Boston Memorial Run

I signed myself, Kiersten, and Nate up to participate in a fun run put on by Salt Lake Running Company to honor the Boston Marathon. Katie and Ang (and Jacob and Makayla) tagged along too because that's what we like to do.

Here's a tale of two runners as it seems to appear in the photos. I'm in the red, looking at the camera, and my sister, Katie, is next to me in gray. Things seem okay here. Chugging along at the start, trying to get out of the corral.

Now notice her sneer!?? Not sure what I did. Cut her off maybe? Give her an elbow :)

Now she's proceeding to tell me off. I think I'll just ignore her . . . and keep looking at the camera. I didn't REALLY think he was taking pictures or maybe I would have smiled at least once.

Okay, this is totally a made up story. But those looks she was giving me sure made me laugh. I'll have to get her side to my "tale of an angry racer."

An engagement

We're adding to our family.
So stinkin' excited for both Katie and Jeff.

Playing dress up

Kiersten and her friends
They decided to raid the Halloween box one afternoon.

A ward Halloween party
I should have gotten a picture of myself since I NEVER dress up. Not that I did this year either, but it was a costume I had been waiting years to use after seeing my neighbor in Magna use it. I wrote numbers 1 through 35 on dot stickers and stuck them all over myself. No one knew what I was until they asked, and then I told them I was someone they could "count on." Ha, ha. Pretty clever.

Rhodes Bake 'N Serve luncheon and trick-or-treating
Aunt Katie invited us to Rhodes bread where she works in the human resource department. She works for an amazing company. Not only does she have a nice gym with personal trainers and a nutritionist, but a lot of offices either had bike racks with bikes in them or bars in their doorways to do pull ups or a treadmill work station where you can work on the computer as you walk or run. I guess for a food company they're doing their best to keep their employees fit. Their Halloween tradition is to invite all the family members to the building where the kids can trick-or-treat at all the offices (after we were done I saw no point to going out that evening) and then the fed us a most delicious lunch.

Halloween evening
Kiersten = She settled for little red riding hood and obviously didn't put much thought into her costume. I think next year is a party year and no trick-or-treating.
Erik = I can't even begin to describe what he might be. A crazy "flour"?
Nathan = I was happy he decided to be the pirate this year instead of Indiana Jones like he is every year. Notice I said the pirate instead of a pirate. It is definitely one of those revolving costumes that gets handed down through all the kids. In fact I made that cape when I was in college and my roommates and I crashed USU's Halloween Howl as the Five Musketeers.
Ashlyn = A Hawaiian bunny? You'll have to take a look at the pictures above because I apparently forgot to get a picture of her. Too many people going too many directions that night.

Alex = Just a cute little pumpkin. He wouldn't keep that hat on for anything and he wasn't too sure about the candy that was being thrown his way. Next year little buddy.

"The Climb"

Several weeks after my half marathon I was heading into Salt Lake when the song "The Climb" (sung by Miley Cyrus) came on. Listening to her sing about hills and not giving up, my thoughts drifted to my half marathon and those hard hills I had to climb at the end and not caring whether I finished that last mile or not. I thought about having the opportunity run it with my sisters Katie and Angie, and I teared up as I had a powerful feeling of love come over me for them. We had done something hard together and when you accomplish hard things with other people it introduces a bond that is hard to break.

Katie, this song is dedicated to you.

Happy birthday on this gorgeous day.

So glad to have you as my sister, my friend, my running buddy.

The Climb

Jessi Alexander and Jon Mabe

I can almost see it
That dream I am dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head saying
"You'll never reach it"

Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going

And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on

'Cause there's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Somebody's gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

Keep on moving, keep climbing
Keep the faith, baby
It's all about, it's all about the climb
Keep the faith, keep your faith, whoa