Birthday Week

If you would have been around our family October 10

you would have heard an excited announcement from Macey

that it was my birthday and I was turning 34!

It would have been awesome, but that is old and it's unexciting to have that age number announced:)

I do love her enthusiasm though.

I decided to celebrate by going to a movie, and since Ben and I had celebrated the week before in St. George and he was on call, I took one of my other buddies during the day.

Usually after Cody and Macey go to school Mackayla will smile at me and say, "Now we can be buddies."

Meet the Mormons opened that day!!

I figured we could sneak into an almost empty theater at noon that day but the theater was packed- kinda fun to see. And I love the movie.

Mackayla played on the ipad with earphones:)

We got a smoothie and did some shopping.

It was Disgusting and this is her face after her first taste:)

Do not get Nekter juice. ugh.

All in all a fun girls' date with my buddy:)

That night I made crepes because they're Cody's favorite and we got donuts and ice cream which put Macey into a happy sugar coma.

We went to the park the next day and did a family workout on the outdoor workout equipment, then the kids rode bikes and played on the playground.

I went to Disneyland with a bunch of moms!:)

Saw this sign and love it

and love Ben.

This blog isn't all about me...so quick, last thing. I got my hair cut. Just a trim though...how did I even carry my head around?!? Brittany is amazing - she does hair for all these photo shoots and academy awards(no big deal!) and is in our ward, so it was really fun to have her cut my hair. She's good- now if I could just replicate her hair doing skills:/...

Mackayla's preschool went to a pumpkin patch

I pretty much only take my kids to Trader Joe's or Costco (for the samples) to shop anymore-if I have to!

They love looking for the lemur at this store and getting a lollipop:)

St. George Marathon

After a 10 year hiatus from marathons I ran the St. George Marathon!

My sister-in-law Carly ran it to!

Race day started at 3:30 am. It was surprisingly not as hard as I thought it would be getting up...maybe I've trained for that part by getting up with little ones at all hours of the night for the last several years!

Training was mostly done weekdays while the kids were sleeping and

early Saturday mornings.

My family was so supportive.

The people taking these pictures...my parents! I didn't get a picture of them- I don't know how this happens. They came down to support and then they babysat while I tried to nap and shower and went shopping:) My mom and sister picked out a birthday workout outfit that I love!

At 3:46 it wasn't my best run and wasn't my worst run.

I hit a wall and ran the last six miles 2 minutes per mile slower.

I couldn't eat anything to refuel or I would have thrown up. Actually I learned after it's better to refuel and throw up (you won't really throw anything up) and you'll feel better. Maybe I wouldn't have hit a wall then? Having cramps on race day is not. ideal. Let's just leave it at that and say I have awesome timing with all that.

 In another life I would have done more strength training, stretching, and speed work...but that life doesn't involve a young family! 

That I love.

By 2 pm I hadn't eaten since 4 that morning and was so nauseous but so hungry. I finally just wanted something salty and Ben ran and got me chips and massaged my legs. They tasted better than anything has ever tasted. He's pretty awesome.

I can now officially go down stairs without wincing.

Why do people run those again?

I'm glad I did it and it may have been my last.

9 is a good number to end on!

We drove home in this:

I-15 is always overcrowded.

It was fun to have others from our ward there running. They gave me some awesome St. George marathon advice:
Bring DI or throw away clothes for the top, it's always cold.
Take off your pants before you start and keep your jacket until you're warm.
Use the porta-potties at the bottom, before you drive up in the bus, they are way less crowded.
Let your family track you with the St. George app.-that's kinda fun.
(There was none of this awesome technology ten years ago!)
Get a pace bracelet to keep your times.
Adjust it with the elevation pace charts for the marathon you can find online (I didn't do that but it's good advice).

I Am

I AM

I love this poem.

I also love Cody's prolific pictures he draws during church.

I decided to slowly surrender an entire ream of paper to his quiet church activities.

I can tell Mackayla has an older brother.

She is currently figuring out all the configurations her fingers can make.

(When you turn three suddenly it's a lot harder to make your fingers do "how many old" you are.)

She held up her pointer finger and thumb making "two," stared at it a second, and then started making tiny shooting noises with her "gun."

This is Mackayla's picture of me. I'm beautiful in this picture.

Sometimes Mackayla asks if I want to play baby.

She pretends to be a baby and I while I hold her I think it wasn't too long ago that I really got to hold her as a baby.

They just grow up too fast.

Macey told Mackayla today that she was so big she was as big as a skyscraper.

Mackayla looked so proud. It's still the highest form of a compliment to her.

Then Macey ran to me and whispered with a knowing look, "I was just trying to make her feel good. She's really not big."

By the time Mackayla can read this I'm assuming that won't be offensive:)

Macey has planned that she will have four children: 2 boys and 2 girls. The girls are Maggie and Emma. She hopes her husband likes the names. We'll get to the gender choosing later.

It took her some time to decide she would get pregnant. After seeing me pregnant with Mackayla it kinda freaked her out. (I guess I can see why--it wasn't pretty:)!) Around the time she was four we discussed how being pregnant can be uncomfortable, but it's totally worth it. A week or two ago we discussed the details of pushing babies out of your belly. 

How does this five year old think of all these things?

Sometimes I think Macey is an old soul.

Disneyland for Adults

We got a babysitter and went to Disneyland last Friday evening.

Usually when I say "we" I mean the kids and me.

But this time I mean Ben and me.

:)

We met up with our good friends Rob and Tasha.

And-I'm kicking myself I didn't get a picture - Ben's mom was there with some of her friends, Sandy and Sandy!

We met up with them for a little while too!

 It also happened to be the night of one of the huge Disneyland parties.

(You have to buy tickets in advance - we didn't want to go.)

Disneyland closed at 7pm so everyone else went over to California Adventure.

I figured it would be a little more crowded but that doesn't describe the mass of people walking around.

Luckily, our awesome friends explained their distress in getting through Disneyland to them and they gave them three fast passes to use over at California Adventure.

They are awesome.

 It was just enough time to do the three best rides and get some dinner and catch up,

and see a little of World of Color.

I am smiling in this picture (Tower of Terror) because I love free falling and because Ben is grabbing my leg with a vice like grip.

Soccer: Lightning Bugs and Creepers

We're a couple of games into soccer season this year.

Cody's team is great this year and they are really beginning to understand passing and teamwork, so it has really been fun to watch.

He scored a goal!

Grandma Bonnie was able to come to one of their games.

It was almost 100 degrees that day, so not the ideal day to sit and watch

but we got slurpees for the kids and it made their day!

Team Party

 

Mackayla is so cute and supportive - she goes to all the games and practices and never complains. She even tells me when to cheer:)

 The Tunnel

 I was trying out a different lens and never really got how to focus it fast enough to get a good focused picture. ah. next time.

 In the back you can just barely see cute Macey tip toeing to do the tunnel with a random man.

Goal Saved!

Bunch ball is so cute

 

Cody and the coaches' sons all go play handball at the courts by the soccer fields during the girls' games.

 Macey dutifully runs laps on the soccer field after the ball.

She claims soccer is not her favorite thing, and that's ok. She's getting great exercise, made some good friends, and she looks cute doing it! Plus, she gets a treat at the end. Her favorite part:)