Foot Holding

When I uploaded recent pictures to my computer, I found these from our trip down to KC and had to record for posterity's sake.

My children have never been road warriors.  Probably because when Emily and Christian were little, they never slept well away from home and, as a result, we didn't travel much and it just kind of rubbed off on everyone else.  Kari seems to be the exception as she is pretty chill about it all and just falls asleep.  Juliana, however, is holding fast to tradition and our car ride down to Kansas City was no exception. 

Exhibit A.  The foot hold.  It was only while Cubby was holding her left foot that Juliana would stop crying.  It couldn't be me holding her foot, or even Cubby holding her right foot.  ONLY DADDY.  ONLY LEFT FOOT.

Exhibit B.  What happened when Daddy let go of the left foot.

Exhibit C.  Rage has subsided as the foot is, once again, being held.

Poor Daddy...his shoulder and arm were killing him as he tried to drive.
 But, it didn't stop him from making a funny face for the camera.

Poor baby.

And...we made it!
Wow, 3 hrs sure seemed to take a lot longer, but, everyone survived and was ready for dinner!

LOVE This Kiddo!

I just love my Christian-boy.  What a great kid and a blessing to our family.  Here are just a few of the reasons why Christian is so special.

Christian has such a sweet spirit and strong testimony. Each Fast Sunday, he tries to be the first one up to share his testimony.  Even when his speech was still progressing, and it was difficult for him to express his thoughts, he still went up and wanted to share the feelings in his heart.  He also wants to sing the hymns.  He used to have either Cubby or me hold his hand and follow the words of the song.  Now that his reading is getting stronger, he follows along on his own, singing the words that he can read.  Such patience and diligence.  This past Sunday, he told Grandma that he wants to learn the 13 Articles of Faith.  (I think he just wants to earn the stars on his chart in Primary, but still, I'm proud of him for taking the initiative and wanting to learn them!)  And, yes, I'm also happy that he has a competitive spirit to him...Christian is the ultimate competitor with his sister(s).  He is also the "fair police" in our house.  Everything needs to be fair or we hear about it from Christian.

Christian cracks.me.up.  He makes the funniest faces and is quite the goofball...particularly if he gets a hold of your phone. 

Christian also has a great imagination!  He loves to set up his army guys for battle, create new monsters with his legos, and build robot grabber-arms out of just about anything.  Christian is a border-line horder and his propensity for collecting, what is in my own silly opinion, junk, knows no bounds.  But, when he gets the opportunity, he puts his treasures to good use when the creative bug bites. 

Christian is such a wonderful little boy.  He is smart, affectionate, kind, handsome, strong-willed, creative, athletic, and, on most days :-), an absolute joy to have around!

First Half

Most of "Walnut Creek Running Club" group, pre-race (and pre-dawn).

Last Saturday I accomplished a goal of mine!  I ran my first half marathon.  I ran 13.1 miles in 2 hrs 12 min (10:05 min miles).  Not too shabby for a girl who was once afraid of running!

This goal had actually started brewing a couple of years ago.  I started the training, but then found out I was expecting Juliana and had to switch to a different exercise.  (My body does NOT like to run pregnant.)  So, fast forward two years and FOUR more races...it was FINALLY my turn!

Of course, I couldn't have done it without some awesome running buddies!  (Honestly, who would ever want to run without friends??  Solo training alone would make me want to poke my eyes out!)  It was an amazing experience and I'm so grateful that I stuck with it (the training, that is).  Here's a secret:  the race itself isn't hard.  It's the training beforehand that really proves you.

Some of us girls--all smiles!

About half way through the training, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it.  Blisters, dehydration during the long runs, and stomach problems were really getting me down.  But, my sweet mother and Harvey came to my rescue and provided me some money for some new shoes (apparently, after running more than 5 miles your feet can swell an extra 1/2 size-1 size).  Good to know, right?  My new shoes are AWESOME.  I also ordered a hydration belt--also AWESOME.  With both of those, plus more than my fair share of prayers, I was now ready to tackle it all--and the runs became sooo much easier!

Love that reflector-ware glare!

After months of training, the big weekend finally arrived!  Our race was the Waddell and Reed Kansas City marathon, half marathon and 5k.  (We chose this one b/c it was on a Saturday.  All of the big races around here are on a Sunday...boo.)  This was a BIG race.  There were 12,000 runners and the city closed a lot of major streets in downtown Kansas City.  It was AWESOME to run with that many people and to be cheered on throughout the streets by complete strangers!  There was water/gatorade stations every 2 miles and there was also plenty of live music to keep us bopping along.  One of my favorite moments was around mile 6 and hearing a couple of guys playing some Dead (and doing a great job of it too!)

Here's Janene, looking awesome, down the final stretch!
She ran her first marathon!

