Niece

Introducing . . . 

CARRIE ELMER

6lb 15oz

19.5 in

I love her little ears. Mark & Heather had their little baby girl today. I was anxiously jumping up and down waiting to meet this little girl. I love being an aunt. This little girl is perfection and such a calm baby. Congrats Mark & Heather!

Kelly Clarkson

Kristi turned 18. She had never been to a real concert. Easy birthday present idea for me. I love Kelly Clarkson. Especially her new album. So Kris and I went to party at her concert. I will not have a voice tomorrow and probably looked liked an idiot--not as bad as the drunk people behind us though. Completely worth it though. We sang and danced around until the end. Oh I can't wait to see her again. 

Canyonlands

I have an addiction. Running has become therapy for me. So combine that with my competitive side has led to me racing. Since Canyonlands Half Marathon was my first race ever, it only makes sense to run it again. This year I brought a friend with me. Tilly joined me with Murdock and Steve. 

To be honest I was not in the shape I should have been for this race. But I did better than expected. I was in better shape than I was in last year. Kept up a better pace longer. Didn't feel like I was going to die until later. Motivation to keep trying!

Sitting at the Top Trying to not Freeze

All the Little Ants walking up the hill. 

Post run. The Sun was a Bit Bright.

Tilly and I drove down after her class on Friday. We only kinda got lost a few times. Yeah I know we have such a great sense of direction. We arrived in time to collect our little bag of goodies and meet up for Dinner. Murdock provided some much needed spaghetti and meatballs for us and the families. I love seeing co-workers outside of work. I get to see just how crazy we all really are. 

After Basketball and some relax oils I passed out only to discover my stupid alarm went off. A protein shake and several layers later we were on our way to the buses. 5,000+ people loaded up on buses is quite the scene. Looks like little ants crawling over the hill. I swear it took forever for the race to actually start. They kept playing cheesy Irish music in honor of St. Patrick's Day. But once the race started I just plugged in my own music. I felt pretty good until mile 8 then I slowly began to fade. The worst came up at mile 9--the steepest hill against the wind. I ran and walked the rest of the way. My competitive streak came up on the last mile when the 2:30 pacer creeped up behind me. I ran and sprinted the last 1/2 mile and improved me time by 5 minutes! Final Time--2:29:32!

I'm a bit out of it at this point. I can't bring myself to do an ice bath yet though.

After the race I discovered a few blisters, sat down, and limped around. Tilly and I iced our legs, rubbed some oils on, and took naproxen. We crashed and watched basketball. Of course an ice cream run was needed! The drive home today was slightly painful. I'm still limping around but already planning my next training schedule for the next race!! KT Pro Tape is Amazing stuff by the way. Saved my sore feet a great deal of pain today. 

A View of the Trail

Dancing

Philadelphia 2012

Kalli cracks me up. I love watching her dance. When she mentioned The Lone Peak Dance Company was going to Philadelphia I thought it would be fun to go with her! So when March came around I joined up with 8 teenage girls and 4 other adults at the airport at 2250. Yes, we hopped on for a red-eye flight.  Not much sleep happened that whole night. We arrived the next morning to our hotel, fabulously located in the center of the city, a little dazed verging on crazy. The girls were still full of energy and desperately hungry for food. Luckily Hard Rock Cafe was just across the street. After being stuff we all headed back to our rooms for some greatly need naps. Yeah I crash hard. I hadn't slept more than 4 hours in 36 hour time frame. 

Hanging out in the Airport

Fajitas At Hard Rock

 We went down and did some shopping. We are girls shopping is a must. After some browsing we walked back to the hotel through some of the cutest old houses. Many were built back in the 1800s. Old-fashioned and full of history. I really want to own one of these houses one day. 

Company Posing for Us Once Again

Don't Judge the Appearance. I hadn't showered yet. 

These girls are professional Models ;)

Grave of Benjamin Franklin

 In our exploring adventures of that day we found this market--Redding market. TONS of amazing little authentic food places and shops. Everything from crepes to Amish bakery to chinese food. Seriously we could've stayed there and just eaten food constantly for a week straight.

Redding Market for Breakfast

Outside the University of Arts

Motivating-we did a lot of moving that week. 

Center of Philadelphia

We woke up the next morning, bright and early, and took off to explore the City of Love. I did not know Philadelphia was called that. Big tall buildings, gorgeous sunny weather, and signs of love to pose underneath. 

Full of Happy Love

Yeah Sisterly Love Right Here!

 After a 45min walk, we arrived to the Rocky Stairs--Okay the National Art Museum. Thank goodness for tennis shoes. Seriously. We all did the Rocky run and dance up the stairs. The Van Gogh exhibit was there as well. Naturally I spent most of my time studying the photography portions. The armory was quite impressive as well. 

Racing up the Rocky Stairs

 Dinner was my first ever Philly Cheesesteak. Completely bad for you but also completely worth it! I am now a fan and can't wait to eat more. 

Kalli was having fun with my Camera

The Taxi cab to the Liberty Bell was worth the 2 dollars. We arrived and saw little pieces of history the rest of the day. Quite amazing to see where our Country began.

Sisterly Love.

Where it all Began

After running and sweating it out in sauna, I crashed. The other moms and I did sit up for several hours chatting away, just like the girls did I'm sure. Our play time from there was done. Time to get back to work. The girls got up and went to dance classes. Me, I read books. Thank goodness for Kindles. We got multiple cups of Hot Chocolate from Starbucks because the weather had decided to drop 20 degrees. 

Chilling before one of the Concerts

Brooke and Kalli

 On the second day of classes, Kalli and I stopped for more hot chocolate with Ashley and headed to their first class. Yeah I did not sleep much at all.  Today the girls were stoked because they were performing their Doll Dance. I love this dance--probably my favorite one they've done this year. The girls had a blast back stage getting ready. 

I mentioned they had fun right?

Chilling on the Train

Philadelphia From the Hotel View

Yeah I was a bit tired by the End of the day.  

The girls are entertaining and kept making me laugh by quoting lines, dancing around, and giggling about youtube videos the whole time. I wish I had their energy! Traveling home was long. I had caught a bug which left me feeling like crap but I did manage to sleep. I had fun with the girls and got to see Kalli in her element full time. She is quite talented. She and I hung out, ate great food, danced, and I caught up on my reading. A different kind of trip to be sure. Now I just need a vacation from my vacation.