Sao Paulo

By the time we left Rio I was ready to go home.  Although I knew there was no way a four year old could have kept up with the schedule we were on in Rio I was really missing Skyler.  We were so close to Sao Paulo thought that we wanted to take the kids there and show them where Jason served his mission 20 years ago.  We could have spent a couple weeks touring his mission but school had already started at home, Jason needed to get back to work, and we needed to get home to Skyler.  So instead we did a quick tour in four days.  We were welcomed so warmly by people Jason worked with all those years ago.  Many I met last time Jason and I visited but it was great for the kids to get a chance to meet them.  It was incredible to me to see how much Jason loved the people he served and how much they loved him.  We were welcomed at the airport by Moises and his family and went to their home for a delicious meal cooked by Eliane.  Moises and Eliane were very generous to drive us around where we needed to go.  The older kids felt a little awkward at first not being able to speak to each other and used Jason to translate.  Kaitlyn and Pamela were best friends from the first moment!  They used an app to translate but mostly just spent the entire car ride in the back seat giggling and jabbering away even though they couldn't understand each other!  The next day we were headed to Gauratingata where we met with Juceli and toured the big basilica.

  That evening we spent in Lorena where the members of the ward hosted a Brazilian churasco for us.  The food was amazing and Jason was brought to tears by the number of people who kept coming to greet him.  Herma Maloo insisted we stay at her house instead of going to a hotel and treated us as guests of honor.  Even though the kids there couldn't speak the same language they had a great time playing together. They used their phones to translate and spent the evening playing hide and seek.  We even had a suprise visit from Bira and his wife who live in another city.  We had been planning on meeting up with Bira the next day but he was suddenly called out of town to work so he drove to Lorena for a chance to see us before he left.

The next day Andrew, Jason and I went for a short run in Lorena.  Jason loved showing us around the town, the church and where he lived.  We left Lorena later in the morning with lots of tears.  On the way back to Sao Paulo we stopped in Guara again.  We drove up to the mountains to try to find some waterfalls that Juceli had told us about.  We got lost and ended up finding a small restaurant where we asked for directions.  They wouldn't give us directions but offered for us to hire a guide.  We finally decided it was the only way we would ever find the falls.  He looked like a guy straight from the Austrailian Outback and we were soon bush wacking through overgrown trials down a steep mountain side.  It was a fun experience in the lush forest and the views were worth it!

After the hike we stopped at another friend's house, Bruno.  He owned a pizzeria and made some delicious pizza for us.  After pizza at Bruno's one of the cars headed back to Sao Paulo because Natalia had an appointment but Eliane, Jason, Kaitlyn, Pamela and I stayed in Guaratigata to visit with Herma Ruth, Juceli's mom.  She had been waiting for us all day.  It was late and we needed to get back but we just couldn't leave without seeing her.  She was delighted to see Jason.  She kept jabbering away in Portuguese to me then she would stop and laugh and look at Jason and say she forgot I couldn't speak Portuguese.  Then 5 minutes later she was doing it again.  She adored Kaitlyn and it was obvious she was delighted to see us and made the late night worth it. 

