So Proud of You!

We are so proud of our número UNO daughter! We attended her final Hale Elementary awards ceremony today where she was honored a couple of times for her great academic achievements and her participation in the Respect program. They finished the assembly with the 6th grade science camp movie (whew, it's done) and now all the awesome 6th graders are off to Skateland for the day. So fun!! Barrett is a terrific girl and I can hardly believe she's on her way to junior high. I know she's gonna love it!

Living Life

The blogging universe has been minus one for the past several weeks. Almost a month it looks like from my last posting date. Holy cow. I have no idea what everyone else has been up to since I haven't checked anyone's blogs for weeks. And what the heck have I been doing? Living life, I guess. Many days, I wake up and think, "today I need to blog about such and such," or "I have the best pictures to upload to my blog today." And then the day comes and goes and the next one comes and goes and life takes over.

Really, blogging is an indulgence for me lately. I love to write and think and share my pics. I love keeping a little history of the Mesa Brown crew. And I love being able to check up on all my friends and keep up on their lives - even if it's just from cyberspace. Hopefully with only six more school days to go this year and one more night of softball games, life will slow down just a bit in the summer and the memoirs will start to make their way to the keyboard again.

So...as of late, this is what we've been up to:

• J.R. & crew finished up our master bathroom remodel (I might have already blogged about that. I can't remember it's been so long :) But it looks fabulous-o. Can't wait to find a minute to post the pics. It's like a little bit of heaven in my house. I super duper love it and think they did such a great job. Thanks, J.R. You are the best!




• Barrett and I went up to 6th grade camp at Tonto Rim Camp outside of Payson on April 25-27 with all of the sixth graders from her school and had an absolute blast. I was one of the cabin moms and loved every minute of it. I loved being up there with Barrett and her cute friends. I loved the classes and activities and cool weather and hikes and skits and all the fun. Such good memories. I have a zillion pictures from the trip (no, not really - only about 500). I was the camp photographer too and am working on the camp movie on my Mac, which will be shown to the whole school and parents next week at the awards assembly. No pressure. Super fun. Barrett and I spent a couple hours last weekend going through our music library to pick the coolest, hippest songs for the flick. Left up to me, we would have resurrected the 80's hits for the soundtrack. We all know how good the 80's music was, right? Just kidding (kidding about using it, not about it's greatness). I wouldn't have done that to Barrett. She's a little music connoiseur herself and certainly appreciates a good Sammy Hagar or Alice Cooper hit, but we let the music of 2011 prevail for this sixth grade motion picture extravaganza. Justin Beiber and Katy Perry and Taio Cruz and Usher and The Black Eyed Peas and all their cronies are taking over the scene to provide the background music for the movie.




• Softball season. Enough said. No, not really. Not even close to enough said. We've been doing four games a week since late March and really loving every minute of it. Our girls have been so much fun to watch this year. Rowan finished her season a week ago, and Afton & Barrett are still in the majors tournament. And finally, finally... both Barrett & Afton are off the DL and actually playing at the same time. Barrett got her splint off last Friday and she played on Monday with taped fingers. Hooray! No more broken bones in the Brown house (knock on wood.) Tomorrow is the last night, though. The Diablas (yes, they are the She Devils) went all season undefeated up through the first tourney game, then lost their first game of the year on Monday night to the Vipers. The Vipers were tough. Their #1 chuck was on fire, we had one bad inning, and couldn't get a rally going. Final score was 8-3. But our girls rallied back last night and crushed the Crushers 15-4 (both Barrett & Afton got some sweet hits) so now they have to beat the Vipers twice on Thursday night to take home the title. Can't wait. I love watching them play.




