6 Months Ago Today. . .

I miss her.

My best friend.

Domestical. . .

Mom gave me a sewing machine for Christmas, and I have been putting it to good use. You could even say I'm becoming domestic! Over Christmas break we went and picked out fabric for my first quilt. Here it is pieced together. . .

then quilted. . .

Ta-da! It is finished. By the way, animal prints are so IN!

Here is quilt #2!

Hopefully it will look like this when I'm finished!

Domestic!

Hood To Coast

I know, I know. 2 posts in the same month! You were not expecting it!

Last weekend I flew to Portland, Oregon with some friends to run another relay race. This one is called Hood to Coast. We started here, at Mount Hood. . . and finished on the beach in Seaside, Oregon. Hood to Coast was only 197 miles . . . This race has been going for over 30 years, and Ragnar (the company who does Wasatch Back) got their idea from this race. Ragnar now owns about 11 races all over the country. Because of elevation, it was easier to breathe at Hood to Coast and the temperatures were a little more mild, otherwise, I think I like the Wasatch Back better.

Mt. Hood. . .

My first leg was at 7:00 pm, and as you can see it's still light outside. Don't worry, after 6:00 you have to wear a reflective vest and headlamp. I practically got yelled at when I asked if that was really necessary. I guess they'd been asked that at least once before!

Phew! 1/4 of the way done. . .

Starting to look and feel the effects of no sleep and sweat dried on at least twice by this point :)

We made it! Our team finished in 24:38:22. We came in 94th out of 1004 teams! Not too shabby to make the top 10%! I can take no credit, we had really fast guys.

Walking down to the water after we finished. It was a little overcast this day, but it was beautiful to be at the beach!

Team (Back left): Josh ?, Chris Gritton, Curtis Robertson, Sam Picklesimer, Porter ?, Craig Romrell, Frank Kellywood, Mike Burquist, Jared Bracken, Collette Calderwood, me, Sarah Jackson.

A Little Getaway

Most of you probably know I got a new job at Primary Children's Hospital, working in their outpatient diabetes clinic. It is my dream job!! Since I was switching jobs, I tried to take a little time off to go visit Jennie, Cory, and Jake in New Jersey. All I could squeeze out of the transfer was 2 days. So, I took my first ever red eye and got to Philly at 9:30 a.m. last Thursday morning. Funny thing was, by noon, I had to ask Jennie if SHE needed to go home and take a nap! I actually got some good sleep on the airplane, even though I was sitting in row B. I have a major talent for sleep!

So, here are some pics of my trip and family! Really, I know that Jake is NOT my son, even though it may seem like it because he is in the majority of pictures on my blog! But he is adorable, so what can I say? He is in the majority of pictures that I take!

Independence Hall. . .

Liberty Bell. . .

This is the room where the Declaration of Independence AND the Constitution were signed. . . very cool!

Original Philly Cheese Steak. . . so yummy!

Everytime I see Jake, I give him a present. Jennie sometimes gets mad, but I have some serious competition to be the favorite Aunt. So, this time I gave him Mack--from Cars. Of course, he loved it!

Jennie and Cory are remodeling their house, so we finished painting the kitchen one morning. It was fun to just chat and be together! I'm not the best painter, but I think there weren't too many mistakes, as long as Cory's not looking too closely!

One afternoon we went to a farm that was nearby. It was such a beautiful place with lots of animals and cool barns.

Jake is not afraid of animals at all. He almost got pecked. . .

and licked.

Cool red barn. . .

Jake had just eaten a cupcake. . . we didn't even get a taste of it!

And of course, he stepped in every mud puddle there was. . .

Thanks Jennie and Cory and Jake for the fun weekend!

We are Family

Four of the 5 of us live in Utah. Jennie, Cory, and Jake are in New Jersey. We don't get to see them as often as we would like. Jennie and Jake came to visit a few weeks ago, and although we missed having Cory with us, we sure had a good time!

Really, my sisters are short! And I am the only blonde, of which they constantly remind me!

Becky and I on our way to the Utah Arts Festival. I had been looking forward to it all day, but after about 30 minutes and a few beers spilled on me (from clumsy passersby of course!) I was ready to go home.

Brian and his cute wife, Ann. They got married last August! We love her!

Jake. Cute. Smart. Dimples. Spoiled. Flirt. Fun. What else can I say! We adore him!

Jake and his Uncle John. Pretty much, if John is around, Jake wants nothing to do with the rest of us!

Here is Jake, flirting. . .

smiling. . .

and winking. . . at a girl in the restaurant. Jennie was busy on the phone and I was taking pictures of him! Pretty much he is NOT shy! I think Cory and Jennie will have their hands full in a few short years!

We Might Be Crazy

This weekend, I ran the Wasatch Back. For those of you not familiar with this race, it is a 180+ mile race--your team runs from Logan to Park City. Each team has 12 members. During the relay, each team member runs 3 legs, each leg ranging between 3-8 miles and varying in difficulty. Each team has 2 vehicles, with 6 runners in each vehicle. The first vehicle will drop off the first runner, drive ahead a few miles, cheer the runner on and provide them with water and whatever else they need. The vehicle then drives ahead to the first exchange point to drop off the second runner, and pick up the first runner when that leg is complete. They repeat this pattern for six legs until they hand off to their second vehicle. The second vehicle goes through the same running/pick up process. This pattern continues the whole 180 miles, until you reach the finish line!

Wasatch Back had 650 teams running this year. That's 7800 runners! My team, A Bunch of Sissies, finished in about 27 hours. We came in 31st overall! Pretty impressive I thought! The theme of the race is "run, drive, sleep, repeat". Not sure much sleeping gets done, but it is a lot of fun to be with friends and run your guts out! This is my 3rd year doing the Wasatch Back. Most of the time during the race, I wonder what in the heck I am doing, and why would I put myself through so much pain. But after it's over, it suddenly becomes so fun! (Is that what it's like having a baby?)

Anyway, here are a few pics of my team, and our journey!

The starting line in Logan. They start teams every 15 minutes from 6 am to 6 pm on Friday. Each heat has about 15 teams starting at the same time. We started at 12:45 pm. Our lead guy is the one on the left in the white shirt, looking at the rest of us like he doesn't know what's going on.

A little van time. You get to know your friends in a way you never thought possible. . . . . 6 sweaty bodies in a van for 27 hours makes you really close really fast!

I refuse to post a picture of myself running. I look like an idiot. But here's some of our guys, one giving a little support to our runner. Some water, words of encouragement, and a 5 second walking break can help you make it up an up-hill, 8 mile leg. This particular one was brutal.

I was in the first van. Here we are eating lunch, waiting for the 2nd van to come to the finish line. We were a little disgusting at this point. We were so sweaty and stinky that we couldn't smell each other, but the other people in the restaurant probably could!

We are at the finish line, waiting for our team to come in. When your last runner is about 100 yards out, they announce your team. Then you all line up and run the last 100 yards together, to get your medal and your picture taken. (Again, remember I am disgusting at this point. Promise I'm cuter in real life!)

The finish line! Way to go team! We finished 31st overall, out of 650, and 18th in our coed division! Pretty impressive?!