Mondays & Tomorrows
I am going to reference “Following the promptings of the Spirit’ and ‘Why start now’ in the post. Prior to the start of the 2023 cross-country season, I woke and as I was lying in bed, I had a voice tell me, “This is your last year of coaching.” I thought to myself, “that was weird, but ok.” Over the next several months, I needed to talk to my husband, get his ok, and then talk to the Athletic Director at the high school.
But, let’s back up a little bit…
In 2020, My husband and I helped our son purchase Log Craft Inc. The name was then changed to Log Craft General Contractors LLC. I ran the office (payroll, accounting etc…), while my son did everything else.
Due to covid, spring track was cancelled after our first track meet and I started watching my first grandson 3 days a week, while my daughter-in-law went back to work. Days that I didn’t watch my grandson; I would go to Log Craft’s shop and work in the office.
Fast forward 2 years and I had moved the Log Craft office to my home and started watching my now 2 grandchildren 5 days a week and taking both children to cross-country practice in the fall and track practice in the spring. I also started going to Heber Fit Body Boot Camp and attended the 5:45 am session. When XC & Track season started, I started attending the 5am session.
We are now to 2023, and I had been going to the Heber Fit Body Boot Camp for 2 years and attending 2 sessions each morning 5-6 days a week. When summer started, I was also attending xc practices at 7am and hiking with my grandkids in a double stroller while the team did their morning running workout. It was also during this time that I started experiencing a lot more anxiety than usual. So, I set up a doctor’s appointment and got put on some medication.
At the end of August, my daughter, who had been living with us, moved to Florida with her boyfriend. My grandchildren, whom I had been watching for the past 3 years full-time while their parents worked/went to school, started staying home with mom and I received the impression that this was going to be my last year of coaching. Consequently, I experienced many anxiety/panic attacks. My life was in chaos, and I felt like I had nothing left.
At this same time, I had stopped going to the gym completely and only attending the cross-country morning workouts at 6am as I led their workouts. Every other week, Mon & Wed was weights, while the other week was plyometrics. Tues & Thurs, I ran with the varsity athletes during their 6am shakeout run.
However, during this time – I gained 20 pounds. It was a stressful summer, and I started experiencing a lot of anxiety. I got on medication in the spring and at the beginning of August, I had the thought come to mind that I needed to double my medication. Within weeks of this thought, I started to have multiple anxiety attacks daily and struggled to get off the couch and get anything done. The doctor’s office ended up calling me to schedule an appointment for a medication check visit. Getting on more medication helped me emotionally and I was able to function.
On another medication check appointment in November 2023, it was determined that I would get put on a GLP-1 (semaglutide) medication to help me lose weight as I had topped 180 again. I did start to lose weight, but it was ever so slow, maybe 1-2 pounds per month. When I maxed out on dosage, my doctor switched me to another GLP-1 medication (terzepatide.)
Fast forward to our current timeframe.
While I didn’t max out on dosage with terzepatide, the cost was extremely high and with my husband’s pending surgeries and HSA funds being needed to cover our deductible I switched back to semaglutide through his HSA account.
Last week, I had my first coaching call. I got to set 2 goals. The first was walking daily for 30 minutes and the second was to increase me water intake to at least ½ my body weight in ounces. I had this call on Wednesday mid-morning in the middle of altering a suit. I decided that I had a full day and would need to start on my walking goal ‘tomorrow.’ I need to be better at tracking my water intake, but I feel that I drank at least 60 ounces. Again, I thought “I’ll be better tomorrow.” Tomorrow became today; did I make those changes? Nope! At the end of the day, I thought ‘tomorrow…’ then ‘tomorrow became Monday’.
Guess what today is? Monday. Guess what I did? Not only did I walk, but I jogged for 30 minutes on the treadmill. It was slow enough (slower than I’ve ever jogged before) that I was able to jog for 2 miles continuously. I then walked for an additional 15 minutes. Day 1 - goal accomplished.
My plan/goal is to take my life out of chaos and create structure. Structure is what I need for my neurodivergent mind. Hmmm, Neurodivergence’, that’s such a great topic! Maybe for another day.
Photo: The photo is of a sunrise representing ‘new beginnings’. I took this photo on a morning last year during the deer hunt.
Following the prompting of the Spirit:
As mentioned on my main page, I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. As such, the gospel states that the Godhead are three (3) separate members, God the Father, Jesus Christ our Savior & Redeemer, and the Holy Ghost (Spirit).
We just had General Conference, at which leaders of the church speak to members & non-members alike about topics that will help better our lives. These topics pertain to the gospel of Jesus Christ. At this past conference, I wanted to get the most out of the talks prepared and given that I could. I prepared myself by praying so that I could glean what I needed to do, what is my purpose (now that I’m not coaching) and how to do what was going to be asked of me. As I worked in my sewing room, I cast music centered on Jesus Christ to my Bluetooth speaker.
I was able to watch and listen to all 4 sessions and took notes. Afterwards, I called and spoke with my mother, and we discussed what conference meant to us. My take: I needed to become more like my Savior Jesus Christ and develop Christlike attributes.
