My youngest sister turned 11 last week. We're 19 years apart and knowing she'll be in YW next year makes me feel really old..... 

For her birthday she wanted to go bowling together as a family. 

 Obviously bowling is not my forte 

My Dad did awesome!

Even Jamie beat me the first round

Second game I made a comeback (bumpers may/may not have played a roll) Forget Basketball, Nick should focus on bowling, he did great!

Just because...

I LOVE YOU

 a little Spring happiness to cheer me up from my wonderful husband

Love Sick

We like to keep Valentines Day pretty casual, I don't like spending a lot of money on overpriced flowers and crowded dinners. This year I made a special dinner: scalloped potatoes, asparagus, homemade rolls and honey baked ham (ok so I splurged a little). 

Nick was in HEAVEN! 

Friday morning somebody woke up with a sore throat, fever and head congestion and spent the weekend on the couch playing on the Wii

 or sleeping

My rationale for spending a little extra money on a ham was becuase I knew I could get a couple meals out of it. Today I used the ham bone and made a soup. When we came home from church the house smelled SO GOOD. I found the recipe on Pinterest Ham and Bean Soup 

Looked Out the Window...

and what did I see? (finally...)

I guess Punxsutawney Phil was right: 6 more weeks of Winter. Not gonna lie, I was a little excited to wake up to snow this morning.  I've been super grateful for the mild weather we've had, of all the winters to train for and run a half marathon this one has been the best BUT we do need water in this desert. 

2011 was a hard year, I found myself in some pretty deep dark emotional pits.  New Year's Eve was tough: I just sat thinking "Another year gone and still no pregnancy/baby" tears where shed and Nick kicked into loving/sweet/comforting husband mode.  I'm done being depressed or at least I tell myself that, I still have hard days but they're not as frequent. Running has become my therapy and I've found peace and comfort in my testimony that Heavenly Father DOES have a plan for ME although I'm still working on having faith/patience with that plan. So I've been on a domestic/cooking/crafting/running kick to keep myself busy/occupied.  

I LOVE how this wreath turned out. 

It was really easy and not overly time consuming

 I was able to get wood blocks from my Dad for free, 

the paper was on sale at Joann's and the vinyl letters cost me $3

A little paint, mod podge and glitter:

I've been finding and trying out A LOT of new recipes, Nick has been a wonderful dinner guinea pig.  I need to do better at taking pictures and posting the successful recipes I've found

Good thing I've taken up running as a hobby :)

Who Me?

Nick totally denies this but during college football, basketball and the NBA season this is what I fell like sometimes.....

Favorite sports season? 

Baseball- cause Nick doesn't watch it :)

2012 St George Half Marathon

9 Months ago I just wanted to run a 5K, that's all....no biggie. If you would have told me I would run 13.1 miles I would have thought you were crazy.  Friday we drove down with my friend Connie and her husband, we went to Olive Garden for dinner and carb'd it up (ok, I'll be honest I was carb loading the entire week). The hotel we stayed at was literally right next to the Dixie Center (which was where the race started and finished) SO NICE! Saturday morning we woke up to rain- serious?! this has been the driest winter Utah has seen and on race day it's raining?! Fortunately the temp was in the upper 40's so it wasn't too cold.

Look at that smile, obviously I have no idea what I'm about to do

Tina (another friend from work) also came down for the race

 Tina, Connie, Me and Jenny trying to stay warm in the rain 

waiting for the half to start

 So to the best of my knowledge running a half marathon is kinda what I imagine labor would be like (disclaimer: having not given birth to a child I don't claim to actually KNOW and I think childbirth has got to be way harder than running). You've been waiting/training for months getting ready for the big day. Your emotions range from excitement/fear/nervous/anxiety, you've mentally pumped yourself up. The race starts and you're feeling good--"I can totally do this" about half way point you're thinking "What in the H was I thinking?!" It hurts, you want to quit but you just can't, somewhere deep down you have to dig and find that last ounce of strength to keep pushing. Finally you reach 10 and you're so close, just a little bit further. You finally cross that finish line and you are overwhelmed with emotions you want to cry/laugh/die... You think to yourself, I am NEVER doing this again (of coarse we all know that after the pain subsides you're no longer sore and you've forgotten about that pain you're totally going to do this again) and yes, I'm already thinking about running the Salt Lake half in April :)

0.1 to go! (we're behind the blue lady)

There is no way I could have done this without Connie, she was the BEST! She stayed with me the entire way, endured listening to me whine and cry (miles 8-10) and kept me going.

 FINISHED my FIRST HALF MARATHON!! 

TIME 2:12:56

best orange slices and chocolate milk of my life! 

 We are SOAKING WET! Proof that running does make you crazy/goofy :)

 My awesome hansom cheerleader 

He didn't run this one with me BUT he's promised he will run a half with me this summer :)

 I survived but my toe didn't- sad

The rain we ran in turned into snow on the drive home YIKES! We made it home safe but the weather added another hour to our drive.

Domestic-ness

For Christmas this year I got this beauty:

I've been wanting one for years. Nick went in with my Mom and got it for me and I'm in L.O.V.E I have been in the kitchen non-stop (too bad I'm not barefoot and pregnant). 

My first attempt (EVER) at baking bread, my Mom's been baking bread for years but I was never interested in learning how (just eating it-d'oh!) After a few phone calls to my Mom during the process, I was happy (and so was Nick) with the end result, nothing like fresh warm bread with butter/honey or homemade jam- YUMMY!  (Wheat Bread Recipe)

Yesterday was my sister's birthday and I made her RED VELVET CUPCAKES with cream cheese frosting

I've tried homemade cupcakes before but they've never turned out quite right, I don't know if I've been over mixing (using a hand mixer-bah!) or if it's because we live at a high altitude. Either way these cupcakes turned out so moist and delicious (Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe)  I melted some red chocolate in a piping bag and made little hearts (because I heart her!) 

Happy Birthday Chrissy!

One last thing:

ONLY 3 WEEKS til my HALF MARATHON!!

Good thing I have something to train for right now with all this baking going on.  Ran 9 miles yesterday and the temp was in the 40s....in December....and I loved every minute of it :)