Saturday, February 22, 2014

Free mini get-a-way with a race!

Back in October at a Halloween race, Jason wore his pink tutu costume and won first place, so we received a 1 night hotel stay at the Hilton downtown in Cedar Rapids.

We decided that we would use this then next time we had a Cedar Rapids race.  This weekend was perfect.  The race wasn't until 11 a.m. which would give us time to sleep in and still get to race early enough to warm up and stretch before racing.

Here we are post race.  Feeling great.

I ran 3.12 miles before the race to warm up.  I needed to do 6 miles for my long run today for my marathon training, so I figured I should just warm up and do the rest of the mileage before the race so when I crossed the finish line I would be done for the day with running!  The thing that is great about this is usually I do a 5K in practice in about 35-38 minutes.  So for warming up I did it in 33:47 then the race was done in 28:40.  Not bad!  And the best thing is, 28:40 is a 5K PR for me (post ankle injury).  Up until this point I haven't run a 5K under 30 minutes in a race after being injured.

Here is a snipit of the results.  Jason came in ahead of me at 28:15 for a chip time and I was at 28:40.  Here is what doesn't make sense at all:   Jason's Gun time was 28:25 and mine was 28:48.  That can't be right since we started the race at the exact same time, so our gun times should be at 10 seconds slower than our chip times.  Whatever.  Just stuff I don't get about timing.  I finished 6th in my age group, but not sure out of how many yet.  Just glad to have finished feeling awesome.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Snowing Super hard again

Seriously, WHEN will this end?  I'm so sick of snow and ice and crap coming from the sky.  It has to be Spring soon.  Please, bring us Spring to Iowa.

Today I have the day off since it's President's Day and since I work at a bank I get lots of holidays off.  It's so awesome.

Bummer is, we are in the middle of a HUGE winter storm.  It started with ice rain, then sleet, now snow and lots and LOTS of heavy snow.  Predicted is 3-6 inches and so far we have had at least 2 of that and it's gross out and super scary.

Great thing is, I called my accountant an hour before my appointment and told him that I was scared to drive in this mess, but that I would, just wanted to be sure I had EVERYTHING I needed for him so I wouldn't have to come home and then go back out in this.

He said, "Actually since you e-mailed me all your W2's and 1099's last week along with other receipts and answered a bunch of questions already, I just have a couple questions for you right now."

So we talked about 20 minutes.  We agreed on a time to come in later after the snow stops and the roads are better with Jason to sign.  So we are done!!!!!

And we get a refund!!

So glad taxes are over.  I have the best accountant ever!

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Always busy for the Clarks

It's still cold in Iowa and we are still getting snow about every other 2 days.  In fact, I'm pretty sure we are getting more tonight and tomorrow.  I am beginning to wonder if we will ever see Spring.   For a snow hater, this is not a good winter at all.  However lots of fun stuff is going on, so here are a few things the Clarks had going on this past week.

Jason got new shoes from Running Wild.  Our favorite running store's link here

We had a nice family dinner last week and Daniel came over to join us.  It was so great to see him.  Found out Daniel is taking a few classes at Kirkwood college!

Caleb wrote another fantastic letter home this week which I probably should share.

I ran three times this week along with many other cross training exercises to get ready for my marathon in June!   See this link to find out more about my training.

Jared is doing Set at school for the play Annie.  He loves to build things.

Scott is enjoying his Base Clarinet in addition to his regular clarinet. He has been able to get more air into it all the time.

Jason got the battery out of Jared's car and was able to get the new battery in, but then it still won't start.  Thank goodness we haven't added it back to insurance yet so we aren't paying for a dead car.  Hopefully this week that car will start and Jared will have his own car to drive for a while.

Alyssa is doing really well in school with straight A's.

I'm loving my job at the bank.  It is super interesting and challenges my brain.  I am in the loan department and so far have learned all about Home Equity loans, 1st mortgage purchase and refinance loans, 2nd mortgages and now I'm learning about Consumer non-real estate loans.  Cool.

Scott and I babysat on Valentines day for two other couples so that they could enjoy the night out and since Alyssa was booked babysitting for another family, I thought this would be fun.  Well it was a crazy night and I'm not sure if I'll ever babysit again, BUT we got paid, split the cash and as a result Scott is going to go to a movie with his half and I took Jason out to dinner last night for a late V-Day dinner.  We had mexican food at a great place called El Cactus.

Scott really likes school and is excited to be in Junior High next year.  I can't believe he is turning 12 in just 2 months.  He will be a Deacon at church passing the sacrament.  Wow I'm feeling old.




Forgiveness

All of us need to forgive at one time or another.  None of us are perfect.  All of us have stuff to work on.  Why is forgiveness so hard then?  

Here are a few quotes I think are good about forgiveness:

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

Forgiveness is the final form of love.

