Fathers and Sons campout

Rusty took Josh on the annual church Fathers and Sons Campout.  Josh was a little sad to leave Halle and he was crying.  Halle went upstairs, came down with her favorite blanket, and a picture of herself, and tucked them into Josh’s backpack.  She said, “Josh, now you can remember me always.”  It was so so sweet, and cheered Josh right up.  The boys had a grand time roasting hot dogs, eating treats, and sleeping in the tent.  Well, Josh had a great time sleeping in the tent.  Rusty had a great time listening to Josh snore all night long.  Then they made the traditional stop at the Boulder Waterfall on the wall home.  Good times!

The first day of the 1st grade

Halle started 1st grade on Aug 18th.  She had been a little nervous all summer because someone told her that her teacher was bossy.  She came home from meeting her teacher and dropping off school supplies and she was so excited.  She said, “Mom—my teacher is sooooooooooo nice!  She’s not bossy at all!”  The relief was apparent in her face.  While we were in Utah my mom took Halle on a special little “Halle and Grandma” shopping spree and got her some adorable new school clothes.  Halle was so excited to wear her new, special clothes.  And she looked adorable.  Straight out of the 80’s but adorable none the less.  We hope you have a fantastic school year miss Halle!

Happy anniversary to us!

We celebrated our 8th anniversary on Aug 17th. That was also the official last day of summer before Halle started school. So, Rusty took the day of work and we took the kids to “The Bay” in Broomfield. We had a fun day of swimming, water slides, and snow cones. Then that evening Rusty and I went on our anniversary date. Rusty did all the planning this year, and I must say, he did a PERFECT job. It all started with a present. He bought me a dress while he was on business in NYC, and I LOVE IT!! Then we went to the temple. From there we headed to PF Chang’s in downtown Denver. We used to eat at PF Chang’s all the time when we were first married. Dessert was at the Peaks Lounge, which is on the 27th floor of the Hyatt. One whole wall is just windows that overlook the city. It was very romantic. We snuggled up on a couch in the corner and ordered Dip your own Strawberries. It was delicious! Rusty gets an A+++ for this date. And I have to say, even after 8 years, things just keep getting better and better! I love you Rust!

My awesome new dress

Georgetown 1/2 marathon

13.1 miles.  Whew….glad that’s over.  The Georgetown 1/2 marathon was a BEAUTIFUL race up in the Colorado mountains.  The temperature was perfect, the sky was blue.  It was the perfect day for running.  I got to race with lots of my girlfriends from the Ragnar, including my lovely sister, Nat.  She drove home from Utah with me to do the race and visit for a few days.  Susan hosted an awesome Carb Loading dinner the night before, that was the perfect pre-race meal.   We all had to get up EARLY in order to make the drive up to the mountains.  When we got there the line for the 10 measly port-a-potties (with over 3000 runners) was enormous.  We were all still in line when the gun went off.  Luckily, it was a timing chip race, so your time didn’t start until you crossed the start line.  Everyone started the race at once, and so the first few miles were chaos!  Adrenaline pumping, Nat and I weaved in and out of 100s of people, trying to find our pace.  It sure does make the time go by more quickly when you are trying not to get stepped on.  The course had lots of rolling hills, but we lost about 1000 feet of elevation by the finish line.  I lost Nat at the mile 4 water station—I didn’t know she was stopping until I was already up ahead of her.  I recently got new running shoes (Brooks Ravenna) and I love them!  This day was no exception—everything felt really good.  Until mile 10.  That’s when things always start to go downhill for me. Aching legs, hungry stomach, tired mind. But I figured that if I kept up my pace then the whole thing would be over quicker.  No use prolonging the pain by slowing down.  I just put my legs on autopilot and focused on my music.  Luckily I had been doing some of my training with Jen, who always runs faster at the end of her runs than the beginning.  This really helped with my stamina.  The end of the course wasn’t well marked, and it seemed like the last mile took FOREVER.  But I crossed the finish line strong, and with a new PR—1:48:49.  Race day makes all those long, hard training days worth it.  I get a runner’s high for about a week! 

 
Josh, who we all aspire to be like, took third place in his division with a time around 1:20.  But I wish you could see the trophy better. It is a gold miners pan, with a piece of fools gold hot glued in the middle.  On top of the gold, is a figurine of a mountain goat.  Also hot glued.  Very high class ;)

Skydiving!

