My First 5k

I Did it!! I ran a real race!! I'm not sure this was the right FIRST race, but I made it and in the same timeframe I had been training in, so I was completely thrilled.

I knew this was going to be a hilly trail run, but what I didn't know is that the first 1.25 miles was completely and unwaveringly uphill!! The difficult part was that I didn't know when it would let up - you saw the top of the first hill, so I thought, "Ok, just make it up to there, and then you can really get going." Then at the top of that hill, you just turned a corner and started going up some more. After that hill, there was a less severe, though longer hill and you could see everyone in front of you for quite a bit. I turned to the lady next to me and said, "Is this run up hill both ways?" She was not as amused as I was, though in fact I was not at all amused either - just trying to make light of the situation. I was really discouraged and thought this all was going to take me an hour at the rate I was going! On the last incline, I was run/walking by this man who pointed out that there was a single runner already looped around and on his way down to the finish line. I mentioned to him that this was my first race and it was most obviously the WRONG one! He was really great, saying, "oh no, you'll do fine!"

At the top of all the hills, the landscape was flat and you could see this trail of runners all along the bluff. It was really beautiful. Then I saw the water station. HA! I knew that the water station was halfway through the run. I could realy start running, now that the hills were over so I pushed hard. I grabbed my water and made sure I was going the right way (I DID NOT want to get on the 20k trail!!) and then I was able to run the whole rest of the way.

Shortly after the water, the trail took a u-turn and it went down hill pretty steeply. Me and the 2 ladies I followed were then led into this narrow creek-bed area, so thin you couldn't pass anyone. You had no choice but to run, and fast. I watched the gal in front of me for good footing, as the creek bed wound right and then shot left and you constantly had to jump from one side of the divide to the other. It felt like we were on wheels and it was actually really fun - a nice reward for crawling up that steep hillside in the beginning!

Close to the end there was a small family cheering people on. I took out my ear bud and asked, "How much further?!" They assured me we were almost there and cheered us to keep going. Then I saw it. I was so excited - there was the finished line. And I wasn't last!! hahaha. As I drew near, I saw Andy and Tyler waiting there for me. Then i glanced over at the clock. It said 37:something! I was overjoyed! Thankfully the downhill part had helped me make up for the uphill part and I came in right where I wanted!!

This past week I was regretting I had signed up, but it was really great. Hopefully I can do it again sometime. Thank you for all your encouragement and prayers!!

Halloween & Thanksgiving

Ahhh...November - a good time to (finally!) post about Halloween and, most currently, Thanksgiving.

I made Tyler's costume this year - a monkey, of course I took great care to make shoe covers adn a detached "hood" with monkey ears and everything, but he would not wear the hood. We carved pumpkins at mom's house like always and someone even gave us a HUGE pumpkin to carve. We went to the Trunk 'n Treat at Olive Knolls Church, where I work, and Tyler was one of the first to play some of the trunk games (before it got too busy). As soon as it got dark and everyone was there, he was done. He was entralled with the train they had there for the kids to ride, but only rode for about 30 seconds before signing "all done". :) But he wanted to follow it around - cool enough to follow but too scary to ride, I guess. All the pictures are on facebook, so please click here to see them.

We did Thanksgiving on Andy's side on Thursday and then did it all again yesterday at mom's. One of the traditions is to race the cars. Here's Tyler "racing his car" (though his remote didn't work).

Then this year, mom made cookies for us to decorate. Here's Andy's...

And here's mine...

Tyler was more about eating his cookies, than decorating them. In fact he got really upset at me for putting a dollop of frosting on his cookie. Guess he's like me in that regard - more cookie/cake, less frosting, I always say. :)

We are thankful for all our family and this great country. We have many blessings.

Next weekend I am running my first ever 5k! I've been training for a while, but I'm a little nervous because it's a hilly trail run and all my running's been on the treadmill or outside on flat pavement. But I figure, since it's my first race, the goal is just to finish - I'll work on a better time the next go-round. :)

Hope you all are well and are having blessed holidays!
Love,

The Johnsons

Just an Update

Hi friends and family,
Things have been crazy as usual around here. I've been sewing a dress that I am no longer sewing, more explanation to be made on my sewing blog after this post...but needless to say, that's been an exhausing endeavor! We've joined a new small group at church and at work Andy's in a class this week and I've set out to completely re-do the websites. Here's one I've mostly finished...just waiting on some information to bulk up the content.

