Thanksgiving and Then Some

Wow. I haven't blogged in long time. I think I say that at the beginning of every blog though. Oh well. Probably because I feel like I have been running around crazy for the past month and a half. So since there is so much to catch up on I am just going to give a list of the highlights, and when I find my camera I will post pics to go with it all.

NOVEMBER

-my little brother Jay had a 2 week break from Med School and came to visit. It was SO great to see him. When I saw him at the airport I was screaming with crazy excitement. Yeah I am one of those people. We had tons of fun eating whatever (He's a starving student, I had to fatten him up) Running crazy runs & working out together, Playing games and kicking his butt in Monopoly deal, seriously I am pro at the game so watch out if you ever play me. We just had an awesome time together & I was really sad to realize that he would probably never live by us again and it would always just be these visits when we get together. boo. He's been my best friend forever, and been there for me through the hardest times of my life. I love that kiddo. And I am excited to see him in just a few more days for his Christmas visit. (it is short though, only a couple days) sigh.

-Thanksgiving. Was really fun. I made the yummiest rolls ever, my apple pie wasn't the best ever, but still pretty good. We went over to Gma Robertson's this year (we take turns each year) And we helped get everything set up, cooked and ready to serve. I felt like the hostess just a bit, and then I realized that I really want to host Thanksgiving. So I informed everyone that next year I would be hosting the Dinner in my new house.

-New House. yes our new house. We are once again building. We stumbled upon some really cute homes while going for drive (we had all been sick for weeks and needed to get out). So we called on them, walked through the model home and Ben and I just knew that this was our new home. before we knew it, we had picked out the house, the lot, the upgrades, signed papers and put the first chunk of money down. Wow. It is amazing though I will tell you that. If you want to go check it out here is the builders website new house plans And if you click on Tour the Model those are pictures of the model which is the same as the home we are building and will look basically the same. Isn't it fantastic? We are building in Pleasant Grove, just southeast of the American Fork Temple on a half acre lot. I love this house. It really is my dream house and I can't believe we are getting it. I love that it is big enough that we can just stay there forever and raise our family and grow old together there. So, our home right now is for sale (yeah good luck right?) We'll drop the price until it sells, and so I am sure it will eventually. Our home won't be done until end of April first of May so we've got a few months.

-Black Friday. Was awesome. We spent the night at Target. Yeah we did. Crazy huh? We didn't even have anything we NEEDED to get. Just wanted to do it for fun. We ended up with a big TV and all of our Christmas shopping completely done in one big shopping spree. Ben literally had to fight to get the TV. Okay not fight, but people were pushing him over and taking TV after TV away from him, so he decided to just go for it. He muscled his way in grabbed one and didn't let go. It was hilarious. I will never forget that mound of people fighting for those things. Even though it was FREEZING cold all night and I thought my toes would fall off, we are already planning on spending the night again next year. Oh the joys of the Holidays.

DECEMBER

-Family Activities. At the start of the month we sat down with the calendar and planned out the entire month of all the different things we wanted to do. Before we knew it, every day was filled and we have been busy with fun-ness ever since. This is what we have done so far.... Got a Christmas tree and decorated the house, made gingerbread houses, paper snowflakes, christmas chains, went light looking around several neighborhoods, Temple Square, Thanksgiving point lights, made peppermint ice cream sandwiches, helped the kids make spritz cookies, saw santa, made friend presents, had a nativity play, went to James' school choir concert, got tags off an Angel tree, hmmmm, I think that is all for now. We still have to take around all our friend and neighbor gifts, go sledding & ice skating, we have watched most of our favorite Christmas movies, but still need to see A Christmas Story, oh and we have stuff to make Chocolates for all the kids cousins. Whew! busy month!

-RS Christmas dinner. It's done. Done, & Done. Thank heavens. No it really wasn't that bad, just glad I don't have to stress about it anymore. We have over 200 sisters in our RS and didn't have very much of a budget left for this dinner. But with lots of volunteers and good people to bring this and that, the food was absolutely amazing, the program was excellent and I cried several times when I saw all the people that were helping me out to make it all come together. THank you everyone who helped, you are seriously so wonderful, THANK YOU!!!

-Kids. Things they have said or done that makes me laugh.

Sophie saying "missmiss whites" every time she sees any Christmas lights.

Harrison opening James' presents. (yeah he knew they were James' that's why he opened them).

Harrison sharing his Elf treat every morning with James. So sweet!

Finding a love note from James to his sweetheart Lexi. He has liked this girl since we moved in over 4 yrs ago. It said "Lexe, I luv you. Do you play Baseball? I play baseball. We can go to BYU. (picture of them holding hands and BYU written above it with hearts everywhere) last page "I will give you a present for Christmas" picture of him giving her a present with more hearts. (how is that not the cutest thing ever?)

James passed off all his requirements in Gymnastics to move to the next level! I was so proud of him. He really does have a natural ability and talent at it. I am excited to see him continue to improve.

Harrison is in Gymnastics as well. and he LOVES it. He is a goof the entire time and just loves to be running around with other kids, but that is all he needs to be doing. Just enjoying it.

Sophie going to Harrison and saying "sorry Dee dee sorry" (yeah that is her nickname for him) after she hit him. The she hugged him. How is she growing up so fast?

Had a super fun day with the kids yesterday. Picked James up early from school so we could go visit Santa before Gymnastics, Saw Santa, James asked him how the reighndeer fly, then we played at the big tree for a while, went to gymnastics, made them their favorite dinner Spaghetti and Meatballs, watched a movie together, ate popcorn and oreos and then had a sleepover together. Ben is out of town this week, so it was nice not to be alone in my room. We had such a fun time together, and man I was tired at the end of the day. Love those kids though.

