I did it!

Yesterday I finished the Baltimore marathon!!!
It almost didn't happen. My injury from a few weeks ago was so bad that I couldn't run more than 3 or 4 miles at a time without reeling in pain. So I decided not to run the marathon. I took an entire week off. Then I ran off and on for a few days. Then last Monday, 5 days before the marathon, I went running at the gym. I ran 4 miles and didn't hurt at all so I kept going. I ran 7 miles and had to stop because the gym was closing. I thought maybe I can run the marathon. David wanted me to run outside on some hills before committing again. Well I ran 5 miles outside and felt GREAT so I decided to do it!
The night before the marathon David gave me a blessing that I would have the strength to run it and I did. Unfortunately, I was so worried about injuring myself again or not being able to complete it that I didn't push myself much. I ran the first 14 miles without stopping, but then ran off and on for most of it. I felt good at mile 24 so I ran it in fast. My time is seriously pathetic, 12 minutes longer than my last marathon, but I'm so happy that I was able to run it. I think I did well considering I only had 3 days to mentally prepare for it and hadn't run more than 7 miles at a time an entire month before the race.
I stayed at a hotel with Jenny, her family and the Conner's (another couple who ran with us). It was really cool to get pumped up for the race with so many other people! David drove an extra hour and stayed in DC with my cousin Nick and his wife Emily. David said Gigi and Emily love each other. I looked at the pictures and could instantly see why. Thanks Emily for posing for Gigi :)Emily and Nick you rock! Thanks for taking care of my family. I'm sad I missed the waffles.


the posed pic :)

The Jepsen's bunny. I think her name is Daphne. Cute!

The race itself was beautiful! My friend and her family ran the race along with a couple from our ward. The girl in the couple, Alicia and I ended up running the whole marathon together. It was really fun having someone to run with :) Thanks Alicia!!
Me and Alicia. Someone noticed half way through the race that we were color coordinated. Did not plan it, but cool anyway.
I think my favorite part of the marathon was the fact that they had so many people along the way supporting us. In the St. George marathon you run on a highway into the city and only have major support for the last few miles. This marathon was throughout the city and so throughout the entire course people were outside their homes cheering us on. They even handed out candy. I'll never forget how great those 3 pieces of candy corn tasted. Yum!
Jenny qualified for Boston. She ran 3:39:35 or something like that. I was so proud of her and equally proud of myself that I was able to train a bit with someone that able :)
We didn't get very many pictures because David was holding both girls when I crossed the finish line. David was awesome ! He waited with 2 little girls at the finish line for almost an hour. I wanted to make sure he would see me cross the finish line so he waited it out. Then he took care of all of us :) I am a lucky woman to have him!

Click on the picture blow it up to see me. I'm on the far left with a great marathon smile on my face :)
How I really felt. I tried to give David a hug through the bars and almost fell over onto him.

I sat (collapsed) down to stretch and my girls jumped on me. They actually helped stretch out my legs. Thanks girls!

Last night I really had a hankering for a good burger and fries so on the way home we stopped and picked up a whopper. I usually hate fast food, but that was a really great burger! There really isn't anything like eating a burger that has the same amount of calories that took you 4 plus hours to burn. Too funny!
I actually feel pretty great. Last time I couldn't walk for days, but today it's really just my feet that hurt. I'm thinking about doing another one soon because I'm in shape...hmmm am I crazy??

Utah- the first post

My sister Candy goes to Utah twice a year for a work conference and so when she was making her plans to go in July the girls and I were lucky enough to tag along. It was so fantastic to fly with help! I don't fly that often, but I think everytime I have flown since having kids it has been without help. It was still a bit crazy with all of our luggage, but it was a million times easier with help! Thank you so much mom and dad for the tickets and thank you so much Canders for giving up a relaxing plane trip!! We were there for about 3 weeks, end of june through the middle of July. We had a lot of fun! We did quite a bit, but not too much.

Madeline loved looking out the window on the airplane. She was born to fly!

