buuuurrrr

it was soooo cold this morning.

so cold that ava ate breakfast in her hoodie.

halloween 2009

jack is peter pan, if you were wondering.

apparently, everyone thought he was robin hood.

he didn't like that too much.

jack and bailee.

our trick or treating transportation.

let the sorting begin.

my favorite thing to do when i got home from trick-or-treating was sorting all my candy

and then the trading would come into play.

my brother and i would spend hours analyzing our candy and trading back and forth.

jack is really into that too.

i think we are a lot alike.

halloween treats

i'm feeling very halloweenish.

 today has been a very "fallish" day with gloomy skies.

even the morning air was crisp and cold.

and the trees have been blowing all day long.

i just want to trap myself in my kitchen and go to town on making festive treats.

here is a bit of what i'm thinking.

halloween time

halloween is less than a week away!!!

and then thanksgiving... and then my birthday... and then christmas... and then new year's...

i can't wait.

the light rail experience

last night, we went on a little adventure. 

 that is, we rode the light rail into phoenix.

we ate some yummy mexican food and a lot of it.

a lot of chips and salsa, mostly.

then, we hopped back on the train, and rode back into the east valley. 

the kids had fun watching all the "different kinds" of people come aboard.

which includes the two cross dressers who were extremely weird.

but then again, i don't think i know of any cross dressers who aren't weird.

my sister kayda and ava.

jack, jeremy, kayda.

my parents.

my younger brother garrett, my sister meghan, and eden.

(and some poor shmuch who's trying to study.)

it was grand old time.

my nie tribute

 i know this has been a big topic in the blogging world this week and i may seem like a broken record, but ever since i started reading stephanie nielson's blog i have become so inspired by this sweet humble and totally amazing woman.

after watching her on the big oprah show yesterday, my adoration for her grew even more. i feel like i am one of her best friends or rather wish i was one of her best friends, and i am probably not alone. seeing how she deals with life everyday considering her limitations makes my life seem so simple and easy and yet i complain about stupid things all the time. then i remember stephanie and everything falls back into perspective. 

i wish i could fly to utah, knock on her front door and tell her how thankful i am for her example. and then hug her for like an hour. does that seem strange?? anyway, since that probably isn't going to happen, i just want to thank her from my measly little blog.

thank you stephanie!! you are the sweetest, coolest, funniest, most inspiring mom, person, blogging friend out there. hopefully someday i will get the privilege of meeting you face to face. although, i would probably freeze up and get all nervous and just stutter and then walk away feeling like an idiot. but that moment would probably be worth the humiliation. 

st. george marathon

we went to st. george, utah this weekend for yet another marathon.

it was short and sweet.

we left thursday morning and were back in arizona by saturday night.

the marathon was saturday morning.

start time 6:45 am... that is 5:45 az time.

not to mention we woke up at 3:30 az time to catch the shuttle up to the start.

it was frigid cold and i couldn't even feel my feet for the first couple of miles.

buuurrrrrrrr.

eden turned 10 months old while we were there.

jack on the rock wall at the expo.

we stayed at my friend audree's place.

it was quite lovely.

between killing ant piles in front of the house and playing in the stream behind the house,

i think the kids had there fair share of fun.

after the race, ava ran up to me and give the biggest leg hug ever.

it felt really good.

i was so glad that my whole family was there.

i think i loved this race.

it may be that i got my best time ever. (3:45:34) 

{i crushed my old record by 14 minutes}

or that i got to see my kids cheering me on throughout the course even thought it was cold and early.

or that i just felt more energized than i have in any other marathon.

or maybe it was just all of the above.