Aud's Odds

Today marks the second day of training for the Salt Lake City Marathon. I'm so excited. I know it's still a long ways off, but I'm good at anticipating thing and I'm going to get lots of practice in the 16 weeks before the Marathon. Yesterday it warmed up some and so I decided to run outside. Jadon and I both left at the same time for our 45 minutes run, but we decided to take our own separate routes. I started out splashing through 8 inches of dirty slush (leftover from the slick roads being sanded) My feet were soaked within the first 2 minutes. I realized that the streets around town were still pretty covered in snow, or slush or muck (I'm not sure what to call it when it's melting and muddy) Anyways I decided to try a trail outside of Kemmerer in hope of a cleaner run. That worked for about half a mile until I encountered snow that almost reached my knee. There is no running in snow that deep so I had to change my plan. All of this to say that ...

Christmas has come and gone now. It's amazing to me how much time we spend gearing up for Christmas and then poof! it's over. I guess most things in life are like that though. Anticipation and preparation are 90% of whatever it is. Speaking of anticipation and preparation - My Christmas present from Jadon was registration in the Salt Lake Marathon. I've wanted to run a marathon for a long time and now it's going to happen. It was a wonderful gift, I'm so excited. However this is something where anticipation and preparation are 90% or more of the experience. The race is on April 18 th , however I start training on December 29 th . That means for 16weeks I'll be getting ready for an event that will hopefully only last 4hrs. It's worth it though and so I'm going to give it all I've got. I'll keep you posted on how the training is going. Oh, Jadon is running it with me, as well as our friend Adam. It's gonna be blast!

Weddings are a lot of work for everyone involved and only the bride and groom get a honeymoon afterwards. My little sister Amanda just got married on Saturday (December 20 th ). I was her maid of honor and now that it's over I need a Honeymoon too!!! Weddings are a wonderful, beautiful, precious thing, yet anything of worth in life takes effort and this wedding definitely took effort! It really was a perfect wedding, everything came together the way it was supposed too! The only close call was one of groomsmen almost passing out. He managed to sit down though before he keeled over. Now we are back in Kemmerer where winter has truly socked in. There is about 5 inches of snow on the ground and it's still coming down. It's gonna be a white Christmas

Yesterday was the Carlson Family Christmas Celebration. There were 31 people at my parents house. I was a lot of fun, a lot of craziness too. Lunch was suppossed to be at 1:00 but it ended up being delayed until 2:30. So as we all waited for lunch the craziness started. We started trying stupid human trick stuff. Aaron and Molly showed us this thing where you are on your knees and then you grab both of your feet and arch your back. you're suppossed to roll forward and you feel like your are going to smash your face on the floor but you don't. It was hilarious to watch people try it. Leann was really the only one who did it right. Nathaniel, Nick, and Amanda didn't have the whole roll thing going for them. They just smashed the ground. We did all sorts of things - put our whole fist in our mouths, Put a whole cup in our mouths, told funny stories. It was great! Definately one of the better Christmas's I've had over the past few years. I'm very thankfu...

Every now and then I a crazy urge to clean something. On Sunday I remember thinking "man I need to clean the car" So it's been on my list since then and it drives me crazy every time I climb in the car. Well this morning I finally got around to it. I vacuumed out the inside and then got ready to wipe down the seats, windows, dash etc. I loaded by arms with a bucket of water, 409, Windex, paper towels, a rag, 2 sponges and made my way out the back door to the car. I managed to place the bucket on the roof of the car without spilling it, and then attempted to open the door without dropping everything else. This was also a success . I place all the cleaning supplies inside and was just standing up to get the bucket when it fell off the roof. Water went everywhere, however the crazy thing is that it didn't get me wet. I hadn't stood all the way up yet, and the water fell just past me. It was a close call though. All that to say, the car is clean and I'...

I truly believe that all good things take effort and Christmas is right up there at the top of the list. There is always so much to do - get a tree, decorate, bake, send out Christmas letters, get gifts for everyone, go to special concerts and services, plan, plan, plan, buy, buy, buy. It always feels a little overwhelming, but I also know that all the effort is worth it. I think of Mary and Joseph - I know their list was different than mine, but I know they must have been scrambling to get everything ready before Jesus birth as well. So as the whirlwind continues I'm really trying to imagine what their perspective must have been instead of getting caught up in the "American Countdown to Christmas"

I haven't had a chance to add pictures to my blogs for awhile, so I'm playing catch up in this blog. Here are some pictures from the Turkey Trot, Thanksgiving and our Anniversary After the Smithfield Turkey Trot - I came in first in my age division. It's colder than it looks Check out my running number Before the race. You can tell I definately had more energy before the race I dunno! Inside the cabin we stayed at for our Anniversay. I felt a little sick, thus the saltines and sprite. Yes, I'm hanging from the rafters in the cabin And again! They shouldn't have put them there, if they didn't want them hung on. It was cold in Pinedale We celebrated our Anniversary at home on the 26th. It was a lot of fun, we dressed up and fixed a fancy meal for ourselves. I think it tasted better than a restuant too. Shopping in Jackson Hole, WY In front of the Elk Antler arches in Jackson Driving out of Jackson, beautiful isn't it? The rainbow relish tray I made for Th...