Half Marathon numero seis

I ran the Phoenix half marathon! It was my 6th! And I finally got the PR I've been dreaming of. I broke two hours. 1:58:56 was my official time. I wasn't sure how this race was going to go. I wanted to just relax, trust my training and have no pressure to do anything amazing. I think taking that pressure off of myself made the biggest difference. I wanted to do well, but no pressure to PR.

The night before was super low key. We got to bed a bit later than I wanted to. We dropped the girls off at my parents house because Friday night because I had to leave at 4:15 in the morning and Kyle was working Saturday morning. So we came home and got in bed around 10. As soon as we got in bed, the fire alarm in our room started beeping! Kyle was nice and changed out the batteries. 20 minutes later it started beeping again!! So kyle just took it off. Then about 20 minutes later it started beeping again!! So kyle took it and hid it under a bunch of towels. So I definitely got to sleep later than I meant to but I woke up ready to go! I got ready, got some toast and water and ran over to Wendy's to meet up and head to the starting line.

We got stuck in horrible traffic trying to park. We were happy we left when we did. We were also happy that the Californian was driving. Wendy was awesome handling the traffic and getting us there a little faster. It was SOOOOOO cold at the starting line.  Like in the 30s. We were all huddled around heaters with hundreds of other people. Luckily it went by fast and before I knew it was time for the national anthem. They even let off some fireworks! We took our time getting over to the starting line so that we didn't have to fight all of the people. But there were so many people! As we started running we had to weave through a lot.

I felt like the tin man as we started running. My whole body was so stiff. As we kept going it got better, but my fingers didn't thaw out until at least mile 10! I was really watching my pace those first few miles to make sure we were staying around a 9 - 9:20 minutes mile. Last time we were running an 8:30 the first 4 miles and then we died. So I wanted to stay at a more even pace. Then my GPS went way off and said I was going way faster and father than I actually was. So then I had no idea what our pace or distance was. We really evened out and just kept talking and keeping each other going. The first 7 miles flew by! It was crazy. We were just having the best time.

About 9 miles we all started splitting up. I didn't run with water so I had to keep going through the water stations and it kept getting harder and harder to catch up with them. I finally caught back up with Lindsey and Wendy around 10.5 miles. I started realizing that if we didn't slow down at all that we would beat 2 hours! That really kept me going. When we passed the 11 miles marker I tried picking up the pace. It was hard, but I just kept going! Finally we saw the circle K where I knew we would be turning. Then it was down hill to the light where we turned to the finish line. Lindsey and I were together all the way to the end. Her energy was contagious. She was so excited and it kept me positive and motivated. Then I saw my dad with Abby and Jules and I was so excited!! It was so fun to see them. We crossed the finish line and the time on the clock said 2 hours and 2 minutes. I knew we had waited a few minutes after the gun went off to cross the starting line so I was so curious to know what our actual time was! I was dreading finding out that we had only gotten over 2 hours by something like 10 seconds.

I went through the corral pretty fast. I got my kneaders french toast (seriously better become a tradition at the end of that race! It was so good!) I met up with my dad and the girls. They were so cold so we left pretty fast. We stopped at "Hurts donut" and got some yummy donuts! Kyle left me a message asking if I saw my official time. I called him right back and he told me they had sent him a message when I crossed with the official time. 1:58:56!!!!!! I was so happy! It was perfect! It was amazing to think I had finally reached that goal.

For years and years I didn't think I would ever be able to run faster than a 10 minute mile. And I averaged a 9:10 minute mile in this race!! How incredible is that? I'm working my way into the 8 minute mile. I did take a crazy amount of time to recover from this race. I had some knee problems but I have been feeling much better and am ready to jump back in and hit it hard again.

I am so grateful for these amazing women that ran with me that day and the ones that ran with us through all our training. I am so grateful. I'm also so grateful for Kyle. He is so supportive of these races. He sacrifices a lot so that I can run and so that I can do what I need to do. He is so proud of me and makes me feel amazing. I could do it without him. Reaching these goals has been incredible. Its really exciting to start making some new goals!

I got all my medals out that afternoon. I felt super cool! 

That night we went out and got sushi to celebrate my awesomeness. It was a really good day. 

February

I need to be better at posting these as soon as the month is over because I forget everything so quick! February was fantastic. Lots of good family time and memories! March and April are going to be nuts. So it was nice to have some downtime leading up to all the crazy. 

Abby came home from school complaining that she was hurting, I thought she might be getting another bladder infection. Luckily it was just a false alarm! 

Abby does her own hair now. Its awesome. She is so creative! 

Jane is cute. The end. 

Abby has been earning money for months and months and she finally earned enough for her new bike. It was such a fun experience watching her pick it out and being so proud! I seriously love her. 

Our kitchen was finished!! I am in love. It changes the whole house. 

Seriously the cutest. 

These two have been becoming the best friends. Juliet is so cute with Jane. 

This little kindergartner is growing by leaps and bounds. I am so proud of her and how hard she works. She is incredibly impressive! 

Picnics outside everyday! Give me all the sunshine. 

Emergency dinners at cafe rio because life gets so crazy and cafe rio has free quesadillas for little kids. 

It was my grandparents 50th anniversary! My mom made these really cool shirts for everyone. 

walking around the temple grounds before lunch on a Saturday. 

More relaxing picnics.

