Surprise! Half-Marathon!

Yes, you read that right. I ran a half marathon on Saturday in 2:00:48 (so close to the two hour mark - and yet so far). A month ago, I did not plan on ever running a race longer than a 10k and a week ago I thought maybe I'd run a half marathon at the end of the summer to keep me motivated to run after the Ragnar in June. My brother (who trained for and ran a marathon with only a handful of people knowing beforehand) suggested on Monday that I run it with him, so with my hubby's encouragement we signed up on Wednesday. And that was that.

My only previous experience running a race was a free 5k that I didn't actually run, so I was really nervous about this (I was so nervous I had to push back the tears as the start neared - and one pushed it's way out anyway). I wasn't quite sure what to expect for my overall time. I knew that 13 miles is a very long way, so I decided to take it easy for the first few miles, then I progressively increased my intensity until I neared the end. I thought I could make it in under 2 hours if I kept up the intensity, but around mile 10 I got sick of running and thought I'd distract myself by running faster. I quickly realized that starting your final push 3 miles before the finish line is a bad idea and by 12 miles I was dead. Because I started out easy and sped up as the race went on, nobody passed me from about mile 4 until mile 11.5. It felt great effortlessly passing by all those runners, but not so great watching a huge pack pass me one by one the last half mile as I struggled in vain to find the determination and the energy to pick up the pace and stick with them. Either way I was really pleased with my time and averaged 9:02 the second half and 9:13 overall.

My computer is dead, so I can't download my pictures, but I'll post some when the computer fiasco calms down.

Prescott - Part 3

I can't believe our Prescott time is over! We always knew we were only there temporarily, but it's still hard to say goodbye. Anyway, I never got a picture of our street! Oopsies. But luckily I know that we will visit Prescott again soon, so we can go get a picture then if we want. So here's the last installment of our favorite places in Prescott.

Ken Lindley Park was the closest park with slides to our house, so we like to go there on walks sometimes.

Carter is one of Jane's friends, and he lives just a couple blocks away.

Giving each other a hug. They actually fight most of the time. Jane used to grab him like that and tackle him when they were fighting over a toy, but now she just screams.

There was a Whataburger down the street from our house, and Adam swore he would eat there before we left Arizona, so we went there after the kitchen was packed up. Notice Jane getting at that shake with two straws.

Believe me, she gets her eating habits from her dad.

A great helper for me while I packed.

Prescott - Part 2 (and some other stuff)

Okay, so I forgot to take the camera with me most of this week, so I only have one Prescott place to show off, but I have a few more fun pictures:

At the mall! We love to play at the mall, especially when it's too cold to go on a walk after dinner. This is an older picture.

Audrey is just barely getting agile enough to play on the equipment. Sorry Jane's head is cut off.

Crawling through the log tunnel.

And here's an Easter picture. Audrey got to watch the Easter bunny hide the eggs.

Jane was super proud of her spoils.

 So today after church, Jane got two pieces of bread with peanut butter on them for lunch. She started giggling, and Adam looked over to find one of them placed peanut butter-side-down squarely on Jane's head. She probably thought it would make a great hat. The other one was nowhere to be found, so we assumed she had eaten it and forgot about it. After lunch was over I got Jane down, and as she ran off to play I discovered that she hadn't eaten her other piece of bread:

This girl cracks me up! (And yes, Audrey is pulling herself up on things now.)

Last year on Easter, Jane got into an egg without us noticing and tried her first chocolate. This year she's enjoying it just as much. Notice the peanut butter in her hair.

Peanut butter makes a nice sculpting oil.

Anyway, I hope you had a great Easter and have a great week.

Prescott - Part 1

So, we've been in Prescott for about 10 months now, and we're already moving in less than 2 weeks. We knew all along that we weren't going to be here long, but we're still sad to go. I don't want to forget all the great spots in Prescott, so I've been trying to get some pictures. Here are some pictures of three of our favorite places - Acker Park, Watson Lake, and the Square:

Acker Park is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from our place. There aren't any slides, but there's this fun hill you can climb up to and see all of Prescott. You can see Thumb Butte in the background. It's a central landmark of Prescott.

