a half:half-way and other goods...

i love mornings when the sky just GLOWS with the sunrise and I'm up to see it
...SOOO pretty.

car show in Mesquite...becoming a yearly tradition...
we are the minority in this crowd but its killer for Charlie!
he is in HEAVEN here...he even had a twiner model car...

our early valentines get-a-way.  we stayed at the honeymoon trails "cave"
-right here in town
such a cool place... thanks ricki for taking our kids! 
we went on a little hike the next morning that overlooked george
such a great 'relax' time!  

then my parents came to see us! they stayed longer than they ever have!
 yay for mom and dad!
of course we went hiking, cuz the weather was rockin' compared to up north in snowville.

went out for pizza...kids love grandma time...

went hiking again...to Johnson Arch or something like that ...near the scout caves trail, near the entrance to  snow canyon...

celebrated Charlie's birthday yet again...
i am officially changing his birthday celebration to January 26th..there, its done. 

and while my momma was here- she came to my OB appt where we found out we're having a GIRL!!
rube's is way excited...wants to name her ginger...we'll see about that:)
we went out to eat several more times while they were here
...it seems like that's all we did...eat and hike.

this little man is an awesome potty goer!!  it took only about 3 days.  thinking it would never click and then it did! just like that.  there were definitely some frustrating moments...like thinking he would need to sit and play monkey games on my phone for an hour each time he had to go.  but that all passed with time and he now wants to just get on and get the job done. no fuss.  it's so worth waiting till their ready/ and usually when the 'boy' turns 3 is about the time they can handle that! i would definitely changes diapers for an extra 6 months till they are 3 then deal with accidents and set backs and the like!  gag.  

so i thought i might not be able to pull this off...cuz i hadn't been training that great and i never really ran much past 12 weeks with my other pregnancies but this great gal ran with me and made these awes shirts- we are due at the same time in JULY- so it was super fun and doable to run with someone in the same 'situation' as me.  we just took it easy and didn't PUSH for a certain goal/time.  it was a relaxing, fun race!  i am so glad i did it.  and other than being pretty hungry that night and having a nasty cold hit me pretty much right after the race ended  ...my body felt great and i'm not really sore or anything.  thanks heather for being my partner in crime and running a HALF marathon =on our exact HALF way mark of pregnancy...
great times!!

here is the start line...with my running, training buddies/peeps-whom i dearly love-bri and ricki-even though they kicked my butt in the race
and my, so fun, i love her to death, sister in law...who is my sister by heart-JAMI and her brother Brody- they came down from layton to run it and it was jami who got me to sign up for the dang thing in the first place...we ran a half in the fall last year in vegas...see HERE   i think we should make it a ritual to run halfs' together every couple months...she's a great to run with and motivate me!!  Brody did awesome, it was his first run ever! and he finished under 2 hours!

finished!! such a good feeling...such a high...
ps. this cute little blonde thing is also preggo -12 weeks!
so the 3 of us-me, heather and jami ran -all fat and sassy together!!
okay i am the only fat and sassy one but still ...

Love this group, even the tinies..who couldn't let go of their mommies once they were in sight! ha!