Utah

Mom gave us a buddy pass for a weekend trip to Utah. We were so excited to see our family and meet our newest nephew/cousin Zachary. 

Derek asked me to snap a picture of the mountains for him, we love hiking & camping in them. 

Acalias meeting his cousin Zachary. 

Grandpa Garn has been working on this playhouse for several years. It has sentimental value because the walls are built with the dance floors he had built for our wedding. The play house is equipped with part wood part carpet floors, cabinets, electricity (indoor and outdoor lights), windows and furniture. Each time I've visited, grandpa has added something new to the house, this time it was a sandbox underneath the house. He informed me that next time, he will have running water. I would have loved to have something like that as a child, the kids seem to have so much fun with it. 

Visiting with uncle Damion

Such a cutie.

We watched Braxten show off his soccer skills, he is such a little athlete. 

One of the risks of flying on buddy pass is getting bumped off your flight. I was bumped three times but I was happy to spend more time with my family. My nephews were excited whenever they would return home from school and see that we missed our flight. Thanks Simi, for being my personal taxi back and forth to the airport, I owe you!

Visiting Grandma Mele's grave.

The super model. 

Loni Baloni, the youngest member in our family. I can't believe she's going to be 16 this year, I still haven't let my other sisters drive while I'm in the car. I still see them all as my baby sisters. 

Janelle and her girls. We served in Oakland together, we have so many great memories out in the mission field together. It was so nice to visit with her and meet her newest addition Eloise. Love you Janelle!

Acalias had so much fun with his cousins, by the end of the trip he could say "Zai zai", short for my youngest nephew Isaiah.

Audric's graduation, they sang Acalias' favorite nursery songs can you tell by his grin?

We miss you guys, can't wait for our next visit. 

Visiting Grandma in San Fransisco

It has become an annual tradition to visit mom in San Fransisco. It's a lot of traveling but so worth the trip so that Acalias can get the attention he misses out on while living on the other side of the country.

 Eating at mom's favorite cafe, Yummy Yogurt. Acalias was quiet pleased with it. He ate a lot of mom's yougurt as well as the fruit smoothie I ordered.

 Playing out side near the pool.

 Crawling down the endless hall, a nice change from our small apartment.

 Mimicking grandma, he makes this face when he's excited.

 Visiting Aunt Misi, I hadn't seen her since I traveled to Tonga in 2003.

Playing with Waldo, but Lias later discovered that he is not as nice as Skofeild.

Visiting our favorite hotspot, the Golden Gate Bridge.

Baker's Beach.

Playing in the sand with grandma.

Thanks again mom for showing us a great time, we miss you already!

Cinderella Trail Run-Oakland, California

Several weeks ago the leaders at Weight Watchers asked me to talk to the other members about running, as part of their spring into action Challenge. The members asked me when I started running and if I’ve always been a runner. So I thought it’s time I share my story of how I became a runner.

In college, the pressures of academic success caused me a lot of stress. I coped with this stress by trying run. I had a bulky Walkman with a recorded mixed tape of the latest hits of 2000. I would run one lap and walk a lap. I was consistent in trying to run, but I was more of a jogger/speed walker.

As a missionary, my second mission companion Hermana Lewis insisted that we run to stay in shape. I agreed, but I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. The first morning we ran around our gated apartment complex, I remember my lungs burning and my legs feeling like heavy logs. Gradually my companion convinced me that we should run outside of our complex, I was super slow but I was a stickler to rules and kept her in my sight at all times. I eventually worked up to running 30 minutes without stopping. On our preparation days, we would hike Mt. Diablo and other local trails.

My missionary companions who followed Hermana Lewis were also runners, so I spent the remainder of my mission running nearly every day. I even worked up to running a full hour without stopping, which was a huge accomplishment for me.

Hermana Olsen and I discovered a trail in Joaquin Miller Regional Park, it was a refreshing change from the exhaust we breathed in while running on the sidewalks in Oakland (not to mention I refused to run in our neighborhood after the gunshots I heard near our apartment). The trails also overlooked the entire city of Oakland and the Bay Area. The mornings were misty and the rays of sunlight peep through the tall redwood trees. It's difficult to describe the beauty of it all.

This year I to registered for a ½ marathon at the Joaquin Miller Regional Park. I was so excited to return to my mission and run the very same trail my companions and I ran over 6 years ago.

Course map (click for larger image).

Check out the elevation profiles. The 1/2 marathon has a gain of 2,370 (no wonder I was DYING...literally!).

When I arrived to the race, I was shocked at how frigid cold it was. After snapping this picture of Acalias and I, I had to steal my moms over sized windbreaker jacket to keep me warm.

I guess I was looking like an armature runner because everyone assumed I was running the 10 K. Here I am stretching, trying to stay warm.

The trails were intense. I had set a goal to run the 1/2 marathon in 2:30...but that was before I saw what I was in for. Immediately after running past the starting line, I was confronted with this.

For some reason I don't remember the trails being this steep, while I was running them as a missionary.

I ran up this hill careful to avoid the roots and rocks. I figured I could pull ahead if I ran up the hill rather than walk it as many of the other runners did.

I was excited to take in all the beauty but if I didn't keep an eye on my footing, these roots would have easily caught my feet.

During the run I tried hard to stay on my toes, it was easy to do it up hill but down hill was nearly impossible. The trails were very steep and running on my toes surely would have let to an injury. I managed to get through the majority of the race without falling until the last 2 miles. The trails began to look like this.

