NYC

I LOVE New York! It seems like there is a reason to go nearly every fall. I never get tired of it. As usual the trip was packed with lots of fun. Laurann came out for the first few days of the trip. We flew in on the red eye and wasted no time having fun.
Day 1...We arrived in NYC around 6:00 and took the subway into Manhattan. We dropped our stuff off at the apartments the running group rented. We resisted the major desire to sleep and went over to the race expo to pick up my race packet. The pre race anxiety hit as soon as we walked in the door. After the expo we went shopping in China town. We spent a couple hours and bought plenty of scarves, purses, and wallets. After shopping we went to Grand Central Station for lunch. It was CRAZY! We did a little more shopping around the hotel before going back to rest. We saw Promises Promises that night. The production was amazing, but the storyline was a little off.

race expo

lunch at Grand Central Station

we were so worn out after the show this is the only picture we got

Day 2...After our busy/productive day we decided to sleep in a little. We finally got out of the apartment in the mid morning and went to Times Square. We had an early lunch, shopped a little, and walked around. In the afternoon we went to Central Park. With the marathon the next day, I didn't really want to walk all over the park. We took a bicycle taxi around the bottom half of the park.

Times Square

in Central Park

our bicycle taxi

Day 3...marathon (more to come)

mile 16 with Sharon
Day 4...shopped and shopped and shopped and shopped and walked a lot too with Brynn, Teresa, and Jenny
Day 5...I went to Ginny's (friend from freshman year of college) apartment to visit with her and meet her darling little daughter. I did a little more shopping before flying home that night.
Ginny and Xela

Fall Run

Generation Gap has a tradition of doing the Liberty Park run the last weekend before a marathon. With the New York City marathon just a week away, we did the Liberty Park run yesterday. We start in Olympus Cove and make our way to Liberty Park passing some beautiful streets on the way. The leaves yesterday were so AMAZING! Shawnie and ReNae took the opportunity to make leaf angels in the park. We saw every color...yellow, red, orange, and green separately and sometimes on the same tree. That is my favorite run, and the scenery made it even more amazing.

Shawnie and ReNae and their leaf angels

I love this picture with the beautiful leaves and the ladies running.

Really? Already? NOT. READY. FOR. THIS.

J.E.A.L.O.U.S.

This is my friend Alycia's diaper bag. Kind of looks more like a purse if you ask me. Petunia Pickle Bottom is so cute, but I've only seen the style that looks like a diaper bag. I am so jealous of her cute bag. I think I need it.

Jackson Hole x 2

This post is long overdue. I went to Jackson Hole a couple of times at the end of the summer.

Trip #1...Nicole's annual birthday rafting trip. Her awesome parents take care of all the details (campsite, food, river permits, etc.). We just have to show up, pay a little bit, and have a good time. It is basically a Turnberry reunion so it's lots of fun. We all head up Friday after work, camp, run the river twice and come home Saturday night. I skipped the morning river run to go running. It was a pretty good run except when my shoe got stuck in quicksand. The weather was a little chilly, but we all still had fun on the river. Thanks Nicole and parents for a great time.

Trip #2...Designated babysitter/helper during the Lotoja bike race. My co-worker, Noelle's husband, Ben, raced in Lotoja this year. I came to help with the kids so Noelle could do support for Ben. After the bike race we stayed in Jackson Hole for a couple nights and went to Yellowstone for a day. I hadn't been there since I was a kid. It was cool seeing Old Faithful and some of the other geysers. Besides having to clean up kid barf in the middle of the night it was a pretty fun trip too. Unfortunately I have no pictures.

Dirty Dash and Boating

Dirty Dash=6.2 miles of running in the dirt, mud, obstacle courses, mud pools, slip n slide and MUCHO FUN! I ran with my fried from work Noelle.

I don't really know how you could prepare for this event.

The first obstacle was with in 10 feet of the start.

A muddy hill with the sprinklers going.

Mud was flying everywhere and everyone was soaking wet.

The next obstacle was about a mile up, jumping hay barrels.

Then it was crawling through tubes 3 different times.

Next was the climbing walls...

not your typical climbing walls...pools of mud on both ends.

You literally started sinking as soon as you stepped in it. And the landing straight into mud.

We ran through tires army style...

A long the way there were pools of mud...no joke when i say pools.

You had to jump in and climb out!

Then we ran a long a marshy lake.

Everyone was just laughing so hard. We were all completely covered in mud.

After what seemed like running forever we hit the "Slop and slide".

It was a blow up slide that had 5 different slots so your team could all go at the same time.

We ran and jumped and slid down.

Then you land into a pool of mud. Trying to run through this was hilarious cause you just kept falling down.

We could then see the finish line...the final stretch!

It was just like a pig pen.

Climbing into mud basically crawling across and doing that again 3 times.

pre-race (nice and clean)

post race (really muddy)

i tried to see several friends, but it just didn't work out. i did run into suzie in the parking lot.

After the race Marianne invited me to go boating at Jordanelle with a whole new crowd of people. It seemed like it would be perfect since I was so close. It was sort of rough trying to meet up, but it finally worked out. Marianne had to leave shortly after I got there, but everyone was so nice so I stayed. I was so excited to meet and spend the day with some new friends. Guess I don't know every single person in SLC.

brooke mastering wake surfing

26.2...St. George version

I've known since May 6 of this year that I was for sure running the St. George marathon. I tried to get in last year and didn't so I figured I would try this year and not get in and get the automatic third time's a charm entry next year. Why would I ever think things would go as planned?!? Of course I would get in this year even though I already had a fall marathon planned (New York). Luckily I have lots of people to train with. I did my fair share of training before my month of weekend travels in September and even forced a last minute 10 miler on the treadmill a week before, but for some reason I was not feeling totally ready. Ready or not race day came. My usual pre-race jitters didn't set in until about 10:00 Friday night, and after that I was FREAKING OUT!

