St George Painters Half Marathon

Well I did it! I want to thank Amy for talking me into doing this, other wise I would have never done it.
I started training for this a while ago and was pretty dilligent about following the routine I was supposed to follow, well most of the time. The bad thing was I did all of my training on a treadmill. So when it came to running outside on asphalt it was really tough for me.

The plan was to leave on Thursday afternoon around 1. When Kris left that morning he took my car to Sears to get new tires on it (why did you need to know we had to put tires on the car, well keep reading) Well we left at one, ran by the office so I can clean it a little bit, after that we got on the freeway to head out of town and noticed that the cruise control didnt work. So we stopped off at our wonderful mechanic at Layton Tunex to have him check it out. Looked over it and said it could be a few things but it would take some time to get the part in. We said well order the part and when we get back we will fix it. No sooner we get on the car wouldnt shift into another gear. Now if you dont know all ready we had to put a new tranie in the car a month ago (dumb FORDS). So my first thought was great the tranie is out all ready. Went back to the shop and found out that is was some thing that tells the computer to tell it something and gosh I really dont know what it is called. So they ordered it and after waiting for what seemed like forever (it wasnt) they got it fixed and at 4 we were on our way. Thanks guys at Tunex for getting right to it and getting it done for us.
On the way down right about Fillmore it was snowing and the wind was blowing like crazy. We were pretty scared for a little bit but of course Kris being the cautious driver he is got us there safely.
Friday we took our time getting ready and rested then meet my parents at the place where the race was going to start and checked that out, then they took us to a museum there. It was pretty cool! Then we went back to the house we were staying at and chilled there for a bit then meet my parents for dinner.
Saturday I got up at 7 had some yogart and we were at the race by 8:15. Race started at 9 and away I went. At mile two a horse jotted down the street with us (it got out of the field) and I shedded my jacket because I was getting hot all ready. At mile 9 I started to have some really sharp pain in my knees. At mile 10.5 I hurt so bad I felt like my knees shattered. So I figured before that my pace was about 8 mins/mile. However after my knees started to hurt I lost so much time. I was such a baby because I started to cry as people I passed long time ago where starting to pass me. Anyway I finished the race and pretty much dropped into my dads arms. Kris had lifted Broc on the other side so he can finish it with me and that was neat, would have been better if I wasnt hurting so bad. After i crossed the finish line all I wanted to do was get in the car and get back to the house to put ice on my knees.

What an accomplisment for myself I am proud of myself for doing it and hope to do it again next year, however this summer I will train more. And my Dad said he would do it with me if I did it again, so that right there is reason enough for me to do it again. So till next year everyone!
Oh yeah I am sure you all want to know my time......

It was 2:38 mins.
You can check out the race http://strideracing.com/2010/st-george-half-marathon-5k.html
P.S.
As you look at the pics you can tell how excited I was about the race and you can certainly tell when I started hurting as that is when I started walking and of course my face tells it all. So dont laugh at the pics with my silly face!

CTR RIng

Surprise Party

I have to admit, sometimes it is hard for me to keep a secret, especially if it is a good one. However I kept a very good secret for almost two weeks.
My Dad is turning 60 this Thursday, my mom had talked about throwing him a party but this weekend they will be with us in St. George. So she didn't know when to do it.

So I rallied up the troops (my brother and sisters) and we put together a great surprise party. The best surprise of all was my sister that lives in New Mexico flew in on Thursday to be here for the party.

Thursday night she arrived and my sister Kristin and I went down to the airport to pick her up. And of course since us native California girls love In-N-Out we picked her up and headed there. There are two here in the Salt Lake Valley, one in Draper by the outlets and one in Jordan Landing. Jordan Landing was closer so we traveled there, however I thought Jordan Landing was the same as Jordan Commons, so we went clear on the East side of SLC looking for this dumb place and couldn't find it. So Kristin calls information and gets the headquarters to In-N-Out and asks for directions. Since they aren't in the state she really had no idea where to tell us to go. She starts to ask Kristin where we are at, and I said "by the chevron" the lady was like "well that really isn't going to help me" She was very nice and very funny in her efforts to help us find the best hamburger joint. After driving around for about 45 mins, we figured out that is was Jordan Landing on the West side of SLC and not Jordan Commons on the East side. We get to Jordan Landing and we are driving all around this dumb place and still cant find it. Finally we pull over and ask a lady and she says "oh its right behind the AT&T store right there" we drive over there and again NO In-N-Out! Finally we found it by Target, not AT&T. By that time we were so hungry and my poor little niece was so hungry, and it was so worth driving all over the valley to find the place. What was worse part, well the fact that we could have just got on Bangeter highway and been there in five minutes from the airport. But I took the scenic route!

