MARATHON!

Saturday I completed a milestone. I completed a marathon. 26.2 miles. It was no easy feat, but I did it and am proud of it. I've been training since mid-January and taken so much time and energy to do all the training and this weekend it paid off because I finished!

Here I am at the starting line in Post Falls, ID with my dad:

And with Justin, my biggest fan and support:

I couldn't have done this without him. He never once got upset with me spending so much time out running and leaving him with the kids. He kept telling me that I could do it when I had doubts. I love him so much!!! Thank you, Justin!


It was a little chilly to start with, but then ended up a perfect day for running:

It may not look it, but I was soooo nervous:

And we're off:

Coming around mile 2:

Mile 9-10:

Raisins in hand for some energy at mile 9 (found mile marker 10 around the corner though):

About mile 14:

This was the last time I saw Justin unfortunately especially since he had my snacks with him. I ran the first half of the race in such good time, they were afraid of missing me at the finish. They tried to stop at a few more points to meet me, but we never met. I slowed way down about mile 17-18 and those last few miles were pretty rough. Just kept putting one foot in front of the other. I did see my parents about 2 miles before the finish which was nice and gave me a tiny boost of energy.

Here's the finish:

My three little fans looking up at me (Elliot and my nephews, Ryan and Kolby):

I am really glad that I did it, but have no desire to do it again. I was extremely sore for the next few days- like barely walk sore. It was a good experience though and I am glad now that I can say I HAVE RUN A MARATHON!!!!

Family Pictures

We had the best experience with this photographer. A friend of mine in Ephrata has a sister in Pleasant Grove, UT that came to visit for a few days and offered a special deal on a photography session here. We decided to take her up on it and got some great pictures, I think. So anyone in her area needing a photographer (or classes- I know she teaches photography classes too) look her up at http://www.erinsummerillphotography.com/. I was so impressed! And thanks, Leslie for offering up your sister!

Mother's Day

Justin decided to get me an ipod touch for Mother's Day. After I got over the initial shock of it, I actually got a little excited and spent practically the rest of the day playing with it. It is a lot of fun and I think it will be very useful. Unlike his blackberry, it doesn't have a monthly fee, which I like. You have to have wifi internet access, but lots of places have it now. And now I can sit in bed and be on facebook! I only wish that I had it for all my marathon training because there are so pretty cool applications to use for training. I had an old ipod nano, but now I can hold several times more songs and do so much more. Thanks, Justin!

And I couldn't have a post about mother's day without mentioning my mom. I am so glad that she is my mom and my kids' grandma. We are so lucky. She amazes me with all she does and raising us 5 kids so well. I don't know what I would do without her and wish that we could live a little closer. I am also so thankful for my mother-in-law. We don't get to see them nearly enough either, but I am so thankful for all she does for us and how much she loves us.

We love you Mom and Jana!!!

A Stocked Freezer

One of my least favorite "jobs" is to plan what to have for dinner. It seems like dinnertime always comes and I have been thinking all day what to do for dinner, but then end up scrambling at the end or realizing I don't have something that I need from the store. Work days are the worst. So I really like having meals ready to go in the freezer that I can just pull out, thaw, and cook. Sometimes I will freeze leftovers we have or make a little extra for another day. But once in a while I spend all day making lots of meals. Last Friday I did just that.

This is what I started with:

Elliot having at a friend's house and this got me through the day:

And this is what I ended up with- I think I counted 20 meals in total, 6 varieties with 3-4 of each (the first picture is my freezer upstairs, the second downstairs):

All in all, a pretty successful day. On Sunday we had chicken soup from my efforts and it was pretty good. We will be eating well (and less stressfully for me) for a while at least now.

Hair Care

I never had my hair colored until just after Elliot was born. Even though I like the natural color of my hair, several people told me that my hair was too healthy and coloring it would actually give my hair more body and make it more easily styled. Since then I have had it highlighted several times (like every 6 or 8 months-ish). I was really due for it, but feeling like I really did not want to spend the $60+ to have it done, I decided to take a leap and try to do it myself. I picked out a highlighting kit and Sunday morning started my adventure. I got the pull through the cap kind and that is definately the hard part. Poor Justin had to help me and it is a real struggle to get little strands through that dang cap. Not to mention, you look pretty silly. We ended up basically doing just the top, but I figured it was a good place to start and I was only spending $7 so I had little to lose (unless my hair turned an awful color or fell out, both scenarios I did think of).

All in all, I was pretty pleased with it. It definately lightened it, but not obnoxiously so. I would definately do it again, but maybe try a different method rather than the pull through the cap. Any ideas?

(The lighting is really not good here, but it does look nice)

Home Depot

This past Saturday was the first one in quite awhile where we didn't have places to be and I only had 6 miles to run so I felt like we had a FREE DAY!!! I have been wanting for months to go to Home Depot's Kids Workshop that they have on the first Saturday of the month. It is a free craft for kids to come and do from 9-12 at any Home Depot. This month's project was a little wheelbarrow.

Of course, Grey was there, but just as a spectator.

It was a good excuse to get out of the house (despite the rain that followed). Go here for more info on the Home Depot Kids' Workshops.

Assisted Walking

We have this little walker from when Elliot was little and Grey has found it and thinks he is pretty hot stuff to be able to walk with it. It is sure funny to see him use it. And he puts a little wave in the video to boot.

I wish he would give up crawling and just walk for real. Crawling seems so dirty to me and, if you are going to be mobile, walking would just be so much nicer.