We Did It! My first goal of the year accomplished!

We did it! My friend Sarah, and I made a goal to train for the London's run Half Marathon and yesterday we both completed it. We also made our goal times!
BUT I could not have completed it without my husbands support, Sarah pushing me to do it and everyone else who babysat while I went and trained. (Hayley more specifically:)) Aaron sacrificed A LOT of sleep on my behalf so that I could do my long runs on the weekend. And he never complained once about me training. Thanks babe, I love you!

And my sister Kimberlee also made it so much easier for me on the race day. She lives near by where it was being held and so I dropped Ezra off at about 6:30 after a quick nurse and then headed over. I was pretty nervous leaving Ezra because he had been so cranky the past few days and I had never left him that long before. But Kimber was a pro and he slept most the time and was good in between. Thanks Kim and Ethan!

This is before the race. Me, Sarah and our friend Kara. We found out later that Kara was running it too. It was pretty chilly and we were so nervous. I could hardly talk because I was so cold and nervous.

The race went REALLY good. There were 406 people running so it wasn't too crowded and you basically ran through farms fields which was flat and full of cotton bails. The weather warmed up quick and it was so beautiful and peaceful out there. Each mile was marked and I ran with all these people who were trying to complete the same goal as me. Being my first half and not knowing what to expect I had a goal of running 9 min miles or at least getting under 2hours. As I ran I wished I had bought some of those glucose packs that you eat while you run and they give you instant energy. But lo and behold they were handing out these things called, "Gu" and I was so grateful! I swallowed them down and had instant energy! It's like I got a second wind every time I ate one. They also had water and gatorade along the way and all of these encouraging signs and pictures of kids who have or had cancer. I felt better and better with each mile and I almost cried when I saw the 13 mile marker. Just 100 meters to go and I kicked it in! What a great feeling! (I know, I'm so corny). My time was 1:53:50 and my pace was 8:42/mile. I was 111th overall and about 20th for my age group.

I more than completed my goal.

This probably isn't a big deal to most people but I am pretty happy to complete this goal.

Right after I finished my race I was staggering around wondering where some water was and I ran into one of my really good friends from high school. It was so good to see him. He had taken up running in the last few years and was running the 10K there. This was only a few minutes after I crossed the finish line so I must have looked pretty scary. So as I was talking to him I was nonchalantly trying to wipe the crusty boogers and sweat from off my face with my shirt. And I had total cotton mouth since I hadn't taken a drink of water yet. He was probably pretty grossed out but hey I was excited to see him. It was a plus after my race!


Right before we started the race I get jumped on by my friend Menolly! If I let myself I totally could've cried seeing her. She moved away from Coolidge about a year or so ago and I have really missed this girl. She was my amazing first counselor in young womens and one of my really good friends. I was so sad to see her go. She has taken up running too and she did the 10 K as well. I got to see her sweet family and we got to chat for a while after the race. Miss you already Menolly!

Well, I can hardly walk today and don't ask me to crouch down to pick anything up ( I won't be able to get back up), but I am grateful for the chance I had to run it. Thank you Sarah for motivating me to do this. It was a big accomplishment for us and I couldn't have done it without you!

Up Next.....warriordash.com Are you a Warrior?




(Don't worry, it's in Florence and I'm just going for the thrill of the race! Then us mormon girls will high tail it out of there.)

This is a little past due but I have to share...

A few weeks before Christmas I got an early present in the mail. Well actually there were 3. I was so excited to open these!
And inside was gold! Well a piece of gold fabric. Those 3 boxes were full of fabric and other goodies. So I actually felt like I struck gold! On Thanksgiving, my Aunt Linda said she was cleaning house and wanted to know if I would give all of her fabric a good home. Well, of course!! At first it was one box, but then she kept finding more and more and it turned into 3! There was also a brownie mix, thread, notions, cute tissues, books and much more! I was thrilled and immediately started thinking of all the things I could make. So here was my first project.....

