A Half = A Whole Lotta Effort!

I finished! And only 4 minutes slower than my secret hopeful time of 2 hrs 10 min (I reject my official chip time because it said that I started the race at :24, but the official race clock at the start line said :26 when I crossed the line and began running...the trigger must have been before I was actually through the start line?...so I'm taking two minutes off. I know, like it matters :) ) My hopeful time I spoke out loud was 2 hrs 25 min. I haven't trained much. My longest run in preparation was 8 miles...and that was on Memorial Day weekend...a month ago. I knew that I wasn't in the best shape going in (ummm, you may recall that sweet little lover I gave birth to nearly five months ago?). However, I knew that I could finish the darn thing.

Here comes the momma, mile 3.7, excited to see her babes

I wasn't counting on my legs cramping in the final two miles. I wasn't counting on running out of juice with just 1 mile left (ugh!). I wasn't counting on getting to see my peeps 3 times during the race (well, I guess I only heard them at the finish line since I wasn't expecting them to be there and it took everything in me to pick up my pace and get to the end...would you be able to turn and smile when you're trying not to die?!). I wasn't counting on running with Elvis. I wasn't counting on losing a toenail (though I'm not surprised). I also wasn't counting on briskly walking 2 miles before the race even began just to get the the start line (there were 30,000 people in this race).

I apologize for the unsightly thigh in this shot...please pay attention instead to my very excited face. Think I like my kids much?

Kissing snotty faces and loving every second...then it was back to business

I WAS counting on the elation that followed, but was surprised that I couldn't let myself feel totally good about it. I wanted to finish faster; I've never been a very fast runner, but wanted to be closer to my normal 10 min/mile pace for that long of a distance. I also kind of fell apart during the last mile and so I was annoyed with myself. I probably would have finished at my hopeful time if it hadn't been for that last mile; it seemed to stretch on forever and my body had had ENOUGH. My mind wasn't in it enough to carry me through. Today I'm rejecting those feelings and basking in the accomplishment (or trying to)!

Hi! Can't kiss your cute faces this time. I think I might collapse if I do. Must keep running!

I WAS counting on the joy that I would feel seeing my sweet family afterward and that did NOT disappoint. I love, love, love those people in my life. We put the kids in the car at 5 a.m., drove over an hour to Tukwila, nursed Ev and got kids dressed in the car while stuck in race traffic, quickly kissed my husby when we decided I would get out and walk to the start line so that they could just get back on the freeway instead of sitting in even MORE race traffic. Then Ty parked at the light rail, took it to the 3.7 mile area to cheer me on, hopped back on and met me at about 11 1/2 miles to cheer some more, then hauled them all to the finish line to scream my name. He kept Ev cool despite losing the oatmeal he was going to feed him to hold him off while I ran (we found out later that it had fallen out of the food bag in the car) AND losing his bink (I forgot to pack the bink attacher thingy). He's such an awesome dad! He keeps his cool and takes this 3-kid business in beautiful stride. I would have been a little worried about doing all of that with all three of them, but not Ty (and that's why we're having a Father's Day celebration today - last Sunday we were in the car all day and he didn't get the attention he so deserves).

My kids weren't so impressed until they saw the bling around my neck. Sweet, so you ran a race. A medal? Now THAT'S cool.

Max didn't want in on this shot...just a shot of me and my little lady. I love her guts. On a side note, these pictures make me grateful for makeup. Speaking of which, there were some heavily made-up women running the race. I can't imagine running with makeup on. But I digress...

It's over. I'm glad. I survived. I still need to lose the last 5 pounds. Now it's on to the Ragnar at the end of July! What was my 9-month-pregnant self thinking signing up for these things?!

We'll talk about my receding hair line in another post...maybe. It's what happens to me post-babe. Every time. Maybe I should run with a hat.

What a TRIP!

**My apologies to everyone not pictured...I can't believe all of the times I DIDN'T get my camera out!**

8 glorious days of vacation with my husby and kiddos. We are usually just passing through Utah, but decided to go a few days early so that we could visit all of the friends and family we rarely get to see. Most of the friends were meeting Tyler and my kids for the very first time!

14 hours in the car brought us to Pleasant View, UT at 3:00 a.m. on Monday

2 fun, relaxing days with my grandparents in Pleasant View, UT (with a trip to Burger Bar...yum)

Isn't it cool that my kids get to hang out and make memories with their great grandparents?! I love it!

We call them Grandma and Grandpa Great...but Kelly called them Grandpa and Great.

My grandma (a.k.a. Great) loved it.

Me and my boy...see the mural on their garage in the background? A bunch of my family worked on it.

1 4-mile run is all I got in the whole time...doesn't bode well for the half marathon I'm going to do this Saturday...aack!

2 hours visiting my Granny Mann in Hyrum, UT

Such a nice visit

Meeting Everett for the first time

1 hour to Centerville to visit my MTC companion, Sara, and her cute family

1 night's stay in West Jordan, UT, with my dear friend Val and fam

3 glorious - but much too short - hours with Emily, my dearest friend of 25 years (we met in kindergarten), and her girls

She's the reason I dyed my hair red for so many years...I always wanted her red hair and freckles

1 hour catching up with Carrie Taylor - Ty's college friend and now mine - in Sugarhouse

4 cute kids played whilst a good meal was prepared by, and shared with, my trainer on the mish - Veeda and her husband Brendan

4 1/2! wonderful people greeted us at the Huish's in Orem, UT where we spent the night, were treated to a delicious breakfast, and the kids got some toy animals that became the highlight of their trip

5 1/2 glory years were relived by Tyler as we spent a few hours on BYU's campus...I did some homework while he and the kids went on "adventures" (that included both Ty and Max giving 'lectures' in one of the classrooms) and then spent some $ on overpriced BYU paraphernalia

4 more hours in the car (bless my beautiful babes for travelling so well!) took us to Zion National Park for the annual Mann Fam Reunion!!!

