St. George Marathon Completed!!!!

My awesome husband Ryan, Brinlee and I after the race. He was the best support!!
Brinlee, Me and Grandpa Arden!!!
Me, Brinlee and Grammy Carolyn after the race
Amy, Jennifer, and Me after we all completed the Marathon!! Way to go everyone!!

We just got back from a whirlwind of a weekend literally!! After all of my training the BIG day finally came, and I might say went very quickly. Ryan, Brinlee and I went to Las Vegas on Thursday and got to spend the weekend with his parents. They were so excited to have us come and to share this great experience with me. They did such a great job of making it so special and very memorable for me. If I ever chose to do another marathon it would be hard to beat!!

We arrived in St. George Friday afternoon and went to check in. After check in we went to actually drive the course to see just what I had gotten myself into. It was a definite reality to check to see just how long 26.2 miles is. At this point I started to get a little anxiety, but knew that I had trained my body for this and was ready. When I signed up for the race I put my finish time at 5 hours, because I knew that I could handle that. Then about 3 weeks ago I started to look at the marathon mommies blog and found that that was actually slow and moved my time to 4:15, but secretly wanted 4 hours. I started to pump my partner up for the better time, and hoped for the best. We were bussed to the top of a mountain to the starting line. I got up at 4:00 am and was on the bus at 4:30. It took about 1/2 hour to get to the starting line and the race started at 6:45 am. The marathon was very well put on with fires at the top to keep us warm until we started and lots of Gatorade, water and ben gay stations along the way. I was inpressed by the beauty of the mountains and the people in the small towns along the way who got up bright and early to cheer us on as we passed by. I ran with my race buddy Amy until about mile 14 when she said go ahead and get the time you want. I ran and ran and kept running. I was so excited to see Ryan, Brinlee and his mom and dad at mile 25.5. It was a definite moral booster. 25 had to be the longest mile ever because people kept saying just 1 more mile. After I saw them I turned the corner to the finish line and was overwhelmed with gratitude for my healthy body. I sprinted to the finish line and finished with a 4:09 time!!!!!! I was so grateful and happy to have beat my time by 6 minutes. I averaged 9:27 miles, and feel really blessed to have been a part of this great event. It was very challenging and very rewarding at the same time. Thank you to everyone for all of your support!!!

BYU Football Game

Alex, Ryan and Austyn

This is what happens when you go to early. Ryan wanted to make sure he missed the traffic :-)

On Saturday Ryan took Alex and Austyn to see the BYU football game in the new stadium. They had fun and enjoyed being in the new Cowboy's stadium.

Dinosaur World

"I'm so scared"

Oh know it is going to get me!

Maybe if I stand here and scream it will go away! There was lots of fun screaming along the way. She was making other people laugh at how funny she was about seeing the dinosaurs! It was very entertaining, and comical!!

We had so much fun the first time through we had to go a second time. Daddy did a good job of keeping us all cool in the summer heat with his cool wet towel!! I had to buy her the pink dinosaur shirt it says I love dinosaurs!

Brinlee never falls asleep in the car, but today was an exception. She crashed a few minutes after we left and got a nice nap in the car.

Today we decided to take a ride to a place called Glen Rose, Texas to visit Dinosaur World. It was fun to have a day all about Brinlee and her love for Dinosaurs. It was also fun to have daddy with us to share this fun experience. Brinlee was so animated and loved everything. We took lots of pictures to make a fun photo album of her and the dinosaurs.

What have we been up to????

Look at her crazy hair and sweet smile!! I just LOVE it!

Daddy and Ninlee watching dinosuar's while Mommy is running 13 miles. Which would you prefer??????

Ninlee and Damon at the Heard Museum watching what else.... Dinosaurs! Ninlee could have stayed there all day. She was scared, but he big brother is alway's there to protect her :-)

Running thru the tunnel "scared"


It has been a while since I last posted. We have pretty much been hibernating in the house or at the swimming pool to try and escape the summer time heat. I am still going strong training for my marathon in October. It is a lot of running, but will be worth it in the end. I run 4 days a week and cross train 1 day. Saturday's are my long runs. Ryan has been great giving up playing basketball Saturday mornings so I can train. I am also thankful for my training partner who makes it easier to get up and go run for 2+ hours every Saturday morning. Alex and Austyn are training hard for Football. It is definitely "Friday Night Lights in Texas" the schools are crazy out here and work the boy's hard. They are having fun and look forward to starting to play soon. It has been fun to watch them grow and develop their talent of football. Damon has been Brinlee's little buddy this summer. They hang out everyday and love playing together. He is growing up and will be in the 5th grade this year!

Who LOVES Dinosaurs...Brinlee

My sweet little Brinlee is in LOVE with Dinosaurs! She is so fascinated by them and scared of them at the same time. It all started with her watching Little Einsteins Instrument Dinosaurs and hiding behind me while she watched, but asking to watch over and over again. I would also often find her hiding behind the couch as well. Then she started watching the Land Before Time movies and NOW she LOVES Ice Age which she calls "the elephant movie". I took her last week to go see Ice Age Dinosaurs at the theater and she was so good. She LOVES movies and as soon as we got in the car she wanted to go again. All I heard all the way home was let's go again, let's go back, I don't want to take a nap I want to go back, turn around mom let' go back. It was very funny and made us all laugh. She is so much fun and has quite the personality! I just adore her and I am so grateful to be her mommy!

Daddy and Brinlee. We have been doing a lot of swimming lately to try and survive the crazy Texas heat. This weekend Daddy actually went with us, and we all had a great time!

Alex is the BEST big brother! Brinlee just loves him. I actually recorded him reading this Elmo book to her is his "Elmo" voice it really fun to watch him interact with her.

Washington DC Trip

Ryan needed to take some time off from work and we decided to head to Virginia to visit Ryan's brother Greg and his family. We had a great time visiting and site seeing. Brinlee enjoyed her cousin's and had so much fun jumping on the trampoline. Here are a few highlights from are trip.

On our way... Brinlee was so good!

Waiting in line Saturday morning to see Night at the Smithsonian on the Imax where it was filmed! We all had a great time.

Ryan and Greg at Gettysburg

Ryan and I at Gettysburg. It was a neat place to visit and gave me a greater appreciation of the freedom that we enjoy.

Ryan and I at Mt Vernon