Vancouver Vacation

We went to my hometown Vancouver, Washington to visit my parents for our vacation this summer!

It has been a couple of years since we had been there, so it was time.

I also had a 20 year high school reunion . . . which I was really nervous about . . . 

It takes us about 12 hours to drive there from our home in Utah.

We just drove it all in one day.  I've decided I prefer to just have one "bad day".

We drove in on a Saturday.  So Sunday, we went to church with my parents who still live in the same ward as they did while I was growing up.  The ward isn't the same anymore since boundaries have changed, people move . . . a lot happens in 20 years.  But it was fun to see a few familiar faces.

There are a few things that I like to do every time we come.  

One of them is to visit Multnomah Falls.

It is a hike that is not too hard for the kids, but then still has a beautiful payoff at the end.

After hiking, we always go to Cascade Locks to eat the flavor burst ice cream cones from the Eastwind Drive.  This time, after eating our cones, we hung out for a little while at Marine Park which is near there.  Such nice weather and the kids had a great time.


Ben and I were married in August . . . 15 years ago!

We were on this vacation over our anniversary.  

So on our anniversary, we took Abby over to the Portland Temple to do baptisms.

And then Ben and I did a few sealings.

My mom brought the other kids to meet us there when we were done.

It was so fun to walk out of the temple, and see our kids, and be able to walk around with them.

We showed them around the grounds and took them to the Visitor's Center as well.

My parents completed the day with a salmon dinner and special anniversary cake . . . which I should have gotten a picture of.  Actually, I think Ben has one that I can add later :)

Our next adventure was Seaside, Oregon!

I love the coast.

And the day went, the weather was perfect.

It was hot enough for the kids to want to swim and play in the sand.

We flew kites and had a picnic. 

It was one of those "perfect" days.

At first I was planning on renting what I call a "sand bike".  

I actually don't know what they are really called, but they are those low seated, three wheeled bikes.

But then the girls saw these bikes that the whole family could fit on at the same time.

So we ended up in one of these!

Ummm, it was more of a workout than Ben and I thought it would be.

More for Ben than me.  Sometimes I didn't have to pedal because the kids wanted to :)

There are a lot of hills . . . 

But so much fun.

We ate salt water taffy while we were riding around, and then once we were done went to get an "elephant ear" . . . which I highly recommend.

We visited OMSI this year.  

Gwen and Austin had no recollection of visiting it in past years.

It was awesome.

We ran from Washington to Oregon!

My dad, me, Halle and Gwen ran across the I-205 bridge that goes across the Columbia River.

It was awesome.

Ben met Halle and Gwen on the Oregon side so that they wouldn't have to run back too :)

My dad and I ran the whole thing :)

And then to the event that had me nervous all week!

My 20 year high school reunion.

I am not sure why I was nervous. 

 I either was going to see people I knew or I wasn't.

It turned out to be really fun!

I remembered a lot more people than I thought I would.  (name tags help)

And I ended up staying much longer than the 1 hour rule I gave to myself :)

There are many people that I really wish would have been there, but it was still fun and interesting to see people from my past and talk to them about what they are doing now. 

It was funny to find that with some people that I talked with at the reunion . . . THAT conversation turned out to be the longest conversation I had ever had with that person.  

Overall . . . a good experience and I'm glad I went :)

And then it was time to go home:(

Summer is officially over.

Utah Valley Half Marathon

I ran in the Utah Valley Half Marathon yesterday!  

This is my second half marathon this year!  And now I am ready for a break :)

My goals with this one were pretty similar to my first one.

First goal . . . finish and no walking.

Second goal . . . Try to get a better time than my first race.

Third goal . . . If I can . . . beat my goal time.

I did it!  

I met ALL of my goals!

This race was definitely a different experience than my first though.

First of all, we had to get on a bus around 3am or 4am that would take us to the starting line.  

I was a little anxious about this early morning thing.  

I went to bed at 10pm, but I am pretty sure I didn't fall asleep until around 12:30 or 1am.  

I could not stop thinking about the run!

My sister Lisa ran this race too, so we hopped on a bus around 3:50 to 4am.

We got to the starting line around 4:30 . . . and then just had to wait until 6am for the race to start.

It was FREEZING!  

Luckily Lisa had warned me it would be cold, so I brought a blanket to hang out in.

It was a nice race.

I felt like crying for the last 4 miles though.

My legs were hurting so much and I REALLY wanted to stop.

I had to throw goal #3 out.  

I knew that most of my miles had averaged faster than my first half marathon, so I figured even with slowing down some at the end, I probably would still reach goal #2.  

Two out of three goals met is great!  

But then once I reached the end, I saw that I HAD accomplished goal #3 also!

The kids ran the 1K kids race!

Austin was so excited to run a race and get a medal!

I made Halle, Gwen and Austin "race day" headbands.

Hailey and Carson ran it too!

Until next time!

I don't think I will be up for running another half marathon until next year :)

Abby in the School Play!

Abby tried out for the Junior High Play this year.

They did The Music Man.

