Painters Half Marathon - St. George

A couple of weekends ago I ran in the Painters Half Marathon in St. George to help prepare me for the upcoming Salt Lake Marathon. I'm glad I did it because it was a MUCH better experience than the other half marathon I ran in August. It was a lot of fun too because I ran it with my mother in law, Cheryl, and her friend Stephanie. Well... I ran with Cheryl for about the first 1.5 miles and then she started to pull away while I was working on a side ache. I tried to catch up for the rest of the race but I couldn't. She ended up beating me by 1 min 9 seconds. Come on! She is 26 years older than me!!! Way to go Cheryl!!! I had set the goal to finish under 2:30 and I did! My time ended up being 2:26:39. We have a good friend who finished 1:53:09, which of course makes her my idol!

Cold and nervous at the start.

Dropping off jackets to Craig's dad at mile 8.5. Thanks for taking pictures and being our billy goat!

At the finish with a smile on my face. (Of course I'm smiling, I've got two handfulls of food!)

Stephanie, Cheryl, and me at the finish.

It's Only Been A Month...

Since it has been a full month since I last posted, I thought we're probably due for an update. **Caution... this post ended up kind of long**

First of all, we had a merry Christmas at our house. My sister Leslie and her family were staying with us durring Christmas so we had a fun Christmas morning with 4 little kids.

Santa's helpers

Savannah and her santa gift, a baby doll with "a stroller that the baby can lay down in." I love Savannah's expression in this picture.

Justin and his Santa gift, a ball pit. Ohhhh the pure joy of burying yourself in 200 balls. Ohhh the joy of picking up those 200 balls daily. I should have thought that one through!

The Saturday after Christmas my sister-in-law Jessica planned a snowboarding trip complete with a beginner lesson. So I geared up and went along. I had a really fun time! I'm hoping to be able to go soon with Craig to show off my beginner skills. Here is a tip for you beginner snowboarders out there... don't run 12 miles the day before you go. Apparently snowboarding really uses your quads. There were a few times I thought my legs were going to catch fire they were burning so bad!

Our crew. Chad, Kirsti, Kristi, Jessica, Danny, Iris, Jeff

I love this picture because it looks like I know what I'm doing. Check out how the snow is blowing around under my board!

Guaranteed this picture was taken within seconds of the previous one.

A few days later it was New Years Eve. I've learned that New Years Eve is always a bummer but especially when you have little kids who have an 8pm bedtime. BUT this year turned out to be surprisingly fun. I fed the kids and put them to bed while Craig went and got Wingers take out. Then we stuffed ourselves with Wingers wings and watched The Dark Knight. My little brother Devin was staying with us so we introduced him to New Years Eve parent style. After the movie was over there were just a few more minutes until midnight so we turned the tv to Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year Eve or whatever it is called. WOW! I know the show is named after Dick Clark and all, and he has been the hosting the show for about 100 years, but I think his time for retirement has come!

OK... on with 2009! Savannah has yet to go back to preschool. Her teacher has been ill so Christmas break got extended 3 additional weeks. Meanwhile Savannah has had lots of playdates and has worked hard in some school workbooks and been working on her coloring.

This is a picture Savannah was especially proud of. She is really trying hard to stay in the lines.

Last week I watched my niece Sierra and nephew Austin. Here are some snapsots I took that day.

Cute cousins.

Sierra and Justin in matching outfits! Sierra is 10 months younger that Justin but her thighs are twice as big. She has those picture perfect chubby baby thighs I just want to sit and honk all day long! Quite a contrast to Justin's chicken legs!