Temple Square

In honor of my soon-to-be-sister-in-law's first visit to Utah, we went to tour Temple Square this morning. It was a little chilly, but the weather held out for us.

Only a few tulips up so far, but we always love the flowers.

The cousins were having a great time together. Gavin and Kaylee were already acting like they see each other every day, and Henry was just running a long hoping to keep up.

For some reason this picture just cracks me up... what super cool kids.

The Lovebirds in front of the Temple.

This just had to be included because just a few seconds before this moment both Henry and Vatti realized that Henry had a dirty diaper and needed a change.

Yuck.

After some decent weather on Saturday, this is what I got up to go running in on Monday morning.

Normally, this would have me on the treadmill at the gym, but since my Dad was in town and eager to run outside with me. We did a nice 4 mile run in this nasty, wet, slushiness. My shoes are still wet.

Probably no wonder that I ended up with a migraine yesterday and am now a few pounds lighter as the result. Oh well- I plan to get my miles in on the slopes tomorrow for the first time since before I had kids. Yeehaw!

12 mile Run

This was a long one... luckily, we start working our way down in mileage from here to the race. Only a few weeks to go.

We ran mostly around town with no incidents, though a few large hills. The weather wasn't horrible or super great. Really a lot of this, except the distance, were pretty average about this run.

The Annual Stats are In

Gavin- Age: 4 yrs- Height: 42.5 inches- Weight: 44 lbs

Henry- 25 months- Height:35 inches- Weight 33 lbs

Did I mention that 11 miles is a long way?

Well- It seriously is, and after a long week of early morning runs that just get longer and longer... it felt like a really long way. On the very bright side, it was warm and we ran in short sleeves pretty much the entire way. Caryn said that I could be a super cool runner if I ran in just my sports bra, but since I didn't want my blinding white skin causing any traffic accidents, I opted out on that one.

If you can't tell by these photos- It was really dark for a long time- we left here at 5:45 and starting running by 6, with the goal to make it home by 8am to get ready for everything that we all had to do today.

What cute sisters... notice how happy they are to be running 11 miles in the morning. 

Finally with less that 4 miles to go, we got a very nice sunrise.

Hopefully the soreness will wear off and I will be able to walk tomorrow without the use of large amounts of pain meds.

Something Can Grow In Utah

Look what came up in front of my  house, and with basically no effort on my part.

After 2 years of struggling to plant and keep flowers alive I have finally figured out atleast one thing that will grow here... bulbs. I am so excited to put more in and wait for the results.

So Grown Up

Since I obviously can't get past all of the things lately that remind me how big my boys are getting... having them wear their new sandals with shorts didn't help me at all. I found these little toddler and kid tevas on Amazon for half off and couldn't resist getting them, since my kids have really gotten particular about their shoes being comfortable. I am so glad I got them too, are these not the cutest thing you have ever seen... especially with Henry's still chubby toes..

Henry's are still a bit long since the back strap isn't adjustable I can't just force his toes all the way to the front with the straps, but he still got super excited to wear them, and hopefully he won't trip too much, right? Gavin sustained some decent sidewalk burns in several places on his legs while playing tag in flip flops yesterday, so he was pretty excited to wear his sandals that feel more like tennis shoes.

Happy Birthday Gavin!

Today my little Gavin turns 4. I can't believe it, and I am not ready to see him get so old. We have so much fun together and I am constantly amazed by all that he knows and understands. He has really become our helper around the house and in the yard and the foreman of all construction projects. I can't believe how fast time flies, since it seems like he was a tiny baby last month.

3 months (is that the cutest thing or what?)

1 year

2 year

3 years

Finally 4

Oh man- So old.

Toughness- 10 Mile Emigration Canyon Run

Yesterday morning, the girls and I set out before 6am to drive up Emigration Canyon and then run home. It was my 3rd time doing this run, and I really love it. Running down the canyon works your muscles in a totally different way than running around town, and we always seem to average faster miles than other times... with gravity working for us of course. Yesterday was no different, it was our fastest run so far this year, even though most of it looked like this.
Thanks to Daylight Savings Time coming early this year, we ran most of the canyon in partial darkness except for the really bright and almost full moon. It was beautiful and made the run go by really quickly.

We did have a little bit of excitement after we left the canyon and the sun was coming up... Thanks to the general disrepair of the sidewalk that we were running on, Jessi took a fall while trying to navigate the many holes. Her pants and a glove have now been sacrificed to the cause of the Half Marathon. Luckily, Alisa was prepared with band aids, though they didn't stay on long, and pretty quickly the knee of her pants was quite bloody too. Somehow she finished out the last 2.5 miles with a smile. 

She definitely gets the Toughness award for this week. I made her take a picture with her sad face on, since we all know what look we get from most of the people that come to us with skinned knees. She was even too tough to complain about what must have been a painful annoyance for her.

Calling All Super Heros

Today we had a few of Gavin's friends over for a 4th Birthday Party, a few days early (due mainly in part to my over scheduling for the last several weeks and the next week to come). Gavin was pretty excited to ask everyone to come dressed as their favorite super hero. He worked really hard helping get ready and decorating the cupcakes for his friends.

Since I was hosting this party as the only parent, I took a quick picture with the little cake beforehand.

Here is most of the crew... (left to right)

Cat Woman Hannah, Pajama Sam Parker, Pajama Sam Joshua, Batman Drew (sporting a sweet do-rag), Batman Gavin (what else?), and Cat Woman Lexi. They were looking pretty awesome and ready to save the world.

Having some snacks and the yummy cupcakes.

We played several games, but every one's favorite was getting blind-folded and trying to pin the spider web on Spiderman. It was pretty funny to watch.

Some posted mostly just at their eye level... I guess I should have put it down a little.

Pretty good- Right? Lexi hit it right on the nose... or Spiderman chest, whichever hits your fancy.

8 mile Saturday

As most of you know, I am training to run the SLC Half Marathon again this year. I completed two last year, and really enjoyed just having a goal and a focus to my training. The small group of women that I ran with last year are also running together again this year, and we have added some great new additions who are running their first half. One of my goals this time was to take my camera out on our Saturday runs. I know this might sound silly and it probably is, but when you are up with the sun and running in a city of mountains and canyons and great views like we are, I missed a ton of photo opps last year, and don't want to lose out this time around. Also- I realized that all of these women spend time documenting their kids' and family experiences, but don't always have a lot to show for their own accomplishments, so I hope this will serve as our group documentation of 2009 training.

The sunrise on the Ocher Mountains from above the Salt Lake Cemetery.

Caryn and Stephanie at about 2.5 miles. These girls have both run 4 half-marathons and a full marathon, and they are the pros who convinced me to train last year.

Jessi and Alisa- training for their first one. They are doing amazing! And they even look happy to be out in the freezing weather before the sun is up.

Another view of the Wasatch Front from the top of Virgina Ave.

I know I look really lame with my headband on in this one, but just wanted to illustrate how cold it is. That is my sweat frozen to my headband. Jessi and Alisa had taken theirs off to try and breathe through for a minute because the air was quite frigid at this point.

Most of us carry water in a camel pack for running over 6 miles or so, and last Saturday we were drinking ice from our packs by the end of the run. Alisa's actually froze solid and she couldn't get  any water out... I know this makes you all want to get up early and join us next week- Right? Everyone is welcome, you won't regret the loss of sleep, it is totally worth it.

And I really hope that these girls will continue to be my friends even after I take pictures of them running in the early morning hours... especially since they all still manage to look good doing it... now that is impressive.