Firecracker 5k

Striking my best running pose (now you see why I'm slow?)

I do realize I still haven't posted about the Beach to Chowder Run, but I am still waiting on pictures, and what is a good blog without pictures? All you need to really know about that run in order for the tale of this run to be exquisite is my time, so spoiler alert, I got an embarrassing 42:00. Between the conditions, my out-of-shapeness and lack of training, and my poor will power that was my first 5k time. Luckily, it gave me a long way to go. Lots of room for improvement.

The Runners! My coach and trainer, support and hero! is it just me or do I still look tired?

So going into today my big goal was to PR, by at least a minute or two. Unfortunately, it seems you always go into a race with something wrong (look at me talk like I am some saged runner now!) and this was no exception. I had done some jumping exercises earlier in the week that my poor tiny calves are still sore from and I had been able to run all week. On top of that, with all my nervousness I forgot to take my inhaler, oops. So those were my negatives, but I did have one really big positive, Jesse. Alesha was supposed to do this run with me, but in what may have been a stroke of luck she bailed at the last minute and Jesse filled in. He is great at pushing me either because he is an awesome motivator or I just don't want to look to dumb in front of him.

Jesse, not really nervous. Running with me would be a breeze, even with a hurt ankle.
I, however, was a nervous wreck! I peed twice before the race and could have made it three.
We were trying to be red, white, and blue patriotic! Not many others were feeling the spirit here.

Whichever it is I was looking forward to getting to Elma and starting the race, but in another stroke of bad luck, the thing was poorly ran and the race started an hour late, so we did a lot of standing around. Once we finally started, I took my place in the back and headed off for 3.1 miles of torture. Why I run hasn't officially kicked in yet. Jesse thinks I just do it to get dressed up and have some place to go. He is probably right. I definitely still struggled today, but it was better. I ended up PRing by 3 min and 19 sec. We crossed the line at 38 min 41 sec. Due to lack of runners it was good enough for a medal (second in my division) and Jesse won his division. He could have easily won the whole thing if he didn't have to stay with me. This was definitely more of a triathlon event.

Just after the race and happy to be done.
What our medal's look like, still cracks me up that we got em.

Now I am at a crossroad. I have a super competitive nature and I hate not being good at things. Initially, I think part of why I took up running is because it is the only competitive type sport I can really do around here. However, I will never have the time or discipline to be as good as I would want to be, but I might be able to be decent. So do I keep doing this thing I hate for sport or do I just keep running/walking to stay in shape and just do the occasional race for fun? Or hey, do I stop running all together since it sucks! It is just so weird that we have some kind of racing event like every weekend. When did we become a racing family? Jesse did say it is nice to be getting out and doing something like this. I do believe I have to credit Stacie for the inspiration and lately her inspiration (Tall Mom on the Run) for getting me interested in racing and being good at it, although I have no aspirations of running long distances. Just too boring for me. I will always just be a sprinter. Ok, that is too crazy that I just called 3 miles, a sprint!

Girls Weekend

Sometimes, you just need to get away, and I had really been feeling like that lately. I love my life (husband, kids, etc) but I just wanted some me time. So I planned a weekend with my sisters, and our honorary sister Heidi, to go up and stay in a hotel in Seattle and partake in some kid free activities.

After figuring out some last minute kid watching situations (thanks again Jesse for saving the day), we headed out for the ultimate girl activity, pedicures! We tried to soak up and enjoy every minute of relaxation in our massage chairs while trying to not to laugh as our feet were being rubbed. Some were more successful than others at that.

With our toes looking all cute we went over to Olive Garden to stuff ourselves full of bread sticks and salad, and did quite a good job. I could barely move the rest of the day. After that we headed north, but unfortunately we hit some traffic and this started to make some minor problems in Alesha's car much worse. Suddenly, every stop was loud and shaky. Not good. By the time we reached Lynnwood, hours later, we were so happy to be out of that car, but poor Alesha was so worried about her car.

Once we checked into our super nice, for us, suite, we went to the pool for some play time. We had it mostly to our self so like grown ups, we played some Marco polo and then hit the hot tub. Poor Heidi was still sick from the car ride so we didn't stay there long. We went back to the room and made plans for the evening. Melia wanted a haircut, something drastic, so we called and got her an appt, and figured that would be a fun surprise for Spencer. As you can see her hair was very long. They even gave it to us in a bag to send to locks of love.

By the time we got back to the hotel we were all tired, how lame I know, but we settled in for the night, did some masks, gave backrubs, ate junkfood, watched tv, and went to bed around midnight.

In the morning Alesha took her car in to get it fixed and then we had some breakfast before my sister in law Raya came to the rescue and picked us up for some beautiful, wonderful, kid free shopping! No girl trip is complete without shopping so we went to the Seattle Premium Outlets in Marysville and I was in heaven. I may have been able to spend all day there, but for everyone else's consideration I tried to keep the stores to a minimum. We did work up quite the appetite talking Heidi out of TWO pairs of expensive sunglasses, so we finished the day with a late lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory. The meal took a long time but that was ok, our waiter was great and the food was awesome so we just ate and talked. Heidi and Raya realized they have quite a few people in common, small world I guess. By then Alesha's car was fixed, and we loaded up and headed on our way. Everyone was tired and possibly not as recharged as we should have been, but we had a lot of fun. Thanks girls!