Tyler-man has been talking A LOT - last night I got out his baby book to record some of what he's been saying. He says "ka-ker" for craker, very enthusiastically and repeatedly says "hi" and "Bye" with a cute little wave, says "mon-ghee" for monkey, "shoe", calls coffee "pak-ee", asks for "help", says "uh huh" for yes, "oh no!", "blah" for block, "sha" for sword, and more! Here's a fun pic of him trying to wear my shoes. :)
Pastor Terry found him this cute CARS toddler bedspread and here is Tyler appreciating it.

Somebody's been eating mommy's home made cookies...

Oh - and for those of you not on facebook, here's my new haircut and color. :) Time for something different... hahaha

Love y'all!
The Johnsons

Tyler's Art Explosion

Since Tyler's started daycare at the school where I work, we have had an abundance of almost daily art. It's so fun and since there's so much of it, we are sharing with whoever will post it proudly on their fridge! :) Right now he is learning about circles. We have, what I like to refer to as an "impressionist piece" on the fridge where a small, medium and large circle on a page are colored in with dots and dashes. There is another one from church with animal stickers on it saying, "God made everything"...However, so far this one is my favorite.

HAPPY

SAD

I really feel the sadness - like he is beside himself. Hahahaha. Is that not the greatest or what! :)

:)

So last night, Tyler was responding to us by placing his first finger near his mouth and looking very serious, sometimes accompanying it with a stern "no". Of course, our initial reaction was, "This boy is CRUISIN'!", but then I got to thinking about it and mentioned to Andy that we might not react too strongly until I talk to his preschool teachers. I thought perhaps they were playing a game with him or something that and he was doing it innocently. Boy, am I thankful I had that thought because when I asked this morning, one of the teachers thought about it and said, "OH! 'No more monkey's jumping on the bed'". HAHAHAHAHA. They had been teaching the kids that song all last week and this week, so that explains it!

Just thought you might enjoy that story. :)
Love, The Johnsons

Vacation Pictures and my sorry excuse for not blogging...

Hi friends and family! I have so many things to show you, but our computer told me it has no more room for pictures, so I thought I had to take some time off until we saved up enough to get another one. HOWEVER, a friend of mine in passing conversation mentioned that she posted pictures straight from her camera - DUH! So here goes.


In mid July we went to Santa Cruz. Here are some of the pics we caught...

Here we are at the pier with a pelican:Here are some of the sea lions basking in the sun:Tyler eating an ice cream cone (haha...looks like he has a beak)

Here's Tyler on the Helicopters (he didn't like them so much)This was his favorite ride - the CARS...The first time he went on it, he didn't look real happy, but not sad either. Then when I went to get it when the ride was over, he signed "more" to me! hahaha. So we went on this one about 4 times each on two different days. He also liked to drive the Pepsi TrucksAnd the boatsAnd this was after our beach day...i really hope the sand around his mouth doesn't mean he was eating it, but you never can tell with this kid. :)
For some reason, Tyler's been all about his swing. We've found him a few times after he's crawled up in it and have tried to explain that he's a "big boy" now. Now we store his diaper bags there so it seems to deter him so far. :)

Tyler is 18 months now and able to come to the preschool where I work. I think he really loves it! I asked him the other day as we pulled up if he was ready to go to school and he smiled, nodded his head and said, "Uh huh!". Then he toddled right up to the door and ran in the room to play. This was his first week and my co-worker Cindy was nice enough to snap some photos., Since they're not mine, I only have a link for you, but it should work - if not, let me know and I'll figure something else out, but you won't want to miss them - they're so cute. CLICK HERE.

Anyway, now that I know how to get pictures on here without putting them first on my computer, hopefully I'll do this a bit more. I hope you all are well!

The Johnsons

Promised Video and Pics

Hi family and friends,

Well, as I looked through our videos, there wasn't anything entirely exciting. But for your amusement, here's Tyler getting his grove on - guess he's a real Bakersfield boy, bustin' a move to some twangy tunes...

And as mentioned in the previous post, here's a picture of "Lounging Tyler" showing us how it's done:

And since Andy is SO OLD now, we had a few people over for a semi-last-minute fiesta! Here's the buffet line...

Some of the guests...

And the birthday boy with his birthday pie...

Happy 30th Andy!