two halves make a whole, right?

I'm not sure that I'll do another marathon, but I did two half marathons 3 1/2 months apart, so that sorta counts, wouldn't you say?

Tyler and I ran in the Leavenworth Half Marathon this weekend! It was Tyler's first half and I think in a few days (weeks? months?) he'll say that he enjoyed it. At the finish line he told Max, "It was hard, Max, no matter what Mom says." No, I think he really did enjoy it and is glad he did it. My other races this summer had me a little more prepped. The man didn't have much time to prepare and didn't realize how much it can hurt the body. But he still finished ahead of me and I was so proud of him!

*Nelsa - my good friend who ran the Ragnar with me...she and her husband ran the half together*

I had a great race! Maybe it's because I have collected some wisdom in the 4 months I've been 30 :)...it seems that I am giving myself a break so much more these days. It may have been a "race" but I just wasn't up for making sure I made my best time. Sure, I wanted to push myself (and did!) but I decided to enjoy the experience and not care about the results so much. With three little ones 4 and under, a husband who works full-time and goes to school, and everything else I have going, I just DON'T have time to train as much as I used to. I was able to train more when I was a two-kiddo mom because I have a double jogging stroller. I don't have a triple jogging stroller or the muscles that would require. It's not my season to be hard-core and going for my personal record. I do these races to lose the baby weight (which I have, though the rolls when I sit down suggest otherwise) so why beat myself up if I don't meet some made-up-by-me expectation? I'm not gonna do it anymore. So much more enjoyable!

We didn't take a single picture at the finish or of the kids or our great babysitter, Jessica, who made the trek out there with us, but everyone did GREAT and had a good time.

This isn't my picture - I found it online - but it's of Leavenworth in the fall. Gorgeous, huh? Such a good course too, although I wish that there were just a few more hills. Too much flat wears on me. I know, weird. Must be the hills I have to run on around my home that have warped my thinking.

*sigh* So nice to have this race behind me. Now I can run for the heck of it...until next spring when I'll have to kick it in gear for the Wasatch Back Ragnar with the hubs and his fam. Gotta get a few more races in next summer before we decide it's time to add another babe to our bunch!

Family Pics

Tyler's telling a joke...such a funny man! It's still hilarious after the hundredth time, apparently, because that's how many times he's told this particular joke.

Our ward does a service auction every year and a friend in our ward with a fancy camera who has photography skillz decided to give an hour of her time for a photo shoot. We got to the activity late and I was standing in the back of the room, looking at the goods you could take home that night. Mind you, this is Monopoly money based on how good you've been (read your scriptures this morning? $5, given service in the past week? $20...stuff like that); no real $ is involved. Tyler came back and asked me to look over the list of services offered so he would know what to bid on. The bidding had begun and I suddenly realized it was for this photo shoot. I handed off the babe and headed to the front; I was NOT going home without this sweet deal! The "price" kept going up and up...several people dropped out, but was going head-to-head with the Stake President. I gave him a few "I am SO not backing down, brother!" looks (with a smile, of course, he IS my stake president) and I think he finally decided to be benevolent and let me win. He should have been given a few extra bucks for that.

I wanted to lose some baby weight and wanted Ev to be able to sit and smile before we cashed in. The time finally came. We decided to do it while Tyler's parents were visiting so that we could have some back-up behind the camera. We headed to Clear Creek Trail, a few minutes from home, where we met Monica. Sweet woman may not have known what she was getting into. Kelly is not a lover of picture-taking. I felt like I had a full-on workout by the time we were done; I'm sure Monica was exhausted! But the results were totally worth it! I've posted a family shot and the kid's pictures to the left...here are a few more I love:

The men in my life...handsome fellas!

Such a tender, candid moment...I'll cherish this one forever

A smile! This was at the beginning and I wasn't sure we'd captured one.

Favorite, even with Kelly's squished eye

A lover...SUCH a lover

The idolized big brother, the adoring babe, the eternal momma...I LOVE this! A perfect representation of my little people.

My three beauties

Success? I totally think so!

From Relaxing Exhale to Deep Breath

The past month has been the long, slow, relaxing exhale of having Tyler off of school responsibilities and deadlines and class time and commuting. It's been nice...sooo nice. Every day I get to count on him walking through the door to play with the kids and/or help with dinner. Every night we've had time and energy for pillow talk.

We've gone on dates and spent good, quality family time.

We've done a lot of family walks and blackberry picking (I made jam, Ty made the best cobbler I've had in my life!)

We've given the Ev Man lots of kisses as he's fallen and bumped his head over and over again. Dude thinks he should be pulling himself up on everything but doesn't have the stability/stamina to make it safe to do so.

Oh my goodness...what a lover!

