Birthday Celebrations

Stu will be 26 on October 26th (Sunday). Not too much you can do on Sunday so we did Stu's birthday celebrations on Saturday the 25th.

Friday night we went to see the annual Warren Miller film to get our free Canyon's pass (and of course I feel asleep..the movie is sooo long), so we decided to sleep in on Saturday.

Saturday we awoke to a beautiful day. The weather was perfect!! I decided to take the dog for a run, and we accomplished 4 miles. But I will tell you what...I was hurting-again. Am I just not meant to run anymore?

At noon Stu and I headed to Bountiful to eat lunch at our favorite sandwich place before heading up to Layton for a couples massage. The massage was awesome and much needed. After our massages we went to get pedicures. Again...very nice and relaxing. We finished off the day with dinner at Rio Grande (a Mexican restaurant-Stu's favorite) with friends.

Stu and Sarah right after they got their massage. See how relaxed we are???

Stu and Sarah after our pedicures

Hyrum, Sarah and Tiffany
Doug, Stu and Emily

Did you know???

What was I doing 10 years ago:
1. I was attending my 2nd year of college at Southern Utah University
2. I moved into a 2 bedroom apartment with 5 girls in Salt Lake City
3. Got a job working with my best friend Krisite doing inventory for J.C. Penny
4. I was engaged to be married
5. I didn't end up getting married

5 things on my to do list today:
1. Go see the new Warren Miller film
2. Finish shopping for Stu's birthday
3. Go to bed early
4. Watch the shows I missed last night online
5. Work (sometimes I just don't want to)

5 Favorite Snacks
1. Brownies
2. Chips and Salsa
3. 100 Calorie Snacks by Nabisco
4. Salt and Vinegar Chips
5. Fruit

5 Jobs I've Had
1. Customer Service Rep at K-Mart
2. Cashier at Bird World (a pet store)
3. Cashier at Anderson Lumber
4. Supervisor at Clarke American
5. Customer Service Rep at Fidelity Investments

5 Things I'd do with a million dollars
1. Pay off ALL our debt
2. Pay off our parents debt
3. Take the whole family (both sides) to Europe (not all together however)
4. Take my Grandparents to see a Denver Bronco Football Game and get the really nice seats
5. Go to Australia and finally scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef

5 things that made me laugh this week
1. Ameriquest Commericals (here is the link to watch them...HILARIOUS http://www.wtfhumor.com/view/160)
2. Grey's Anatomy last night. Someone dropped something in the OR and Bailey said "5 second rule" and they picked it up.
3. My dog, he is just like a little kid. He moves his food around so it is in a corner where I can't see it if I just glance at it and then he goes to the pantry to get a treat because he knows he gets one when his dinner is gone. I now have to go over to his bowl and pick it up to make sure his dinner is all gone
4. My husband when he talks in his funny voices
5. When I run to catch the train every day. I push it to the last minute and run like a crazy person with my coat, purse, lunch tote and book all in my hands. I laugh because I know others think I look like an idiot.

5 people to tag:(but not limited to those listed)
1. Sunny Bunny
2. Hillary
3. Page & Jason
4. Sonia
5. Kyrie & Josh
6. Amanda (so you can update your blog)

A Reeder Recap

Not to much is happening on the Reeder front. However here is an update on our family.

Stu is plugging along with school. He is now just trying to get from one break to the next. He just finished fall break and Thanksgiving is what he is looking forward to. Each day his pin point of light at the end of the tunnel of school is getting bigger and bigger. 2 weeks ago, Stu got called to be the asst. clerk in the ward. He is in charge of finances. We got new counselors and new clerks. I told Stu he was close to being called as a bishopric counselor. He glared at me :)

Blue is getting fat. I mean not to fat, but I find myself not really taking him for a walk or anything. He does get his ball thrown everyday, but he is not getting the proper exercise. I feel bad about this.

