On a hot, Saturday morning for Collin's soccer game, I forgot the umbrella. Olive devised her own shade.
Some friends of ours invited us to a lantern festival out in Queen Creek at Schnepf Farms. The traffic was insane! Soooo many people. It took forever to park, walk in, get our tickets and lanterns and find a spot to set up our chairs. Then, Travis was still in line for food when it was time to let go of our lanterns. He had to leave the line and barely made it back when we were lighting them.
You're supposed to write your hopes and dreams on your lantern. I wasn't in a sentimental mood. ;) The Bachelor got my wish.
I have to say, this exceeded my expectations. It was gorgeous to watch all the lanterns lift into the sky. They had pretty music playing and it felt as close to magical as any event I've ever been to.
By the time it was over, we still felt like we had just gotten there, so we let all the masses filter out, while we ate and chatted. There was a stage and some fun music playing, so us girls walked over to it and danced while the guys talked guy stuff. ;) The Harrises and Laws have been such good friends to us in this ward. We don't get out much with other couples, so this was a fun change of pace.
Holding strong on my diet! Half-way done and another meme that hit close to home.
Weston turned NINE! For some reason, him getting older is always the strangest to me. Why do I feel like he always needs to be my little baby?!
After dropping him off at school, I noticed a crowd forming around the neighborhood fence. I guess a sprinkler got left on and we had freezing temperatures! Tanner was not amused, but I parked and broke off an icicle. The things Arizonans are fascinated by!
I picked him up for his birthday lunch and this is what he chose. Blech. I had no idea how bad it was really going to be. I'm telling you, nothing prepares you for the nastiness that is this restaurant. Travis called it, "a place of sadness". But also, e.coli and hepatitis. The ancient, threadbare carpet. The homeless looking patrons. The barely edible food. I swear, a soup kitchen would be better. I tried so hard to smile and act like my skin wasn't crawling. I hope he enjoyed it, because I will NEVER step foot in this place again.
My attempt at the Morning Sunrise juice from First Watch. Fresh squeezed orange juice with turmeric, ginger and fresh beet juice. It didn't taste much like the real thing. :/
I made homemade pizza for Weston's birthday dinner! Grandma even joined us which was fun!
Someone doesn't like being left out when pictures are being taken. This smile KILLS me!!!!
Grandma brought Collin's birthday present too and you might say they were excited at what they got. Grandma was literally bowled over with hugs!
He got roller blades and an MP4 player!
Travis's office gave us Suns tickets for Christmas. I hadn't been to a Suns game since I was a kid. Sadly, we got there too late for the opening lights and music when the players come out. That was always my favorite part as a kid. We had great seats. I was surprised at how close you feel at a basketball game! I'm so used to baseball or football games where the players can almost just be small dots on the field. We don't normally do things like this, so it was fun to be doing something more than just dinner for a date!
Over a year ago, Shelley had the idea to run a 1/2 marathon. We signed up last April and finally started training after the holidays. We spent a few Saturdays before the race, running longer distances together. I was so proud of myself when I first ran 10 miles! Prior to training for this, I had never run more than roughly 6 miles. Mostly, I hated training. It was dark and freezing cold when I went early in the morning. But on the Saturdays when I was with Shelley and the sun was out, I actually enjoyed myself more. I set my alarm for 3:45am so I could drive to Shelley's house in time to leave and make it on the buses. With all the road closures for the marathon, we barely made in time to park at Riverview and hop on a bus. They dropped us off at the starting line off of McDowell and Greenfield Rds. We had about an hour to huddle for warmth under one of the heat lamps or wait in the massive lines to use the port-a-potties.
As I walked up to the port-a-potty line, I saw some friends from Allen Ranch ward! It was fun to chat with them for awhile.
I forgot to mention, Shelley signed Casey up too! It was so cold. I guess what you're supposed to do is buy jackets or blankets at Goodwill then throw them off after you start running, and people come by to collect them and donate them. I just wore some old clothes I didn't mind getting rid of. We were farther back when the race started, but it didn't take too long for the crowd to sort of thin out and give you space. From the very start, we got separated from Casey, but Shelley and I stuck together for the first 4 miles. I didn't want to leave her, but my pace was just a bit faster. I didn't really have any goals except to finish and not walk. Travis was tracking me on the marathon app and was going to take the kids to cheer for us somewhere along the route. My mom had the Goodman kids too to cheer for us. And Jefferson came when we were passing by his house! I loved all the cheerleaders! It didn't matter that they were strangers or not cheering for me specifically. It just brought me so much happiness to feel their positive energy and know they woke up early and made the effort to encourage someone they loved to do something hard. They may as well have been cheering for me because their presence made my struggle easier.
