Half Marathon

Steven and I finished running our first half marathon this morning! And, I'm already blogging about it because we are so tired that the only way we are surviving is by letting the girls watch a movie this afternoon.

We decided to sign up for this race exactly 8 weeks ago. When we were picking a race, we looked for distance from our house, and a race that wasn't on a Sunday. So, we signed up, and I casually looked at words like, "Coastal trail series" and "975 feet elevation gain" but didn't think about it too much.

We followed our training plan pretty well, except for at Disneyland and I had a cold for three of those eight weeks that would not go away. But, we felt ready. We know that we are not really that fast, but I felt pretty confident I could finish in one piece.

When we woke up this morning, it was pouring rain. I'm definitely a sunny skies kind of girl, but we got ready quickly and got to the starting line with plenty of time. I'm so grateful that Natalie came to watch the girls, because I really didn't worry about them at all.

It looks pretty sunny in this picture, but it was raining, and I could not stop shivering.

We started the race off at the pace we planned. I'm glad the new Taylor Swift album came out this week because I listened to it the entire race. Shake it off :)

Most of the first six miles were between a 8:40-8:50 pace. I was feeling pretty good, but kind of hungry. I had a plain bagel this morning, but clearly need to eat more. I have a hard time figuring out how to fuel since having an upset stomach is one of the hardest parts of running for me.

Then, the hard part set in. We had to climb almost 1000 feet in about two miles. Straight up hill. Straight up a muddy, rocky, slippery mountain. I mostly just survived these miles, but Steven managed to snap one picture of how pretty it was. Pretty but miserable and s-l-o-w.

Since the course was an out and back course, we turned around at the halfway point. Now, we had to run back down the mountain. While this was easier on my lungs, it was just as difficult for me. The trail was really muddy, with lots of loose rocks and tree roots, and I just spent every step trying to not fall. Around mile 8 I slipped and almost came crashing down, but somehow managed to keep going.

The last five miles we were back on track running at our planned pace. As Steven and I both discussed after, the last three miles were just, "when can the pain stop" but we kept going. I felt pretty good except for my feet and ankles had taken quite the beating down the mountain. When I saw the blue finish line up ahead, I was so excited. I could stop soon!

We finished together right at 2 hours 10 minutes. Which, is not a super fast time, and is something that I had to accept. When we were training and before I knew how difficult the course was, we were really training for a sub 2 hour half marathon, which is a goal I really wanted to make.

But, it just wasn't going to happen on this course, and even though we didn't make it, I am so happy. I was really proud of our effort, and how we kept going when it was not easy. We finished 28&29/110 half marathon runners, and I managed to finish third in my age group so I got two medals!

I can't believe that I'm already planning this, but I have my eye on a completely flat half marathon in March so I can see how fast I can really run.

Running 13.1 miles is never something that I thought I would do. It just seemed too hard and too far. But, we did it! And, I'm so glad that I got to do it with my best friend. A year ago Steven was on crutches, so I am both amazed and grateful at how blessed our little family has been this past year.

Soccer

Aubrey is in a little soccer league with a bunch of friends and I am the coach. I played soccer all growing up and on a few intramural leagues at BYU. I definitely love the game and I have had fun watching Aubrey learn about it herself.

However, soccer for three-year-olds is something else! We have to talk a lot about how when somebody else takes the ball from you it is just part of the game. There have been a lot of tears.

But, Aubrey loves it, and I think that the other kids like it too. Sometimes by the end of the game, I only have one or two kids left on the field, but they all perk up again when it is snack time :)

Cora is my helper and loves to try and kick the ball like the big kids. I love these girls, and I'm so grateful I get to stay home with them and watch them grow and experience new things.

Slice of Life

Halloween time means a trip to the pumpkin patch. The one near us is mostly bounce houses with a few pumpkins, but the girls had a great time. Which was awesome because the past two years we have gone were a waste of money. However, Aubrey finally seems to be over her fear of bounce houses, and Cora doesn't seem to share that fear.

Some of their best friends, Faith and Cosette.

Love these two.

Aubrey has started to read Cora books, and I'm super impressed how close her stories match the actual words. 

 I run by the new 49ers stadium (in the background) on my favorite trail. We definitely live in a cool place. 

This little cutie is enjoying the 1:1 time we get during Aubrey's preschool. 

She rules the house and does all the things Aubrey won't let her do. Wearing Aubrey's princess dress is definitely at the top of that list.

Not the greatest pictures because they were taken at night, but we finally upgraded from a Civic only household and bought a new Honda Pilot. We had all the money for it saved for a while, but I have a hard time buying big things. However, the drive home from Disneyland did me in, and we are definitely enjoying the extra space. 

They have the best dad. And they have been waking up far too early lately. 

This is what happens when a helpful sister gives her a marker while I go to the bathroom. And then I have to take the marker away. She wasn't too happy about that part. 

