CinderHannah

For Halloween this year my sweet mother made Hannah's costume (I had no idea so it was a surprise to me).  She made a Cinderella costume because she knew how much Hannah loved watching Cinderella on the iPad.
She turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself.  She sure is a ham!!

The Mission Call

My little brother got his mission call today.  He is going to Lansing Michigan the end of January.  We are so excited for him and he seems to be pretty excited.  Its going to be cold there!

Happy Birthday to my love

For Stu's birthday this year I had a ton of things planned, but of course-nothing worked out.  There was a slight possibility we would be in SLC which I could have done A LOT with, but we ended up staying in Reno.  Since we don't know to many people and I have not established a babysitter yet for Hannah, or options were limited.  I talked to someone in our ward that is a pilot if he would be willing to take Stu flying (that is Stu's dream is to be a pilot).  He said he would on his birthday, but got called out of town so he couldn't. The foiled my morning plans cuz I knew Stu wanted to watch the Utah game in the afternoon.  So we went to breakfast, he went and ran, we had lunch and he watched the Utes (terrible game by the way).  Dinner was at Texas Roadhouse and we watch the movie 42 after Hannah went to bed (good flick).  I felt like I failed this year, everything is so different when you don't have family that can watch your little one so you can go out and play.  

Stu will still get to fly which he is excited about-I just wish it could have been on his birthday

Hannah and Daddy 

Stu's mom makes this great birthday treat for him every year.  I have never made it and can be quite tricky to make so I told Stu I would make it but I wouldn't promise anything.  He was sweet and decided to forgo the cake roll and  asked for pumpkin pie whoopie pies instead.  It was much easier to make

Visiting Aunt Le Le

There is a great possibility that my sister Leah could be deployed.  We haven't seen her since March and with possibility of her coming to visit us-we went to her.  Stu was not able to get off work, so Hannah, Cole and I boarded a plane and went to see the great state of North Carolina:  Where my sister calls home.

In order to get us all there the cheapest we told a little white lie and said Hannah was not 2 yet so she could travel as an "infant in arms".  I was hoping that on 1 of our 3 flights we might have an open seat where she could sit..but alas..that was not the case.  So from Reno to SLC.  SLC to Atlanta and Atlanta to Wilimington, Hannah sat on my lap.  I DO NOT recommend that.  An active toddler on a lap for 6+ hours total..it was rough.  But we made it. 


Hannah at the airport in Reno

Cole, Hannah and I on the plane to Atlanta

It was great to see Leah.  She was told she had Friday off but ended up having to work.  That sucked but she got off early and we went to the beach.  It was the first time Hannah had been to a beach.  She LOVED it.  We didn't want her to get wet so we kept 'running' from the waves until I realized that Hannah was getting scared every time a wave came.  So we rolled up her pants and let her play in the waves.  This was not the best played out plan cuz she got SOAKED.  So we stripped her down and let her splash in the waves.  The water and the day (despite being cloudy) was warm.  She of course didn't want to leave when it was time.  I told Stu we need to take her to a beach and let her play.  Hawaii maybe???


Hannah and Aunt Le Le

Hannah and Mamma on the beach

Selfie

Hannah playing in the ocean with UnCole and Aunt Le Le

Saturday we were going to go to a pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins and carve them, but the weather had other plans.  It rained all day.  So we headed to the local grocery store on base, got some pumpkins and went to Leah's friends house that live on base.  We let Hannah and their son Jensen (who was also 2) paint their pumpkins.  I think they had a great time.  The grown ups, craved theirs.  I knew I would not be good at craving so I was in charge of scooping out the guts.  I actually prefer that to craving...go figure. 


Hannah and Jenson decorating their pumpkins

Hannah's masterpiece

Even Cole got into the action

We left early Sunday and thankfully Leah and her sweet boyfriend Nathan were kind enough to get us and drive us an hour to the airport to catch our flight.   It was so great to see Leah and meet her leading man Nathan, but  Hannah struggled with the time change (3 hours) and it was a struggle for naps and bedtime.  


On our way home

Utah vs. Stanford

We just got back from St. George and we are heading out of town again to Salt Lake for the Utah football game.  Another 8+ hours in the car.  Good times.

Since Stu had to work the Friday we left we didn't get out of town till 1:30PM which put us in around 10:00PM SLC time.  Boy what a day, can you say tired!

