Top of Utah Half

Here's the picture that should have been inserted in the last post...but was not. So here it is. Click on it to make it bigger.

13.1 miles

I've never been a long distance runner. As of June 1st, the furthest I had ever run was a 5k (3.2 miles). In the last year I've really wanted to become a runner. So I started with a book...A Woman's Guide to Running - after that, I was hooked. I saw that the Top of Utah Half Marathon was on August 28th and that it was 95% downhill...PERFECT. So I started training. I woke up at 5:30 a.m. almost every day in order to train, I am proud to say that I have a stellar amount of determination!

Let's be honest, I'm not the thinnest french fry in the happy meal (bad analogy when talking about weight...I know). So this half marathon was also a very emotional battle for me. When I first ran 4 miles, I was so excited. Then I did 5 miles and I couldn't believe I had actually run THAT far. Mile 8 was probably my favorite accomplishment. Wow, 8 miles - further than I had ever imagined running. Every Saturday when I would run my long runs I would imagine myself crossing the finish line of the half marathon and I would start to tear up....as I was running. I know, pathetic. By the end of my training I was running 5 miles twice a week and then anywhere between 7 and 10 miles on the weekends.

Top left - me and Dolly running and me trying to look like I'm having fun for Mike Hylton to take my picture at mile 13. Next picture - me with my best friend Jessie...couldn't ask for a better one! Top Right - That's me in the bright pink in the center of the picture still a bit in the distance. Bottom left - Happiest family in the world (when Benjamin has had his nap). Next picture - I'm number one....okay more like 1006 - that was my bib number. Bottom right - Me chatting it up with my bestie - trying to get her to do it next year, but she might have a valid excuse next year. Not like the lame broken foot excuse she used this year!

RACE DAY - The night before the race I had a really hard time sleeping. I had so much anxiety! I think that I probably got about 4 or 5 hours of sleep....not a good idea when you're about to run 13.1 miles for the first time. At any rate, adrenalin carried me through. I went into this race alone, but soon found one of my friends from my Oakcrest days - Amanda AKA Dolly. I ran with her and her friend for part of the race. It was a first time half marathon for all of us. During the race there were many people that went through my mind. I thought of Josh, Benjamin, Mike and Jessie waiting for me at the finish line. I thought of cute Jaci Udy who would have loved to have been there running with me. I thought of Heidi and Clayton McMurdie EVERY time I saw someone running off the side of the road to use the bathroom. I thought of all of my running friends and everyone who supported me all the way....I had a lot of time to think, can you tell?As I was running, I kept thinking that I couldn't believe that I was actually doing this. By mile 12 my legs were burning, but I just kept plugging away. At the very end of the race, my favorite people were there! First I heard Mike Hylton yelling at me to move faster. Then I saw he and Jessie with Benjamin. When I finally got Benjamin's attention and continued to run past him, he was so upset that I didn't stop to chat. When I got to the end with all the people standing and cheering me on, I sprinted...and totally beat the girl next to me...wahew. At the finish line I saw my favorite person ever - Josh! It was the perfect ending to a great race. My time from crossing the starting line to crossing the finish line was 2 hours and 33 minutes. I didn't care about my time!

I DID IT!!!!!!!

Who's on for next year's Top of Utah Half Marathon?

4 Year Anniversary

Josh and I celebrated our FOUR year anniversary on AUGUST 11, 2010. We were able to leave Sir Benjamin with my mother. She came all the way from Casper, WY to Logan...we are SO grateful for her. Benjamin loves his Nana!

 Here are me and Josh headed to the George of Saint!

Our first stop when we got to St. George was the temple! We were so excited to get to do a session. Josh had never been to this temple, so it was a new experience for him. It was wonderful and the Spirit was incredible. We are so grateful for those who spent so much time to build this temple!

 Our next stop was to check into our hotel and luckily we spotted Josh's favorite fast food place on our way...Five Guys. He says it's better than In-N-Out - Boo. I think not. It was delicious all the same. We were grateful to finally get lunch at 2 p.m. We sat on our king size bed and watched TV while we ate - it was awesome!

 We hung out for a while and then got ready to go to Tuacahn. We got there pretty early enough for Josh to ponder life. We also got there early enough to hear the Tuacahn school of the arts performers. It's slightly a curse to have studied music - I criticize most singers and I CRINGE at performers who think they're wonderful but in actuality are NOT. These young singers that we saw would be the latter. I had to walk away - I was embarrassed for them, bless their hearts. Sorry if someone out there that has a brother or sister that performed there.

Here are Josh and I so excited to see TARZAN! Josh was mostly excited to see Tarzan in a loin cloth.

Here we are paying tribute to BENJAMIN and pulling our SUPER EXCITED faces!

The steps - too cool

Josh doing one of his Tarzan poses...by the end of the night he only spoke in grunts and beat his chest...when he tried to pull me around by the hair, that's where I had to draw the line.

I'm the LUCKIEST girl alive. SO grateful to be married to such a wonderful husband! Look at how happily cheesy we are!

Here we are pulling our GORILLA faces! 

Before Tarzan started it was announced that Michael - the winner from last season's BIGGEST LOSER - was in the audience. I did get a couple of pictures from far away, but they weren't downloaded onto the computer. Plus, they weren't that great of pictures. He had a million people around him getting pictures - there was no way that I was going to be one of those people. Pretty sure he was there because the Biggest Loser Camp is there in St. George. It was cool all the same.

Here is Kerchak - the Gorilla King. He was AWESOME. Let's be honest, the whole cast was AMAZING! The guy that played Tarzan was a BYU grad - go Cougars! Anyway, it was INCREDIBLE and we HIGHLY recommend it!

