Little Cougar?

Alan taught Spencer to chant "BYU." The only problem is that the "U" comes out sounding a lot like "Ute." I think Alan's a little worried that Spencer has the wrong allegiance!

wellowellowello

Can you guess what Spencer's favorite color is? He goes around pointing out yellow things to me all day. I never knew there was so much yellow in the world! He actually does know several other colors too, but I thought it was funny that he would only do yellow this morning.

Winter in Oregon

Spencer and I hit up our favorite park last Thursday because it wasn't raining or too cold. Spencer had a fabulous time running around on the trails and watching the ducks. He probably walked/ran half a mile. I was just happy to be out of the house and getting some fresh air. The colors were gorgeous and there were hundreds of birds chirping their heads off.





We played on this bridge for awhile. I think he's actually sucking on that bar.





Running through the puddles. His pants, shoes and socks were soaked afterward, but it was totally worth it.





Cattails always remind me of my Grandparent's summer home in the Arizona mountains. (Yes, there are mountains in Arizona.) There was a pond nearby where my siblings, cousins and I always picked cattails. I had never seen them before that. Today is the 10th anniversary of my Grandma Heap's death. I think I get part of my love for the outdoors from her. I will always remember asking her what her favorite color was when I was a little girl. Her answer was green because she loved green grass and trees. As a five-year-old, I thought that was a terrible favorite color for a girl, but I completely understand now. Grandma Heap was an amazing woman. I love her and miss her.

Cousin "Porter"

Resolution Run

Alan's running league officially began with the Resolution Run last Saturday. This race went more smoothly than his "practice" race in November, but we still have some things to improve. I was too busy helping to get any great pics, but here's what I got.

We spent Friday night at Alan's parent's house so his mom could watch Spencer for us during the race. Alan, his dad and I got up super early on Saturday to set up. We had to do a lot of it in the dark and that was a little tricky. Thank heavens we had lots of help, especially Darwin and Debbie! Even though Alan and I have run quite a few races, we had no idea how much work they were until we started doing this. We have a whole new appreciation for race directors and will never complain about a race again!

Anyway, we got all set up in plenty of time. I was in charge of registration while Alan ran around doing last minute stuff. I like registration because you get to talk to so many different people. One thing I'm liking about this running league is that it widens our circle of acquaintances a lot.

This is the registration tent. (No one is registering because I took this picture after the race started.)





We were lucky and had another dry day for the race. The course was partly on muddy trail though, so the runners got pretty dirty. There were about 110 finishers and I think most of them finished happily.

These are the fastest runners at the very beginning. I am never in this group. The winner finished in just under 18 minutes.




Here's Alan working on his laptop to get the results. Timing and getting results are the hardest parts. Hopefully someday the running league will be big enough that Alan can just hire a timing company and we won't have to deal with it.




This is a group of Alan's co-workers at Farmer's that came to support him. They are a really nice bunch of people. Alan arranged for Farmer's to supplement their entry fees to promote wellness in their company. Cool, huh? Alan's motto is, "It doesn't hurt to ask." He asks for a lot of stuff and winds up getting most of what he asks for, but I'm still not adopting that as my motto.




Alan had hot chocolate, apple cider and Crispy Creme donuts at the finish. He also gave out age group awards and lots of door prizes. Besides a few little glitches and complaints (one super competitive/opinionated lady and a little course confusion), everything went smoothly. Alan and I are both very relieved that it's over and are glad we don't have another one until April. Way to go Alan! I'm impressed with your ambition to take this on!

Teddies

Spencer has recently discovered a love for soft and squishy things - mainly his stuffed animals. He owns 6 of them and insists on sleeping with every one. He gets very happy and smiley when they're all in his crib. Doesn't that look comfy!?