To Utah And Back

Weeks ago, way back in July, the kids and I took a two week trip to Utah.  We had a fantastic time, by far the best we've ever had visiting that great state.  Here's what we filled our 13 days with...

Water fights in the backyard with Uncle Jordan.

Bowling!

Celebrating Uncle Kevin's 19th birthday with a trip to the Cheesecake Factory!  Yum. Yum. Yum.

The Farmington Parade. 

Seeing the Jazz Bear at the Farmington Parade.

Love this picture.  :)

Cheering on Uncle Jordan at the parade.

Bridget scored this awesome Phillies pillow pet at the parade.  She is just too adorable to resist.  :)

Visited the Farmington Fountain. 

Amazing!  The only other fountain like this in the nation is at the Bellagio in Vegas.  It was very impressive.  Who would have thought, little Farmington, Utah?!

More fun with water.

Playing lots of games with uncles.

A trip to This Is The Place with some Leake cousins.

We saw the COOLEST Native American dance performance.  Both of my kids loved it.  Highlight of the day.

Little Carson got mauled by some crazy goats.

Fun with cousin Katelin; Marshall adores her.

This was my first time meeting Carson, almost one and simply adorable.

Marshall finally conquered his fear and got on a pony.

Sleeping babies.

Said our goodbyes to Uncle Kevin as we dropped him off at the MTC for his two year mission to Singapore!

Took a trip to BYU, always a must.

Stopped to see the cougar.  This has become a tradition after dropping uncles off at the MTC.  :)

Went miniature golfing on what seemed to be the HOTTEST afternoon!

Played at the Liberty Park splash pad.

Playing basketball.  :)

We had a one day overlap with cousins Benson and Annalisa.  The boys loved their afternoon together.

Roasting marshmallows over the grill.

Saw 2000 Stripling Warriors at the Bountiful Parade.

Miss Bridget got pink-eye, and then an ear infection.  Poor girl.

Took a trip to the zoo.

Rode the merry-go-round.  Loved it!

 Read the newspaper with Grandpa Toney.

Not pictured:

*My ten year high school reunion.  How did I forget to take pictures at that?!

*City Creek shopping with my mom.

*Marshall's "Grandpa Bob" date on Antelope Island.

*Marshall and Benson's outing to the Dinosaur Park.

*Visiting with my wonderful college roommate.

*Marshall's first fireworks experience and a Bee's game with my parents and Jordan.

It was a great trip!  Now I just need another reason to visit...

Half-Marathon

Today I ran my second half-marathon!  I don't have my official race time yet, but I think it was about 2:19.  I am THRILLED with this result!  It is six minutes faster than my last half-marathon and I figure being three years older, having had one more baby, and being less physically prepared than last time; it is a great accomplishment!

Back in January I set this goal for myself and in the spring some friends and I talked about running one together in the fall.  But, when it came down to it just Karisa and I were up for it.  We started running together on Saturday mornings the beginning of June.  We started with four miles and tried to increase it by one mile each Saturday.  Well, thanks to family visits and vacations neither one of us was as committed as we should have been.  The middle of July I realized that with the race just six weeks away I had to get my act together!  I did not want to run this and get a worse time!  So, starting on July 12 I became a faithful runner (for me this means just running three times a week with one run being long).  Because of my trip to Utah and Michigan I had to run 6, 7, and 8 miles alone.  But, they went well and I was encouraged that I could do that, especially on my own.  Karisa and I skipped mile 9, but ran 10 and 11 together.  We took last Saturday off, and then hit the course this morning!  John, Karisa's husband, became her running buddy while I was gone so he also joined in on the fun today.  

Here's a break-down of my experience today:

Miles 1-3:  Felt great, kept a ten minute mile pace.

Miles 3-6:  Dragged on, and on, and on!  Although this part of the race had the bulk of the hills, it was not too physically demanding for me.  I think I was just way too focused on our time, trying to maintain  our pace, and keeping an eye out for the next mile marker.  

Miles 6-10:  Flew by!  At mile 6 I asked the McAllisters to tell me the story of how they met.  I knew the jist of it, but hello, we had lots of time to kill!  

