No More Naps

So I'm totally turning into a blogger chick with these posts entirely about my kids, but this just had to be published so all of my blogging family loyalists could see.

For about two years now the only solace Jill gets is when Landon takes his afternoon nap, and Logan gets to watch a T.V. show. In the entire day this is when Jill gets to be productive, and not chase after, clean up, intervene, or break up a fight between our two sons.

That all stopped today. After putting Landon in his crib so Jill could do her thing, to her dismay ..... he came walking out of the room. "Wait, this isn't how it's supposed to work."

Well sure it is if your boy has mad crib climbing skills.




Not sure how to fix this little dilemma, but it's captured for when his kids get this savvy and we can show him that they get their special gift from their father.

How do you make tough choices?

Each of us make choices each day. Should I wake up early to get a jump start on the day before the children wake up? Should I make my wife happy and lower the toilet seat? That 3rd piece of Papa Murphy's Pizza sure looks good. Some choices are less significant and don't make dramatic differences in our lives. While other choices cary so much weight they determine our life's outcome. Which college should I attend, should I marry her, can I make a living doing what I love eating fast food? (Thanks Morgan Spurlock for giving us all hope).



This morning on our weekly Saturday run with a few guys in my neighborhood, there was much to discuss. Two of us had run a 1/2 marathon the week before, and the other had been camping in the snowy mountains of Utah with his 12 year old son earning "Who Really Camps in the Snow Anyway" Merit Badge.

The relationship I have with my running partners has really been strengthened over the past year as we have been running each week together (Take note lady readers.... Relationships, feelings, and Twighlight will not be talked about beyond this point). We have spent a lot of time together waking up early each weekend to spend an hour or two together, sharing, laughing, crying..... okay not crying. We run together, we laugh at each other, and we provide lots of "teaching material" to the one who is our church's Sunday School Teacher. Luckily he doesn't take any of our "suggestions", although if he would he could get released.... but that's another blog for another day.

For 3 years my two running partners have participated in the Wasatch Back Relay race. This is a 178 mile relay run through the mountains of Utah beginning in Logan and ending outside of Park City. 12 runners participate and run 3 sections of up to 7 miles. To complete this course it takes a team somewhere around 24 hours to finish. Spending this much time together further unifies the bond that runners share.



Each year this race falls on the 3rd weekend in June. The 3rd weekend in June is a significant date for the Bryant Family. For the last 15 years, this has been the date chosen by our elders as the time to work on our mountain property. We work together falling trees with chainsaws, road and fence maintenance, ATV riding, and eating an amazing meal. This is the only time of the year that most of the Bryant's will be together.



Two years ago I ran the race and had a terrific time. Last year I felt it more important to attend the Bryant reunion, and also had a terrific time.

This morning on the run, after much chiding, I was again invited to run with my band of brothers in the Wasatch Back Relay. This is significant because others before me have dropped out for scheduling conflicts and have never been invited back into the fold. Receiving this invitation a second time is like getting a second chance at buying Red Sox season tickets. It just doesn't happen.

This brings me to my vexing dilemma. Should I go to the family reunion and see extended family that I haven't seen in exactly 1 year, or run the race that we train for all year long with "my boys"?

Where is my magic 8 ball?



All signs point to yes? What am I supposed to take from that?

1:50:57

Keeping up with tradition of posting all about a recent family trip the following blog is about our families fun trip to St. George. It's especially cool because as pointed out by my sister-in-law Becky Jo, the weather up in Salt Lake City sucked with cold temperatures and inversion. Meanwhile we were in St. George soaking up the SUN!




The temps down in St. George were terrific! We hiked around in the red rock with short sleeve shirts and the boys just LOVED being outside.



We drove down Friday morning with Aaron, Amy, and their daughter Addison. We went for a short hike at Red Cliffs and the boys loved throwing rocks in the water.



Look at the gorgeous blue sky (Becky Jo your family really needs to go to St. George).



As for the official reason we went to Utah's Dixie: The 27th Annual Painters 1/2 marathon was being held, and I had somewhat trained and was going to participate in the big run. My brother-in-law, and another running partner from my neighborhood, were all going to run the race. I wasn't in the best of shape, and the course was pretty much flat, so my expectations were just to finish. Worse case scenario would have been 2 hours 10 minutes, best guess was 2 hours, and I would never expect to beat my half marathon PR of 1:50.

Aaron ran along with me for the first 8 miles. Once he saw how fast we were going, he decided to pick it up for the last 5 miles and shoot for a PR himself. I hung back and ran my race. As I got close to mile 10 I realized that I too was on pace for a terrific race time.

Coming into the finish line, I had my family cheering me on.



Would you believe that with only a fair amount of training, I tied to the minute my 1/2 marathon PR? Well I did it! The official chip time is 1:50:57. I couldn't have been happier with my time. My race time, and the good times being had in St. George.

Winning isn't Everything; It's the Only Thing

It's been said by those who know me that I am somewhat of a competitive person. Maybe it comes from when I was a child and I ruthlessly beat everyone who dared play me in Connect Four. No other 3rd grader at Washington Elementary would dare play me because they really never had a chance. Even adults wouldn't want to play me. Looking back I'm not sure if it was my amazing Connect Four skills, or the in-your-face attitude I had with my competition.

As I progressed through the years, I enjoyed beating the tar out of the other children in my class in the math bowl. Somehow I got the hang of multiplication and intimidated other kids... they didn't have a chance.

Any discussion of competition must include church basketball. As a teenager I wasn't the best player on the team, but always contributed to our stake and region victories. Other wards in our stake always knew they were competing for 2nd place each year because 1st place would always belong to the 3rd Ward.

As a Missionary for my church I remember a young member boy threw rocks at us one day. He wasn't even coming close to hitting us. Naturally I had to throw a rock at him and show him how to "hit the target." 6 stitches and a sucker later, I really showed him.

Which brings me to my current dilemma.



For Christmas Logan got Candyland. Obviously a game which requires no skill and cunning. Simply draw a card, hope for a double color, and stay away from the sticky licorice boxes that require you to loose a turn. Logan always likes to be the winner. The thing is he always wins! Just when I get ahead of him and I think I will beat him, I draw the candy cane card and have to go back to the middle of the board, and he wins again.

In a game of chance you would think that the law of averages would eventually catch up to Logan. He can't continue to win in a game of chance can he? After about 15 games I have yet to score a victory.

Obviously as the bigger person, I should loose most of the time to let the 4 year old boost his confidence. But I wouldn't be doing a very good job as a father if I didn't teach him how to loose graciously. As a responsible father I owe it to him to teach him to loose with dignity. The trouble is, he keeps winning.

Would it make me feel better if I beat him in Chess?