Brace Yourselves!

It happened! I can't believe it! We got a van! What? You heard me! I have my own wheels! YES!!! I haven't had my own car for two and a half years! Party time! We got an unbelievable deal. Dale was laughing when we were negotiating at the dealership because I was driving the salesman so hard. Wow! I am still in shock! We brought it home last night but I didn't go anywhere special today. I just took Tabby to gym, and to preschool. I also dropped of her registration papers for kindergarten. Just being able to hop in my van and get there quick was so nice. No more walking (wasn't so bad) or asking for rides (no fun.) Now it's off the the grocery store! Normally I would have to wait till Dale got home and the kids went to bed. Sometimes I wouldn't be able to get there until very late at night. Thank goodness Walmart is open 24hrs or we would have all starved. Now I can go where I please, whenever I please. I am so grateful!

I forgot to mention...

just how beautiful Utah is right now! When we went up there for the race, my aunt and uncle were kind enough to let us stay at their place and check out the view from their house!
We had a few days before the race to just do as we pleased. We went to this place called Gardner's Village. It's full of adorable shops and yummy restaurants. The have a stream complete with ducks!
Here we are after eating at Archibald's. Go there, it's YUM!
I wish we could grow flowers like this here!
Here we are on the bridge over the stream.
The race expo was at the Salt Palace which is right by the Salt Lake Temple. I have never seen the grounds look more gorgeous!

So I went to a sports injury specialist on Wednesday and I got x-rays and an MRI yesterday. BTW, if you want the best nap ever, go get an MRI. Slept like a baby.

I have an appointment on Tuesday for the doc to see my films and tell me just how jacked-up my knees really are. I wish I knew how to read x-rays because the suspense is killing me! Did you know they can take cartilage from the comb of a rooster and inject it in to your knee? Gross! But if it worked on me, I'd totally do it! He says he thinks I will need physical therapy too. Not that I wouldn't mind going, but having to farm my kids out a couple times each week isn't going to be fun. Someone needs to open a physical therapy office with a daycare center. Sign me up for that one.

"Oh, are we supposed to run?"

Well, for those of you who want to know how the Salt Lake City Marathon went, here's the rundown.

So we couldn't have asked for better weather the morning of the race. Just gorgeous. Really. Here's a pic of the beautiful sky as we drove up to the start line. The race starts under this bridge which is at the U of U.

I met up with Karolee, my training partner, before the race so we could start together. We found Stacia and her husband Chris who was running also.
Karolee and I are all bundled up but we chucked all those layers as soon as the race started.

So things went okay for a while. My knees started hurting at the first part of the race but that wasn't alarming because my knees always hurt when I run. I actually had a really good pace and I was on track to do better than my last marathon. I had to take it easy on the downhills though because that's how I got hurt.

But then, as I got further and further into the race, the pain came more intense than ever. I had to switch to run/walk. Then I noticed that it hurt more to start running after I had been walking than it did to just stay running. So I ditched the walking and just tried to keep a somewhat non-humiliating running pace for a while.

I met Dale who was waiting for me at a street corner and I told him that I was just going to do my best and then at the last 3 miles, I was going to give it everything I had. I just kept thinking (and I read this somewhere) that the pain is going to get to a certain point and not get any worse. Don't ever believe that, it's a stupid lie, the pain can always get worse! Around mile 18, while I was still trying to "run" I felt a POP in my left knee and then came the excruciating pain. It stopped me dead in my tracks. Okay, time to re-evaluate this mess! I decided long ago that I was going to finish this so of course, the shame van was not an option. So any hope of any decent time went right out the window as I walked 5 miles. Not that I am a fast runner by any means but it was a little hard on my ego to see all the people who would normally finish behind me just whiz past me. Ugh. Longest 5 miles of my life!

You can see by this picture below just how miserable I really am. I laughed when I saw this picture because my face says it all. I remember wanting to rip the race photographer's camera out of his hands and smash it on the ground while yelling "Do you enjoy taking pictures of suffering athletes?" "I don't see YOU out here running!"
Anyway back to the story. So I hobbled up until mile 24 and that's where it became do or die. It was only 2.2 miles to the finish but it may as well have been 100 because I pretty much assumed at that point I had torn a ligament or fractured my knee cap. But I had to run. Every bit of me just wanted to take off sprinting so bad. Just erase the pain somehow and go. But all I could muster was a sorry little jog. So with tears streaming, I willed myself along. It was honestly one of the hardest, most unbearable things that I have ever experienced but I wasn't going to cross that line walking.

