The Webbs

I really didn't think my lack of blogging was missed, but I am glad to be reminded. So, things have been happening around here. Last month I was determined to get some work done around this house that I have wanted to do for some time. I had big big plans. The problem was I didn't quite know what all the details of said plans were. Enter my amazing sisters and SIL. My birthday was last month. -Holla for birthday week!- Morning of, I got a call from Kricky asking if I wanted a visitor. I was so excited and even more so when on my birthday afternoon I had a few visitors. A whole birthday party came to me. Sara was in town and Kricky and some chittlins and Mary Ann. We did a real quick outline of what should be done on my house. My kitchen and my bedroom needed a face lift. I got tired of trying to make things how "they are supposed to be" and decided to just do what makes me smile. It is my house after all. I made a deal with Lando that if he didn't have to do any of the work then I get full say in what is done. He agreed and it worked out great for us all. Mike built some stairs off our deck and brought his handy dandy wife with him. Grant was in charge of entertaining my 2 legger (which is a joy for Oliver seeing as Grant is his best best cousin friend. Seriously, they love each other!) and Mary Ann and I got to work in the kitchen. Before: We were working so hard we didn't get much in the way of during shots, but this is what we do have... And of course, the after: I love my fun colored stools. Love. One of the funnest projects is not quite done in this pic. I am still getting it all put together, but I will show you anyways. It is pretty sweet. That wall is so huge I have always had trouble decorating it so we (Mike) built this for me. Swoon. Kricky had a great idea of making one of the spots a chalkboard and that has been a huge hit. Oliver just yesterday discovered the joys of it. I will get my final touches done on this project and post that. And I promise I will try not to wait forever to do so. My good friend Jen came over to help me paint my bedroom. This really needed some life. Remember when I made that deal with Lando about me making all of the decisions? Well, I decided to paint the walls and ceiling pink. Hey, I wanted to do something that makes me smile right? Well, this does. Before: Pretty drab, doncha think? New and improved... It is barely pink. Just enough that I know it and I love it. But not so much that Landon can't stand it. So there you are, my April projects. Aunt Cathryne, you are welcome! :)

I really did finish out my goal of a race every month last year. And I have photos to prove it, I just kinda really suck at blogging apparently. But for my November race I did the Turkey Trot in Draper with my friend Jami and her mother. Second time doing this race and it is really really fun!


My December race is a little sketchy but I am counting it. What do you think.... I had a race picked out for the first weekend in December so I could get it out of the way and not worry about it seeing as how fast the month goes by. Then my family planned a trip to the temple with all of us. And that doesn't really happen often, like this was the first time. (It is hard to get us all together.) So that race was a no go. Not a problem, I had my eye on one that sounded fun. A race against father time. It was right by my house and on New Years Eve. It started at 11:30 and you get it done before the new year. Fun right? I had a friend visiting from Texas and she was in too. Just before 11 we went to get it started. One problem, we couldn't find the start of the race. There was no time to find it and get registered in time. So, we got dropped off and we made our own start line. On your mark- Get set- GO! And we ran home. So, pretty legit right? I think so!

After my Top of Utah experience, I decided to do a bike race for my September quota. Luckily I have an excellent friend that did it with me, meet Chana...
This was a Wonder Woman 30 mile bike ride. Best part of the ride, Oreos and peanut butter at the half way mark. Perfection. And of course a race can't be a race without...
Then October. This was a 5k here in North Salt Lake. It was on the Shoreline trail and seeing as the weather had been kinda crappy, so was the trail. We were running on the side of a mountain through mud. It just kept piling onto our shoes and eventually made ankle weights on us. Oh, and no one told us where the half way mark was so we all just kept running up the mountian until we decided to turn around. Not just me and Tawna and Jami, the.whole.everyone.on.the.race. Cool. And, to make this run official, here ya go...


Ten down two more to go!

Oliver has past his year mark- here he is at ten months And eleven months. I know some people go ALL out for the first birthday, but I am just not one of them. Sorry Oliver and future kids, deal with it. We were just planning on it being the four of us, but turns out Mary Ann and fam were going to be around town, so Oliver had a little party. We did a couple of gifts in the morning to entertain him for the day. I asked what he got and this is how he showed me. Turns out he LOVES matchbox cars! Pre-party cake and presents. Good to have cousins around to help with the hard unwrapping! Birthday boy! The BEST part-- Wilson was a BIG help. I can't believe he is one. This year has flown by. We are so lucky to have our little Champ in our family.

