Fall Break

Almost forgot that we had a fun fall break in between the Marathon and Halloween.

Some of the fun things we did.

Went to a great private park with Anne, and got to climb around, run and play with new friends. It was beautiful.

 We went to Wheeler Farm to wander around in the sun and see the animals.

 Had some corn from our garden... those are the full size ears.

 Wandered around all of the cool places near our neighborhood. Threw rocks in the water. Played on the playground and climbed tree.

 Squeezed in a little bowling.

Gotta love having some time off school just to mess around.

Happy Halloween

We had a super fun Halloween this year. Caleb has told me that I have let the boys expectations get too high by trying to create whatever costume idea come to their heads. Sadly, I can't help it. They get so excited and then go on and on when it is all finished about how much they love it. It just feels like I have to keep doing it, as long as they keep getting excited about it.

Pre-trick-or-treating shot.

And in order of age... not necessarily in order of awesomeness...

Gavin- The Roman Knight

Gavin picked his costume all to fit around that sword. Which all of the boys thought was the coolest plastic sword they had ever seen. We also had to make some choices around which helmet would fit Gavin's head. Luckily, it all came together to look great. Not too shabby for a mom without a sewing machine.

With his best friend during the school parade around the neighborhood.

Somehow Henry got the idea that he wanted to be a minotaur. Not an easy costume to make for a skinny 6 year old, but luckily he had quickly abandoned the idea of needing to appear to have big muscles. He loved his costume and wore the nose around for several days. He is, by far, the easiest kid to please when it comes to things like this. He gets excited about the small things.

Also with his good friend in the school parade... no weapons for school, of course.

As with most 3 year olds, Wyatt got excited about being one thing... A real knight, and then made a last minute change on Halloween...

... To batman. We are pretty lucky to have such a good stash of costumes hanging around.

Finn was our little monster. He even got fully into character and did lots of yelling and howling when we tried to take his picture. I finally learned that there is no point in going to tons of effort on a costume for a boy this age. They just had it. At least, Finn was tricked into feeling like he had been let off the hook. And he was pretty cute.

Just a couple more group shots.

And a peek at the loot at the end of the night... way too much candy, but lots of fun was had.

Pumpkin Time

We had some serious pumpkin fun in October. Wyatt kept begging me to buy "tiny pumpkins" every time we saw them at the store, so I finally did. Then the boys got out our large collection of sharpies and went to work designing the pumpkin art.

 It was serious business. and they all made great decorations for the door step.

 Next came the carving... We didn't get around to this until a couple of nights before Halloween, but it was a lot more fun than usual. This was mostly because in the past, all of the boys will draw some sort of complicated design on their pumpkin and then ask Caleb and I to cut it out. This never ends exactly like they seem to hope it will. This year, we got out the small carving knives and Henry and Gavin set to work carving their own pumpkins with just a little help from us on how to work in the new medium of pumpkin. It was awesome. Aside from scooping the seeds out, I got to sit back and watch the creative boys at work.

 Thinking over his next move.

And the final project. 

 Caleb wasn't quite as lucky as me in his level of involvement, but I think he enjoyed making his creepy creation.

 Wyatt was a bit tired and grumpy and most just bossed people around and then went to play with Finn.

 The finished products. They looked pretty awesome.

Saint George Marathon

This summer I spent many hours a week running and training and resting and stretching. I even spent some time taking funny random photos with my great running pals during long weekend runs. All of this time and energy was a lead up to this weekend... my first full marathon.

 We got out of bed at 4am to get ready and head to the bus for our ride to the top of the race course. It was a very cold and windy 25 degrees. This is the first time that I ever used a bag drop so that I could bundle up until the race start. It was truly freezing and we spent our hour and 10 minute wait bundled in mylar blankets and trying to find a closer spot by the campfires.

 My wonderful friends Caryn and Shelby were and inspiration to me in signing up for this race in the first place, and they gave me great advice and great company all through the training. They have each run multiple marathons and in some very fast and impressive times, so I enjoyed my time with them at the start line. Once the race started, I stayed with them for the first mile and then got into my pace and saw them again after the race was over.

 The course that this race runs was so beautiful and so typical of Southern Utah. It was a course with a lot of ups and downs and was so well organized and supported. There were many signs that people had placed on the mileposts through the race. My favorites were-

Mile 2.5- "You've got this. Love- Your Family"

Mile 17 (right before a large hill)- "Run, You Fools! -Gandolf"

Mile 20- "I am so proud of you, You Random Stranger."

The best surprise of the whole race was in the last mile, as the crowds were thick and cheering, I was running down the middle and searching the sides of the road for Caleb and my boys, very ready to spot a familiar face to send me to the finish line. My glance settled on my little neice, Sara, the platinum blonde, who was sitting on shoulders next to Wyatt. Since I did not expect to see her it took me a moment to register that she was really there, just as I saw Caleb and my boys, I recognized Mark my brother in-law. Then I heard a loud booming voice yell "Go Marci!" And saw Alan and Schatzy and all of my wonderful hoard of nieces and nephews and my own boys cheering and yelling. I definetely teared up at the sight of all of my wonderful family, and finished with whatever I had left. 

So grateful for the love and support of all of my family and friends, and for these wonderful sisters for dragging their families such a long ways to watch me finish this race. Even though I didn't get a picture with Caleb and the boys, they have done so much all year to make this race possible and I love them for it.

 During my training I injured my knees from overuse, and hip problems and had a lot of help getting through the remainder of my training and being able to know I could go the distance. I struggled with my knee pain from mile 10 until the finish, but was able to fall back on all of the great advice and strength to know I could reach my goal. Despite the pain, I enjoyed this course and that was my biggest goal for that day. I finished in 4 hours and 28 minutes, and I can honestly say that aside from the first miles from 10-12 when I had to decide how I was going to deal with the pain in my knees, I didn't have any moments when I felt like I wouldn't reach the finish. It was both a painful and a positive experience. And I was so happy to finish and see these two wonderful girls and find out that they too had a great race day. I ended my day feeling exhausted and so blessed.