All right, I think I am done. That is all I can think of for now. We are excited for this weekend as ALL OF MY FAMILY is coming for Christmas. We haven't been all together in over 7 years. it is going to be insane, but SUPER fun! We are so excited. So chances are that I will not blog again until after everything. So, until then... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

What I've Been Missing

This Last weekend Ben and I ran the Provo Halloween Half Marathon. This race started up at Aspen Grove and ended at the Riverwoods Mall. Neither Ben or I had been running very much this month, I had been recovering from St. George & had been cross training throughout the month. Ben hurt his knee at the start of the month, and so had taken some time off as well. We were in good shape to run 13.1 miles. HA!

We stayed at my parents so they could watch the kids, I put together a little costume for myself, a tutu & wings, and at 6:30 am we were on the bus to the race. Only our bus missed the turnoff to the canyon. He decided to go up and over the American fork side of the Alpine Loop, and tried dropping us off at the Timpanooke Campground, then admitted he had no idea where we were going. We got him in the right direction, and some of those tight turns were a little interesting in a huge yellow bus. We made it though, had time to see people's costumes and hang out. It was a lot of fun to see everyone so excited to run a race. It was so different from any Half Marathon I have ever done. It didn't seem one bit competitive, just like a fun run.

The course was extremely downhill and I thought I could easily PR on this one. I really wanted a time in the 1:30's. So I got in line with the 1:35 pacer and just decided to stay with him as long as I could. Ben however, got in line with the 2:15 pacer. Part of me really wanted to just run with him, there was this serious internal struggle of getting a PR, or having fun & running with Ben. I decided to PR. Race started, and we took off. Seriously. THe first 5.5 miles drop drop drop in elevation. It seems we lost about 1500 ft in those first miles, and I was flying. 6:50 min miles the whole way down, I knew it was too fast but I could stop my legs from just carrying my down that mountain faster than I wanted to go. I kept looking at my watch and being shocked that I was running so stinkin fast! I would for sure PR in the race, but..... I was alone. And I wasn't having fun at all. My legs were hurting, of course, my lungs were started to burn just a bit, there was no one to chat with, to race with, to enjoy the course with. I was bored. really really bored.

I knew I could push myself for another 5 miles and get the time I wanted, or pretty close to it anyway, but I didn't care. The only thing I could think about was Ben. And that for once we were both running the same race, and weren't running together. So just before mile 8, I turned around and started running back up the trail. Can you imagine the looks I was getting? Oh yeah. I didn't care though. I turned off my watch and went to find Ben. When I saw that tall handsome husband of mine I couldn't help but smile to see him, he smiled back. He was happy I had come to find him.

He was in great condition and really wanted to get a time under 2 hrs. He had done a half marathon the month before and had gotten a time of 2 hrs 3 min. So he really wanted to break the 2 hr time. He was holding a great pace, even 9 min miles and we had so much fun talking and enjoying the race together. Those last 5 miles flew past me. I didn't even feel like I was running, just enjoying time with my sweetheart. We weren't sure what our time was, I had turned off my watch and wasn't sure how off it was from the clock time. So I really tried to pace him well and hold just under a 9 min mile. The last mile we picked it up and really picked it up when we saw the finish. It was a race to the end and I just prayed that the clock would say something under 2 hours. We rounded the corner and I saw the clock just as we crossed the finish.

1:53:25

We did it!!!

I was so excited when I saw that clock. I hugged Ben as hard as I could and just about started crying I was bursting with Joy for him. I have never been so happy about a time in all my life. Seriously, I was just bursting with pride and bragged to everyone about it. We had so much fun as we hung out at the finish eating about 1000 orange slices, drinking water bottle after water bottle and just being happy to have run a great race, together.

My mom took these pics in her basement real quick before we showered and changed. Don't you love our medals? It's the best one I have gotten so far.

It was then that I realized that I had been missing something all summer long. That for the first time all year, I had run a race, and 100% enjoyed it. I hadn't cared one bit about my time, but I had had fun! And I enjoyed just running, because I love running. I love running with people. And it doesn't matter how fast I run those miles, if you push your body to its max at every race, trust me, you get burned out really fast. Every run I did this summer I pushed myself as hard as I could. Yeah I got faster, but how much fun did I have? The funnest runs I did were not my fastest ones. They were the ones that I ran with friends and family.

At the start of the season I ran a half marathon and got a PR time of 1:42, this one was 11 min slower. I never look back at that first one with fond memories. It was miserable. and I had zero fun, and I wasn't even proud of the time because it wasn't exactly the time I wanted. Sheesh. However, this last race, was by far the funnest race I have ever run. If all races were like that, I would run one every stinkin weekend. So from now on, I don't care what my time is. I don't. I am just running for fun these days. I'll run with a friend and just have a good time.

I knew I loved running, and this race just reminded me of why I love it so much. It is not the time I get anymore, but it's the people I run with, and the race itself. It's seeing the sea of people ahead of me, filling the road and moving forward. It's the joy of seeing so many other people enjoying the sport I love so much. It's enjoying the country and areas I am running through. It's cheering others on, and helping them to finish the race. It's feeling my feet land on the pavement and carrying me forward. It's knowing that my body is strong and can run for miles on end. I am once again excited about all the races planned for next year, but for completely different reasons. Instead of planned finish times, I am planning on what friends to help train and and run the races with. The greatest joy I have felt in all my running to my great surprise, was not my PR, but seeing Ben get his PR time of 1:53. Great Job Ben. So so proud of you and can't wait to run race after race with you.

Oh, we got some pictures from the photographers that were there. If you would like to see them they are posted HERE Just type in Morrise and you will get Ben's and my pictures. It is fun to see us running together.