Really, it's not. Not even a little. I have slacked so much on writing I truly don't know where to begin. I suppose I will start with my Race-O-Month. Let's see, I left off with May's race. So next was June This was a special event. It was a 10k, but unlike any 10k before. This was the official Papa Jay's 10k. I really can't do this run justice. It was a good, good time. The setting was a little town called Clifton Idaho. My sweet mother in law found the details to this race in the newspaper, so I rallied the troops and off we went. When we got to where we thought the race started, all we saw were a couple of people, a card table and some random things on the park benches. We made our way over to the card table and couple of people and we were greeted with "Oh yay we have runners!" (off to a good start, but trust me, it only gets better...) We wrote our own names down on a piece of paper to enter into a drawing after the run. Then we wrote our own names down on a label and stuck it to ourselves (this was like our running numbers). I asked the lady in charge what this race was for (sometimes you run for an event or a fundraiser or something in particular) She said, "Well, I am going on the trek with my ward next week and I had to walk 6 miles today anyways, so I just thought that I would make it into a party!" Good enough for me! Time had come to get the party started. We all lined up at the start line. For this race we had: 2 people on bikes, 4 people walking, 9 people running (5 of which was our group) and 1 dog. After a photo-op of the running crowd at the start line, we got our instructions..... "Make your way down this road, then cross the highway. Watch for cars, there usually aren't any, but be careful anyways, we don't have police escorts here. Then make a left go on that road for a while, then turn left onto Siphon Road. It's not really called Siphon Road, that is just what we call it, but go on that road anyways, make your way up the hill, don't worry it's not a big hill. When you get to the lakes, turn around and make your way back here. If you get too tired along the way, Handsome Bob will pick you up on his 4-wheeler. Handsome Bob, please raise your hand." *this old farmer off to the side raises his hand* "Now, the 4-wheeler isn't registered, so we need to make sure no cops see Handsome Bob giving anyone a ride, so just be careful. When you cross the finish line, someone will yell out your time. Remember that and write it on the label you have on you. Then add it to the chart on the table. The course should be pretty easy to follow, it is marked with inspirational quotes all along the way. So, so start us off, we have done something else illegal, Handsome Bob has made a home made firework....Handsome Bob, when your ready." So Handsome Bob lit his home made firework and the race was on. Shortly after we started, my brother in law said that this feels like something out of a Napoleon Dynamite sequel. The course was so pretty. I loved it. It was a great run. We all finished and got our official jumping photos. They did the drawing while we were running in this is loot I got. Fantastic! Next is July. My July race is the same every year. I do the Lewiston 4th of July Border Run. You have the choice between a 10k, 5k and 1 mile course. I always do the 5k because the half way mark is just at the end of my parent's property and the whole family comes down for some high fives, cheers and smiles. Just what you need at any half way mark during a run! I always enjoy a good fun race, but I have to say, the smiles and hollers from my cute nieces and nephews is the best. Period. Of course, the jumping photos. The last race I did was a couple of weeks ago. The Top of Utah Half Marathon. This was the second time I ran this race. I really enjoyed it the first time around. Not to say I didn't this time, I just, well, let me explain..... This summer has been -to say the least- exhausting, hard, long. My training for this run wouldn't have happened without my Mary Ann. Many people call her a friend. I am lucky enough to be able to call her my sister. She really carried me this summer, in more ways than just with running. Anyways..... The week before the Half, we had our ten mile run. It. Was. Great. I felt awesome and loved it. So I was feeling pretty durn good for the half the following week. Then comes Monday, I started on some new medicine and started feeling side effects the next day. I felt dizzy, nauseous and more tired than normal (which, if you know me at all, you know that is VERY tired). By the time Saturday rolled around, I was a little scared for how this would effect my run. As it turns out I had a right to be nervous. Starting out was fine. Good run, good pace, good company. But then I started to feel sick. I started to feel over heated. I started to feel dehydrated. I was so dizzy, the road started to move around. I can't even explain how crappy I felt. But I am not one to not finish a run. (this is the girl who did the Ragnar 7 1/2 months pregnant you know?!?) So, I fell behind my group, made a new race buddy and finished the darn thing. Cause you know, that's how I roll. I saw my darling husband, baby, mother in law and nieces and nephews at the finish line and that made the WHOLE thing worth it. *I know it has to be so boring to watch someone run a race, but as the runner, I can say, it means more than anything to be brought into the end by someone you love* My running group. Best. Husband. Ever. The End. I was hurting pretty bad, but I had to get my jumping photo. I used the curb to get any sort of height. :) So far, so good. I have kept up with my goal of a race each month this year and plan to carry it out the rest of the way.