Bolder Boulder and a Barbecue

What a seriously fun day this was for us! We drove up to Broomfield last night to stay with my uncle and aunt so that I could run the Bolder Boulder 10K road race with them today. We had heard about the crazy environment that Boulder is on Memorial Day, but it is something you really have to see to fully comprehend! There are 52,000 people that run the race, making it the second largest road race in the country. On top of that, there were probably another 200,000 spectators. It was actually a really cool feeling to be a part of something so big. I have never had such a fun time running a race before in my life! The course was lined with crowds of people. There were live bands playing all throughout the course as well. I saw a high school cheerleading squad, two groups of belly dancers, an Elvis impersonator, a couple of slip 'n slides, and people passing out hot cooked bacon to the runners. The whole thing was like an enormous party! The course was actually pretty challenging, with a few nasty uphill stretches, but I was having so much fun I barely noticed it! I forgot to stop my watch at the end, but I finished in around 56 minutes. It wasn't a record time or anything, but I'm not disappointed. Like I said, it was just really fun.

Adam and the boys hung out at CU stadium to watch me finish.

My cousin, Chelsea who is lightning fast, hurt herself and was not able to run this year. :( McKay really liked having her in the stands, though!

I might be somewhere in that crowd of runners!

My cousin, Shane; his friend, Luke; my Aunt Kendra and me after the race

My boys and me--they are such good little supporters!

McKay was rocking out to my running mix!

After the race, we went over to the expo, where different sponsors were handing out all sorts of different things for free. We got popsicles, burritos, flags, balloons, fruit leather--all kinds of stuff! The boys both decided to have a major meltdown at the same time, though, so it was time to take off.

After taking a long nap, we had a super fun barbecue at our house. We invited lots of people from our ward, thinking that many might have family plans so not everyone would show up, but we had eight families here! It was a little crazy, but seriously a blast! I have not had such a fun day in a really long time!

Spoiled

That pretty much sums up how I feel after coming off one of the best birthdays ever! It was actually a whole weekend of spoilage! Adam took me out to dinner at Macaroni Grill on Friday night, while our friends Ben and Mel watched the boys (thanks, guys!). The food was fabulous, I got sang happy birthday to in Italian, and feasted on their sinful chocolate cake--YOWZA!!

On Saturday morning, some of my fun girl friends from the ward took me out to breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. Talk about yum-o! That was way fun!

And then yesterday, my actual birthday, Adam and the boys gave me way too many gifts and treated me like the queen of the castle.

Ty was so kind to help me open all my presents :)

The boys bought me a new softball mitt since Adam and I are playing on a co-ed slow-pitch team this summer. Ty was stoked that I now have a glove and can play baseball with him, too!

In addition, I got some new running gear, two skirts from Downeast (cutest clothes EVER), and a few other odds and ends. Both my parents and in-laws sent money, too, so I get to do even more shopping!

Ty bought me Wingo, one of the cars from Disney's Cars. He chose it out for me all by himself ;), and yet when he opened it he was literally shaking like crazy with excitement. Adam and I were dying of laughter!

Then to top it all off, Adam got me a Peanut Butter Playground ice cream cake from Coldstone. It was literally one of the tastiest things I have ever put in my mouth. We had some friends over from our old ward to enjoy it with us. I think McKay liked it as much as anyone!

So, in short, I consumed WAY too many calories, got spoiled silly, and had a blast! Lucky me!

Hooray for Fire Truck Day!

This is a day that has been anxiously anticipated for several weeks by a certain little boy in our household. I scheduled a fire station tour for our play group for this morning. I figured it would be a dream come true for this group of little guys!

The firefighters were very friendly; they showed the boys all around the truck.

And got dressed in full gear for the kids to see.

They let each kid take a turn sitting up in the truck--which, as you may be able to tell, was Ty's favorite part of the tour!

As I was taking this shot, Ty said, "This is so cool, Mom!"

What a good looking group of guys!

The firemen gave each of the children a fire helmet, a sticker badge, and a coloring book!

Happy Fire Truck Day!

This is the Night We've Waited For...

