The Girls in their new Christmas dresses!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Jones.

They looked so beautiful today.

And Jacob wanted his picture taken too.

He's such a good little man,

and a good looking little man also

Is there a better way to start the new year than with a RACE?

Vanna was up sick all night, so I left the house alone this morning.

No little cheerleaders to love me across the finish line.

No tiny runners to run with me for the last 30 feet.

No amazing running partner named Nat who's sick too.

Just me, myself and I.

There was one runner in front of me named Marcy, with a Y, and she had lots of cheerleaders.

I just pretended they were cheering for me.

That was fun, and helpful.

A nice lady also stuck with me to help me keep pace.

That was fun, and helpful too!

When I felt like slowing down, she reminded me pick up my legs, and my pace. When I came to a hill, she reminded me to let my legs lengthen and speed up. I wish I had someone like that every race.

My goal was 22 minutes.

I didn't reach my goal.

Next time.

I ran 23 minutes, which is the same time I got late in October. I am glad I am back where I was before my surgery.

Guess what else I'm glad about?

I won an award in my age division. A gift certificate to the running store!

When they called my name, I couldn't resist jumping up and down. Did I really hear my name?

I even let out a little scream.

I was so excited to tell Chad that I ran all the way back to my car to call him.

My first award!

I'm in shock!

I'm saving it for some new running shoes.

My sweet running team that I coached gave me a gift certificate to the same store after the last running season ended.

Isn't that so thoughtful?

It too is going toward my new running shoes.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!

A New York Christmas!

A month after my surgery, and I'm finally feeling 100%!

What a wonderful feeling it is to be able to have a perfectly happy throat.

No more sores on my tonsils.

No more headaches.

That awful surgery was well worth a month of my life.

We decided last minute to head to NY for Christmas.

It was perfect timing, since Chad's parents and two brothers were flying in from Utah too.

Staying in Times Square is always an adventure.

The kids kept calling people bad guys.

I shouldn't have shown them Home Alone 2 before we left.

We woke up the first morning to head out to the toy stores.

After a long day of shopping we met Mark, Liz, Tom and Travis at a live nativity somewhere in NY.

What a treat that was.

In fact, it might have been my favorite thing about Christmas this year.

To sit in that beautiful stone church, with high ceilings, children singing, and watching Mary ride a donkey between the pews toward the front of the church,

I couldn't help but feel the true meaning of Christmas,

remembering our Savior Jesus Christ.

It was just beautiful.

Thanks Liz for taking us there.

Thanks Liz again for taking some pictures of my family.

I usually choose to leave my camera at home instead of being tempted to watch the kids through a lens.

It's too easy to forget about my parental responsibilities when I've got my camera around my neck.

Here's some in front of the tree at Rockefeller Center

and

Some watching the light display on the side of the Macys building.

So much fun!

Oh ya, and Vanna and Jack on the bus.

My Christmas Day treat was getting to finally meet my new niece, Chantel. Liz is such an amazing mom, and it was a treat to be able to meet her new little baby, who was born 11 weeks early and is still in the NICU.

Wish me luck!

I'm going under the knife tomorrow! (I was going to make a funny joke here, about surgery, but decided it wasn't appropriate.)

The day has finally come for me to get my tonsils out.

And my deviated septum fixed.

And I'm freaking out.

Really.

I think I ate as much as I could today. The thought of not being able to eat scares me. So now, off to sleep, just to wake up and head into the surgery room.

I'm doing my best to be brave, but I'm not so good at that.

Wish me luck!!!!!

I love these guys!! Happy November!

I just found our Ocean City photos from our July vacation. How could I have forgotten about them?

Are you guys tired of race posts?

We just got done with another race! It was really fun pinning the bibs onto my 4 children this morning for the kids run. They loved the race and asked if we could do it again next week. I promised we would do it again next year. I am so glad they are catching on to the energy and fun of racing. Chad was so kind to sit out this year and be the responsible adult so we all could run.

I came down with an awful cold this week...and was a bit worried last night as I went to bed with an aching body and tissue stuffed up my nose. I probably should have not gone today, but I really wanted to qualify for the dc National Half Marathon, and I was worried about it filling up before I could find another race to run.

There is just something magical about racing. Every time I cross the finish line, I get really emotional. Today I felt so silly as I held back tears when I saw the finish line approaching. When I saw my time, I couldn't hold back any longer. I walked up to Chad and my kids and just sobbed. The look on their faces told me they didn't know what to think of me. My goal was to finish in 32 minutes, which is the cut off for qualifying for the Half Marathon. When I crossed the finish line, the clock read 23 minutes. The fastest guy was 15 minutes and the fastest girl was 17 minutes. Crazy huh! The last time I ran a 5k my time was 35 minutes.

I'm way too emotional.

But happy.

I got home and loaded up on the advil to bring my fever down, and I am feeling good. It's good to know that the runners high still comes even if you are sick.

Now for a few days of resting and snuggling my kids, then back to reality!

Thanks for letting me share this with you guys. It's nice having a whole blog of cheerleaders!

DC National, here I come!!!