John!

A couple weeks ago my brother, John, returned from his mission. He served in Houston, TX doing ASL. I still can hardly believe he's home! Last week we spent a day together catching up, making a Halloween treat with the kids, playing air hockey, and yeah...basically boring him to death. But I don't care cause I've missed him so much and I'm so excited to spend time with him again! I'm proud of him and the selfless choice he made in serving the Lord. Welcome home, bro!

John coming down the escalator. It's a dark pic, but yeah, he's there.

Finally, the wait is over!

Trey and Drew thought the airport was a giant playground and ran around screaming the whole time. For 1/2 a second they stood still just in time for me to snap this cute pic.

John being such a good sport. I gave him the job of putting the pupils on the doughnut eyeballs.

John, friends, and family hanging out after the homecoming.

Love you, John!

Hot Tamales

RUN?.........YES!
SLEEP?..............TRIED, BUT COULDN'T!
EAT?..........THE LITTLE THAT WE COULD GAG DOWN!
REPEAT?....................DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE AT THAT POINT!
REPEAT AGAIN?................YES, I KNOW WE'RE CRAZY!

Last weekend myself and 11 other awesome girls ran the Ragnar relay in Las Vegas. We all trained for it most of the summer and were ready to rock it. The race began just outside of Mesquite and ended at the Red Rock Hotel in Vegas. 171 miles. Each runner ran 3 legs ranging from about 3-8 miles each. We finished in 26 hours 49 minutes and 15 seconds.....placing 4th for female teams and 87th overall.

The day before. Getting ready to leave.

Van1 ready to start.

Van 1

Van 2

Amanda starting off the team.

Amanda gets the award for being the most cheerful. Seriously. When we were feeling awful Amanda was always so positive and kept everyone's spirits up. Thanks, sis!

Morgan passing me the bracelet at the exchange point

And I'm off for my 1st leg.

Getting sprayed with water to help with the heat.

I have been running alot of long distance hills to train for my 1st and most difficult leg and I thought I was totally prepared. The hills were insane! Steeper than I ever imagined. However, what made it more difficult was the heat. It was 90 degrees when I ran this leg. I trained for hills, long distance, and multiple runs in a 24 hr period, but couldn't train for the heat. When I had about 2 miles left my legs starting feeling like they were swelling from the heat and I was in alot of pain. I stared at another long steep hill ahead of me and knew I would be in trouble if I didn't slow down. I ended up walking for I'm guessing the next 3/4 mile then booked it to make up time. I was SO discouraged and down on myself for having to walk up that darn hill. When our van drove back down after I was done I noticed that almost every runner was walking up the hills. Yesterday I ran into a trainer that ran the same leg 2 hours after me and he told me how difficult it had been for him. That made me feel a little better. I guess I should be proud for running as far as I did. Even with walking that little bit I still had a 8.5 minute mile pace that leg.

That ain't no smile. I read somewhere that pain is weakness leaving the body. I must've been totally out of weaknesses after that 1st leg. Phew!

Stopping to try to force ourselves to eat something. Apparently running wasn't enough for the energizer bunny Amanda.

Starting off van #1's 2nd legs. Damon got us these reflector vests from Ogio. They ended up being a lifesaver. It was difficult to tell one runner from another in the dark since all the other vests looked the same. We could spot our teammate easily which was a huge peace of mind.

I had gotten horrible nausea from my 1st leg and was pretty nervous about running again. We thought we would have places to refill water but in the middle of the desert there was no such luck. Trying to hydrate with warm water was making me get worse and I began saying alot of silent prayers. This race was so important to me and I couldn't let myself and my teammates down. I began my 2nd leg just before midnight and it ended up being gorgeous. I ran at a slower pace, turned off my ipod, and soaked up the view. I ran along Lake Mead with only the light from my headlamp and the reflection of the moon on the water. I was alone for most of it and had no van access so I was afraid of getting lost. Ragnar did a terrible job with directions for the nighttime legs and some runners ended up running around the wrong side of the lake. Thank goodness that didn't happen to me. When I got to the exchange point my teammates didn't know I was done and the next runner wasn't there. I waited for about 5 minutes then the Ragnar worker told me to keep going. I had alot of things running through my mind. The next leg was the highest elevation gain in the whole race and 6 miles (I had just run 6,) I was so sick, and there would still be no van access and no one to relieve me. However, the weather was cool and I had enjoyed running in the dark. I just said "OK," said another quick prayer, and headed on my way. Fortunately, before I got off the beach the next runner got there and I heard a volunteer yelling for me so I headed back. Just in time!

Driving into Vegas...finally. The city couldn't have looked more beautiful.

My van 1 teammates after finishing our 3rd legs. Loving the jets on our tired legs while we waited for van 2 runners to finish.

The tired Hot Tamales team and Amanda's brother, aka driver Ben. Ben stayed awake the whole time, hardly ate anything cause he felt bad eating in front of us, and looked out for our runner when the rest of us were too busy fighting sleep. He never complained and we were all so impressed. Cause lets face it...us girls were complaining. Good guy.

You're probably thinking why would we would pay to do this to ourselves. The nausea, the exhaustion, etc etc etc. I have to say, as difficult as it was, it was an incredible experience. How close you get to your teammates, being there to help each other out, taking over when a runner wasn't able to finish, crying when another runner cried...it made us really close and I have nothing but admiration for all my incredible hot tamale friends.

Yesterday I decided to run a 10k. I figured that since I was already trained and had a week to recover from the relay, I would be fine. My sis and her family, Damon and the kids, and my dad all came to watch which was so fun to have them there. It started out chilly but the sun quickly came out. So apparently I'm not always that bright. I soon discovered that my body had not recovered and the nausea quickly returned at full force. Luckily I was fine till I stopped running. My time wasn't as good as I had wanted and I'm hoping that I'll finally wake up tomorrow nausea free. I think it's time for me to take a little break. I finished in 47:27. 4th for women and 21st overall.

The kids being ever so patient during my race.

Thanks everybody who helped out and supported me. Mari for watching the kids during the relay while having morning sickness. Amanda for training with me and babysitting when you weren't running with me. My teammates for your encouragement and friendship. Our team captain, Becky, for all your hard work. And especially Damon for your support. You've been patient with me being gone alot to train this summer and never tried to talk me out of my craziness. I love you, hun!

This Week

While Damon and his friends were at the Priesthood Session Saturday evening, my friends and I took our kids to the Pumpkin Patch. The weather wasn't too chilly and it was a great way to start off the Halloween season. We try to do alot of fun activities and baking throughout October to celebrate the gruesome holiday. Love it!

I went with Bailee and the 2nd grade classes on a field trip to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. Why have I never taken my kids there before? What a blast! Bailee's teacher let me take Trey and oh how cute! He wanted nothing to do with me. He totally participated and stayed by Bailee's side the whole time. I was so impressed with Bailee. She wasn't annoyed or embarrased at all by him tagging along with her and her friends. Now that school has started my kids are best buds again. I love watching them together. I am so blessed!