Random Pictures

My Kids like having their pictures taken. Katelyn especially likes to demonstrate her flexibility. I have about a million pictures like the one of her above.

Favorite Thing

Justin's favorite thing to do. He loves everything with wheels. And just try to tell him your big bike is cooler. He knows that Hans can go faster then anyone else, even if his bike is little. Justin is saving his pennies to buy Hans a big motorcycle. I love both of these boys.

My Boy

Justin was born at 6 lbs 9 oz. So fun to have a boy.

Justin at 7-8 months old. He looks quite chubby, but I don't remember him being that way! Poor kid didn't have me alone too long. It's right about now I got pregnant with Mia and was sick!

Justin at 1 year old.

Justin at 2. Justin at 3. We sure love Justin at our house. He says the cutest things. Right now my favorite is, "Mom, you can hold me if you want to." And I always reply, "Thanks. I'd love to!"

Marathon Anxiety

I have been driving myself crazy thinking about the marathon. The picture above demonstrates why. I trained on a treadmill. Does this course look flat to you?! 15 miles on looks okay. I'm worried about miles 5-10. I ran outside last week on our hills and had a hard time maintaining my pace. I've been relying on the treadmill to pace me. I naturally run way too fast. And then when I hit an uphill - like the one by Lavonne's house, I die. My heart rate has a hard time recovering. So I started stressing out. I think things like - "what was I thinking?!" and "Maybe I will sprain my ankle so I don't have to run this!" and "I probably will die." All sorts of positive things like that. I'm freaking out. I know I can finish. I just want to meet my goal. I will let you all know next week.

Update

This week has been especially taxing. I have been dealing with sick kids for 2 full weeks now and I might just go crazy. I am so grateful to my helpful husband and girls. Mia has literally spent everyday screaming while she pushes me around and cannot be consoled. Justin has also been sick and throwing tantrums and being particular about things, which he usually is not. My patience is shot. I am trying. They are both just in pain and so I feel for them, but how long does this go on?! Mia is on her 9th ear infection of the winter. So she is scheduled for tubes. Finally. I wanted it done YESTERDAY if it means she'll be feeling better. I have an appointment with the ENT on Wednesday and they have availability at Memorial on Friday early if I decide to do it then. I am undecided. Justin has the same virus and so I have spent my day from morning until Hans comes home with Justin and Mia sitting on me. I haven't been able to take them to the Y so I have been running at weird times and I feel like I haven't gone anywhere or done anything, although it's not true. It's times like these I agree with my mother that I could have a lot of kids and be happy about it if they never got sick.

Wow. So thanks for that. I needed to get that off my chest. We did have a fun week despite all of that. Ashley didn't have a single day of soccer (she goes 3 days a week) thanks to the crazy weather. On Monday we rode bikes to the church and played in the gym. I creamed Hans at Horse. I still have my shot, thank goodness. It was fun to be there and a great outing for the kids and it reminded me of when we did that growing up. I loved playing basketball. I miss it sometimes. On Wednesday we met a friend at pump it up. I haven't been there in a long time and the kids had a great time. They wear themselves out. Justin pretty much layed on a mat and coughed, but took a nap when we got home. We met a friend at Burger King on Wednesday night too. I enjoy the adult interaction. It's nice to have something to do when Hans is working late. I am tired of places like Burger King, the mall, and pump it up. I am so ready for the nice weather. Then we can just go in the backyard and play. I love that about here.

So overall it was a great week. I just need to remember perspective and focus on the happy things we did. It's just that I can't seem to find a way to do that through all the screaming. My lifetime focus, perhaps.

Bored

I actually just google searched "What to do when I'm bored." I have plenty of chores to do. I'm just....bored. Google has lots of suggestions.

More Moab Fun

Sick Justin in Moab on his 3rd Birthday.

Grandma bought them new glasses. Stylin!

Trying to hike Arches with 2 babies on tired legs is not the easiest.

These girls are amazing hikers. They had a great time.

Riding in Grandma's convertible. That alone was worth the 15 hours in the car.

Half Marathon

The race in Moab went relatively well. I took the very first set of buses to the start line and was lucky enough to find Emily from nursing school on the bus and was able to spend the 2 1/2 hour wait time with her catching up. I lined myself up with the 7:30 pace group and off we went. I bought a GPS watch and looked down to realize I was going a 6:15 mile. Way too fast. So I slowed way down and did the first 6 miles in 45 minutes. Then about 6 1/2 miles I crashed. I was thirsty and hot. I slowed way down and finished the race in 1:43. About a 7:50 pace. Not bad considering I did the last mile in 8:40. Extremely slow. My GPS watch said I ran 13.2 miles. I wonder if that was all the swerving back and forth on the road? And I burned 156o calories it said. Wow. Anyway, I feel okay about it since I did a hard training run the Tuesday and Thursday before the race. But it made me nervous for the Marathon and to go twice the distance. I also had expected Moab to be downhill. Not so. At all. It drops 77 feet in 13 miles. Not downhill. And there was quite a bit of uphill. So I have been training on hills all week this week hoping it will make a difference for Salt Lake. I sure hope so. Overall I enjoyed running Moab. I will sign up again for next year. I want to try the 5 miles again. I ended up placing 22nd in my age group and 95 overall for women. Not bad considering there were over 2500 women running and over 600 in my age group.

I did leave Moab feeling a little bit like a bad local bar band compared to U2. I need therapy, I think. The kids did great waiting for me and cheering my on. We lost Justin at the finish line, which was extremely scary. My mom found him at the lost kids booth. A nice lady turned him in. He was off in Moab. He didn't sleep at all since we were 6 of us crammed into two double beds. I took him to the doctor when we got home to find out he had a bad ear infection. Poor kid. Sick and lost on his birthday, which he spent watching me run. He told me on the drive home, "Can I still have a lightning party even though I already had my birthday?" Broke my heart. Of course we did. It was awesome.

Moab

We had a great time in Moab. I love that place. It is incredibly beautiful and warm. It took us 6 1/2 hours to get there and the kids did wonderfully considering the DVD broke 1 hour into the trip. We checked into our hotel on Friday early afternoon and took the kids swimming and enjoyed seeing my parents there. They spoiled the kids. Then we went to dinner and my parents drove the 3 bigger kids around in the back of their convertible, which was very exciting since Grandma brings blankets to keep them warm back there. Here are some pictures!

I will post more later.

WHY?!

I am feeling like I have too much to do. But I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing. Why is it that when I feel this way I also feel like now is the time to be bleaching baseboards? Help me!