OUT!

Max to the Max had a big first last week. His first tooth fell OUT. I wasn't ready. I thought this business didn't start happening until well into the Kindergarten year, or even first grade. But happen it did. Why do I freak out about my oldest child growing up? I really need to get a grip, I think. I'm working on it.

We got back from the Ragnar (which was only like a day and a half) and my mom asks if I knew that Max had a loose tooth. Ummm...no. My first thought was that he'd hit it on something and knocked it loose, but further investigation proved that this loose tooth was legit; the adult tooth was poking out right behind/below it. So he wiggled and wiggled. I told him once to just keep wiggling it and he said, "Mom, you don't even have to tell me to wiggle it because I really LOVE to wiggle it." Tyler was out of town for work and wanted to be home for the big event so Max promised that he would shove it back in if it came out.

Well...

On Friday morning (Ty wouldn't see the kids until Saturday afternoon) Max exclaims, "Mom, look! My tooth is really loose now!" I look over and he has blood starting to pour out of his mouth. So I grabbed some paper towel and got the blood under control to find that the tooth was hanging by a thread, so I popped it out. He was a little bit THRILLED about the whole experience and quickly realized that he, in fact, could not shove it back in to wait for Dad. Oh well, we sent him some pictures and Max got to tell him all about it. We couldn't do the Tooth Fairy bit that night since Tyler and I would be gone...AND we've forgotten the two nights since. But tonight will be the night. If we remember. Is this kid going to be in college next month? That's how fast time seems to go.

And THAT is a really long explanation. I should have just said "My kid lost his first tooth"...but that's just not my style.

We are OUT of races that we're committed to for the year! And it feels so good. I can now run for the heck of it, or skip it if I'm not feeling it. On Saturday Tyler joined me for the Rock n' Roll Half Marathon in Seattle. We decided at the beginning of last week that we would make an overnight date out of it. So we lined up a wonderful babysitter (Quincy, a young woman from our ward), scrambled for a hotel (tricky when there are 33,000 or so people participating in the race), and met on the streets of Seattle (I walked onto the ferry and he was coming from the airport since he'd been in Florida most of the week for work). It was perfect. We checked into our (overpriced) hotel room, went to the Expo to pick up our race packets (where Tyler crazily signed up to run the FULL marathon next year...it was $40 off and he was feeling inspired!), walked on over to dinner at Romio's (VERY yummy) and were in bed by 9 pm since our alarm would be going off at 4:45 to catch the shuttle. Waking up at that hour wasn't super easy when we were kidless in a fancy-pants hotel room, but wake up we did.

It was so fun to be at the start line with my hubs! And that's about the last I saw of him until the finish line. I patted his bottom, said "I love you" and sent him off to run at his pace (which is much faster than mine) about 20 seconds after we crossed the start line. We both ran our best time and had a great experience. We made our way back to the hotel, laid our weary bodies on the beds for a while and then realized we would have to book it to make the ferry. So we ran ('cause we totally needed to run MORE that day), only to miss the Bremerton ferry we were trying to make. Bummer. Instead we took the Bainbridge ferry and our babysitter piled the kids into the van and picked us up. I came home to a super clean house and happy kids. (Thanks again, Quincy!) LOVED the experience.

About to start!

Looking happy (but nasty....and squinty) at the finish line

We came home, had lunch, and then headed OUT the door for a Civil War reenactment in Port Gamble. It was awesome. At least that's what Ty told me. I had to take Everett across the street where the cannons and guns weren't so loud. He was not a fan.

Max was in little boy HEAVEN

Now I am OUT of time and things to say. Peace out.

Dream Realized

I had a dream.

After last year's Ragnar, I had a dream of running a Ragnar with my hubs. So at last year's Foster reunion I started to push the idea, realizing that the stars might really align because there weren't going to be any expecting mommas in the fam this summer. We had 4 of the 6 brothers and their wives sign on by last fall...my Ragnar dream was going to come true!

Weston, me, Tyler, Garrett, Beth, Kristen, Drew, Adam, Laura, Jeff, Angie, Becky

I had another dream. I met Tyler's cousin's wife, Beth, several summers ago and we became friends mostly through our blogs. She was planning to run last year's Ragnar with my team in WA, but ended up not being able to. So when I realized that we were going to be short a couple or two for this year, I contacted Beth to see if she and her husband wanted in. They did! I was super excited to finally get to spend time with Beth and get to know her better. Love her.