The drive back to Sao Paulo was an adventure to say the least.  Eliane was driving and Jason was in the front seat helping to Navigate.  I fell asleep but woke up at one point and realized even though they were speaking Portuguese we were lost.  Apparently at some point we were headed towards Rio instead of Sao Paulo.  We eventually made it back to Moises's apartment and Omar was waiting for us.  He had found the biggest car he could find but the 5 passenger vehicle was not big enough to fit all of us and the luggage we had brought along for two weeks.  In the end, we left a couple large suitcases with Moises and then we crammed in the vehicle the best we could.  Omar and his family welcomed us into their beautiful home for our last couple days.  They treated us like family and his mother made us a delicious meal.  Kaitlyn didn't get along so well with one of the cats who scratched her.  Omar showed us around the city the next day and it was such a better experience than my first impression of Sao Paulo five years ago.  Omar lives in a very nice neighborhood and knew how to get us around to the best sights.  It wasn't at all the dirty, scary city I remembered from last time.  We went to the top of one of the tallest buildings and enjoyed the view from the top of the massive city.  We wandered through the central market where vendors were anxious to take advantage of American Tourists.  We left some pricey but very tasty produce.  We walked through Japan town, the largest Japanese population outside of Japan.   When Omar had to go close up his shop he dropped us off at the big park in the city center.  We were planning on walking around but then spied some bikes to rent and decided we could see a lot more of the park that way.  We had fun zipping around on the bikes and the kids found some of the best climbing trees ever.  The last stop was Avenue Paulista, somewhere Jason had wanted to take me last time but we hadn't made it.  It is the high end shopping area and happening place in downtown.  We had fun strolling through the malls and the city streets after dark.

On Saturday morning we went to the Sao Paulo temple with Omar and Moises' family.  What a perfect way to end our time in Brazil!  Over 20 years ago Jason had the opportunity to baptize Omar and Moises.  Before he left to come home he was able to attend the temple with them.  In our church one of the most joyful beliefs is that through temple work families will continue beyond the grave and those who have passed on can still accept and receive saving ordinances such as baptism when we perform them for them.  It was so wonderful to have our children and Moises' children with us.  Moises and Omar both served missions and have influenced so many lives for good.  It was such an amazing experience for Jason to see the fruits of his labor.

After the temple it was time to start saying goodbye but the kids convinced us that we had to get some ice cream first.  I guess some traditions don't have any culture boundaries!  It was so hard to say goodbye knowing it will be quite some time before we will see these good friends again!

After the farewell with Moises' family we headed back to Omar's to say goodbye to his family and get everything packed up to go to the airport.  We had just enough time to take a walk around the park near Omar's house.  His brother lent us a bigger car and it was still a tight squeeze but we managed to fit with all the luggage.  It was time to go home but we left our with our hearts full and precious memories.

Photo credit to Andrew for this last shot and many others during the trip.  He had a great time developing his photography talent while we were there.  I love this glimpse of the city he got as we walked around the park just before sunset.  Goodbye Brazil until we come again!

So Bad, Yet it Could Be So Much Worse

A few weeks ago I got my van back from the shop after the accident I was in.  The side that had been hit looked brand new again.  I was glad to have it back after a few weeks of only having the truck to get all of us where we needed to go.  A few days later, Jason was home for the day and the older kids were at school.  He was heading downtown to the running shoe store and asked if I wanted to run down there on the parkway and he would drive down with Skyler and pick me up.  I was glad for a new route to run and as I headed out the door I said, "Don't call me.  I don't have my phone.  Just be there in an hour."  An hour later I arrived downtown and Jason wasn't there yet.  My first thought was that he had been in a car accident but I figured I was just worried because I had just been in an accident.  He must just be running late.  Since I didn't have a phone to call him I just stood outside stretching but I kept getting more nervous as time passed.

A few minutes later a car pulled into the parking lot and a lady I didn't know stuck her head out the window and asked if I was Merrilee.  That's when my heart really started to pound and I knew something was really wrong.  She told me I needed to come with her and my husband had been in a car accident.  As we were driving she told me that Jason and Skyler seemed OK but they had Skyler in the ambulance checking him out.  In my mind I was thinking, was it really that bad?  I asked again if my baby was OK and she told me she had wiped the glass off his face but he looked all right.  Then I started to cry.  I was so scared and even though we were only a few blocks from the accident it seemed like it took forever to get there.  I realized I didn't know which car he was even driving and while I didn't want the van damaged right after it was fixed I was really hoping it wasn't the new truck.  I finally asked her after she assured me that no one looked hurt and she told me it was the van but warned me that my car was not OK.  I really wasn't prepared for the scene when she dropped me off.  I was picturing a little fender bender off to the side of the road but there were cop cars and ambulances everywhere.  After a quick thank you to the sweet lady who picked me up I ran towards the scene looking for Jason and Skyler.

