A Thief in Our Midst

Do these toys look so awesome that you would do whatever it took to make them yours?
Well, my son thought so.

It all started when Evan woke up in the night crying from a bad dream (bad conscience, maybe?). I went in and hugged him for a while until he settled down. Evan sweats a lot when he first goes to sleep and his pillow gets pretty soaked. When I went to flip it so he could go back to sleep on the dry side, I found these little guys. Evan was immediately embarrassed and started to tear up. He knew he did a bad thing and he knew he was going to be in big trouble for it. I told him that he would be returning these to school tomorrow and that he would be telling his teacher what he did and that he was sorry for it.

The next morning Evan did not want to go to school. I made him, of course. We went a little early so that he could talk to Mrs. Holder. I asked her to come out in the hall because Evan had something to tell her. He was trying to hide in my coat and kept turning around. He wouldn't talk.

I asked her for a minute so I could talk to him.

I nicely explained to him that he was the one who stole the toys. "I didn't do it, so I am not going to be the one to tell her. Evan you need to take responsibility for the choice you made. You have to be the one to confess your mistake to Mrs. Holder."

"OK, Mommy."

I moved across the narrow hall and let him talk to her. It took a minute for him to start. He was trying really hard not to smile. I remember when I was a kid I always had to battle not smiling in embarrassing or awkward situations. I hated that! But he got through it. She was very good about making it a lesson and not getting all soft on him.

I hope he learned his lesson.

Dear Blog

I have not forgotten you, dear Blog. But, it seems that life has gotten away from me lately. I think of you often and I compose great words to you in my head. I promise that I will come back to you very soon and put those thoughts in to posts. Just give me another couple of days.

Much love,

Sarah

Overnight Date

Ryan and I really wanted to do something fun for our ten year anniversary. Since we have no money and no close family to watch our kids for a week, we knew there would be no cruise, or even the chance to backpack in the mountains for a week. We decided that if we could have just one night it would be perfect. 

Asking a friend to watch your kids overnight is not an easy favor to request. I have plenty of friends here in town. Many of them I could ask for a couple of hours here and there, but there was only one that I could ask for a full twenty-four - The beautiful Brooke Thomas. Brooke and I hit if off right away when we met. But, in the last two years we have become pretty tight. Our husbands are also good friends, so we get together often. There is never a dull moment with Brooke around.

She immediately said yes to my request and she was truly excited. We dropped the kids off at 4:00pm and did our best to forget all about them.

Ryan and I had so much fun. We went to dinner at Five Guys Burgers and Fries; easily the best burger I have ever had in my life. Then we went to Cup of Yo, a new frozen yogurt place (now a family favorite). We meandered our way over to the mall and saw the Bodies exhibit. It was so fun not to be hurried. What takes most people 45min we did in almost two hours. We had no crowd pushing us along or kids telling us to hurry. It was awesome! When we were finally done looking at corpses we went to the bookstore, got some hot chocolate, and blissfully wasted an hour looking at books. When it was time to go we almost went to a very late movie (just because we could), but decided to go home and watch one instead. We stayed up until 2:30am, knowing we could sleep in for as long as we wanted.

The next morning we were up (earlier than we had hoped) and decided to go on a run together. We never get to run together. Ryan took me on one of his 3 mile offroad trails. It was so much fun and running with him made me push myself harder.

Before we knew it, it was time to pick up the kids. We were rested, relaxed, recharged and ready to retrieve. The kids had so much fun. Brooke has two boys, so she had so much fun playing girly stuff. McKenna couldn't wait to show me her cute press-on nails and curly hair. Alana was also all done up with painted fingers, toes and cute pig tails. Evan got to wear matching wife-beaters with Brooke's son Garth Lee. They had McDonald's for dinner, watched/played some t-ball, and stayed up as late as they wanted. The night couldn't have been better for them.

Brooke and Garth are the best! Thank you so much for the pictures and the date! It meant the world to us...even if you did put my son in a wife-beater. That was a fun name to explain. :)

Raising Life Long Runners

The pre-run photo

Every year there is a huge art expo here in town. It always kicks of with a race in the morning. The first race is a 1 mile kids fun run. There are other longer races after but I didn't run them. I wanted to focus on the kids for the day. McKenna ran this race last year for the first time. I mentioned in the post I wrote about last years race, that I really wanted to do more. McKenna and Evan did not disappoint. They both wanted to run this year and they both did a fantastic job. I am so proud of them. 

All three of us finished together at 12 min 15 seconds. Evan could have run it faster but he didn't want to leave McKenna. She struggled toward the end. We are going to work with her for next year. She really wants to be a faster runner.

The kids and I just before they blew the horn

My kids running strong

Race finishers! (like my shadow)

The Missed Opportunity

In the Spring of 1998 Ryan and I were 18 years old and almost one year post high school. I was living in Colorado, attending my local community college, and working to save up for a university. Ryan was still living in Wyoming, working, and trying to figure out the next step in his life.

During my first year of community college I would often go up to Rock Springs to use the library. You have to remember there was a time before the internet.

 NO, it cannot be! , you say.

But, alas it is true. When I was in college I actually had to go to a library and look in a book. Terrifying, I know. Those were hard times. (man that makes me feel old) Anyway, Rock Springs has a great library system and a really good research library at Western Wyoming Community College. My tiny Podunk town did not have either of those things.

So, on my trip to the library I would usually stop in and see Ryan. At some point during those visits things actually started to click with us (for real this time). I didn't walk away annoyed. I was always sad to go and eager to see him again. Between visits we would email and talk on the phone. I really felt that things were working this time. Unfortunately, I was the only one who felt that way.

After I had been up to see him 3 or 4 times, we decided that we would meet halfway one day and do some hiking. The drive between our two towns is a little over two and a half hours. About halfway, there is a beautiful spot called Irish Canyon. It's the best part of the whole drive. They have a little campground and that is where we were to meet. He never showed.

At no point did he ever give me any indication that he would not be there. So I sat there on the picnic table. I don't know how long I waited. This was also the age before everyone had cell phones (barbaric, right?). So, I couldn't even call to see if he had left or anything. I worried that he might be in an accident or that his car broke down. Maybe a family emergency came up and he tried to call me but I had already left my house. I thought of all these reasons, but I NEVER thought that he would intentionally not show up. Ryan wouldn't do that to me. I was wrong.

For the next week I called and emailed. He never contacted me back. I know a blow off when I see it. I was the master of them myself.

That summer I moved to Logan to attend Utah State University. I never expected to see or hear from Ryan again. Once again I was wrong, but it would be two more years before we were, once again, in each other's lives.