Indian Summer Half Marathon

I ran the Indian Summer half marathon in Richland today, this was my 3rd year in a row running this race. 3 years ago I ran this half with my little sister, it was my first half marathon and Jax was 3.5 months old at the time. We ran it in 1:49 and as usual Marni was pushing me the entire way. Last year I ran it by myself and set a PR of 1:42, I had trained hard for this race and wanted to run a 1:45 so I was very happy with a 1:42. The day after this race I found out I was pregnant with Case. This year I signed up not really excited to run but I knew I wanted to run some type of half this fall and didn't know if I would get another chance. I have been training but not that hard, I had run a couple longer 9-10 mile runs but my running pace is pretty slow right now and I just don't feel in great shape. On top of that I have been mentally and physically exhausted since school started over a month ago, I wake up at 4:30 and hardly stop all day and I am still getting woken up in the night to feed Case or take care of one of the other boys. Anyway, all these factors and I just was not looking forward to running but I had signed up and wasn't willing to just forgo the $20 and not run. We drove over to Kennewick the night before and stayed the night with Dave's parents. I got up at 6 the next morning, got myself ready, had a small breakfast of baked oatmeal and fruit and then Dave drove me to the race. We got there around 7:30, I fed Case one more time and then ran to the start line. The race is fairly small (only about 400 runners this year) so its easy to find parking and get to the start line without a bunch of traffic. It started at 8 and you run along the Columbia River and through a couple neighborhoods, then turn around and come back. My parents drove over that morning and were at mile 2, 11 and the finish line yelling and cheering for me. My goal was to finish under 2 hours but I really didn't know if I would be able to do it. I started off and told myself to just keep my pace under 9 min and focus on each mile individually instead of all the miles ahead of me. With each mile I would pick one person to think about/pray for, it worked really well and was a reminder of how lucky I am that I get to be running no matter what my finishing time was, I don't run with music so this was a good distraction. I had never done this before during a race but got the idea from the book Mile Markers by Kristin Armstrong. At the turn around point (6.5 miles) I was feeling surprisingly good and when I hit mile 7 I decided to pick up my pace a bit. Mile 10 was hard but I knew that I would see my parents again at mile 11 and my mom would be cheering, when I passed them my mom had Marni on the phone and Marni was yelling for me through the speaker which was a big boost of confidence for me. I hit mile 12 and told myself I could run the last mile in under 8 minutes, I was tired but I knew I had it in me. I finished in 1:54 and my last mile was 7:50. I was happy to see my parents and so glad they drove over to support me. Even though I did not have a chance of winning I love that they were still there supporting me and cheering.

 My awesome, supportive parents.

 My friend Rachel (she PR'd and ran a 1:46), my dad and I.

Sprinting to the finish.

My parents drove me back to Mike and Julie's after the race, I showered and spent the rest of the day playing with the boys. We finally got home that night around 8:30 and I was exhausted, my entire body ached. I was lucky enough to get a back/leg rub from Dave before bed and he even let me sleep in the next day until 8! I have hopes of running this race next year and breaking 1:40 (that is if I'm not pregnant......HA!).

Case : 4 months

This guy is so much fun. He smiles a lot and loves to coo and jabber when we talk to him. He loves watching his brothers play and Colt and Jax are always willing to entertain him. He has mastered bucking out of his boppy seat so he's been spending a lot of time on the floor lately. He's wearing 3-6 month clothing and size 2 diapers. Still waking up once a night to eat, usually between 2-4, he does have his bad nights and will wake up more, he is definetely not my best sleeper but I can't complain too much. I rarely put him down, something both my mom and sister often comment on. I did the same thing with Jax and he was 15 months before he started walking, maybe Case will be the same. I don't mind, it makes them seem like a baby for a bit longer:). 

 Hanging out on the floor.

 Super happy in the jogger.

He's already used to going on runs just like the other 2 and rarely fusses in the stroller.

