Way to Be Tough Kayden!

You may have noticed I didn't mention Kayden in my "Halloween" post. He dressed up in a bow tie to run a full marathon in the Provo Halloween Marathon.  I am so grateful he is tough!  He ran a 1/2 marathon a few weeks before his full, and ran so many miles training for both marathons.  And while he ran tons training, he didn't necessarily eat or sleep good (unless you count pop tarts and jerky....)  He told me once that is is doing the "freshman negative 15," because preparing food stinks!  Every time I talk to him he tells me he's starving!  The first weekend in November Kayden came home to finish up his mission papers.  He had his wisdom teeth pulled that weekend, but I still wanted to feed him as much as I could while he was home.  Rik and I wanted to take him out for lunch the day after his teeth were pulled.  We were thinking Mrs. Powell's or Geraldine's so we could have soup..... Kayden insisted on Billman's.  And when I pointed out that eating half a cow might be hard with his mouth a little swollen and sore, he told me he didn't care if he even chewed the food, he would just suck on it and swallow it whole.  So we went to Billman's where I watched him eat and fully loaded french dip sandwich (I don't even know how he got his mouth around it!), and two baskets of fries.  I am so grateful he's tough though.  He's surviving just fine at college on very little sleep and very little food.  He didn't use any pain medicine after his teeth were pulled (and had hardly any swelling).  The day after his marathon (he got 5th overall and 3rd in his age group cause he's awesome) he was really stiff and sore, but was asked to deliver Ensigns to the boys in his ward.  He said it was up and down stairs the whole time, and took his hours longer than it should have because it hurt so much!

Here's Kayden and his Aunt Tashina right before the marathon.  Have I mentioned that I am so unbelievably grateful that he has family so close.  Every now and again I feel like Kayden might need some "mom-ing," but am too far away to do it myself, so I just send a few texts, and know that he is all taken care of.  (Thanks SO much!!)

I am grateful that Kayden has had an opportunity to go to college.  And I am grateful that he's all the way in Provo.  It has given me a chance to get used to the idea of him gone.  He's been fine, and I've been fine.  Kayden's mission call in no longer at Church Headquarters, and is in the mail.  Because of the time he's had away at school, I am strangely at peace with him leaving on his mission.  I actually get more flustered with the nuts and bolts of the mission than the actual mission itself.  The thoughts of mission shopping, Christmas shopping, the December calendar, and working our millions of jobs brings on small bouts of anxiety.  But I am so excited for him!  I was also grateful he had to come home to finish his papers.  I absolutely loved having him home.  So proud of him!