And this.

I was feeling so fatigued that my legs gave out on me and I fell down one of the hills. The runner behind me later told me that it was a "graceful" fall but by the looks of all the bruising on my legs you wouldn't have thought so.

I was tired and I was so tempted to walk but my thoughts were that anyone can walk 13.1 miles. I had to visualize my smiling son at the finish line to keep trotting along.

My mom said that Acalias started kicking his feet in his excitement when he saw me making my way toward the finish line. Here is my little stud!

The last stretch is always the hardest. I tried to push myself before the 3 hour mark.

Pushing through the finish line.

Next time I will try to smile at the camera. I'm looking rough in this picture but with reason, it was by far the toughest race I had ever run in my life.

Notice my feet. My husband specifically purchased these shoes to reduce the strain I had been feeling in my joints and knees. They work wonderfully only when I run on my toes. I was tired and gave into running how I normally run, which is on my heels. I was so sore the remainder of the week and the following week I had to abstain from running to fully recover. Poor me. I learned my lesson. Don't wear vivarium toe shoes during races that are on mountainous terrain.

Me and my madre!

I'll be running This race next on August 20th!. I hope to run it in 1:55. I also hope to have reached Lifetime status with Weight Watchers. I have 8 more pounds to lose!

Spring is here!

I haven't had time to share all of my sewing projects that I've completed, but here is the latest, just on time for Easter. Bow ties for a little boy!

I have a super handsome model to demonstrate just how cute these bow ties are for a little boy.



More favorite pictures from this week...

Bath time, Acalias insists that the washrag is a toy and has quiet the strong arm.

My cell phone is also on top of his list of favorite things to snag away when mom is not looking.

Crawling on a wooden floor is still too much work. He'd much rather roll around and laugh at his friend Skoey.

I often find this little boy clutching onto the strings of his bumper, I think it soothes him.

Hospice Chocolate Chase 10K Race

I peeked out the window early Saturday morning and sighed in relief that it wasn't raining like it had been the previous day. In West Virginia, when it rains it pours similar to the tropical rain storms I experienced while living in Costa Rica. Acalias had woken me up twice to eat during the night and I was nervous that that my sleepless night would affect my energy level during the race.

The morning was humid,foggy and dreary. I met up with my friend Dawn a fellow weight watcher member and friends from our ward at the starting line. I decided to begin at the back of the race and pass people rather than the opposite, which always makes me feel discouraged because so many runners would pass me.

The race course was beautiful, we began at the Lewisburg airport and ran through the back roads that wind and curve up and down the rolling hills. The pastures are beginning to green and the cherry blossoms are flourishing, picture perfect images when I think of West Virgina.

I had uploaded 15 songs onto my i-pod with the goal of completing the race when the last song played. It didn't work out that way because for some odd reason I thought that reggae would help me refrain from running too fast at the beginning of the race. The songs were far too slow so I had to skip the first five songs on the play list. I needed upbeat songs to help me up the huge hills.

My neighbor Dave came running up behind me and I quickly told him that he was my competition. That was a mistake. Throughout the remainder of the race we trailed each other, he would run past me and I would run past him. I started having self-destructive thoughts like, "I'm slow because of my sleepless night with Acalias"..."Wait, Dave can't beat me he had just told me a couple of weeks ago that he was recovering from an ankle injury"..."Girls don't run as fast as guys"..."I should stop, I'm feeling a migraine coming on". I looked at my heart rate monitor and my heart rate was 182, I typically run at 175 so it was no wonder that I felt a migraine pounding in at the temporal regions of my head. I kept chugging along eventually passing up Dave again, we ran the entire race near one another, him trailing me. Once I spotted the the mile marker 6, I tried to push harder. I see woman who I hadn't seen the entire race fly by me. Dave must have been holding back because suddenly he passed me up as well.


Me eyeballing Dave as he completes the race before me, dang it!
Soon enough I had finished the race and I was happy to be greeted by my smiling husband and baby. Although Dave pulled up ahead, I still shaved off 7 minutes of my 60 minute goal to complete the race so I'm happy. I finished the race in 53:20. I'm motivated to train harder for the Cinderella Half-Marathon in Oakland, California next month!

It was nap time by the time I finished the race. Acalias loves his dad.
Mi guapito bebito

White Sulpher Ward members and students at the Osteopathic school.
Dawn and I. She did awsome, this was her first race and she had never run more than a couple miles before last month.
Fit mommies:) Shay just started a walking group every morning. She is expecting her second child.
After the race, we went to the Chocolate Festival (after showering of course). The festival is a big deal in our small town, all the shops offer unique chocolate treats.
We were early but typically this street is jammed packed with people attending the festival.
We didn't have tickets but several strangers came up to us and gave us their surplus tickets. We recieved 11! It must be because our baby is so darn cute and they were compelled to give us their extra tickets. We gave away half because I knew that I would need to fuel up on something more nutritious than chocolate. These treats were among our favorites...

This chocolate drizzled cake had thin layers of toffee and other goodies that made it top my list of one of the best cakes I've ever tried.

Derek loves rasberries and chocolate so this was the perfect mix for him. It's whipped chocolate pudding, yum!

After overindulging on chocolate we finally went out to eat something somewhat nutritious. It was a fun family day, it's always so nice to hangout together!