Last weekend, Miles and I had another getaway—two in one month, can you believe it? After an unexpectedly busy Friday, when we put an offer on a house we saw just that morning, we took off. We drove up to Jackson Hole. It was my first time in Wyoming or Idaho. It was beautiful but there sure was a whole lot of nothin’!

Jackson Hole was a lot of fun. It was a perfect location for a cozy and relaxing weekend. Since we went in the off season there weren’t many activities to do. We were just free to be together with no responsibilities.

While in college I lived with some roommates in a basement apartment of an older home. I got to know the elderly man who live next door. He name was Clark. I’d help him take his garbage can in, cut his hair, and sometimes I’d get some friends to come with me to visit him. Miles even came a couple times. Clark had a famous picture on his wall of a barn with the Grand Tetons in the background like this one.

He told us that’s where he grew up and that was his barn—the most photographed barn ever. He was an older man with some good stories. We were a little skeptical.

Well, while in Jackson we asked a man at the visitor center how we could find this barn. And I asked if he new by chance who owned the barn. He told us where to find it and that it belonged the Moulton family. Well Moulton was Clark’s last name. And there was even a quote from Clark in a brochure about growing up on Mormon Row there at the foot of the Tetons. So Clark must have had the best view in the world as a boy.

Here we are visiting Clark’s family farm.

This is my favorite picture from the trip. This will be hanging in our bathroom of our new house someday!

The small getaway with the hubby refreshed my love of motherhood. My days are filled with precious moments. Here are just a few.

A couple weekends ago, Miles took a trip with some friends/coworkers to go canyoneering. To keep us entertained while Daddy was gone, I decided to take the kids to the zoo. We had such a blast! They loved riding in the wagon. Claire was totally into it. The day was perfect—great weather and no crowds.

A rare picture of the kids and I. Thank you sweet old man who offered to take one of all of us together.

Riding the rhino.

About Baby Girl:

Claire has had a major attitude adjustment recently. All of a sudden she seems very happy and content with life. She’s less feisty and not as clingy to Mommy, which Mommy is very happy about!

Claire’s extremely social and just about has a heart attack from excitement when friends come over. She loves to give kisses. My favorite is when she kisses my chest when I’m holing her or rocking her. Or when she walks over to give Link loves and instead of getting close enough to kiss him, she just kisses the air in his direction.

Claire has a great laugh. A good stomach laugh. Anytime she laughs in front of other people they comment on it. She can be a tease. Sometimes she’ll run after and corner her little friend. Sometimes she’ll take Link’s toy just to get him razzed. I have to admit it’s pretty funny!

Claire has recently learned to pull out the kitchen chairs and climb on the table. Yay. The other day I was busy trying to get something done. She was being quiet downstairs so I knew she was up to no good. But she wasn’t crying so I let it go for a bit. By the time I went downstairs, this is what I found:

Stinker! But a cute stinker!

About my Lincoln Boy:

The other day Miles and I were being mushy in the kitchen with the kids watching. We were just having fun and goofing around when Lincoln tells Miles and I to “Settle down!” We laughed and laughed about it!

Link has been a hoot lately! He talks and talks and talks. He asks “why” constantly. It’s become practically impossible to watch a movie with him because he is so curious and asks questions the entire time.

He loves dressing up! We got him a Spiderman costume for Halloween and he practically lived in it for days. Then the other day he found a box and brought it to me asking if we could make it into a rocket ship. It turned out to be a robot but he loved it nonetheless. It was a good mommy moment for me to spend that time creating something together. When we were decorating the front I asked him what else the robot needed. “A tie!” he responded. So I gave him a tie.

Lincoln is enjoying is 2-day-a-week preschool class. Yesterday we got to go on a field trip to the pumpkin patch. It’s the same pumpkin patch we went to as a family last year, so I thought it would be fun to do some comparison pictures to see how much the kids have grown in the last year.

Claire last year:

Claire this year:

Link last year:

Link this year:

Link and Claire last year:

Link and Claire this year:

After we completed the marathon, Miles and I enjoyed a little getaway to San Francisco. Our excuse was that Miles had a work seminar there for the week following the race. We just had to pay for my airfare since the room was paid for. Miles flew out on Sunday and I followed on Tuesday. We were really excited for a romantic escape without the kids.

I left the small St. George airport on Tuesday morning. I didn’t check any baggage because I didn’t want to risk losing my baggage or pay the fee. But because the commuter plane was so small, I had to gate check my bag. Without any instruction except to “pick it up when I get there,” the abrupt baggage guy threw a pink tag on my bag and took it away.

I had a quick connection in SLC and I hurried to my next gate. Then I started to process the fact that there was no way my bag could follow me to San Francisco and that I must have needed to pick it up plane side. I got to my next gate and had them call down to see if they had my bag sitting there. But it wasn’t and it was likely they sent it to baggage claim. I ran through the airport to baggage claim on my very tired and sore legs. They didn’t have my bag at baggage claim either. I was advised to just get on my flight and my bag would follow in 2-24 hours. So I went back through security and barely caught my flight. At this point I was freaking out a little. My bag had everything in it; contacts, underwear, makeup, hair product, clothes, coat, glasses. Everything. Except my wedding ring that I put back on that morning after taking it off for the marathon and my camera that I had with me.