The course was great.  There were a few big hills, but the biggest ones were in the first 5 miles.  Miles 10-13 were pretty much all flat or downhill; great planning on the race creators' behalf!  But, to our credit, we were well prepared for the hills.  Training in our neighborhoods and around town gave us PLENTY of hill-running opportunities!

Since we had all trained so hard, most of us had our families come down with us for the big day!  Yup, my whole family, plus my mom and Harvey, all drove down to see me finish the race.  It was tough to travel with all of the kiddos, but worth it to share this accomplishment and big day with them!  I think Cubby deserves a medal of his own for getting the kids dressed, fed, and down to the finish line before I finished!

Here are Jenn (blue shirt), Jessica (pink), and me (far right, white shirt) trucking along!

Such a, um, stellar picture of me running...no idea when they took this, but it looks like I was power-walking, which, ahem, I wasn't.  Just caught me mid-switching of the feet, I guess.

Here's Jessica, just ahead of me, looking tough!

Here's Liz, the gal who started us all on our paths in distance running!

Here are Marjorie and Mike, finishing the marathon hand-in-hand!  Aren't they the cutest?!  Such an amazing couple!

Slowing down after our big finish!  (The clock doesn't reflect our true time...there were so many runners that we didn't get up to start line exactly when the timer started.  We were all chip-timed for a more accurate time.

Here's me with my finisher's medal!  Yeah, I'm proud of myself for sticking with the training and doing well in my first long race.

One of my favorite parts of the race was, naturally, the END of it!  Mostly because I could stop running (my knees and quads were a tad tired by then...absolutely no desire to do the full at this point!), but also because I got to see my family cheering me on at the finish line!  It was REALLY crowded, but as I ran by, I could see Emily's smiling face and hear her yelling, "Go, Mommy!!!"  She later told me how proud she was of me :-).  It was a happy moment for me as I hope to be a positive role model to her by having set a goal to do something hard that made me stronger and helps me to stay healthy!

Jenn, Me, and Jessica--my training (and racing day) friends!

One more finishers picture, with Liz (and all of of food stash that they give you at the end :-)).

Overall, it was a difficult, but amazing experience.  (Anything worth doing is usually difficult, right?)  I am so glad I was FINALLY able to complete this goal!  I will definitely plan on doing another one!

Apple Picking 2013

This picture sums up our feelings about our fall tradition of apple picking at the Flynn's orchard!  Every year, our whole family looks forward to that time when the apples are ready for pickin'.

This year, we invited our friends and neighbors along too.  My friends, Stephanie and Audi, both brought their children along and together we all had a great time enjoying this special fall tradition.

The apples were up high this year and Emily got to use the "picker."

Christian, always a good boy to pose for a picture!

Kari, being silly.

Emily, being silly.

Cubby, being silly.

Our growing family!

 This year, as if to prove that you can, indeed, enhance the Rockwellian ambiance to the orchard, Pat Flynn added a rope swing.  The kids loved it!

 Our special friend, Alexa ("Lexi").  Such a sweet little friend to both girls!

Didn't get as many pictures this year as it was getting kinda' dark (we went a bit later than we have in the past).  Still, we were so thankful to have been able to go and continue in this wonderful tradition!

Growing so fast!

 Just a few shots of our Kari-belle...she has grown so very much this past year--even her hair is catching up!

Vala's 2013

Our annual picture with Mickey!

This year's trip to Vala's came courtesy of Cubby's work!  Free food and fun?  You bet we'll be there!

Every year Vala's gets bigger and it's quite the attraction site for us locals (and many non-locals!).  But, in all the years we've gone, this was the first time we'd gone in the afternoon/evening.  It was great!

Here are just some of the highlights!  I didn't take pictures of EVERYTHING we did...I'm not that good!

Anyone??  J/K, wouldn't sell them for the world!

Christian insisted upon this close up.

Juliana LOVED watching the goats.

The kids all really like "Storybook Village"...pretty sure there's some serious copyright infringement going on though. For instance, on one of the displays they had a Snow White set up with the music from the movie and everything.  I mean, the kids loved it, but not sure what Disney would have to say about it all :-).

There was an old lady who lived in a shoe...alas, sometimes it is how it feels!  (But not the OLD part...)

We caught a few tricks of a magic show (Emily was thoroughly unimpressed.  Shocker.)

Juliana, doing her happy dance, about the sheep

Christian, honing his cattle roping skills

One of my favorite drinks is back in season!!

 The biggest hit of the night, by far, was this slide!  It was getting dark so the pictures aren't so great, but ALL of the kids really enjoyed it.  Even Juliana!  I went down it once, but ever since I started having children, I get motion sick really easily!

Can you see Juliana's happy smile??

We also came home with a pumpkin that weighed more than Juliana.
She enjoyed having a "buddy" in the stroller with her :-)

We did all this and more at Vala's!  Such a beautiful evening and, despite how cheesy some of the stuff at Vala's is, we LOVE making these fun memories with our children!