Horsetooth Half Marathon

Last Sunday I ran my second half marathon in a YEAR!  My first half marathon was last August, in the mountains.  It was 13.1 miles of downhill AWESOMENESS (my choice...).  THIS half marathon began with 4 miles of death running uphill (SARA'S choice).  It's a good thing Sara is a lot faster than I am, because I was cursing her name for over 2 hours.  By the time I saw the finish line I was delirious with happiness and remembered we were friends again (BARELY).

All kidding aside it was a really REALLY beautiful race.  The 4 miles of mountain climbing meant great views.  We had over a foot of snow the week leading up to the race but warmer weather a few days before so the roads were dry but the scenery was snow covered.  It was high 40's to mid 50's, which was perfect running weather, and sunny, and a great day overall.

Here's a breakdown, in pictures, of the race.
 

We got to Fort Collins around 7:00 for an 8:30 start.  This is the back of the race shirt, which shows the elevation climb - it's no joke.  It's over 1,000 athletes and 999 of them are walking the first 4 miles - because walking is faster than running!



Here is the "before" picture.  Notice the rows of port-a-potties, which is a clear indicator that runners are in the midst.  I'm never early for a race, and am almost always cutting it too close waiting in long lines before the starting shot is fired but because Sara and I were early I was one of the first to use the port-a-potty, and it was not an aweful experience!  There was toilet paper AND hand sanitizer.  Lesson learned - being there over an hour early was WELL worth it.  


Here we are with a more scenic background.  Sara and I found our shirts for FIVE DOLLARS at the Nike Outlet.  Don't we look fast and ready for hours of running? 
Here we are at the starting line.  This half marathon was just over a week after the Boston Marathon bombing and it was really surreal to be in a crowd of runners with the events of the past on our minds.  There were 26.2 seconds of silence to start the race and many runners had something on their shirt/arm/leg to commemorate those who ran/were injured the week before.

  

Here we go!  This is after climbing the first mountain and turning the corner you see this beauty staring you smack in the face.  At the top of that mountain is mile 4.






It's appropriately called "Monster Mountain" and at the top they have a temporary sign where you can commemorate your success, before remembering you still have NINE MORE MILES TO RUN!
  

 

I had the BEST cheering section waiting for me at Mile 8.  It's a running joke in our family that the last thing we want to hear when we are running a long race are the words "YOU'RE ALMOST THERE!"  Fans like to cheer this when you are MILES away from the finish, and are no where NEAR almost there.  Mom made this sign and got lots of laughs, seeing as we still had 5 more miles to run at this point.


I was more anxious for Scott, Audrey, and my mom than I was for myself with the events in Boston.  Scott was great and texted me every half our or so to let me know they were okay.  It was hard to know where they were on the course so he also texted they were waiting for me at mile 10.  I was in my own little world when I saw this precious little girl running towards me at mile 8.  It was the nicest surprise and made my whole life seeing my little girl so happy in such a spontaneous moment.  It was almost better not knowing they were there because it was such a perfect pick-me-up.




Here I go, off running again....



Scott, mom and Audrey moved to the finish line where I got to carry Audrey across.  I thought my legs were going to give out from under me but she was so excited to go "running" with mommy how could I refuse? 




I think Sara and I were really relieved to be finished and I know I was starving, and planning on eating an entire pizza.

I really have loved training and running these half marathons.  I've gotten to run with my mom and a best friend, and have made a life-long friendship along the way.  It was kind of emotional, to finish this race because I felt like it was no longer something I had proven to myself I could do once, but is now something I can do because I'm a runner.

I couldn't have done it without Scott.  He's supported me 100% of the way, watching Audrey every weekend for hours so I could get training runs in, waiting in the crowd, and rubbing my hurting legs in the evenings.  As Audrey would say..."He's my best!"

Audrey Sayings...

We've been spending a LOT of time with a two-year-old lately.  I looked down today and saw a child walking with me to the car, instead of a toddler.  She doesn't toddle any more - it's all kid, all the way!  Today she wore a pink dress and kept telling people she was a "princess".  She loves to be fancy, and now that the weather is finally nice she can dress the way she likes!

Audrey goes through phases where we hear the same phrase OVER and OVER and OVER again and three days later it's gone.

It started with the work "okay" - as in:

"Be nice to my mommy, OKAY?"  "I'm drinking milk, OKAY?"  "This is my pink coat, OKAY?"

Then, we heard OOUH (insert loud whining sound here) before every sentence as in:

"OOUH, I wanted milk".  "OOUH, That's my book."  "OOUH, I play with Tober."

And tonight, she knocked me out of the rocking chair.  We were going through our nightly routine and instead of asking for Hush, Little Baby (like usual) it was "Mom, Sing Shush Little Bay-Buh"

Never a dull moment!