I always try to make an ornament with the kids each year. I was pretty stuck on what to do this year but then we were driving one day and I noticed all the cotton on the sides of the road just sitting there getting dirty and wasted. And then I thought of all the Christmas fabric given to me. So me and the kids collected some cotton and cleaned it up (don't worry, we did not go to a field and steal a farmers cotton. We picked up what was going to be discarded.) And then I grabbed all of the Christmas fabric and layed it on the table. The kids got to choose a shape, and pick a fabric. Then I sewed them together and they stuffed them with their cotton. They turned out simple and perfect and the kids loved getting involved! Lilly-candy cane, Anders-snowman, Elsie-kitty, Ivy-bird, and Ezra-tree. Thank you Aunt Linda for all of the wonderful fabric and for helping inspire our homemade ornaments this year! I think I might use the rest to make stockings and a tree skirt.

Some other projects in mind: dresses, and craft aprons.

This past week we had the opportunity to watch our nephews Thurston and Atticus. It was a houseful but so fun! They spent the night and the next day the kids decided to give me a break and 4 out of the 5 took a nap (Lilly was at school). Those boys were so cute. They constantly talked about Superman, Ironman, Spiderman and Batman. They even had little jammies that I was coveting for my boys. Atticus was so sweet and just walked around and played with a big smile the whole time. Thurston loved Anders Ironman toy and being outside playing with the kids. They had so much fun together and they slept like little angels at night. I wish I would've taken a picture! Atticus stayed in the same spot but Thurston kept rolling all over him in his sleep, lol. Now of course there was fighting, time outs, and some stress but nothing I couldn't handle. Thurston was a pro at time out! My parents picked them up the following evening and offered to take my older kids with them too. I had no problem sending them off! Aaron and I enjoyed a quiet evening with Ezra and Ivy. Ivy loved being alone!

Such sweet boys! I'm glad they feel comfortable staying with us. They even called me and Aaron mama and papa. Thanks for letting us watch them Kim and Ethan!

Anders turned 5 while they were here. I felt so bad for him that day though. He woke up at 4 am with a lot of pain in his knee. He couldn't walk, go to preschool, or play at all. He sat motionless watching movies most of the day. In the afternoon he finally started to hobble around but I think that was more frustrating because I wouldn't let him jump on the trampoline or ride his bike for fear that he would hurt it more. He looked so sad all day. But we ate cake and ice cream, blew up ballons and wore party hats. And of course presents!

Anders is my good boy. He just recently taught himself to ride a bike without training wheels. I thought teaching them to ride bikes would be torture, but he caught right on, practiced and took off. And he taught Lilly because he made her jealous and she finally built up her courage to practice by herself. He loves when I read him books, I will catch him pushing his sisters on the swings and taking care of them and Ezra. He loves attention and is just like his dad making jokes and being funny. He is very loving and my wonderful sleeper at night! He konks right out! He hates cleaning his room but will do most things that I ask of him.

Happy Birthday my 5 year old!
We love you!

Happy New Year 2012!

We had a really fun new years eve this year. Kimber called me up and asked if they could come shooting and spend the evening with us. We had a blast.....

We lit some fireworks for the kids.

Smoked some fireworks. Actually I think the men enjoyed the fireworks the most. Aaron kept tossing black cats at Don, and Ethan ignored all warnings on the cartons.

Kimberlee's sister in law, Lisa, and husband, Don, are here visiting. They spent New Years Eve with us too and Lisa offered to cut my hair. I had not gotten it fixed yet, so I jumped on her offer. She did an awesome job! No more scraggly pieces, or blunt cuts. She layered and shaped it perfectly. Thank you so much Lisa! You truly are an artist!
I think Atticus and Thurston loved coming to visit cousins. Kimber made this yummy pudding cake after dinner.

Ivy and Elsie could not get enough of the sparklers. Lisa was so kind to keep lighting them for the girls.

They went shooting in the afternoon. For the most part guns are illegal in Australia, so it was a real treat for the Australians to go shooting. Aaron took them out and showed them how it was done. I love this picture of Aaron.

Ethan and Don

Aaron shooting clay pigeons with his shotgun. You can see the shell flying out to the right.


We ended our night by putting the kids to bed and playing games. We played a really fun game called "Identity". The girls won that. And then we played Balderdash. I won! We drank bubbly and even made it to 11:40 before Aaron and I crashed. Lilly stayed up a little bit and was our photographer. I forgot how much I love playing games. I have come to appreciate them more as I have gotten older.

I hope everyone had a great New Years! We hope to have a great 2012!