There were different water stations and one of them had lots of funny signs leading up to it. I needed the laughs! After our families cheered for us by Jefferson's house, they drove over to Westwood and cheered for us again! The last few miles were tough. It was getting hot and I was definitely tired. I listened to music and when I checked my personal mile app and saw I had only one mile left I was thrilled! I tried to pick up my pace a little and really push myself to the finish line. Right as I entered the last stretch, the man who was 1st place for the full marathon came past with all the police motorcycles clearing the way. I was dumbfounded and so impressed. How on earth?? He finished 26 miles in the time it took me to run 13. I sprinted the last bit and felt like my lungs were going to explode when I crossed the finish line. I literally couldn't breath. It panicked me for a minute until I felt like my lungs were working again. I had kept trying to catch up to Casey, but never saw him. After I crossed the finish line, I called him and it turns out he was behind me! What the heck? I have no idea how I could have passed him and not realized it. Must have been at a water station. According to the race timer, I clocked in at 2 hours 18 minutes. So about a 10 1/2 min. mile pace. Not something to brag about. But I did it! I finished and I never walked, so I was really proud of myself. It's always been on my bucket list to do a marathon, so I guess a 1/2 marathon will do for now. I have immense respect for anyone doing a full. It hurts my body to even think about doing that. And yet, as the day progressed, even with how proud of myself I was, I found myself thinking, "that wasn't that big a deal. Anyone could run a 1/2 marathon. Truly, it's not that hard." So now, Travis thinks I'm going to do a full. I really doubt it.
After I got home, I soaked in an epsom salt bath and wished I could take a nap, but Camilla had a Kids for Kindness event that afternoon we needed to go to. After that, we ran errands, then headed straight to Queen Creek for Leah's campaign kickoff. It was in a gorgeous, gated neighborhood, unlike I've ever been to in Arizona. We made it in time for her speech and got to visit for a bit. She was made for this! I'm so excited for her!
The weather is perfection!
Weston always trying to get snuggles from somebody.
Ice cream sundaes for David and Weston's birthdays!
Collin's Valentine's box made me crack up laughing! It fits his personality so well.
Since Valentine's Day was on a Friday and I don't cook dinner on Fridays, we had pink, heart shaped waffles for breakfast with chocolate dipped strawberries and pink milk!
I was not expecting anything from Travis but Marcie tipped him off to this shirt at Target and I was so surprised! I love it so much!
Even the sunrise wished us a happy Valentine's Day!
Shelley invited Tanner over to play, which was perfect because Travis's Uncle Jerry's funeral was that day, so I was able to go. After the funeral, we got to have lunch, just the two of us, at Mangos in downtown Mesa, which was nice. Then, right after I picked the kids up from the bus stop, we headed over to visit Grandma and give her some Valentine's and chocolate dipped strawberries. Finally, Olive and I drove to Posey's house to give her a get well gift because she had broken her arm. It was a busy, busy day!
We had our special, Valentine's date the next day at House of Tricks in Tempe. We had never been before so I was excited to try it! Apparently, it's been around forever. The outdoor seating is really nice, under lots of pretty trees. It was a two hour affair with fancy schmancy food that we had to google to know what it was. I loved my duck and splurged on the flourless chocolate cake which was basically a slice of rich, fudge. Not complaining.
Then we met up with the Porters at The Duce in Phoenix to help celebrate Camilla's 40th birthday! Her brother and sister were in town from California and her other sister and brother-in-law were there too. Travis was a huge sport to indulge me in this on our Valentine's date. We could only stay an hour because it was already so late and we needed to get home to the sitter, but it was a lot of fun!
Camilla had a crazy idea to recreate this 80's music video that Brandon loves and surprise him with it for his birthday. She rented out a studio, painted this huge backdrop and asked if I would be one of the backup dancers in the video along with her sister who was in town. It was a riot. I had never seen the music video before but it was to the song, Never Gonna Give You Up, by Rick Astley.
I woke him up from his nap early so he wouldn't be up all night. Boy, did I regret that decision. He sobbed like this for an hour. I kid you not.
A little afternoon game of football with the Law boys.
It's been a few years since Weston got a legit, birthday party so he chose Stratum for his party! I hadn't been to Stratum since I was a teenager. He invited Graham Law and Kyle and Ivan Lam from our ward, Benson Hodges, and two other boys, from school, Riley and Kian. Plus Rusty! I think they all had a good time! I wish I had gotten a whole group picture or one of them playing laser tag. He wanted a Kit Kat cake and it turned out really cute. We all love our animal loving, snuggler Weston!
Neely hosted a Daddy Daughter dance that Olive was THRILLED to go to!
Travis said she was miss popular all night, flitting around to all her friends and having the best time.
Travis made my board and batten island dreams come true! I was so impressed!
Poor Posey ended up needing surgery on her arm while her parents were half way around the world on a two week trip to Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand. Ironically enough, her doctor happened to be my cousin, Mike Montague! We dropped by with a present for her at her grandma's house the same time Macy stopped by for a visit. Cute girls.