Little brother - Big brother.
Case 4 month stats
14.2 lbs (40%)
26 inches (90%)
HC: 41 cm (25%)

Catch up

I don't have much to say right now. I am so behind on blogging and don't have the energy or the time to get it all done. The boys are great, we are enjoying the last days of warm weather spending time outside, riding our bikes, going for runs and playing at the park. Colt started AWANA at church last week and loves it. It's probably the highlight of his week. Jax is talking non-stop, full sentences and has tripled his vocabulary in the last month. Case is still not sleeping great, smiles all the time and is a sweetie. Dave's hunting season has started, September 1st was deer hunting and he pretty much will hunt until the end of January in the form of deer, elk, pheasant, and chuckar. I'm still teaching part-time in the mornings and then spending the rest of the day with the kids, I love it and would not trade it for anything though tired does not even describe how I feel right now. I'll be back hopefully soon with more pictures!

Bellevue : Girls Weekend

Case and I traveled to Bellevue on Friday to surprise my college friend Julie Price with a 30th birthday weekend celebration. I stopped in Ellensburg and picked up my friend Randi which made it nice not having to do the entire drive by myself. We met up at Tracey's house in Sammamish, it was a perfect meeting place and she was nice enough to let all of us crash at her place for the weekend. We got there Friday night close to 9 and stayed up until 1am talking. It was so fun to catch up with my old college friends and volleyball teammates. It was also fun to introduce them to Case, Courtney was the only one that had met him and the girls had fun holding and snuggling him all weekend. He was a great little companion and I loved having him with me. The next morning we had coffee and breakfast and then drove into Bellevue to do some shopping.

Me, Court and Randi in front of the cupcake shop.

Stacey, Julie (the birthday girl) and Tracey.

Most of the girls got pedicures while we are at the mall.

After an afternoon of non-stop shopping we headed out to dinner at the Melting Pot.

If you have never been to the Melting Pot you must go at least once! It was amazing food and we spent 4 hours there eating, talking, laughing and drinking (except for me since I had the baby and was driving:)). The first course was cheese fondue, we got to pick three different types of cheese. My favorite was the Spinach Artichoke.

They also give you all sorts of things to dip in the cheese, surprisingly my favorite was the granny smith apples.

Then everyone got to pick their own salad, after the salad they brought out the meat. The meat was given to you raw and then you could pick how you wanted to cook it. They also brought out lots of really good sauces to accompany the meat. We had chicken, shrimp, salmon, and two types of steak.

The last and my favorite course was the chocolate fondue. This is the yin & yang which is a dark and white chocolate, we also had chocolate peanut butter and a salted caramel chocolate.

All the yummies to dip in the chocolate.

Between all of us we have 19 kids ages 5 years to 3 weeks.

The girls having fun with their drinks.

Twinsies.

My mom had bought me this lululemon jacket in Santa Barbara and Stacy picked out the same one at the store in Bellevue. We went out to breakfast the next morning and this little cafe in Sammamish before hitting the road back home. It was a fun weekend and great to spend time with some of my very favorite people.

Santa Barbara

My mom, Marni, Case and I spent Labor Day weekend in Santa Barbara, California. Marni had qualified for this trip through work and her boss agreed to send my mom and I with her. Case got to come too since he needed to eat. We had such a fun time, I was apprehensive about leaving the older boys and pretty sad when we left but I knew they would be fine with Dave and probably have a lot of fun (which they did!). We arrived in SB around 3 on Friday afternoon, we checked into our hotel (the 4 seasons) and then walked around checking everything out. The hotel was beautiful and overlooked the ocean. That night we all dressed up and walked to dinner in Montecito, it was such a nice evening we ate outside, talked a lot and Case was very well behaved sleeping through dinner.

 On Saturday we woke up and got a good workout in at the hotel fitness center. Then we all got ready and went to breakfast and Jeannie's Cafe in Montecito. The food was so good and so was the coffee!

 My mom and Marni ordered the California omelet.

My breakfast was homemade granola with yogurt and fruit. I could eat this everyday.