• Working out. Ryan continues to be a running machine, going long a couple days a week. He's building up some serious stamina and shedding the extra cushion. He's not training for any races or anything, just keeping in shape and getting the body ready for the next Rim to Rim coming up in September. He throws in some P90X upper body workouts in the mix and has been very consistent. I, too, am keeping up with the fitness and loving it. I started a new Beachbody workout series a couple of weeks ago (Beachbody is the company that makes P90X, Insanity, Chalean Extreme, Slim in 6, and a bunch of others, including the one I'm doing now). I'd tell you what it is, but my kids grin ear to ear every time I say it and then bust into a giggle. Ya, ya, I know it's a funny name, but it's fun and it's working! Really, working. My whole core was in need of toning since I've just been running and not lifting too often. I was ready to mix things up a bit. So I looked online for some new workout DVD's to help me firm up and get ready for summer. I think I found the answer! I've been working out hard 5-6 days a week (and squeezing in a couple of runs a week, too, so I won't lose the lung stamina) and doing some calorie counting to boot. I've never been a dieter, but counting the calories and focusing on making all of them count with good stuff has really been an eye opener for me. It's crazy how fast you can eat your way through 1500 calories. By lunchtime! So now it's about choices and eating smaller, more often, and staying away from fast food and white stuff and junk and getting enough protein to keep up the fitness. So hopefully it's all paying off. We'll see in another month.




• School projects. In one week, Barrett had to turn in her country report on Greece and her Roman castle project that she and Katy constructed out of cardboard and paint and glue and moss and sticks and all things crafty; Afton completed her desert animal report on the Banded Gecko; and Rowan finished her habitat diorama and report on The Wetlands. Why do the teachers all think it's such a good idea to save the big projects until the end of the school year? Maybe because they think that the recitals and ball games and field trips and end of the year programs and regular school work and all the extracurricular stuff won't be enough to fill our lives. I don't know. Maybe it's just me :) We (and I do mean "we" when I say that) still have to finish up a country poster, create and dress a 2- foot paper doll in "authentic" Greek attire, prepare an Indian costume for the Arizona program, prepare a Greek costume and snacks for the world fair, and make an Easton-sized car from a box for the kindergarten drive in movie day. All before we can officially pack away all things crafty for the summer. Should be another fun week.

I'm sure there's a bunch of other stuff that I missed too (like church callings and getting our website up and running and work and converting to a new software system at RMB and all the training that goes with that), yada, yada, yada...But this post is already crazy long and I have long since passed my small window of blogging opportunity. Gotta run. Hope to post the pics that go along with all of this stuff soon. Life is good. The Browns are good. Getting excited for summer vacations and camps and friends and time in the pool.

Broken

Yep, it's broken. Her left index finger. And now she gets to sport this cute little number on her wrist for three weeks, then go back in for another X-ray to assess. Barrett broke it along her growth plate, so it's extra critical she keeps it in the splint 24/7 to let it heal. So it looks like she's out for the rest of the softball season. Insert Afty into the line up, remove Barrett. I guess the Brown sisters were not destined to play together this season after all. Now it will be Barrett's turn to wear the "rally cap" helmet...

Easter Saturday

Much to our children's amusement, the Easter Bunny comes on Saturday of Easter weekend. So today was the day. The big hunt. The hidden baskets. The loot. A great day in the life of a kid, no doubt about it. I have great memories of Easter morning from my early childhood too. And strangely, I still vividly remember one Easter morning that fell on a fast Sunday. I crawled behind my bed to sneak candy and then tucked the wrappers under my bed...as if the Big Man Upstairs couldn't see...And I felt soooooo guilty. Crazy guilty, but it was just too hard to resist. I mean, come on. A whole basket of candy at my disposal? That was just too much pressure for me. I hope I remembered to repent for that one :)

So funny the things we remember as kids. At any rate, the kids had a blast this morning hunting down their eggs and baskets. It was another good Saturday morning at the Brown house.

Happy Easter Eve!

