LDSSA Whirlyball

Last Saturday, we played Whirlyball with the MBA LDSSA group. Everyone had a great time!

The group at the end. A few people had to leave early.

The adults playing a game.




Brian worked it out so we got to take the kids for a ride and let them play for a little bit. I took Sydney in my car. I think they enjoyed it!

Genealogy, I Am Doing It!

Two weeks ago for our date night, Brian and I went to the Detroit Temple. Knowing ahead of time that we were going, I had my mom (the Master Genealogist) send me some names for us to do. She sent them to me via the New Family Search website. I printed off the names and took the paper to the temple. They printed off cards and gave them to Brian and me and we were able to do work for our deceased ancestors. Pretty cool how high-tech the church has gotten these days!

One of my favorite things from the trip was seeing where all the work had been done prior to my receiving the name. Martha's baptism was at the Recife, Brazil temple; her confirmation at the Manila, Philippines temple; her initiatory at the Frankfurt, Germany temple; and then her endowment at the Detroit temple. I could just picture a 12-year-old Brazilian girl on a YM/YW temple trip doing baptisms for the dead. Very cool.

Sometimes we think that we have to be actively researching our ancestors to be doing our genealogy (which I know the church and Primary song use "family history" now), but there are a lot of other ways to be involved. However, I'm sure glad my mom does what most of us consider to be the "hard part" so I have names to take to the temple!

If you want to know more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, visit: Mormon.org.

Marketing Tool

Grandpa Hanks got all the grandkids these matching shirts for Christmas. I think it was a great marketing tool for the company!

National Countdown - 6 Weeks to Go

Well, I'm officially pulling out of the Cowtown Marathon. I've been training for 13 weeks and have been sick three times (twice in the last week and a half) and side-lined for nearly two weeks with my leg issue (whatever it was). While there are perks to training in the winter, the obvious downside is the greater risk of illness. I think I could have pulled it off if I weren't sick now, but as it is, it's not going to happen.

So, on to the next race! The National Marathon is Saturday, March 20th so that gives me an extra three weeks to train (and not be sick anymore!). It claims to be the "fastest looped course in America" so that gives us a good shot at attaining our Boston qualifying time goal. Plus, it should be a pretty cool race. The course passes Capitol Hill, the White House, Lincoln Memorial, Nationals Park, etc... Sounds fun, right? Jonelle hopes we see President Obama so we can give him a little advice on the economy, health-care policies, etc... :)

Given all that, I did get to run twice last week. It went well, too, especially considering how sore I was after Tuesday's 5-miler (which may have had something to do with my being sick over the weekend). I'm still holding out for a run this week though... I probably need to get at least a 14- to 16-miler in on Saturday to be ready for a marathon on March 20th. I'm generally not one to say "pray for me", but if you can at least send positive vibes my way, I'd appreciate it! :)

Weekly Goals

Monday: 5 miles at 8:35 /mi

Tuesday: 3 miles at 7:23 /mi (w/ 1 mile warm and cool)

Thursday: 5 miles at 8:35 /mi

Saturday: 20 miles at 8:35 /mi

Outcome

Tuesday: 5 miles at 8:26 /mi

Friday: 14 miles at 8:38 /mi

Bounce to the Music...

After dinner the other day, Brian had a little dance session with the kids. I suggested he get some bandanas for the kids to dance with. I had meant to swing them around, but Brian thought thug-style.