So right after we graduated my dad's family was planning a big family trip for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. They decided on a cruise. We really wanted to go, but a cruise for 5 people and airfare and everything else we just didn't think we could swing it. Even though it was a really hard decision we felt a lot of peace over it. We love to travel and we want to take our girls everywhere! So its really hard for us to say no. 

I dropped my family off at the airport on a friday morning. Even though it was hard I really felt a lot of peace over it. The next night as kyle and I were going to bed we realize our sink is leaking. Under our sink was totally flooded. Our water system under there was freaking out. Luckily Tim ran over and got it all figured out for us. But it looks like this has happened before. All the wood is rotting under our sink. We couldn't believe how lucky we were that we weren't on that cruise! Our sink would have been leaking for an entire week. Who knows how much damage it would have done. So making that sacrifice saved us so much stress financially. We would have been financially strapped and then come home to a ruined home. It would have been nuts. So grateful! 

Filing out valentines. So fun! 

Valentine pancakes. And don't you love abby's hair? Seriously its the best everyday to see what she comes up with. And she rocks it with so much confidence. I got to go help with her valentines party at school that day. So fun! 

Valentines celebrations knocked these two out. 

She had a really fun party! 

Our new valentines tradition. A "fancy" family dinner. 

homemade chocolate covered strawberries for dessert 

Walking back to the car after Dad's softball game. I love when we are able to go cheer him on. 

She kills me. She is so cute! Don't mind all the dirt on her face. She loves to eat it. 

We had the funnest dinner/game night at the Parkers house! 

Abby made this for me! I put it somewhere safe so I'll always have it. Its says "mom is amazing". So so special to me.

An epic sandcastle me and Abby made. 

Family treat at the Sweet Tooth Fairy bakery

I painted. A lot. The other two bedrooms upstairs, both up stairs bathrooms and the laundry room. I'm tired. 

The difference in the car air-conditioning for mine and kyle's sides of the cars. He is always hot and I am always freezing. 

So much sisterly love in our house! 

Sneak peek of easter/wedding dresses! I scored the prefect dresses for Carson and Andi's weddings for the girls. $30 for all the dresses! 

And they're perfect for spinning. 

New hardware for the cabinets I painted in the laundry room! 

practicing spelling words online. I lived doing homework with her. 

February was fun! 

Dallas/Waco

Kyle is the most incredible person ever. I love him so much! For Christmas he made a big dream of mine come true. He planned a fun trip to dallas and waco. We loved telling people we were going to waco for a getaway. The reason we went was to go to Magnolia Market. I am in love with Fixer Upper (a show on HGTV). Chip and Jo are my heros. I read their book before our trip and fell in love with them even more. It was so fun to go to the store and get some serious inspiration for our home. And to have a couple nights away with Kyle. 

I have to back up and tell how kyle gave me the gift. On Christmas morning we opened all of our gifts and it was a perfect morning. Then kyle told me to go look in the Christmas tree and there was a beautiful bracelet! He always has a surprise up his sleeve so I thought that was it. Then he starts asking me if I think thats it. Then he tells me to go look in the stockings. Inside is an envelope and inside that is a picture of Magnolia Silos. I look up at him totally shocked and he says "we're going". The thoughts running through my head are "that is the cutest thing ever, I can't believe he thought of that. But there is no way I'm going to actually let us go. We can't leave the girls. It will be to expensive". Then he starts telling me he already bought the tickets and talked to my mom about watching the girls. We are going in two weeks!! Ahhh! I was so excited. He got great deals on everything so it ended up being a really inexpensive little getaway. 

We left Saturday afternoon and got to fly to Dallas. We stayed in a really nice hotel right downtown. It was SOO cold that night. We bundled up and walked down to a sushi restaurant. It was a little hole in the wall restaurant. The workers were straight off the boat from Japan. It was awesome. Easily some of the best sushi I have ever had! 

The next day we had breakfast in bed. Seriously the best ever. Then we went to the Dallas Aquarium. Everything was within walking distance. So that was really nice. The aquarium was so cool. We saw sloths which was awesome. They were super active when we were there. We saw an octopus that was putting on a show! He was moving all over the tank, it was really neat to watch. 

Then we just relaxed and watched movies.

But Monday was the real treat! Waco!!!! 

We checked out of the hotel and drove down to Waco. It was a fun little road trip together. We got there right after it opened. We walked all over the store. I took a million pictures. And got a ton of ideas. It was so amazing. Everything was so beautiful and so inspiring. I could have bought a million things. I did get some Christmas decorations that were 50% off! Then we went outside and played Corn hole. A lot. We walked through the garden area and the garden store. We went to the bakery and had some amazing grilled cheese sandwiches from a food truck on site. They even took a picture of us and we were featured on their instagram! We're grilled cheese famous. 

Then we walked around the store like three more times. I saw something new each time I went through. There were soo many people there. On a Monday. In January. So nuts! 

Then we walked over to the Dr. Pepper museum. Who knew Dr. Pepper was invented in Waco Texas. The museum was super lame. But we had a good time. 

Then it was back for more cupcakes at the bakery and then drive back to the airport and fly home.

We had so much fun together. I love this husband of mine. He wants to make all my dreams come true. No matter how silly. I love that about him. We have such a good time together. It never gets old! 

Thank you for that fantastic memories Kyle. You are the best! 

My spirit animal

weird artwork in Dallas

From the rooftop garden on our hotel