A long post with no pictures :)

I ran eight and a quarter miles today. It's unequivocally the most I have ever run at one time in my entire life. I mentioned a while back that I was going to train for a half marathon. Before I began training, the most I had ever run was a 5K (3.2 miles). I'm going to go ahead and say without reservation that I am proud of what I have accomplished thus far!

I have never desired to run a marathon or half marathon until recently. My family has gone through some difficult things in the past several months. I came back from Utah to Colorado after Christmas with a lot of stress and negative energy about the things that were happening. My method of coping was to run. I began pushing myself to my utmost limits. I felt like it was a positive way to deal with a negative situation. I began thinking about a half. I asked my mom and sister if they had any interest in training "with" me (meaning we would be doing the same type of workouts, but obviously in different places). Ash bowed out gracefully, but my mom said she wanted to try it. So we have been working "together" to accomplish this goal.

I have gained a whole lot from my training experiences. First, it has brought me a lot closer to my mother as we have triumphed in one another's successes. There is something so unifying about working together toward a common goal.

Second, it has given me an incredible appreciation for my physical body. Many mornings as I watch my reflection in the glass of the gym windows, I am awed by how flawlessly my many parts work together to make my body run! It has strengthened my testimony of a Creator who formed me. As a woman, there are plenty of things about my body that I don't love, but it has made me so grateful that I have a body at all!

Third, and probably most importantly, it has given me confidence that I can do hard things. I feel like if I can do things that are difficult physically, I can also do things that are difficult emotionally/spiritually. It has been a process that has really helped me to heal.

That being said, I am not done yet! I still have five miles to go to reach my goal. But I now have confidence that I can do it. So, Utah Valley Half Marathon, here we come! A very determined mother/daughter team is on our way!

Living in a Cartoon

This morning Ty watched an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse about a beach party. Since all the characters were wearing their sunglasses, he apparently thought he needed to, as well.

This kid cracks me up! Never mind that this afternoon Parker was under a TORNADO WARNING and we had some of the biggest HAIL STONES I have ever seen in my life! It was nearly pitch black at 2:00 PM. But, if Mickey is wearing sunglasses, Ty is, too!

Stats

I know my recent posts have been McKay-heavy, but that is what happens when you turn one, I guess! We went to the doctor this morning, and here are his 12-month stats:

Height: 31.5 inches (92%)

Weight: 19 lb. 12 oz. (10%) And that was fully clothed with shoes and jacket, too!

So, he is following a tall, skinny trend. Fine by me!

Just an interesting side note, at 12 months Ty was the exact same height as McKay (31.5 in) but weighed in at 21 lbs. 4 oz. So he had a tiny bit more chunk. At least he was legal to go forward-facing in his carseat!

Yaaar, Matey!

For Mac's birthday, I decided I wanted to attempt to decorate a cake. My cake decorating experience: zero. I know that he's really too little to care, but when he looks back at this years from now, I wanted him to know that I tried to do something special for him. So, I went to Michaels and bought a few basic icing tips and bags, along with a cake pan, and went to work! This is the final result:

Now, I know it's not professional or anything; I am not planning on starting a business any time soon! But, for someone that has never taken a cake decorating class and has absolutely no experience whatsoever except watching my mom do it, I feel pretty good about the final product.

And most importantly, McKay LOVED it!


He put it down in record time, in true Marchant fashion. He even leaned over and licked his tray when there were only crumbs left!

Here's our little birthday boy with his loot. We only bought him a pair of pajamas and the carseat. Everything else is from his two amazing sets of grandparents! What a spoiled, lucky little boy!

Seriously?!

Is it really possible that this little guy:

Has grown into this little guy:
In just one short year?!

It seems like our baby has been part of our family forever (which I guess maybe he has!), but at the same time, it seems like just a minute ago that I was in a hospital room holding him for the first time. I can not believe it has only and already been a year! (And I know those of you who are parents understand what I mean by that!)

All about McKay:

*He's a little guy with a BIG personality. He dances almost every time we put him in his booster seat at mealtime. He already has great rhythm, too! He loves to make us all laugh!

*He is a major mama's boy. He won't let me out of sight. It makes showering and cooking dinner interesting at times!

*He has a full dozen teeth. That's what happens when you get your first two at 3 1/2 months. By the time you turn one, you have a mouthful!

* He is still a major thumb-sucker

* He says Dad ("Da-da"), Ty ("Ta"), Ball ("Ba"), "Bye", "Yay", "Mmm-hmm" and he calls me "Buba". He used to say light "Ight" but hasn't said that in a while.

*He points at everything!

*He is a biter--we are working on that.

*He claps his chubby little hands when you say "Yay, McKay!"

*He waves hello and goodbye.

*He tries to do everything that Ty does. If Ty laughs, Mac laughs. If Ty cries, Mac cries.

*He can crawl up (but not down!) stairs.

*He is not walking yet, but he is getting pretty close. He pulls himself up on everything, cruises the furniture, and walks while pushing chairs around the kitchen to get where he wants to go.

*When you ask him for kisses, he leans forward and opens his mouth.

*He is so sweet and very sensitive!

Happy first birthday, my baby! We could not love you more!!

Family Movie Night

We rarely watch movies at our house. Ty is the exception to that; he watches Cars about three or four times a week! The last time Adam and I watched a movie together was more than a year ago. We just aren't movie people.

But Saturday we had a long, busy, day and we were exhausted by dinnertime. So, after dinner all four of us got into pajamas and watched Aladdin. Such a classic! My kids were less than impressed with the show (Ty would have preferred Cars or Mickey any day!) but they LOVED the popcorn. Especially Mac. You would have thought we were starving our son the way he went to town on that popcorn!

Disappointment

For several weeks, we have been looking forward to a visit from my family. With the exception of my dad, we haven't seen them since Christmas time. It's actually the longest I have ever gone without seeing my family (sad, I know).

So it seemed perfect that this past week my dad had a conference in Denver and it was my mom and brothers' spring break. Tuesday was the day they planned on driving out.

And then...they didn't. There was a massive snow storm that closed I-80 through Wyoming and left I-70 through the mountains a blizzard zone with crazy amounts of snow and ice. After debating, postponing, and pleading, the trip was cancelled. I won't lie: there were tears. My dad still flew out since he had to make a presentation at the conference (but it was too expensive to fly all four of them out on a flight that day). As grateful as we were for that, it was a MAJOR disappointment to not see my mom and brothers.

My dad brought all the goodies for the boys that my mom had planned on bringing: books, fudge, and four dozen Easter eggs stuffed with money and candy.

We had a fun time doing yet another Easter egg hunt in the backyard.

We went shopping and the boys each chose a new pair of spring jammies from their easter egg money. We LOVED seeing you, Toogie, but we are dying to see Grammie, too! Utah here we come! (Well, in 2 weeks or so!)

Easter...finally

We had a nice, quiet Easter here at the Marchant home. I loved having it fall on General Conference Sunday. It was great to just relax and stay in our pajamas!

This was actually McKay's first Easter, as he was born just four days after the holiday last year. I certainly felt WAY better than I did last year! Ty is at such a great age now too, that it was really fun this year. Here are some photos for your viewing enjoyment :)

Coloring eggs on Friday night. I normally don't like to be in the pictures, but I figured maybe one day my boys might want to have a picture of them with me.

Easter Morning

I only managed to get one unbecoming photo of Ty before my camera batteries died (the spare set was dead, too). Darn it.

Happy Easter! Nothing tastes better than a plastic egg!