Memorial Day

This year for Memorial Day we stuck around the house and got some honey-do's taken care of.  But we did make some time for fun that morning by taking the girls to the Splash Park.

Last year Miriam was not interested in going anywhere near the spraying water.

This year she was still hesitant, but a little more brave than before.

Eliza wasn't so sure at first, but she soon was taken in by all the excitement.

(Amazing how the older girls are already such little Mommies).

Good thing Daddy wasn't afraid to get wet.  I just love how my girls adore their Daddy.

Most of Miriam's time was spent running around the perimeter of the park.

Thankfully her friends weren't afraid and she joined them for a little water stomping.

This girl has so much energy!

Later that evening we had friends from the Ward, the Birds, over for a barbecue.

Another example of her boundless energy.  Miriam had fun running around the table with Isaac and Audrey.

Even though we have already had plenty of summer heat already, to me, Memorial Day marks the beginning of Summer.
Let the fun begin!

Bowling

We took Miriam bowling for the first time.  Eliza stayed with a friend and Miriam went on a date with Mommy and Daddy. I must say, even though babies are so cute and innocent (which I LOVE), it's so much fun to watch your kids grow and be able to DO more things with you (like bowling).

They even had her size shoe (unlike ice skating), which to me means that she's old enough to play.

The dragon may seem silly, but after a few of her feeble attempts to throw the ball on her own, we realized she needed the extra help.  Otherwise someone was going to have to walk down the lane and give the ball an extra push.

Umm, can you guess who the better bowler is between Stan & I?  Just compare our stances.

 The final score.  Notice Miriam's 8th frame.  Yep, that's a strike.  

Some video of our fun.

This girl has boundless energy.  You'd think she would sleep a lot longer and more to recharge, but she doesn't.

Another good use of the dragon.

Stan pulled his ball out of his bag and much to his dismay saw that it was cracked.  Guess I shouldn't have suggested he store it in the garage.  An employee took him out back and let him roll it down the sidewalk to have one last run with his old friend.  So sad.

Afterwards we went to Chick-fil-a for some lunch.  It really was a lot of fun and I definitely want to do it again, but next  time in normal lighting.  The neon lights were a bit much.

Crawling

And she's off!

And what motivated this barely 8 month-old to crawl more than anything else?  

You got it, a glowing screen.

Even though I remember how much work it is to keep up with a crawler, I couldn't help but be anxious for her to meet this next milestone in her life.

Of course now I wish more than ever that she's last more than 5 minutes in her exersaucer.

This one is going to be trouble, can you tell?

Joplin Memorial Half-Marathon

I posted last month about my return to running.

Today was the half-marathon that I have been training for for the past 8 weeks.

The farthest I ran in my training was 11 miles, so I knew that I could do 13.1.  

Then this past week my knee started hurting and my toes started bothering me. 

I was getting a little worried that I'd be in pain the whole race and do some permanent damage to my knee.  So I went to the local running store and got some help and advice from a very experienced running employee.

Everything went great.

Sure I came away with a HUGE blister on my toe, but strangely enough, it didn't feel as bad as it looks when I was running.

And my knee held up just fine and feels even better than before the race.

One of my friends in our Ward, Megan Gibson, and I both decided to run. 

Since the race started at 6:30 a.m. and Joplin is an hour drive away, we drove up Friday night and stayed at a hotel.  It was so nice to have a friend with me.  I would have been very lonely by myself.

Saturday we took a shuttle to the run.  I sat by a lady from Texas who had run 22 half-marathons this past year, FOR FUN!  She was upper middle-aged and non-competitive, but really did it for the medals (she showed me a picture on her phone of all the ones she had acquired).  Crazy.  She was going to be doing 2 more in the next 10 days.  Wow.

Since there was no point in the husbands and kids hanging around for over 2 hours, they left that morning and met us at the end of the race.

Here'a  little of their down time while waiting for us:

Charlie is close to Miriam in age and the CUTEST little boy, what a baby face!

Eliza didn't look too thrilled.  Along the run there were spectators, cheering for us and holding various signs.  One sign said "this is the most boring parade ever."  That must have been Eliza's thoughts.

Me with a big smile on my face to finally see my family and know that I was ALMOST done.

I finished with a time of 2 hours and 19 minutes (about 10:45 miles).

325 out of 742 Females.

699 out of 1254 runners.

 

  I was pleased with my results and am feeling sore, but good.

 It was a good experience to set a specific goal and train and work towards it.  It definitely gives me a sense of accomplishment, not to mention that it's good exercise. 

So will I do one again?  Most likely.  

Will I do a full marathon?  I don't want to jinx myself and say NEVER, but I hope not!  I can't imagine running twice that amount!

Cute Kids

I have often heard my older sisters say "it's a good thing my kids are so cute or else..." (you can fill in the rest). 

I never understood how true that statement was until I had kids of my own.  

I realize now how truly brilliant our Heavenly Father was to make children so adorable.  Because they can also be so utterly challenging.

Here are some of their more cute moments, the moments that save them. (these could also be added to the "Things that Made Me Smile" jar)

Miriam transfixed while watching T.V.

I promise I didn't pose them, they just happened to be in the same position when Miriam asked me to take a picture.

Blankets and books on the grass.  Good thing Daddy doesn't worry about things like laundry :-) .  The girls loved it!

I just adore Eliza's smile.

Easter dresses.

Sisters.  I hope they'll one day be best friends.

Her outfit she had been wearing was so completely soaked with drool I could wring it out.  I just left her naked after that, but you can see the drool hanging off her mouth :-)

This label is SO true for her!

Only minutes after I had put the shoes on she had them off and in her mouth.

Miriam used to always steal toys away from Eliza.  Now she does the extreme opposite:  she loads piles and piles of toys all around her.

And some videos:

Eliza humming while eating, so cute.

 

Miriam dancing, she is so funny.

Miriam pulling Eliza around in the wagon.

Eliza laughing, I LOVE it!

These are just a few of the memorable moments of my cute kids.  It may seem like I take a lot of pictures and videos (I do), but as everyone says, the time goes by so fast and you really do forget.  As Eliza grows and enters new stages in her life, I find myself trying to remember if Miriam had similar quirks as a baby.  Things I thought I'd never forget I have.  So I try to capture as much as I can so I can remember.  The kids change so much and the time really does fly by too fast!