NO TIME!

In an effort to preserve this little minute in time in Audrey's life while also preserving my sanity this post will serve as documentation for my daughter's incredible cuteness in the verbal sense, while also being bullet-ed and brief because I'm tired!

1. My mom had eye surgery (to repair a hole in her retina).  To protect the surgery spot they place an air bubble in the eye. Until that bubble goes away my mom was limited to being in the house, no working, no visiting grand babies, and no fun.  The bubble takes over a week to go away and after a week I called mom to get a daily bubble check.  On the day it disappeared, here is the conversation:

Mom: MY BUBBLE IS GONE!
Me:  YOUR BUBBLE IS GONE!
Audrey:  (said with a sad tone and sad face) My bubbles are all gone too :(

2. I was over come with joy the other morning when Audrey wrapped her arms around my neck and said "Mommy, you're my best friend."  The moment was short lived because she then turned to Tober, grabbed his neck and said "Tober, your my best friend".  Now, only Tober gets the love as her "best friend, forever."

3. Instead of saying I love you, Audrey says "I love you, too"  Even if she says it first.

4. In an effort to be potty trained we have begun bribing Audrey with m&ms.  This plan has backfired because she has learned the art of touching the potty chair for a millisecond (literally, I cannot reenact it as quickly with my old cracking bones), walking bare butt into the kitchen and helping herself to her treat. 

5.Audrey has learned to sing, and at the same time has never spoken in a hushed tone in her life.  Put these two together and you get a very loud mashup of Itsy-Bitsy-Black-Sheep-ABC-Rudolph-Twinkle-Star.  That is, until you ask her to sing for someone.  Then she says "I'm shy".

6.  Speaking of shy, we went to dinner and on our way out a busser was leaning over a table wiping away the food.  Audrey walked right up and slapped the back of his shin and toddled right out the door.

7. Also, speaking of shy, Audrey has taken to correcting other behaviors she deems inappropriate in public.  Take the lady looking at a sweater at J. Crew.  "NO LADY!  NO TOUCHING!".  Or the little girl picking a tooth brush.  "NO GIRL! NO TOUCHIN' MY BRUSHES!" or the kid at the restaurant "NO BOY! NO SITTING DOWN" followed quickly by "I'm shy..."

8. Scott and I went on our first overnight date away from Audrey.  She stayed with Grandma and Grandpa in Colorado Springs.  When we got home she was downstairs "resting" but all we heard was "I'M AWAKE I'M AWAKE I'M AWAKE I'M AWAKE" coming from the basement.

9.  Audrey wants to have nothing to do with Scott until it's time for bed.  He can't get her dressed in the morning without a complete melt down.  He can't pour her milk.  He can't say hello to her when he gets home from work.  He can't lift her into or out of the car seat.  But, as soon as the clock strikes 7:20 and bedtime begins, it's all about daddy.  "Daddy read books.  Daddy do milk.  Daddy brush (teeth).  Daddy rock you".  She has learned the art of manipulation - and it serves her well to have the softy of the family do bedtime - lasts longer and has a lot more rough-housing involved...

Valentines is not for WIMPS!

It's conference week at school folks.  Need I say more?

This weekend Audrey and I had our first Mother-Daughter meltdown moment of awesomeness.

All over Scott's home made Valentine.

Scott loves the idea of making Valentines from the heart, which is all fine and good and has meant a lot over the years but this year I was a little too ambitious for my own good.

I found the most adorable picture on Pinterest (of course) of a little girl holding an XOXO banner.  This little girl is NOT two years old I have determined because no parent of a two-year-old could get such a fabulous shot.  I have deemed it impossible.

Let me start this story by saying Audrey has found a new bestie - TIME OUT.  She visits time out often over simple things like wearing socks, a jacket, or trying to throw her potty chair around the bathroom.  Let me also say I have read the parenting chapter on giving kids choices so that any option is okay in the end.

Me:  Audrey, do you want to wear pink socks or purple socks?
Audrey: NO SOCKS (throws socks, runs away, makes loud and exasperating sounds).

Who was I kidding, thinking I could get her to hold a sign and stand in one spot so I could take her picture.

The optimist inside got the better of me.

Here's how it went down.

Me: Audrey, please hold this sign so I can take your picture for daddy.
Audrey: NO! (exasperating loud noises).
Me: Audrey, you will be in time out until you decide you can hold this sign.  You can decide where you hold it, but you will need to hold the sign so I can take your picture.

Timeout....

Audrey: I'm ready to hold the sign - gets up, runs to toys and ignores sign.
Me: Audrey, you said you were ready to hold the sign.
Audrey :NO! (exasperating loud noises)

Timeout...

