A visit from Grandma Wall

This month continued to be busy and full of visitors as we had the privilege of having my Grandma Wall come to Texas. My dad flew to Utah to pick her up and they flew together to come visit us all in Houston. At just shy of 93, I am impressed she can go and do as she pleases still.

She is beautiful and still going strong! She is much more frail than the last time I saw her, but she is still mentally strong and is enjoyable to have a conversation with. We talked about books we both enjoy and how we like Hallmark movies and books that are mindless when we just want to relax such as Josi Kilpack books. She told me how she really dislikes her name Mabel and at one point she wanted a different name so bad that she said "just call me Sunshine" haha. I love that! 

She came to my home one afternoon and we had lunch and played like 20 rounds of Kings in the Corner. She loves games, just as I do. She got to see all the kids and spend a little time with them. 

My dad and Grandma have good, healthy genes, and I pray that I continue that legacy. I loved having a visit from her and although we mostly just ate and talked, it was great for her to be able to make the journey to us. I hope we can make it to Utah to see her again soon!

Ella's First Year at Camp Olympia!

In our Summerwood Stake, they have done girls camp during the end part of Spring break the past couple years. It has been so hot in the summers, that they were having trouble with heat strokes and such, that they opted for this option. Ella is a summer birthday and although she isn't 12 yet, she made the cutoff to be able to go. She was pretty excited. 

There were 11 girls from our ward that went and 7 of them were first years. They left bright and early Thursday morning. 

They made a stop at Sam Houston state park and went on a hike that was required for girls camp. 

Ella enjoyed the hike as she loves to walk. I just haven't gotten her to love running yet ;)

I would get random texts from my friends who were leaders about her progress. On Friday, I got a text from three leaders saying she had an amazing shot! She won the whole shooting competition. She shot bibi guns. I am not sure where she learned, because it definitely wasn't from me, but she was excited she had such a good shot!
She really enjoyed camp. The theme was "Sprinkle Kindness". She had a lot of fun and free time, unfortunately, there was a little bit of a lack of spirituality involved. She didn't know anything else though and she got home on Saturday at 11:00 p.m. She literally woke up for church and slept the rest of the day! She was exhausted from going to bed so late each night. I am glad she had the chance to go!

Spring Break 2018

I love Spring break! It is a great time of year and I love having a week with the kids. March has been crazy, but filled with lots of fun and exciting things. We started celebrating Spring Break a little bit early as the Rodeo and my brother Corey came into town.

Ragnar and I went to go see Thomas Rhett in concert one evening and I really enjoyed it as I love his music!

A couple days later, I took the kids out of school and we joined my parents and Corey and his 3 kids for the carnival and animal part of the rodeo.

We went to see the animals, and of course the pig races which I love.

The kids really enjoy "Fun on the Farm" where they get to pretend to be farmers.

The carnival at the end is always one of the highlights. The kids enjoy the rides and games!

Ella was so excited to have Madi with her.

Deacon won the "biggest fish in the pond" with one of the games and won this huge wolf/dog which he proudly carried and named Wolfie! It was great to see my brother Corey and his three youngest kids and the weather was perfect!

The next day we had football games, and Channing got to go to her best friend Avery's party and ride horses. She loved it! 

Sunday, we had Corey's family over most of the day and it was great to chat with him. Monday, we were supposed to go to the Woodlands resort for a couple nights, but it was cancelled due to the chiller weather we were having. It was beautiful outside, but would have been a little cold in a swim suit!

We improvised and went over to Burroughs park and played instead.

The kids played baseball and we had a picnic.

Cavin and Deacon were in heaven to have cousins and uncles to play sports with.

Grandpa and Grandma made smores which we enjoyed!

They also played football. 

Ella and Madi chatted and held cute Cai.

Charlotte, Emma, and Channing enjoyed playing at the park and in the sand.

We came back to Grandmas and watched a movie in their theater room after the kids were worn out.

We finished the day with a picnic on the porch. It was a gorgeous and fun day.
Tuesday, we went over to a place called BOOMERS. The kids could mini golf, do bumper boats, rock wall, or golf carts. They loved it and no one knew it opened early, so we had the place to ourselves the first couple hours!

Deacon was SO excited to be on the go cart with me and that his side had a steering wheel as well!

Ella was pretty nervous her first time!

And Cavin...was a reckless driver, just as I imagined he would be!

We did the bumper boats, but we got pretty wet from the squirters on them!

Caden and Ella showed us their rock climbing skills. 

Luckily, Ragnar got to join us for a couple hours and he played mini golf with the kids and I.

