Some Pictures!

All right, here are some pictures from last year that I never got posted, so here they are finally!

We went up the canyon the day before James started school to celebrate his last day of freedom. It was so much fun! We had a picnic, the kids played in the water, then on the way home we got some Corn on the Cob from a farmer (james REALLY wanted to) it was delicious.

December, we went to see the lights at Temple square. I was absolutely in love with the place and actually surprisingly touched by its beauty, even though I have seen many many times. I was once again reminded of the Sacred birth of our Savior. James however, was very grumpy the entire time...that was not so much fun. Oh well, what can you do?

First time I ever got Sophie's hair into pigtails. So super cute!

And some random pictures of Sophie and I. I love to sit and Take pictures of her. She is just os beautiful. I don't want to miss any of it.

I am sorry her face is cropped off in this one because it is so darn cute!

Wow, we are hot! Seriously, we look good. but we should. We were on our way to Ben's 10 yr reunion. We had the greatest time catching up with all our old HS friends. I love that we both went to Provo High, so that we both know the same people at our reunions.

um, yes I DO have the beautiful daughter in the whole wide world. Not going to deny that.

Oh, here is another of pigtail day. I love putting her hair up...she doesn't like it so much, but too bad. Look at those beautiful eyes. And of course She and James, best buds.

A not so happy Sophie all dressed up in her Halloween Costume. She really didn't mind it but she got mad when we took the picture. funny girl.

And here we all are dressed in our Halloween costumes. I thought we all looked pretty good this year. Ben had a hockey mask and knife as well, but wasn't wearing them in this pic.

A Good Day

Today was nice. No stress, kids were good, besides the fact that they still are NOT asleep....

So yeah, I was up with Sophie last night, she had the runs all night, poor baby. But ben got James ready for school so I could get a little more sleep and that was so nice! Then I got on up, had breakfast with Harrison and Sophie, did my morning chores. Played with the kids for a bit, then I did a really quick, but very good workout. Then it was time for lunch.

James' cousin is off-track right now and so we went over to her house once James got home from school. He knew that we couldn't go until his homework was done, so he came home, homework in hand excited to tell me that it was already done because he had done it on the bus. Which, he had. Smart kid.

Anyways, we had fun, the kids played really well together there, Sophie wasn't too happy probably because her bum hurt. :( But really, it was just a nice relaxing afternoon. Then I took the boys to Target got some stuff for a "picnic" and went on over to the Oquirrh Temple (my sister lives out there) and enjoyed a picnic in the car. Sophie enjoyed the goldfish crackers especially. The boys and I talked all about the Temple and I was happy to see how much they actually knew. I love spending time like this with my kids. Just talking to them, seeing what they think about things. James told me after we die, the Dinosaurs will come back with the Volcanoes and rule the earth again. Yeah, he is into dinosaurs these days, a lot. Harrison talked about the open house and remembered going to it.

Oh and then I asked Harrison who Jesus Loved. He started telling me all the names of everyone he knew and then I asked him who else loved him he said "mom, dad, James, Sophie" and then I asked him who he loved. He said, "I love Rachel, she is nice to me. I love Ruth, she is nice. And I love Aubrey, she is nice to me. But Jonathon is naughty to me" Those are all his other cousins he plays with, and even Jonathon is a year younger than Harrison he can certainly take harrison down. It is pretty funny.

We also made a stop at Hobby Lobby where I bought some material for some baby gifts to friends and then there was this material for a little dress that was so cute I got the stuff for it and I can't wait to sew it for little Sophie. So darling. When I finish it I will post of picture of her in it.

You know what, I really do love being a mom. There is nothing else I would rather be right now. I know kids can be the biggest pain in the butt there ever was, trust me, I know. But really, I am glad that I know that, and not some babysitter somewhere. I love seeing my kids grow and develop and learn, and I love seeing them try to be good. James has the biggest heart there ever was and I just love his desire to learn and to be good. He truly wants to be good. I love that. I love my three little ones. They are my life. And I've gotta say, I've got a pretty good life.

Funny Baby

Sophie has decided that she does not really like to sleep all night. That getting up at 3, 4, and 5 am is much more fun...especially when you do it all at once. Little Butt. Anyways, so I have bene up with her a lot lately. And I know, you are supposed to just let them cry, I know this. This is kid #3. But, she will scream and scream and scream....all night long. Hours long. It sucks. Or I can just go throw a bottle her way or give her a pacifier and she will go right back to sleep. I never know what to do. Anyways, so I haven't been giving her the bottle lately, because I really don't like to encourage that. So last night I got up with her and gave her her pacifier which she threw right out of her bed, when I gave it her again, she threw it again. Letting me know that that just wasn't going to cut it. Too bad for her I'm the boss, and well, If I don't want her to have a bottle, she won't get it.