I'm not kidding when I say this went on for 30 min.  Along the way I may have sharpened my tone a bit but that did not change the end result.  Timeout.  I also must confess I realized, about the 4th timeout, that this was the most ridiculous argument I could have chosen for the day.  When they say pick your battles, this is probably not one they were thinking of.  The rational woman inside of me said "Let her win.  This isn't worth it" but the teacher and stubborn mommy in me knew if I gave in, then every timeout would turn into a 30 min. battle and we don't have time for that in the morning with socks AND a jacket (pray for summer weather...SOON.... for my sanity!)

So, instead, we found middle ground.  I hung the banner above her, while in timeout, and took her picture.

Happy Valentines to Scotty!

  

Pink Party!

As most of you know the past few weeks have been quite eventful.  We had my grandfather's memorial, my step-dad is recovering from a heart attack (and doing QUITE WELL thank heavens) and Luke broke his arm in a blaze of glory attempting a dunk in his varsity basketball game (surprise!  You readers didn't know that one yet!).  In the midst of all of this we (it was definitely a group effort) pulled off a Pink Party to celebrate Audrey's second birthday.

Our Pink Party Family

I've posted about a million pictures of the attendees on Facebook.  This post is dedicated to all things pink that made the party so much fun! 

The theme came about last fall when I made some pink garland for a friends baby shower.  I saw an idea on Pinterest, played around with the sewing machine and set to work creating garland of all different colors of pink circles.  Even thought the theme was pink I also LOVE the color of an ocean-blue, and because Audrey is still small her friends are really my friends, and since she technically almost stole my birthday I make the final decisions and decided the theme would be pink AND a little ocean blue for good measure :)
The garland turned out beautifully, especially when professionally photographed :)

Pink Garland

Next I set to work planning a pink menu.  I knew I wanted rice crispy treats but then went out on the search for pink snacks to add into the mix.  We found berries, gum balls, m&ms, and made some cupcakes for good measure (thanks Valentines Day, for also choosing to color coordinate your colors with my birthday party plans!).  I was going to make some cake balls and had big plans for what they were going to look like but in the end, these were the first and really only thing to be cut.  My mom and I were able to knock out the rest on a Saturday as Bob was resting at home after a really long few days.  It gave my mom and I something to focus on besides worrying, and I'm actually really thankful for the tasty diversion.

*A Side Note.  I've learned I'm 100% a stress eater.  To prove this revelation, I can attest that I was left alone with a bag of blue icing.  Once I had decorated the cupcakes I proceeded to sit on the couch and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze the icing into my mouth until I was sick.  It was the best tasting icing and was well worth the stomach ache later in the evening





                         


 
  Audrey's favorite food in the world right now is M&M's.  Lucky for us we have photographic evidence that her hand, in fact, was caught in the candy jar.  We had the table set up a few minutes before the guests arrived and Audrey could be found happily perched beside the snacks in a very precarious position...


The final touch to the Pink Party was the pink birthday cake.  I saw an idea (again, thanks PINTEREST!) where the icing was piped in swirls all around the cake.  My step mom had a great recipe for a stiffer icing and it worked great!  My mom and I baked a vanilla cake, dyed pink of course, and mixed the thick icing.  I set to work making swirl after swirl and was really impressed with the final result!  This is the same icing that we made later, that I piped directly into my mouth, for the record, so it not only decorated well but tasted delicious! 

In the end the best part of the Pink Party was having my family in attendance and having all of my friends over for the afternoon.  I have a wonderful group of friends and they have wonderful and adorable kids.  It was a much needed break from some of the less pleasant things going on to spend a couple of hours really laughing and spending time with friends and family. 

Bir-day Cake

Today, January 13th, is my precious daughter's second birthday.  We celebrated with a pink party (the topic for a coming blog), friends, and family.  Since right now Audrey's friends are attached to my friends I concider today a birthday party for me, with the smoke screan of saying it was for peanut.  She had a blast chasing after all the "buddies", ate her fill of m&ms, and is still wide awake in her crib, even though we put her down 45 min ago, sitting up thinking about the festivities.

Today marks the end for a very tiring but happy ending week.

Last Saturday my grandfather passed away.  He was surrounded by my mom, aunt, and uncle, and his wife, my grandma.  The memorial service will be next weekend, where I get to see my aunts, uncles, and cousins and spend time talking and sharing stories about a wonderful guy.  Scott is making a video for the family to watch and we've been going through old family footage.  We've heard some great accents (I'm gon ged-it = I'm going to get it), seen an AWESOME sweat suit (mom...) and the same sweatpants on a cross country tour (uncle Pat!).  It's been really great to go back and see how lucky I was to have such a happy family growing up.  Something I don't want to take forgranted ever.