Gigi had a brilliant idea to make us all look like Mary (you know from the bible). Candy created the costumes for us :) They look a bit like doorags to me, but whatever :)

The girls loved helping Grandpa in his garden. Love the expression on Gigi's face.
The before picture of my parent's front yard. Pretty overgrown garden. Candy, Tony and I helped with the weeding and after we left my mom went crazy and finished the job. She did such a great job. Check out her blog to see the proof :) Oh and btw Gigi and Madeline loved helping in the garden. I guess they picked up the love of gardening in Texas and spread it across Utah :)
My Aunt Kathy remodeled her home. It was so fun to see it. I spent a lot of time in my younger years at her home. It definitely felt like my second home. It looks great Kathy!
My mom took Gigi and me to see Gigi's new favorite movie/play: Annie get your gun (of course the perfect cowgirl to emulate!). Before we left Candy surprised Gigi with this extremely fancy cowgirl hat that we had to wrangle back home to Philly. Um thanks again Can :) (just teasing ya sis)
Love this shot! Gigi is such a natural drama girl. I'm proud and a bit scared.
One of the highlights of the trip! She was so ecstatic about meeting the real Annie Oakley and Frank butler! Thanks so much mom!
My dad took us to see Toy Story 3. Fun times. Thanks Dad.
In Provo there is an amazing restaurant called Pirate's cove or something like that. This is a shot from the entrance. It was even cooler inside!
My brother Roger introduced the girls to dance dance revolution.

Roger was able to spend some time in Provo while we were there. My girls adore him. He is so sweet and fun with them. Thanks Rog!

More fun to come...

Chicago and going home

After leaving Galena we dropped David off in Chicago. I was so concerned that the apartment we found online for David would be horrible, but it was actually perfect. It was in a nice area, just a few blocks away from the water. David was able to take the bus/metro/subway easily from his location. Most importantly his apartment was clean and was without bugs. I was SO concerned that I would be leaving him in a dump, but it was okay. His sleeping situation wasn't terrific though. The tenant that he was subleasing from left him a sofa with a pull out bed, but it was a pretty miserable little thing so he took turns sleeping on that and then sleeping on the air mattress that we brought out for him. Thanks to David's parents he had the dishes, etc that he needed. We loaded him up with snacks and food before I left so he was able to survive. We had to spend 2 nights there though and Madeline did not do well. The last night none of us slept at all except for Gigi. She slept like a champ, but Madeline would wake up every 10-20 minutes and start screaming. I was too stressed about leaving David to sleep and I'm sure that David was too nervous about starting work to sleep. Finally about 2 in the morning David and I snuck into the bathroom (it was a studio so the bathroom was the only private room) and had some cereal together. It's funny how little moments like that stick with you. I will always remember that moment :)



David's modest apartment
Well we sent David off and the girls and I headed back home....finally. We stopped half way and stayed in a hotel. We got in around 7pm, grabbed some fast food. Watched sesame street and all slept soundly for about 11 hours. It was fantastic! I love Hampton Inns!!

I know this is a little crude, but I had to post this picture. This family bethroom on the PA turnpike was too awesome. They had a little potty, a little chair and a big potty all in one stall. Cool!
On the day that we arrived back home my wonderful friend and neighbor had dinner waiting for us in the oven and had stocked our fridge with the essentials. It was beyond perfection. Thank you Amber! So many people took us into their home and provided for us on our trip. Thank you all SO much! We miss you dearly!!
I also have to say thank you to Stephanie and Elijah Watkins. They took such good care of David for me in Chicago. I think they had David over for dinner every Sunday. He even was able to go out with Elijah to a few movies. They really kept him sane! Thanks again!!!!!!!!