I caught a quick glimpse of what was left of my car and it was horrifying.  Every side of it was damaged and all of the windows had been smashed.  Everything that wasn't seat belted into the car was lying on the road.  Jason called to me from the closest ambulance and I ran over to it.  Skyler was crying and Jason was holding some gauze up to his ear.  It turned out to just be a small cut from a piece of glass that was in his ear.  Jason was in shock and Skyler seemed terrified by everything going on around him.  Jason told me he wasn't hurt and just had a cut on his hand.  The EMTs thought Skyler was all right but wanted to transport him to the hospital just to have him checked out since he was so small and the accident was so severe.  Jason didn't want the ambulance transport but with no car or car seat to get there ourselves I decided we should just go.  I had just a minute to look at the van and grab a few things.  Our van was hit on the back corner while going through the intersection. When it was hit it spun and the witnesses said it rolled several times.  It finally came to rest upright a couple hundred yards from the intersection on the sidewalk.

Skyler hated the ambulance ride.  He was still screaming when we arrived at the hospital and took us into an ER room.  The doctors and nurses came in to look at him and he fought them the whole time.  They decided he looked like he wasn't hurt so they just wanted to keep an eye on him for a bit and see if he calmed down.  They gave him a snack and after everyone left the room he finally stopped crying.  Jason took off his shirt and he was covered in glass underneath his clothes.  Skyler also had glass inside his clothes and diaper.  The police officer came in to talk to us.  He told us we had done everything right with installing the car seat and buckling Skyler in.  Then he hesitated before he went on and I could tell he was trying to decide if he should say it.  He asked if we were religious and then told us that he has seen so many accidents just like ours where the baby doesn't make it.  He said he wasn't trying to be dramatic but that he was so amazed to see our little boy running around the hospital room instead of in the cemetery.  He said the way the side of the car was dented right by his head, that had he even just been in a different car seat that allowed his head to move a little more he wouldn't have made it.  He told us there are some things that just can't be explained and we were being watched over.  The other driver wasn't hurt for which we were also extremely grateful and had fairly minimal damage to his truck compared with our car.

So my car that was like new again was totaled.  Later that day we went to the towing company to gather our belongings.  I was sad to see my car looking so bad.  Maybe it's silly but I become a little attached to my cars.  But mostly, with a little more time to look at it, I was awe struck and more grateful than I can express that Jason and Skyler had walked away with only a few scratches.  Here's what the car looked like.

As we were driving away I told Jason that our car looked worse than any other car that had been towed there.  His response was, "Didn't you see that one that had been burned?"  OK, so I guess looking on the bright side of things, at least the car didn't catch on fire.  Really, it was a terrible day that I would never want to repeat and yet we were so blessed at the same time and it could have been so much worse.  That night I couldn't sleep.  Once Skyler woke up and didn't want to go back to sleep so I laid down on his floor.  I finally slept there when I could hear him breathing.  The next week I felt like I couldn't let him out of my sight.  It was like somehow he was going to disappear if I did.  I am now the biggest advocate of seat belts and car seats. They definitely saved both Jason's and Skyler's lives that day.  And yet I know it was more than that too.  I'm so grateful to my Heavenly Father for protecting them.

I spent the next couple weeks hassling with the insurance claims and shopping for a new van.  I'd definitely put both of those things on my list of things I don't like to do.  I got a beautiful new Honda Odyssey with much nicer features than my old van so I guess it all turned out all right in the end.

Running, Football, Dancing and More...

This weekend was one of those crazy weekends with so much going on all we did was run from one event to another.  I'm finally feeling like I have a minute to sit down and breath today.  Friday was Andrew's district cross country meet.  I thought this might be kind of a let down for him after such a big win at Bob Firman.  Even though this was a much smaller race Andrew still has some amazing teammates to push him.  It was a cool, rainy afternoon.  Andrew finished 4th with the top 5 runners all coming from Mt. Ogden, sweeping the district championship. He finished the two mile course in 12:33, (6:16 mile pace.)  It's been fun to see all these boys on the team improve so much this year.  They have one more race this week to finish off their season.

