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Running Log – Official Event

I know that I was keeping a pretty consistent running log earlier this year.  But I didn’t know it would lead to this! Both Joshua and Kristie have joined the Summit Academy Cross Country team.  They had their first official meat last night!

1st Official Event

Josh ran a few events with Couch School last year before our fire, but this was Kristie’s first competitive school event of any kind.  This was obviously Joshua’s first event here in Utah.

The meet was held at Providence Hall, a charter school in nearby Herriman, Utah.  Turns out it is actually closer and easier to get to than Summit Academy, which is on the other side of Bluffdale.  Since this was so easy to get to we decided to take the entire family as a cheering section.

Teams were there competing from Providence Hall, Summit Academy (one team from the Independence campus, and one team from the Draper campus), Ascent Academy from Lehi, and a team wearing an Eagles jersey but whose school I didn’t ever catch the name of.   5 teams total.

The Race

These meets are a race around a 2 mile track.  The track at Providence was in the rolling hills of the Oquirrh Mountains and inside a small ravine next to the school.  The only flat section was the 100 yards where they started and ended.  The rest of the course was either uphill or downhill along the windy dirt track.  One section of the track was downhill enough that a few kids fell on their way down the hill.  A few bumps and bruises, no injuries.

Joshua

They raced the boys first.  Joshua had to wear his knee brace.  Since starting to run again his Osgood-Schlatter pains resurfaced.  He wore the brace and took some Advil and was ready to go.

Josh can do 2 miles on a flat track in just under 13 minutes, but with the hills I wasn’t sure what to expect.  He turned in a finish of about 13:30 (unofficial) which given his knee pain and track was pretty good in my mind.  It was good enough for him to finish 28th out of 100+ runners.

I’m not sure what they do with those Providence Hall kids,  because I think they had 5 boys finish before the first Summit Academy runner came across.   First boy finished in about 11:30 minutes.

Kristie

When all of the boys finished it was the girls turn.

I’ve only ever seen her run compared to her siblings, so I wasn’t sure what to expect of this small 6th grader running with 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.  She can do 2 miles on a flat track in about 14 minutes.

She finished her turn on those windy hills in just under 17 minutes.  I think her short legs had a harder time with the elevation changes than Josh did.  That time was good enough to finish 16th out of about 50 girls.  First girl across was about 14 minutes I think (I forgot to look).

Accomplishment

They both were totally spent when they were finished running.  Kristie looked ready to collapse.  I only took Joshua a minute of rest and some fluids to look ready to run again though.   I’m not sure he put out as much effort because of the knee.  Kristie gave it everything she had and it showed.

I think they both did quite well.

I know Josh is our best runner, but I know he’s never been blazing fast either.  He finished about where I expected him to finish.  I’ve always thought of Kristie as being quite fast, and given her size and age compared to the field I think it she did really well.   They both have room for improvement for sure (mostly just from physical growth), but I think they should both feel a sense of accomplishment.

Side note: Kristie actually tried out for the Volleyball team too.  But given the fact we’ve never played volleyball before, she was woefully unprepared for it.  Volleyball is even more of a tall person sport than basketball is, and given her short stature it was going to be an uphill battle.  She didn’t make it, but was just as happy to be running!

Joshua is eagerly anticipating basketball tryouts later this month!

 

 

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Changing Schools – Again!

One of my favorite persons that I’ve met since coming back to Utah has got to be Les Hamilton.  We were in the same ward for a few months before a split, and have only talked a dozen or so times.   But every time I talk to him I like him even more than before.  He happens to be the AD at Summit Academy High School.

Good To Know

A few weeks ago I wrote about how we had gotten the kids all ready for school.  Well, last week Les shared a post on Facebook that Summit Academy High School was still accepting applications.   I had known that Summit was the closest school to my parents house, but I thought there was no way we could afford it.

When Les shared his post, I contacted him and told him I would like to consider it but that I was worried about cost since I’m a disabled vet who just lost everything.

Turns out I’m an idiot (no shock to the rest of you, I know).   Summit isn’t a private school…  it is a charter school.   No tuition!!  There is no reason my kids couldn’t attend.

Changing Again!

So I got online ASAP and put in applications for all of my kiddos.  They had room for all of them but Andrew, the one going into kindergarten.  They were reasonable enough to tell me that if I registered the others that they would “make room” for him.

So now the kids are all changing schools again.   It’s been a pain in the “lower torso” to take care of the withdrawals, fees, new schedules, and uniforms.   But I think the change will be a good one.   My kids are now attending Summit Academy schools in Bluffdale.

First Day

And this morning, despite the headaches and current life turmoil, we were able to successfully get the children off to school.  I think they were all even wearing clean clothes!