The next morning we woke up and worked out - sorry there are no pictures of me on the treadmill - I know, put on your disappointed face, right? I trained for a half marathon and so I needed to run 9 miles that day. Not my favorite on a treadmill, but what can you do? After that we sat in the hot tub for a while - AWESOME. For lunch we went to, my favorite, In-N-Out! It ROCKED. I even got a strawberry shake...mmmmm!

After lunch we went to a movie, Despicable Me. It was good, but we were so tired from our work outs that we both almost fell asleep. THEN, we got to visit my former voice teacher. Don't worry about how INCREDIBLY JUVENILE I look in this picture..it's the braces...or something. My voice teacher moved to St. George about 2 years ago - Nola Collier! I LOVE HER! She's from South Africa and has THE most amazing stories! She told us the story of how President David O. McKay personally invited her to come to the United States for school. It was a great story. We had so much fun visiting with her and her wonderful husband, Grant! Good memories!

For dinner we decided to go to The Brick Oven. Josh had never been. He got the chicken alfredo..here he is taking a taste. He wasn't very impressed - he's an alfredo snob.

Here I am digging into my chicken, broccoli alfredo...thing. I totally just forgot what they are called. It's like a hot pocket, but totally better. Shoot...sorry folks. You know what I mean...I hope. It was delicious!

We went shopping after dinner and Josh finally found a fork big enough to fit his appetite!

Later that night we decided to try this Yogurt joint. It was DELICIOUS! Honestly, it was a lot like Yogurt Bliss...but I love them all the same. New York Cheesecake - my favorite EVERY time! MmmmHmmmm!

After going to Sacrament meeting in a darling ward, Josh and I ate our complimentary breakfast (thank you Marriott) and then had to say goodbye to our king size bed and numerous TV channels. It was a little sad.

But then we thought about how we got to see our BENJAMIN, and we got really excited. Who knew that we would love our little guy so much? Anyway, we had a lot of fun and were SO grateful that we were able to go. I sure do LOVE JOSHUA AARON. He's so very patient with me and my imperfections. What a lucky girl I am to have such a wonderful husband!

Summer Lovin'

We love to try new things...especially if it's food and ESPECIALLY if it's a dessert. Our friends Scott and Janae Laycock introduced us to YOGURT BLISS in American Fork. The New York Cheesecake was incredibly AMAZING! This is one of our loves of the summer.

Another summer love ----our Benjamin! He loves to try on mom and dad's shoes. I love this picture. It was very funny when he tried to walk in his daddy's size 13 shoes!

Benjamin's summer love - POPSICLES! No matter the time of day, he wants a Popsicle and he always wants more!

Benjamin's other summer love? Not the camera! "Come on mom, let me eat this rockin' popsicle in peace!" Look at those beautiful blue eyes! Man we love this kid!


Next up...anniversary in St. George - first time without Benjamin!

Summer 2010 - 4th of JULY

For the 4th of July we got to go to the PROMISED LAND - AKA Casper, WY.  I'm going to explain the pictures, so read on if you want to know what the pictures are about. If not...just click on the picture to make it larger.

While on our journey there we ran into sheep - almost literally. Josh got to herd sheep for the first time, while in a car. We were honking the horn to get them to move out of the way, and it worked!
Next up is Benjamin hanging out in our room.
Then you see Damen's birthday cake made up of rice krispie treats - it was delicious!
Happy (and very good lookin') Josh!
Damen has such a hard head that his dad could break a golf club over his head - amazing!
(Next row down) Brett rippin' up the competition in our hillbilly golf game.
Ashlee-o and Trip - the Schnoodle!
Damen opening up birthday presents. My favorite was when he opened up his sleeping bag and said that he could use that for his dates! I'll never forget that - especially when he turns 16!
Conner is up next with an awesome rocker face!
We had a talent show and Addison and Heather busted out some awesome dance moves!
Conner spinning a pillow on his finger - the kid has talent.
Melanie favoring us with her violin playing skills - awesome job Mel!
Perhaps my favorite picture is this one of Kara - I call it her kung fu pose. I think she was getting ready to show us how well she can fight.
Sean's up next with his handstand followed by Brett's break dancing moves - you go guys!
Then you have me (Terra) pulling a face while NOT showing off my braces
Next row you see one of the 10 fireworks that Casper let off for the 4th...okay, there were more, but it was pretty lame.
EVAN AND ASHLEE - Love these guys!
Damen and the Ben-Jammin watchin' a show - probably on the day they both woke up at 5:30 a.m.
Oh....widdle brudder. My cute little brother, Evan Christopher AKA TOPHER!
Cute Addison striking a pose at the firework show.
Saving the best for last - me smooching the hottest man in the world. Lucky me!

We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July - thank you to all who serve our country!

Summer 2010 - SummerFest

We went to SummerFest 2010 basically to go and get a CHURRO! As you can tell, Russton and Benjamin loved them! It was a great summerfest. We'll probably be going next year - to get a CHURRO.

Summer 2010 - Benjamin FUN

Benjamin in his new favorite spot - standing on top of the coffee table. His next favorite place - flying off the coffee table onto the couch. That's our boy! Can't resist that dimpled smile!

I introduced Benjamin to the ONLY way to eat a PB&J - dipped in milk! He instantly loved it.

This is how it ended - apparently it was way more fun to just leave the sandwich floating in the milk.

Benjamin thought it would be fun to lay in the basket of blankets...he was right, he loved it - at least for the 5 minutes that he laid there.