Sophie's first day of Kindergarten

Yes, I am a bad mom, I am late getting these pics posted on here. Happy Kindergarten, Sophie!

We did it!

Just got home from running in my first 5K (and yes, I said first. I hope there will be many more to come!). Chad ran it too, and Rebecca, my running buddy. It helped so much to have Rebecca there - she was my own personal cheerleader. Which I really appreciated because the first mile felt pretty awful. By the second mile, I was a running machine. And halfway into the third mile was pretty good too. But that last 1/2 mile about killed me. And there was Rebecca, telling me I was looking great and saying strange things like, "Come on, sprint the last stretch! You can do it!" I couldn't, but I tried.

And the next thing you know, I was seeing Chad up ahead cheering me across the finish line. After about passing out and having to sit down for a few, it dawned on me what I had done and I admit it, I started to cry. I NEVER in my whole life thought I would EVER run a 5K! And where I have been, a 3.1-mile run was almost a physical impossibility. So I have come a very long way. Hopefully, I will keep the momentum going and get a bit further!
Oh, and by the way...I took 4th place in my age bracket, which I am very proud of (although I was only competing with 9 other runners).
Chad, my super-overachieving-husband, got 3rd place in his bracket. Great job, Chad!

Surprise Getaway

A few weeks ago, Chad surprised me with a trip to Salt Lake for General Conference weekend. And a visit to BYU. And a dose of Fall weather. I have provided visual highlights of the trip.
We rented a "luxury" car. We thought we would be getting a mustang or a cadillac. But no, that's a Lincoln Towncar. My grandma would have LOVED it.

We stayed at the Anniversary Inn, in The Sultan's Palace theme room. It had a great tub. But no shower. The breakfast was yummy, though.
Then we visited all the spots at BYU that are meaningful to us. To kind of relive the past. This is the stairway where Chad spoke to me for the first time.

Here we are on the stairway.

This is the classroom where we took anatomy together. This is the sight I saw almost every day that semester. Chad staring at me. I thought he was kind of weird.

This is how it looked from Chad's point of view.

This is where Chad lived the whole time we dated. I spent A LOT of time at Moon Apartments (site of the famous lumpy pancake incident).

We went to the Sunday morning session of Conference at the Conference Center. It was HUGE and absolutely amazing. I loved it when President Monson came into the room - every person there (roughly 24,000) silently stood up in respect for the prophet of God. You could have heard a pin drop. It was a great experience that you just don't get when watching conference from the family room couch.


And here is the highly anticipated and much-wished-for Fall foliage.


Of course, one of the biggest highlights was seeing my family. Danielle (my sister-in-law who kindly took the picture of us and the Grandma Car) and her kids, two sisters (Kay and Teri, who fed us and let us watch the second session of conference in her cabin), two nephews and one niece-in-law (who let us watch the latest episode of The Office at her home).
I cannot believe all we accomplished in three days. It truly felt like a week. Thanks to Jenedy and Victor Eggleston for staying with our kids (and you don't know the half of it - they even watched General Conference with our kids two days in a row!) - we didn't even worry about the kids.
Thanks, Chad, for the best surprise trip ever! Such a success!

Fall in Southern California

Well, you can always tell that California fall has arrived when the Santa Ana winds start blowing. For those of you who have never been in CA in the fall, those are hot, hard winds that come in off the desert. They dry everything out in hours. The Santa Ana's started blowing today at about 9:30am.
This is what they do to our pool:


Two hours later, this is what I saw out my bedroom window:

Chad

Before haircut:
After:

My husband is so hot.

Do I look young?

I just got my hair cut. And began the process of going brunette (we're weaving it in a little at a time so I won't be too shocked and cry). I like it, but no one else in my family said very much about it.

But then I drove into the music school parking lot to pick up Sam and Adam from their music lessons...Adam looked at me, glanced away, then looked at me again and made a funny gesture with his hand. I thought he was giving me a hard time for being a little late. When he got in the car, he said, "This looked like our car, but then I thought - no way, that lady looks too young to be my mom!"

I could have kissed him. That made my day!

It's official

I have decided to run a 5K.

I can't believe I just wrote that. I hate running and have tried repeatedly to incorporate it into my life but to no avail. Sore calves, shin-splints, and by the time I get home, numb feet. Every time. And I still get that, but I am powering through it. I have been walk/running every morning for about two months now, and the emotional benefits are undeniable...I call it my "sanity run" for a reason!

So anyway, it seems to be the trendy thing right now to run 5-10K's and after all, that is a really good goal to work toward. So I am committing to run a 5K within the next 6 months (I would say 3, but I am having trouble finding one on a Saturday in the fall and winter).

I am running most of 2 miles a day right now, but I hope to be up to 3/day by October. Which may not sound like much but I have to take baby steps or I will collapse and die.

Someday I will be able to walk/run to Zion with one of my children on my back. If I need to.


UPDATE! The race is on! October 24, the October Classic in Ojai. Chad is running it with me, as well as my racing inspiration, Rebecca G. Thanks, Rebecca!