I got to San Francisco and made a claim about my missing bag. They told me to keep my receipts for the essential things I couldn’t go without.

So my bag was lost. Great. And I had no idea if or when it would ever show up.

Well it turned out that I never got my bag while in San Francisco. I wore the same clothes for 4 days. I bought a coat at Ross, two hats from H&M, and some contact solution from Walgreens, praying that my daily pair of contacts would hold out.

I made it a point to not let the lost bag completely ruin my trip. I had a great time! In fact I cried when we had to go home. I enjoyed every minute I had alone shopping, riding the tour bus, seeing the sites, taking pictures and napping. Then in the evenings I got to spend time with Miles eating delicious food and seeing more sites. It was wonderful!

Self portrait on the tour bus. Ooooh, aaaah!

This is as close as I got to the Golden Gate Bridge. Good enough I thought. I got a picture thanks to the nice Belgian couple I met on the bus.

What ever happend to predictability?
The milk man, the paper boy, evening T.V
You miss your old familar friends, but
waiting just around the bend. . .

I saw a protest in Union Square. Still don’t know what about exactly. Something about the 99%.

The last day we visited Alcatraz. I thought it was beautiful. Creepy of course, but surprisingly beautiful.

Oh the ferry to Alcatraz.

A few pictures from Alcatraz:

So my bag was miraculously found. After 8 days I thought it was lost forever but it showed up somehow in St. George. They flew it up to Salt Lake and delivered it to me at 10:30 the night they found it. Thanks goodness!

When I was young I remember wrapping up in a blanket and driving out to the Diamond Valley exit to watch the St. George Marathoners run down the highway. I was in awe that they could run that far. It was almost unfathomable and I knew it was something I could never do.

A couple years ago Miles and I ran a half marathon together while living in California. After the race we declared there was no way we’d ever run a full marathon, the training was just too big of a commitment. But our appetite for achievement got the best of us and in April of this year we entered the STG Marathon lottery, thinking it was unlikely we’d get in anyway. But we did. So se started training.

We found the least intense schedule to follow knowing that our goal was simply to finish hopefully running most of the way. The training wasn’t too time consuming at first so we just traded off watching the kids. As we went on though, finding a babysitter for our long-runs on Saturdays became difficult. Many of those long runs were scheduled for after the kids were in bed. It was easier to find sitters for the evenings since not many people would be willing to babysit at 5am. Our 20-miler was from 8pm-12 midnight.

The week before the marathon I came down with a cold that turned into a sinus infection. I got on an antibiotic as soon as I could in hopes of being better for the big day. I was frustrated with the fact that running while sick was not possible. I was anxious and not running made me nervous.

We drove to St. George on Thursday. On Friday we spent time with my family, picked up our packets, visited the expo, had a lasagna dinner and got about 5 hours of sleep—more than expected.

Everything the morning of the marathon went smoothly. I ate a bagel with peanut butter and a banana and washed it down with Gatorade. Then had a breakfast drink about an hour before the race.

It was so exciting at the starting line. We were looking forward to a great day.

The first 7 miles were great. Veyo hill wasn’t that bad. The 3 mile incline after the hill was more difficult in my opinion.

It was right about mile 9 or 10 that everything changed. At first my tummy felt a little bloated and liquid was sloshing around inside. It also felt like I had gulped down a bunch of air. It was also strange because when I’d cough my throat was dry so I just kept taking more beverage to stay hydrated.

I was becoming miserable very quickly. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I’d never had these symptoms during my training. I started crying from hopelessness at about mile 15. At this point all I wanted to do was throw up. I wan’t nauseous, I just felt like I needed to get all the sloshy liquid out of me. I was relieved at mile 17 when about a gallon of liquid gushed out of my mouth (sorry for the graphic details). I felt infinitely better for about .5 miles until I started feeling extremely thirsty. But I couldn’t stand the thought of warm lemon-lime Gatorade. All I could think about was getting water.

It was right about now that I went to a different place. Sometimes women will describe something similar during labor when the pain is so unbearable that they somehow remove themselves. How in the world was I going to go 10 more miles!? This was also the point when the entire race changed for me. It really did become just about finishing. Finishing would be a miracle.

I was grateful at about mile 21 when I threw up again. I was amazed again at how much came up since I was just so thirsty! At one point after the water station we had walked quite a ways and Miles turned around and ran an extra half mile or so to get me more water. People looked at him like he was crazy. He was so incredible and supportive. He stayed with me the entire time and encouraged me the whole way. The last few miles I was completely dehydrated. I wouldn’t let go of my water cup which meant we had to walk a lot. I got up the motivation and the energy to run the last stretch across the finish line. It felt anticlimactic.

We came in at 5:18—a full hour longer than I was hoping for. But I finished. The blessing Miles gave me the night before meant something different after the race than it did at the starting line. In the blessing I was told I would be “given the strength to do it.” As disappointed as I’ve been over the whole experience I think I would have been distraught if I was unable to finish at all.

I’ve done some reading on GI distress and it sounds like this was likely what happened to me. But I’m still confused about what I did wrong to have brought this on or what I could have done to help relieve it during the race, if anything.

People have asked me if I’ll do another marathon. Do I give up in frustration or try to figure out what happened that day and prove that I can do better?

I just don’t know yet.