The Great Race

Earl and I traveled with our friends Ken and Freyja to Santa Barbara to run the
SBI Marathon and Half Marathon!
No, we aren't crazy.... Just goal oriented!

Isn't he handsome?! I was playing around with the camera on the drive there.

Hi. That's me playing around again.

That's a picture of my shoes. I know. So interesting.
The black chip is my Nike+ chip and the pink is the race chip.
Let me just say how happy I am to have a working ipod for the race.
Earl wasn't so lucky. His ipod kept resetting itself and he had nothing to listen to on his nice, long, long, long run.

That's me at 4:30 in the morning getting ready for the race. Crazy!!! We had to be there at 5 am and then walk over a mile to the starting point. Earl had to be at his bus at 4 am to be bussed to his starting point. The race didn't start until almost 7 am!!!
BTW... don't wear your favorite Yoga capri pants to run 13.1 miles. They aren't spandex. You might sweat and look like you peed. I'm just saying.... I might have some experience with this one.
And BTW.... don't put your Gu in your bra and run 13.1 miles either. Just not a good idea.
I learned a lot from this experience....

That's Freyja and I after we crossed the finish line.
Laura - 2 hr. 19 min. 58 sec.
Freyja - 2 hr. 48 min.
YA BABY!

Freyja got this great picture of Earl right before he crossed the finish line!
Earl - 4 hr. 35 min.
And he finished!!!!!!! I'm so proud of him!!!
And then Ken finished. We were getting a little worried about him, but he made it!
Ken - 5 hr. 50 min. (I think... correct me if I'm wrong!)
AND HE FINISHED TOO! SO VERY PROUD!!!

We finally got some food, showered and napped a little and the guys let us take them out for a little sight seeing. We were all a bit stiff, but we couldn't miss the chance to take in a few of the sights. Santa Barbara is so beautiful!!!

Ken and Freyja
Marathoner and Half Marathoner

Yep, he's a Marathoner too! I claim him as my own!

It was so much fun to spend the weekend together and accomplish this goal.
Don't we look happy?!
Yes, it's the Advil.

Art on the beach.... the guys working on it said they don't do it for the money. It's their profession. Niiiiccceee!

Goofing around....

Earl - "Do I have to put my shoes on and go home"
Laura - "Yes honey."
Earl - "Ah, man..."

We were all winners... or weiners... or crazy... whatever you may think.
And we are going to buy stock in Advil.

And he's off and running again.
Another Marathon - maybe not
Another Half Marathon - ABSOLUTELY! I can't wait!

Halloween

Cast of Characters:
Josh - Ninja (3rd year in a row... cheap costume!)
James - Jack Sparrow (I bought the accessories 2 years ago on clearance... so cute!)
Jillian - Belle from Beauty and the Beast (borrowed costume from Melanie - THANKS!)
Jon - absent from pictures because "he's too old to dress up".
I'm not complaining.

This is the best I can do... I didn't take hardly any pictures this year!
I know. I'm a bad mom. I hope I can redeem myself next year.
Since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, my kids and my husband decided it wasn't a great Sabbath day activity to go out trick or treating.
(Notice I didn't say anything about myself... I really had no opinion on the matter.)

The night before Halloween we had a great trunk or treating activity with our ward family at church, and when my kids brought home buckets FULL of candy, I didn't feel too bad about them not going on Sunday night. I definitely didn't want anymore candy in the house!
And the kids were happy.
And I was happy.
And the whole thing was made even better by having a pot luck with some friends and hanging out at their house on Halloween night.
Then we came home late, saw that 2 of our 4 carved pumpkins were smashed on our front lawn (and of course I didn't take any pictures... Sorry Earl! He worked really hard on his pumpkin!).
Oh well.... as I said, there is always next year ;)

My Favorite Things....

Bishop's Pumpkin Patch.
The most awesome pumpkin patch in the world.
We don't miss it. Ever.
I think I'll still go even when my kids are old and grown and out of the house.
I'll have to eat the pumpkin cake.
And you don't have to be a kid to appreciate pumpkin cake.

Yep, she is the cutest little girl you ever did see jumping in the hay.

Perfectly spaced teeth Jimmy. How I love that smile!

Growing up way way way too fast for me!

The annual pictures on the ginormous pumpkins. I'm not a photographer.
I just pretend to be.
Say CHEESE!