Me and the beautiful Beth

The whole experience was awesome. Perfect. I loved our team and I loved the beauty of the Utah valleys and mountains we ran through. I love doing something hard and coming out on the other side of it. I love the inside jokes and memories made. I love the hilarity that comes from 6 hours of sleep in two days. I love that I got to shower in a beautiful home and then sleep for a few hours on a real bed before my final run (instead of climbing into a sleeping bag on the floor of a high school gym with hundreds of other runners and realize how NASTY I smelled...that was my Ragnar sleeping experience last year).

Van One: Ty, me, Adam, Laura, Beth, Garrett

I love, love, love my husband! My parents (so, so graciously) made the trek from Vegas and watched our kids at my grandparent's house for the weekend. It was so nice not to worry about them and just get lost in the experience together. The kids didn't miss us a bit and had SUCH a great time with my parents and grandparents. We were total zombies on Saturday afternoon and evening. My sister and her family drove from Payson where they were at a family reunion to visit us...I was glad the kids got to play, but felt so bad because I could barely put together a coherent sentence. (Sorry again, Adri & Trent!)

Me and my man at the finish line!

And my dad. My sweet, thoughtful Dad. He heard that we were planning to get together as a team in a park right after the finish line. So he asks if he can make lunch for everyone. Bacon wrapped hot dogs to be precise. And the reason (besides the fact that he's just really nice)? He visited Washington while I was training for my marathon and had to do a 20-mile run. He happened to be making those hot dogs for us (mostly for Ty) for lunch and I let him know it was the best my stomach had done post-long run. So when I ran my marathon at the Valley of Fire, he packed his BBQ grill in the back of his truck and made me (and everyone in the fam) those hot dogs near the finish line. So of course he's going to do the same, thoughtful thing after our Ragnar. I'm so lucky to have such wonderful parents!

Mom & Dad getting the grub ready

What a great experience! The stars likely won't be aligned for all of us next year...but hopefully a few years from now. I love me some Ragnar.

Double Master

I asked Tyler last night when we got home from his MBA graduation if he wanted me to call him Double Master from now on and he agreed that it has a nice ring to it. Ha. Only if he'll call me Triple Master for mothering three little humans. When Tyler and I were engaged, I got to attend his thesis presentation and a few weeks before we were married, he graduated with his Masters in Mechanical Engineering. We didn't go to that graduation (it was held in April and he finished in December) because we were living across the country in New York and I wasn't around for all of the work, so I figured if he didn't care about going then we wouldn't make the trek.

Well, I WAS around for all of the work this time and there was no way we were going to miss last night's hooding ceremony. All of us were going. I was kind of questioning my wisdom in having all of the kids there last night when I talked to another wife who had left her kids at home and said there was no way she was going to bring them and was so happy to not have to worry about them. I realized Everett was likely going to be the noisiest kid in the room. But I am so glad that we all went...and I am so glad there weren't any verbose speakers. The whole thing was over in under an hour. Awesome. Luckily, we have an amazing friend, Russ Kent, who thinks our kids are great (I think he likes me and Tyler too) and asked if he could come. He was a HUGE help. We love you, Russ, and are so thankful to have your friendship. It meant so very much to have you there.

*Pictures below are from a little reception they had before the hooding ceremony*

Kelly Anne

The graduate and the babe who was there for half of this whole MBA business

Russ keeping the kids entertained...they can't wait to dig up his yard for some pirate treasure (a story he told them)

Don't mind us, we're just going to spread out and take all of the sitting room in the courtyard and use it as our table

The graduate with his three adorable babes...one who still manages to be cute with crazy eyes. He was holding all three. I LOVE this picture! My four favorite people.

*On to the Hooding Ceremony*

Hooded.

*Afterward Ty took us on a little tour of campus*

This is the room where a large portion of the learning occurred - Dougan 160

Russ and Tyler

I held myself together pretty well during the ceremony until one of the MBA student speakers thanked all of the family members who sacrificed and supported when they needed to do homework, go to class, meet with groups, etc. Then the tears began to flow. And I felt that it could easily turn into an ugly cry, but luckily I had my little peeps to keep quiet. Now, I know this wasn't as long or hard as medical school (we've got a lot of those doctor people in our family) or law school or dental school, but it was a challenge for us. Tyler worked full-time, served in the Young Mens organization at church, and fit in all of his class and homework at nights and on the weekends. He has been sleep deprived for the past two years, trying to do as much of his school work as possible when we were all sleeping. I didn't realize how dependent I was on Ty walking through the door every night until he didn't a few times a week. I don't know what it will be like to have Saturdays be Saturdays again and not homework days. But I am a more independent and confident momma than I was and Ty did SO much to make it obvious that his family came first above anything else. I am even more in love with him now than I was before. I like going through hard things together. You're my favorite person in this world, Tyler Michael. You rocked this MBA thing. I love you with all of my heart, Double Master. :)