Cincinnati Half Marathon

On October 22nd I did my FIRST half marathon. I say first with such emphasis because I think I am hooked and want to do more! Four of my friends and I had been training since mid-July and after many EARLY Saturday morning runs, the big day finally came. We drove down to Cincinnati on Friday the 21st and checked into the hotel(we actually stayed in Tennessee, just on the other side of the river from Ohio). Then we drove downtown to pick up packets with shirts, bibs, and timing chips. After that we headed back to the hotel. We got a little side tracked on our way back when our GPS took us to a random small road that led to the river and said "board ferry". Cameron was very excited for this little adventure and we ended up riding for free because we had no idea what we were doing and got on before we knew you had to have cash, which we didn't, so the people were nice and felt bad for the dumb out-of-towners and let us stay on. We had ordered pizza with the Coils, but they ended up LOSING our order and after making some heated phone calls and talking to the manager, we got the pizza for free(yay). We at the pizza when it FINALLY got there and went to bed shortly after that. Sara, Shay and I planned to meet in the lobby of the hotel at 6:45am to head downtown for the race together. We met up and headed to the race start. It was FREEZING... like literally. I didn't bring a jacket with me or wear long pants or long sleeves because I knew I wouldn't want them once I was a few miles into the race, but that made waiting for the start very cold and seem longer than it actually was. We really didn't do much waiting around. Just went to the bathroom in a line about 60 people long, and then got lined up a few minutes after that. It took me 4 or 5 miles just to get to the point that I could feel my fingers and toes again. After that I was able to get into a pretty good groove and felt totally fine... UNTIL miles 12 and 13. Those were killer and I was just tired. I definitely owe making it to the end and running the whole way to my friend Mamie who ran the whole way with me and we definitely pushed each other when we needed it. I also owe ALOT to Shay and Sara for being my moral support through it all. We have seen each other through a lot of rough days(running and not) and I could not have done it without them. I think overall the race went really well for being my first one. I was happy with my time (2:21:19.2), and it was just so fun to do with friends and see all our husbands and kids cheering us on at the finish line.

Grant on the drive down to Cincinnati. I made the mistake of giving him the whole can of baby cheeto things... but it kept him happy for a while, so whatever.

Cameron took this picture on his phone while I was getting my race packet. I liked it and Cameron said Grant loved the leaves and was running around like a wild man in the huge field of grass by the packet pickup.

After picking up my packet we walked around the cool park by the river. This is the guy Cincinnati is named after.

watching the ferry come to pick us up

on the ferry crossing the river

Mamie and I running the last 50 yards to the finish line.

Grant and I RIGHT after crossing the finish line. I could barely hold him (:

oh, and look at his shirt! It says "Run Mommy Run" We actually got it in some hand-me-down clothes by chance and it was PERFECT. I loved it!

Thanks Mamie!

Me, Shay and Sara

YAY! WE DID IT!!!

The whole group that did it

After the race...Even though it was pretty chilly, it was VERY sunny. That's why Grant isn't

looking at the camera and I am squinting pretty bad.

The next half marathon has already been scoped out. I am going to train for it, but am going to register as soon as I know if Cameron and I will even be living here in May so I can do it. Getting pumped already!

Sleeping video

Grant had Croup about a month ago. We took this video on the first day that we knew he was definitely sick, but thought it was just a cold. We could tell he was feeling horrible and even called the dr to see if we should bring him in right then, but it was 6pm so she said unless we wanted to bring him to the ER we would just need to wait till the morning and she could get us in first thing. So we decided to just wait and get him something to eat really quick and put him to bed early. Well, this is what happened when we were trying to feed him before putting him to bed...

He falls asleep and then keeps eating WHILE he's sleeping! SO funny! We knew we had a talented kid, but this is just above and beyond (:

Road Trip to Rhode Island

Last week we made an impromptu trip to Rhode Island. Cameron had applied to a Nurse Anesthesia school there and they called to see if we could be there within a few days for an interview so we told them yes, then madly figured out Cameron's work schedule and got people to cover our church stuff for us. So Tuesday morning we all loaded up in the car and got ready for the 11 hour drive there. It wasn't as bad as I was imagining and Grant did great. We drove all day Tuesday, played in the pool and helped Cameron study up for his interview Wednesday morning, he went to the interview in the afternoon and then we got something to eat, walked home in the cold and rain in downtown Providence(fun times), and went to bed. Then we got up bright and early Thursday and got back in the car for the drive home. SUPER fast trip, but it will be worth it if he gets into school!- we won't know anything until December.