Galena, IL

Well folks it is now October and I am still trying to blog about our summer trips :( I have decided to get it done today! After we went to Texas we drove back to Champaign and spent the night at my brother Alex's house. It was fun playing with their animals. Then we drove to Chicago so David could run a race for the firm he interned with. Well a bit of drama happened. We went to our friend's home for dinner and I went out to the car to get some stuff out. I opened the trunk, pulled out some stuff and slammed it shut. Once it was shut I realized I had dropped my keys inside!! Pretty horrible feeling, unfortunately one that I have had before :( I'm seriously bad with keys. Anyway David missed his race, even after borrowing clothes and trying desperately to make it and we really put our friends out (thank you Watkins family. We love you guys!). A locksmith finally came and got our door opened for us. Then around 9pm we started on our journey to Galena. It was about 1 1/2 hour drive through little towns. David was driving and all of a sudden we are being pulled over. Seriously? For those of you who don't know David is an extremely careful driver. I have to remind him to speed up, not slow down. I couldn't believe our bad luck. Apparently the speed limit changed from 40 to 35 or something small like that and David was going 41. Luckily the policeman took pity on us and let us off with a warning. I think it was the enormously packed car, the crying woman in the passenger's seat and the two sleeping kids in the back. When we finally pulled up to our Worldmark we felt like we had been hit with a truck. But looking back it ended up okay. Our insurance covers being locked out so we weren't out any money, just annoyance. On to our great trip in Galena.
We have a timeshare and one location is Galena. We decided to stay there for about a week before David's internship. It is a little resort town comparable to Park City. There wasn't a lot to do there, but it was perfect for us. The place was beautiful and it was nice to have some family down time.
We went down an alpine slide. It was really fun and both of the girls loved it!





I have to admit the travel back up to the top was a bit scary with 2 little girls. I kept picturing them falling beneath the handle bars.
I really just could not believe how beautiful it was! We just loved sitting on our balcony looking at the view. We watched a lot of movies and I got in some good runs.
One evening Gigi even discovered some hot air balloons outside our window. Isn't it gorgeous?


We went and looked at some horses. The girls played in the gravel for probably 30 minutes. David is so patient he just waited while they played. I got more and more restless and finally made us all leave.
Galena boasts that it is the place where Ulysses S Grant is from. I'm still not sure if he was actually born there or just lived there for a little while, but we did enjoy seeing some historical homes. The only bad thing about the trip was that Madeline got sick. She developed a fever and so didn't sleep well for a few nights, but other than that it was the perfect way to spend our final days together before we had to leave David in Chicago. I had planned on spending a few weeks with my brother Ephraim and his family, but by the end of our trip Madeline was having such a hard time that we decided not to go. We were so sad not to see them :(
Aren't you jealous that I was able to take a bath in this? David was so sweet to watch the girls so I could take a few baths and catch up on some reading...ahh I really miss that bathtub!
Gigi as usual came up with many creative games. She is all tied down with cords that she took from around the room.
We loved swimming. They had a fabulous pool, hot tub and sauna. We even grilled hamburgers outside.
Worldmark came through again and provided a fantastic oasis for our little family. Thank you!

Baltimore October 16, 2010

In May or June my friend announced that she would be running the baltimore marathon. She encouraged me to run it with her. No way! I ran a marathon about 7 years ago and it was HARD! People correlate running a marathon with having a baby. It is hard, but all you remember is how great it feels afterward. I disagree. All I remembered about my last marathon was the gigantic mirage of people running uphill with no end in sight. Well I thouht long and hard about the marathon. I realized that now really would be the best time to train. I was in Utah for 3 weeks so I could get a lot of good runs in and then I knew David would have the entire month of August off so I could run hard, plus I would have someone training at the same time as me. I decided to do it! The most amazing thing happened. When I went for my first 10 mile run in a long time I felt great! I then remembered how great training for the marathon felt. True the marathon itself kind of sucks, but training is exhilerating and awesome! You can run for the fun of it for hours on end to cool places. Plus (and this is seriously a huge plus for me) I can eat whatever I want :) 2 weeks ago I ran a 21 miler with my friend and felt good, but unfortunetely I must have pushed myself a bit too much because I hurt my IT band. I looked online and it said that it takes months for it to heal, but I'll still doing the marathon even if I have to walk half of it! Wish me luck :) My friend Jenny that is running this with me is doing awesome! She had an original goal to break 4 hours, but right now is on her way to qualify for boston! Go Jenny!!! I am just hoping to finish :)
Oh and Rachel I have really missed training with you. I think of you often on my long runs!!

after a run the girls jumped on me while I was stretching, I guess they don't mind their sweaty mom:)

Texas Part 2

It's Sunday afternoon. Madeline is taking a nap, Gigi is watching Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, David is gone home teaching, dinner is in the crockpot and I actually have a few minutes to myself :) I thought I would use this time to finally finish the post about Texas.

David, the girls and I took a day and went to the stock yards. David and I spent our honeymoon in Texas and I asked him to take me to the stockyards. He took me to the actual stockyards where cattle are exchanged and because it was December we didn't see anything. This time around we made sure to go the tourist stockyards :) It was a lot of fun.


