Monday, December 29, 2008

Catching up!

Christmas this year was awesome. We have pics that I will post soon, but since I am sitting in a hotel in Nebraska right now, I can't post them right this minute. Noah is at the perfect age for Christmas. He was so excited when he came down Christmas morning and saw that Santa ate all the cookies and drank all the milk we left out for him.

As soon as we did our Christmas in Colorado, we left for Kansas City. Noah was so excited to see his G.G. (my mom), Aunt Amanda, and Uncle Eric, Aunt Suzanne, Kenny and Luke. He just ADORES Kenny now! He can't quit talking about him.

After Kansas City, we went to Iowa to see Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Mikey, Sara, Aunt Christie, Uncle Jim, and Brayden (his cousin). He had a ball, and didn't stop talking about Uncle Mikley and Sara until we were past the Nebraska border.

Thanks everyone for the great Christmas! We feel truly blessed to have such an amazing family (on both sides). Noah is more spoiled than he knows!!!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all the joy of the season and a great new year. Happy holidays and happy trails!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Who is that?

So I saw this picture on the Today show this morning just briefly and I was thinking, "That guy is hot...who is that?"

"OMG, it's freakin' Barack Obama."

I had no idea.



Short! Haircut

Here's Noah's new look...

Monday, December 22, 2008

The Many Faces of Noah

Everyone is always telling me how expressive Noah is...I got some pics of that at his Christmas party...



Sunday, December 21, 2008

Noah's Christmas Performance

On Friday, Noah's class had a winter party and a little performance of some of the songs they have been learning. Here is a video of part of it. Just for the record, Noah knows the song and actions perfectly well and did them all for us after he got home! It was hilarious!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Ken Salazar, Interior Secretary

I am so happy with Obama's pick for interior secretary!

Bye bye Dirk Kempthorne, and good riddance to your environment destroying ways! And don't even get me started on Gale Norton, who Bush picked before Kempthorne and served as interior secretary until 2006.

Salazar is a good pick because he is an advocate for the environment, but he is also a realist and sort of a centrist. For example, he is an advocate for offshore drilling (obviously, I don't love that, but I do realize that energy is a problem). But he wants to balance energy development with environmental protections.

He is a US senator from Colorado, so I have been watching his career for a couple of years. I think he will do an outstanding job as interior secretary. He will be a great addition to an administration that is reasonable, intelligent, and progressive.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Shakin' It Up

So I have been getting a little bored with running.

And by "a little bored," I mean really freakin' sick of it.

On Saturday, I tried to combat this with a nice long trail run. It was around 50 and sunny. And it was a totally different route for me. And I had forgotten how much tougher trail running is than pavement running. And it worked. The run was actually enjoyable and I came out of it totally back into running.

Then this morning, the temperature was -18. I was NOT running outside, so I went to the rec center that is about 10 minutes from our house and ran on the treadmill. I forgot my iPod, so I thought I'd be back to the running burnout by the end of the 4 miles I had planned. But it was great and fast and felt good. I'm going back tomorrow morning because it is supposed to be butt cold again. I won't forget my iPod this time.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Rudolph

We have been trying to get Noah to say, "I need something," instead of whining or crying when he wants something. So, last night right after I put him to bed I hear him yell, "Mommy, I need something."

I was really excited that he didn't just cry or scream, so I ran right in.

Me: "What do you need, sweetie?"

Noah: "I just saw Rudolph's nose flash!"

Me: "Oooh, cool!"

Noah: "He's hungry."

Me: "OK, well I'll put a carrot out for him."

Noah: "OK, good night, Mommy."

Me: "Good night, Noah."

Noah: "You're going to give Rudolph a carrot?"

Me: "Yes."

Noah: "He's out front!"

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Santa!

We took Noah to see Santa last night. This picture was taken with Dan's cell phone, but the pro photographer who was there got a great one with Noah smiling even! Far cry from last year when he screamed the whole time. He even told Santa he wants a car for Christmas, which is great since Santa is bringing this.


Sunday, November 30, 2008

Thanksgiving Day 5K Race Report

First of all..this race started at 9:00 a.m. ALL races should start at 9:00. It was like race day heaven getting to sleep in like that.

