A good read! Just thought I'd pass it along!

My friend, Becky, got me a book for my birthday that was very special to me. I started reading it right when I got it and have been slow going through it (for those of you who don't know, I'm a greedy reader and don't usually take more than a day or two to read a book) but am very impressed with it. It was just featured in Newsweek and has been getting a lot of press. It's called, "Pretty is What Changes" by Jessica Queller. I am almost done and will be passing it on to Bob next, but if anyone else wants my copy to borrow, let me know. The author is in a different situation than me, but I found it helpful to read her story. It's full of information in a very honest and intelligent way. The author is VERY smart! Let me know if anyone gets a chance to check it out!

Pat's Run!

I just got back a bit ago from Pat's Run and I couldn't be prouder of Mary and Tami! They did so great! It was awesome to see them cross the finish line with HUGE smiles on their faces! The official race results can be seen at http://www.patsrun.com/ or http://results.active.com/pages/page.jsp?eventID=1472467&pubID=3

They both finished with a pace of 9:50/mile! My first race, I had a 12 min. mile and it stayed that pace for forever! They are too fast! It was so nice to see Becky at the finish line. She pushed her THREE kids in a triple jogging stroller! I'd have a hard time just walking the block with that kind of resistance! I don't know how she does it! The weather was beautiful and I'm so glad we all did it! Corey and Ed, Tami's husband, met us at the finish line with the kids. There should be awards for spectator support! They have a pretty challenging job! Why don't they get a shirt? Maybe I'll have to get one made for Corey. Any design ideas? Well, good job at Pat's Run!

I also made a cake for my nephew's birthday party tonight and tried out my friend, Valerie's, fondant recipe. It's actually yummy! It tastes like a tootsie roll! It's supposed to be a barn, if you can't tell! They are having a farm theme in light of all their new animals (sheep, goats, chickens, pigs, turkeys...and so on). I am pretty happy with how this one turned out. Thanks, Val, for the recipe! Yay for all that Crisco!

Happy Belated Easter! And March update...late!

I've been pretty busy so I just haven't blogged. We had Corey's parents visit over Easter and had a really fun time! We loved seeing them and also got to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa "Grape" (that's what Ashlyn calls Corey's grandparents!). We had a fun easter egg hunt with the Babb's and Grand-Bob had fun pushing Ava around the backyard in the jogging stroller. Landen was so funny! He'd find an egg, open it and ditch it if it was chocolate! I was right behind him to scoop up his unwanted eggs. Hey, somebody had to do it! We also got to celebrate Grandma/Cheri's birthday, which was really nice.

Corey's back to playing football and is LOVING it! His team is really awesome! Check out their stats at www.cutyourmullet.com

We have the Babb kiddos for the next week while Mary and Tom go to a wedding in SC. Ashlyn is SO excited to have Landen "come live at our house for a week!" SLUMBER PARTY!

I had a job interview last week at Countrywide and hope to start working with Corey starting in the middle of April. I was so nervous at the interview that the guy who interviewed me told Corey I made HIM nervous! YIKES!

We have the Pat Tillman run on the 19th and I'm excited that Mary and Tami are running in it! Anyone else in? 4.2 miles! For a good cause! Run into Sun Devil Stadium! Come on!

Ragnar Relay

The Ragnar Relay was this weekend and it was so fun! I was worried about spending two whole days with a bunch of people I didn't know, but everyone was really nice. It was weird to send our first runner off at the start at 1pm on Friday and stay pumped up until we finished on Sat at about 4:30opm. It was also weird how motivating it was when it was your turn to run because your van mates meet you every couple of miles to cheer you on and most of it you are running alone (runners really spread out over the 182 miles) so when you see them, it really gets you going. I actually put up some of my fastest runs on this race! My first leg was 7.56 miles and was very hilly. It was considered a hard leg and I started it at about 10:45pm. I ran it in 1:00:49 with a 8:02 average a mile. My second leg was 2.9 miles at about 8:15 am (we got about 3 hours of sleep which is actually good from what I've heard about these relays!) and was actually hilly as well. I ran it in 20:52, which is about a 7:11 mile. My third leg was the second to last run before the finish line and was through Mesa. They couldn't shut down traffic for the race because it could have shut down a huge area all day, so we had to wait at traffic lights. It was so annoying to stop and than try to pick up the pace again. I got stuck a LONG light (it felt like 5 minutes!) right before my last mile. Good thing my team was waiting a few yards after I crossed the street to help get me motivated again! My last leg was 4.2 miles and it was very hot. I did it in 33:17 which is about a 7:55 mile average (although I actually logged my first two miles at a 6:15 per mile pace which is a first for me). It was really fun to finish and Corey, the girls, Bob, and the entire Babb family were sooo nice to meet me at the finish line. I felt bad because they all came out to celebrate the race finish and I think I said two word to everyone because I went back to the team manager's house with my team to clean out the vans. So, thank you so much for coming out to see me cross the finish line! If anyone ever gets an offer to do one of these relays, even if you don't run, my advice is to do it! It is such a cool experience!