Dale was right on the other side of the finish. I grabbed my medal (you get one for finishing) and said I needed to go right to the first aid tent. I could hardly walk over there. I was half expecting Dale to swoop me up and carry me but he must have sensed that I wanted to hold on to the single shred of dignity that I had left and supported me while I walked over there.

While they ice-wrapped my knees, I couldn't help but feel like a big fat loser. I know now that sounds lame but my time was awful and I couldn't shake it. Nobody else out there knew my knees were ruined. To them, it just looked like I was slow. But then as I came down from my emotions and I became more rational, I realized that I never did this for anyone else but me. This wasn't for them! I kept going when most others would have quit.

Hey, I set out for it, and I accomplished.

On a much lighter note; Shout out to my girl Karolee with her kick butt time of 4:35:25!

Wanna hear a cute story? While Dale was waiting for me to cross the finish line he was standing near another guy who was also waiting. When the girl he was there for came down the last stretch, he got out on the course right in front of her and got down on one knee and proposed! Awwwwww! Then they crossed the finish line holding hands! Awwwwwww!

I made it home!

Well, I lived through it. My knee didn't. I finished that's all that matters. More later!

Check this out!

You HAVE to see this! Beautiful!
http://mabrystudios.typepad.com/reflections_of_christ/2008/03/reflections-sli.html

So our hunt for a second car ended as quickly as it started on Saturday. Some of you may know how next to impossible it is to buckle 3 kids into car seats in a sedan. Some of you may not. Here is a description: Tabby climbs into her booster seat which is wedged in between Rex and Ella's car seats. It has to be in the middle, it's the only way all 3 seats will fit. She tries to slip under the seat belt which we keep buckled because the idea is that if we keep it buckled she can just climb in and out of it herself. The stupid thing has locked and she can't pull it (I thought they were only supposed to do that when the car is moving.) So I have to unbuckle it. Here is where the nightmare begins. The car seats are jammed in there so tight that there is barely any space for me to fit my hand down between her booster and Rex's seat to unbuckle and buckle it again. It hurts my hand. It takes forever to get the buckle in there. It's hot. Rex is ticked because I'm squishing him in his seat. So I can't get it in that way and now I have to loosen Rex's seat - this is equally un-fun. The whole time I'm yelling, "I want a bigger car!" "I deserve a bigger car!" So last Friday, I dropped Dale off for work so I could have the car to go to my sisters. I was trying to buckle the kids in and I decided I had it! I called Dale and said "We are getting a stupid van tomorrow!" Or at least that was the plan. I researched vans on the internet and I also researched how to deal with used car salesmen. Believe me, they have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves and now I know how to deflect every one of them! So we go and look at vans and as it turns out, every van that we looked at we couldn't afford. There were some that we might have been able to get, but they were total jalopies. Not that I'm too good for a jalopy, I just don't want my jalopy breaking down on Ironwood in the middle of summer. We did find an '04 van that was in great shape and it had extra low miles. So I tell Dale that we should make an offer. The thing is, we are poor! We know it, but they don't! We gave them one and only one offer. They didn't like it so we got up and left! They wanted us to stay and negotiate. I'm so glad we didn't get all wrapped up in it and let them talk us in to a higher price. We knew what we could afford, and we refused to pay their ridiculous mark ups. So needless to say, I am still on "House Arrest." That's my very affectionate way of saying I don't have a car. But we did learn some valuable lessons and I'm glad we didn't let anyone sucker us into a loan we couldn't afford. One day I will have my own van or suv and that will be one fine day!

Marathon Musings

My little marathon counter over to the right there says 11 more days. Dang. Here's the thing, I trained SO hard up until about 3 weeks ago when I injured my knee. I'm not sure how my knee is now because I haven't ran on it. I tried right after my injury and it didn't go well. But I can't discount all that hard training I did before that so I'm gonna go ahead and give it a shot. I've been cross training (yay for Suzie's Boot Camp) for 3 weeks now and I hope that will somehow help me out. I'm just praying that my knee will somehow have had enough rest to get me through 26.2 miles without exploding and that my body is still trained enough to get me to the finish line. I will NOT get in the Shame Van (you know the van that picks up the people on the course who can't finish?) Anywho, I can be a pretty determined person when I have to be and if all else fails, hopefully my drive will get me through -and maybe an insane amount of ibuprofen. Wish me luck!

