Half Marathon

I wanted to do a 1/2 marathon before the BIG one in October. I found the Emigration Half and talked Cole into signing up with  me.  I was going to be in town, so it seemed to work out great.  I have not been able to run due to all the smoke we have been getting from the Rim Fire in California, so I have not run...not even a mile in 2 weeks.  I knew this would hurt me, but I figured..Emigration Canyon is down hill. Maybe I will get a PR.  Lesson to this statement:  Check the course before you think you are better then you are.  The first 4 miles were ALL uphill.  I was not prepared for that!  On top of that, I thought I could PR when I haven't been running...HA.  Needless to say, I didn't PR, but I didn't do to bad. I came in at 2:10 which is pretty close to my normal racing time. 
 There was this girl that I played leap frog with the whole race and towards the end, I ran out of steam and she passed me for a final time.  I waved her good bye and focus on finishing.  I turned the corner and saw the finish line.  I picked up my pace and thought "can I pass her".  She was still pretty far ahead but I stared to SPRINT with all I had and passed her!!  I came in before her.  It felt so good...UNTIL..I got the race results.  She still beat me by 2 seconds!  Her chip time was 2 seconds ahead of me from the starting line!  ARRRGHHH.  Guess it goes to show that you need to train and believe in yourself even when you think you can't do it.  I am still proud of myself.  And Cole...he came in 4th in his age group.  He is amazing!  The race was pretty, and the grub at the end was nice.  The only thing I wish they had was a medal!!  I want something besides a shirt to say I ran a race.  Oh well...

 Cole and Sarah at the starting line

 Cole on the course (these pictures are small cuz I downloaded them from the official race photographer and this was all I could get).

Do I look I am going to die?  This was pretty close to the end of the 4 mile hike to the top

 Cole running towards the end

I am sprinting with all I have to pass that chick

Can you see me in purple trying to pass this chick.  Even though I passed her, she still beat me by 2 seconds!

Cole and Sarah at the finish line.  

1st Game of the Season

We got our Utah tickets 2 days before the game started. Talk about last minute.  We had not been back to Utah since we moved, and we figured what better time to come back then a Utah football game.  Since it was on a Thursday and the following Monday was Labor Day, we knew we had a long weekend to see friends and family.

Since we had the tickets with us and our friends that have our other seats didn't want to miss kick off, we HAD to make sure we arrived in time for kick off.  Needless to say, the drive to Utah was long since we didn't have time to stop and stretch our legs.  Oh did I mention..Hannah decided she wasn't going to nap.  LONGEST car ride ever!

We arrived in plenty of time to hand off the tickets to our friends and after dropping off Blue and Hannah, we only missed about 10 min of the game.  The game was HOT (we are not use to the Utah heat) but once that sun went down, it was quite nice.  It was touch and go towards the end, but the Utes pulled it off and won 30-26!!!

 Hannah and her cousin Owen chilling on the couch

Why is it that someone else can get your child to eat the things you never can?  Hannah eating broccoli and chicken that Aunt Melissa made.

 The stadium was striped red and white.  It looked pretty cool

 This is our 6th year with our season tickets.  Even through we are out of state now, we still want to keep the seats and come for the games.  When you bled red...

Final Score 

San Francisco

Stu and I went to San Francisco for our honeymoon.  Stu has been back many times, but I have not.  Stu had some training, so Hannah and I drove down to meet him.  Its about a 4 hour drive so totally do able.  I heard the drive was pretty, but with the California fire that is around Yosemite National Park, the smoke was everywhere and I couldn't really see the scenery.

Stu had training all day on Friday so Hannah and I just hung out around the hotel and by the time she woke up from her nap, we headed out for dinner and found a park to let her play.


She found out the slides where quite fun and couldn't get enough of them. 


She not only does this at home, but anywhere she is.  She is so funny

The next day we headed downtown to Pier 39.  I knew she would love the sea lions, and I wasn't wrong.  She thought they were so funny and loved to watch them talk and swim in the water.  Stu discovered a boat race and took some fun pictures.