Nikki was nervous about the new school.  She really thrived at Central Elementary in PG.  She’s a bright little girl and I’m sure she’ll thrive here too.   Josh wasn’t interested in classes but more excited about Cross Country and Volleyball that both start after school today.

Caitlin just wants to find people she knows.  Kris and Charlee and excited to find friends too.  They all are looking forward to a great school year!

And so are we!!

Funny side note.   I called and withdrew the kids from the public schools.  The people who answered were all nice and polite and said it was no problem.

They all said they needed to note where the kids would be attending.  When I told them Summit, they ALL became much less polite, and borderline rude.   One of them asked the new school, and when I replied with “Summit Academy” I got back, “Summit?!  OK, got it” and she hung up on me.

I know there is political tension between public school advocates and advocates of other options.  But this was my first taste of it on a personal level.  I was a bit surprised at first.

I understand that public schools don’t want to lose the money that comes with each kid, but apparently they don’t understand that they are also losing the COST of the kid and the needed effort/energy to care for him/her.   But since they (and almost everyone else) focus on money…

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Update After My Hiatus

I’ve been on a hiatus and think I should give an update on life.  With nothing really going on I just haven’t found anything to write about.   Of course things have happened, but they all seem so small and insignificant at the time that they don’t seem worth mentioning.  It is only in the accumulation of seemingly insignificant changes that the scope of the change becomes apparent.

HOUSE PROJECT UPDATE

Things aren’t moving as quickly as I’d like, but they are moving about as quickly as they could possibly move.  We finished the wiring/plumbing/etc last week; HVAC was installed last week, and the sheetrock was hung this week.  The sheetrock mudders will be in on Monday.   By the end of the week we should be able to paint.

While the sheetrock was going up this week we were working on the deck that is going out the south side of the great room (going to have to stop calling it that because now it is a collection of small rooms that are no greater than any other rooms).   We have the supports up and joists up.  We don’t have any decking or railing on yet.  That might happen this week while the mudders have us out of the place again this week.

As soon as we can get back in we will paint just as quickly as possible and then get to finishing the bathroom and working on flooring.

I will try to get some video edited of what the space looks like out to you soon!

MISSOURI/FINANCES UPDATE

We have accepted (grudgingly) that we won’t be moving back to MO anytime soon.  This is sad.  We don’t want to lose the property though just in case we ever do find a way to get back there.

Even though we are way under water on the mortgage for a house that no longer exists, we have still been making the payments.   I’ve tried reaching the bank to see if we can work something out but they refuse to speak to me.  If nothing else I’d like to get approval to lower my payments since there is no insurance on the property (why would there be?) and the taxes are going to be MUCH lower now with no home.

We have sold our cattle.  They have been at a neighbors house since the fire and he took care of them over the winter.  I had him haul them to auction this week and should get a check for them soon.  That will help out a lot of things!

We haven’t decided how/when we are going to collect the rest of our things.  I think it is feasible to have everything loaded into my storage unit and then ship the entire thing here to Utah, but I don’t have a good way of getting it all loaded.  I could ask friends/neighbors to do it for me, but that seems like a big ask.   Maybe my Dad goes back and does it with help.  May I have to do it?  Still undecided.

FAMILY UPDATE

Everyone is fine.  Caitlin (15) and Joshua (13) had birthdays.  Everyone is healthy and enjoying the summer.  They’d like to not be working at my parents so much, but it hasn’t been bad.  With frequent (near daily) trips to the pool or the new splash pad in Bluffdale they are all getting out a lot.  They’ve done some hiking and sports too.

I think everyone is apprehensive about the move.  We know my parents place won’t be done.  We only have 2 weeks from today, so I don’t even know what state of cleanliness it will be in.   But school is starting, so we will move in regardless and make the best of it.   Maybe with school starting it will help make things easier for Julie and I to get things into a more livable condition.

VA/MENTAL HEALTH UPDATE

I’m surviving.  I’m still going to all my regular appointments (several a week) and getting by.

I have started and completed the beginners portion of Canines with a Cause.  I still don’t have my own dog but have been working with their dogs.  The first part of the intermediate class that begins in a few weeks will be looking for my own dog.  The timing is working out fine since I couldn’t have my own here at the Penrod’s, but can have one as soon as we move.   This will go a LONG way to helping my anxiety and will hopefully be beneficial in dealing with nightmares too.

Julie is still crazy!

EXERCISE/HEALTH UPDATE

You haven’t seen any running logs since the pool opened because we stopped running.  We have instead been swimming.  I have the kids do laps each time we show up to keep them doing some cardio, then they are free to go play (which rarely includes actual swimming).