Had a great weekend...

I always look forward to weekends where there are lots of fun things to do. This weekend was no exception because Dale's birthday was on Sunday so we got to party this weekend. Friday night, Dale was taken to the ASU game by his friends and brothers. He got a free ASU T-Shirt thrown to him and it was just his size. And ASU won! I'm sure they arranged that because the team knew it was Dale's birthday. Saturday night we went to Fuddrucker's which we do for Dale's birthday every year.

All of our family and friends come too and we nearly take up the whole room. We tell funny stories, eat good food and laugh a ton. As far as Dale's birthday present goes, I got him a pair of dumbbells. Exciting, I know. But he really wanted them so that's what I got. I would have loved to get him a whole set but I was shocked to learn how much a whole set costs! So we will have to gradually build up to that I guess.

And this weekend was also really fun because my sister's baby shower was on Saturday. She asked me to decorate for it and my parents have a BEAUTIFUL backyard so I was really excited to do this for her. And it just so happens that my dad is an awesome cook. YUM!!! Anyway, here are some pics of Magi's shower:
Special "M" for Max Cookies that my mom made:
We had these maypoles on ether side of the gate were people came in:
My parents have a clothes line on the side of their house. Yes, they still use it! Can you believe it? I thought it would be easier to decorate it than to take it down so we tied mason jars with flowers in them to the cords.
Same type of thing over the gifts too.
Can you guess now what she is naming him?
Caution, not a real cake!
Who looks this cute when they are 7 months prego?
I have to give a big thanks to my friend Heather who came early with me and helped set up. And a big thanks to my mom for "sponsoring" the shower. Can't wait to meet baby Max!

I am so "bummed!"

So I send my kids outside so I can relax for just a minute. Yeah right. The drip sprinklers came on and they all sat around one and played with it. Now I have a bunch of dirty bums to clean!
P.S. Clothing is optional at our house and the kids usually opt out.

***Disclaimer*** This is a yucky post!

This post is not intended to make my husband feel bad or rag on him, I just would like to take this opportunity to point out how different men and women can be.
So for the past week, late at night, I've been hearing weird noises. I finally could hear the noises good enough last weekend when I was laying on the couch dying from the flu. The noises were coming from the attic and it sounded like something was gnawing on the wood! Then I heard scampering! Then I heard squeaking! OH NO! MICE!!!! EEEEEEEE! "DALE! There's mice in the attic!!!" So Dale comes running out of the office and he's not upset like me, he's excited! Here's his chance to do battle! He was even more excited than when we had the wasp's nest in the bushes last summer. He gets a chair and goes into the garage where the hatch for the attic is. He pokes his head up there and of course, they all hide. Little jerks. So he comes back in to the house telling me there's nothing he can do to catch them now, we'll have to wait till he can get some sticky traps. "What? Wait? They are going to come in to the house!" He promises me they can't get in to the house. Meanwhile, I keep hearing their nasty little noises and I'm ready to move in to a hotel. I keep imagining that scene in Ratatouille where the ceiling comes crashing down in that lady's house and a billion rats come pouring out.

So Dale finally brings home sticky traps last night. He goes up in to the attic and puts some of the kid's Easter candy on the traps to bait them. He goes to bed like a little kid on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa to come.

So this morning while I am still in bed (Dale wakes up before me to get ready for work) I have my back turned to the door when Dale comes in. He wakes me up and says "I caught 3 of them!" I roll over and, wait... "what's in that plastic bag you are holding? Are they in there? Did you bring them in the house???" (I think he might have thought I was going to get out of bed and celebrate with him) "Take that to the outside garbage!" "Get them out of my house!" I have to say that I feel bad for reacting so poorly. My sweet husband was truly victorious and all I could think about was that I was woken up first thing in the morning by someone holding a very thin bag of dead rodents.

So, he calls me just a little bit ago and says he's "reveling in his victory." Then it occurs to me, they couldn't have died on that sticky trap just overnight. So I ask, "Were they dead when you found them this morning?" He says "No, they were alive." "Were they ALIVE when you brought them in to the house?" Dale says "Not after I bashed their heads!" "DALE ALAN MORRIS! YUCK!" He only gets called his full name when he has truly freaked me out.

