Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Jeff's office had their big ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of their new office. It was a pretty big deal with the president of his hospital, city officials and other attendees. There were some speeches, words of welcome and of course some giant scissors to cut the ribbon. Jeff and Vicky cut the ribbon together.
Jeff couldn't have asked for a better business/physician partner. Vicky is such a wonderful lady and our families have become great friends.
Everyone was sweet enough to let the boys cut some ribbon to take home too. I was impressed they were brave enough to stand at the other end of those big sharp scissors! The boys thought it was pretty cool!
After the ceremony, there was a nice catered dinner for everyone to enjoy. I loved being able to meet all the nurses, assistants, office staff and others that Jeff works with everyday. Matt & Vicky have a little boy, Henry, who is just a week younger than Emily. These two had fun playing together, and both have a tendency to get into a little bit of mischief.
It was a fun evening to spend with Jeff's office. I'm so grateful he gets to work in such a great place with wonderful people.

Soccer Time

With the end of summer also came the beginning of soccer season. We put Jacob and Caleb on local soccer teams that started in August and ran through October. We were so pleased with the programs. Both Jacob and Caleb had excellent coaches that really helped their skills increase over the season. One thing we really loved was that during the games, the kids would play 3 on 3 for Caleb's age and 4 on 4 for Jacob's age. It helped them learn to play positions and pass the ball rather than having a herd of kids chase a ball around a field.

They both had practices once a week and a game once a week. No one minded since the practices were held at a park with a big playground so we went to play at the park at least twice a week. The games were fun to watch as well.

Caleb's team with Coach Dobson on right.

It was sad to see the end of the season come. The boys on the teams really became great friends with each other and I loved getting to know all the parents. It will be nice not to have practices and games four times a week, but we'll miss it too!


We made candy bar posters for the kids' coaches. I didn't get a picture of Caleb with his coach, but I did get one with Jacob and his coach Rachel- she was awesome! She played soccer into college, so she really taught the boys well.
Emily spent a lot of her time sitting and watching but mostly running around. She and Matthew loved playing around at the park and also helping themselves to Jacob and Caleb's drinks and soccer treats.

Bismarck Marathon

I guess I didn't get my full fill of marathons, because I decided to run another one. I ended up running the Bismarck marathon just two weeks after the Pocatello marathon. I was a little nervous how it would be running two so close together, but I think it worked out great and would totally do it again- in fact, I really liked the timing, and ran the Bismarck marathon much faster! I had just enough time to recover and still do some training runs without loosing anything. Luckily for me, my family was really supportive and were excited to come and watch.

We got to Bismarck a little late, but still enough time that we were able to take advantage of the hotel pool. The kids were so excited...if you couldn't already tell from Emily's face.

Of course, a few people did find some time to catch a little of the BSU game that was on that night too. Emily is Jeff's little sports buddy (well, one of them) she loves to watch sports with Jeff.

The kids had a blast at the pool. It was nice and warm and even had a big slide. It was fun to play with them and was a great way to take my mind off of the race the next day.

Our room was nice, and had two separate rooms which was nice with all the kids, but I still didn't sleep all that great. Whenever I'm excited/nervous about something I usually keep waking up during the night. Fortunately the Bismarck marathon had a start time of 7:30 so I was able to sleep in until about 6:15am. I got up and got ready, then had a taxi pick me up at 6:50 to drive me to the starting line so Jeff wouldn't have to get up with all the kids. I started out in capris, but ended up changing into my shorts since it felt a little warmer than I had expected. Don't get me wrong, it was still cold! I just don't like to wear capris or pants until it drops into the 30's. It was actually the warmest right at the start with a temperature in the low 40's. I was thinking it would be perfect and that I would be able to ditch my long sleeved shirt & gloves. I ended up taking my long sleeved shirt off about mile 10 but decided to tie it around my waist and was so glad I did- I put it back on around mile 14. At that point, the wind started to pick up and it started to rain. For the rest of the race we had some pretty strong headwinds and sleeting rain. I never did take off my gloves.

I got to the race start just after 7am. I had just enough time to change into my shorts, use the bathroom (for the first time in my life at a race, there were tons of porta-potties and NO lines! I couldn't believe it!), then drop off my extra gear in my bag at the gear station, and get in line at the starting line. It was actually pretty nice, not a lot of standing around time.
With the Pocatello Marathon, I was so worried about having another experience like Richmond, that my whole goal was to run a steady, consistent time and just make sure I would finish under four hours. After getting that under my belt, I decided that I wanted to go out and run a marathon where I pushed harder and ran it faster.

There were only about 200 people running the marathon, but there were another 419 running the half marathon, and then another 130 teams running the marathon relay and we were all running together so there were quite a few people there. The race was set up pretty well and had a lot of great support. They had tons of water stations and people were cheering most of the race. The MC/director guy for the race was hilarious too.

(At the starting line)

The Bismarck Marathon is usually a pretty flat course, but because of flooding, they ended up re-routing the course and it included a big 200ft hill. Because it was a loop course, the people running the marathon had to run it twice- once at mile 5 and again at mile 18. Hitting it the first time wasn' too bad- I still kept my pace in the 8 minute range, but the 2nd time around I thought I did great by just running it the whole way. Good thing I could make up time running back down the hill.