Miles 10-11.5:  We were getting tired, but it went by pretty quick as I told them the story of me and Richard.  Obviously not nearly as exciting as it only took 1 1/2 miles to tell.  :)

Miles 11.5-12:  Hard!  By this point we had run out of things to talk about besides our aches and pains and our zero desire to ever run a marathon.  

Mile 12-13.1:  HARD and I did it on my own.  At mile 12, despite my exhaustion, running uphill, and feeling the need to throw up, my legs just started running faster.  I put in my ipod, blasted the music, and waved good-bye to the McAllisters.  Although I was not as physically prepared this time, I was definitely more mentally prepared and I know that is what got me through that last mile.  As I turned into the church parking lot I saw Richard and the kids and that made me so happy!  I just had a short path to run on the grass and I knew I could do it!  It was so thrilling to have a crowd cheering for you and they announced my name as I crossed the finish line.  

The rest of my day has been filled with exhaustion, sore knees, a very tight Achilles tendon, and a great husband who has pretty much run our household today.  :)

It was a great run, I am happy with my accomplishment, and I might, just might run another one a few years down the road.  :)

Before the race; we look great!

During the race.  We got to run along two beautiful lakes and gorgeous homes.

The home stretch.

That is me way back there crossing the finish line.  Come to find out, I'm pretty sure that big clock is WRONG!  Can you believe it?!  They had a clock just behind it that was about 9 minutes off of that, and I think that was my official time.  Either way, it is still an improvement from 2:25!  I am waiting to see what it says on their website.

Cheering on the McAllisters.

After.  Still looking good, but TIRED!  Funny story, we all got medals for finishing.  At lunch today Marshall was looking at my medal and asked me if I won.  I said nope, that I didn't win.  He then replied, "Well why did you get this then?"  Richard thought it was hilarious.  :)

This is the second race I have run with Karisa and she always wants a jumping picture at the end.  I have yet to be successful in one of these pictures.  :)  I love that John is so high and even has his knees bent, Karisa is barely off the ground, and I am not even attempting it.  :)

A big thank you to these four kiddos who put up with A LOT of time in strollers this summer!

And last, but definitely not least, another HUGE THANK YOU to Richard who made all of these early Saturday morning runs possible!  He's great.

The Perfect Day

Today was a PERFECT day.  As perfect as you can get with two kids ages three and one.  :)  Let me just say, that these last two weeks have been rough, rough, rough.  Every day we battle sibling arguments, potty wars, Bridget's extreme obsession with me between the hours of 4:00 and 7:00 pm, Marshall refusing to go to bed, the list goes on and on.  I have ended just about every day these last two weeks by telling Richard that we are never having a third child.

Well, today was a gift from heaven.  Yes, I still had to discipline Marshall for hitting/pushing/kicking his sister, Bridget still screamed to be held by me and only me, but through it all, we had a lot of fun and I enjoyed a lot of unusual pleasantries with my children.  :)

I began my day by sleeping in until 7:15 and let me tell you, it was grand.  Lately I have been waking up early with Richard at 5:50 to either go running or get things down without the interruption of children.  But, today I bagged all of that and slept in!  I had 45 minutes with just Bridget until Marshall woke up at 8:00...halleluiah!  The rest of the day is documented with pictures...

Fun at the park.

Loving her pigtails.

This is Bumblebee.  Marshall adores him and today he informed me it was Bumblebee's birthday.

We had a picnic at the park and as soon as Marshall plopped down on the blanket he said, "Isn't this wonderful?"  He continued to just lay on the blanket for several minutes without eating; he was loving it!  Ah, the simple pleasures of life! 

I brought an apple to cut up for the three of us, but forgot the knife.  I figured we could all nibble on it together, but after I took two bites Marshall took it out of my hands and ate the entire thing.

Just checking on some road construction.

After our picnic we went to Baskin Robbins to get Marshall an ice cream cone as a reward for participating in his soccer class last night.  It took seven weeks for this boy to play the entire 45 minute class!

We ended the day with dinner at Pizza Hut.  Fine cuisine, I know!  But, both the kids had coupons for there for a summer reading program and I didn't have to cook or clean up a kitchen.  Win win!