Halloween Party 2010

Ahhhh.

That is how I feel right now. Halloween Party...DONE! It was nothing compared to years previous, but it was still enough work and stress that I am glad to have it all done. Don't get me wrong, I love throwing parties and I will forever be throwing Halloween parties, it's still a lot of work though. At least it is work I enjoy. I have been gone every evening this week, so my decorating was extremely limited. I put some things up for about 20 min after my shower this morning. I know, I am slacking in my old age. ;) Here is a picture of the kitchen.

I usually have ribbons, pumpkins, & bats hanging as well, but I couldn't find the ribbon. Half the bats were ruined, and I only had enough for the entryway and halls. For some reason I forgot to take picture of those areas. I also had leaves and lights and pumpkins on the stairways and throughout the entire house. It looked really great in the dark. I spent most of my time today cleaning, running, taking care of kids and making delicious goodies for the kids to enjoy. Like these.

Mummies. We served blood with those too. The kids were actually pretty convinced that I dug up a bunch of dead bodies last night to serve at our party. We also served eyeballs (olives & ranch) skeleton fingers (carrot sticks) Halloween shaped sandwiches (ghosts,, pumpkins, witches) Spiders (oreos with licorice rope legs) & of course your usual junk food, cheetos & root beer.

For dessert we ate worms. And most of the girls wouldn't touch them. They really thought I had gotten the "dirt" from the backyard garden. Probably because as we served each item we told them "what" it was. Dirt, blood, eyeballs etc. The Boys loved it.

Then of course we played games.

We did a mummy wrap, made masks, read scary stories, went on a Treasure hunt, watched a Halloween cartoon, and then played Hide & Seek until parents came.

I think the kids had fun.

And this is a random picture of Ben in his Halloween costume. Yes, he is Elmo. no I didn't make it, My neighbor, Audrey, made it. Amazing huh? Ben is wearing that thing to work tomorrow for the costume contest, I hope he wins.

And here I am. I told the kids I was a witch, and that I could cast a spell on them. then we read some stories and went on our treasure hunt. I think it was pretty good little party.

Other Halloween Activities

The Pumpkin Patch in Vineyard. We went there a few weeks ago, I never posted the pictures, so here they are. Sophie just loved that little black tunnel.

And here is James & Harrison with their cousins Henry (in the yellow grabbing James' leg) and Wesley (in the red and black jacket) We love those boys and were so excited to have them over. Sophie wasn't so crazy about sitting on a giant pumpkin and was screaming the entire time she was up there.

My three kids. James, Sophie, Harrison. Aren't they the sweetest little things you ever saw? Sure do love those kids.

Isn't this the most dang cutest picture you ever saw? Yes. It is.

Yeah, I'm in love.

Jack-O-Lanterns

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Tonight, for FHE, we carved our pumpkins. We bought them a couple weeks ago when we visited the pumpkin patch in Vineyard. Grandma Robertson always takes all the grandkids there, goes through the pumpkinland, and then they all pick out a pumpkin. They had a great time with their cousins, Henry & Wesley who were visiting from AZ. The boys just run through that corn maze as fast as they can. Their favorite part though, are the big bounce houses at the end, and of course the pumpkin slide. Sophie loved those too. After it all, they each picked out a pumpkin and brought them home to the porch. And tonight, we turned them into jack o lanterns.

I think they turned out great!

Can you guess which one I carved?

The boys picked out a picture to carve, and Ben carved it for them. They helped get the guck and seeds out, then Ben took over with the knives. The boys didn't mind though, we enjoyed watching some fun Halloween cartoons during the evening as well.

Here they are with their pumpkins.

And I got Sophie back out of bed for a quick picture. Harrison is obviously more interested in the cartoon.

We have been having a pretty fun Halloween season. Last Monday we went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving point. We had never taken the kids there before and were excited to go. WE had a great time jumping on "huge pillows", playing on slides, getting treats, going through haunted houses, playing in corn, yes corn, freezing and finally coming home for some hot cocoa.

I have been spending my free time making Fall treats. I don't know WHY I do this to myself as I am currently trying to lose 10 lbs, but oh well. I always have a small portion, and give the rest away. My favorite treat I have made this year has to be the pumpkin whoopie pies found on my new favorite website www.ourbestbites.com go check it out, YUM! I have made those a few times now. Tomorrow I will be making some delicious sugar cookies with frosting and I am for sure getting up early to go workout, so that I can definitely eat one of those cookies. Yeah, I know I am retarded.

Tomorrow we are also taking the kids to a place in Lindon that has some free Halloween activities, spook allys, rides and such. I am really excited about that. I love all these fun Halloween activities and this week is packed! We have..... Lindon activities tomorrow night, Family kid party/dinner Thursday night, school parties & ward party Friday, Halloween half marathon, robertson halloween party & morrise halloween party on Saturday (not to mention Trick or Treating!) and then on Sunday I think we will play some fun games, make some "scary treats" and spend the day together. Wow, it is a busy week. I probably won't be posting again until after all that. Hope you have a Happy Halloween!!!

Arches & Goblin Valley Fall Trip

The past couple weeks have been..insane? yeah that's the word. I ran the marathon, it completely wiped me out for several days. I was completely exhausted. It was kind of a blur actually. Well, then this last week was so so so busy. Good things though, not bad. My brother and his wife came to visit with their 2 boys and we loved seeing them. We don't get to see them very often, as they have been living in Georgia the last 7 years. However, they just moved to AZ and so now we get to see them more. YAY! We had fun eating tons of good good food, working out together, we went to the pumpkin patch, made a big fall breakfast (complete with the yummiest pumpkin pancakes ever). And just hung out as much as possible. Our kids loved playing with their cousins and it was just a joy to see them again. Thanks James and Em for coming, we love you guys!

