Races And Pumpkins and Glovers

So I don't usually worry about "catch up" blogs, but since this is mostly for Morgan I'm going to do just that.

Since I last blogged, Big Worthy and I ran the Newspapers Rock! 10k in canyonlands.  It was beautiful, cold and fun.  Worthy and I both ran faster than we have before for sweet course PRs.

 

The next weekend Big Worthy, Jen and I ran The Other Half in Moab.  It was a gorgeous race.  Big Worthy ROCKED it, Jen did way better than she thought she would, and I had the worst race of my life so far.  It was horrible.  I cramped, got nauseated, felt like my legs were refrigerators, got light headed, cried, and still managed to beat my course PR from last year by a few minutes.  I realized, after I got home, that I had been experiencing the beginnings of a nasty bug that zapped all of my energy and personality for a few days.  So that explains it!  Still, I felt good for finishing even though it was horrible. 

Our next race will be the Vegas Rock And Roll 1/2 in early December, on the Vegas strip at night.  I'm really excited about that one.  Jen will be joining us for it as well. 

Next came Halloween.  The kids were excited, of course.  Kate was a warewolf (a scary one, I might add).  Worthy was a vampire.  They wanted nothing to do with my ideas for a group costume, so there was no repeat of last year's family theme.  Last year we were Scooby Doo and the Gang, which was fun.  But this year Kate made up for it by scaring the costumes off of all of the little kids at our ward Trunk Or Treat!

 We visited Gramma Gail and Grandpa Worthy, who of course spoiled us silly.  Even I came away with yummy local apples and caramel dip.  Yum!  Then we visited our favorite friend Ryan, who was dressed as Huggy Bear from Starsky and Hutch (I think) and was hilarious.  He even had treats for the big people--nutrition chews for running. 

We spent most of the night hanging out at Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Winston's house.  They get A LOT of Trick Or Treaters.  The kids had fun manning the door, and Kate added to her already substantial haul by heading out and Trick Or Treating.  I made pumpkin bread and we had an enjoyable time.

Kate has been ROCKING middle school.  I'm so proud of that girl!  She reminds me all the time that she is not a child any more, but a YOUNG WOMAN.  And she is right.  She is becoming so responsible and capable.  She is really enjoying Young Women's on Wednesday nights.  When she gets upset or aggitated, she will get into the fetal position and rock.  This doesn't happen anymore nearly as much as it used to, but last Wednesday she was rocking like crazy.  I said, "Kate, what's the matter?  Are you feeling sick or stressed?"  She looked at me seriously and said, "I just can't wait for Young Women's." 

Little Worthy has had some rocky times at school.  We have been getting reports from his teacher that he isn't doing his best, and is even flat out refusing to work at times.  So we have come up with a system where his teacher will e-mail me every day after school.  If he has done his best, he can have screen time.  If he hasn't he is grounded from screens.  And we all know how Worthy feels about his screen time!  I've been proud of the way he has turned it around and worked at doing his best.  Most days he is really, really trying.  We had a setback when he had a sub this week, but he turned it right back around when his teacher returned. 

He also made us proud during the Primary Program.  It wasn't easy for him, and he even told his Dad, "I have stage fright!"  But he mustered up the courage and rocked it.  YAY Little Worthy!  It's nice when my kids learn they can do HARD THINGS (That was for you, Miss Morgan). 

Morgan is making us proud every day, too.  If you haven't checked out her Belgium blog, and you would like to, here is the link: http://morgan-shae.blogspot.com/.  She is smart, brave, articulate, and beautiful on the inside and out.  And her experiences this year will change who she is, broadening her horizons and changing her perspective forever.  We miss her, and our family is definitely missing some of her lively personality (it's so weird to be void of the blaring music coming from her bedroom when she isn't even home but has already gone to work), but we are happy for her.  Love you Moog!  Plus she's a nag and she makes me blog.  :)

Big Worthy has been traveling quite a bit the past few weeks, so the kids and I have done some bonding.  We have a tradition that when Dad's gone the kids sleep in my room.  It's a fun way to get through the times we are missing our Dad. 

And me?  I have quit drinking Diet Coke.  Morgan, do not faint.  It's true, and I don't even miss it.  Okay, I missed it terribly for the first week or so (and I think my family missed it, too).  But I feel better now.  I'm sleeping better at night and I have more sustained energy during the day.

SO,  pumpkins.  Let's just say we have had our share of them this year!  Grandma Kathy was nice enough to bring us some GORGEOUS ones from Green River, and I bought some from Bountiful Baskets (2 jack-o-lantern sized, 1 medium sized and 2 pie sized).  Then Worthy's teacher sent him home with one. 

I decided, since pumpkin is yummy and extremely healthy, that I wasn't going to let all of these things go to waste this year.  So this week we have been in production at the Glover house!  I have been baking, pureeing and freezing pumpkin like mad.  I made pumpkin soup that was YUMMY yesterday.  I'm still not finished processing all of these babies but I'm getting close.  We'll have a freezer full before I'm done.

And that brings us to today.  It's one of those days that makes you want to do this: 

Or this:

Or this. 

Or curl up with a book and some hot tea. 

But Big Worthy and I were determined to go out into the cold slush and run 11 miles.  I'm chalking that up to missing brain cells.  We bundled up and went for it.

7 miles later, we were back.  I felt pretty good about our 7 miles, even thought is wasn't 11, because my hands were frozen solid and my sweat (and probably some snot) was frozen to my face by the time we got home.  I'm SOOOOO glad Big Worthy is crazy (and lacking brain cells) too, so we have each other in our craziness.  That would have been an impossible 7 miles without my own personal cheerleader. 

And now we are home, warm and cozy. 

So there is Glover Life in a nutshell.  Moog, I'll try to do better!