Ogden Marathon 2010

So, marathon #2 was much better than #1 last year! I finished over 15 minutes faster than last year, and was able to run the whole thing. It was still hard though. I didn't get the chafing that was miserable so that's a good thing. But I still hit a wall at mile 23, same place as last year. And I was really tempted to walk like I did last year, only my running buddy Jen saved my life! Thank you, Thank you! She ran the half marathon, then came back to meet me at mile 23 and made me run the rest of the race, which was SO helpful! I really wanted to make it in under 4 hours. My chip time was 4:01. I will just say that I made it under 4 to make myself feel better! After all, if it wasn't for the really slow start because of the huge crowd of 2000 runners, or the line at the port-a-john at mile 20, it would have been two minutes less at least! At least that's how I'll justify it!!



Jen and I stayed in Ogden on Friday night, which was nice so that we didn't have to leave so early. Rett stayed home with the boys and had a crazy night. But, he made the best of it, and they rented a Zorro movie, (Crew's newest obsession) and Rett even found an old black t-shirt to cut up and make him a mask and cape! What a sweet Daddy!! Then he came up to meet me at the finish line Saturday morning. It was so great to see them all waiting for me right before the finish. They are a handful, and made Rett work really hard while I was away, but they are so cute! I'm very grateful for Rett for putting up with my crazy idea of a good time and taking care of our boys. I LOVE this group of boys so much!!!



I think that there's a time and season for everything in your life. This marathon training stuff is crazy. It takes up a lot of time. I did so many training runs at 4am or until midnight. Hours and hours of training runs in the snow and rain. I don't think I can keep this up while I have such young children. I think half marathons are doable right now in life. But the strain and stress that comes from the full marathons is too much on me, my sweet husband, and my crazy boys. SO, with that said, I may do them again in the future, but for now, I am done with the marathon thing. It was fun, and I'm so glad I did it again so that I have a better taste in my mouth after it. But, a time and season, and that's just not right now. I know, it will be hard to sleeping in and getting more rest and more time with my family, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make :)

Randoms

These are just a couple of pictures I thought were super cute!

The boys in the hot tub at a hotel we stayed at a while ago. They had so much fun! Crew loved jumping to Dad. Drake kind of stepped off the edge of the pool, but he loved it too!



Crew and Zink. So cute! Both little guys with WAY too much energy! They are good for each other!

Happy Mother's Day!

I wanted to tell all the women out there how grateful I am for their examples to me. There are so many women who have touched my life and help me on my way to becoming the woman that I want to be.

I am so grateful for a mother who has unconditional love for me. Who has taught me about enduring and having fun. Who has taught me to be patient and laugh at hard days. And who always remembers to call me when I'm having a special or bad day. I love that we have the technology that we do these days so that I know I'm only a phone call away from her! I love you mom!

I am so grateful for a mother-in-law who treats me just like I'm her own daughter. Who would do anything for my family. Who babysits on a split seconds notice and is willing to take care of the rowdy boys. She is always there to talk to or ask advice. She loves her grand-babies more than I can even say. Thank you Teresa! We love you!

I am grateful for grandmothers who are so sweet and full of love. Who know what it means to be Christlike. Who are the most kind and gentle women. And who have taught me immense amounts! I love you all!

I am grateful for sisters and my sister-in-law who are such good examples to me. Whether they are mothers yet or not, they have taught me about patience, love, laughter, and friendship. My sisters that do have children have taught me so much about being a good mom, about not beating yourself up, and that every mom goes through similar things. I love you all so much!

I am eternally grateful for friends, neighbors, relatives, and too many women to explain. I am going to miss so many great examples from my old neighborhood. But again, I am very grateful for the technology so that I can keep in touch with them. I am grateful for friends who put up with my venting, help me with my crazy cowboys, brought me meals after the birth of children, and just listened.

I am so grateful to be a mother to my little boys. They are a handful and they keep me busy. Life would just not be the same without them. I am so thankful to be able to stay home with them and learn from them. I am so grateful to a husband who supports me in this role, and who even lets me say every day when he comes home "They were so hard today" but knows that I wouldn't trade the hard days for being away from them. Some days I really struggle with being patient or getting things done. But then I get a phone call, a note, an email, or just a smile from a stranger in the store, and I remember that I'm not the only woman going through the same struggle, and that helps. I am so grateful that my Heavenly Father has trusted me with Crew and Drake and their strong spirits. Right now it seems like those personalities are hard to deal with, but I hope that some day they will be able to use those traits to make good choices about their lives and those around them. I love them so much and I'm so grateful to be a mother!



"We are all in this together. We need each other. Oh, how we need each other. Those of us who are old need you who are young, and hopefully, you who are young need some of us who are old...We need deep and satisfying and loyal friendships with each other. These friendships are a necessary source of sustenance. We need to renew our faith every day. We need to lock arms and help build the kingdom so that it will roll forth and fill the whole earth." — Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Boxes

So, we sold our home a little quicker than we thought we would. (That may be bad...did we ask too little?) We were happy with what we made and are excited about a lot of changes that are coming our way!

We were supposed to move to a rental house that would have put us closer to work, but the day before we were going to move in, the owner did some sketchy changing on us, and wanted to increase the rent. We were very frustrated, mostly because I'm pretty sure it was illegal, but since we had to be out of our home in the next few days, I spent all day on KSL and making phone calls and found something for us to move into that weekend! Crazy! It's a little further from work, but it's temporary, and month to month, so that's all we can ask for.

We hadn't even been in our rental for a week when Rett called me while I was on my way to work and said we had an hour to decide whether we wanted to take a job transfer to Idaho. It wasn't exactly the area we'd been looking at going to, but our plan all along was to sell our home so we'd be ready to move to Idaho when we got the job offer. I have thought all along that there had to be a reason that it all worked out so quickly, so we decided to take it!

I am so excited for the changes in our lives. Yes, they are stressful. And I'm pretty sure we are going to live in our house trailer this summer. BUT, what an adventure! And it's a small sacrifice for being able to build your dream home. So, we're heading to Southern Idaho the end of this month. We have found a couple of 5-8 acre lots that we really like out in the country! My cowboys will finally have a place to run around and not bother the neighbors! It's a lot of work to move so much so close together, and the boys are a little confused about all of it. But we are so excited for this next chapter of our lives!