Ty LOVES family night. He asks me nearly every day if tonight will be family night. And on Mondays, I get to here his rendition of "Together on Family Night" (alluded to in the title of this post) multiple times throughout the day. Tonight was especially exciting, as we had planned to do a picnic and go miniature golfing. The kid was so excited he could barely stand it--and then he fell asleep on the way to the golf center. But once we got there, he woke up pretty quickly and wolfed down his dinner so we could get started!

Yes, he had a pink club and a pink ball. Yes, I am slightly worried.

Besides the excitement of golfing, the course is located right next to the Centennial Airport, so there were small planes flying overhead almost nonstop. It's a little boy's dream! On top of that, we had peanut butter cups for a treat, a first for both of our boys. I think they thought they had died and gone to Heaven!

The Gift of Life and Breath

This was our third year running this 5K race. It was started in honor of a former bishop in our old ward who passed away from lung cancer. Here's the first and second year run-downs, for anyone who's interested. Isn't it amazing how much the boys have grown in one short year?!

Totally goony picture of our boys, but at least they were happy!

We did it!

(Although Ty was refusing to open his eyes or look at the camera.)

I finished 63rd out of 800 runners this year, which I feel pretty darn good about! I finished the race in 25:19. I was hoping to run it in 24 minutes (I did that on the treadmill earlier this week) but I had some asthma symptoms flare up and I had to slow way down toward the end. Oh, well. Still my best 5K time ever, I think, and I have run 9. Adam rocked it, too, finishing in 28:53. He hasn't run all week due to an injury, AND he was pushing the double stroller. Way to go, Ad! We had a blast and even came home with a new running jacket, which Adam won in a raffle drawing after the race. Wahoo!

My New Favorite

Cutest Photo EVER of McKay! Oh, I love this boy!

We're Back!!

Two extra days and one speeding ticket later (more on that to come), we are home from our trip to Utah. It certainly had its ups and downs, but it was overall a very fun vacation. Here is the photo synopsis of what we did:

We drove. A lot. When you take a road trip with four children aged two and under, what is supposed to take eight hours winds up taking ten and a half. But, they were really very good. That's not to say we didn't have a moment when three of the four of them were screaming, but really, they did very well.

(Ty and Isaac are watching a DVD, not staring at the back of the seat!)

We got to watch Uncle Zach play tennis

And Uncle Matt play in a 3 on 3 street ball tournament

We slept when we could (but not enough!)

Most of all we played...

And played, and got spoiled by parents/grandparents who we haven't seen in a while

We were planning on coming home on Saturday, but with parts of both I-70 and I-80 closed due to inclement weather and accidents, it became impossible. The good news was that we were able to see the Marchant grandparents and cousins twice, but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures either time. :( I also got to run half of the route of the Utah Valley Half Marathon with my mom. It was incredibly motivating for me and made me super antsy for race day! And best of all, I was able to be there when my brother, Zach received his patriarchal blessing on Sunday.

And now for the speeding ticket story. The drive home was going amazingly well, the kids all slept at least two hours, and we were loving our lives! I was driving, and to be honest, I really wasn't paying attention to my speed (which happened to be 80 mph in a 65 zone). Sure enough, a copper pulled out behind me and we saw flashing lights. I have never been pulled over for speeding before! My friend, Heather said, "What do you want me to do? Should I pinch one of the babies?" After about a second's hesitation, I responded, "Yeah." So she did. But unfortunately, the baby only cried for about 5 seconds and was totally fine by the time the officer arrived at the window. Dang it. We gave him our sob story that we had been in the car with four babies since 7:30 that morning and I was paying more attention to the kids than the road. He still gave me a ticket. Double dang it. I have to say, though, that I felt pretty proud of myself for not falling apart and bawling like a baby. I was pretty shaken up, however. I was stressing out BIG TIME about calling Adam and telling him. I was worried about how he might react. Then I said, "Adam hasn't ever really gotten mad at me, though," and Heather responded with, "Well, you've never gotten a speeding ticket before!" Ha, ha! I really did appreciate her keeping the situation light. Luckily, Adam was as kind and loving as ever. I am one lucky girl to have him for my husband!