I also had an RS activity I was in charge of last tuesday, we had a service project and made the cutest things for Primary Children's Hospital. I will have to take a picture and post it. Seriously, so cute. After the activity I realized we were leaving for Arches for several days and I had better start packing!!! So like a mad woman I packed, cleaned and shopped and got us all ready to go.

I was pretty excited to go to Arches since I have never been there. (isn't that sad?) And I was not one bit disappointed. That place is absolutely amazing. I couldn't get over its beauty and majesty. Seriously, it was awesome. We hiked all over, our kids were really good sports about going on about 3 hikes a day and we just had a great time. The nights were freezing, and I felt really bad for little Sophie when she woke up just shivering. But we lived through it.

Okay Favorite things about our trip:

-running down the trail from the Delicate Arch with James. He kept up with me and it was awesome to just fly down that mountain with him. Loved it.

-seeing Sophie try to climb all the little "goblins" in goblin valley. She was so determined to get to the top she even got pretty stuck one time and cried out "STUCK STUCK STUCK". So cute.

-Showers at the campground. Thank heavens.

-Seeing the Double arch for the first time.

-getting milkshakes in Moab after a long hot day hiking, and drinking them in the tent while watching a movie together on the ipad.

-Playing in the Sand dune, running and jumping down it with the kids. We all loved that.

-Shishkabobs. Those were definitely a favorite.

-Seeing Ben and James climb all over everything at Goblins Valley.

-The fact that our kids were willing to go on hike after hike with us. They were really good sports and we all had a good time.

Here are the not so Favorite things:

-freezing cold nights. brrrr. I will forever get a hotel when we go to Moab/Arches

-Kids popping our air mattress. Sleeping on rocks really makes your joints hurt.

-Getting up over and over with kids at night. boooo.

-Sophie dumping a water bottle all over our sleeping bags and blankets.

James at Goblin Valley. He said, "this place is more fun than disneyland!" WHAT?

James and Harrison finding cool places to climb to.

Sophie, playing in the dirt. It is one of her favorite things.

Harrison climbing around at the Double Arch. I was really impressed with his climbing skills. He climbed just as much as James did.

James and ben hiked up to where Indiana Jones is filmed. James thought that was really cool.

Hiking Park Avenue. I loved that hike. It was a walk really, and so so beautiful.

Here we are at Arches! THis was our first stop when we got there, the Double Arch.

Delicate Arch. James and Harrison really wanted to go climb on the actual arch. yeah, no freaking way kiddos.

And me with the kids at Delicate. That was a fun hike, and the kids did great hiking it.

Goblin Valley. We thought this looked like a diving board so We told James to go up there and pretend to dive off. I have to say, that place is crazy cool.

Anyways, another camping trip done. We are planning our next one, can't decide where to go exactly. James wants to go to Yellowstone, I would like to go to Yosemite, and then there is still Bryce Canyon, Zion's..plenty to choose from. We'll see where we go next, but it will have to wait until next summer.

St. George Marathon 2010

St. George Marathon 2010 Finish Time 3:49:10

All Right folks, so Yes I ran the 2010 St. George Marathon last Sat (Oct 2) with the goal to qualify for Boston. That means I need to finish the marathon under 3 hrs & 40 min. That's holding about an 8 min mile for 26.2 miles. Yeah. I have been training ALL summer, doing several 20 milers, speed intervals, biking, weight lifting, I felt a little like my life was dedicated to training this summer. So you can imagine my excitement for the race, and my disappointment when I did not reach my goal. My finish time was 3:49:10. Here is the story.

I have only so many mental barriers in a marathon. Meaning, there is only so much I can handle before all walls come down and I crash burn and die in the race. I didn't crash at my last marathon, it went really well. And with all the training I did for this race, I assumed it would go as well. I had heard so much about the marathon being downhill and a great race to get a PR that I just KNEW I would reach my goal of Boston.

Barriers started coming down well before the race started. 2 weeks before I was to run the race my shins decided to hate me, a lot. I didn't want to get new shoes to run a marathon in, but when it is a choice between some blisters and shin splints, I will take blisters. And yes, I got blisters. Who doesn't though in a marathon? The next thing was my hat, I always train in what I am going to wear on race day, that way I know exactly how and where it is going to rub me and I will be prepared for it. I trained in a hat this summer and loved it. Kept my face shaded and the sweat out of my eyes. Race morning...hat was gone. Couldn't find it anywhere. Never did. Oh well, I'll live without a hat. Move on.

Got to the start of the race. Looked amazing!!! Flags everywhere, so many people, you almost felt like an olympian, I loved it. I brought tons of warm clothes to keep warm for the 3 hrs before the race start, only, I didn't need them. It was warm. Uh Oh. Warm at 4 am in the mountains? Really? I had lots of fun chatting with everyone before the race, ran into one of my old HS teachers, hung out with my brother, Jeremy. Then it was time to start.

I got in line with the 3:40 pacer. THe marathon had pacers for us. They were part of the Clif Bar Pace team and were pro at it. Each of them had a set of balloons with the finish time they would be getting so we could easily follow them. I found the one with the 3:40 balloons and stuck to him like glue. Then the race started.

It was still dark outside when we started, so it REALLY surprised me when I started sweating at mile 1. Yeah, mile 1 out of 26.2. This was not a good sign of things to come. As I look around I saw others sweating as well and was glad it wasn't just me. Another barrier falling. The first part of the race was really easy, I was ahead of the pacer by just a min, my breathing was pretty easy, and everyone was just excited to be running. We were having a good time chatting, and running together. Unfortunately my shins were screaming, I knew though that they would stop once I had run a few miles, so just ignored it. I was right. Around mile 6, they shut up.