We've danced and sung our hearts out to the Mamma Mia! soundtrack (watching Kelly sing Super Trooper is a total delight, so do yourself a favor and take a gander at the video below)

We went camping and hiked on the Dungeness Spit. This was actually hilarious. It was a beautiful, warm sunny day as we set out. I grabbed the kid's jackets just in case. What I should have grabbed was long underwear and parkas. We got out on the spit and the wind was blowing, like, 30 mph. The kids were freezing! They were crying/whimpering the whole time and their noses were running like hoses. We had planned on trekking out as close to the lighthouse at the end of the spit as we could (5 miles out and 5 miles back) with the kids strapped to us in various contraptions, but only made it about a mile and a half out before seeking refuge from the wind behind some logs and having a snack. We took a video of the joy because it was so funny to us..."We're making family memories, kids, this IS fun!" :) Tyler and I kept laughing about it (when we weren't telling the kids, "Okay, that's enough crying!")

Still gorgeous, albeit cold...the scenery AND the ladies :)

Super Dad! Oh, those freezing cold little legs.

Refuge! Kind of. We couldn't really escape the wind.

This is the perfect picture...that's what Kelly looked like the whole hike. I can't look at it without chuckling.

Looking back down the Dungeness spit to where we began...

Someday we'll make it to the lighthouse..."But it [was] not this day!" (name that movie..."But it is not this day!")

*Sigh* I love the Pacific Northwest

We had a fabulous visit from Ty's wonderful parents. Sadly, I did not take many pictures...but we did a ton and had such a great time. I am extremely lucky to have the best in-laws that I love to be around! Max and I both cried when we dropped them off at the airport. Come again soon, Maggie and Papa Mick!

Doing a Princess puzzle with Papa Mick

We went on a Locke cruise and saw the house from Sleepless in Seattle

At the top of Mt. Walker in the Olympic Mountains...view of the Hood Canal and our peninsula (Kitsap) behind us

We took family pictures (our walls will finally reflect that I've given birth to three little people - Kelly was Everett's age in our last family picture.) I'll post those later.

We've gone as a family to Max and Kelly's swimming lessons.

This is where Kelly spends the whole lesson - by herself on the stairs. Oh well. She practices her kicks and sticking her face in the water by herself.

Max LoVeS it! His teacher, Mike, is great.

The Seattle Mariners may have lost to the Red Sox on Wednesday night, but at least we were there to cheer them on with our foam fingers, kettle corn, cotton candy, and hot dogs topped with cream cheese & grilled onions (sounds scary, but is soooo good! Thanks for the tip, Jennifer!) *There was a smudge on our lens, but we didn't know it...annoying*

We had to run - through the rain - to make the ferry on time...Tyler and I were so wet!

This week has been the deep breath of anticipation (read: slight dread) for the craziness that awaits us. Tyler's taking three (count 'em - THREE) classes this semester instead of the usual two. We want this MBA business over with before next summer instead of at the end of the summer, plus the third is a class he is quite interested in. So sacrifice is the name of the game, folks. You may need to remind me of this in about a month when I wonder why in the world I would have agreed to something so ridiculous; three days a week of the kids not seeing the dad may get a little ugly. The third class is at the UW-Seattle campus (he usually goes to Tacoma), so he'll be hopping on the ferry one day a week. And you do know that he works full-time as well? And did I mention that I am taking two classes this semester instead of the one I'd grown accustomed to? Maybe they should do studies on people that live at sea level; it's got to be the air or something here that makes us do crazy things.

One Lucky Lady

I'm usually talking about how lucky I am to be married to Tyler. Well, today I want to talk about another lucky lady...Maxwell's future wife. I'll tell you the reasons why.

Max is super observant & complimentary. He is always complimenting me - "Oooohhh, Mom, I really like that shirt" "I love when you wear your hair like that, Mom" "Mom, you look beautiful today. Are those earrings new?" Max has a best friend, a little girl named Reyes, and she lives next door. Marcela (her mom) told me that when he went over to play the other day he came inside, Reyes ran into the family room, and Max sat down to take off his shoes. He turned to Marcela and said, "Marcela?" "Yes, Max?" "I really like Reyes' hair like that." **I know these childhood friendships rarely turn into marriage, but we would sure be happy if this was one of those rare occurrences. **

Don't be scared...it's all in the name of protection from bad guys

He's already thinking about what to name his first child.

He believes in love at first sight. On Sunday we were driving to Church and Max asked what it meant to fall in love. I told him that it meant meeting someone who you think is more wonderful than anyone else in the world and you want to be with them all of the time and often you marry that person. Please read his response; you'll be so happy you did:

"It's like if I'm at a big boy party and I'm standing there and there's a girl behind me and I can't see her. And then she comes up to me - to my shoulder - and pokes me and I say, "Huh?" And then I turn and look at her and then I fall in love with her."

He's even a cute runner

He is a great cuddler.

He has beautiful blue eyes that you can get lost in.

He'll be a super great dad because he's currently learning from the best.

He kills slugs and spiders.