I still listen to the same playlist of music as I work on alterations, and I feel joy and I’m at peace. I really enjoy this time of my day. I’ve felt that I need to write the first few songs of this playlist and explain what each of these songs mean to me.
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing/If You Could Hie to Kolob
Come, Thou Fount of ev’ry blessing;
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount; I’m fixed upon it:
Mount of Thy redeeming love.
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I’m come.
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand’ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
3. Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.
“The prophet Samuel set up a great stone as a memorial to remind his people that God had saved them in battle. He called the stone “Eben-ezer,” or “stone of help.” (See 1 Samuel 7:10–12.)”
1.If you could hie to Kolob
In the twinkling of an eye,
And then continue onward
With that same speed to fly,
Do you think that you could ever,
Through all eternity,
Find out the generation
Where Gods began to be?
2.Or see the grand beginning,
Where space did not extend?
Or view the last creation,
Where Gods and matter end?
Methinks the Spirit whispers,
“No man has found ‘pure space,’
Nor seen the outside curtains,
Where nothing has a place.”
3.The works of God continue,
And worlds and lives abound;
Improvement and progression
Have one eternal round.
There is no end to matter;
There is no end to space;
There is no end to spirit;
There is no end to race.
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing was my brother’s favorite song. We sang it at his funeral. He passed on July 22, 2019. My brother left the church many years ago after his Mission to Germany. He purchased my son’s Tahoe back in 2017 while living in Michigan. During his visit, we drove around the Heber Valley, visited the top of Memorial Hill, Dutch Hollow and then stopped to eat at a local café, the Hub. While we were eating, we started talking about religion. I asked what happened, why did he leave the church. He said that he was tired of people judging him for how he interpreted the scriptures/gospel of Jesus Christ. I told him that the church is filled with imperfect men/women, but the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. During the midst of our conversation, he mentioned the afore mentioned song and wished that it would be included in the hymnal. As of 2024/25, it was included as the first song of hymns that were added. He didn’t mention why this was his favorite song, but if you read the words to the song. It is bearing testimony of how he feels about our Saviour, Jesus Christ. I would also like to include in this post, that many years ago, I felt prompted to paint a picture of Mike (my brother) being welcomed in Jesus’ arms. I had never painted a portrait and continually prayed while I was in the process of the painting. I included my testimony and placed it in the back of the painting. I don’t know what happened to it, but I’m sure it fulfilled the purpose that was intended.
If you are interested in learning more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the ongoing revelation, please visit churchofjesuschrist.org.
December 2011 - Mike’s Christmas gift
Why start now?
Our lives are like a book, with many chapters and I just finished a major chapter (one) in my life. I would title this chapter, “Life as a high school cross country and distance track coach.” This chapter pretty much consumed most if not all my time. I started coaching in 2000 as a volunteer coach after competing in the Mrs. Utah Pageant. Pageant directors told me that I needed to get out in front of people, get more involved and so I gathered up all the courage I had and approached the current Cross-Country coach of the time and asked if I could help with the team. He answered in the affirmative and this started a 24-year chapter.
How did homesteading fall into this huge chapter? But first, what is homesteading? I’ll be honest, when I read about modern homesteading, I think of the crazies you hear or read about in the news. Those who isolate themselves from society, arm themselves and then start blowing up things like churches, government buildings, etc. I couldn’t have been further from the truth! Modern homesteading is a way of life, a lifestyle that I have been choosing to live my entire life.
When I first started coaching, there really wasn’t a lot of information readily available on the internet, so I purchased many books. As the years passed, athletes got faster, technology changed, and a myriad of information became available at the touch of a button. So many running shoes, training plans, nutritional advice, and expert opinions were and are still available as resources. There is no such thing as a one size fits all in the running community. The same is true in a homesteading lifestyle.
Gardening will be my focus as I start this next chapter in my life. As with coaching, in the past 2 years, I have put many hours of study into changing the way I garden. My gardening method has been traditional rows which involves planting crops in straight lines, with space between as walkways. This method is efficient for large scale crops, easier watering, cultivation and harvesting. Did I say easier??? My garden plot is rather large, in fact it is 56’x72’. We water with an open ditch, which brings a lovely carpet of weeds that choke the plants out and then harvesting is back breaking, especially when picking 1-2 bushels of beans in 1 picking.
I would say that I haven’t been able to keep up with gardening over the past 8-10 years as coaching along with helping my son, who purchased his construction company in 2020 with HR & Finances and babysitting the grandkids. Gardening took a back seat. I didn’t really have time to weed and didn’t want little hands to accidentally pull crops. In fact, I would hire out some of my athletes & families to come help with leaf raking, weed pulling, harvesting our apple trees & garden crops.
What & why am I changing about the way I garden? To be honest, I’m not getting any younger and I’m looking forward to my aging years and what will be easiest on me. While I am keeping potatoes and corn in traditional rows, I will be converting the remaining part of the garden to containers, growing vertically and companion planting and I can’t be more excited.