 After breakfast we drove into downtown Santa Barbara for some shopping on State Street. We had been walking around shopping for a couple hours when Marni said she needed something to eat. By eat she meant frozen yogurt so we got on our I-phones and found the nearest place. There was a Pinkberry yogurt a block away, it was yummy!

 We hit up Lululemon and Nordstroms along with a couple other various shops. It was low 70's and perfect weather for outdoor shopping (the mall was outdoors and really nice).

Marni and Case shopping at Nordstrom's. We all started getting really hungry around 4:30 so we walked to a Sushi restaurant for dinner. It was so good and Marni must have ordered at least 10 rolls and between the 3 of us we had no trouble finishing all of it (well I think Marni and I ate most of it but my mom did help a little). After sushi Marni and I wanted dessert so of course we got on our I-phones again and found a Yogurtland about a mile from the sushi place. My mom walked back to the car (apparently she doesn't need to eat frozen yogurt more than once a day) and Marni, Case and I walked down to Yogurtland. This place was amazing, it must have had 20 different flavors of frozen yogurt, it was one of the definite highlights of the trip for Marni and I.

 The next morning Marni and I got up and went on a 7 mile run along the ocean, once we got back my mom had a massage scheduled so Marni and I got ready and walked to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Montecito for a coffee. I love that place and their coffee is really good. Marni and I both thought the best part of the trip was the coffee and the frozen yogurt.

 Aunt Marni and Case.

 We walked back to the hotel and met up with my mom and found a fun place to eat on the ocean for lunch. We sat outside and enjoyed the food and talked about what we wanted to do for our last day in SB.

 Marni mentioned that Oprah Winfrey lived here so she googled her place and we decided to try and find it.

 Here it is! We pulled into the driveway and then saw all the security cameras and told my mom to turn around and get out of here, but first Marni got a picture.

 Next we found a Trader Joe's so we stopped by there, it was a smaller one so they didn't have everything that most Trader Joe's have but it was still fun.

After that we went back to the hotel and laid around for a bit before Marni and I decided we had to have Yogurtland one more time before we left SB. My mom again said she didn't want any (crazy lady). So Marni, Case and I walked the 4 miles to Yogurtland and that walk was well worth it. My mom picked us up so we didn't have to walk back and we ended the evening watching a movie and getting packed up.

The next morning I was up at 4:30 with this little guy. By the time he went back to sleep it was time to get up head to the airport. We got there at 6 only to find out our flight was delayed and we would most likely miss our connecting flight to Boise. My mom and I thought for sure we were going to have to spend another night in Boise and miss work the next day. We got off the plane in San Francisco and all three of us were running for our gate to try and make our connecting flight only to find out that flight had been delayed too. We made it back to Boise around 4 and then drove home to Walla Walla. We had a great time and it was so fun spending time with my little sister and my mom. 

Deer hunting with daddy.

Deer season opened today, Dave pretty much looks forward to this day all year long. Dave has been preparing Colt for this day for the last year too, explaining to him what they were going to do and telling him he has to be really quiet and look for all the deer. Dave has a tree stand set up behind my parents house so they drove out there and got ready to hunt. Colt was beyond excited though I wondered how he would do.

The tree stand is about 15 feet up in a tree and they have two of them so Dave and Colt took one while Dave's dad was in the other one. Dave brought lots of snacks so Colt wouldn't get too bored.

Colt and Poppi looking for the big buck.

Dave said Colt was completely quiet the entire 3 hours they were out there, he sat in the tree stand looking for deer and never said a word. Mike ended up getting one which Colt was really excited about and they were all up until past 11 that night getting the deer all cleaned up. Dave said Colt kept saying "Dad, thanks SO much for taking me.....I love you dad.....this is so much fun".  They went out the next day too in hopes that Dave would get one but no luck.

Of course a trip to McDonald's was in the plan too, got to keep it fun for the little people.

Colt took this picture of Dave and he wanted me to post it.:)