Sunshine, sprinklers, and wheelbarrows...everything that's wonderful

With our sudden burst of sun we decided to take advantage by getting the hose out for the kids one night and Erica put on her spinning Elmo sprinkler. This was Brady's first encounter with any such object and he didn't shy away at all. In fact he was determined at all costs, no matter how much water was getting in his face, to reach Elmo. He loved the water. Him and Madison couldn't get enough. Parker wasn't a huge fan and Peyton was only semi-interested. It was great to get the kids outside for awhile.

That is totally a poopy face! Glad I could share it with the world.

Starting his way in...

Getting his first sprays in the face...

Take a quick break close to the goal...

And too much water too handle, this is as close as he got.



Then Saturday, Jesse got a wave of energy and decided to do some yard work. It became too darn cute when Peyton wanted to lend a hand. So he would do scoop after scoop with his tiny little sand shovel, picking up a few rocks and putting them in the wheelbarrow. He did it almost the whole time, what a big helper.

Just Dance!

My sister in law Raya turned 30 this year and she wanted to celebrate by being Thirty, Flirty, and Thriving! What other option was there but to throw on our heels and shake our groove things. She had the brilliant idea to take off our mommy hats completely for the night, get all dolled up and go clubbing. I LOVE to dance, and haven't truly busted a move in years so I was fully on board. The husbands needed a little more persuasion, so they were given the option to come or stay home and watch the kids. They came.

We didn't go to the club we had originally planned on and ended up at one that was a little more "bend over to the front and touch your toes" then show us your best moves, but we still had a blast. The girls got to shake what our mommas' gave us and the men ended up with some really good "remember when?" stories, (remember your boyfriend?) I would love to go dancing at our original pick, Trinity, sometime on a Friday night when KISS is DJing and see what a real club is like. Thank you so much for the awesome time Raya!

Before hand we went shopping for some clubbing clothes and found this gem. It was hard to pass up the purchase. Overall, the shopping was more stressful than anything because it is hard to find something glitzy and modest at the same time!

Jesse and I after getting prepped for the evening, just waiting for the action to begin.

This is the whole group all amped up and ready to go. From left is Lonny, Angel, Jesse, Me, Nathan, and Raya. If you notice Lonny is totally popping his booty too!

I just love that Jesse is jumping out behind me and Nathan is peeping (creepily) out behind Jesse.

The three dancing divas. We were all hoping to be hot enough not to be considered moms for one night but just sexy chicas!

We had to wait outside the club for a while and decided to mug it up. Three girls in front of us were escorted in and the guys were nice enough to give us permission to ditch them if we were given that opportunity. Not surprisingly, it never happened.

The guys are doing the Night at the Roxbury head bob. It was raining a bit and they were being such good troopers.

I am not quite sure what we are doing but we sure look silly!

If you don't know what WHOO girls are they are those girls that WHOO at everything when out for night. Our songs on WHOOO, our drinks came WHOOOO, we are standing WHOOOO. So we wanted to be WHOOO girls too and this guy didn't want to miss out on that opportunity. He was an excellent WHOO girl!

We are trying to capture the feel of the club and how crowded it was. More than once we had to booty bounce someone out of the way.

After grabbing a bite at a fake Denny's we headed home to catch some zzzz's but not before posing for an after pic. We all look surprisingly alive for 3 or 4 in the morning.

Peyton is 3 (Well he has been for a while now!)

There is no true excuse for the delay in this blog. Peyton's Birthday was a month ago and I am just now getting around to this. Maybe I wanted to make sure this 3 thing was gonna stick.

This year his party was sponsored by the letter 3 and the number p, but other than that, there was no real theme or hoopla. Just a low key family get together. Luckily, it didn't rain and we were able to be outside. Our first b-day at our new
house, that is still weird. The kids could have spent all day just eating cookies and playing, but we made him open presents and sing Happy Birthday, otherwise we did just let them be this time. It was crazy to think of him as a three year old, I don't feel old enough to have a three year old, and Peyton doesn't always act that old. He had a great time playing with his cousins and his new toys, though. Unfortunately, he got a bunch of great outdoor toys and it has rained almost every day since, so he hasn't been able to enjoy them much since. Thanks to everyone who came, and good luck to us on the next year!


I swear this is Peyton's favorite place to hang out. Jesse hates it when the kids get on here, though.

Peyton's cake wasn't too fancy this year, just cupcakes, but we did have some trouble lighting it with the wind.

After all the Birthdays he's been too, Peyton is really getting the hang of the blowing out the candles thing. He loves to do it at others' birthdays as well.

P and Izzy enjoying the cupcakes. At first P was just licking the frosting off the top of his. He quickly learned that is the best part of cakes, cookies, doughnuts. What a smart kid!

We tried to make him sit down and do presents, but he still wasn't totally into it. Everytime he opened one he would want to go play with it, which I can't blame him for. We eventually got him to rip through all of them, though.

The kids all liked taking turns riding in the red wagon that we got Peyton. I just love Madison and Izzy's smiles.

Peyton's cousin Brynlee and her huge flower, I just love it, that is why you have girls!

Once Brady got up the babies all had a binky war. It was the cutest thing ever. Parker had size over the other two, but Brynlee was quite fiesty. In the end, Brady did wind up with one, not his but he got one.

Peyton was trying to ride his lawn mower, I just don't know what to say about it.

I don't know if you remember the picture from Peyton's picture Birthday last year, but I had all the pregnant ladies there pose and this year we were all there again, so we posed with our babies. From left to right is Raya with Brynlee, Me with Brady, Heidi with Kannon, and Erica with Parker.