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!  

hallo & color me...

gutsy pumpkins...eeeewwh! 
 good thing daddy came home and helped you gut out the rest -
poor children..

school party-mummy wrapping!
and ruby's annual school parade...

the real deal, this ain't no ward party!
charlie parked himself right down on the street with his little friend max
 after just 4 or 5 houses- to pick at his treasures...
he was happy... and done!

color me rad... or sad(that's how my kids acted anyway)
me trying to keep ruby warm at the start line...
vERy COld day!!

charlie was a trooper...liam was at a soccer game
ruby and dax also rode in the stroller-on the back end-most of the 5k distance
remember folks, daxton is not yet 6 and ruby will be 8 in march!
she'll have LOTS of choices for a spouse...height will never be an issue.

 

pretty scenery! i love the snow capped mountains with red rock landscape...
 that is marty in the right corner pushing the stroller!
what a stud. 
dax rolling in the pink haze...

mom and son chambers...oh~
three crazies trying to look cool as we throw powder on each other..

unrecognizable ruby...she suffered through the cold,
it wouldn't have been so bad withouth the wind!...

i'll just say it was really nice to go take a hot shower after this!!!!!
ps. thanks dixie direct for getting us into this race! may the savings-force be with you!!
 

zion, zombie, mead, candy

we took our kids on a mini vaca last weekend for fall break. 
we stayed in a family suite in Zions for a night. 
 we felt they deserved a little
 R and R with the folks that gave them life.
  it was so great.  muchly needed.
we ate out that night and played games for a while at the hotel
 before they all crashed in their beds.
 

  hot tubbing in the morning...

watching the sunrise...serene.
setting off for our hike
this time we tried 'emerald pools '
it was a gorgeous hikaroo.

the kids waiting for the shuttle with their little baggies of fishy crackers

breathtaking scenery..



seriously the kids killed it on this hike!- liam really was a conqueror
  i mean they whined a little bit...
but i was SO proud of them for making it to the very top pool
it was like 2-3 miles round trip
some of that was steep stair incline...
it was a fun getaway.  
its so nice to go away and focus just on our kids

 

 we went to thriller for the first time ...at tuacahn

 luckily, ricki was smart and brought a blanket; and was nice and let us share
it was freezing!
well, lets be honest...it wasn't northern-utah freezing, just st. george freezing
but still cold enough for a blankie!

 so here we are at carraba's italian restaurant (in henderson, nv)
...a little pasta/carb load
 before JAMI and KELSIE's first half marathon!!
whoot whoot!
kelsie -sitting next to me is jami's friend from hygiene school
and momma max is sitting by jams.

 yes there are many reasons why i love my sister in law, but this is one of them...
refer to top pic.
we stayed at a hotel in boulder city by lake mead, just outside las vegas...
jami's mom, Maxi, came with us and acted as our support group/picture taker/chauffeur/shoulder to cry on:) and we love her for it!

 before the 13.1...kind chilly!

and, after!  they did amazing!!! 
 totally took state! a way-good chip time for their first 1/2!
little miss kelsie didn't even train...what?!
and i love my dear sis!  she got me to sign up and was so much fun to run with...
she even lent me an ear bud when mine stopped working and we ran side by sweaty-side for a while so i could have some tunes! thanks!
 it wasn't that easy running connected by the ears...:)

the lake (mead) was perfect temps...i could have and should have dived in!

 we went sight seeing to hoover dam..pretty cool.
it was only 7 miles from where the race ended.
wish we'd had a tour to learn about it, but we were too tired...:)

that night we had our ward trunk or treat. 
 charlie was adamant that we didn't 'paint' his face. 
 but we had a black chapstick so he did is own make-up
 thinking it was his favortie 'hmmmmm'  (thats what he calls chapstick)
ps. my sister megan, who is SO talented at making costumes for all her boys, every year!
...made these skeleton costumes once for her boys...so i take no credit for them...

there was a gorgeous sunset that night and perfect weather.
its going to be a mild night wednesday too for the real trick or treating ...
blah...more candy! seriously! 

St. George Runathon

OUR first marathon, and we did it together.  October 6, 2012. 
 I was so proud of my husband.  His longest training run was only 17
 and he didn't do as many longer runs as he should have. 
He stepped it up on race day. 
The end of the race was tough.  I tried to make myself
have an out of body experience, so I would'nt feel the pain. 
kind of like i did 2.8 years ago when i birthed my 3rd child naturally... HERE

 Starting line wating game...the nerves were setting in thinking about what we needed to do during the next 4 hours!
these girls-ricki and bri-got me through.  they helped me train.
got my behind out of bed in the early morning hours to run run run.
i wouldn't have done this without a running partner! thats for darn sure!
 marty and i couldn't train together...so thanks sistas!!

we seem so innocent and unaware...ha!
these 'high quality' pics were taken with rickis i phone:)
better than nothing!
thanks for providing memories rick, since i still own a slider w/no internet! 

We didn't have any family in town, mine were all in Lake Powell! stinkers.
but we had some dear friends come and bring our kids.
and made us posters.
and brought us donuts and drinks!
and took all these pics with her phone so we could have some documentation!

SOOO glad to be done.  couldn't stop smiling.  it felt so good to actually be DONE.
St. George marathon is such a fun race.  I've heard that from so many people, but Marty and I both had a great experience...so i believe it
there were 5716 finishers...
 

Ruby made this poster ALL by herself. 
yes, even block-cheerleader letters.  she is a pro. so sweet of her!
it was so fun to have them there at the finish.

these two crazies made it happen, i heart them.
they sacrificed the better part of the day to help us out.
we had my visiting teacher {bless her}come over at 4:45 to sit with the kids till 8
then my neighbor took them till 10
then tash and toph took them and brought them here and sifted thru the craziness of the finsih line and millions of people- with 2 double strollers & 5 kids under 2 feet tall~!!

just like Pres. Uchtdorf said during conference saturday...
we will fail to find joy in the journey if we are so focused on the finish line. 
 i truly felt calm and had fun during this run. i just took it easy in the beginning.
 leading up to 'the day', i kept calling it a race and marty kept calling it a journey, he helped me chill out and think of it as a journey- i did and i enjoyed it so much more. 
you bet i started focusing on the finish line those last 3 or 4 miles-cuz i wanted to stop running!.. but up until then i was having a good time.
 thanks for that perspective honey.  love you.
marty didn't take a picture but his time was 4:31:36!
some other blessings we noticed: 
 no injuries reported between us during training or race day...
the weather was perfect, never got too hot, mid 80's.
i was bothered by that time of the month but no cramping
our kids were well taken care of the whole day
and....we finished! 
check that off the ole' bucket list...