Saturday, August 28, 2010

goal accomplished

today i accomplished one of the hardest goals i've ever set in my life.
i'm not a runner. no really i am NOT a runner but
three months ago some of my in-laws were talking about
running a half marathon. i automatically said "count me out"
because i simply was in the worst shape of my life.

somehow i got dooped into starting a couch to marathon training
program and began running 2-3 days a week. at first one mile
seemed to be a brutal task. then i slowly worked my way up.

the longest stretch i ran was 9 miles from our house in pleasant grove
to brett's parents house in provo. then the sickness from hell overtook
my life and my running was halted for 4 weeks.

today i woke up at 4 am after only getting an hour and half of sleep
and set out to run 13.1 miles. "what was i thinking" came to mind
over and over again as the freezing morning air chilled my bones.

the race began up logan canyon at 7 am. i ran my little heart out.
after blisters, a little blood and a long long race i painfully sprinted through
the finish line 2:27 after i started. i ran without stopping the entire time.
well i tried to walk once and literally couldn't. it hurt to not run.

my eyes searched the crowd for brett, steele and chels but they were no
where to be found. they didn't think we would finish as fast as we did and
didn't even make it to logan in time to see us cross the line.

so... there are no picture of me with my beat red face and sweaty hair plastered to
my face. but we did get this picture once we got to the car.

the four tough runners!!

brandon {far right} ran an amazing 2:05!!

Friday, August 13, 2010

vitamin D

one of steele's favorite summer activities is playing in the hose.
any time the water is turned on for the garden or flowers he is right there
wanting the hose. most of the time i just strip him down and
let him go to town. you would think the freezing cold hose water would
startle him, but no. he giggles with delight.

{lake powell 2010}
lake powell was a success and steele is alive and well.
trust me i was extremely apprehensive to take an active one year old
on a boat surrounded by water for four days.
brett and i decided we could do it but we set strict rules for both of us!

i came up with the idea to wear a slap bracelet (remember those from back in the day?!)
and who ever was wearing the bracelet was in charge of steele.
this would prevent one of us from saying "hey watch him for a min" and
that person doesn't hear or forgets they're in charge. i also
liked the idea of having something physical to remind us at all times
that we were to not let steele out of our sight.

my goal was not to even have one scare. you know that panicked heart sinking feeling of
"where's steele!". success. he was always with someone and really it
wasn't nearly as bad as i thought it would be. however i never let my guard down.

{beautiful powell}
our spot was really fun this year. we had a nice beachy place for the kids to play
and some really cool slot canyons to explore on the wave runners.

{soakin up the vitamin D}
this raft was fun for the kids and the big kids. i love laying in the sun. really
more anything. my lil brotha ryan is at that age were he wants to be supper
tan for the ladies so he got really really dark. but he also went for the entire week of powell.
he also loves to pester me. well i really give it to him too. but someone said once i got
there he finally had someone to pick on. great. i couldn't go for nice swim without
him jumping in and pulling me under the water. or throwing something at my head. 

me and some of the boys went on a really fun hike up the face of our canyon.
it was a lot of fun to get really high and see the beautiful view of our spot.
you can't really tell but we got pretty dang high.

we enjoyed some unreal sunsets and enormous thunder and lightning storms down at powell.
i'm not sure why ryan doesn't have a shirt on. oh wait it's because is so cool
that he can't wear a shirt. he has to show off his hot bod and flex for the picture.
what a looser. lol. i'm gonna miss him a heck of a lot when he leaves on the mish.

{mischievous steele}
luckily he isn't too much of a climber. he would climb up onto
the railing but would never get much further than that.

steele loved pushing the gas on the waver runner.
he would give it a go then realize we were going faster then let go.
it was fun seeing all these firsts.

this little floatation device was great. you can lay in this little blow up
with your kid. steele loved this because he could just relax in the nice cool
water. he wasn't feeling so hot after throwing up on the car ride to lake powell
then cutting two molars. he had a fever for two days straight. good thing mom brought
lots of tylenol for the little guy just in case.

below is a close up of how steeley was feeling. not so hot.
i felt awful because steele then gave the stomach flu to both aunt fergie and aunt didi.
jennifer started throwing up and then heidi. if you have ever been on a house
boat there really isn't anywhere to go to escape so heidi was up on top of the house boat with
everyone else all night long hacking up a lung.
i then started feeling achy and like i was going to puke but then started feeling congested.
i ended up getting an awful head cold with sinus pressure and fever.
not the ideal heath for a vacation but we all made the best of it.
{soda pop}
one thing always make this little dudder happy.
this was the morning we left. i started really not feeling well
and it has lasted an entire week since. complete misery!

i think i am ready to be home for a while!
even though we will be home we have lots of busyness
going on! brett has flag foot ball coming up and is on two
teams this year.  he is also on a softball team.

so that means

monday: flag football
tuesday: softball
wednesday: YW for emily
thursday: flag football

not sure how i'm going to keep up.
but it'll be fun and i always love going to the games.

that's all for now my friends.
xoxoxo