I DID IT!!!

I finished my first half-marathon! I say "my first" because I hope to do one again someday, and possibly even a full marathon...someday.

I have to thank my sister-in-law Tawnya for talking me into it. I really enjoyed the challenge of training for it. I've been a steady gym-goer for the past 7 years or so, but I haven't ever taken anything like this on before. Having had 3 kids in the last 4 years, life is definitely busy. Forcing myself to get up off the couch and go for a 5, 6 or 11 mile run after a 12 hour day wrangling 3 girls wasn't always easy, but I'm glad to say that I pulled it off! That being said, I have to thank Tim for being so supportive in my training as well, hanging out with the girls when needed, and being there to cheer me on at the finish-line.


Here's the stats:
Miles - 13.1
Finish time - 1:50:30
Pieces of great harvest bread provided after the race - 3
Placing for women 25-29 - 4th (out of 57)
Placing for women overall -20th (out of 197)
Placing overall - I dunno, I think it was 50-something
Blisters - 2 (from the stupid time-chip thing)
Bathroom stops - 1 (ugh! I hated having to stop for that!)
Breakfast on race morning - Chocolate milk
Dinner the night before - 3 bowls of farina hot cereal - think cream of wheat. CARBS!!!
Hills - 2
Jell-o legs after hills - 2
Weather - Perfect!

The fair!!

Here are some random pictures from our trip to the fair a few weeks ago. We had a great time!

The night before we went to the fair, they were fighting over their magnet toys. I told them only happy girls will get to come to the fair in the morning. This is what I got - Happy faces!!
(Please excuse both of their ratty heads! Their hair was probaby brushed that day...probably.)


The girls and I in front of the beautiful, PVC pipe fountain.


Then, we went to see the animals. The girls thought that was fun for a while...but they couldn't resist the rides!


Katelyn was way focused on this ride, I think she thought she was really driving it! They only got to go on one ride, since tickets are a RIP OFF at $1 a piece, and 3-4 tickets per ride. But, they had fun! Katelyn almost had a meltdown, since she saw so many other rides she wanted to go on, but a grilled sandwich, fries, and ice cream fixed that problem in a snap! (I know, medicating with food is bad...whatever...the distraction worked that day!)


Audrey was so excited to see the "baby chicks" hatching. They had a bunch of quail eggs in a little incubator. It was fun to watch the eggs wiggle and shake around, and then eventially you'd see a little quail breaking through. Katelyn just marched around singing "Happy Birthday," which was fitting.


And, finally, this is how Sydney spent her day. She's my cuddle-bug!

The Upside of Downsizing

Last week, Tim and I moved into and older rental that he had bought before we were married. Since we've ventured off into self employment after layoffs at Micron, the super-low payment is the best option for us! The house is less than 1/3 of the size of our previous house, and we've had lots of "hiccups" along the way (smoke and pet smells, mouse poop, dead lawn, dryer not working...and the list goes on), but we know it's a good choice for us. I actually feel really good about being here, now that we're settled in. Here are some of the things we've enjoyed, since moving:

1. Older, established neighborhood makes for a large variety of big, cool leaves for crayon-rubbings. Our back yard has 4-5 different kinds, itself! There are also LOTS of pine-cones, which the girls think is SO cool.

2. Katelyn is now potty trained, just since we moved! She's seemed to like the toilets at the "little" house. It also helps that it's easier to monitor her more closely.

3. The mouse poop cleaned up easily, and I can hardly smell the smoke and pet smells left behind, since we were able to get new paint and flooring. :)

4. We have a nice back yard, or at least it will be nice when the grass (and probably weeds) comes in completely. There's lots of shade, and a sunny spot that I'm excited to put a BIG garden in next summer! I can't wait!! Who wants to teach me how to do canning?!

5. We should make some pretty good money selling things on craigslist. There's a good chunk of furniture and other stuff that just won't fit!

6. We found out the breaker for the dryer was the reason for our dryer not working. $8 fix - EASY!

7. There is a great park with a duck pond and volleyball net just a 10 minute walk away.

8. I really don't need to use a baby monitor - Sydney's room is across the hall!

9. If the girls need help with something while I'm busy, it doesn't feel like as much of an interruption when I only have to walk 10 steps instead of 50 to get them what they need!

10. It's neat to see that the kids actually really like our "little" house. It's fun for us to feel closer as a family. Audrey woke up the morning after the move and said "I love living at the little house, mom!" That makes it all worth it!

Sorry, there's no pictures! We can't find the little thing that you plug the camera cartridge into yet. It must still be in a box in the garage!