The girls had dentist appointments today, and I took them to Chick-Fil-A as a reward for having no cavities. They were having a great time in the play place when Cora had quite the stinker. And... big mom fail because I had no diapers. I changed it and put Cora in underwear on the way home. She proudly proclaimed, "I'm potty trained!" She is definitely not, and I'm not really ready to go down that road again yet. 

We have a busy few weeks coming up... this time of year always seems to fly by.

Disneyland: Part 3

On Wednesday, Steven and I woke up very well rested. I don't think my parents could say the same thing since they had the girls in their room for a sleepover.

After we woke up, Steven and I went down to the gym for a run. We both love to run outside, and so after 3.5 miles on the treadmill, I just couldn't take it anymore. We finished our allotted five miles running through Downtown Disney and around the Disneyland Hotels. It was really fun, even if we got extremely weird looks from everybody on their way to the park.

Then we quickly got ready and met my parents and the girls for our character breakfast. My mom got the girls all dressed up in princess clothes and they were so excited:

However, by this point, they were both extremely low on sleep and acting quite horrible. We kind of wished we could send them back to my parents :)

The breakfast was great, and ridiculously expensive. But, it was a much better way for the girls to meet the characters instead of wasting hours standing in line.

 After the character breakfast, we changed into our swimsuits and went swimming. It worked out great, because the slide at our hotel was broken, so they let us go swimming at the fancier Disneyland Hotel that had three pools and a bunch of water slides.  We love swimming. It is one of our favorite things to do as a family.

After swimming we had to say goodbye to grandma and grandpa. Lots of tears were shed. We put an exhausted Cora down for a nap while Steven took Aubrey to watch Disney cartoons in the movie room.

We explored Downtown Disney one more time, and the girls especially had a great time at the Lego store. Aubrey and Steven spent the late afternoon building their new Lego set while I tried to keep Cora from destroying the hotel room.

Dinner, ice cream, park, baths, bed, and that was pretty much the end of our Disney vacation. We got up at 5 again to drive home. I love Disneyland and want to go back already.

Disneyland: Part 2

On Tuesday we went to Disneyland. We got up early once again for the Extra Magic Hour. Extra magic hour started at 8 am on Tuesday, and this is what the gates already looked like at 7:30. On a Tuesday. In October. California Adventure was pretty light on crowds, but Disneyland was crowded.

We are the crazy parents because we spent our extra time waiting for tickets to meet Anna and Elsa. We also met Belle later on in the day. We got in line to meet other princesses but after a half hour and only moving a few feet, we managed to talk Aubrey out of that idea:

 Lol... I love how Cora is a blur in almost every picture. She is at such a busy age!

And if that wasn't enough for Steven, this is how he felt after paying $33 for two plastic princess necklaces. 

Aubrey was such a brave girl. She pretty much went on every ride she could. Some of the bigger ones were a great idea (Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, etc.) Some were not a good idea. I did not know that they added a scary ghost feature to Space Mountain for Halloween. And.. Star Tours was a little too realistic. She came off the ride saying, "I didn't think we would ever come back to Disneyland." 

Cora loved every minute with her grandparents and all the rides she could go on. She especially loved exploring Toontown while we switched off to go on some of the bigger rides.

Rides, grandparents, and princesses. Definitely favorites for both of them.

Riding "It's a Small World."

We were getting in line for Splash Mountain with fast passes and we saw Steven's aunt and cousin getting on the same ride. We went on the ride with them and it was great catching up for a few minutes.

We had such a great day. We left the park around six to eat dinner in Downtown Disney. After that my parents took the girls for a hot tub/sleepover and Steven and I ran back to ride a few more rides for a date night. We were the first there and some of the last to leave. That is a good day at Disneyland. 

Disneyland: Part 1

We just got back from a GREAT vacation to Disneyland. We seriously had so much fun. We left early Sunday morning and got to LA in time to watch Conference with my sister. We were really lucky in that my sister's family and my parents also came to Disneyland with us. My brother had to work, but we missed him.

The rest of Sunday was spent driving to Anaheim, checking into our hotel, and getting ready for the next day. We stayed at one of the Disneyland hotels (Paradise Pier) and it made our stay really convenient. Steven says that I am getting spoiled. The girls wasted no time in getting comfortable around the hotel and enjoying the view of California Adventure:

On Monday we got up really early (5:30 am) so that we could be ready and at the park to take advantage of the "extra magic hour" we got by staying at the hotel.

We rushed right to Carsland (along with everybody else) to ride the Radiator Springs racers. Aubrey is 39 inches tall and all the fun rides start at 40 inches. So we did what any good parents would do and bought her cowboy boots with a one inch heel :)

Our family on the pier:

We did a lot of stroller bumper cars to keep these kids happy during all the walking:

Cora was giddy the whole day. One of my favorite memories was watching her dance like crazy during the Disney Junior show. She knows how to shake her hips. 

So glad that we could spend the week with my sister's family!