Feel the Burn 5K

Ian ran in his second 5K towards his goal for this year! There was also a 10K going on simultaneously in which some friends of ours were running. He has spent the past month reading running books, running blogs, watching YouTube running videos, and attempting to craft the perfect running footwear. Oh, and he has also been running a lot as well.

Here he is awaiting the start and apparently not wanting his photo taken:

And they're off!

After a short wait for the onlookers, they were back! 

Ian came in 3rd overall, 2nd in his age category, 

improving upon his previous time by about two minutes (19:24)! 

And wearing his homemade sandals!

He was pretty exhausted and had really pushed himself.

The sponsors had snacks for the participants.

We were anxious to see how our friends did in the 10K. 

(David S. won the 5K last January.) He was pushing a stroller this time, so he got 2nd place.

And his wife got 7th place overall. They are an impressive couple.

Sadly they are moving soon as do most of those in the military here.

And then very tragically our Canon camera died.

It just stopped working for no reason, thus putting

the future of this blog in great jeopardy.

Thanks to Janell's old iPhone, we got a couple of the awards ceremony.

Half-way to 90!

Yes, I feel old. Ian baked me this delicious chocolate cake and kindly reduced the number of candles by a few. ;)

Another Recycled Jean Project

We have an old couch pillow that has seen better days. I made the cover years ago, pre-children, and the hand-quilting is almost non-existent now. This is the new and improved couch pillow made entirely from scraps and old jeans. The children all like it better, and so do I.

It Pays to Be a Geek!

In last Saturday night's Priesthood Session of our Church's General Conference, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf stated in his talk, "Every family has moments of awkwardness like . . . when your dad arranges a family portrait with everyone dressed like characters in his favorite movie and you get the Chewbacca costume."

In our case, it was me (Mom) who made for the awkward moment when I saw a sign at our Del Rio Walmart store advertising a Star Wars costume contest for children and adults tonight at 8:00 PM. It was part of their promotional activities surrounding the midnight release of the Star Wars The Force Awakens DVD.

My thought process: "We have put lots of time and effort into our Star Wars costumes over the years. Let's dress up the children and see if we might have a chance of winning a prize, and that would be so cool!" We had no idea what the prizes would be.

At 7:59, we arrived at Walmart, with Dallin dressed as a Jawa (minus the blaster that I gave away prior to our move--dang it!), Erin dressed as a Jedi padawan with a light saber (but she forgot her cloak--oops!), and Ian in his Boba Fett t-shirt and carrying his Boba Fett helmet (because he had completely grown out of his costume from this photo shoot). Poor Ian really didn't want to take the helmet, but I persuaded him to (refer to above awkward reference).

We attracted some strange looks from customers as we walked through the parking lot and store all the way to the back. There we found the displays set up, cupcakes and punch, and a plethora of Star Wars merchandise. We were in the right place for the costume contest. So far, there was only one other boy dressed as Darth Vader.

Again at my insistence, we took photos:

Yes, Ian, you too!

And again over here by BB-8:

Wouldn't that Falcon be awesome to have hanging in your bedroom?

This was the screen where we would be watching the movie following the contest.

Employees passed out some glow necklaces and trading discs to all the kids.

After 30 minutes, there were still only 4 costume contestants, so they did the judging.

"Stand here so we can take your picture."

A couple of the employees deliberated a bit, and then they announced the winners.

First place went to DALLIN!!!

He won this Legendary Yoda Robotic Toy!!!

He really is excited--he just refuses to smile sometimes.

Erin received the 2nd place prize of a $30 gift card!!!

Darth Vader got 3rd place prize of a $25 gift card!!!

And Ian got 4th place prize of a $20 gift card!!!

(No adults had dressed up, so they didn't hold the adult contest.)

We watched about 50 minutes of the movie before returning home.

How could we possibly leave the movie early? 

Well, rumor is that someone might be receiving it next week for a birthday present! 

Oh, and if you happen to be in Del Rio next month, 

our May the Fourth party is going to be AWESOME!

Sewing Distractions

It all started with the pillowcase that I made Megan for her birthday. 

We found fabric from the new Star Wars movie at Christmas time, so I got some. 

We sent the pillowcase in a birthday package last month.

But then I had leftover scraps, so I made a couple of luggage tags.

And, why not make a couple of quilted potholders as well?

I used black jean fabric for the back, since I love to repurpose jeans 

and happen to have a collection of old jeans that I moved all the way 

from Yuma (because I hadn't finished all my jean projects yet).

I also cut 168 circles out of the jeans to make another scrap quilt using this tutorial.

I really should get my sewing space properly set up in our bedroom so I don't keep overtaking the kitchen table with my projects.

Critters

Comet, our 16-year-old cat, loves to nap in our school room next to the window. He has a bed in a box on top of some filing cabinets and curls up each day while the children are doing their studies.

Lucie continues to have the energy of a puppy even though she is going on 4 years old. She protects our yard from all the stray cats and her favorite pastime is to chase after tennis balls.

Everyone loves to watch the birds at the bird feeder. And we are still amazed at the new species we see here in Del Rio. This is a Northern Cardinal.

Here is a whiptail that was hanging out in our back yard the other day. I'm not sure if Kevin figured out which species it is.

And Ian found another new snake--a Texas Blind Snake that was crawling around by his bedroom door. It is super tiny! We released it back outside after taking photos.