This is Halloween, Halloween

Since it's been a month since Halloween, I thought I'd finally get around to blogging about it!

This year was so much fun. Halloween is a lot different with a house and a baby. We loved decorating our house, dressing Jaden up, taking him trick-or-treating to some of the neighbors, and handing out candy to all the kids who came to our door.

We had a week's worth of festivities before the actual holiday rolled around. First, a town in our area had a mid-week Halloween parade so we got to see fun costumes, hear a bunch of high school bands and wave at the cool small town floats.

We went to a pumpkin carving Halloween party put on by some of our friends from our previous ward. Jaden was pretty excited about all those pumpkins.

Saturday was our ward Halloween party put on by the Young Women and Young Men. Sadly I didn't get any pictures...?!?! It was dinner and trunk-or-treating, but unfortunately it was too cold for us to actually use our trunks. So no worries, we just trick-or-treated in the building instead! The YW/YM also held a dessert auction as a fundraiser for their camps this coming year. I may or may not have spent $45 on the most amazing/deathly butterscotch caramel cheesecake our friend Camille made. Steve and I shared one piece when we got home and he took the rest to work with him. It was intense stuff and there's no way we could have finished it.

On Monday--the actual holiday--Jaden and I went to see Daddy at work so everybody could see him in his little chicken costume.

I may be biased, but I thought he made a pretty cute chicken. :)

I surprised Steve with a Halloween dinner when he got home from work. We had butternut squash soup and salad. It was basically the same meal we had at the Howell Halloween party in Utah, so I wanted to recreate it for Steve since he missed out on that one.

Then it was trick-or-treating time! Jaden loved seeing all the kids coming to the door and couldn't wait to head out himself!

We very daringly set our candy bowl out on our front door step so we could both go with Jaden to visit some neighbors. To our surprise (and disappointment) there was still quite a bit of candy when we got back. Every single Reeses was gone though, darn it :).

There is a house close to us that TOTALLY goes ALL out with their decorations. It's like an outdoor Halloween museum. We had to go check it out to finish out our night!

Keep runnin' runnin', keep runnin' runnin'

I have officially accomplished my goal to race in a 10K!

I originally wanted to run a Halloween race out here, but when I found out that our plans wouldn't allow me to run it, I looked up races in Utah for when I would be out there. I ended up signing myself up for the 10K at the Layton Marathon race, along with my mom and brother. *Side note: when I asked them if they would run it with me, I got a couple of "sure, why not?" type of responses. I was a little annoyed that they could commit to that so easily and were ready to go without training, because it was a HUGE deal for me and I had spent weeks preparing for it. Basically I was just jealous that they're in such great shape and I wasn't :)*

They were so great to wake up early and wait around for an hour in the freezing cold. Then they ran at my pace the whole way, which was a LOT slower than what they could have done it in if they were racing for themselves. I was really grateful for their support and encouragement. Plus Peter is hilarious and made us laugh the whole way.

(PS check out my sweet bib number :). We put them on our legs because we were wearing jackets in the beginning that we knew we'd probably take off.)

We finished! We ran it in 1:05:33. Not an amazing time, but my goal was 1:06:00 (a little bit faster than an 11 minute mile), so I was happy about it! Plus I was proud of myself for accomplishing a goal that I had worked so hard on. I didn't care what my time was--I was just so happy that I DID IT!

A big surprise came when we checked our times to see where we placed. Pedro came in second in his age group and would be receiving an award! He didn't want to hang around for it, but there was no way I was going to pass up that photo op. So we stayed and froze for a good hour, waiting for the awards ceremony.

While we waited, we joked that it would be hilarious if Peter won second place out of only two runners. Sure enough, after they called his name there wasn't a third place award given, so that means there were only two people in his age group. Hahaha, we were laughing about it for the next few weeks. I was still proud of him, though :). I'm sure he could have come in first if he wasn't running at my pace...