Besides all of that Bridget took a three hour nap, I read, and Marshall and I played outside for an hour.

GREAT DAY!

Romney Ryan Homecoming

I'm putting this out there now...Richard and I are pretty much Republicans.  :)  We are supporters of Mitt Romney, so when we heard on Saturday that he had chosen Congressman Paul Ryan from Wisconsin as his vice president we were pretty excited.  (I am sure this is making our liberal friends cringe.)

Anyhow, on Saturday evening Richard heard via Twitter about a Romney Ryan Homecoming event on Sunday evening.  He checked into it and found that it was free and just about 15 minutes away from us.  We decided to go.  How could we not go to a free event that featured the Republican nominee for president and his running mate from our state?!

Well, we went and had a great time and our kids were troopers through it all.

The event started at 5:30, but our tickets said doors would open at 4:00.  Knowing that we were taking our kids on a Sunday evening we didn't want to get there too early because we knew they wouldn't last very long.  We left our house at 4:45 and at about 5:00 we were less than two miles from our destination, but we found ourselves in a horrible traffic jam!  Who would have thought a Republican event would bring so much traffic in the liberal state of Wisconsin?!  After hardly moving we talked about just turning around and going home, but we decided this was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity and we should just keep going and see what happened.  I ended up getting out of the car and walking with the kids who were getting very restless.  We walked for 1 1/2 miles!  But, as luck would have it, Richard finally pulled in right as we got there, so it wasn't any faster for us to walk, but at least it gave the kids a break from the car.  

Anyway, we got to the entrance and had to stand in a long line for security.  By this time it was well past 5:30, but the event ended up being outside so there was plenty of room for latecomers like us.  They were also just playing country music, so we hadn't missed any of the action.  We found a place near the back, but we had a good view of the big screen.  We didn't have to wait very long before the program began and it was excellent.  Senator Ron Johnson and Governor Scott Walker spoke briefly and then introduced Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney.  They each gave their remarks and did an excellent job.  

We made a beeline for the exit as soon as Romney finished.  We did not want to relive the traffic!  

Waiting in the security line.

So many people!

Our poor children.

Paul Ryan speaking.

Mitt Romney speaking.

Our friends, the McAllisters, were also there.  It came in handy as the three boys were able to entertain themselves with the ipad.  :)

It was a good time and one I won't forget.  Whatever your political beliefs, it is pretty cool to see a presidential nominee and his running mate together.  How often does that happen?  The next morning I heard on the news that Romney and Ryan were heading on their separate campaign trails and wouldn't be together again until the convention.  It was a historic event!

Back in Business

Hmmm...let's see...its been almost a month since my last post.  In the past month the kids and I spent two weeks in Utah, Richard spent the weekend after that in Utah (why the kids and I didn't extend our trip, I still don't know) and Bridget and I just got back from a weekend in Michigan.

Wow!

It has been fun, fun, fun, but we are tired!  Richard and I finally put away the suitcases last night for the last time this summer, whew!

Obviously I have a lot to catch up on and those posts will be here in the coming days, hopefully.  :)  But, until then, these two gems were too good to wait on...

Bridget's first beach experience.  :)

And now I give you animal sounds from Bridget.

Catch Up

Before I hop on a plane tomorrow for more summer adventures, I have to play catch up on the blog.  Excuse the randomness.  :)

First attempt at dressing herself, not bad.

First ponytail!  Now she won't even let me touch her hair.  Even combing it in the morning is a feat.

This girl loves, loves, loves her blankets.

Trying to cool off in 100 degree weather.

Bridget, back to detesting water.

We went to this great little indoor playground last week with the Irions.  We had the place almost entirely to ourselves.  It was wonderful.  This little girl very much enjoyed herself, but she is looking way too old in this picture for my liking.

Marshall's attempt to smile with his eyes open.  :)

Cute little Charlotte wanted Bridget next to her in their respective toys.  You should hear her say Bridget; it is darling.

At almost 16 months we finally upgraded Bridget to a bigger carseat.  Do you think she was excited?!

Playgroup outing to a little farm in Mequon.  It was a hit.

These two are destined for each other,; they just don't know it yet.

Alright, the blog is updated.  Time to pack.   :)