HALLOWEEN 2015!

We did a lot of trick-or-treating this year! We got to trick-or-treat at Disneyland, Intel, Ward Trunk-or-Treat and then regular trick-or-treating on Halloween.

SATURDAY (before Halloween): Emma's friends through a Halloween party - Emma has such good, fun friends this year - we love it!


TUESDAY: Alyza was staying with us while her parents were in Hawaii so we got to dress her up and take her to Intel with us - she had a great time and the boys loved taking her with them!






THURSDAY: While the kids were at school, Alyza and I made pumpkin cookies for dessert that night because we were taking the kids to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins and carve them for the first time (Eli and Emma carved many year ago, but since the twins have been born we have been doing the pumpkins where you stick the potato head pieces in them since it was much easier). The kids had fun finding the perfect pumpkin and they even did an amazing job carving them for themselves - they pretty much did it all on their own with a little help from dad - except Tyson - he worked long and hard on his all by himself! They made me laugh because pulling the insides of the pumpkins out totally grossed them out so while they ate their dinner and dessert, I did the dirty work - I totally remember hating it too when I was a kid!

FRIDAY: Haley Elementary had their annual Apex Fun Run and so after Jared and I did two bootcamp classes, we headed straight over to help with the fun run, then we ran and got some lunch, showered and headed back to school to help in the classrooms with parties (we are so sorry Tyler, we were so busy helping in your class that I left to snap pictures of your brothers so they didn't feel left out and I completely spaced your pictures - my bad buddy!) Tyler ran 45 laps, Tyson ran 55 laps and when we told Eli how many Tyson got he got big eyes and worked so hard to make sure he beat his baby brothers! Every lap he would ask us how many he had - yes buddy 63 laps - you beat them! 

SATURDAY NIGHT: Halloween night we got together with the Parry's for our traditional Halloween trick-or-treating and this year instead of having soups we switched it up to a nacho bar. It was a great time, tons of candy and the kids had a blast! (we even got chased down the street by psycho clowns carrying fake chain saws - the kids loved getting fake scared and running for their lives - they knew it was fake but I am pretty sure there was still some real terror behind those big eyes!) Where's Waldo and 3 Ninjas! 

 

LAKE POWELL HALF MARATHON!

Stephanie talked me into doing another half marathon - the big seller on this one was getting away for the weekend and going up to Page with our husbands and no kids....Sure, I will take a little weekend get-away and run a half marathon in the middle - easier said than done this time.

Stephanie and I didn't really train - we have no time these days. We did get up early every Saturday morning and meet at one of our homes to do the long runs - I believe we did 6, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12 - that's it - we never did the little runs in between. With the boys sports stating every saturday at 8am - that meant that we were meeting up usually at 5am to do our runs - it was brutal, but I loved running and catching up with her every Saturday.

Finally, it was time for the race. We headed up to Page about 2pm on Friday - grabbed Subway to eat and then headed to our hotel room. I alway get nervous the night before about bathroom issues that might occur during the race so I have to keep my eating pretty bland.

Jared wasn't going to run the race so he drove us to the starting line up at 6am and took pictures of our start and then met us at the finish line. This race had a lot more hills than I was really prepared for, plus it had a 2 mile trail run in the middle which meant there was no passing on the trail because you had to run single file because it was so narrow. Around mile 6 cells phones starting going off with a text that said "We apologize the lead runner took a wrong turn and you will be running a little more than 13 miles" - ya that turned into almost a 14 mile race. It was brutal. As soon as we hit the down hill after the trail my knee was messed up - I had to lay on the road and try to stretch it out. Poor Steph had to stop a couple of times during the race and try to stretch out her knee as well. Despite all the complaints - it was the prettiest race I have ever run, it was beautiful to run past the lake, see all the red rock/mountains in the area and it was overcast and slightly sprinkling so it was awesome (still nothing beats the Disney race so that is in a class of it's own). This was the hardest race I have ever done, my worst time I have ever gotten (Granted it was an extra mile long), but I would do it again with them. As soon as I crossed the finish line I told Blake not to ask me to do this again because I wouldn't - well I really would!

Stephanie and I couldn't walk after the race - we both hurt so bad. The boys went and got the car for us and picked us up and we went back to the hotel, took a quick shower and headed out for some breakfast/lunch. We were hurting during that meal. Then we went back to the hotel for naps. Then we left to go sight see Page a little bit and get some dinner. Then we went back to the hotel. I laid there in bed, took pain meds and sweet Jared was able to jimmy rig me 2 ice packs and I kept them on my knees - thank heavens Jared didn't mind being a bum that trip - cause it was total hanging out in the hotel room relaxing and trying to get the knee pains to go away. Bless his heart.

Sunday we got up, got ready, grabbed some breakfast and hit the road to come home. It was a great trip and a great race and now that I feel better - I hope we go and do it again! (my time was 2 hours and 45 minutes - nothing to brag about, but with the added distance, hills, trails and not really training - I will take it with a smile!)