"Owww Mom! The sun is in my eyes! Don't you know how to take pictures???"

"No I will not put down my pretty rocks. Sheesh!"

I love how Jimmy's little head popped up in the back of this picture. So funny!

I had to bribe him with corn dogs to smile. The things I do....
I'm so disappointed in myself.
But it worked!

"Now give me my pumpkin cake!"
And we ate.
And we loved it.
And we will go again next year... for sure!!!

My Cub Scout

Josh LOVES LOVES LOVES Cub Scouts.

Did I mention that Josh LOVES Cub Scouts?

I'm pretty sure he loves Cub Scouts more than his mother ;)

That's what it looks like (to me!) in this picture.

Josh earned his Wolf award last month and 4 arrow points. He loves going to his den and pack meetings and spending time with is den leaders. It also gives us, as parents, one on one time with him that he needs.

We LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact that Josh LOVES Cub Scouts!

Way to go Josh!!!

And The Weiner Is...

We aren't THAT competitive... I promise! But last month, it got a little out of control.

Earl and I are on the Nike Plus website (along with some friends) and have been running and logging our miles in some friendly monthly competitions. It's very motiviating and I feel very accomplished when I look at my miles and see how far I have run in the morning or my total for the month.

Anyway, last month, Earl decided he was going to log at least 100 miles running during the month. The record was 80 miles set by our friend Ron. But Earl was given some fierce competition by our buddy Ken (who is also training for a marathon with Earl in November). Anyway, at the last minute, Earl and Ken both did a little "sneaky" running and tried to one-up each other. Earl was pronounced the winner on the website, but Ken should have actually won the monthly competition (even if he only WALKED the last minute 2 miles that he tried to log in!). Being the sore loser, proclaimed winner that Earl is, he found the perfect gift for our friend while on a late night Walmart run.

Earl thought it would be fun to wrap it up and give it to Ken at Ward Council.

Now you know the truth about what REALLY goes on at Ward Council.

Can't read the bottle... Here, take a looksie....

We love you Ken!

BTW... Earl is logged about 103 miles and I logged 69 miles during the month of August!!! I was so excited that I surpassed my goal for the month by 19!

We are both training now and Earl will be running the marathon and I am running the half marathon in November. Wish us luck!

Pretty Princess

This morning I put Jill's hair in a ponytail with a pretty bow, put on shoes and socks, got all dressed. Within 5 minutes everything was undone.
Hair bow... Out
Rubberband.... Gone
Shoes... Across the room
Socks... On her hands like gloves
Yep, I was a little annoyed since we were getting ready to leave.
Obviously we didn't leave fast enough!
And then she came to me all dolled up. Too cute to pass up!

Peek-a-Boo!

Just adorable! You can't be annoyed with that!

Gone Are Our Lazy Summer Days....

Yep, it's that time of year... I send the kids off to school, wave "Bye Bye" and go home to a much quieter and not so messy house! Don't get me wrong, I love my kids! And I love having a break from school, homework, and everything else that goes along with it. And I really love the freedom of summertime and doing all of the fun things that we do together.
But I LOVE LOVE LOVE the first day of school!

Our first stop... dropping Jon off at his NEW school! He's a big Middle School kid now! I can't believe my baby boy is old enough for the whole middle school experience. He was totally surprised when I told him that they don't have "recess" as he remembers. They now have a "break" in the middle of morning classes and after lunch. He's not too happy about it... he's still a little kid at heart! He also didn't like that I kept telling him to turn around and wave at the camera. What can I say... I just wanted to capture the moment like every nerdy mom there!

What sweet faces!!! It's pictures like this that make me miss them when they are gone all day! James started Kindergarten (is he really old enough?!) and Josh is now a big 3rd grader. Jill had to be in the picture because, let's face it, she's so darn cute! James is having a bit of an adjustment to ALL DAY Kindergarten. He asks every day this week if 1.) does he have school today and 2.) is it a long day? And then he asks me what I am doing today. I've learned to not tell him exactly what I am doing. He feels left out. :(

First in line on the first day of school. Feelin' pretty special!


It is such a weird feeling having only 1 child at home all day now! I ALMOST don't know what to do with myself... but then I look around my house and I get over that feeling really fast. Jill and I are loving our Mommy/Daughter time together. I'm going to treasure it while it lasts!