What was I thinking?!!

In the past 6 months, I have MAYBE ran a total of 5 times. Each run no longer than 2 miles. And once in a while I would try to get out and rollerblade or bike ride. It's just hard for me to find time and motivation. But when I heard about London's Run I told myself to just DO IT.

There were three options: Half Marathon (absolutely not) -- 10K (6.2 miles.....yikes) -- and the 2 mile "fun run" (Fun?).

My first choice was to run the 2 miles, with the excuse of wanting to donate blood afterwards. (They had a station there.) Then my sister Jill, who I was planning to run with, had to work that day. So I called Jennifer. She is one of my best friends from high school and the closest person I have to a personality twin. We both ran Cross Country together at Westwood and decided upon the 10k.

It was a blast running with her again. The race was hard. We both laugh. A ton. So with happiness also comes sadness. I had cramps from giggling until I finally worked them out around mile 4.5. It was pretty painful. I surprised myself with the running part. Yes, I was slower than I used to be, but I did it. We ended up with this awesome shot, which I am seriously thinking about buying because it wraps up our whole run.

That picture is from the last turn before heading to the finish line and we are STILL SMILING, just as we did the entire race. That specific smile capture is when we told ourselves to catch this guy in front of us and pass him. That action was quickly defeated when...... we think ........ the guy heard us and started making his sprint for the finish. We couldn't catch him.

I'm so stinkin' sore today.

Good times.

Uncle Missionary

Well, it's Kevin's turn.

Yesterday was my brother's "farewell". I could tell he was nervous during his talk but he did a great job. He told some good jokes, but also made some touching statements. These certain topics brought tears to some family members. Kevin was one of those members. One of the "ice breaking"comments he told, at the start, was a caution from oldest brother, Brian, who promised to beat up any sissy that cried at the podium.

Kevin tried to hold in the tears for quite a while, but when they came, he knew he was in trouble. At one point he looked down into the congregation and his eyes found the bully. Brian held up a single fist at chin height -- another warning of what was to come.

Kevin, while trying to hide his laughter and attempting to slow down the tears with a deep breath, made a disturbing sound. It was a loud, sobbing, snore-like, gasp of air. To which his reply was, "Oh my!". Those words that made fun of himself saved Kevin from even more family ridicule. It was awesome.

On another note..... my sister, Jill, and I pulled a little Tia and Tamara move. We both showed up to the meeting wearing black tops, pink skirts, and black shoes. The funniest part was that the skirt I was wearing was Jill's and vice versa. Aaahhh sisters.

Safety First

Because potty training really IS dangerous...........

Two Weeks of CRAZINESS

For Christmas, both mine and Jeff's families decided to go on trips rather than spend money on gifts this year.

With the Gardners, we went up to snowy Flagstaff and stayed at a super nice home. There were enough rooms and plenty of space to accomodate us all. There were 13 adults and 10 kids, but most the time it sounded like a lot more. Each family was in charge of a day's activities. There was a birthday party, sledding, raquetball tournament, no-kids-game-night, movies, The Polar Express, and lots of Wii Dodgeball. The funnest part about any family trip is just spending some quality down time with everyone.

We had a lot of fun! Here are some highlights:

Griffin and Kai absolutely LOVED the Polar Express train ride. Thank you Grandma Hope and Grandpa Tom!!!

We drove straight from Flagstaff to Anaheim, CA to meet up with the DeWitts. The week would consist of Knott's Berry Farm -- for sure -- and then all who wanted to (or could -- $$$) had the opportunity to go to Disneyland and Universal Studios. The resort we stayed at had different activities each day. Craft projects, water games, movie night, game night, BINGO night, ping pong tournament, etc.

Knott's is always my favorite part and the boys seemed to love it just as much. Kai, willing to try anything, put his arms up on practically every ride he went on. So funny!

Jeff researched and found a fun children's museum we went to one of the days.

And, of course, you can't have a DeWitt trip without lots of laughs, wall/mirror art, and a depanting of some sorts. This trip it was Allan AND Katie. But I only got pictures of Allan's moment.

Thanks for the good times!!