Huntsville Marathon!!

    

    I have not posted for a long time... So Jake, Annie, and I ran the Full Monte Huntsville Marathon last September 2013! A marathon has been a goal of mine & now I can say that I actually did it! Hip hip hooray! It's such a BIG accomplishment! I couldn't have done it without the motivation of Annie, Jesse, Jake, my friend Lindsay, and the list goes on. Lindsay also ran it. We trained together for the most part, she was my running buddy. I did run with Jake and Annie also. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures with Lindsay at the marathon :( A marathon takes a lot of time, dedication, consistency, hard work, etc. It was worth it though! Now I can say that I've done at least one! Who knows, I may even do another one someday.

2 thumbs up!

This is Katie (Annie's friend), Annie, & me before the race!

 This is a cool pic with the sun!

 Steve (Annie's bro-in-law) is behind us. He ran also.

These two have done marathons before. They are amazing (& a little crazy)!

Here's the 3 of us anxious to start!

 It was very cold at first!

Go Annie! She is super fast! She finished about an hour before I did!

We had a nice view! I really liked the course.

 Jake at the end!

 Almost there!

 Here I come!

 I wasn't too far behind Jake.

 About to cross the finish line!

 I'm glad I did it! My knee got injured just weeks before the marathon. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to run it (in fear of not being able to finish or making my knee worse). I was undecided up until like the week before. I decided to just do it, but take it easy. That's exactly what I did. I just ran at my own pace that felt good to me. I ended up running almost the whole thing without walking much or stopping. I really enjoyed it. There was a moment toward the end when my knee was really hurting. I pushed through though and thankfully it went away fast. I didn't worry about competing against other people, just worried about running according to my strength. This helped me a lot.

 

I love babies!

I love babies, especially my niece Addison & nephew Dawson! Here's some cute pictures:

 I love her little pony tail & tongue sticking out! She's gotten chubby! It's fun to chase her when she's crawling & say, "I'm going to get you!" then she laughs, it's so cute.

 Dawson is now walking! He gets around! I love this picture of him on the swing! Cute smile :)

 I love baby animals too!

Jake forgot his temple recommend, so he helped me watch Addie! He's cute with her & Dawson. They love him & he gets them to laugh.

 Patty cake!

 She sticks her tongue out a lot!

Being an aunt is the best!

Family Reunions

This was the Howlett reunion at Golden Corral. There was a balloon guy making us balloon hats. Pretty cool I'd say! Claire & I have similar hats.

 Ethen sandwiched between his grandparents in the back seat of our Honda civic!

 Pine Valley outside the church. It's a fun place to get together!

Scheel's Ferris Wheel

Only a buck each!

 Fun!

Cali/Vegas Trip

   We went on a mini family trip to California & Las Vegas. We left on Jake's birthday & stopped at Golden Corral for dinner. This is what Jake had: ribs & chicken wings!

I love to see the temple!



 Redland's Temple



On the 4th of July, we went to a cool fireworks show with Jake's friend Jeremiah & his family.

 Jeremiah has his tongue sticking out!

 Stinky foot! He's crazy!

We had a blast at the beach!

 I'm a mermaid!

 Ethen's a fat man! We got to visit my cousin Autie & her cute family. She's in the background with her daughter Scarlet. I wish we took a picture with her!

 Midget! Jake went to town burying Ethen.

 We loved the big waves.

 We had fun catching sand crabs!

 

 Vegas M&M store

 It was very nice of Jen & Brad to let us crash at their house so that we didn't have to drive straight to Cali. On our way back, we spent some extra time there. 

We saw a cool 3D M&M free movie!

We had fun!!