Florida...

It's taking me awhile to recoup from being away and am scrambling to play catch up. I was ahead of school when I left for Florida but the funny thing is, you don't stay ahead when you don't get anything done for a bit. I came home and quickly had to get back into homework mode. The trip was awesome! Corey and I had a blast and have decided we could definitely live in Jacksonville if the need ever came up. We got in Sat. evening and made a friend on our flight who was running in the half marathon, so she rode with us to the expo to pick up our packet. She also happens to be very involved in all the breast cancer events and is putting a team together for the 3 day walk, which I've been very interested in. Anyone else want in? The marathon was at 8:30am on Sunday but they warned that the parking would be near impossible and recommended the shuttle system that they offered. So, I got up at 5am (3am, Arizona time!) got ready and had Corey drop me off at the shuttle pick up (and Starbucks didn't open until 6:30am, so no early morning treat!) The run was beautiful and I got to see Corey about 8 times! I got this little jump of excitement the first time I spotted him on the beach cheering me on and it really helped those four miles where the "hard packed sand" was loosened a little by a couple hundred runners! It was hot and humid and I can't say I actually enjoyed much of the run and had some painful moments but finished in a little over 4 hours and one minute (the GPS I was using said I ran 27.3 miles so I kinda stopped checking my time and didn't really know how my run was pacing.). If I'd known I was that close to breaking four hours, maybe I'd have picked it up a little somewhere! Or maybe not! I was tired, sunburned and had welts in my armpit from my ipod armband (which is now a pretty scar!) but so glad I ran it. The whole town came out and showed their support and there was so much pink! It was really inspiring how important this run was to so many people. I was very glad to see lots of "survivors!" After the run, Corey and I took a long nap that didn't have to end when kids are done sleeping (thank you so much Bob and Babb family for taking care of our ladies! You are too wonderful to us)! We spent every day at the beach after the run and just loved driving around the city without worrying about answering obscure questions from our kiddos. Tom got some certificates for 2 nights at the Marriott from work and was so nice to give them to us so we have the Babbs to thank for our first two nights! That really was so thoughtful of them! When we got home, the girls barely missed us and were quickly asking when they could hang out with their cousins again. Really, we had such a good time. I recovered fairly quickly and am now gearing up for the Ragnar relay this weekend. The run starts this Friday at 1pm, but I don't start my first leg until around 11pm or even later, depending on the prior 10 people. I think it's going to fun... I hope! Thanks so much for every one's support and well-wishing for this marathon!

Ashlyn is four and a half!

We celebrated Ashlyn's four and HALF birthday on Friday and she was soo excited! She always makes a point of telling people that she's four and Landen is four and half, so this half birthday was very special to her! ( I didn't have the heart to point out to her that while she's finally hit the four and a half point, Landen kept growing up, too and is older than four and half.) She told her whole class at school and just was so happy. She wanted to know where her party was! I didn't throw a party but she blew out a candle on a oreo cookie cakester. In light of her growing up, (which totally goes against our deal with her NOT to grow up!) I decided to post some older, baby Ashlyn pictures. It's so weird, I barely remember a time as a mom without Ava, but when I look at baby Ashlyn pictures, I am struck with how much Ashlyn taught me about everything- life, parenting, patience, love, and even myself! Poor first kids! They're the test runs! Oh well, I think she's turned out pretty great, so far!

Some fun video clips!

We just uploaded some video clips on our computer of the girls. Brianne and Alex are in town from Seattle for Alex's gymnastics meet at Rawhide. She did awesome and made us all so proud! She placed second place on bars with a very clean routine, although my video clip is horribly fuzzy. She looked so grown up! Ashlyn loved watching her compete.