Race season begins

Okay, I have been looking forward to race season this year. I have some new challenges (and some old :) ) I am going to do the Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay in June, I have a bike "ride/race" in May, I am planning on an Olympic length triathlon this year-July, probably, and maybe a few other things-assuming my marriage can survive them...kind of kidding, but if you do this sort of thing, you know what I mean. Or any hobby that just takes up time and money.
I have been dealing with some (self diagnosed) IT band pain. It has not inspired confidence in my running and although I felt ready for this first race of the season, I was seriously worried that I should not do it because I might have to quit in the middle. Sometimes the pain comes on at mile 8 and sometimes at mile 2. Three runs before the race, I could barely get through 6 miles. But then the two runs after that 5+ was not an issue. I decided to run. This was the Riverton Half Marathon. I know from running it last year that it's a tough course and the forecast said "windy." Hills and wind are the most perfect running partners. Long story short, I got through it just fine- thanks, ibuprofen and support from family and friends. Beat my time from last year by a few minutes. Off to a great start!
These are my friends Allison and Tam, who ran the race with me-well, not side by side, because they are faster, but I'm okay with that! We train together, and that's what really counts (gets me out of bed!).

Age One-Monkey Style

I think one year old is a hard age. They want to do so much and can only really do so much, you know? But they get frustrated when they get told no (well, I know, but more than a reasonable amount), and then they get hurt because their confidence far outweighs their ability. So, I spend a lot of time just following this cute little gal (do NOT call her a baby-she doesn't know she is one) around and cleaning up what she has "reorganized." She spends most of her time with a wipe in her hand (I usually give her the Clorox kind, just so she can be a little useful). She is at that age where she "parrots" a lot and her siblings get a kick out of teaching her "bad" words (like butt and stupid mostly). We were at the dr office a few weeks ago (follow up to the 18 mo appt when she had fluid in her ears and doc wanted to make sure it cleared up with no infection). We are in the waiting area and she is dancing to the music at the receptionists desk (she loves to dance). Well, this older gentleman was pretty amused by her, especially when she says, "Hi" and gives a little wave to him. He says, "Are you being a good girl?" and she responds, "No." In her cute little voice with the perfect inflection that just says, "Not a chance." Well, I know that she actually says, "No" to every question (you want candy? "No" You want a drink "No" You want to swing? "No"), but this was so funny to me that I was laughing so hard I had tears. This man recovered nicely, but it was just so funny to me.
Here are some more examples:
I thought she was being good while we were watching conference. You would think this is my first time with a child. Well, she was in her little chair with her back to me. After a good while-15-20 minutes, she stands up. She had a pen in her hand and a little foam book. The book has writing on every side of every page....

And her body had a lot of pen on it too!

Aubrey loves the pantry. We have a lock on it, but it gets left off a lot. She gets into the cereal all the time. Sometime this week, she left Cheerios in the sugar. I'm just glad it wasn't the other way around.

At the Safe Kid's Fair, the other kids were doing this obstacle course. Well, not to be left out, she followed. I thought that there was NO CHANCE she would go into this dark tube by herself. Well, she did. Like 5 times, until I cut her off to move on!

At least this time she has paper. And it's not her sister's homework (this time...)

Where have I been?

Well, I went to post about 3 months ago, and thought that all my picture files were corrupt. That, thankfully, is not the case-my camera was just switched to a mode that was taking pictures in a raw digital format, which is essential unusable to me. So, I got that figured out and then the camera had to be fixed while it was still under warranty so we sent that in. I realize that I can post without pictures, but what's the point? So, the last few months are light on the pictures, and thus the posting. But I'm back! I know, I missed you too :)