April 24

Where were you and what were you doing on April 24, 2010?  Me?  I was running and I continued to run straight for 2 hours and 5 minutes.  I didn't stop until I crossed the finish line, 13.1 miles later.

Lets start from the beginning.  In November 2008 I started running.  I hated it.  My lungs burned, my legs burned I can't tell you how much pain I was in when I first started.  I could barely walk and trying to sit down was a joke.  I ran alone for the first few months.  I ran at night, not the smartest thing I've ever done.  Then I started talking to a girl from church, Jennie, who ran in the mornings.  I thought she was CRAZY for getting up early and running.  I have two sisters that get up and run in the wee hours of the morning and I have always laughed at them from the comforts of my warm bed.  Somehow I let Jennie talk me into running with her early in the morning.  When I say early morning I mean EARLY.  Sometimes BEFORE 5:00 AM!  So we would run 3.5 miles 6 days a week.  While we ran Jennie and I talked about how fun it might be to run a race.  Maybe a 5k or something.   Nothing crazy like a half marathon.  Then I got pregnant and I still ran.  I ran until the end of July when I hit the 20 week mark in my pregnancy.  I would have continued running but because of my history of pre-term labor my Dr. made me promise him I would stop at 20 weeks.  Before I quit running I made a goal for myself that no matter when I delivered I would start up running again on January 1st.  

So, on November 18th I gave birth to the most adorable little boy.  I enjoyed my mornings with him.  I enjoyed staying in bed past 6 am.  Granted he was a newborn but not your typical newborn.  At 5 weeks he started sleeping through the night.  Can you say angle baby.  Slowly January 1 was creeping up on me.  I had made this goal and I had made the mistake of telling people about it.  I had to follow through.  So January 1, 2010 I dusted of my running shoes and started running again.  Oh the burning and the wheezing I felt.  The pain the next day was so excruciating.  I hated running.  I didn't want to do it again.  EVER.  But then the next morning came and I knew that Jennie would be standing out on the corner all alone waiting for me.  She had become a friend, a very good friend, and I couldn't do that to her.  So I set my alarm, fed my sleeping baby and laced up my sneakers.  I was running again.  

We talked about races.  Jennie had been training for a half marathon but for some reason it didn't happen.  Then I opened my big mouth.  "Let's do one together",  I suggested.  So we found one in Tucson, about 2 hours away and we started training.  7 miles, 8 miles all the way up to 11.5 miles the Saturday before the race.  It was hard I won't lie.  I was tired.  Nate was going to be out of town the week-end of my race so I had to call in some favors and fly my Mom in to help me out.  But with the help of awesome friends and a great Mom it all came together.

I didn't sleep very well the night before the race.  Nerves.  You wouldn't believe how much of the training is mental.  How many times you have to look up ahead and say to yourself "If I can make it to that stop sign I can keep going".  The race started out fine.  They had water at mile 1 and mile 3.  We passed on it.  We didn't need water yet.  While we were running there were arrows directing us where to go and mile markers to let us know how far we had ran.  We turned the corner and all of the sudden the arrows were coming at us.  WHAT?  Where did we make a wrong turn?  Not just us but all the people in front of us.  We just kept going and following the crowd.  The arrows kept coming at us and there was no water.  We passed a mile marker that said 6 miles.  WHAT?  We had been running for over an hour.  Then a sweet lady overheard my whining and told us that the marker was wrong we had actually ran 7.5 miles.  The question on our minds was where was the *&%^ WATER!  Finally at mile 8 we had water.  It was the best water I ever tasted.  Finally we started seeing mile markers again only now they were going backwards.  We were running it backwards.  How, I'm not sure, but most of the runners either ran it backwards or just completely wrong.  The race cordinator came up and apologized to us after the race.  I think he might be looking for a new job soon.  

Anyway, I did it.  Five months after Cooper was born.  In 2 hours and 5 minutes I ran 13.1 miles.  It was a great feeling.  I couldn't help but smile as I saw the finish line getting closer and closer.  I wish Nate and Brock and Brody had been there to see me cross the finish line but, oh well, maybe next time.  My Mom was there and so was Cooper.  And Jennie's sweet kids cheered me on and gave me hugs at the end.  It was an awesome feeling.  As a mom there are very few things that I feel I really accomplish.  Things that I have to train for and work hard to finish.  Let me just say this...."If I can do, anyone can do it!"  It was awesome and I owe a big thanks to Jennie because I know that there is no way I could have done it without her.  She rocks!