He won't be wearing these floaties forever, ladies...he's currently in swimming lessons

He is super thoughtful and aware of other's feelings.

He's already got some pretty sweet dance moves.

He has an awesome memory, so he'll never forget birthdays or anniversaries...or even what shirt she was wearing and how she wore her hair on their first date.

Yep, that wife of his is going to be pretty darn lucky. But for now, I'm the lucky one. I love being the first love of this little boy's life!

Let's see...

• Everett D is a crawling maniac! He went from getting a bit of coordination of some arm-leg movement to full-on crawling in two days. Two days later he had mastered the two shallow stairs that lead out of the family room into the dining room. Say wha?! He just turned 7 months on Sunday. I wasn't prepared. But, boy, is it cute to see him crawling into a room...little man is so very proud of himself. And happy. That kid exudes happiness. He also insists on entertainment during most meals. He often gets fussy while we're feeding him but will consistently eat if I'm singing some peppy song with lots of voice inflection and funny faces.

• Kelly Anne is such a wonderful little lady. I fall more in love with her all the time. The other day I opened the sugar canister that sits on the counter and there was her perfect little hand print on top of the sugar...I continue to love the thought of that. She loves pink (sometimes purple) and princesses and has a fabulous imagination. The other day I walked into the family room after we'd finished painting our toenails (something she insists on regularly when hers get chipped) and she was using the fingernail polish as people. Sister sings and often corrects me as to her name depending on who she is pretending to be at the moment - Jessie from Toy Story, Violet from The Incredibles ("Sometimes her mom calls her Vi"), or Lady Spiderman are the regulars. Sister knows how to bring the drama and sass. Her sad facial expressions are awesome. She loves her brother and when friends come to play...but if it gets to be too much she'll disappear to a quiet place where she won't be bothered and play solo for a while. One of my favorite things she says is, "I can do it 'cause I'm a big sister."

• Maxwell T is growing up before my eyes. Last night I was putting medicine on his poor eczema-ridden thighs and bottom and then looked way up into his eyes (I was sitting on the floor) and suddenly realized how big he's getting. Sure, he's on the short side (and skinny! that boy is so skinny!) but he's a lot bigger than the little 1-year-old I used to have to help get dressed. He's started a soccer course and will take a break from that to start swimming lessons next week. On our trip to Vegas he went from nervously insisting on holding my hand while he jumps into the pool to asking me to back up and yelling "Cannonball!" as he runs from a great distance taking the cannonball stance as he splashes into the water...in a matter of minutes. I was shocked. Once he makes up his mind to do something, he's all in. He likes to tell me about his dreams and had one the other night about me, him, and the iron rod (it was made of scriptures). While he sometimes gets a kick out of pushing Kelly's buttons, he's mostly a really thoughtful, attentive older brother to both Kelly and the Ev man. And he's a big helper to me.

• This handsome love of my life is on a school vacation! He has nearly a month off of school and we are loving (trying not to get used to) it. He took Max on an overnight camp out, just the two of them, last weekend. Max felt like the most important kid in the world. They had so much fun. Last night I took Max and Everett to Max's soccer class and Ty took Kelly by herself to the school to play some soccer and pretend and chat. He loves his kids and his wife (that's me! I'm so lucky!) and it is so obvious. We are running a half marathon together (well, I'm not making him stay with me this time) in Leavenworth, WA, at the beginning of October. We're not ready for it, but we're excited! :) I feel really, really, really lucky to belong to him.

• As for this momma...I have some things to say. A few weeks ago I was on a walk with my family - it was our favorite walk down a beautiful dirt road surrounded by beautiful trees. There are goats and llamas to be seen and we were checking out the new bridge that had been built. We started picking blackberries and made the top of the jogging stroller into a makeshift bowl to contain them all. We had plans for those blackberries - jam and cobbler and our bellies. I was lagging behind with Everett in the stroller and Tyler and the kids were just up ahead. The sun was going down and cast the most beautiful light through the trees onto my little family. Everything about that moment was perfect - the light, the temperature, the smells, the happiness that comes from simple joys, and the fact that we were together as a family. It took my breath away and brought tears to my eyes. Sometimes it is so hard to be a mom of three tiny people...sometimes I just want a break...sometimes I yell at my kids...sometimes I feel like sitting on my booty while someone else cleans my house and answers the next thousand questions of the day. But then sometimes - most times, I'd say - I feel completely grateful for this life that I lead. I know that I am going to ache for these days once they are gone and so I try to cherish them. I love watching my kids grow and as each phase passes I hope in my heart that I have cherished them enough in that moment of time. I just changed Everett's closet out - put away the 3-6 mos clothes and brought in the 6-9 mos. So fast. Oh, and I think it's really fun to take self-portraits on days that I do my makeup and hair. Should I do my hair straight or curl it for our upcoming family pictures? I'm leaning toward curling it.

Ev crawls! It's cute (and short)!