UTAH VALLEY MARATHON- June 13

Since I started back into running a year or so ago, I had toyed with the idea of running a marathon, mostly to say I had run one and be done. Well, I finally did it! Well, kind of! I signed up, got up super early to ride a bus way up Provo Canyon, and started the race. And before I even hit the 1 mile marker, I knew I was in trouble! 

When I had been training, I kept having troubles with my right knee hurting. It would get pretty bad, but I had spent a lot of money to run this race and I wasn't gonna let something like a sore knee stop me. Although, I almost did! I never got it checked out my a doctor or anything, but I'm pretty sure it was my IT band giving me problems. (Overuse injury...story of my life.) 

I had met a girl I was sitting next to on the bus and we got talking so we started the race together. If it wasn't for her, I would have given up a lot sooner than I did! She was there to keep encouraging me to keep going when I started falling behind. But eventually the pain got to be too much. I stopped at mile 15 to use the bathroom and was literally unable to run again. So I started walking. And even that caused a lot of pain. So much so that by mile 17 I was ready to give up. I stopped for a little bit to ice it and make a decision...

I had my phone with me and had texted both Morian and my dad and both were okay with me stopping, if that's what I needed to do. But the thought of quitting when my dad was there at the finish line and how I would feel giving up is what kept me going. So I walked 11 miles to the finish line. It sucked- I was in pain and extremely disappointed in myself and couldn't help but cry as I limped along. As I made it out of the canyon and knew I "only" had about 5 miles left, I tried to step up my game. I knew I couldn't run but I was able to walk faster, so I speed walked the last 5 miles. Which was pretty humiliating as now there were people along the street cheering runners on. 

My dad caught up to me with  a couple miles left to help me finish, lend me a shoulder if I needed it. He did say he was having a hard time keeping up with my speed walking, so that's something, I guess! I limped across the finish line with a final time of about 5 hours 45 minutes (my revised goal had been to finish in under 6 hours if I could) as my parents, my husband, my kids, and my sister and her husband cheered me on. And almost immediately after crossing that finish line, I could hardly keep myself up anymore. I tried an ice bath, but that hurt like crazy. I did get a massage, which also hurt but did help a little also. I pretty much couldn't walk for the rest of the weekend.

POOL CLEANING- June 7

The family that cleans the pool together, swims together! 

 Child labor?! He totally wanted to help!

 And then there are my kids...

DEVIN LOSES A TOOTH- May 28

Devin finally got a loose tooth  and was excited to lose it. But when the time came to pull it out, he was a little nervous to do it himself.

I'M PREGNANT!!

So, Morian and I finally agreed and decided to try for another baby, even though there would be at least a 5 year age difference between Mackenzie and the baby. I just felt like I wasn't done yet. I had gotten my IUD taken out at the beginning of March and the waiting game began. And I finally got that little plus sign on May 26.

 We had gone out to dinner the night before with my parents and grandpa and sister and brother-in-law. I knew it was time for me to test, but I didn't have any tests. We were by the dollar store, so I asked Morian to drive me over there so I could look for something. The kids kept asking what it was I needed, so I told them it was a surprise. They wanted to know if it was a surprise for them, so I said it was for everyone. So of course, they were all out of tests ( like they were every other time I looked for them there) so I told Morian I needed to go to Smith's. There I was able to get some. 

So the morning of the 26th, I woke up around 3:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. I knew I wouldn't be able to until I had taken a test. And lo and behold it came back positive! I was ecstatic and a littler nervous! But I was able to go back to sleep.

Later that morning after Morian left for work, I went up to take another test, just to doubly make sure. Again, it was positive. The kids came in right after that asking about the surprise. So I went ahead and told them. It was the best news ever to them! I asked them how they wanted to tell Daddy and Devin said, "With balloons in a box that are either blue for a boy or pink for a girl." I had to tell him that only works later on when we know what the baby is, but I promised him that is how I would announce the gender. 

I wish I had taken a video when I told the kids about it because their reaction was awesome and priceless, but instead I just got a toned down version a few minutes later!

So, after Morian got home from work, the kids kind of just blurted out, "We have a baby!" I loved seeing how excited they were about it!

PAYSON LDS TEMPLE PEN HOUSE- May 16

We were able to go as a family to the Payson Temple open house. It was a cold, windy day, but we had a good experience inside the temple, which is beautiful! I'm glad the kids have had the opportunity to visit a couple temples and see the inside of them before they can attend the temple. I think it helps them to see and feel how important they are. 

LAST DAY OF PRESCHOOL- May 14

On Mackenzie's last day of preschool, parents were invited to come listen to a few songs that the students had prepared and then help them make a few scrapbook pages with pictures that the teachers had taken throughout the year. Mackenzie was really excited t see me the songs but then she got shy when the time came and wouldn't do it. I was able to get a tiny bit of one song before she realized I was filming it, the little stinker!