4:45 am group shot (Teresa, Brynn, Shawna, me)

finish line

with Brynn post race. congrats to Brynn on her first marathon!

26.2 miles later

My FREAK OUT was for good reason. My race morning got off to a bit of a rough start. It took me a good 20 minutes to get my left contact in which left me very little time for the rest of my getting ready. By the time we got in the car to leave, I was in tears and wondering why in the world I thought this was a good idea. When we got off the bus and no one was freezing we knew we were in for a HOT race, and it was...HOTTER than heck! I also unfortunately had to stop at the port a potties 3 times and the aid station for vaseline on my blistered toes at mile 23 so my time was a little off from my goal. Considering the conditions of the day, I don't think I could have done any better. Even though I didn't meet my goal, I think I did the very best I could.

I love running with seasoned runners! I pick up a few good tips each race. I got the tube socks for arm warmers last time. This time i upped my caffeine intake towards the end of the race, and it worked like a dream. I will definitely do that again. Thanks Shawna for the tips.

I had a few moments of panic a little too early on wondering why I do this, and why I have plans to do it again next month. Now that's it's all over, I think I might want to do it again next year. Who's in? Runner's Series opens tomorrow.

Vegas Trip

Ashley and I both got to go to Vegas last week. We only overlapped by a little more than a day, but it was lots of fun all being together. It was so much fun spending time with the kids too.


Ashley bought Karlee a couple pair of skinny jeans. She didn't really want to try them on not even for money or candy. She eventually put them on because she wanted to play with play doh. She looks so cute I could just die.
Karlee modeling her skinny jeans

dinner at Applebees. Karlee loved dessert

after dropping Ashley off at the airport, we decided to do a little shopping. We let Karlee play for a while until the stores opened.

both kids modeling their new stuff.
The trip was a ton of fun. Karlee is so funny and Karson is getting so big. It was the perfect little get a way.

Outta Here

I'm outta here in a few hours to go visit these little tikes. I can't even wait!

Cooking Night

A while ago I started this different way of eating. I don't do it 100% percent because I have sort of mixed feelings about doing it 100%, but I feel really good about doing it 80%. Since I started eating more like the Paleo Diet (more meat and fat, very little sugar and grains) I feel better and my athletic performance is better. A few of us got together the other night to have a cooking class with Terry Shanahan (Kyle Korver's personal food person). It was great. We got some new tips and some great new recipes.

Canyon Bonfire

We all know the best part of camping really isn't the sleeping in tents part. It's the campfire and campfire food. Instead of suffering through a sleepless night in tents, we decided to go to the canyon for the fire part and come home and sleep in our own beds. We were all supposed to bring our own dinners, but somehow that message got a little mixed up. Fortunately, Nettie and I were not the ones who missed the message.

our yummy tinfoil dinners. too bad i wasn't even hungry after eating so much junk waiting for them to cook.

nettie's classic take it yourself picture.

some new friends and roman

More Smashed Cars

I went with some of the Martin fam to the Davis County demolition derby. Our friend was supposed to compete, but after some drama at the Weber County he decided to back out. His son drove the car in his place. It was still fun kind of knowing someone, but we all decided the West Jordan was more exciting. We still like smashed cars. We just wish there was less waiting around and more car smashing.

Stay at Home Crafter

I love my job, but I dream every day about being a stay at home crafter. Thanks to a break at the end of June I got to pretend to be a stay at home crafter for the week. I loved it!

Before

I found this dresser on craigslist for $35 and that included delivery. I went to look at it at a somewhat questionable place on the westside. I was a little afraid I was buying stolen goods, but it was exactly what I was looking for and decided it wasn't my problem.

After

10 trips to Home Depot later my dresser is functional and in use

Sacramento

thanks to Obama and the stimulus package, we have all kinds of training money. don't worry taxpayers...we are putting it to good use. 7 of us headed to the Sacramento area this week to be trained in a model for working with children on the autism spectrum. it's a newer model to us, and we're all really excited about implementing it in our program. the trip included a one day training along with some time to explore old town Sacramento (Wednesday was probably the worst day of the week to be there since most things were closed but we did go into a few cool stores), experience downtown Davis (including it's pizza and all natural restaurant), and hear a bluegrass band at a winery. i stayed in town a few extra hours to spend the day with my freshman roommate, Marlene. we had lots of fun reminiscing about the past and catching up on the present. once again...thank you Obama.

some of us at dinner. i never would have picked this place but it was so yummy.

with Marlene at her place

GOOD-BYE

Q. What do you do when your 2 best friends at work leave the place for new adventures?!?!

A. PARTY

Over the years Anne and I have done some pretty good things when people have left Kids on the Move so the pressure was on for Anne and Lindsey's good bye party. I hope I met the expectations.

sadly Lindsey had to miss the party due to not feeling well so we had another little celebration on her last day

yes we're standing on the desk, but that's the only way to reach

anne's decorated desk

putting stuff in green jello is kind of a joke so I put some school supplies in jello for anne

anne gave me some "presents" to keep up all the jokes around the office

Anne has always been my partner in crime at work. We amuse ourselves by doing funny things around the office especially during stressful times. She's headed to Arizona to become a SLP. I'm going to miss lots of things but especially all the funny things we do, "meetings" in the puppy room, and Friday lunches.

I don't have many pictures with Lindsey. She is moving to Texas for her husband to go to med school. We have been teaching together for the past 2 years. I'm going to miss her so much.

our first Friday lunch 2 years ago was at the Purple Turtle so we went there for anne's last lunch and had a great turnout. so much fun!