The boys celebrating their win.

Both the girls and boys from Mt. Ogden were district champions!

Saturday started early with Jason headed to the bus for the Huntsville marathon.  It was a chilly morning with frost on the ground at home and he was heading up to Monte Cristo at 8,000 ft for the start of the race where there was snow on the ground.  While he was on his way to the start the rest of us were out the door early for Jared's last football game of the season.

I told Jared to smile for this picture and he said he did!

After game treats are still the best part for this kid.

The sun was finally up halfway through Jared's game and it started to warm up a bit.  We caught the first half of Kaitlyn's soccer game and then headed up to Huntsville to cheer Jason on at the end of his race.  We were watching the half marathon runners coming by and I was starting to get really worried when Jason still hadn't come several minutes after I was expecting him.  What I didn't know is that the full marathon had started late so he wasn't as far back as I thought.  He looked good with a mile and a half left but I could tell he was hurting.  The race has a super steep downhill first half and flattens out later in the race.  A lot of the full marathoners looked like they were really feeling terrible towards the end.  This isn't the greatest picture since I got him opening the water bottle but it's the only one I got.

We had to really hurry to make it to the finish but got there just in time.  He finished in 2:52:51 in 9th place overall and 1st in his age division.  He would have liked to have been a couple minutes faster.  He said that second half was pretty tough and 10 minutes slower than the first half but it was a great race on a tough course.

When we got home Saturday afternoon I had just enough time to squeeze in one of my last training runs before St. George and then we were off to the Weber State homecoming game.  Jason was working at the game which meant I got to take all four kids myself.  It brought back memories of all those time he was in fellowship and I took the kids alone to games while he worked.  Luckily Andrew and Jared are old enough to take care of themselves now as long as I buy them plenty of treats.  Kaitlyn got to perform at halftime with the Jr. Wildcat Spirit Squad.  Her dance teacher is one of the Weber State dancers and she loved getting out there and dancing with the cheerleaders and dancers.

The Perfect Race

Running a marathon is hard.  If you've never run 26.2 miles get in your car and drive that far just see how far it really is!  Just completing a marathon takes a lot of training and work but to run one fast is an even bigger challenge.  It takes months of training: weekly long runs up to 22 miles or so, intervals on the track (fast for a short distance), tempo runs (not quite as fast for longer distances.)  You really have to be dedicated and not miss any training runs if you want to do your best.  Add on top of that eating and sleeping right so that you can be at your peak on race day.  But even when you have done everything you can to have the perfect race, sometimes it just doesn't work out.  Sometimes it's the weather.  Sometimes you get sick or injured.  And sometimes for reasons no one knows you just don't feel great and it's not your day to run fast.  If that happens on a 5K it's no big deal.  You find another race in a couple weeks and try again.  Marathons don't work that way.  If you want to run a marathon fast you can only run 2 or 3 a year.  It takes months of training and by the time you have recovered from your race you have to start training all over again.  All that training and you only get one shot.  So of course, every marathoner wants the perfect race on race day.

A year and a half ago Jason started training with the coach I'd been training with the last few years.  He was excited to try to break his personal record in the marathon.  He trained hard for the St. George marathon last year and although he ran well he finished in 2:52, two minutes slower than his best time.  He was disappointed but it had been a stressful week for him and it just wasn't the best timing for a marathon.  So he tried again at the Ogden Marathon this year.  The weather was perfect.  We went to watch him on the first half of the course in Huntsville and he looked really good but he hit the dreaded wall by about mile 18 and finished in 2:54.  Impressive to everyone but not what he wanted.