She made it and was able to play Mrs. Djilas (a towns person)!

She didn't have a speaking part, but she did have a one line solo!

And she seemed to be in more scenes than last year.

Abby really loved being involved in the play.

Abby was told that her costume was one of the more "cute" costumes by the directors . . . she didn't really agree though :)

I thought she looked great!

The play kept her so busy!  They had rehearsals most days after school for about a month and a half.

The production turned out great!

We have a new Junior High building this year, and so there were some kinks to work out . . . like the sound.  Some things were a little hard to hear, at least the night that we were there.  

But it was still so well done, the kids seemed so prepared.

Can't wait for next year!

Redo

When Ben and I bought our house, there were things we knew we wanted to eventually change.  But with kids, my laziness (and busyness), and Ben busy with work and church . . . things haven't happened very fast.  

We have painted a few walls, but that has been it.

Until Ben heard that his brother Matt was coming into town, and was willing to be hired to help Ben put in a floor in our living room and kitchen.  So we did!  We hurried and picked out the floor, and had it ready to go when Matt got into town.

Since I wanted to put in dark floors (after much indecisiveness), I felt like my dark fireplace would need to be changed . . . so I wouldn't have so much "dark".

I have always really liked white fireplaces anyway . . . so now I had a really good excuse.  Not like I needed an excuse . . . I guess this just MADE me finally do it.

Above are pictures of our fireplace before I tackled it.  That first coat of primer is always a little scary!

With each coat of primer and then paint, it kept looking better and better.

I love it!  I should have painted it white years ago. 

 I felt like even with the light carpet in there, it looked okay!

Finally, the carpet of 16 years was pulled out! 

I can't believe all the dust and dirt that was under the carpet.  In some spots, it literally looked like sand had been dumped on the floor.

Ben and Matt only had two days to put in the floor.  

We couldn't find goggles, so snorkeling masks had to do!

It took so long to get these floors in.

The weekend finally came to an end, and Matt had to leave . . . school or something :)

Ben took an extra day to finish up the rest.

We are happy with it though!

It took me some getting used to because it was so different than the light carpet, but we like it.

We still haven't completely finished it . . . we need to order a stair nose, so a small part of the floor isn't done . . . and then baseboards.  But enough is done to put our furniture back.

Half Marathon Weekend

I ran my first Half Marathon!

This is something I thought I would NEVER do.

A year ago, I hated running.  But last spring, finishing a 5K changed that for me.

Last summer, I started training for a 10K.  And while I didn't actually sign up for an official race, I was able to run the distance by the end of the summer.

Training for a Half Marathon seemed the like next step, and one that  I was excited about.

So last August/September, I started training for the St. George Half Marathon!
I found a Hal Higdon training schedule that I liked.  It was a 12 week schedule, and the race was around 20 weeks away, so I just doubled up on many of the weeks to give me lots of time to prepare.

I was nervous!  

The training schedule I used (which I diligently followed) had me only run up to 10 miles before the race.  Ummm, the race is 13.1 miles, and to me there is a big difference between 10 and 13 miles!  But according to Hal Higdon, if you can run 10 miles, you can finish a Half Marathon.  The adrenaline, the people, the finish line . . . all that inspiration will help you run the last 3.  

So . . . I was hoping that would be true!

The St. George Half  Marathon turned out to be perfect for me!  First of all, the weather was GREAT!  Not too hot, not too cold.  It was great to run in.  The race started at 9am which I like . . . it meant I didn't have to get up too early, I would have time to eat before, etc.

The course was nice.  There were some hills, but not worse than what I run on in my own neighborhood.  Ben and the kids would hang out at different points along the race to cheer me on.  

I loved that!

Here I am at the very end of the race.  I can see the finish line, and I am trying to will my legs to run faster.  I don't think they were responding though :)

Once I finished, I couldn't believe that I had done it!

My only goal with this race was to  run the whole way.  NO walking.  Even if that "running" was at a  walking pace, I did not want to lose that "running" groove.  

I guess secretly I had another goal of at least finishing with a certain time.  It was just a time that fit into what pace I was already doing in training.

I reached my goals!  

Not only did I run the ENTIRE time, but my pace was a little faster than I anticipated!  

Not a lot faster, but still . . . 

Overall, it was an awesome experience.  I have never set a physical goal like that . . . and so to work towards something that I wasn't sure I would be able to do . . . and then do it, felt awesome!

My legs hurt so much the rest of the weekend . . . and even a few days after that.  But it was worth it.

I spent the rest of the day hanging out at the condo.  I spent a good amount of time in the hot tub :)

The kids thought it was so great I was running a race, because it meant a mini-vacation for them.  They love to go to St. George.  They swam, they played basketball, and just did all the activities available  at the condo.

We spent Sunday attending a Sacrament Meeting, and then visiting with Ben's cousin and her family.  They were nice enough to invite us over for dinner.  It was fun!

From there we headed over to the St. George Temple Visitor's Center.  We roamed around and watched the "Meet the Mormons" movie they were showing.  

We might do it again another year!