Gigi saw a few real cowgirls and some of the famous longhorn cattle.

I wanted to look at some cowboy boots. We went into a shop and saw this. Wow! They were beautiful. Then I looked at the price tag on a pair: $1295.00. I very gently put them back and then ever so quickly ushered my children out of the store.

David's parents refinished this rocking chair before our visit. Isn't it amazing? David's parents are so gifted at fixing things up. Madeline loved rocking in this chair!

We spent a weekend at David's sister's home (I never remember how to write this. I guess I fell asleep during that english lesson). It was really fun! They have a beautiful home that the girls nearly destroyed :)

Elle loves to garden. The girls loved following her around her garden watching her work. Gigi even came home with some seeds to plant, hopefully they will still work in a few years when we have some land to plant them in :). David's folks also have a fantastic garden, but of course we were too busy enjoying it to remember to take pictures of it. It was so bizarre to hear Elle and Don discuss what type of bug they had captured to see if they needed to kill it or release it back into their garden. I guess I'll have to get a bit more backbone before I start a garden.
Elle's husband Clint served his mission in Scotland and he taught Gigi the proper way to put on a kilt. She really got into it and tried to reproduce the look for quite a few days afterward.
David loved having some great business related discussions with Clint.
Elle is a great aunt. Madeline usually dislikes being cuddled, even by her parents, but Elle managed to put her to sleep 3 or 4 times. Amazing! Thanks for letting us get a break :)
We went swimming a few times with Elle and Clint. We all loved it!

We were also able to see David's brother Michael and his family. They have a beautiful new home that we got lost in and their kids are really adorable. Gigi fit right in. Too bad we don't live closer! (I forgot to take my camera to their house)



I found these picture while I was going back through the pictures of our trip. I love them. We spent so much time with David's parents, but hardly took any pictures of them. Next time I will do a better job!

The weather was perfect while we were in Texas. The girls loved playing outside. I love the picture of Madeline. Everything is better with food in hand. The above picture of David shows him doing the same thing. Like father like daughter :)


We barely managed to get everything packed up in our car on our way to Texas. While we were visiting David's parents gave us quite a few things for David to use in Chicago. David's mom taught me how to can meat and gave us about 20 cans of meat. For my birthday they surprised me with a new set of pots and pans. We have been using the same old set since our wedding and the non stick part has been coming off. Apparently that is dangerous and so his parents bought us a new set. It is SOOO nice. I think of them everytime I cook! The problem with all of the awesome new stuff was that we had to fit it all in in addition to our other stuff. We somehow managed it though and my legs only went to sleep a few times :)

Suzuki Violin

Last year I really wanted to get Gigi started on the violin. I searched and searched for a great teacher and finally found one....in Delaware. They wanted Gigi to go to weekly group and private lessons, which were on different days, which would mean we would be in the car for 6+ hours weekly. After much prayer we decided to not go this route.
I decided to teach her myself. For those of you who don't know my background I started taking violin lessons when I was 3. I always planned on going into violin performance or teaching, but when I graduated from high school I really felt like I needed to go into nursing. Anyway long story, but the gist is that I can play the violin, but don't feel at all qualified to teach it. Because I had no luck with teachers around here I felt like I could at least get Gigi started until we move next year. Our friends loaned us a violin for Gigi back in April and we slowly started. I met up with my old violin teacher in Utah and she gave me advice and tips to help Gigi. She also said that the violin I had was too big for her. So we bought a 1/10th size violin and since July have been practicing about 5 times a week. Gigi has finally learned her first song! It is still a work in progress, but she is doing great! It is amazing to think of all the little things that have to work together to get a nice sound out.

In other violin news I have started teaching other students. Last year a friend asked me to teach her daughter and after much hesitation I started working with her. Through word of mouth I am now up to 7 students, possibly 8 soon. I am LOVING it!!! I have felt such regret these last 10 or so years at not being able to play my violin and now I feel like I am able to dive back into music and to help others learn to love music too. I am starting to feel more confident in my teaching abilities. I am even thinking about persuing this after we leave here. I might certify to become a suzuki teacher and actually advertise for students. We'll see, but at least right not it has been the perfect thing for me and our family.