For Rusty’s 30th birthday I gave him gift certificates for Skydiving. Read his skydiving post here.  Due to a fun and crazy summer, this weekend was the first chance we had to go. And through a weird stroke of luck, Carlie was here to watch the kids for us.  So, Rusty and I drove to the Boulder airport, and expected a big training session before we got on the plane.  But nope—they just strapped us in our harnesses, gave us a few little instructions, and we were off to the plane.  And talk about a TINY plane.  There was hardly enough room for the 4 of us in the back.  The view of the Rocky Mountains from the plane was incredible. All too soon it was time to jump.  It was “ladies first,” so my instructor, Daryl, pushed us to the door of the plane, and suddenly I was hanging out the door at 13,000 feet, with my feet tucked up under the plane.  This is when I started to freak out a little.  With a “Ready, Set, ARCH” we were free falling.  It was AMAZING.  The wind blowing in your face, and falling toward the earth at 125 MPH.  Surprisingly, it is not really scary at all.  Roller Coasters make my stomach drop more than this did.  After falling about 5,000 feet in about 45 seconds, Daryl pulled the parachute and we were floating.  He said, “look, look” and Rusty and his instructor, Brian fell right past us and we watched their chute deploy.  We did a few fun spins with the parachute, and then watched as the ground came up to meet us.  I picked up my feet like Daryl told me to, and we skidded across the ground on our bums (which didn’t hurt me, but probably hurt Daryl).  Rusty and Brian landed on their feet.  We were a bit shaky when we stood up, and totally exhilarated.  We both immediately said, “AGAIN!” It was an amazing, beautiful, incredible experience and everyone should try it! 

  

Now and Then

I just got back from the BEST trip to Utah!  Rusty had a business trip to NYC, so I loaded up the car, and drove the kids across the mountains to attend my 10 year High School Reunion and to go to my good friend, Brandon Boulter’s, wedding.  A few of my other friends came in from out of state, and we were all husbandless.  So, it turned into a huge girl party.  I have not had so much fun in AGES.  We caught up on life, reminisced, laughed till we cried, and stayed out entirely too late—just like the good old days.  I am so lucky that my High School friends remain some of my very closest friends to this day.  I love those girls (and guys) so much! I was so sad for the weekend to be over.  It was hard to say goodbye again.  We were trying to calculate how long we’ve know each other, and we figured some of us have know each other since about the 5th or 6th grade.  That’s 17 years!! I love spending time with these girls  because they’ve been through everything with me—girl fights, boyfriends, breakups, high school drama, living together, trips, birthdays, weddings, births, early mommy years—and they still love me.  That is a small miracle :)  So—here’s a tribute to the good old days, and to looking forward to the next 17 years of friendship!

THEN:

    

NOW:

 

I also had the chance to catch up with my gals from BYU-Hawaii. I don’t get to see them nearly enough, and when I do I feel 18 all over again.  I love it.  These are some truly amazing girls and I can’t wait to see them again!

THEN:

NOW:

I tried a Tri

This weekend I competed in my first triathlon, the Anthem Sprint Triathon. It was perfect for beginners like me. And it was so much fun.  I’ve always thought that triathletes were kinda crazy for doing 3 events in 1—but it makes for such a fun, interesting race.  I was getting a little burned out on running, but still wanted to compete in the Georgetown 1/2 marathon with all my friends in a few weeks.  Since biking and swimming are such good cardio workouts, I thought it would be great cross training.  And it was.  Redline Races put together a great course, and a fun event.  The swim was a little crazy.  It was a pool swim (I know some of you will say it’s not a real triathlon because it wasn’t open water, but I don’t care). We jumped into the water (4 people in a lane) and immediately they tell us to go. I didn’t even have my goggles on yet!  But I started swimming anyway, then realize my goggles weren’t on, stopped, put them on and then kept going.  After that all went well.  My legs felt like bricks on the run (they always feel like that after getting off the bike) but I was still able to pull a good time.  Thank goodness for adrenaline!  My friend, and fellow M.O.M., Jarrie, did the race as well, and our awesome friend Amber came to cheer us on and take pics. So, most the pics are courtesy of her.  Two of my neighbors, Kyle and Marc also joined the fun.

At the end of the run I was kicking hard to the finish line, and the DJ said something like, “She has way too much energy—let’s send her on a second lap.”  Josh looks up at him and said, “My mom is NOT going to do that again.”  How right you are Josh.  At least not right then.
Video of the finish line

I’m in the red swim cap. 
 
I think body marking makes you look tough.  Does it cancel out my ugly running sunglasses?