As for me. Tried running yesterday for the 1st time since the marathon. That was not a good idea. All the pains that I got during the marathon came back to bit me. So I took it to a fast walk. I think secretly Stu and Blue were glad I slowed it down. :) Got a visit from one of my BFF from NYC. Amanda (AJ) Douglas came out for a wedding and stayed with us a few nights. Although I would have loved to spend more time with her, I took what I could get. Other than neglecting my house work to finish up my scrap booking (I have to get caught up before the end of the year) we had a pretty good week.

Amanda and Sarah at Bethany's wedding

26.2...Really???

Do you know the history of a marathon? Pheiddippides a Greek messanger was sent from the town of Marathon to Athens to announce that Persians had been defeated in the Battle of Marathon. He ran the entire distance (26.2 miles) without stopping and burst into the assembly explaining "We have won" before collapsing and dying.

What a nice thought- collapsing and dying.

October 3rd the day before the marathon

Liz Royall and I went to pick up our marathon packets. We had traveled down to St. George the day before so that Friday we could just relax and not do anything but veg. We were excited to pick up our packets. We discovered what number we were, got our St. George Marathon memorabilia shirts and gazed at all the excited runners that would be joining us the next day. Later that night after Stu arrived we went to the Pizza Factory so Liz and I could start the carb loading process. I would like to note the weather. Nice blue skies, temp at about 75-80 degrees.

Sarah picking up her marathon packet

4:30 AM October 4th-Marathon Day!

Liz and I got up at 3:45 AM to get ready for the big day and to traveled to the bus pick up station. The weather was set for rain much like the whole state of Utah. We checked the weather conditions the night before and the higher % of rain was set for the afternoon. Liz and I felt confident that we would get rain but it would be later in the race when you want it to help you cool down. The start of the race was met with rain. Down pour really. Liz and I were dressed warmly because the start of the race is always cold, but we did not bring an umbrella. :) The rain was coming off and on. Hard then soft. Luckily for us, they were passing out garbage bags that you can rip a hole in the bottom and pull it over your head to help protect your body from the cold rain. Bon fires were raging but we decided to find a car we could sit by to help protect us from the rain. We both said to each other "We did not sign up for rain"

6:45 AM October 4th-Start of the Marathon

Liz and I decided to wait till the last minute to go stand in line for the bathrooms. After sitting for an hour huddled next to the car and bundled in our garbage bags for warmth we decided to hit the bathrooms. The gun sounded for the wheelchair race and then a few moment later the gun sounded for the start of the marathon. Since each runner has a timing chip on their shoes once they hit the mat and active their chip that is when your marathon starts. It took about 10 min for the group Liz and I were in to hit the mat and off we went. I would like to note that..it is still raining.. hard. Liz and I both still have our garbage bags on over our clothes.

7:00 AM- 12:15 PM October 4th-During & End of the Marathon

The rain never let up the whole race. The end was never in sight. I would like to say that Liz and I laughed about the down pour, but in all honesty- I just cried. I did not want to subject myself to this. The weather was terrible, the rain was pelting at our face with about 15 mile hour head winds that just beat the body down. At about mile 8 I broke down and cried. I just wanted to end the torture and get warm. My feet were soaked, my garbage bag didn't do anything to keep the rain out, but I strangely found it comforting to have it with me-like a long lost friend.

Once we got half way (13.1 miles), we realized we were about 40 min off our time and knew that we would not make our goal of 4 hours 30 min. I wanted to cry again, instead I tried to find a phone to call Stu so our support group didn't come stand in the rain for an hour when we knew we would not be there for awhile. Once the call was made I felt better knowing our group would be warm a little while longer. We were already wet, we didn't want them to be miserable too.

The rest of the race was a blur. I just tried to get to each mile marker. Just one more mile I would tell myself.

Once mile 22 hit the rain let up and I was finally able to say good bye to my garbage bag. Really I wanted to keep it and frame it, but decided I carried it around long enough and it was time to part.

26 mile marker. Stu and my brother Cannon greeted us. What a relief it was to see them. I knew were were almost done. Just few more blocks. Liz saw her mom and I looked for my grandparents as we ran down the chute to the end of the race.