I was a little nervous driving to the race (with my sister Amanda), but not like I have been for other races. Mostly I was afraid we wouldn't find my sister, Crystal. Even though she is much faster than I am, she said she would run with me and pace me at my 8:30 mile goal pace.

When we got to the packet pickup area, it was cold! Really though, once we started running it was fine. I think the temperature was in the upper 30s. Amanda and I found Eric (my brother) and Crystal, and we went to the start area.

Eric, Crystal, Amanda and I found the 8:00 start group and found spots about halfway back in the group thinking those people would be running about an 8:30 mile. WRONG! When we got to the starting line, they were pacing about 10:00. So much for my plan to run an 8:15 first mile.

My brother is a pretty tall dude, so he started weaving in and out of people and I just followed him. He got us all to where we needed to be pretty quick, but it was exhausting having to start and stop and weave in and out like that.

From there, Crystal ran with me and encouraged me the whole way.

"Pick it up!"

"Ok, run fast to the next light pole."

"Push it to the stop sign."

"Let's make up some time going down this hill!"

I don't have my usual mile splits because my battery was dead. Crystal said that was a good thing because we were running 7 something minute miles at one point and I would have wanted to slow down. She was right. I would have. I felt like I was going to barf up a lung for most of the race. It's a good thing I didn't because I only made my goal time by 3 seconds. Finish time was 26:21! A new 5K PR! And my hamstrings are still sore.

Thanks again, Crystal!!!

Guess what the finish line food was!?! Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Ya, that's what I said...Krispy Kremes. I was in heaven. Oh, they had the regular bananas and healthy stuff. But I was all over those doughnuts.

Thanksgiving

Here are some pictures from our visit to KC. We all had a blast seeing everyone. My whole family was there and it's not that often that we can all get together.
Will, Crystal, and Noah: Crystal and Aunt Carol:
Will and Kenny:
Eric, Suzanne, Kenny, and Luke:
Rachel and Amanda:
Eric and Luke:
Amanda's boyfriend AJ, Amanda, Eric, and I (after all of us except Eric had had, um, a few drinks.)
Noah and my Mom:
All the way home, Noah kept saying, Are we going back to GG's house now???

Noah and Kylie:
Noah and Will:
I have tons more pics to post, but the computer is moving really slowly right now, so I'll have to post them later.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy thanksgiving to everyone! And happy new 5K PR to me. 26:21! Race report to come. Have lots of turkey everyone! And thanks to Malcolm for the training advice and Crystal for running with me and pacing me for the race.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

5K Training Update

The Thanksgiving 5K is 5 days away and I think I am ready. My 9 mile long run is done and my 800 times have improved significantly. My goal time is 26:30, but anything under 28:01 will be a PR. Of course, I woke up sick today, but if I'm lucky that will play itself out by Thursday. I swear I get sick before every race I run. Why is that???

Saturday, November 15, 2008

CU Game

Grandma and Grandpa took Noah and Dan and I to the CU game last Saturday. It was really fun! Here are some pictures!





Friday, November 14, 2008

The Girl With the Black Hair

So I met one of the most beautiful little girls I've ever seen in my life yesterday at work. I'll call her Yesenia. She walks into a meeting at which my colleague and I are supposed to tell her she is kicked out of school for non-attendance (which isn't even really part of our job, but that's a whole 'nother story). She is 18 years old and she walks in with her 8 month old baby. The baby has no coat and looks seriously pale and listless. She says she hasn't been attending school because her baby has been sick and she has no money to take him to the doctor because her Medicaid has been cut off. She has WIC but she says they don't give her enough formula so she is out for the month and does not have enough money to buy her baby a winter coat.

Even though the meeting was supposed to be about Yesenia, all I could think was, "What the hell is going to happen to this little baby?" The general education teacher who attended this meeting was literally crying.

It was awful.

To me, this was the culmination of the Bush years. His administration cut Medicaid and pretty much every social program there is. I took a coat and gloves to Yesenia's teacher so that her baby will have a coat and I called social services so that hopefully that baby will get formula and medical care. But I know that coat is only a short term help and there is no guarantee that social services will have the resources to help her.

What else can we do? The educational system has completely failed Yesenia and again, what is going to happen to that baby? It's been driving me nuts and I don't know what else to do. I have seen so many similar situations in my last 10 years of working with children from families who don't have money or education.