Here is a sample of the things he did to keep himself busy. I had also gone to the dollar section at Target the night before and bought just about every toy that looked like it might keep him entertained for a while, and i'm glad I did because all those things together really helped.

Coloring... not quite sure he knew what the point of it all was, but it was one more thing to take up a few minutes.

Watching Backyardigans. He really only likes the beginning and ending of the show for some reason. He would dance and move around for those parts, but lose interest during the actual show. It kept him occupied for maybe 30 minutes.

Eating a fruit leather thing. He loved them

I brought a small cookie sheet and a bunch of colorful magnets... He enjoyed playing around with those until he decided the magnets were more fun to throw on the floor.

ahhhhh... nap time

Grant played with this aluminum foil for a bit-look at his crazy hair! funny

And finally pulling out the big guns... I had hoped that we wouldn't have to resort to this, but the last hour we were in desperate need of something else, so we gave him a dum dum. He quite enjoyed it and it kept him happy for quite a while.

...you can tell he is a little loopy and sick of the car. He started putting the sucker in his nose and eyes and laughing... he LOVES anything and everything sticky!

I realized on our way home that I really only took like three pictures not in the car... but since most of our trip was in the car, I guess that's fitting.

pool time at the hotel

He liked to climb out of the pool(by himself using the ladder on the side I might add-how does he know how to do that!?!?), and walk over to the chairs and try each one out and then run (which was dangerous and slippery) and jump back in to Cameron.

Wasting time during Cameron's interview...Looking out the window in our hotel room. He would wave and yell at the people on the street below.

Watching dad gas up the car before heading home

Grant was doing so well the whole way home that we hardly had to stop at all and then the last 1.5 hours he was just not happy so when we saw this huge field of grass at a vineyard visitor center, we pulled over and played for about 20 minutes. We just all ran around and had fun. There were lots of older couples who were pointing at us and laughing. I'm sure they were just thinking " I wish we had been that fun of parents when we were younger" (: OR they might have been thinking "those people are crazy and need to compose themselves"... either one is fine.

"FREEDOM!"

playing with mom

There was a big hill of Grass and Cameron rolled down it several times with Grant. You can see how dirty he is from it, but they both LOVED every minute as you can tell by their faces. oh, Grant didn't have pants on because we didn't see that his water had tipped upside down in the car and his pants were soaking wet. So we took them off for the last hour of the drive.

This was about 30 minutes from home. I was desperately trying to keep him awake so he would go to bed as soon as we got home, so I handed him a glow stick that Cameron had bought for the trip thinking it would keep him occupied-- didn't work (:

And here are some random pictures from the past month or so...

We were at the park one afternoon and there was limitless grass to play in, but Grant grabbed a stick and went to the 3ft by 3ft space of dirt and started playing in the dirt.

We used to have our tv on this trunk, but we have made some changes and moved things around and now Grant loves to play on and in it. This day he thought it was fun to get in the trunk and then pile all his toys in around him.

Grant LOVES to wrestle Cameron

At the park for some of the last warmer days

just a cute toothy smile

I was folding clothes one day and Grant pulled Cameron's BYU jersey out of the pile and was playing with it, so I decided to try it on him. It was super cute, but he was running around so crazy that all the pictures are blurry.

Helping mom clean... in a super cute/funny outfit

He likes to push Callie on her bike

At the park

trying on mom's swimcap

Grant had another bad fall a couple weeks ago. Cameron was reading stories to him just before bed, on our bed. When they started to gather the books to put them away Grant crawled to the edge of the bed a few times to grab books so when he started going over to the edge again Cameron assumed that's what he was going to do again, but then he just dove off the end, hitting his head hard on the hardwood floors! It instantly looked SOOO bad. Cameron felt SO bad. I was remarkably fine, but now we have each been responsible for a bad fall of Grant's so there shouldn't be anymore right??? I doubt it, he is all boy!

side view

This was his face when I told him he had to get out of the bath. Oh boy, this kid is going to give us a run for our money!

just a sad, cute face

How he is almost every Sunday on the way home from church. He immediately grabs his "sticky" and falls asleep before we are even out of the parking lot.