It took them FOREVER to serve us our lunch, but the kids were patient and enjoyed talking while we waited. We had a fun day!

That evening we went out to Saltgrass Steakhouse to have an adults dinner. We were missing Marisa and sad she couldn't come, but I loved having the rest of us together and I am so grateful my brother took the time to come visit! It was so nice to see him!

The last part of spring break we continued to have fun. Cavin FINALLY successfully figured out how to ride his bike! He has been trying, but balancing has been so difficult for him. I am so proud he worked for hours with Ragnar and figured it out. He has been practicing most days and is getting better and better. His body has so many bruises and scrapes, but he just gets up and keeps trying!

Channing was even able to pick it up and is now riding on her own. I know it seems like they are plenty old to have figured it out, but better late than never! I'm proud of them for continuing to try!

Thursday, Ella left for girls camp, which I will post separately about and we missed her. We had fun playing at the park though in her absence.

We went to the Rockets game that evening which was fun.

Deacon sure is a handful at games, but he loves going and cheering them on!

Friday was my 35th birthday. Man, that feels So old to say! My parents and sister Natalie came over and did a puzzle with me and played games, which I love. Then later in the afternoon, Ragnar came home early and we went all together to The Cheesecake factory for dinner. I love that place! It was delicious and I was so grateful that he took the time to get off during his busy season and that my parents could join. Birthday's aren't my favorite, but it was a nice day.

We had an awesome Spring break and the weather all week couldn't have been more perfect!

The Woodlands Half Marathon 2018

The Woodlands Half Marathon was last weekend, Saturday, March 3, 2018. I have been training for this race for a while. I have done it many years, but this year, I really wanted to try and get a personal record and break under 1:40. In the past couple months, I had been training and trying to keep my pace right at 7:30 per mile. When race week came, I was so nervous. I think the emotions of having a new calling at church, so much going on this month with my brother coming, grandma coming, spring break, the rodeo, Ella going to girls camp, the doom of my birthday...etc, I felt very overwhelmed. In all of that, I did, however feel very supported by Heavenly Father. He had done many things to show me he cared about me and was supporting me. The kids had been praying for great weather as it was forecasted to rain, and the weather that day could not have been more perfect. 
The day before the race, my awesome friend Jen had this sign put up, and Amy and Becky both brought me good luck tokens. I usually don't share my emotions, but given the fact I was freaking out, I think they were kind enough to try and cheer me on and encourage me through it! In reality, I was supposed to be the one encouraging them! This was their first half marathon, and they had come from only running a couple miles to a half marathon. I was so proud of their hard work.

The morning of the race, I felt good. I drove down with some friends, Emily, Kim, Becky, and Jennifer.

Here we are about to head out to the starting line..looking for a bathroom that didn't have a massive line!

The race started out so well. I was staying at my 7:30 pace til mile 9. At mile 9 I hit a wall, mentally. It was partially my fault. I had only trained that fast til mile 10 and I didn't equate how difficult it would be to finish off the last 3 miles. Unfortunately, I slowed down to about 8:00 min miles, and then at mile 12 I saw my friend Emily and lost it. While I was proud of her, I was so discouraged that I had trained so hard and I knew I couldn't get my time at that point. 

All in all, I raced my best. My time for 13.1 on my watch if I would have stopped it at exactly the half marathon mark would have been right over 1:42. As you can see from my watches, the race was a little long, so that put me at an ending time of 1:43:07 officially on the website. 

I didn't reach my goal, but I did p.r., even if it was only by like 30 seconds. 

I waited to watch my friends finish. Jennifer and Becky finished strong!

A little while later, Amy came through the finish line. Her knee was hurting, but she made it!

I am so glad I asked these ladies to run with me several months ago. They were so brave and consistent with their training and they made it to the finish line! There is nothing like your first race. It's always a special one.

Emily has been through all of my races in the Woodlands with me year after year. She keeps me pushing hard. 

I am so grateful for my families support. My parents and sister were kind enough to come early and cheer me on. They have been at many of my races, and I am grateful to see their smiling faces at the end! Ragnar's parents sent me messages, my kids kept me in all of their prayers and would pray for me to do well, and my sister Marisa got me flowers.

I am also super grateful for Daphne. She came all the way from Louisiana to support me. She kept telling me I could do it.

and..Last, but certainly not least, I am so grateful for Ragnar's support. He is there to hear my constant stress over my pace splits, or my anxiety on race day. He is there to comfort me, and to massage out my aching body. He even bought me a new watch to train with for Valentine's Day. I am lucky to have him always supporting my love of running. Til next year!