He wanted to try again and register for St. George.  I'll be honest.  I told him I didn't want him to.  We were having a baby and I didn't want him spending so much time and energy with running.  I wanted his help with the kids and I knew there wasn't going to be as much time for training and that we wouldn't be getting a whole lot of sleep.  He really wanted to run it so I said OK as long as it was just for fun, and not a very high priority.  His training was about what I expected.  We went through the sleep deprived stage in the summer when it was hard to get a good workout in.  He got some decent training in but not what he had done for the last two marathons.  That's why I was surprised when he started running PRs in the 10Ks and half marathons he did during the summer.  I started to think maybe less is better for him.  Maybe he was over training or putting too much pressure on himself the last year.  But I still thought the marathon would be the big challenge.  He was obviously in good shape but could he last for a whole marathon on the training he had been doing?  So we headed to St. George again for marathon weekend.

Here's a picture of the start line but it didn't look like this when he got there because it was still dark.

This is what you really see at the start.  Thousands of people trying to stay warm by the fires while it is pitch black because it's way too early to be called morning!  So while the kids and I were still sleeping in the hotel Jason had already taken a bus 26 miles away to Central and was waiting in the dark for the start.  Conditions were perfect!  Nice temperature and even a slight tail wind!

I signed up to get text message updates along the way.  They started coming about when we were heading to breakfast.  His first 10K was in 39:11.  That was a little fast but the first 10K is downhill so I figured he would be OK.

The next alert was at the halfway point.  He was at 1:24:03.  He had slowed down a little but that was expected since he'd just gone through the uphill part of the course.  He was right on track to run the perfect race if he could just take advantage of the downhill in the second half and not run out of steam before the finish!

By the third update at 30K I knew he was either running the best race of his life or he was about to die really hard!  He was at 1:56:59 and had gained back all the time he had lost in the hills and some.  I also realized we needed to leave the hotel and get over to the race course right then or we might miss seeing him!  We drove to a spot with about a mile and a half to go.  When we saw him come around the corner I knew he had it!  He looked fantastic!  The kids held their signs out for him and rang their cow bells.  We then jumped in the car and tried to get to the finish before him.  He was running fast though and by the time I got all the kids and the stroller out of the car and ran over to the finish area we just missed him. (So I had to buy pictures to remember his awesome finish!)

He finished in 2:43:21! It was his best time by 7 minutes!  His average pace was 6:14 per mile!  (If anyone is wondering why the clock is 2 seconds off, most big races have chips you wear so your time doesn't start until you cross the start line.)  Finally after all the frustrating races everything was perfect!  It was so great to see a smile like this on his face after a marathon!

Ibantik Backpacking Trip

The kids were a little frustrated this summer that we weren't going on vacation with a new baby.  Jason had promised that he would take Jared on his first backpacking trip.  He was so excited!  He couldn't wait for it all summer.  The night before they left and the pack was all loaded I started to worry.  The pack looked so big on him!  All he was carrying was his sleeping bag, a change of clothes and his water but I really didn't know how he'd handle hiking with all of that on his back.  I also started to stress out when shortly after they left thunderstorms started rolling in.  I was sure my poor little boy was soaked and miserable and would never want to go backpacking again!  I was wrong though and he came back all smiles!  He couldn't stop talking about the trip for days and can't wait until next year!

Here are some pictures from their trip.  They hiked about two miles in from the Crystal Lake trail head to Lake Ibantik in the Uinta mountains.  It was a beautiful area and they caught lots of fun and just had fun exploring the mountains.  They were joined by two of their uncles, Vance and Sam.

Andrew and Jared couldn't stop talking about the mountain goats they saw.