All in all, I thought this race was easier than Pocatello. It was harder because I was running a lot faster, but because the Pocatello marathon was still so fresh in my mind, I felt like I knew exactly what to expect and knew how I would be feeling. I hit the halfway point at about 1:50 which put me on track for a 3:40 marathon. My goal for the marathon was to do a time in the 3:40-range so I was feeling pretty good and still feeling great running. I know my second time around the loop was a little slower- hello big hill! But I was keeping it up pretty well. When I came around the corner and saw the finish line I was so excited! I was so ready to be done. When I looked at the clock, I couldn't believe it- 3:36 as I ran across the finish line. The Boston qualifying time for me is a 3:40!

The 3:36:09 time put me 4th in my age group, 7th out of the women, and 21st overall. I was so tired and freezing cold, that I didn't think much of anything- I kind of felt like a robot as I went to get my food and a free post-race massage. That was awesome! When I got my bag, I called Jeff to find out where he was. They were just arriving after I finished and came and met me at the tent.

After some time had passed and I was feeling more normal, I started thinking about the race and the time. Even though I was way excited, I think the race distance was a little off-but I guess it'll go down in the history of Bismarck as a 3:36.

Anyway, I was so happy that my sweet family was there. I loved seeing the kids be so excited (even though they were freezing!) I was so happy that I ran the second marathon and felt great, and I met the goal I had started out with. I wasn't even very sore. I was ready to go out and run again 2 days later. It makes me wish there were more Saturday marathons close by that I could run- I thought I would be burnt out by now, but I want more. I would definitely call that a success and something to be happy about!

Random September

I finally caught Emily's little 'drama queen' move on camera. If she gets upset about something, she'll cry and put her hand over her mouth. It's actually pretty funny. She can be so dramatic sometimes.

This picture describes Matthew in so many ways.

1-First of all, this kid must be going through a growth spurt or something because he is always telling me "I'm hungry!". He usually comes in first thing in the morning to tell me he's hungry. He loves a good breakfast.

2- He loves cucumbers. This particular morning, he wanted me to cut up a cucumber to go along with his breakfast. I cut up a whole cucumber and he ate the entire thing. Good thing our garden has been producing them like crazy, and good thing cucumbers are good snack options. He also loves scrambled eggs for breakfast.

3- He has blue plates and a blue cup. His favorite color is blue and he always requests blue dishes.

4- He has milk in his blue cup. He still loves milk!

5- Notice the little car he has by his plate. Matthew loves his cars and usually carries at least a couple of them around with him all day. His favorites are the character cars from the movie Cars. I hope he doesn't grow out of this phase anytime too soon, because I think it's so cute.
Emily always has a way of coming up with creative things to do. Often times it's pulling out the pots and pans and pretending to cook, other times it's pulling out rags & dishtowels and 'cleaning', this particular afternoon she was content to sit herself down in the little lego bin. She had her purse and was ready to go.

Matthew with his cars again. We have a little car racetrack that we got a few years back. It's been a great investment and has gotten many hours of good use.

The kids love having lots of time to run around with friends. I can't say enough how much I love our neighborhood. The kids have a lot of fun with their friends and I've become good friends with the neighbor moms. This particular day, they were having a good game of girls vs boys with the girls trying to put the boys in jail. :)

And I finally got a better picture of Matthew with his cute little friend Varity. These two are so fun to watch together. They're cute little friends.

Labor Day Weekend

After the Pocatello Marathon on Saturday, we headed down to spend the weekend with the Haworths since it was only an hour away. It was nice to kick back and relax while spending time together. Saturday was filled with football games- luckily the games ended well so everyone was in an especially good mood.
Kristie and I had lots of time rolling out on the foam roller. We were definitely starting to feel the effects of the marathon!

On Sunday, Kylee made the trip up to Grandma & Grandpa's from college- it was so fun to see her and spend some time with her. Nathan and Kendra even ended up being at Grandma and Grandpa's Saturday night. It was fun to see them and their cute boys. It was fun to hold Jackman for the first time- I love sweet newborn babies.
I was singing praises Sunday morning when I found out that grandma and grandpa's church didn't start till 11am. That bed was so comfortable and it was hard to get up! Church was wonderful. It was fast and testimony meeting and I loved hearing testimonies born by ward members, and especially my parents and Grandma Haworth.

After church it was nice to spend time together again. We had a yummy dinner and some very entertaining conversations that left us laughing to the point of tears (Yoda Speaking, "Where Can I Turn for Peas?"). Sunday night we even had a visit from Doug & Debbie and some of their grandkids. I love it when the house is filled with people- it brings back lots of fun memories from when we were kids running around with cousins.

Probably the best entertainment of the trip however, came Sunday night when Tom went digging through some closets and came across some real gems of clothing from when Grandma & Grandpa's seven daughters were growing up. Cole and Tom decided to put on a fashion show for us and it was pretty dang funny. Good thing these boys are secure in their masculinity!
Monday morning I was up at 6:30am so I could catch a shuttle in Logan that would take me back to the airport in Salt Lake City. Mom drove me to Logan and I was glad to have a little more time to spend with her. I ended up sleeping most of the shuttle ride and then had my long flying trip back home. It took two flights with a 3-hour layover in between. Good thing I had a good book to read (The Help). I got home about 5:30 Monday night and even though I was tired, was so excited to see Jeff and the kids again! It was a fun weekend, but I was definitely happy to be with my family again. (Although I did come down with a case of 'post marathon depression' about 2-3 days after which left me a grumpy mama, and probably left my kids wishing I'd take off again! Good thing it didn't last too long. :)