As we approached Vejo (mile 7) I saw the massive hill I was warned about. I knew there were a set of hills around mile 7 to mile 11, so I was prepared for it and was ready to kick its butt. Which I did. Ran up it very well, and recovered quickly. I was not prepared for the number hills we would be running for the next 13 miles. It felt like all we did was run up hill after hill. Obviously we went down too, I just didn't know it was all rolling hills. My breathing was getting extremely ragged, and my quads really hated me.

When I got to mile 13 it started a downhill stretch...thank you!!! I got just ahead of the pacer again and felt the best I had in the entire race. I was holing a great pace and thought that if this how the rest of the course was, I could easily pull a 3:35 out of this race. I was excited to see so many people cheering us on, and I felt like I was actually going to make it. But, the racing Gods weren't so kind.

The sun was beating down on me at that point. And then, my pacer dropped out of the race. WHAT??? What hope does that give me? Sheesh. Another runner took his place and his balloons and we continued on. The next several miles broke me, slowly. Again there were hills. As we would approach each unexpected hill I would think, "okay make it up this hill, give it one more shot, come on don't give up". As we would run up those hills our pacer would say, "this is the last hill, it's all downhill from here." So yeah I would push myself up that "last hill" only to find another hill waiting to break me. Now, I am sure that if I were to look back at those hills now I would laugh and think "you call this a hill?" But when you are running them, anything that even slightly slants up, is a hill, and it hurts. I felt like I was breathing through a straw, and my quads were screaming so loud at me.

But I wouldn't give up, I wasn't going to give in. We hit another hill at mile 19 and I asked our pacer if this was the last. "yep, then it is all downhill". Thank heavens, nope. wrong again. another @#$%*#@ hill. I was still holding a fabulous pace, right on target, but I couldn't slow down, or I wouldn't make it. I start up that hill determined to make it up, and then, it broke me. completely.

My legs went out from under me, started twitching, I started seeing stars and then nothing. I knew I was going down and caught myself. I don't really remember at all what happened. I do remember as I was hanging onto my sanity I saw a girl just in front of me completely collapse, and then a man passed out on the side. A cop came over to the girl and was helping her. I knew that was about to be me, that it was my turn next to be carried away. While all my body was screaming at me to just stay there and let them take me away, my mind was stronger and told me no, no, no. don't let them take you. This is not what you came here for. My heart was broken as I watched my balloon man (the pacer) pass me by and I knew that was Boston slipping through my fingers. I was broken. so broken.

How could I do this? How did I let this happen? I would be disappointing everyone that was cheering me on, that was waiting for my phone call to tell them I would be in Boston next spring. Ben, he would be waiting for me in the stands, wondering what happened. THe tears started and I wanted to give up. My head was spinning, my legs were spazzing out, I was about to puke my guts out, and why was I still breathing through a straw? There was no way I could go on. But I did. It was no longer about making it to Boston, but about finishing. About not giving up, no matter what. I got up, walked for a few seconds, and then running. Slowly, but I was running. All of that happened in about 3 min. It felt like forever.

I honestly do not remember the next 3 miles. I know I was listening to music. I don't remmber it. I don't remember my watch beeping at me each mile, I don't remember aid stations. I don't remember anything, just, don't give up. I DO remember mile 22.5 all I wanted to do was die. As every Marathoner knows, those last few miles are extremely brutal. And all anyone wants to do is go die on the side of the road. But you keep going. And I kept going. The great thing about St. George is that the last several miles you have tons of people cheering you on. I loved all the support from the community. It made all the difference those last few miles. Finally finally finally there was finish line. Everyone is cheering, and shouting, ringing bells, you feel like you'll never make it, but then, somehow you cross that finish line. My final time 3:49:10.

And then you die. Ha. I finished and even though I knew I should be drinking all the water I could get my hands on, I went to the Coca Cola trailer and got an ice cold Dr. Pepper. It was heaven on earth I tell you. So I had another.

After laying on the grass for an hour I tried to stand up, passed out again (Ben caught me this time) And then after another 10 min figured out how to walk again.

One of my friends, Emily Dougall, took this pic of me. Her sister was running and it was fun to see her there. I am actually waving at people as I am running through, I know I look a little ridiculous, but I honestly wasn't concerned with my looks at that point. Ben videoed me coming through and I will post that when I get it downloaded.

We stayed the weekend and had tons of fun visiting with other runners. I guess St. George hit record highs that day and EVERYONE missed their goal time by 15 or more minutes. When I finished the race the temps were in the low 90's. Lots and lots of people passed out, and ambulances were going non stop. Knowing all that, made me feel a whole lot better.

So, there you have it. Another marathon done. I was fine with my time the day of race and even the day after. But then, after the adrenaline had worn off, and the excitement gone. My heart broke for a day. I got my cry out, but then moved on. I did the best I could, and I now know what I need to work on for other races. I have already signed up for 4 races next year and cannot wait to start training again and get back in the game. I love Marathons, they are always an adventure. They push you beyond your limits and you always push back. Love it.

Here is the video of my finish.

First Day of School

Yeah, I'm a little slow when it comes to posting things. But here are the pics from the kid's first day of school. James was really excited to finally get to eat lunch at school. However, when he returned home, and I asked him how 1st grade was he said,"It was SO LONG!! I was like, Is this ever going to end?" I laughed at that. He hasn't complained about the length of school since and everyday his two favorite things about school are lunch and P.E. In fact, today was Pizza day at school and James was so excited that he was up an hour and a half early ready to get to school. So funny, like we didn't have pizza just 2 days ago. But I guess it is exciting when it is at school with all your friends.