So I have to apologize to my man for yelling this morning. I hope he wasn't too disappointed when I didn't haul out of bed and slap him five. Thank you dear for getting Ratatouille and his buddies out of my attic.

I haven't heard any more noises but Dale says we have to assume there's more until we can go for a while with out "anything" getting stuck on the traps. Meanwhile, I may need to go to counseling to cope with this event.

This is gonna be a long one...

I am so behind on life! Ever since Ragnar, it seems as though I have been busier than I ever have been before. I'm sure I've had more hectic times, but I can't remember them. I've had a lot of stuff keeping me busy, but but for the sake of your attention span, I will only recap the more exciting things of the past month.

1.) Ragnar baby!
This was by far one of the funnest and crappiest things I have done in my life! Our 12 women team ran 187 miles relay-style from Wickenburg to Mesa. The course was divided up in to 36 legs and we each had to run 3 of them. I think I can speak for the group that we all had a blast and we'd do it again but it was HARD!!! I have never been more tired in my life! I'd say I got about 5 hours of sleep total in those 2 days. It was unseasonably warm and the heat messed us up! Here are some of my fave pics:

Here is the gang the first day:
Props to Cresta for running her first leg in a hula skirt!
Whoever thought of hanging the disco ball from the ceiling is a genius.
Becky and Heather were our drivers. They, BY FAR put up with the most crap out of anyone. They both drove humongous vans filled with stinky, crabby runners. I'm amazed that they didn't just give up and drive us all over a cliff. I wouldn't have blamed them if they did.
Contrary to this picture, none of us got lost! Miracle!
We all had to match of course, part of our uniform was our "bling" visors with our initials in rhinestones.
Here we are coming across the finish line! Can you see the elation on my face? I'm in the way back with my arms up. Never have I been more relieved to be done running.
We did it!

2.) A few days after this, I photographed a wedding. I used to do this all the time but now I have 3 kids and it's next to impossible to do this for a business when you have babies, but this girl was a good friend of my sweet sis in law so I came out of retirement just for her. And now I'm glad to be back in retirement because I felt so rusty!

3.) Funny that this is #3 on my list because Rex turned 3 this month! Dale took him to an ASU baseball game with his buddies and he had the time of his life! Then we had a small family party at my parent's house.

We played ball
Thanks to Magi for bringing the bubble machine
Rex loved his Razor!
Don't ever buy expensive party toys or games, just buy balloons, that's all they'll play with anyway.
Here's Rex getting sung to.
Okay, my sis makes the most rad cakes around. Last year she made a tank cake
And this year she made him a monster truck cake.

4.) I'm still training for my marathon which is now less than 4 weeks away (yikes!) Last Saturday, Karolee and I ran down by Usery. It was an awesome run until I injured my knee on the LAST mile! My knees are in poor shape as it is. So now I am nursing it and hoping for the best. I've already registered for the race and the money is non-refundable so I will compete in that marathon if I have to hop on one leg for the whole thing! I'll be darned if I'm out $80 bucks!

5.) I've been at death's door since Thursday with the worst flu ever. I felt fine all day, I ran errands and everything and then (Stacy Johnson, don't read this) Ella barfed up an entire sippy's worth of milk all over herself and her car seat. Needless to say, we drove home with every car window down. Rex got a kick out of that. By the time I got Ella in the tub and removed the "drenched" car seat from the car, I started feeling awful. Sore throat, hacking cough, sore and achy body, nausea. Thank goodness all my kids went down for a nap because I just laid on my couch unable to move. So yes, I had a barf covered car seat in my front lawn until the next day when Dale could go out and clean it up. The worst thing about it was that I missed the Post Ragnar Party! I was so bummed! I really was so looking forward to hanging with my "Sole Sistas" again! The good part is, I never threw up! I felt like it a lot but I was able to keep a handle on things. Today is the first day I've started to feel somewhat normal. Tabby and Rex have had their flu shots and they haven't showed any symptoms yet. I am praying they don't get sick because I can't think of a worse combo than the flu and tons of Easter candy.

So that about sums it up! Thanks for reading my super long post! Happy Easter!