was blowing it so hard the sand was pelting my legs. And getting down into my socks. Yuck!!
What an awesome team. They came and ran the last little bit with me and we all crossed the finish line together.

We had such a great time. Running just gives me such a high. You can see the lake behind us. It really is beautiful out there. We really lucked out with the weather also. It had been cloudy all day with the sun peeking out here and there. Not long after we got home it started to pour rain. Thanks Lacey for asking us to run this race with you.

We ran the race in 7 hours 27 minutes. When you average that out our average mile per minute was 8 min 56 seconds. We came in 11th out of 25 in the all women's division. We were only 45 seconds from being in the top 10. If only I would have picked it up the last little bit and passed the girl that was in front up me. Ugh!! Sorry girls. Guess I need to practice on pushing harder at the end. And overall we came in 47th out of 93. Not bad for 4 of us never having run a relay race before. We would like to do it again next year and beat our time.