Utah Fun

Holy blog-a-mole, I've got some catching up to do. I've spent the last two weekends in Utah and Washington D.C. respectively and my camera is overflowing with pictures. I'm finally back at home, laundry is caught up, floors mopped, fridge is stocked and I'm ready to blog. But I can't get ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning...

So over labor day weekend, we made a quick (really quick- arrived on Friday afternoon and left on Monday morning) trip up to Provo to see my parents/siblings and most importantly to FINALLY meet Yuna. It was a great trip. Clark and I are always surprised with the fondness we feel towards Provo. It brings back some great memories of our days at BYU. Plus, Utah really is such a beautiful state.

On Friday afternoon we had a quick visit with our dearly missed friends, the Monsons.

Booker and Ike wasted no time getting super dirty with Sky and Thais.

I got to meet Baby Grace. She is gorgeous and oh so tiny compared to Asher.

After a great (and much too short) visit, we headed back to my parents' house so I could get to bed early. I needed to rest up for my big race the next morning. I was nursing a terrible cold the entire weekend.

The next morning we all headed over to Orem High for a "fun" 5K run. This was my first race and I was super nervous. Yes yes, I know everyone else and their grandmother can run a 5K in their sleep. Yes yes, I know I was "running" at the same pace my dad usually walks. But I don't care. My only goal was to NOT WALK and I accomplished that. Plus I ran it in 6 minutes less than what I had been doing the previous week. I'm proud of myself.

The runners before the race. My brother-in-law Kyle, my dad and myself. The race description promised a run course through beautiful downtown Orem. We never did see beautiful downtown Orem, but Mt. Timp sure looked nice.

My dad was way too excited about all this running business. He did a great job "encouraging" me throughout the race. Every time he said something, I just turned my music up louder. He kept trying to get me to run faster. I was just trying to breathe through all the snot in my head.

Booker met me at the finish line with silly string.

Kyle ran the race with a bum knee!

He got silly stringed as well.

Thanks for motivating me, Baba and for not leaving me behind in the dust.

Runners after the race.

Even my favorite little Yuna-corn came out to support us. She left her mustache at home.

Despite my head cold, I felt awesome after the race. I just might start believing all those crazy running folks who always try to convince us non-running folks that running is addictive. I had a pretty good high after that little race and not just because they gave me free pistachio flavored frozen yogurt. There might be more races in my future.

Coming up next: a sheepdog competition, Yuna's baby blessing and more...