The game was an early one this go around.  The last few have been 8PM start time.  This one..4PM.  You mean we will actually get to bed at a decent hour and get some rest before traveling back home?  
Our game buddies Josh and Kyrie were not able to attend this game, so we took Trevor and my father in law to the game.  We got in about 15 min after the game started and Utah was already down a touch down.  Stu told me that if Utah is getting spanked in the 3rd quarter...we could leave.  Famous last words.  The game was AWESOME.  It was so intense and to have Utah come out on top and knock down a #5 seed and a team that was 5-0 this season, made the victory so much sweeter.  My throat was hoarse from screaming so much.  Boy am I glad we made this game!

Goo Utes.  I love watching you, but I am glad we only have 2 more home games we need to travel back for.

 Final score!

 Fans storming the field after the win

 A couple of cuties

The Reeder boys

St. George Marathon

The time has come-St. George Marathon.  

We decided to drive to St. George.  I am glad we did it-because we will NEVER do it again!  It was such a long ride.  I think it was so long because you have to go through so many little towns so you are going 60 MPH, and going down to 30 to 25 back to 45 down to 30.  There is NOTHING out there and its not very scenic.  So we did it...and we will fly next time.  Oh and Stu got a speeding ticket in a little town.  1st ticket in 13 years.  The cop told us he was 'doing us a favor' by knocking it from 13 over to 10 over.  What a nice guy huh?  Through a service Stu has he got a lawyer and got the ticket knocked down to a parking ticket and his record is still clean with 0 tickets in 13 years. 

We did drive down the Extraterrestrial Highway. That was the coolest part of the drive.

I wanted to get in a day early so I could relax the day before.  I got everything ready, picked up my packet and got some good dinner and sleep.  

Marathon shirts.  Not sure about the color, but I LOVE the writing on it.  The STG they made into 26.2.

The morning of the marathon I was going to pick up my old co-worker, but he decided to drive so we met up for the bus loading.  The weather had been windy the few days before, but only in the afternoon.  I was hoping that was what we would get marathon day.  Alas...it was super windy at the start.  Oh well...at least there was no rain. Kirk was going to stick with the 4:45 pacer and I was shooting for 4:30 so we wished each other luck and met up with our group.  I was not keen on sticking with a pacer.  Because if I get behind them I feel like that goal just fly's away.  I would rather depend on the Cliff Bar Pace bracelet I was wearing.  It tells you the time you need to be at for each mile to make your goal. 

The race started and since I signed up for a tracking system, as soon as I passed the start, 10K, half, 18K and finish line my family could check on my progress.  This because useful for Coleman who was going to meet me at the last miles to help bring me in.

I felt good.  The wind was cold but not unbearable.  I was keeping pace and telling myself just how great I was.  The pace group for 4:30 passed me but I kept telling myself that as long as I followed my bracelet time I would make 4:30.  I was on time for all my miles.  I was going to do it.  Around mile 20 the porta potty called and I lost about 2 min off my time. Thankfully we were downhill and I ran my heart out to make up that time.  My brother called me at mile 22 saying he was there waiting and I just showed up.  He had fresh legs and was ready to bring me in.  I on the other hand was starting to break down (something that happens to me at the end of races.  I just get so tired that I want to walk).  My toes were giving me problems.  I could tell I was creating blisters and around 24 one popped. It felt like someone shoved an ice pick in my toe.  It hurt sooo bad.  Cole was so great and kept me going.  When I felt myself start to break down I would call out to him and he would grab my hand an pull me.  We saw the 4:30 pacer around mile 25 and I told Cole "don't let him get to far ahead".  Cole told me later that he thought "lets just pass him" and we did.  We ran past him.  Cole was texting Stu to tell him we were close.  I kept tell Cole "find them..don't let me pass without seeing my family".  I saw them right before the shoot and Cole gave me one final push and I ran my heart out.  I came in at 4:27:29.  I came in 3 min under my goal.  So I shaved 5 min off my time from last year!  HOLLAR!!  I felt like I won the lottery.  It was such an awesome feeling.

I could not have done it without the support of Stu through all my training.  And without my brother for helping me run those last few miles

My support group.  Grandma (such wish my grandpa was here), Stu, Cole and Annaliese Cole's girlfriend