When I first committed to run a 10K, my sister in-law Brittany and brother in-law Shawn decided that they wanted to work up to one, as well. Theirs was in Highland the week after mine and was actually during the time that I would be visiting the Howells. So, like a crazy person, I asked if I could tag along and run that race, too. I was so worried that my body would fight against me because I had pushed really hard the week before (after Saturday's 10K, I had run EIGHT miles on Monday--the longest I had ever run!). Shawn and Brittany had been running at a much faster pace than me, so I said goodbye to them right at the starting line and figured I'd do worse than I had the week before. But somehow I pulled through and shaved SIX MINUTES off my time!?!?! That's like a minute a mile! I have no idea how I did it, but it felt awesome! I ran it in 59:38--under an hour! When I got to the very end, saw the time and realized I could finish in under an hour, I just pushed it for all I was worth. It felt SO good! Shawn and Britt did amazing. Britt even suffered from a killer side ache around mile 3 but was able to pull it together and still accomplished her goal to finish in under an hour. She's seriously incredible. When I get a side ache, I'm walking home :). I'm so proud of them!

Huge thanks to Stan and Julie who came out to cheer us on and snap pictures!

While we were waiting for our places to be posted, we were joking about Peter's second place experience and thought it would be funny if the same thing happened to Shawn. Then sure enough, Shawn won third place...out of three. Hahaha, we were rolling! Shawn wore his medal loud and proud though!

They're so cute together and I just love them :). I'm working really hard to try to catch up to Britt's pace but I don't think it's ever going to happen...

Since this post is so long in coming, I actually have an update about how I've been doing with my running since these races. It was REALLY hard to get into a routine when I got back home after Utah. I was used to having babysitters who could take Jaden as long as I wanted, and I don't have that here. Leslie, my running buddy, will run with me when she's visiting her parents (Steve's boss who lives in our neighborhood) so Connie (her mom) will watch our babies. It's definitely easier to go then, when I have a babysitter and someone to motivate me and push me harder and farther. But Leslie's not here all the time, and it's hard to go when she's not around.

It's also hard with the changing seasons and especially when I'm not training for something. I feel like I need to be invested in a race or something to really motivate myself. The next step from a 10K is a half marathon, which seems like a HUGE jump. It's one thing to double your distance from 5 to 10, but it's another to double it from 10 to a half (13.1 miles). Then one day Leslie told me about a 15K (9.3 miles) that is put on in DC in December and we decided to work toward that. I found out I wouldn't be able to make it to that race (not to mention it was really expensive), so we decided to just do it on our own.

And we did it! We just ran our 15K the Saturday after Thanksgiving! We didn't worry about time or anything, although we ran it in approx. 1:43:00 which is about an 11 min mile. I'm really glad we ran it, especially together, because that proved that we have what it takes to prepare for a half. So that's our next goal! We'll probably run a 10 mile race in February and then do a half next April or May.

I just want to train for our half a lot better than I did for our 15K. I wasn't running very consistently, my distance wasn't anywhere near what it should have been, and I haven't been eating very well. Basically, I wasn't ready for it and my knees really felt it. I want to run safely and take care of my body. Nine miles is a huge distance to just go out and run. But wow, if there's ever a time to run a long distance or race, it's the Saturday after Thanksgiving when you've been carbo-loading for a few days straight!

Anyway, I'm really starting to love running and I'm hoping I can keep it up through these grueling winter months. Any advice from all you runners out there on how to stay motivated during the winter? Or how to find time to run when you have babies? Please don't tell me it's to go at 5 am--I really don't want to hear it, although I know it's probably the best option. ;) Seriously though, any tips would be greatly appreciated!!

Utah in October part 2

Wow, I'm really behind on my blogging.

Here's the rest of our trip to Utah--the time we spent with the Howells!