Hannah and Mamma

Hannah and Daddy




Hannah found a carousel on our way to the aquarium so we had to stop and give it a whirl

 The boats are coming under the Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatraz.  Some day I want to take a tour of this place

Later that night after Hannah's nap, we headed back downtown to Ghirardelli Square for dinner and an ice cream sundae. 

Family picture in front of the Ghirardelli sign, but the sun was too bright and it washed it out

Eating a sundae. She has to do it herself

SOOO Yummy!!

Where does she get this?

Hannah has started doing a funny thing.  She has to line things up.  Not necessarily in a straight line, but they have to be lined up in a pattern.  She will do this all over the house in patches.  Its so funny







And here is a cute picture of her in her birthday crown her Mimi and Papa gave her for her birthday.

10 Miler

I wanted to do a few 1/2 marathons before my marathon race in October.  I was excited to find a race in Reno to do.  I discovered the only races they have are 5K's (3 miles) or 10 milers.  I knew I needed more than a 5K so I signed up for the first 10 miler there was.  It wasn't till I was putting the date in my phone calendar that I discovered it was on a Sunday.  Living in Utah ALL races are on a Saturday, so it didn't even occur to me.  I enlisted my brother Coleman to come join me for the race.

The night before we had to go pick up our packets.  They happened to be at Auto Museum.  We got free access that day, so Cole and I did a quick run of the place. I was surprised by how cool it was.  They had so many old cars from the years.  Even a car from 1890's.  Pretty neat.

 Coleman delivering the mail

 Signs were posted everywhere to not get in the cars.  Cole didn't seem to 'see' them.  I however was scared  to get caught so this was the closest I got to getting into a car

Yeah...we don't know what this is either.  But Cole wanted to be friendly

Race Day: The race was at 7:30AM in downtown Reno.  I figured this race would be a great-I get to see this new town we moved to and get some miles-- A win/win.  Cole started out like a shot and I just started to run.  We raced for a few miles around the University of Reno campus.  At first...I didn't like this.  But the more ran it..the more I liked it. I find that when I run I can sometimes play mental games on myself. If I can see just how many runners are in front of me I start to doubt myself and think how slow I am because there are so many people in front of me. Never mind all the people behind me.  So running through the campus blocked the view of the runners in front of me and I raced fairly well.

I got into a grove and discovered I was running faster then I normally do.  At mile 6 I was 7 minutes ahead of my normal time.  I was on cloud 9!!  I don't know why, but the last part of the race I tank.  You would think you would just want to finish and give it all you got, but I just crash.  So by mile 8 I was back to my normal time.  I did however finish in 1 hour 32 min and ran a 9 min mile.  That was pretty awesome.  I am so glad my brother came to run with me (even though we don't run together) its nice he is there at the end.

The Brothers go to Tahoe

My brothers came to visit and of course we had to go to Lake Tahoe.  Coleman wanted to go paddle boating on the Lake, so we hit up a different beach this time on the California side.  We had a great time.  Here are some pictures from the day.

She is 2!

Its really been 2 years since my baby girl entered this world?  What a delight it has been to be Hannah's mommy.

Here are some things we learned about Hannah this last month:

*Does NOT like to get her hair combed after her bath

*When we ask her to say "I LOVE YOU" she says "I....(then we have to say love) and she quickly shouts U"

*Does fake cry's

*When she hears a plane she stops and says "pannnn"

*Loves to be outside

*New favorite movie is Cinderella

*Likes to read Dr. Seuss books

*Will wave 'bye' and walk away when she doesn't want to do what mom or dads asks her to do

*Has started to draw on her arms with markers

*Whatever object she has (crayons, markers, etc) she has to line them up in row and they all have to face the same way.  IE crayons all the tips are pointing up

*Has started talking more and more each day

Birthday Girl

Hannah's birthday is on a Sunday this year.  And since we are out of town and don't have family around, we decided to still do a party.  So it was nice when my parents and grandma decided to come out and we invited our neighbors over also to help with the celebration.

This was Hannah's birthday invite.  We had a PINK Party


Hannah's church dress

We took a 4 generation photo before church




Opening presents


Hannah got a pink tricycle from my parents.  She thought it was pretty cool till we rang the bell.  She was terrified of it after that.

Family picture



Instead of cake, we had Stu's famous sugar cookies with pink frosting


The whole family