16 kids ages 7 and under played and explored and imagined and loved each other up

Enjoying the loot from the Candy Fairy

If I just close my eyes maybe he won't see me here

Wilson, Kelly, Gentry and Delaney

Delaney, Max and Lily

Buds. Max, Jack and Coleman

Countless are the ways that I love these three men in my life!

Delicious

Oh, I'm so in love

2 dips in the pool (Everett's first time ever)

Kelly was attached to Papa Dan's hip the whole time

1 amazing (amazing because we pulled off so many shuttle trips with the whole lot of us and never lost a single little person) morning/afternoon at Zion National Park...oh, and the scenery was pretty darn amazing too!

Weeping Rock

See? Totally attached.

Braving the rapids :)

I love this kid.

Love her. Scruffy hair and all.

Cute little tie-dyed kids

2 1/2 very fun-filled days with some of the people we love the best

The crew minus Uncle Mak

SO many cute little people!

Meeting for the 1st time - Sam and Everett. They're 1 month apart and Sam is ADORABLE!

Papa the Jungle Gym

Annual Dad's Competition - this year it was a Minute to Win It. Good job, Beth!

SO fun to watch!

My man was the WINNER!

Oh joy! Now we get to display this in our home for the next year.

The kids in their tie-dyed shirts with Grammy and Papa, compliments of Aunt Jenn's craft

Grammy and the Ev Man

Everett LOVED Grandma and Grandpa Great especially

1 hour 45 minutes for my husby to finish the hike to Angel's Landing - the 'strenuous 4-5 hour hike' described in the park's pamphlet. He totally rocked that hike! That man knows how to impress me.

Plus he's totally hot...that impresses me too!

14 more hours in the car Sunday to Pasco, WA and the Red Lion Hotel for BATHS and a good snooze (we almost didn't wake up for the breakfast that closed at 9:00 a.m.!)

4 FINAL hours of driving brought us HOME. Love this place. The humidity felt wonderful, the trees are oh-so-beautiful. The one downside is that nobody cleaned the bathrooms and floors I didn't get to before I left. Oh well. It's good to be home!

I have to give props to my three kiddos for being SO amazing in the car. There were only a few annoyed/annoying moments with Max and Kelly. Everett was the champ of champs. I really wasn't expecting it out of them on the way home after being in the car, like, all week...but they were so, so good.

Some record-able moments:

We were in the car and part of the gorgeous rock formations of Zion came into view. I said, "Max and Kelly, look! Isn't it beautiful?!" Max replied, "Well...it's not a LOT beautiful. I think it's kind of weird. It has a flat top." It was the way that he said it..."it's not a LOT beautiful."

Kelly had been annoyed with Max a few minutes before she fell asleep in the car one time. She'd been sacked out for a while when she lifted her head toward Max and yelled, "Nooooo, Max!" in her most annoyed voice. After her scolding she was right back out.

We were playing I Spy and it was Max's turn. He said, "I spy with my little eye something that can choke." Say what? "Something that can CHOKE?" I asked. "Yep. It's my HANDS!" I know, it's kind of awful, but it was so out of the blue we couldn't help but laugh.

Mah Boy!

NOT what he wore for his talk, but a classic Max picture just the same.

There are 3 squirt guns shoved in the waist of his pants and one down the front of his shirt.

The pride on his face is the same look he wore when we congratulated him on a job well done after Church -

guns and primary talks elicit the same response, apparently. :)

Dude gave his first talk in Primary on Sunday. Precious. It was on the Holy Ghost. I delayed preparation until Saturday morning...it was too much to think about earlier in the week. I'm passing on my procrastination skills to my son, darn it. So Saturday morning at breakfast I asked him a few questions and then wrote down his answers. I wasn't quite sure what we would do with it, but as the day wore on I decided that that would be his talk - just what he said. So I printed off pictures to associate with what he was saying, taped them onto card stock, typed out his words and put them on the back.

That night, I had him stand next to me and I read to him while he repeated. After that he sat on the ground and asked me to give the talk to him. I did. Then he stood back up and did the whole thing on his own; just looked at each picture and then said his part. He SO has his daddy's brain. The next morning he gave the talk to Kelly as a refresher. Of course, he had to stand on the back of the couch because that's the 'stage' in our abode. And that was that - he was ready.

He opted for Dad to help him for the actual talk, which was fine by me because I really wanted to watch the whole thing go down. Oh, my heart! He was in his little suit, started out a little nervous and asked for help on the first two pictures, then took off and did the rest of it on his own. I wasn't sure that my chest was going to be able to contain my swelling heart, but it did. Phew. I love that little man of mine.

Here's the talk...and it's so Max:

• The Holy Ghost works with Heavenly Father and Jesus
• The Holy Ghost doesn't have a body, He lives inside of US! (pointing thumbs to his chest...except, not during the actual talk because this was still a nervous part)
• The Holy Ghost's job is to teach us what is right, NOT to teach us what is wrong
• We get the Gift of the Holy Ghost after we're baptized
• The Holy Ghost makes me feel HAPPY
• I feel the Holy Ghost when I see the temple
• I stop crying sometimes because the Holy Ghost helps me (loved this; no question from me)
• I know He helps me
• I know He's real (this was my favorite because it came without any questioning, just a statement of fact from my 4-year-old while we were discussing)

I know it, too, Bud. I hope you never forget your 4-year-old faith and testimony.