Now Harrison, he loves school. It is his dream. He is always sad the days he doesn't get to go to school. He comes home singing all the songs he learned and telling me everything he did that day. yep he loves it. But what is there to not love about singing, story time, play time and snack time? Heck, sign me up!

And Sophie. She and I are having a good time at home together. We go for bike rides, she copies me while I lift weights, stretch out and do crunches. she helps me with the dishes, follows me around with her vacuum while I vacuum. We have dance parties together and I absolutely love spending the mornings with her. She does miss her brothers though. Sometimes she wanders the house calling for "dames' and "dee dee" (that is Harrison).

See, this is what we do while the boys are gone, goof off a lot. And a little cleaning.

We also snack. Who doesn't love a good bowl of cheerios? (see that beautiful gray-blue wall behind her, that is what our kitchen looks like now.)

And here are my boys, ready for school. I sure hope their teachers are ready for them.

Isn't this the cutest picture you ever saw? Love those two boys. They are my buds. And honestly, I miss them while they are at school. I find myself watching the clock, excited to hear about their day.

My 2 Angels

As you know, I have been training for the St. George Marathon for the past few months, and have been running 20 miles almost every Sat. I always do my 20 milers up provo canyon as it is such a great run; always much cooler than the rest of the valley, good uphill climb, water and bathrooms along the entire way, and always a lot of people on the trail. I love this run. I have run it a hundred times and I am never bored with it.

So a couple weeks ago I was going away with some friends for the weekend and needed to get my 20 miler in before I left friday. There was no way to get it in before getting the kids off to school, so Thursday night was really the only option. I was extremely nervous all day Thursday. I get nervous before my long runs, but this was a little different. Somewhere inside me, I was scared, and I didn't know why. I kept thinking that I needed to call my brother and drag him along with me on the run, but I didn't think he would be too happy about coming home from work, and running 20 miles. So yes, I went alone.

I wanted to go early enough that I would finish before it got too dark. By the time ben got home, and I got to the start of the trail it was almost 6:30. It was also 100 degrees. Despite the heat, I ran very well. I felt strong the entire climb up the canyon, but there was still something bothering me, and I could not figure out why or what it was. I even found myself thinking about what I would do if I were ever attacked and how I would get out of that situation.

Because of the heat, there was virtually no one else on that trail, I passed one runner at the very start, and then a couple more at the very top. As I turned around at mile 10 and saw that the sun was indeed setting I knew I wasn't making it down the mountain in the light. Unfortunately the only thing there was to do was to run as fast as I could out of the mountain. So I ran.

I quickly made it down to bridal veil falls, which was almost deserted except for a group for guys. The only way to describe them is they were creeps. 100% creeps. There was one in particular that made my skin crawl. I am generally a very friendly runner and wave and say hi to everyone I see and pass. As I ran past them I waved and the one looked at me in a way that struck me with complete fear. I don't even know how to describe it, ecept that I knew he had bad intentions, I picked up my pace.

I was about to stop at a water station when suddenly those 4 creeps skate boarded right past me and stood in front of the water. Once again, glaring at me, and striking me with fear, I skipped the water. And was glad o be rid of them.

A few moments passed and they rode right past me again, then stopped, watched, scared me to death, I passed, and they followed. It was getting very dark at this point and I didn't see another soul on that trail as I ran. Yeah, I was terrified. This continued on the entire way down the mountain. Them following me passing me up, so close sometimes I could feel their clothes brush past me, and then stopping in front on the water and watching me pass. I was dying of thirst yes, but mostly I wanted to get out of that mountain. And as I neared each water stop, and as I saw them there in front of the water a very clear voice in my head told me to absolutely not stop, but to continue running. So I did.

I don't remember how many times they passed me, stopped and watched me run by, but it was several. I was about 1.5 miles away from the mouth of the canyon when once again I was closely passed by 2 skaters, who then when right in front of me and I realized the other 2 stayed just behind me. At this point I was gripped with fear as I realized I wasn't going to make it out of that canyon. I knew I would never see my babies or my husband ever again, and that it was only going to be a matter of moments before I was attacked. It was completely dark at this point and no one would ever see me. As I waited for impact I prayed. I prayed my heart out. Nearly screaming in my head for help. For guardian angels to come down and save my life. The guys were even closer and it felt like they were closing in, when I rounded the corner and there were my angels. A couple was walking down the path. I immediately stopped and walked right with them. The four guys turned around and took off. I was safe!

The man asked me if I was running, I said yes, 20 miles, but I still had 2 miles to go. His very next question was if I needed a ride to my car. I, of course, took that ride. They were very friendly and sweet. I don't remember his name, but hers was Joy. They asked me all about my running and said they would look up my results at my next race to see if I made it to Boston. They got me to my car, made sure I got in safely, and then left.

I once again prayed and prayed but they were prayers of gratitude. I think of all the times in my life when I have been directly in harms way, but have been delivered, unharmed and able to continue on. I am eternally grateful for the power of prayer and for that couple that saved my life that night. Wherever you are Joy, Thank you.

CAMPING

As a last minute thing, we decided to go camping this last weekend. And I am happy to say that it was one of the best comping trips ever. Here is a rundown of our weekend.

JAMES

-was my big helper, helped me unload the car, and set up the canopy, and everything else.

-Loved staying up with mom and dad all night playing Old Maid, and sitting around the fire.

-hiked several miles with mom up Timp and was a little mountain goat going up that mountain.

-fell off the side of the mountain, but fortunately was only completely covered in dirt, and not hurt.

-found a "secret place" near our campsite where he and his siblings would play every day.

