Fifty-Six Years, Five Kilometers, and Way Too Many Calories

Wow, things have been crazy since school started up again...can't wait until this semester is over!  But I wanted to update you on our fun weekend after we came home from Spring Break.  Since my Mom Nancy wasn't in town when we made our way down South, she came up to see us.  It also happened to be her birthday, so we made it one big celebration weekend.  We played lots of Dominos, and we ate LOTS of good food, which consisted of: take out from the Mandarin, lunches at Gabor Brothers and Zupas, and I made yummy Chile Verde.  Not to mention yummy triple chocolate cake and homemade chocolate pudding!  Oh my, we stuffed ourselves with deliciousness!

Even though the caloric count was off the charts, we balanced it out a little with our neighborhood's Fun Run.  My mom is training for a triathlon and so she was pretty excited to participate.  It was pretty cold when we started out, but once we got going, we didn't have to worry about that. Grandma Nancy, Lauren, and Braiden chose to go on the 12 mile bike ride.  Yes, I typed 12 miles.  Braiden was a trooper, but he didn't make it all the way, and they had to turn back, but I'm sure Lauren and Grandma could have completed it. (I'm not sure why these pictures turned out so blue--my little camera must be on the fritz.)

Aunt Denise came along as well and volunteered to take Ethan on the one mile course with his Big Wheel (remember those? Boy, that brings back memories from my childhood!).  Denise had just participated in the marathon down in Moab the week before...I think she was a little tired.  Afterwards, Denise said Ethan was so fast on his Big Wheel, that she ended up running most of it, until he tuckered out about 100 yards before the finish line.  She had to coax him to keep going after that!  Katie and her friend, Marissa, also went for the one mile run.

Ryan and I both went for the 5K.  We did pretty well, considering we haven't trained too much over the winter.  I was getting over a cold and had lots of gunk still in my lungs, so Ry kicked my behind, but we both finished and felt great about doing it.  It turned out to be a beautiful day for a run.

Then we had the big birthday party.  It was nice to have her up for the weekend.  Happy Birthday, Mom!  Love you!