Half Marathon

A few months ago, my sister Jen, said she was going to run a half marathon and told me I should do it too. I've always wanted to run a marathon, but haven't ever been able to find the time to train for it. I thought this would be a perfect way to get started!

It was so fun to train together! We usually only ran together once or twice a week, but it gave us a good excuse to get together!

Tara and Jen after a very wet run!

About a month before the race, I realized it had sort of snuck up on me because I was so focused on our cruise! I started looking at the course and last year's finishing times. I got pretty excited because I realized that we could run it semi competitively! We weren't going to win or anything, but we could certainly would be in the top 1/4 for our age group!

I was feeling pretty good about that and decided to up my game! :-) I started doing some speed work to improve my times. During one of my work outs, on my last speed interval, I injured my hamstring! I thought I may have pulled it! I could hardly walk. I called Jason in tears. The race was in a few weeks and I didn't think I was going to be able to run. That night, he came home with flowers to cheer me up.

I took about a week and half off. After ice, elevation, ibuprofen, stretching, massage, prayer, determination and stubbornness, I tried to run again. I could only go about a mile before it would cramp up! Ugh! 3 more days off and I tried again. 3 miles, then cramping. 2 more days off, ice massage, stretching... 5 miles and it was tight but no cramping. I knew if I couldn't get my body to do 10 miles by Saturday, there was no way I could run in the race. Jen was so patient with me as my head pulled my body along for those 10 miles! It was slow, but I did it- well almost. I cramped up 3 houses short of our goal and had to walk, but close enough.

By the week before the race, my pace was pretty close to normal, but my hamstring was still tight and I could tell it wasn't healed. It was good enough to run though. I knew it would hurt after the race, but at least I could run! Yeah!

We looked closer at the map of our race and wondered where we could find some hills to run! Mile 6 to 8 was 880 feet uphill!!! Yikes!

At Woodward Park, trying to find some hills to run!

Finally, the race weekend arrived! We headed down to Agoura Hills on Friday to pick up our timing chips and bib numbers.

Tara, Shelley, Jen and Sherri

We checked out what we could see of our course...

It was fun talking to other race goers about the course and driving the area! There was such a fun energy about it! We found a nice little Italian restaurant for a pasta dinner, soaked ourselves in the hot tub and tried to get to bed early!

In the lobby of our hotel, race day! (Way too early in the morning!)

Some of our friends were running a different course, but both races finished at the same place. So fun! We were so excited!Jason really wanted to come and support me, but he still can't put any pressure on his leg. So, he found this handy little scooter to get himself around!! Funny how he can still find a way to ride some sort of motorized machine, even with a broken leg!Shelley and Tara in front of the start line Tossing Jen's bag to Jason as we pass by! Thanks Honey!

mile 3 and still smiling...

our trail

pointing us in the right direction

Somewhere around our 10th mile, my hamstring started to cramp up. I tried not to think about it, but it was slowing me down. Jen and I had been running together, but I told her not to wait for me if she lost me. She was in "the zone" and I didn't want to hold her back. I held on for about another half mile and then let her go. I stopped really quickly at a some sort of spray station where they spray your legs with some kind of liquid that helps your legs not cramp. I don't remember what it was called, but it actually worked for about another mile!! After that, every step was pretty painful. At one point, I was worried that my leg was going to stop taking orders from my brain! I had to keep running... I knew Jason was waiting at the finish line with a camera! Haha!

Tara, almost to the finish line!
Jen and Tara with our medals
We made it! We finished about a minute and a half apart. We were number 27 and 30 out of 96 for our age group. I think we did pretty well! The course was beautiful and VERY challenging, but fun! I want to run it again next year now that I know what I am getting myself into! (And I will have to find some MOUNTAINS to train on, not hills!)

Shelley, Jen, Talli, Tara and Jamie in the front

Lauren Turns 7!

Last week, Lauren turned 7! We celebrated her birthday at Pump It Up! We all had so much fun playing on the inflatables!Eliza and Lauren

Lauren and JessieAshlyn and Grandma (DaNae)

Lauren and Maryn

Lauren and Mom (Tara)

7 fun facts about Lauren:

1. Lauren loves to sing and she can't not sing when she is blow drying her hair! Turning the dryer on is like pushing play. It is really funny to watch!

2. Lauren is just naturally a happy person. However...

3. lately, she has been testing her limits to see what she can get away with without getting in trouble...

4. Lauren loves "fashion" and has her own sense of style. She loves to put together outfits that she thinks are "cool".

5. Lauren loves to wear makeup (lip gloss) and nail polish and hair accessories!

6. Lauren loves to read and often reads to her baby sister.

7. When Lauren was a baby, I knew that she came for me. Not for me to be her mother, but for her to be my daughter. She had such a sweet, calming effect on me and I knew that I needed her in my life.

Tara and Lauren

Happy Birthday Little Lou Lou! I love you!

Sam's Wedding

Life has been so crazy lately and I feel busier than I ever have been! When I started this blog, my goal was to post at least once a week. There isn't always "events" to post about, so I thought it was a good goal that would give me some time to post my thoughts or memories about the kids or just life in general on the weeks when we didn't have anything going. I really wanted the kids to have some sort of record of their life and, heaven forbid, anything ever happen to me, they would have another way to know me. I love to keep in touch with all of you and I love blogging for that reason, but I realized that unless you share your memories or record them, when you die, so do your memories. Morbid, maybe, but true. So, thanks for checking in and leaving your comments. It makes it more fun for me to blog right now. It will be years before my kids really care if I blog or not! Haha! Anyway, so here I am needing to post, but way short on time. So, if I'm boring or short... just enjoy the pictures! :-)

Jason's brother, Sam, got married last week! We are so happy for him and his new wife, Mindy! She is absolutely perfect for him and we just love her!