Friday we finished all the preparations for the party, then my brother and his family came over and we played pool and the kids played around. We had so much fun playing pool, however Tara and I suck at pool and Erik, well he is okay, but then there is Cami, she was really good. I need to get her one of those gloves that professionals wear.

Since my siblings were all here and since it had been so long since we had taken pictures of us, we decided to go to a park and take some pics with just the four of us. Oh my goodness, we had so much fun. We were silly, crazy, and had the funniest faces. I had such a good time with them, it reminded me how much I love my brother and sisters and how much fun we can have with one another. (As soon as someone makes me a cd with the pics I will post them).

Saturday night was a full house. A lot of my dads friends and neighbors came to celebrate with us. The best part I think was that my dads Sister and Brother came. I had not seen them in a very long time (long time meaning like 10 years or more) and they live in the state. Sad I know but hopefully it wont be that long before we see them again. My dad was completely shocked as was my mom. After they walked in the door, my dad was looking around at all the people and I said to my dad "did you see who else is here?" He starts listing off the neighbors and such, then I said "No right in front of you behind the camera?" He looked and finally realized my sister had come too. It was a great night! We appreciate all of his friends and family that came to celebrate with us and helped to make his birthday just as special and wonderful as he is.

We love you dad and are so lucky to have you as our father and example.

HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY

CTR Ring

On Sunday Broc ran up to me flipping me the "Bird". I thought what is he doing. Well on that finger, was a bright new CTR ring with a HUGE SMILE to go with it. He was so excited and told me that it reminded him to chose the right and if he wore it all the time he would be good. Since then he hasnt taken it off. All though we have told him he needs to take it off when he washes his hands or takes a bath because his finger will turn green. He said, "Ewee why would it turn green?" I said "because it isn't a real ring" he said, "of course it is a real ring mom I am supposed to chose the right!"
I am so proud of him for wearing it all the time or more for the desire to wear it all the time. And the fact that he shows it to everyone! We will see how long it takes for it to go down the drain or for him to lose it.

Tree House Field Trip

Friday was another field trip for Broc's pre-school. I love this pre-school. We have at least one or two each month.
This time we went to the tree house downtown. We have a membership there, so for Broc it was just another trip to the tree house, but with a lot more friends. They first read a few stories, then they pretty much turned over the time to the kids to do what ever they wanted for an hour and half. I thought wow that is a long time, this is going to be a long field trip. But that hour and half went by very fast. They were bummed when we had to leave because they didn't get to play with everything they wanted to. Glad I have a membership so we can go back when ever he wants.

I was shocked to hear that not very many kids and parents hadn't been to the tree house. I thought it was one of the fun places to hang out at, especially durning the winter months when one needs to get out of the house!!!!
Broc and his freinds had a great time!

Happy New Year 2010

Wow has this year flown by. It has been a great year full of many up's and several down's. However we have been extremely blessed. Broc has grown so much this past year, he has learned all the sounds of each letter of the alphabet, can write his name, write mom and dad, tell you his address and phone number (including area code), he does small chores for me but doesn't let me forget that I need to pay him some "change" for his piggy bank. He loves Transformers and can repeat a lot of the movie, he likes to watch Nascar if Kyle Bush is winning or Dale Jr. is losing! One of the big things for him this year was he is finally tall enough to ride every ride at Disneyland! We look forward to what he will be learning this year and he is anticipating his 5th b-day so he can go to Kindergarten.

we hope everyone enjoyed their New Years and look forward another great year ahead.