Jaden and Poco took some time getting reacquainted with each other. Poor Poco was kind of jealous at first of everyone's attention going to the baby, but he learned to put up with it. He was even patient with Jaden trying to pet him, play with his collar and follow him around. Jaden was fascinated with the dog--even took some begging lessons from him. :)

We had an early Howell Family Halloween party, complete with butternut squash soup, homemade caramel apples, and games. It was great to have everyone together, especially all the college kids who are away from home. We even caught Steve on Skype for a few minutes because that was the night he was home in between trips.

On Sunday we took a drive through the Alpine Loop to see all the leaves. The drive goes from American Fork Canyon back through the mountains and comes out through Provo Canyon. When we got to Provo, we made the rounds to everyone's apartments--Emily, Shawn and Brittany, and Jake. It was so fun to see where everyone lives!

(I also saw Peter's apartment in Provo while I was in Utah. He's living in the complex where Steve and I met. Oh the memories ;))

Anyway, the colors peaked while I was in Utah, and our drive was GORGEOUS. These are definitely the mountains Steve and I miss so much.

And then of course Julie and I did a WHOLE lot of shopping and crafting it up while I was there. We made it to Taiwan Imports and Tai Pan Trading where I so wisely decided to buy a pencil tree for my entry way. It ended up costing as much to ship it home as it did to buy it :). Steve just laughed at me. Anyway, then Julie introduced me to Hobby Lobby and I don't think I'll ever be the same! We have one out here, which is going to be dangerous to my budget. I sure wish we had a Tai Pan, but oh well, I'll take what I can get. :) Julie also let me use her digital scrapbooking program to make some things for Jaden's birthday party coming up, and she helped me make vinyl lettering on her Cricut for Jaden's bathroom. I'll have to put up some pictures if I ever get caught up on our blog.

It was so fun to spend time with everyone--especially Spencer who hung out with me at home, and Brittany and Emily who took time out of their days to meet me on campus.

Jaden and I miss everyone so much!

so many new tricks!

Jaden has changed SO much in the past month.

Seriously, Steve came home to a brand new baby.

In the past few weeks Jaden started crawling!

At first he would only move toward the right motivation,

aka my phone because he knows he's not supposed to have it,

but now he's all over the place.

He also got his very first HAIRCUT!

Oh my goodness, he needed it pretty badly because it was getting ratty on the ends and wouldn't stay combed, but it was pretty traumatizing for his mom.

My baby is just growing up too fast and now he looks like a little boy!

He's been getting more and more big boy food.

So far he likes salsa, avocados, olives, crackers, bread, ice cream, etc.

And he has a TOOTH!

It's not all the way out yet, but it cut through while we were in Utah.

He loves his walker.

Grandma Hayward had one at her house,

so by the time we came home he was ready to cruise all over our house!

It's not going to be long before he's walking...

Jaden is also pulling himself up to standing against furniture, his crib, Mom's leg, and almost everything else!

The other day he even managed to get onto the dishwasher by himself.

Nothing is safe anymore!

This past week he also started walking along the furniture after he pulled himself up.

My goodness, it's amazing what can happen in one month of a little guy's life!

Hong Kong October 2011

Steve came home from Germany for a grand total of one day and then headed the other direction around the world to Hong Kong.

He was there and in mainland China for another week.

He took Flat Stanley to a restaurant with amazing views overlooking Hong Kong.

Another restaurant in mainland China (I forget where exactly) seats 10,000 people at once.

Crazy! They ate there about three times.

The food was crazy as well.

At this restaurant they could pick out the exact animal they wanted to eat (mostly seafood like these little turtles)--almost all of which were still alive--and it would be taken to the kitchen to be cooked however they wanted.

Mmmm...chicken paws.

They made friends with a Buddhist monk.

Of course they had lots of meetings as well.

Steve got plenty of opportunities to use his Chinese.

Flat Stanley in China!

He loved Hong Kong, but was definitely excited to see this little guy when we finally got home!