Rowan's Haul

Softball & Other Stuff

We are nearing the end of regular season play. One more week for the big girls and two more for Rowan. Then the tourney begins for the olders. Double elimination. We are already getting excited. Barrett & Afton's team, the Diablas, has really had a great season so far: undefeated and one tie (if you don't count their exhibition 2-inning game on opening day, which doesn't count. They lost that one).

Afton is excited to finally play next week after missing most of the season with her broken foot. She got the boot off 8 days ago, but the doctor said she couldn't run right away, so she's still been waiting, waiting, waiting. She'll get to play in the last two regular season games next week and the tourney, so at least she'll get in a little action. She's been practicing with the team ever since she got out of the cast and into the boot, and she's been the team's #1 fan all season. She's fully dressed out in her uniform every game, leading the dugout cheers and making everyone laugh. She is seriously so funny. She cracks me up when I see her sporting the backward "rally cap" helmet most games, which all the girls rub for good luck. But hey, so far, so good. It seems to be working.

Sadly, we think Barrett might have broken her finger at tonight's game. She was playing third and the runner on second came in hard on a steal and cleated Barrett pretty good on her glove hand. I didn't even know she was hurt, as she just shook it off, finished the inning, then got up to bat and nailed it hard. It wasn't until after her team finished batting that she came over with teary eyes and a very swollen finger to show me the problem. By the time we got home tonight (around 9:45), it was really swelling up bad and starting to bruise. Who knows - maybe it's just a bad sprain, but it doesn't look good. Not good at all. She iced it at the game and again before bed. Ryan is out camping tonight and has no reception so he doesn't even know.

So we may be spending tomorrow morning at the doctor's office getting x-rays and splints. No fun. I can think of a zillion other things I'd rather do. And I have a zillion things planned for tomorrow already...and addressing a broken finger is not on that list...

We are hoping to still see "Soul Surfer" tomorrow with the kids and a couple of their softball friends. We've been planning it for a couple of weeks now and everyone is itching to see the shark attack scene where the girl loses her arm. The previews look really good. Tomorrow is also my dad's birthday and Costco shopping for all the Easter fruit day, and a long run day, and prep for 6th grade science camp day (yes, I'm going up with Barrett as a cabin mom next week) and Easter Saturday morning prep day (the Easter Bunny comes on Saturday at our house) and finishing up some very urgent RMB work day, and finish putting my "bathroom in the hall" stuff back in the bathroom day, and oh yes, the kids will be home all day day...

No, the broken hand thing doesn't fit super well into that already way too full day. I'd say that things will just have to spill over to Saturday (and they might), but that day is already scheduled too. But just as it always does, it will all work out. Many things just won't get done and we'll all live.

Our Saturday Morning

Chalk up another one for Mr. & Mrs. Brown. We ran the 4.2 mile Pat's Run on Saturday and had a great morning together with 28,000 of our closest Valley of the Sun friends. Crazy crowded...I mean super duper crazy crowded. They wave started us by corral in 1,000 runner waves, but it was the most crowded race I've ever ran. Not sure why it seemed crazier than last year since there were about the same number of runners, but it never really loosened up that much the whole time. We were in wave 4 of 28 too, so we had it better than many.

But despite having to weave in and out of runners the whole race and throwing a couple of elbows here and there (not really, but I thought about it), we made it to the finish line a few seconds apart. Ryan came in ahead of me and we both were really pleased with our times (33:02 and 33:19), which translates to sub-8:00 minute mile pace - somewhere around 7:52 for Ryan and 7:56 for me. Hooray! This was by far Ryan's best race pace EVER and my second best (last year's Turkey Trot 10k was my PR).

We were both happy to support Pat's legacy and Foundation and run for such a good cause. It's always so cool doing a race. I love it. I love the ambiance, I love the fit people, I love the inspiration, I love the challenge, I love the competition, I love the sense of accomplishment when I finish, I love the time with Ryan. I was one super proud wife on Saturday. My hunk of hubby is becoming one lean mean running machine these days and I love that too. He's been running long a couple days a week (8-ish miles) and hitting the mountain biking trails, not to mention really watching what goes in his mouth.