There's a little open grassy spot just down from the top of the hill.

We also love Watson Lake. It's about 10 minutes up the road from us. It's pretty small but quite beautiful.

Jane touching the water on the boat ramp.

The best part of the lake is - of course - the playground. Jane and Audrey love to swing next to each other.

The courthouse square is about a half mile from our apartment, so we like to walk there on sunny days and warm evenings. The square is the main gathering place in Prescott. During the summer, there's something going on there almost every night, with street markets most weekends. Jane's favorite part is the fountain.

 

We set out Friday to take some pictures of the square and happened upon a Tea Party rally. At first I thought the guy conducting was John McCain, but it turned out not to be. I guess it would have been more crowded if he had been there. Anyway, Jane loves to climb up and down the steps of the courthouse.

 

The square is lined with shops and restaurants as you can see in the background. This is downtown Prescott, folks!

And for good measure, two happy sisters!

 Stay tuned for more pictures of our favorite spots!

Bye Bye Denver

Well, I can't believe we've already been in Denver for a month! And now we're leaving already. It's been a really fun month spending time with family, and Mickey and Margaret have been so generous.

Highlights for Adam include watching lots of basketball, seeing Jimmer in action at the first round game in Denver (he got to go with his Dad and some of his brothers), and spending some time working with his brother, Jeff, at his residency.

Highlights for Jane include chasing the cat around the house (she'd announce, "I find the kitty cat!" and once she found the cat she'd put her face close to Oscar's and say, "Hi cat! Hi!"), running around with her cousins, and playing with Grandma Maggie and Grandpa Mick.

Highlights for Audrey include scooting all around the kitchen and even some on the carpet in what we call the tank, learning to crawl (not the most graceful crawl, but definite mobility), and finally eating more than one bite of baby food at a sitting.

Highlights for me include weekly brunches with the ladies (and lots of fun activities in between), hitting a 9-minute mile pace on a 3-mile run (yet to hit that mark on a longer run), and free babysitting so I could go out at night with my hubby.

Here are a few pictures:

I had to post this picture because Jane is actually looking at the camera AND smiling! Adam was teaching her to pose.

Jane and Audrey got to spend a day with their cousin Melanie, but Audrey and Melanie couldn't make it through the walk.

Here's Audrey in her tank. She can get anywhere in that thing (but can't always get back from anywhere).

Jane got to spend a morning with her cousin, Justin, at the gym. She actually was having a blast - she just looks bored out of her mind.

Jane and Audrey sporting their Moroccan shirts sent from their uncle Karl.

I think she'd make a pretty cute Moroccan baby.

With the proper enticement, she'll move anywhere.

On the carousel at the zoo. Jane was excited until we got on it, then there were problems.

This horse is way less frightening than the ones at the zoo.

Coloring on something other than paper?! And with permission!

Audrey eating a stick.

Thanks to everyone who made this month awesome! We will miss you!

Dear Fry’s Checker

This week’s blog is just to let those checkers at the grocery store know I’m really not as stressed out as they think I am. It’s just that Jane’s attention span is not as long as my grocery list. This week’s trip to the store was pretty representative of my usual experience, so I thought I'd share. Here goes:

We get to the store and have to park a mile away from the doors. I throw the diaper bag over my shoulder, carry Audrey’s giant carseat in one hand, and try to coax Jane into holding my other hand without making a fuss, because she wants to walk “Jane’s self” even though we’re in the parking lot and she’s not allowed to walk in a parking lot without holding a hand. Then her shoe falls off and even though we’re only like twenty feet from the cart, her sock is black before we get there. The carts at Fry’s are a blessing and a burden, because they have little cars in the front for the kiddos to sit in and pretend to drive, but that makes them 10 feet long – wider than the aisles and therefore impossible to turn around. So once Jane has chosen the exact color of car that she wants and I figure out how to fit Audrey’s carseat into the basket (because of course it doesn’t fit where it’s supposed to hook on), I turn to find that Jane has fallen out onto the ground and the nice old man who was trying to help her up has scared her and is feeling bad about making her cry.