So, she finally gave in took the pacifier and went back to sleep. Then another night she woke up, I picked her up and told her that she needed to stay in her bed, and go to sleep, and stop crying. She looked at me and pointed to her door. I said no, and pointed to her bed. She pointed to her door again. I pointed to her bed again. then I gave her a little love, tucked her in, told her that it was sleeping time and that she wasn't to wake up again until the sun was shining. She was good that time and obeyed. It is funny, no matter how many times I get up with that little thing, or how many times she starts to cry I can never be cross with her. i see her cute little face, her chubby cheeks with little tears streaming down and I can never get over how much I love the little thing and how happy she makes me. So I cave, I cave and I hold her and I rock her and then I tuck her back in bed. Sigh. One day, I am going to have to be tough with that one.

Oh, and she can climb right up the stairs now..al the way up. We figured this out when we heard her fall down the stairs the other evening. fortunately she caught herself part way down and was just a little scared. Not scared enough to not do that again though, I have followed her up the stairs a few times now. Time to keep the gate shut! How is she already this big?

Family Date

Every Saturday we have a babysitter, so that we can go out on a date together. Well this Saturday didn't work out for her, and I was really excited to go out with Ben, so I told him we were still going to go out, just take the kids with us. So that is what we did. We were planning on going to Mimi's, and we took the kids with us. We had so much fun with them. They were really good the entire time and we really did just enjoy having them there with us. Harrison was being a little gross when he took his straw and sucked up the leftover ketchup from his plate, and then put his straw back in his cup and finished his drink. But as gross as that was, it made us all laugh so much it was good entertainment.

then we went over to Barnes and Noble and looked at books for a while. The kids LOVE the kid section of that store and pointed to just about every books saying that that was the book they wanted. And Ben showed me the new Nook there, that thing is pretty cool, but I don't know if it is $250 cool. Then of course I found my way over to the running books and got stuck in a book about some training tips. I just can't help myself. But we really did have a fun time, no stress at all, just fun together. I love it when family things, turn out to be fun family things. Cause they don't always turn out to be super fun.

Training

So, anyone that knows me, knows I am beyond obsessed with running. And yes it is an obsession of mine. I'm crazy about it. And I have always dreamed about running really fast, and placing in a race or qualifying for the Boston marathon. Last year I had a baby though, and so of course with the pregnancy I was not working on speed at all, just getting a few miles in here or there, very slow ones at that. And then came my beautiful little girl and I was back up and running, but once again I was up nights with a newborn and trying to catch up on getting in shape and all that.

So now, this year, is my year. It is. I am going to do those things. I am going to place in a race and I am going to Qualify for Boston or die trying. one of the two. I went to go sign up for my most favorite race, the Ogden Marathon. This is, in my opinion, the best Marathon out there. Seriously, the organization is great, the course is a very gentle downhill the entire way. You run through some of the most beautiful country ever. THe post race food and such is amazing. You get an awesome medal even if you are just doing the half. It isn't very expensive, and I have run it before so I KNOW the course perfectly.

So yeah I really bummed when I saw that the race was full. WHAT! full! Crap! That was supposed to be MY race, where I get some screaming awesome fast time! THat was the race I was specifically training for! And it was on my B-day, what more could I want? And now, grrr!!! However, you COULD run it, IF you paid the VIP fees...of $200. Um, yes I absolutely did pay those fees. And I only spent a day thinking about it.

Okay so now that I have paid way too much for it, I HAVE to run it well, and very well. My goal time is 1:35:00. So that is 13.1 miles, holding about a 7:30 min mile. I am so positive that I can do this, and I am so excited to run it. I am eager to train, to get faster, to power up the one hill, and then fly on down the rest of the canyon. I have been reading and finding as much information as I can on speed work and training tips. I started training this last week. I didn't do a ton of miles, but I worked my legs and cardio good. I did hills one day. And it was a great workout for my legs, They felt like jelly by the end.

Saturday I did a "test run" My friend and I went for our usual Sat run. We only did 10 miles so nothing very huge. But I wanted to hold an 8 min mile, and then pick up the pace for the last 3 miles to a 7 min mile. I was so surprised at how easy it was to hold those paces, and how well I was able to run, even though it was only 16 degrees outside. I kept a decent pace throughout, and then the last 4 miles I held about a 7 min mile. It felt so good just to fly through those last miles and push myself just a hair more to keep it up. After that run I was so confident that I can get the time that I want from this race and possibly even better. I am excited to continue training and improving. And I can't wait for race day to kick some serious trash. This is my year, I'm going to do it.