-exclaimed " But I've always been filthy" when I told him it was time to go home a take bath.

-ate the biggest Smore EVER

-painted lots of cool pictures

-brought mom flowers

-loves loves loves camping.

Harrison

-did not want to hike.

-liked to play in the tent and jump on all the blankets and mattresses. (who doesn't?)

-ate lots of marshmallows

-dranks lots of hot chocolate

-ate lots of chocolate

-liked to go to bed early so he could play with a flashlight in the tent.

-was 100% filthy

-decided as we were leaving that he wanted to hike to the waterfall, so we went, and he made it!

-made a great hat

-painted some leaves

Sophie

-missed her bed, but decided the porta crib was better than nothing

-ate a lot of dirt

-went on a hike with James and Mom and pigged out on fruit snacks

-tried to help mom carry the chairs and carried one on her shoulders to the car

-loved running down the hill and then back up

-sort of likes marshmallows

-lived off hot chocolate, fruit snacks, and chips

-tried to eat her hat she made

-Loves the outdoors

-was really happy to sleep in her bed when we got home

Mom

-Got up super early friday to get us up to the campsite in time, and luckily got the last one available

-made hats with the kids

-took james and packed Sophie up Timp. not all the way to the top but we got several miles in

-forgets that she is in really good shape, and hiking up the mountain with Sophie and pack on my back was really easy. YES!

-hates having to get up and pee in the middle of the night. Dang kids ruining my inards.

-is jealous how easy it is for guys to pee in the bushes

-had fun taking the kids on walks around the campground

-loved playing with the kids

-loved playing games with James

-Loved Loved Loved hiking with James. He was awesome.

-Loved that Harrison made it to the waterfall

-Ate way too much food

-skipped running this weekend (you should be so proud of me)

-had a 100% great time with kids and hubby

Dad

-came up friday afternoon (had to work)

-was very welcomed by all his little kids, they really wanted Dad up there.

-set up the tent super fast

-made lots of great fires

-hiked up to 3rd falls on Timp

-boiled eggs in the fire

-ate the biggest and best smore he's ever had.

-took the kids on an adventure

-packed up the entire camp in record time

-enjoyed reading the book "the Girl with Dragon Tattoo"

-doesn't like Moths

-actually slept really well

-had a great time

-loved camping with the kids

We all had the best time, and are excited for our Arches trip in October. Pictures will follow soon!

Pictures summer 2010

James, His cousin Henry, & Harrison in Georgia

Sophie on Easter. So pretty. She ate probably 100 suckers.

James on his 6th B-day. We set up a tent at home and had a big sleepover together with a massive Nerf Gun fight. It was a lot of fun.

My sweet Boys. Love those two.

Harrison on his 4th B-day. He wanted a green basketball cake. He put the little b-ball players and hoop on the cake himself. He loved it.

James Playing T-Ball. He LOVED it. He even played with a broken arm and still could hit it way out int he field. It was so fun to cheer him on and see him get so focussed on the game.

Ben and I at the Three Broomsticks. We ate there....twice!

Drinking my first butterbeer. 100% delicious! But you must get it frozen with cream. mmmm. I want some right now.

And this is just cute. Love that Girl.

OKay so you should be proud of me. 2 posts at the same time. Here are the pictures, stories are below. Enjoy!

Where Have I Gone???

Friends, Family and other weirdos reading my blog.

It seems I have disappeared off the face of the earth lately and haven't blogged in....forever? Well, here is a short blog just to let you know what the world I have been up to in the past forever.

First off, VACATION! I took the kids to Georgia for good while to visit my bro and his family. It was 100% fun and I absolutely fell in love with Georgia. yeah, I would move there. We spent time at the beach, going on military ships (we spent a weekend in SC) Pigging out like crazy, running (of course) more pigging out, watching movies and being idiots. I did come home after a 16 hour trip with a temp of 102, strep throat and bronchitis. That wasn't so awesome. THe rest of the trip though, was perfect. Thanks James and Em for a very much needed vacation and a great time. You are the best!

Oh, more vacation.... Ben and I went to Florida for a week with NO KIDS!!! It was so great, and so fun to be just a couple again. no whining (okay maybe some from Ben, but it was minimal ;) we went to Harry Potter world, Disney World, Cocoa Beach and just hung out together. Seriously, it really was perfect. Plus, we got to fly first class. :)

Training, yep that is my life right now. Trying to get my butt to Boston. I run 20 miles every Sat from now until mid september. This might kill me, but I am slowly getting faster (that sounds messed up). No really though, I ran 18 miles last Sat holding under a 9 min mile And the last 10 miles I held under an 8 min mile. awesome. I am running the St. George Marathon in October and I had better get a time under 3:40:00. If not though, Boston will always be there and I will have another chance to qualify. We'll see how St. George goes.

3 kids. I have 3 kids. 3! yikes! Sophie is growing so fast and talking and running around and is a 100% wild child. She has so much fire in her I can hardly keep up with the little thing. But dang, she is cute. I love how she says "mom, mom, MOM!!!" and then "uh oh" So funny. She LOVES the outdoors and would play outside all day without eating or sleeping. I love that thing. She likes to bark like a dog and meow like a kitty. She talks about kitties all the time and loves going to grandmas and holding the kittens. Ben must really love that girl because now he wants to get a kitten for her. (he is allergic). Sheesh. She doesn't have us wrapped around her finger!

Harrison. Is actually a really smart kid. okay that sounds mean, it is just that he is so quiet it surprises you when he blurts something out. Like today while I was driving he said "mom, now you turn left" and yep, I needed to turn left. I laughed. He is learning his letters and is getting really good at them. He is still my sweet one. He gives me hugs and loves to just sit and read books with you and his blanket. He says the funniest things sometimes. Like "James, why did you break your arm off?" or "Satan's house is very far away" or "Take Sophie to the baby doctor and get her a new nose" (she fell and had a bloody nose). He is our tease.