 

Now that we’ve been at the store for 5 minutes, we are finally all loaded up and ready to begin shopping, with Jane excited to drive but asking for her shoe back on. I will skip a recount of trying to maneuver through the produce section with the giant cart, because, honestly, who wants to relive that? We get everything on the list (and I don’t have to turn around this time to get something I passed by or forgot like I usually do). Jane’s fairly content until we get to the cheese section, at which point she gets out of her car while I’m too busy agonizing over whether to get mild or medium cheddar to notice. Then I have to carry her or let her walk, because she’s determined, “Jane walk!”

Okay, so now here’s the fun part – the checkout line. I’ve convinced Jane to get back into the car for just a few more minutes, and I’m frantically trying to load groceries onto the conveyor belt. It’s kind of difficult because I’ve cleverly stashed all the food around Audrey to get it to fit in the cart, but now that I’m in the line, I can’t walk around the cart to reach all the goods anymore because the aisle is too narrow. I warn the checker that I’ve got five WIC checks to use (glad to have them but hate to use them). Jane has decided she’s done with the car and wants to go pull candy off the rack while I run back and forth between signing WIC checks and loading more food onto the belt before the person behind me starts loading their food on. And of course the person behind me is that nice lady who made a comment about how cute my kids were when I saw her earlier in the trip, and I have to debate whether it’s too late to warn her to get in a different line because it’s going to take about 15 minutes for me to check out since I have to make six transactions (of course I don’t tell her – she’s already loading her food onto the conveyor). The bagger is asking me where I want her to put the groceries, because of course they don’t fit in the cart once they’re bagged – Audrey’s in there.

By the fourth check, Audrey has decided that something is upsetting her and is intermittently crying, Jane is determined to get the pen away from me every time I try to sign a check because she wants to color, and I avoid looking at the lady behind me because if she’s starting to hate my guts, I’d rather be oblivious.

I gather all my receipts, lists, folder, wallet, etc. and I’m headed out the door, carrying Jane with one arm and pushing the 10-foot cart with the other. I take a deep breath and think to myself, “Good thing this trip went smoothly!”

P.S. – If you made it to the end, congrats! That was a lot longer than I thought it would be!

My Girls

So I know most people who will read this blog really just want to hear about the two cutest girls in the world (cutest at least in my opinion, but Adam agrees with me). So that’s what this blog is all about. We’ll start with Audrey:

Jane doesn't like wearing the stethoscope, so she put it on Audrey

Audrey is 6 months old and has been described by people unrelated to me as a Gerber baby. That might be a nice way of saying that she’s got a chunky face, but I think it’s because of her beautiful deep blue eyes. She is officially a sitter, though she can only stay up for about 5 minutes before she tucks herself in and falls in whatever direction gravity takes her. She also loves to stand more than Jane did and for that reason loves standing in her exersaucer. 

Sitting like a champ

She has just started eating solids and has discovered the letter “d.” Audrey is infatuated with her dad’s voice. When she’s eating and Adam starts talking, she stops eating and crane’s her neck so she can look at him. And when he’s putting her to sleep at night she only calms down if he’s singing to her. The minute he stops, she gets fussy. Audrey is super smiley, but not quite as bubbly as Jane was. She’s also much more patient with herself than Jane.

The closest thing to a smile that I can get on camera

Speaking of Jane, she gets frustrated very quickly when she can’t do something she’s trying to do. This has been evident since she was learning to grab a rattle. She would try to grab it like twice and then start crying. She still gets the same way, especially with her stool that she carries around the apartment. Whenever it gets stuck she starts crying. Her vocabulary and sentence complexity is constantly improving and surprising me. She loves to watch Elmo’s World and walks around the apartment singing “na-na-na-na, Elmo’s World.” Her second favorite song is the ABC Song, which she’s pretty good at. 

Sorry about the exposed belly. I guess that shirt's too small.

One of Jane’s favorite activities is to “cook, cook” with Mommy (or Daddy if he happens to be cooking). She also loves princesses and coloring – the perfect combination since her grandma Maggie came to visit last month and brought her a coloring book of Disney princesses. Her dad showed her how to color in the lips, and now she goes through the entire book coloring only the princesses’ lips.

So there you go, a little bit about these baby girls.