My exercise has been fine, but hasn’t resulted in any weight loss.  I think it has trimmed up my waist a little bit (several people have mentioned it), but my actual weight hasn’t gone down.  Perhaps with time.

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Looking for a Binky… How Joshua Fails At Life

This post is for you if any of the following apply:

You know Joshua

You like to laugh at Joshua

You are considering having a child

You have a child

You wonder why that child can’t find anything, ever

You like to look at grass!

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Dentist, CWAC and Wiring

Today started early!  That alarm at 6:30am was not welcome at all.  For a day crammed with dentist, wiring, and a pitbull, I would have preferred more sleep.  I’m firmly of the opinion that the world shouldn’t exist at that time.  Alas…

Dentist

The reason for the early morning was Joshua’s 8am dentist appointment for a temporary crown.  This was compounded by the fact that the dentist is in Riverton, a 30 or so minute drive from Pleasant Grove.

Leaving the rest of the family home, Julie, Joshua, and I left at 7am for my parents place in Bluffdale.   There Julie and Joshua jumped into my parents car and headed to the appointment.  This was fine with my parents as they sleep late into the day (we often wake them up well after 10am to start working.)

Josh received his temporary crown and has an appointment for the permanent one in a few weeks.  The temp one though was given with instructions to not eat any apples… poor kid might starve!

Errands

I left as soon as I dropped them off in Bluffdale and headed toward SLC.  I must have been ahead of the worst of traffic because I made it with a lot of time to spare before my group session.   So I ran quite a few errands.

First stop was Home Depot to get the supplies that we needed to complete a handful of tasks.  This included the can lights so we can finish the wiring, and a few odd plumbing pieces.

Next was the bank.  Their drive up window says it is open at 8:30 and I pulled in at precisely that time.  A woman was there who explained she got stuck in traffic and would need a 10 minutes or so to get up and running.  I took the time to fill up on gas across the street.   After cashing few checks I was off to the VA.

Dental Issues Again

With still 90 minutes until my session I was off to enrollment.  I had a few days prior called to schedule an appointment with VA Dental clinic but they declined to make me an appointment, saying I wasn’t eligible.  This was surprising to me because I was receiving dental care in Little Rock.

So I needed to visit enrollment to clarify my eligibility.  The guy at enrollment was awesome.  As soon as I explained what I needed he looked me up and sighed.  “Yes, you are clearly eligible.  Who did you talk to over there? Man or woman” I told him a guy.  “*sigh That’d be the guy you just moved from here over to that office.  I’ll get it straightened out.”  So he made a phone call (rather than making me do it) and politely corrected the person who answered that, yes, I did qualify for dental coverage, and made the appointment for me next week.

Good service from the VA?  I’m amazed!  Kudos to Jacob at the SLC VA Enrollment office!  You were great!!

With those miscellaneous errands done I was off to my group session.

Wiring

Because I was able to complete all of my errands before group, I had about 2.5 hours to kill before my CWAC meeting.   So I cruised back down to Bluffdale and helped Julie and Joshua who were expertly handling the wiring in the bedrooms.

They had it handled, but it moved faster with me there.  I have this magic ability to save time be being able to reach things in high places without moving around ladders or chairs.  Go me!  I also dropped of the cans that I had picked up earlier.  After I left with Josh to go to CWAC Julie was able to get some of those installed and wired as well.

If we get this house done by our “deadline” it will be entirely thanks to Julie’s hard work and skill.

Canines With A Cause

Today was my first CWAC meeting with dogs present.  Because I don’t have one of my own I was handling one of their dogs in training.  Today I was paired with Piper, a female black Pitbull who was a great joy to work with.

At this stage the meetings are NOT about training the dogs nearly as much as they are about training US, the handlers, how to deal with them.   We used clickers and chunks of hot dogs as treats to learn how to shape the animals behavior.

Just being around the dog helped my feel better.  It filled the void of losing Chief, my Great Pyrenees we had in MO.   I’ll be working with a different dog next week, but I don’t mind.  I’m just happy to be around one at all.  My mother in law absolutely won’t allow me to have one here at her house, so I can’t get one until we’ve moved anyway.  So I’ll gladly take what I can get now and anxiously look forward to moving and getting a dog of my own.

When that was done Josh and I jumped back into the van, picked up Julie, and headed home.  It was a hot and tiring day, with far too many miles, but it was productive.   Josh saw a dentist. My meetings went well.  I have an appointment with a dentist. Julie got a lot of wiring done.  Dad was able to get a lot of the plumbing done.  The sheet rocker visited and got us in his schedule.  Hopefully we can string a lot of these type days together … minus the heat!