Now for the pictures...........

6 Months

I can't believe how fast the last six months have come and gone.  My little Cooper is officially 6 months old.  He is an amazing baby.  He rarely cries.  He smiles and laughs easily.  Especially if his big brothers are around.  All they have to do is say "Hi Cooper" and he will give them the biggest grin.  There are a few things that he is not really fond of, one of them is the bath tub.  He has just recently stopped crying through his entire bath.  The other is solid foods.  He cries as soon as I put him in the high chair.  We just keep trying new foods hoping that he will start to like something.  He is starting to play with toys and trying to talk to us.  We all love this sweet little man and are so happy that he is part of our family.

This is what makes me smile!

I am so blessed.

Sunday

What do you do on a Sunday when you don't have church until 2:00? 

Make bugs. 

My sister-in-law gave this to my boys for Christmas.  It is the boy version of an Easy Bake Oven.  The difference is it makes bugs not yummy sweets.

My boys love playing with it and creating all sorts of crazy looking bugs.

Working Together

Careful to get the colors just right

The end result is a rubber insect that is perfect for playing with

Had to include a picture of this cutie

SERIOUSLY....WHAT KIND OF MOTHER DOES THIS?

one that needs a good laugh!

Easter

We had a great Easter weekend.  On Saturday we took the boys to the Surprise Easter Egg Hunt.  They had so much fun.  They got way too much candy and were able to play in the bounce houses.  We had lunch at Sonic and then home to hang out and watch General Conference.  Thanks to a little thing call DVR we didn't have to stay home all morning and miss out on the festivities.  Sunday was spent watching confrence and lounging in our PJ's.  What could be better than that?  All in all it was a great weekend spent with my four favorite boys. 

My Loves

Apparently Brody was done taking pictures

What a STUD!!

Brock takes Easter egg hunting very serious

That is a lot of candy

Check out all those eggs

They were told to "clean up the field" and not leave any candy behind

This little stinker will not look at the camera

Look Who's 4 Months Old

Time truely does fly when you're having fun and oh how much fun little Cooper is.  I can't believe that he is already 4 month old.  It seems like he was just born, yet somehow it feels as if he has always been around. 

A little bit about Cooper......

He weighs 13lbs 11 oz

He has many nick names. Cooperster, Scoops, Scooby-Doo and my personal favorite COOP (say it in your deepest voice with some umph behind it to get the full effect).

He has the cutest open mouth smile

He can roll over but chooses not to show off too much.

He loves to watch his brothers.

He sleeps through the night. Hooray!! 

He loves to suck on his pointer finger.  He thinks it makes him look smarter.

He hates getting a bath.  The boys is not a fan of being cold.

And he is kissed and loved daily by 3 dogs, 2 crazy brothers and his Mommy and Daddy.

We've been BUSY!

This post was actually typed up in December and never published.  What the heck!  All I needed to to was click on "PUBLISH POST" what a slacker.

We have had a lot going on since Cooper was born. 

Last week my good friend Amber came in town.  We had so much fun just hanging out.  We met in dental school and have been friends ever since.  She had her third little one just 6 weeks before Cooper was born.  She left her other two kids home with family and just brought cute little Lily.  It was so fun to be able to be just us and our newborns.  We went shopping, ate way too many brownies, nursed our babies, rented some good movies and some not so good movies.  The one thing we didn't do was take a lot of pictures.  These are the only three.  All it all it was a great trip.  I loved that she took the time out of her busy life to come and visit and that she was willing to call in some favors to leave her older kids at home.  What a great friend. 

These two will fall in love someday...the just don't know it yet.

No...I don't want twins.

Right after Amber left it was Nate's birthday.  We went to dinner and came home for some good old cake and ice cream.  Nate made out like a bandit for his birthday.  New golf clubs, bag, balls, a jacket, shoes and even some cash to get whatever else he might need to improve his game.  Now he just needs to find the time to use all his new toys.

Nate is so proud of his 3 boys and they are so lucky to have him for a Daddy.  He is so patient with them and their Mommy.  We all love him so much.  I am so lucky to be married to such a STUD!  He works his tail off to provide for his family and we love him for it.