Merry Christmas from the Hansens

We had a great holiday this year with Christmas Eve at the Hansens and Christmas day at the Whettons. My dad made all of these rubber band guns for all the grandkids. For some reason there was lots of laughing and crying after we opened them up. But the kids love them!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I tried getting cards out this year but it just didn't happen.

We look forward to the new year!

All I Want For Christmas is...

My Two Front Teeth!

(Lilly just pulled her other front tooth out tonight. She will have to sing the song now!)

8 Miles....

Is what me and my friend Sarah ran today. We felt like we accomplished something tremendous when we were done! We are training for a half marathon in January and we both agree that we can't train without each other. It would be so boring running those distances alone. Plus, it is so nice to have girl time and chatter away the morning. We have both signed up and paid so there is no going back now! Anyone want to join us? Kimber?

Catch up

Lately it seems like we feel like this by the end of each day. I feel so busy these days! There is so much going on and I have to juggle all of these tasks with little ones at my feet constantly. Some days I wish they were just grown up already. But I know I will miss this time in my life so I need to try and relax and enjoy it!

Lilly finally lost her first top tooth (pictured super loose here). She wiggled and wiggled until it finally popped out. We haven't had to pull a tooth yet! She is such a good girl and my big helper. She got a part in her school Christmas musical and is so excited to be in it. I told her she needed to memorize her parts and read through the whole thing so she knew where her part was. She really took me seriously because last night she recited the entire thing by memory!

Aaron's brother Caleb got back from his mission recently. He is so positive and uplifting. It is such a joy to have him in Coolidge with us again. The day after he got back he specifically came over to play with the kids. They were thrilled and it was so sweet. We just need to find him a girl now!

So for Thanksgiving I wanted to run the turkey trot, but with Aaron's work schedule it would have made it difficult in the morning. So I finally decided to stay the night with my parents so I could be ready to go in the morning without too much fuss. They are only 10 min or less away from where it was being held. It is a treat for the kids to spend the night at grandmas and they bugged me about leaving til the minute we left.

The reason I share this picture is because I wanted to show that this is how I feel when I'm with my sister Kimber. (We are laughing about flexing our calve muscles or something). I have so much fun with her and she constantly makes me laugh. She's also fun because I can convince her to do triathlons and races me. I usually hear her cursing my name after a race, but I know she is glad I make her do them. So this is before the race getting ready to leave. My parents bravely watched my kids (including Ezra) until Aaron came. I couldn't have done it without them!

And this is after the race with the turkey. This guy runs the whole 6 miles in this getup. We also saw someone run the entire thing barefoot, and another run it backwards. There was also someone in a potato bag I think? It is such a fun race Thanksgiving morn.

So the lines to the bathroom are incredibly long all the way up until it starts. Kimberlee happened to see some permanent bathrooms a little trot away and I unwillingly go with her to check it out. She is a genius! They were totally empty while the other suckers stood in line for the port o johns!

Kimberlee was also very sneaky. She claimed that she had barely ran and that she would be hurting running this. But I guess her inner runner came out and she kept up with me almost the entire way and finished only a minute and a half behind me. She snuck up on me at the third mile and said she had been spying on me the whole time, lol!

Here's a little game called, "Where's Lucy?" We did "Where's Kimber?" as well but she is crouched down and the picture took right when someone walked in front of her. That would have been a hard one. I looked at the results and I think there were over 2000 people running it!

I didn't finish as fast as I wanted but I was top 25 for my age group and I think around 500th overall. Thanksgiving was spent with my dad's side of the family. I didn't get too many pictures that day but we had a lot of fun with the Whetton clan! The food turned out great and we enjoyed catching up.

Now onto Christmas! We started the festivities by decorating the house. It is so much fun to finally have the kids old enough to get excited and actually help.

Aaron and I did do a little black Friday shopping. But we can only go later in the morning so the crowds actually weren't too bad.

Ezra is showing lots of interest in eating (yay and boo). So I got him started early on my green smoothies. Lately this little boy is keeping me up ALL night. He is waking up every 1 or 2 hours and seems so fussy. He is 4 1/2 months now and he is starting to sit up and rolls everywhere. Unlike my other kids he actually likes the walker and will walk around in it. Relief for me! Lilly is also my relief as he is totally entertained by her. Oh the joy of older kids that can help!