Pull weeds.

Pull weeds.

It made a very big pile.

So

Now what do I do with it?

Anyone filming a Western next month? I will have plenty of tumbleweed for the set.

Fill in my running resume.

Fill in my running resume.

I've completed dozens of 5Ks and one marathon in my lifetime but never any distances in-between so I thought this year it was finally time to change that.

Now let's stop right here and so that I don't give the wrong impression that I am a super-good runner who really has a resume, let's point out here I'm saying "completed" and not "competed in" because I am embarassingly-slow long-distance runner, am not competition to anyone, and have plans to apply for no actual running job. Just so that's clear. Don't make me any offers.

So before I was a Mom, I used to be motivated to run races by a bunch of petty things like t-shirts and medals and ambition and pride but I no longer collect any of that, so I'm pretty sure the motivation now is just the weekend getaways that running races more than two hours from home require. Luckily, some of my friends are also willing to run a 1/2 marathon as payment for a night away too so that's what we did.

So here is the run down of our slumber party, er, I mean half marathon!

Four of us cruised in high-class style up to Logan in Amy's natural gas Civic. Here we are filling up at the specialty gas station. Well, Amy is trying to fill up while I mock and take pictures. (This could have been a separate post because Jake is thinking of buying one of these status symbols too):

How does this work again? Hmm. Hmm? Hmm. Hmm!

It's working!

Oh wait, it's not, I have to pay first.


How do you pay?

Ok, NOW it's working! No, it really is! This is not another premature thumbs up! No, really, look, it's filled up $3!


Ericka was very scared while she watched in the car.

Sure it took us 20 minutes to figure out how the pump worked but what's a little pride when you can drive 8 hours on $6 of gas?

We then met up with more friends for the all-important carbo-load dinner. This is another major selling point to the whole race charade.

We then took over the basement of Amy's super-cute grandparents. I was a little surprised that a slumber party can turn you instantly into a bunch of 13-year old giggling girls but that it did. I think it was also a coping mechanism for awkwardly sharing a full-sized bed with your 30-year old neighbor. So is taking a picture of it:

We then woke up super-early the next morning and met up with two other bras from our "6 Bras and 6 Supporters" team and rode the bus for like 4 hours from the finish line to the starting line. OK maybe it was like 20 minutes but it felt like 4 hours when you know you're going to run it back. 13 miles is a long way!

Riding the bus:

Here are the four bras at the start. This run is soooo pretty! And mostly downhill. So awesome:

And here we are at the end!

My friend Liz ran it too and I saw her and her cute baby Hank at the finish line to cheer her on! OK well she finished it way before me so technically they weren't at the finish line any more they were like on their way out to their car but same thing.

There is a full marathon on the same course that runs down the same canyon and through the cutest little mountain towns next month. It's going to be fall foilage! So many of my favorite things--so tempting! Any takers?

Finish the Twilight Series.

Finish the Twilight Series.

Me and my friends went down to der Wal-Mart last week . . .

And waited at midnight with hundreds of other crazies for the fourth and (hopefully) final book in the Twilight series. We did not wear our prom dresses with the overly-obsessive high school girls. That's not to say I wouldn't have if I hadn't planned more carefully...

800 pages in 2 days. Darn you Stephenie Meyer and your literary cocaine!

Get into a routine.

Get into a routine.

The last 6 years have been glorious.

Sadly, those days are now over. That's right, people, I have to set my alarm clock again.

I stretched it out as long as I could by putting Taylor in afternoon kindergarten last year but first grade started last month and I'm afraid for the next 14 years--there's no going back.

We said goodbye to our days of luxurious lazy mornings with a "Mermaid and Pirate Treasure Party" to celebrate the kids' birthdays on our last weekend of freedom. I wish I had thought to take pictures of the kids sifting through a sand-filled plastic pool for buried treasure but here is a photo of some of Chase's booty.

I did get this photo of the pirates after the party:

After a treasure map hunt, a seaweed wrap relay, dress-up, presents and cake, the summer was officially over. And it was sitll July. Cruel, this year-round school, isn't it?

Also ending after 6 years is Taylor's tolerance of my obsessive picture-taking. She refused to pose for a first day of first grade photo so I had to be tricky and tell her I was taking Chase's picture. Then I placed Chase right in front of her so I could get her in the background. Sneaky, Sneaky!

Making it even harder to get out of bed in the morning, I hurt my back helping move a playset into our yard that we bought from the neighbors. The monster took ten people to relocate. Here is a picture of Jake's family moving the little piece:

Here is a picture of the whole thing. I couldn't even get it all in the picture but it is very big. And very, very heavy.

Because of a lingering guilt over the kids' stolen summer, I let them have a taste of those carefree months tonight. Literally. The ice cream man came into the circle and I couldn't say no.

This is Chase's before picture:

Aaaaaaand the after picture:

Taylor was still opposed to photographs so this was the best I could get from her (lucky for me the ice cream had an uncanny resemblence) :

But ice cream can do a lot of things for one's spirit and it wasn't long before she was smiling for the camera along with all the other neighbor kids:

Goodbye sweet summer and sleepy mornings. It was a good ride my friends.