I guess it's the basic formula for healthy living: good diet + exercise = fit.

I'm excited for a healthy summer and excited to work on some new fitness goals of my own. I ordered some new DVD's from Beachbody (same company that makes P90X) so I'm hoping that I love them. Time will tell.

Thanks to all the fellow Pat Tillman fans out there who helped make Saturday morning a memorable one for us.

Run

"Run because you love it. If you don't, learn to love it. Running will bring things into your life that you could never imagine." - Scott Jurek, Star of "Born To Run"


Today I registered Ryan and myself for Pat's Run. It's a short 4.2 mile race (next Saturday April 16th at 7:00am at ASU) honoring Pat Tillman. He was a great scholar athlete. He wore #42 on his jersey when he played football for the ASU Sun Devils (GO DEVILS!). He went pro and played for the Arizona Cardinals, before leaving his multi-million contract to serve in the US Military in the Iraq war. He was killed in the line of duty and will forever be remembered, especially in our town, as a hero. I'm excited to run next weekend. I've been feeling really really good the last couple of weeks. I'm finally "back" after some lost momentum and general fitness atrophy during my plague. Last year, the Tempe crowd at Pat's Run was huge. Crazy packed. I think there were something like 28,000 runners and walkers. But it was so well organized. Lots of corals for starting runners in heats by projected pace so that the course didn't seem too insane. Ryan and I had a great time and are looking forward to this year's race. We'll have to be speedy, though, since Ryan's little sister, Lacey, is getting married that same day at 3:00 in Tucson.


On a training note... I've been feeling the urge to mix things up a little. I need to tone up the soft spots, want to work on some speed, build up more muscle so that the metabolism gets a jolt and I burn more calories. Every week I get an email link to some cool running articles and tips from Active.com. It's always a good read and usually inspiring. Today I was reminded that I need to incorporate more speed work into my routine if I want to get off my plateau. I've been running the same pace for the longest time. So tomorrow I'm going to do fartleks. Yes, I said fart. Fartleks. Stop giggling. It' Swedish for "speed play."


Here's how it works: Fartleks are meant to be fun (remember, it's speed play). To do them, simply vary your pace based on guidelines that you make up. For example, after a warm-up, pick a tree in the distance and run fast (not all out) until you get there. Jog again until you pick out something else—yellow house or traffic light—and run fast to it. Repeat for 5 to 10 minutes, then run normally for 5 to 10 minutes and cool down. Work up to 20 to 30 minutes or longer once a week.


I think I'm also going to work on some drills. This was another of today's running tips: Most people think running is all about putting one foot in front of the other quickly; but there is technique involved—it encompasses your stride, posture, arm swing, and even how you carry your head—and simply going fast or far (or both) won't help you improve it. These drills (do them once a week) will help create a more efficient and powerful stride. After warming up, do each of the following workout routines for 30 to 60 seconds: Run while lifting your knees as high as you can. Next, exaggerate your running stride so that you bound as far as you can with each step (you'll go slower than your normal pace). Finish by running with tiny baby steps (one foot directly in front of the other). Repeat the series two or three times, then run normally for as long as you want and cool down (or just do these drills on their own).


Just keep running...just keep running...

I've gone mobile...

OK, so I may be a little behind the times, but I just learned how to do mobile blogging from my iPhone this week (thanks, Brittany, for the quick low down on Sunday). I am super duper excited. Super duper. I just posted Ryan's rattlesnake pic below right from my phone in like 10 seconds. How cool is that? So look out, oh small circle of my blogging friends...I may very well start uploading more on-the-fly quick posts with solo shots more regularly. Can't wait. Oh, what has technology done for us? AMAZING!

Rattler

Ry went out on his mountain bike today to shred some tasty single track. He ran into this guy on the trail. Nice.