2008... So Far!

No, we are not dead! Sometimes I feel dead after a long day with 4 kids, which is probably why this blog has been on the back burner! 2008 has been CRAZY! It's only March and already I've run a marathon, Claudia had her 1st flute recital, turned 10 and had a slumber party with 12 girls and got her 1st boyfriend, celebrated Valentines Day, Julia lost her front tooth, Georgia learned to speak spanish and use the words correctly, I went to Santa Cruz with Ryan for the weekend, had a big ward Easter Egg hunt, had a party for Bear who just turned 1, and I'm getting ready to take a road trip to Oregon to visit Jessica right after Easter Sunday. The girls are off track so they are all home ALL day!!! So here are some pictures to document the reason for my endless exhaustion...

AZ Marathon
I can't believe I haven't blogged about this yet. I think it was so physically and emotionally overwhelming that even trying to convey the experience in writing is impossible. I can't even think of the words to describe how I feel about that accomplishment... so I won't try. I'll just say that besides the birth of my children, it was THE most fulfilling day of my life so far.

We couldn't afford for my family to come so I flew to AZ by myself on Thursday night. Alli of course was there and my mom also flew in to support us. My brother Jeff, who works for a company that organizes relay marathons, was there working at the Expo and so Missy (the first marathoner in our family) got to come and brought her 2 cute kids too. I have to admit that I was looking forward to the "break" without my kids, (I just had to laugh that I considered running a marathon a break!) until I saw my cute niece and nephew and really started to miss my family. I think I probably called Ryan 10 times that day crying cause I missed them and wanted them to be there to cheer me on and hold me up at the finish line.

Friday night we all got in the car to go to dinner. I started feeling sick so when we pulled into the Peter Piper Pizza parking lot (which I thought was a weird choice given we were mostly adults) I told them I needed to lay down for a minute and to call me when the pizza was ready. So a few minutes later I got up (still feeling a little gross) and walked into the restaurant to see my entire family standing there. I seriously started crying. I'm crying right now just thinking about how much that meant to me. Ryan packed all the kids and drove the 12 hours just to surprise me. He had it planned for a couple weeks and I never even suspected! I didn't feel sick after that.

Then Jessica surprised us and flew in which was so fun! She is the best. She helped my girls make posters for Alli and I and helped Ryan with my kids which I know couldn't have been that fun considering she didn't have to bring hers. Not only does she crack me up more than anyone else, (Jeff is a close second) she is the kindest, most selfless person I know and I love her so much. I am so glad she came because it wouldn't have been the same without her there. She always brings something special. Okay - enough chit chat... Here's the good stuff!

This is our "before" picture. Notice the makeup.

They finally showed up to cheer us on around mile 20.

Those last 10 miles were a killer but we pushed on and when we finally turned the corner and could see the finish line we grabbed hands and cheered for ourselves so loud when we crossed.... then silence. The whole gang had got stuck in traffic and missed it. They felt so bad and cried but Alli and I didn't care. We were just so glad it was over! This is our reenactment since no one was there to take pictures of us crossing the finish!

We couldn't walk the next day - kind of like after you have your first baby. We went to breakfast and some guy said to my mom that we looked like we just ran a marathon and I must admit it was really fun saying "That's because we just did!"

I seriously can't wait to do another one. Not cause I love to run, but man - I love to eat like I'm training for a marathon.... so I guess I need to keep training!

Snow Trip