James. Broke his arm July 4th weekend. Well there goes all the swimming for the summer. He was actually really brave about the whole thing and it hasn't really been a problem. I don't let him swim But I will wrap it up good and let him play in the sprinklers or splash pads at various parks. he is also reading 100 books this summer to earn a day at Lagoon. Harrison has to learn his letters, and James has to read. He is doing really well and we should be making a trip to Lagoon mid August. I am so excited, I know James will just love the roller coasters. He is my other wild child and continues to be a complete daredevil broken arm and all. However, he is also my little man. I was cleaning out the garage the other day and he was in the front flower garden. He weeded it without me asking him to and then he staked up a falling rose tree for me, tied the knot and everything. I was so proud.

Okay so there is an update on our lives. yeah. real exciting. Sorry there aren't pictures, I will post those later. in like another 6 months. Ha!

Cleaning

Right now, I am upstairs, in my room, sitting at the computer. I was about the fold the laundry, but as I listened to the boys downstairs I wanted to write a bit about them and how the play together so when I am old and gray I can read this and laugh.

It all started out with buying the fabric. too cute. perfect for curtains in the boy's room. Oh and wouldn't it be so cute to paint the wall a nice pale dusty blue? Yep. So over the past few days I have painted their room, made curtains, pillows, painted a kids table and chairs, frames, and letters for the wall. Busy few days. Today I finally got the bedding I wanted for their beds and was very excited to put the whole room together. However, being the boys that they are their room was a complete mess. I wasn't about to clean myself for the 100th time, so I told them they HAD to clean it or else. An hour went by, no cleaning. 2 hours, no cleaning. Finally as they played in the blankets rolling down the stairs and jumping off the couch downstairs, I began to clean their room.

They came in and out getting teddy bears pillows, and who knows what else to play with in the couches. I kept reminding them that were supposed to be helping me clean and would they please pick up those toys. THey ignored me. As you can guess, trouble was coming. I finished putting their room together, bedsets and all and called them up. Then I told them that I was very disappointed with their choice to not clean or help me and that they were definitely going to be punished by sitting in their beds for the remainder of the afternoon. They got in their beds, I gave them each a book to look at and went on with some chores. They began to once again goof off in their beds and I really didn't want them to wake Sophie up from her nap so I went to their room and told them that if they would rather clean the entire kitchen and do the dishes, then they wouldn't have to sit all afternoon in their beds.

They thought that was a good idea. They did the dishes quickly enough and were very good about rinsing all the dirty dishes out and loaded up the dishwasher nicely. Then it was on to sweeping and mopping the floors. Thy were excited about that. they shook out all the rugs and I gave them each a broom to sweep with. Then I went back upstairs to get come laundry done.

As I listened to them work together I couldn't help but just laugh. I heard them "racing across the kitchen floor", calling out "ready, set go!" "foul! that was a foul!" "time out time out" "okay let's get to work." then smack smack smack with the brooms (I'm pretty sure they were sword fighting) Harrison laughing "that was funny!" Both of them singing, "we are the cleaning boys! cleaning boys cleaning boys!"

Then they told me they were all done sweeping and it was time to mop. Now the real fun has begun. I'm not sure what is going on down there, but there is endless laughter, James saying "this is slippery!" And Harrison saying "hey, you got my head! now i have to get more underwears!" Why he needs more underwears because James got his head is beyond me. I'm sure they are making more mess at his point than cleaning, but it is all tile, so I am not too worried about it. I just love hearing them laugh together, "work" together and just being brothers. Harrison just pranced down the stairs in a fresh pair of underwears, and as I watched him walk back into the kitchen he slipped and landed right on his bum. I think I am going to give them each a towel now to dry that floor up for us. :)

Kids. How can you not love them?

Happy Birthday Sophie!

So, I know I already blogged that Sophie turned one, but here are the pictures from the day so you can see just how darn cute that little thing is. These pictures are completely out of order, but that is okay, at least they are here.

I think this picture is just too darn cute to ignore. She just had her pigtails pulled out and her hair is all sorts of crazy cute.

I'm sorry she isn't smiling in this picture, but I have to say, she really LOVED that pie. She had the pie plate in her face licking it out. as you can see, it is licked clean.

I just like the close up of her cute chubs.

Fruit snacks! Yeah we give exciting gifts.

Harrison, James, Sophie, and their cousin Aubrey here for the celebration. The kids all loved their mini pies. We had pies for everyone. And all the kids got little mini cherry pies.

Enjoying her pie, and using a spoon for the first time actually.

Oh yeah, see here she is, licking it out. YUM!

James and I helped her blow out her candle, James was so worried she was going to touch the flame he held her hands back. Funny boy. But then we gave her the pie and she wasn't sure what to do with it. Then I gave her a taste and it was all over.

Opening more presents. She got.... fruit snacks, books, a big pink ball, and a little riding toy.

She had a little crown that she hated to wear, but wore it the entire time she ate pie. I think she was enjoying the cherries too much to care what was on her head.

Just a cute picture.

Here she is all dressed up the morning of her B-day. That toy was her main gift from us and she seems to really like it. She presses the buttons on it and laughs and claps her hands. It is cute.

I love this picture. I wish it weren't so bright, because I love her happy little face. Oh, that is one of the dresses I made. just FYI.

This actually is not her birthday, but was a cute picture, so I wanted to post it.

One day Sophie and Harrison decided to cook with me. So here they are with their bowls and spoon and sophie thought it was the greatest thing. They had a great time.