I had to add these pictures from the car ride up! (That is always half of the adventure!) The kids are SO sweet with Ashlyn. She LOVES puppies, so Lauren put a puppy game on her Nintendo DS and let Ashlyn play with it for part of the ride. It was really sweet and you can tell from her smile how happy it made her...Lauren loves to get dressed up and be girly! I was running a little late, so we let her curlers set in the car. What a cutie!(Jason still needed a lot of help and because his hands are full of crutches, he can't carry anything! I think it has made me appreciate how much help he was before he broke his leg!)Sam and Mindy at the reception

Ashlyn and Aunt Danale

Jason and his little brother, Sam

Jason and Tara

Lauren, Austin, Jessica

(I couldn't get Ashlyn to sit still to stay in the picture!)

Jason and Lauren

Ashlyn

Austin and Ashlyn have such a sweet relationship! Her adores her and she loves him! It is so sweet. Here is a picture of Austin dancing with Ashlyn. I'm sad I didn't get a good picture of it! She looks bored but I think I must have caught her in between expressions because she was so happy to be on the dance floor!

Austin and Ashlyn

Broken Bones

A few weeks ago, Jason was out at the Ranch, doing what he loves... He landed a jump pretty hard and his heel hit the ground. He said he felt like there was an explosion in his boot! He called me and asked how I was doing and what I was up to before he told me he thought he might have broken his ankle! I asked if he was okay and how his bike was. He said his bike was fine. He didn't crash and he even drove it back over to the container to park it before rolling onto the ground in pain! He said Austin was a big help getting everything put away and they were on their way home. I couldn't believe he was driving!


I called the hospital to get him in for an xray. They said they could get him in right away, but he said he wanted to take a shower first! He couldn't put any pressure on it and it was swelling up pretty quickly, but he really wanted to be clean...

Here he is getting into the car to get his ankle looked at. Can you see how big it is?

Sure enough, it was broken. They put him in an air cast and made an appointment for him to come back on Monday for a CT scan, so they could get a better look at it.

I wish I could have gotten pictures from the CT scan so you can actually see how bad it is. Jason's doctor just kept saying what a nasty injury it was and how this isn't the kind of thing that heals up like it never happened. The doctor said he wanted Jason to come back the next day for surgery.

After two hours of surgery, he came out with new hardware! He had three screws, complete with washers, and over a dozen staples in his leg! They let me sit with him while the anesthesia wore off. He tried so hard to wake up. He was pretty funny and then super sweet. It was totally worth all the days of sitting around the hospitals!

The doctor said absolutely no pressure on his leg for at least 6 weeks. He said in six weeks he should be able to go back to his air cast and start putting some pressure on it.

The next few days were pretty rough for Jason. He was on pain meds around the clock. By Friday he was feeling a lot better and getting stir crazy being cooped up in the house. He took some vicodin before we left and went out with some friends. Vicodin makes him so funny!! We were laughing pretty hard! Jeremy, Talli, and Jason

He is getting used to the cast. He has to take baths, which he hates. (Jason usually takes at least two showers a day! Mr. Clean!) He can hop about anywhere and is a pro at the stairs. He has mastered driving with his left foot. (I was STRONGLY opposed to this at first and even drove him to Bakersfield for his first day back at work. He finally convinced me that he is pretty good at it and it isn't as dangerous as I think it is.) And he is enjoying the motorized shopping carts at the grocery store and Costco!

He gets to spend a lot of time on the couch when he is home...Ashlyn and Jason looking at animals on his computer

He has mastered his crutches and even got into a crutch race with Phil who had knee surgery a few weeks ago! I wish I had that on video! It was pretty funny! I think they may be faster on those crutches than on foot!

Jason and Phil

I think he is willing himself better. The doctor said it is healing as well as they could possibly hope for and he may be able to go back to his air cast next week! He still wouldn't be able to put pressure on it, but at least he could take it off to get in the shower!

Austin Turns 11!

Austin turned 11 on March 4th! I can't believe he is growing up so fast! It seems like just yesterday he was my baby! We celebrated his birthday at Laser Tag with his friends. They opened an hour early for us, so we had the whole place to ourselves!

Austin

Lauren was a little nervous about going in by herself, so they let Grandma go in with her. She is such a good sport!

Jessica, Grandma, (DaNae), and Lauren

I am a huge fan of having birthday parties somewhere other than my house! It is just so easy! There is no set up or clean up and when it is over, you are done! Love it!

I am so proud of the young man that Austin is becoming. He is such a good kid with a fun personality! He is incredibly easy to get a long with and he has such a good heart!

A few weeks ago as we were leaving church, I heard Austin say, "Can I help you?" I turned around and saw him walking back toward the church to an elderly woman in our ward. She was standing hesitantly at the top of the steps, holding a few books. She smiled when she saw him approach and reach out his hand to her. She looked uncertain, but handed him her books and took the hand rail with one hand and his shoulder with the other. As I watched him help this woman down the stairs, my heart swelled. I was so proud of him for noticing a need and wanting to help. He always amazes me and I love him so much!