15 Years!

Jason and I celebrated our 15th anniversary on Aug 14th.  I was told we have now bested the national average by double.  It has certainly been an interesting 15 years.  The first 10 were spent with Jason in training and we have really enjoyed the last five years moving on with what we dreamed and hoped for 15 years ago although life is never perfect.  We have welcomed four beautiful children into our home.  We've traveled on three continents together.  We've moved six times (four of which were over 1000 miles.)  We've had our share of loss, disappointments and sorrow but there have also been many times of joy, fun, and accomplishment. 15 years is a big enough milestone we should have celebrated by traveling to Hawaii or something but with a new baby this wasn't the year.  Jason instead suggested we take all the kids with us to Salt Lake.  We enjoyed wandering around Temple Square and City Creek.  We had a fun afternoon.  Kaitlyn loved the flowers and I found myself wishing I could hire a maid for my house so I could spend all summer in my flower beds and have them look like the one's at Temple Square!  Jared wondered what we were going to look at when there weren't Christmas lights up but we were surprised to see they were already working on putting them up.  The kids were quite entertained with the rock climbing gear they were using to install lights on the trees!  Later in the evening Jason and I were able to get away for an hour to go to dinner.  (That's been harder to do this summer!)

Spring

Spring is a busy time of year when it seems there is barely time to catch our breath between activities.  Add to that, being in my last trimester of pregnancy and there hasn't been any time or energy to keep up on things like blogging.  So here's an attempt to cover a few highlights of the last couple months.

The kids always love the school 5K fundraiser.  Andrew was determined to beat all his classmates in his age group this year.  He trained hard and even though he moved up to a harder age group this year he still placed 3rd only getting beaten by a couple of older Jr. High kids.  Jared decided to give the 5K a try for the first time this year.  Jason ran with him and he loved out sprinting dad at the end!  Kaitlyn was supposed to walk/jog the mile with me but as soon as she got to the downhill in the second half she took off.  I couldn't catch up to her until the end!

Kaitlyn had her spring dance recital.  Here's a picture of her with her teacher Brynn, who she adores!  She was super cute and wasn't a bit shy about being on stage in front of everyone!

Jason ran the Ogden Marathon this year.  He spent all winter training hard with our coach and was in great shape.  We went up to Ogden Valley to watch him on the first half of the course.

We got stuck in traffic on the way back from Huntsville and just missed him at the finish.  The kids were really disappointed not to see him finish.  He was 17th place and ran 2:54:02!  The kids were amazed though when we got to the point we had to turn around in Huntsville and they saw the thousands of runners that stretched for miles behind him.  It really put it into perspective how fast that really is!

The boys had their spring piano recital.  It was fun to see how far they have both come in almost a year since they started!  They both received awards from their piano teacher for their performances at federation and gold medals for the Olympics program she has been doing.

Kaitlyn finished up her year of kindergarten.  It is such a fun age that I am always sad to see it end.  They had a cute graduation party for her class.

 Here she is with her teacher Mr. Miehlke.

Spring is super busy with sports...soccer, baseball, and track.  Unfortunately I've been terrible at bringing the camera but here's a picture of Kaitlyn in one of her t-ball games.

St. George Marathon 2011

For the third year in a row we headed to St. George the first weekend in October for the marathon.  Jason had been training with our coach, Paul Pilkington, all summer and was in the best shape he had been in for years.  I was so excited to see him race!  Just like last year, we were in the middle of a heat wave.  Add on top of that, the emotions from the previous week when his grandpa passed away, and it didn't turn out to be an ideal weekend for him.  While it wasn't his best race, he did an amazing job finishing in 2:52, just two minutes off his best time.  Marathon running can be so challenging because even though you do everything you can to prepare for the race there are so many outside conditions out of your control that affect your performance.  As runners we always want to run a PR but a lot of times the only thing we can say is that we gave it everything we could that day.  I thought he did a great job and he was excited to place 8th in his age division.

The kids had fun making signs while we were waiting for him.

The night before the marathon I took the kids to see The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn.  We left home later than we had planned and hit traffic a good part of the drive and I started to worry we would miss the play.  Once we got there we all had a lot of fun.  The kids loved it although Kaitlyn was a little scared of Ursula.  Here they are with Scuttle after the play.