How to become a badA$$

Over the weekend I ran the So Cal Ragnar with 11 other crazy people who thought it would be a good idea to run 203 miles.  I never thought it would be but my friend Lindsey told me I had to do it and that I would be bad A if I did.  So I did it.  I actually finished and stayed in my estimated time.  I did not forecast the mountains I would be climbing. Like 500 + feet in a mile.  Cruel but so bad A.

We left Thursday morning at the crack of dawn and drove down to Cali

Guy at the starting line. 

So nervous and yet so naive

Mom manhandled the race.  So proud of her.

 This was my first leg. 2.5 miles.... up the biggest hill of my life.  It was AWFUL!  I thought it was going to be a piece of cake.  I got the worst side cramp as I started the very last part which went downhill.  I had to walk for a minute and then as I saw the lady who calls your number on the walkie talkie I sprinted the whole rest of the way because my team just couldn't see me so weak and sad.  Then I had the side cramp constantly for the next 2 days.   

Waiting for mom to come around the corner and cheer her on with dad, julie, and megan

 I then ran six miles in the middle of the night and that was definitely my best route.  It was mostly downhill slant and flat with just a few little climbs.  I was feeling pretty good and ran the whole thing.  Little did I know what the next one had in store for me. We only got about 2.5 hours of sleep before our next leg started.  If you know me, you know I need to sleep.  Not because I get grumpy but because it just has to happen.  I can fall asleep anywhere, anytime. 

After I stumbled across the finish line for my last leg.  16 miles total .. check.

My dad was so hardcore.  I got a Tony chant going for his last few feet of the whole race

Funny story about me crossing the finish line.  I ran the first three miles of my race and I told the van to not meet me until mile 5 when I had made it to the top of my hill.  When I was getting to the hill the sun came out and I was extremely tired and thirsty.  What had I done?!  Well I made it up the 2.5 mile climb and my dad saw me walking and waved me on like "hurry up!" I was exhausted!  So they gave me a drink and a salt pill and my dad told me I only had 2 miles left and most of it should be down hill.  Down hill was right.  So steep that I couldn't walk when I tried.  Rough on the knees!  Longest two miles of my life.  So the last 3/4 mile was flat on the way to the beach and I had been totally by myself for awhile then all the sudden this guy came up behind me and said "come one!  we are almost done!" so I kept going.  I seriously was using the weight of my head to propel me forward.  When I rounded the corner to the exchange in the beach parking lot I see my team just driving in and I panic a little because they weren't ready.  Luckily they had dropped my dad off and he and my mom were waiting for me.  As I was rounding the last corner there was a ragnar lady holding a flag directing me where to go and she could see I was out of gas.  She said "give it all you've got. you're there!"  so as I start to pathetically cry I start sprinting and she keeps yelling "push it!  push it!" and my mom caught me at the finish line.  Oh how that lady will never know how much I appreciated her yelling at me as my team had not made it out of the car yet to cheer me on.

If you are a runner you should definitely do a Ragnar.  The atmosphere is so fun and in california it is way easier to breathe because the air isn't so dry.  I will never do the wasatchback ragnar as I would rather die. I don't know if I would do it again as I get really sick and nauseated after I push myself long distances.  I laid in the fetal position once we reached the finish line and waited for 5 hours for our other van to finish their last 40 something miles.  Everyone else was boozing and eating pizza and it looked like a lot of fun.... well not the boozing part.  When our team got there i was finally feeling better and we got to run across the finish line all together when our last runner came in.

Team 'DOIN' IT FOR THE STICKER"

finally got the stickers!!!

family fitness

all our legs checked off!  Notice Julie did 4 as she was prepping for her marathon next month and ran my 6 mile midnight run with me

and I got sunburned.  That has helped distract from my incredibly sore calves.  I can't remember the last time I had a tan line though.  God bless aloe vera. 

kthnxbye

Family Partay for Aging in April

We had our April family party for all the birthdays this month.  Kiron, Afton, Danielle and Jake.  We had a fabulous breakfast for dinner meal thanks to Paula and key lime pie thanks to cheyenna... yum! don't tell I went off of my non sugar deal for a minute.