It's starting to get to me.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Grandma and Grandpa's Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Kangley are in town and Noah is having a blast with them!!! Here are some pictures and I will be back in the next couple of days with more.







Thursday, November 6, 2008

Snowboarding Season is Finally Here


The View Up Here: Keystone
Originally uploaded by simcah

Keystone, Breckenridge, and Copper Mountain open tomorrow. Yippee! Oh, and Amanda...I can't wait for you to come out! I hope it works out!!! Look how much fun we will have.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Douglas County Voters Suck

My county voted against an initiative for schools last night. The district will be making cuts now. I have been told my job is safe because the money for my position comes from a different source, but others will lose theirs. My county also voted for McCain and is heavy on the registered republicans. It's just another example for me of how Republicans care so much about unborn children but don't care about the live ones.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Oh, yeah...

And YAY for Colorado going blue!!! I knew this was where I was meant to live!

Congratulations President-elect Obama

I am so proud of my country tonight. We just restored our standing in the world with one fell swoop. We ended hundreds of years of racial oppression. Whether you agree with Obama ideologically or not, I heard one TV commentator say that you'd have to be a pretty sore loser not to recognize the historical nature of tonight and congratulate him for that. I agree. Let it go, McCain supporters. McCain was beyond gracious in his speech. Why can't you be?

8 Years Later

I have waited 8 years for tonight. After a heartbreaking election in 2000, this country has unquestionably gone down the wrong path. The Republicans have had 8 years and have completely jacked it up. It's time to let the Democrats try to fix it. Iraq, the economy, education, the environment, the national debt, Katrina, CEOs and market regulation...the government has failed us in these areas over the last 8 years. It's a big mess to walk into but I think Obama is up for it. Four years ago, I heard Obama's speech from the 2004 DNC. Oddly, because I had never heard of him at that point, my first thought was: "Hey, that guy should be president." Four years (and lots of research) later, I was mailing in my ballot voting for the guy for president. OK, actually, I didn't mail it in. Dan hand delivered our ballots because we live in a fairly Republican county and we didn't trust that it would get counted unless we took them in. Anyway, here's to Obama! Here's to the end of the war! Here's to a better education for our children! Here's to a better economy! Here's to renewable energy! Here's to health care for all! And here's to a future I am much happier sending Noah into! Good luck, Barack. I'll be praying for you!!!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Barack the Vote!

Happy election day!!! Gobama!

Happy Birthday Amanda (late)

I hope you had a great one! I miss you!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Halloween

Noah had a big day yesterday. He had a party and costume parade at school and then we went trick-or-treating last night. Here are some pics of all the fun!






Friday, October 31, 2008

5K Test

I ran 5K this morning to see where my speed is in relation to my goals for the Thanksgiving Day 5K. I finished in 26:55. Here are my splits:

Mile 1: 8:16
Mile 2: 8:40
Mile 3: 9:05
Last .1: 0:52

I am shooting for an 8:30/mile pace. My average pace was 8:40, so I am getting there. The time I'm shooting for is 26:24.

Pumpkin Carving

Here are some pictures from our pumpkin carving adventure last night. Two things to take note of:
1. The swiss army knife sitting right in front of Noah...open.
2. The fact that my child has no pants on. A nod to potty training.
Please don't call social services!









Thursday, October 30, 2008

Fall Festival Pics

While I was in Phoenix last weekend, Dan took Noah to Pumpkin Chunkin' and a fall festival. If you are not familiar with Pumpkin Chunkin', it's where a bunch of people get together and build trebuchets and sling shots and catapults to fling pumpkins across a field (like 100 yards or more) and watch them smash on the ground. Cool, huh? Anyway, here are some pics from their adventures:










Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Phoenix Trip

I recently returned from a trip to Phoenix to visit my good friend, Randi. I had not seen her in 6 years! Here are some pictures from the trip, including some of her beautiful 4-year-old daughter, Sophie. Hey Randi, let's not wait another 6 years to get together again. I had a blast!





This is a picture of the cactus ridden desert that tried to kill me. It's right behind Randi's house and it is beautiful:

This is a picture of Sophie and her good friend, Marissa: