Moving On....

I am almost a year behind on posting, I still haven't finished blogging our wonderful California trip last May. It's to the point where getting caught up feels overwhelming, so I don't do anything at all with the blog....but this seemed like a doozy.

The time has come to move back to Utah. Of course I am very excited about it, but I will be leaving a big piece of my heart here in Arizona. We were the first ones to move away out of alllll of our siblings, and it felt so scary and overwhelming to be the ones to go. And it was hard, and we were lonely and homesick. But the people here in Arizona are so amazing. We quickly met friends. Friends that became our family. Friends to share Sunday dinners with, holidays with, happy and sad moments with. Here in Arizona, friends are family. Period. In Arizona I went back to school to start my first grown up career. And I've been blessed with an amazing job at an amazing office, and it hurts to leave that. Here my girls have become closer, because when all else fails, you always have your sister. Nate and I have become closer and the four of us have become one. I had always dreamed of having a palm tree in my yard, and I got to have one!

A few things I will miss about Arizona:

Our friends

My office and co-workers

Saguaros

Palm trees

Sunsets

Winter!!!

Blue skies almost every day

Seeing the Gilbert temple construction 3 miles from my house

Things I WON'T miss

cockroaches

crickets

scorpions

Huge spiders that carry their millions of babies on their backs

Employing an exterminator

Summer Grass

Walking down the street to get my mail

For the last 5 years Nate has let his "higher ups" know that if a position opened up in Salt Lake, he wanted it. Well, one opened up in Kaysville, just north of Salt Lake. Nate leaves in 2 weeks to start our new adventure. I will stay here with the girls until school gets out. The girls are excited to have an extra long summer. School here starts the first week in August, but in Utah it starts at the end of August. We are looking forward to many barbecues, camp outs, Sunday dinners and being with our families. Much love to all of our friends that have shared our journey for the last 7 years. You will always be dear in our hearts.

SOJO half marathon...

We did it! I did it! I trained my little heart out and the day finally came. And it was so much fun! We went to register the day before.

We got our numbers and all of our SWAG. Love the swag.
We were up early the next morning. Nate and I met Mindi at Scott's house and Polly was nice enough to take us to the starting line. And it was cold! I had trained in temps that were in the 90's and 100's, and at a lower elevation. I was a little worried about the temps and the elevation change. But I should have had faith in myself. I was so excited I think I could have run it under water.

A few minutes before the race started I downed a PB&J and a Dr. Pepper. Of course I did. And then we were off! Scott was off like a race horse. Nate wasn't too far behind him so Mindi and I were on our own. Before I knew it I was just little ol' me running by myself. Which is the way I like it. Music up loud, just me and my thoughts. I found myself a little dizzy for about the first mile due to elevation, but then I felt fine. At mile two we took a sharp right and headed south. The wind hit me in the face and the next two miles were an incline. With the Oquirrh Hills temple at the top. They always put temples at the highest point. It looked like it was on a mountain top! Here in Gilbert, not a lot of hills to train on. Here I am on the OTHER side of that big hill.

Before I knew it I was at mile 6! So I snuck a look at my clock and realized I was making GREAT time. My goal was 2:45 and at that point I realized that I could beat my goal. The time literally flew by. I made sure I took water and Gatorade at the aide stations and downed my Power jelly beans. At mile 11 there was a steep hill down to the riverbank and then it was a running/bike path along the Jordan River until the end. And once again we were heading south and the wind was hitting me in the face. And it was uphill. And I was running out of steam. Along the route someone had taken chalk and written: YOU CAN DO IT! STRONG FINISH! THIS IS YOUR DAY! for the last mile and a half. (There was also a name under all of these, but I just pretended they were for me.) And at mile 12 when I was struggling, a guy gave me a Gatorade, grabbed my hand, looked straight into my eyes and told me, "you've got this! You can do it!" Amazing how these tender mercys could help. But seriously, I was out of gas. I would run and have to walk. And when I would start to walk, I would think to myself, why am I walking? My legs can keep going! It was a little confusing to me. And then I could see the end!!! About .1 mile from the end my parents, brother, sister-in-law, various nieces and nephews and Sam were there. And I was so excited to see them I started to cry. And Sam ran up to me, grabbed my hand and started running with me. "You can do this mom! Let's finish together!"

My brother saw me struggling and told me, "You're okay! You've got this!" And so I did. I ran up to the finish line and there were Nate's parents, Megan, and Nate. I DID IT! Beat my goal. 2 hours and 40 minutes. Booyah.

We all did amazing and had wonderful support from all of our friends and family. I can't wait to do my next one! As soon as my knees heal......

Observations and Thoughts

If there is one thing I am good at whilst running, it is thinking. So today (whilst running 11.22 miles!) I had plenty of thoughts.

Don't forget your sunglasses.

It doesn't matter what time you wake up, it is always hot in Phoenix.

Running for more than 3 minutes can be really boring.

I hope none of my neighbors drive by and see me running.

When you get an upset tummy, count your blessings that are running right by Burger King.

My water tasted like plastic.

I am....stinky.

The gummy energy whatevers are really hard to chew with braces.

Ohmygosh, this hurts so bad, but crossing that finish line will feel soooo good!

I'm sure there were a lot of deep thoughts going on, but these were the top ones.

This was the facebook post I made right after my run:

Ran 11.22 miles this morning. I cried the last mile and a half because.....A: I didn't want to run the last mile and a half. B: I'm finding I become emotional on my long runs. C: It hurt like HELL. D: I'm really proud of myself. Two weeks to race day!

Can I just say...I am in awe of my friends and family. The support from all of them as I have taken this journey has been so inspiring. I cry every time I check my facebook and see more kind comments. See item B above. I never even imagined that I could run a mile, let alone 11! Of course, the way I feel tonight, I can't really imagine running 13.1! Oy! I'm excited for this opportunity that I am taking. I'm excited to cross that finish line and seeing my family waiting for me there. I'm excited that I know I can do this.

I just felt like running...

Well, I turned 35 this summer. And it may sound kind of silly, but this was a tough birthday for me. I realized that I was in need of a challenge. I decided that I would run a 5k. That's a good goal, right? Nice and achievable. I went to Nate and told him my plan. He thought it was great and informed me that he would ride his bike next to me, or drive behind me, but he really hates to run and didn't want to run with me. Haha. I appreciated his support. So we joined a gym, because deciding to get in shape in Phoenix in the summer is just crazy. And we were going several times a week, but I wouldn't run. I felt too stupid and knew that I wouldn't be able to run for very long. Well, one day I went for it and made it half a mile! And then I made it a mile. And pretty soon, I was running 3.2 and since I had the mileage, I promptly decided to go for a good time. And a week later I hurt my knee. Bad. Couldn't walk. Swollen. Dang! So I took a few weeks off and in the meantime we headed up to Salt Lake. I was talking to my brother about running and my goal and he threw out the idea of running a 1/2 marathon together. Love it! And then my sister wanted in. What great motivation! We got home and I started training in August. Nice and slow so my knee could heal. I'll tell you what, I've gone through knee pain, hip pain, ankle pain, muscle cramps and shin splints. But the constant emails with my brother and sister have been great. And as I continued training, something nice started to happen. Nate started running with me! And I LOVE to run with him, (even though he is a lot faster and can run longer distances. Dang him.) And we've been running our tails off and we've had great support from our girls. And in TWO weeks, we will head to Salt Lake to run our first 1/2 marathon. I'm very excited. Very nervous. And very excited. Scott has just started mentioning a full marathon next summer. We'll see...

Six Flags

We spent one of our vacation days at Six Flags. I was really looking forward to this because I like roller coasters. I forgot that I was 12 the last time I was there and now I am in my 30's. Right off the bat we rode the X2 roller coaster. I was shaking when I got off. I had a trauma and was ruined. By far the scariest thing ever.

I made Megan take this picture ;)

Megan loved this ride. I shoots you backward to the top at 90MPH, then you free fall down....

The swings are much more my speed...
The girls were thrilled to find a souvenir that only cost $5 so they each bought a Wonder Woman cape. And I won't go into details, but right after this photo was taken, one of the girls took a flying leap off the curb and quickly realized that this cape will not help you fly. And Nate's mom just happened to have her camera on action and caught it frame by frame. And it was so hilarious to see her wrapped up in her cape trying to get up that I almost peed my pants. I'm cracking up right now re-living it. (She was laughing as well, I swear.) And I'm happy to say that by the end of the day most of my trauma had gone away and I was able to enjoy some more rides. Another great day of vacation, filled with great people watching.