Liz and Sarah as they turned the corner to head home

26.2 miles 5 hours 13 min and 05 seconds later-October 4th

Liz and I finished at the exact same time. The lady that put the finisher ribbon around my neck gave me a HUGE hug and said "You did it, you finished". I just about lost it in this lady's arms, but luckily I held it together.

I would like to say that I don't ever want to do this again, but now that I didn't make my time it makes me want to do it again. I had a goal, this goal was stomped by mother nature and now I want to go out and say "I can do this, I can make it this time". I guess time will only tell.

Thank you to Stu, Cannon, my Grandparents, Mom Royall and Jen for coming to support us. And thank you Liz for saying "We can do this, we can finish" when I thought all hope was lost.

Stu and Sarah at the finish line

Liz and Sarah with their Finisher metals

Sarah's support group: Stu, Cannon, Sarah, Grandma & Grandpa

*This race was the 32nd Annual Marathon in St. George

*This race was only the 2nd time it has ever rained. The 1st time was 25 years ago

*The youngest runner was 10. The oldest runner was 84

*The day after the marathon we had blue skies and perfect 65 degree weather

Homecoming

Today was Homecoming for the University of Utah. Stu and I went to the homecoming game where Utah was playing Weber State for Saturday date night. I was not planning on going to the game, but as it turns out I am so glad I did. I ran into quite a few people I have not seen in a long time. 1st was Mark Summerhays (who I run into random places) and Sonia & Swawn Swensen (I used to work at Clarke American with these two and went to Cancun with Sonia). 2nd was Ashlee Gatherum (I used to work with her at Fidelty), and last was Hyrum and Emily (its been a few week since we saw them).

The game was great. I finally got my corndog and Tiger Blood snowy and Utah beat Weber State 37-21.

Body Worlds 3

The University of Utah is the main sponsor the the Body World 3 exhibit and tonight was employee night. The University gave each employee 2 free tickets for the premiere. If you are not familiar with Body Worlds it is an exhibit of real human bodies that have gone through a plastination process. Plastination is where the bodily fluids and soluble fats are replaced with reactive plastics that harden and then all the tissue structure is retained. Pretty cool huh?

This one is called "The Hurdler"


This exhibit was AWESOME, words can't even begin to describe how neat it was to see the human body in a new light. One thing that Stu thought was awesome is they had a human head that was in the exact shape (of a head) but it was only of the blood vessels that are in the head. I thought it was cool to see the small intestine stretched out.


If you can see it for your self the exhibit is in Salt Lake till January http://theleonardo.org/bodyworlds/index.php

Here are some cool facts we learned about the human body:

• It takes about 1 minute for a red blood cell to circle the whole body
• The skin secretes antibacterial substances. These substances explain why you don't wake up in the morning with a layer of mold growing on your skin - most bacteria and spores that land on the skin die quickly
• 1.5 litres of saliva are produced each day
• The right lung is slightly larger than the left
• The highest recorded "sneeze speed" is 165 km per hour

Recap

A short recap of the Reeder's

Blue is feeling much better after he was given left over steak from his owners (Stu and Sarah) and had massive diarrhea the next day. The clean up effort took 2 hours and after doses of pepto and hardly no food but rice, he is starting to feel more himself. Thank goodness. Moral of this story: Dogs should not have people food, it does bad things to their inners which ='s nasty explosions.

Stu is trucking a long with school. He doesn't do much of anything else then go to class, study for tests, take tests and go to his clinicals. He does eat and sleep but most of that is done with a nursing book on his lap.

As for me, I completed my last long run before the marathon. 22 miles. Started at 5 AM ended 4 hours 45 min later. Hopefully I do better on the marathon. I am trying to make 4 hours 30 min. Marathon countdown: 2 weeks and 5 days. SNAPS it's coming up. With Stu studying all weekend I decided to get caught up with scrapbooking, I am determined to get caught up totally by year end. I am almost there!