Afton pumped about her new justin bieber shirt we found for her

Danielle, Kiron, Afton, Jake

Tony and Mack

The decor we got for danielle's newly painted front room

Ryker teasing Tatum

Jake opening the sweet justin bieber card we got him

cowboy clovie

In our Primary class 6-7 year olds we had a challenge this week in sharing time.  They gave us a scripture and then told each kid to draw their own interpretation of it.... ours was "father forgive them for they know not what they do" and the part where they cast lots for his clothes.... uh how does a 6 year old draw that??  they all looked at us with blank faces and I said "uh, .... you could draw a heart for forgiveness?" So i was actually really proud of how well they did.  This one was definitely my favorite though.

And last but not least we had a visit from Jenny Lou and Rylan... possibly the studliest man child ever.

two more days til Ragnar....nervous nelly signing out

kthnxbye

Classic Skating Party!

So for anyone that knows me well.... you know i HATE skating.... of any kind.  I have hated Classic Skating since my first party invite.  I can't do it, I'm not exaggerating or being dramatic and I've left with many a goose egg.  This being my first time to not wear skates... I really enjoyed Kiron's bday party!  I rode his scooter while he was in the bounce house.  While we were a good two feet taller than all our other skate-mates we still had fun.  I even had light up wheels.

Tony and I got into a legitimate argument about if I would have to skate or not a couple nights before.  haha I'm grateful more than you know that these are our kind of arguments. Luckily the scooter sufficed.

Look at us!  We are so happy!

Kiron is the big 5 now!  And can I just say how wonderful it was to see how excited he got to open our present?!  It was a toy story wii game- two of his favorites- kudos to tony for picking it out.  Unfortunately he told us yesterday that he's not as excited because the game is really hard after he played it.

Beautiful family portrait

Some exciting news.... we are having yet ANOTHER baby added to this family.  Jake and Amanda sent Tatum out with a big sister shirt on yesterday after her nap!  What a surprise!  Cheyenna is also prego so we will have double babies this year.  Love that!

We are so happy to have jake and amanda back from egypt.  They brought us all presents (so nice of them) and "the tonys" were way pumped about their egyptian head wraps.

and we love ReAL

Easter post to come.  On the other camera.

kthnxbye

Play Date

Wednesday was my first day with Kiron and Clover.  Courtney was a peach and we met up at Del Taco for a little play place time for the little boys.  Then we went to our house and made some rice krispie easter nest treats.  Very cute idea- kudos Court! 

Have a happy Easter weekend!

Kthnxbye

Independently Awkward

Saturday morning I woke up to a text from miss Katie MacDonald asking if I wanted two tickets to conference for that morning.  We had them in our ward and kept forgetting to ask and I was so sad that we didn't get them.  So I quickly text Katie back and she told me that I could go pick them up and we had to be there by 9:30.  Well my friends it was 8:20.  Tony was just finishing a soccer game and couldn't make it back in time.  Mom and Danielle had 5 kids.  Kelsey was sweaty.  So I decided to brave it alone.  I brushed my hair and my teeth and changed my undies and I was off.  I was a sweaty mess by the time I did a kick A speedwalk from a few blocks away.  Holy cow the weather was perfect that morning... before it got all windy.  I found a nice girl with an extra seat next to her right before it started and then tried not to get distracted while she played draw something.

I cannot tell you how much easier it is to stay awake and listen to conference when you are there.  And I really love when the congregation stands up and sings with the choir.  Who doesn't love to sing "how firm a foundation" with a few thousand other saints and the prophets!  And it's so loud you don't even have to worry about sounding pretty when you are by yourself.  I got this beautiful pic.. it looks cooler cropped but oh well.

Tony rode trax down and met me for lunch and a little city creek exploring in between sessions.  I got to see my bff Drew who I have not seen for 2 or 3 years!!! It was the best to randomly cross the street at the same time.  I also got to see this pretty face which I haven't seen in a very long time either since she lives in OR.

Miss Kelly Goulding

And we got to eat at Hagermann's where I had the best sugar cookie as always and they accidentally gave me a choc chip cookie too and told me I could just keep it!  Blessings of conference.  City Creek was pretty but the best part was being with this face.

May you do something that makes you independently awkward... it's liberating.

kthnxbye