The BIG day!

On Friday the 10th, I headed down to Provo to spend the night at the Marriott before the marathon. This is where the packet pickup and stuff was. My sister Sara and I met up there and checked out the expo stuff too. We went to dinner and toyed with the idea of the hot tub, but didn't do it. We just turned in super early (about 9:30ish) because the wakeup call was set for 3 AM. The buses left less than a block from our hotel and so we headed over there at about 3:30. We had the nerve wracking drive up the canyon and got there about 4:45. AM. The race didn't start until 6, so we had time to chat with some other racers as we got cozy around the fire. The fire wasn't cozy and if I hadn't been so cold I would not have put up with the smoke. I was ditching the hat, jacket, and pants and just keeping my visor and gloves. (The gloves were ditched at mile 5). This picture sucks a little because it was still a little dark at 5:30 AM and I think this guy had never taken a picture with a phone before. But that's okay.
The gun went off as we were coming out of the potties-can't believe they actually started on time! So we were a couple minutes back, but no big deal-we probably would have been anyway with all the people-there were a few thousand crazies running.
The weather started a little cold, but better that than hot, for sure. It turned into a great day for a run-could not have asked for better weather, truly.
Sara and I hadn't trained together but in comparing times we thought we could run together so we decided we would do that until it wasn't working. That worked out great, actually. We stayed together until mile 21. She was dealing with some cramping in the legs and I felt okay, so that's when we split. It was nice to run with someone-did all my training alone. I was surprised at how good I felt. In fact, I felt better running yesterday than I do sitting here writing this. My body is protesting now! My legs are so sore!! I think I should make up a new word that means more than sore, because I have been sore before, but this is a little beyond that. But it will go away....
I brought my phone and texted Darren at mile 20. Then I texted again at mile 25 because I just didn't want him to miss it and that gave him about 10 minutes notice. Well, he missed me come in. He was there, just didn't see me. Then took a couple of calls for him to finally pick up. So this first picture is of me talking to David, Sara's husband to give him a heads up because I knew she was only a few minutes back.

Me all sweaty with Rach and Trev

And then with my sweet Aubs

Post-race with Sara

I am really glad I did it. Big sense of accomplishment with this first marathon. I ran 26.2 miles yesterday; what can't I do?
And thanks for all the thoughtfulness/support and well wishes/congrats! I really invested a lot in this and it was nice to know others were thinking of me.
The results are posted here: https://www.raceit.com/results/default.aspx?event=5230&r=689
If you are interested. My bib # was 4366.
Apparently, my mental capacity was affected a little though: After the race, we contemplated taking the kids swimming at the hotel pool, but it was warming up so we decided to take them to Seven Peaks in Provo. (Super crowded!! But was really fun with plenty to do, in fact we stayed later than we were planning). We drove all the way home, and opened the garage, and I said, "Where's the Suzuki? Oh, crap!" Of course we drove separately to get there and I completely forgot and left the other car at the hotel in Provo. Well, we have a field trip today! (Darren isn't feeling great; Allergies turned into a cold, so he's not 100%). Duh!!

Eleven years!

Our eleventh anniversary was this week, so Darren planned a nice night out for us. We got a sitter and went downtown to eat at "The Roof." Very nice, and next time we will probably just go for the dessert buffet. That's a little more worth it. We then walked around downtown and went for a carriage ride (a little cheesy, but we have never done it!). Then we walked a bit more downtown-we were going to go to the movie downtown but decided to drive closer to home and saw X-men: First class (It was good, but really long). Fun date, thanks babe!

Girls Night Out

Darren and Trev had the stake "Father and Sons" campout last Friday. Rach was seriously jealous. When I asked her what she wanted to do with me that would be special, she chose "That place where you go paint stuff." (She means "Color Me Mine.") We have never been there, but have talked about it. They have ceramics that you paint and then they fire them and you get them in like a week. We invited some friends who have daughters and some were able to come, which made it even more fun. I did get a sitter for the baby because she would have been a nightmare around the ceramic and paint. She's just too interested and thinks she's so big. We get the stuff back tomorrow. Will have to post the result. Here's the unfinished:

Sitting still...