“Sometimes we can take offense so easily. On other occasions we are too stubborn to accept a sincere apology. Who will subordinate ego, pride, and hurt—then step forward with ‘I am truly sorry! Let’s be as we once were: friends. Let’s not pass to future generations the grievances, the anger of our time’? Let’s remove any hidden wedges that can do nothing but destroy.” 
( “The Peril of Hidden Wedges,” Ensign, July 2007, 8.




It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.


The ability to forgive is one of man's greatest achievements.


Is there someone you have hurt out there by unkind words, deeds or acts?  Have you even tried to apologize or repair the relationship or do you hold on to past instances and memories or how they supposedly hurt you?  Maybe they did hurt you, maybe they said something they shouldn't have.  Did you ever talk to them about it?  Did you ever try to make things better?  Do they even know they hurt you?  Do they even know what you are mad about?  If you are mad at someone, how does that make you feel?  Do you honestly feel better inside with being mad at someone?   Last year I personally needed to forgive someone.  It was hard, but finally forgiving and letting the past go was the best I could do.  I apologized by by e-mail and then by a personal letter.  I meant my apology with everything in me.  The greatest thing was, after I apologized I felt amazingly better.  A weight was lifted off of me and I was happier.

It seems like all the time we either ourselves hurt someone, or we are hurt by others.  We can all do a better job to be better people.  You will feel better when you truly forgive.  Your heart can heal.


Sunday, February 9, 2014

Lots going on

It's still cold in Iowa and feels like the Arctic with the wind chills 30-40 below zero which totally bites and we are all super sick of it since we haven't had weather above 35 degrees in over 2 months.  However lots of fun stuff is going on, so here are a few things the Clarks had going on this past week.

Brenden got a job working at North Dodge Athletic Club and worked twice this week.

We had a mini-Super bowl party with our family and made yummy food.  We were hoping Daniel would show up, but he had plans with friends.  Only Uncle Lance and cousin John showed up, but that's okay, it wasn't a big deal of a party, it was just make a few fun treats and sit around.

Caleb wrote a fantastic letter home this week which he said is okay to share, so I will later.

We bought Girl Scout cookies and ate some.

I ran further this week than I have all year, and biked further than last week.

Jared completed almost all of his mission papers online and just has a couple things left to do.

Abby chased a bunch of squirrels outside and knows the word squirrel.   If you say, "There's a squirrel, she will come running from anywhere in the house.  It's hilarious to watch.

It snowed a bunch more.  One day about 6 inches.  Another day about 2-3, but it was literally snowing all day on Saturday, so that messed up roads.

Scott started playing Base Clarinet in addition to his regular clarinet. He is excited about it.

Jason, Scott, Alyssa and I used some gift cards to get Free Noodles and Company noodles for dinner and free ice cream at Cold Stone on Friday night.

Jason almost got the battery out of Jared's car, but then realized he needed metric wrenches that he got rid of years ago that he thought he'd never need.

Alyssa started working as a crew member for the play Annie that will be at West High in several weeks.

Jason swam a massive amount of laps.








Saturday, February 8, 2014

It's not pretty anymore

I don't feel the snow is pretty anymore.  It's downright dumb.  I can't stand it and I wish it would go away.

I need Spring to be here really bad.  This has been a really hard winter on my emotions.

I thought that working out hard this morning would help.  I ran hard, then took a Yoga class, then ran some more.  It didn't help.  I'm still grumpy and sad.  I need to snap out of this soon.

Anyone else feeling like this winter is so long?

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Paying it forward

At Aldi's grocery store, you have to pay a quarter to get a cart because they are locked up.  Then at the end of your grocery shopping experience you plug your cart back in and get your quarter back.

About 2 years ago a lady just handed me her cart and didn't want my quarter, then she said, "Please pass on your cart to someone for free someday."  I thought it would be fun to always pass it on.  So ever since then I make a point to always pass on my cart and never get my quarter back.  It's a little thing, but something little I can do at this time in our lives.   While shopping there on Saturday when I handed my cart off to someone they said, "I love this, paying it forward. I will be sure to pass my cart on as well and not get the quarter back."

I tell this story because on Saturday afternoon when we opened our mail there was a check and a note from our chiropractor that said, "Your bill was taken care of so we are sending your check back."  I called them on Monday when they were open and asked them about it and they said that someone paid our bill.

So nice of someone to randomly do this.  This act of kindness means a lot and I will continue to do random acts of kindness for others.

Sometimes I pay someone's parking behind me when I'm at the hospital, or someone's toll fee behind me when I'm driving to Chicago.  Or when I'm in a fast food drive thru line I've paid for the person behind me.  This is fun and I hope to do it a bunch more in my life.  My ultimate goal is to someday leave a family $1000 at Christmas without them knowing who I am.  This will be so fun.

If everyone would do one thing nice for another person this world would be a much better place.  So big or small, I challenge you to do the same.