MOTHER'S DAY- May 10

For Mother's Day, the kids made little gifts/cards at school. I love how excited they were to give them to me!

 A card Mackenzie made...

...the inside of the card and my sweet girl

WATER DAY- May 5

As the school year drew to a close, Mackenzie's class had a "water day" in which they got to be in their swim suits and get wet. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't the best for a day of getting wet, but for the most past the kids didn't mind. I was able to go and help out and hang out with Mackenzie.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY- May 4

Morian and I celebrated 9 years of marriage this year.

We went out to dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory. 

And honestly, I can't remember what else we did. 

(My camera battery died after I took this picture so I don't have any other evidence of what went on that day and because I have become a slacker journal keeper, I didn't write anything about what we did. Lame, huh?!)

PROVO CITY HALF MARATHON- May 2

On May 2, I ran my second half marathon. This one was in Provo, so no special trips out of town. I did have to get up pretty early though because the start of the race was up Provo Canyon. Before the race, I found out a fellow MBASA member and friend, Stacey, was also running, so we carpooled together to the bus and hung out together until the start of the race.

Stacey is a faster runner than I am, but I decided to start with her and see how long I could keep up with her. Yeah, it didn't last long!It was kind of disheartening to have all these people pass me right at the beginning of the race, but I was determined not to fall too far back! 

I was wearing my watch this time, so I was kind of able to keep track of how fast I was running (it was just your basic watch) by what time it was when I got to certain mile markers. Since I ran my first half marathon in just over 2 hours, my goal was to make it in under 2 for this race.

Right about as I got to the mile 12 marker, I caught up to Stacey. So for the last 1.1 miles we ran together. It was a good motivator to keep myself going strong until the end. We even saw another fellow friend and MBASA member, Cami Wing, on the sidelines, who had come out to cheer for us!

MORIAN GRADUATES!!- April 24

Morian graduated from BYU's MBA program in April. We celebrated with an early dinner before the ceremony, since it didn't start until 5 PM and waiting until after to eat with 2 kids was just not happening! We met at Brick Oven (where else?!) for yummy food and some gifts for Morian before heading over to the Marriott Center.

 candy and money lei

PRESCHOOL FIELD TRIP- April 22

Mackenzie's Head Start preschool class had a field trip to the park to feed the ducks and play at the playground. I went along as a chaperone.

PROVO CITY SPRING FESTIVAL- April 18

Provo City had a Spring Festival going on at Rock Canyon Park. We yhought it would be fun to take the kids to. And despite being pretty windy, it was fun! The kids got to play a few games and meet lots of characters.

STEWART FALLS- April 18

Another family hike up to Stewart Falls. It was a beautiful day!

CROQUET- April 5

Morian's mom, Patty, and two of his sisters, Cecilia and Shari, came down to watch the afternoon session of conference with us and have dinner. They brought down the croquet set and the kids were excited to learn how to play!

HAPPY EASTER- April 5

Easter Sunday and General Conference were on the same day this year. So it was kind of nice to be able to take our time with Easter things and not have to worry about getting to church on time (even if we did have church at 1 PM!)

The Easter baskets with all the goodies

 Devin with his basket

 Mackenzie with her basket

MBASA EASTER PARTY- April 3

MBASA puts on a great family-friendly Easter party complete with games and an Easter Egg Hunt.

Potato Sack Race-Devin

Potato Sack Race-Mackenzie

Pin the Tail on the Bunny-Mackenzie

Pin the Tail on the Bunny-Devin

MBASA CLOSING SOCIAL- March 28

The MBASA closing social was basically the end of a very awesome era! What a great group of girls I got to know and hang out with my 2 years! We ended with a bang with a dinner, games, and sleepover.

Thumb War

 Weird body trick

(Cami can't really dislocate her pinky- it was broken and never healed straight)

 Keeping a mint (or something) up in the air by blowing it up

FAMILY HIKE- March 21

One Saturday we decided we should go for a hike. (I can't remember the name of place where we hiked but if I ever figure it out I'll come back and edit it in!) It was a really nice day and despite the kids not wanting to do it at first, they warmed up to the idea pretty quick.

 Especially when Devin found somewhere to climb!

REX LEE RUN- March 7

I ran the Rex Lee Run 10K this year. This was my second 10K and I PR'd (personal record) by about 5 minutes!

JASPER'S BIRTHDAY PARTY- February 28

My nephew, Jasper, turned 5 in February we were invited to attend his birthday party.

 Happy Birthday Jasper!