It is time for my summer projects to begin! Oh, yes, all the stuff I tell myself I will do when school is out, it's time. My back door has been seriously bugging me forever because the original white paint was flaking off for the longest time. I have started this project at least twice and not done it. But, then it hits me, don't paint it white! Then I got excited about it; I even took it a step further and painted the trim around the door one color and the door itself another. This then became a 4-door project-the front, side-garage entry, the back (which is really 2 doors) and the entry from the garage. That was my day Friday. (I even thought to myself, since I am done with the first one at 10 am, this shouldn't take all day....don't ever think that, duh!)

Backyard n stuff

Darren seriously worked so hard on this project! I was a little unsure about what was happening, but it looks great. This is the southwest corner of the backyard. There is a concrete pad that is stamped and it is a rounded triangle. Against the fence, but about 3 feet out, he built up the retaining wall with flower bed. On the left (east) there is a waterfall that goes into a little pond. We also got some chairs for our little "oasis." He had to change sprinklers, run power for the pump of the waterfall, load in a ton of those castle stones (which are seriously heavy) and of course dirt and rocks. A LOT of work!

The full view

Close up-you can see the fire pit (and our little sapling blue spruces which are going to be too big to put there permanently)

Looking down the waterfall (not running) to the pond.

A little abandoned baby I saw (she sure is cute)

The drinking fountain (was technically put in last year, but didn't have a stand until just barely)

The new mailbox. I LOVE it. Couldn't get the front view because it has our address on it-but it's gorgeous!

We did it because we laid a ton more concrete-all the way to the park strip, and in it too. That's going to be easier to mow and tons of fun to shovel snow off. But I didn't take a picture of it because the boat is on it and then it just looks like a picture of the boat. Wow!

Last week of School

Rachel is DONE with first grade. How nuts is that? My little baby! My sassy, smart little girl. And she lost a tooth on the last day of school, too. She thinks she looks like a beaver because she has just the two middle bottom teeth and the teeth on either side are missing. Her teacher had fun activities this week, including a pirate day:
And a read-a-thon PJ day. And then an extra short day today with a pizza party. Then we went with some friends over to the Arctic Circle for ice cream and playing. Would have gone to the park if it were over 60 and not windy (cold wind!). She also earned an award at school which is called Coyote Pride. Each grade has certain requirements that they can do and if they pass them off, they get this award at the end of the year. Like pointing out/naming continents on a world map. And forming letters and numbers correctly. There was an assembly on Tuesday:


Good job, Rach!

Aubrey misses Anna

When I mopped the floor, Aubrey missed Anna coming to save her. She was quite upset that I gave up doing it all one handed and left her on the ground (I left her where it was dry but she ventured over to the tile and was really mad that it was wet!). But she missed her again today when I was planting and there was no one to save her from doing this:



Granted, she wasn't upset about it until it was time to get cleaned up. She must have gotten a chunk in her mouth because it was FULL of dirt. Good stuff, I guess.

Trevor says

Trevor is so funny. He says the most funny things. He is also constantly talking. He rode his "regular" bike (as opposed to the big wheel) with training wheels all the way to the elementary school and back the other day. He had stopped being allowed to do this because he would chicken out on the downhill home, and I would have to walk the stroller and bike. Not awesome. So, he promised he would do it and he did. When we were getting to the driveway, I commented to him what an awesome job he did. He says, "Yeah, I didn't complain....like I usually do." I laughed and he asked why. I told him it was funny that he KNEW he complained.
In the car the other day he fires off about 17 random questions. All on pretty different subjects, ranging from who and why people are fat and skinny to the ever-present math questions (what's 100 plus 100?). And so on. And when is Anna coming back. He's great.