In other family news Bob (my step-dad) had a minor heart attack on Wednesday, which meant he had stents put in on Thursday, and, AMAZINGLY was home on Saturday.  It's not until tonight, after the party festivities are over, that I can truly tell you how thankful I am to have Bob back home with our family.  I left work early to go be with mom and Luke.  Scott joined us Friday, and we stayed with mom and Bob and Luke.  It was a blessing in disguise because I had a family effort supporting the birthday efforts, and everyone was able to make the trip up to Greeley to celebrate.  Once I'm finished with this post I'm planning on taking a deep breath, kissing my still-awake daughter good night, and getting some hopefully restful sleep.

Friends and family, I can't begin to tell you what an amazing two years it has been since Audrey came into our lives.  Although we are well underway into the Terrible Twos there is no one in this world I would rather watch throw a temper tantrum over the wrong milk cup or having to wear a coat in below-zero temperatures.

To Audrey, with all my love, you are smart, carismatic, precious, happy, vivacious, and your mom and dad's biggest joy in life.  We love you.  Happy birthday my daughter.

Audrey - 2 Months

Audrey - 2 Years

Stream of Thought

Holy Holiday Break Batman!  When I thought we were busy before, I had no idea what December had in store for our little family. This post serves to update on a few happenings going on around the Ward-Ward household.  Not all are wonderful news upon first reading, but trust me when I say each is positive in its own way.

1. We are attempting (quasi-attempting) to potty train Audrey.  We have the potty chair, the Dora pull ups, and the m&m treats.  Our morning consists of many trips to the bathroom to give pottying a "try".  So far our most productive day produced 2 successful potty attempts.  We average 1 a day.  And although Audrey can identify the planet Saturn in the Rose Bowl Parade she hasn't connected the idea that potty = m&ms.  She loves it when it happens and runs around the house all proud and yelling to anyone that will listen about her success, but hasn't made the jump to tell us when it's time.  I know the wonderful lady who watches Audrey will take off from where we left off and she'll be a potty pro in no time but this makes me a little sad.  I love this special time with peanut so much it's hard to relinquish such a task to others.  DARN IT for finding people who love and take care of her... What were we thinking??!!?? Then, I also think, why am I so excited to sit in the bathroom and yell about potty so much?  Perhaps this is a blessing in disquise!

2. I hate the thought of going back to work.  Tomorrow Audrey goes to her new pre-school in the morning (she'll go on Fridays) and it breaks my heart to be away from her for 3 hours when it's not necessary.  Again, it's a blessing that we found such a wonderful pre-school.  She gets to go with her best buddy and will have  a blast with the other kids but I selfishly want as much time as possible just to be around her!  Right now she's perfectly content coloring  and playing with an assortment of living room toys and I'll miss that.  It makes me long for summer vacation, which is MONTHS away! The positive aspect to this is I know she will be very happy being back with Julia and playing at Jan's, and I also remind myself how much I like the people I work with and how much I love the job that I do.  I sure will miss my squirt though.  It doesn't get any easier to go back to work, just more routine I guess.

3. My grandfather, who has battled Alzheimer for years, will likely pass away this week.  Although this is a sad time for our family, the timing has been a blessing.  Most of my family was on break and could come and spend time together and I had a lot more flexibility to drive down to Colorado Springs.  Anyone who has known someone with Alzheimers knows that the end is such a blessing  I have seen God's touch through my family this past week.

4. Our Christmas break was longer this year so I got to spend time with my mom, Bob, and Luke and my dad and Anne this break.  Audrey doesn't know what to do with herself now that she's not surrounded by grandparents but is sure lucky to have so many people who love her!

5. I still have 3 days before I go back to work and I plan on making each day count.  Audrey and I will watch Mickey Mouse, eat lots of snacks, color, organize the basement, and read lots of books in the next few days.  Even though I give her up for 3 hours tomorrow morning I get her back in time for a lunch date and a fun evening with dad.

6. Audrey turns TWO YEARS OLD in about a week.  I've been busy getting ready for her party and am so  amazed she's already 2.  She's amazing.  She talks my ear off and has so much personality it oozes from between her toes!  She's learned the art of flopping on the dirtiest of floors when we are running errands and she doesn't get her way, she takes her shoes off every opportunity she can, she sneaks Tober treats when no one is looking, all she wants to do in the morning is snuggle in our bed, and she loves to take pictures of her feet with the iphone.  I'm really looking forward to her birthday party next weekend.

7. I got two new pairs of jeans at the Gap for 23 dollars each.  I finally gave in a bought a bonified pair of skinny jeans and got another pair, bootcut, that will replace a pair I've needed to say farewell to for quite some time.   If you see me in the next few days I'm most likely wearing them, and most likely looking completely and totally awesome :)

There you have it.  All the things that have occupied my thoughts in the past 25 minutes.  Now it's time to snuggle, read some books, sing some songs, and relax :)