San Fran Half

I always wanted to take one of these pictures so here it is, all ready for race day!!

I bought our team matching boo gloves.

This race is so amazing, seriously.  So much energy, adrenaline, and excitement all crammed into a few hours.

The Start line was way cooler last year with fireworks.

Of course it was foggy and cold again, just like last year and you couldn't see the Golden Gate Bridge, so sad.  

So many fun things to see and do at every mile marker.  

 All of us but Kim and Emily ran with each other until mile 8.  Mile 10 was a long miserable mile uphill, but we did it and then I lost Ash and Laura when my shoelace came untied.  Here I am getting my Tiffany necklace and this years was so much cuter!!

Such a fun race and even better to have friends to run it with.  I felt good the entire time and think all that training paid off.

 This year you had to wait in line to get a picture with the firefighters and they wouldn't lift you or anything, haha.  

When we got back to our hotel they even had a sign for us!! 

Al had to leave for Boston that morning so Lauren took the boys to church and Heather took care of them until I got home.

Rich is Cole's nursery leader and Cole loves him.  Lauren said he wouldn't let anyone else hold him in sacrament.

After we had a long hot shower we went and walked around China Town.

stopped at some random sushi place where it revolves around the table.

Our last stop was the Ferry Building. I got my oyster fix.

and our last picture at the Bay Bridge before they dropped me off at the airport.  It was a great weekend and so much fun to see all these girls.  

I'm so bummed that this is the only picture they got of me during the entire race.  Every person on my team got amazing pictures and obviously I didn't, haha.  The girl running next to me decided she was going to do it the night before with us and she even got a better picture, so bummed.

Girls Trip

I was so nervous to fly to San Francisco in the middle of the Ebola outbreak. One of Al's reps told him everyone flying to DFW was wearing masks so just to be safe I went to Target to get some, but they were sold out.   There is a ENT clinic by our house and they had a box by the door and told me to take as many as I wanted, score!!   Al dropped me off at the airport 6 hours early because he couldn't wait to get rid of me, just kidding.  It was 2.5  hours, but still :)   I didn't see anyone with a mask on, but I decided to put one on and snap a picture for some good Instagram comments.   I did however bring clorox wipes to wipe down my seat and tray table on the plane.

Al had to take the boys to a primary program practice and everyone got rewarded with donuts after.  I love how Cole just ate the top off.

I was so so excited to see Ashlee and Laura, I miss them so much!!

   

 We went to the wrong Marriott when we first got there, but hey no worries when you don't have kids to tote around.   We took a picture with the correct bellman :)

Our first stop was the Nike expo to pick up our numbers and check in for the race!!  I signed the Nike board with #Texasforever which is from Friday Night Lights.  They moved these walls to certain spots in the race which was pretty cool.

We went to Nike Town to find our names on the wall :)

Al took the boys to Allys Halloween party and the gang took a photo for me :)

We had a blast at the expo!!  Lines were really long for a few things, but I think we saw everything.

Our cheesy heart pose in Union Square.  We had a yummy dinner that night at Tacolicous and we went to bed early so we would have lots of energy for Saturday.

Al at the Halloween party with Batman and Superman

Saturday morning we went straight to the expo to sign up for the braid bar, we got some breakfast in Union Square, went back to the hotel to get ready and then hit the city.  Laura and I are food friends so we had a long list of places to try.  Our first stop was this amazing bread bar.  All they had was toast and coffee.  It was seriously the best toast ever and I would like a piece right now.  We drove through Golden Gate Park and stopped at the Sutro Baths which is one thing I've never done.  It was such a beautiful day which was exactly what I was hoping for the race!

We walked around the paths, saw a wedding and everyone was popping open their mini champagne bottles, and of course got our picture by the Golden Gate Bridge.

Taking a stroll down to the Sutro Baths which used to be a privately owned swimming pool complex in the late 19th century..

The infamous jumping picture in front of the bridge!!

Our amazing late lunch at Bluebarn.  Seriously would die for a salad place like this in Frisco.

Blue Barn just happened to be next to an amazing cupcake store and of course Laura and I got one!!

China Town is always fun to see and this girl was eating Ramen noodles on the back of a bike.

The highlight of the day was the braid bar at the expo.  They had a list of different braids you could choose from and let's just say none of our braids resembled the pictures and we definitely couldn't have run the race with them.  Laura was the first one done and I lost it when I looked over at her and saw her new doo.   She sent me a text that said she looked like a Polygamast, haha.  

Mine ended up taking the longest and it's because it looked like I was going to prom.  It was pretty, but not to run a race in.  We went back to our hotel and took them out along with the 50 bobby pins in mine.

That night Al took the boys to Chuck e Cheese and I'm sure they were loving it.

Here we are admiring each others braids.  I talked everyone into doing a candid shot and they always turn out the best :)

We made a quick stop to Lulu that night, had a yummy pasta dinner, and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the race.

October Fun

The great thing about moving to a new state is all the new things to see and do.  We took a trip to Celina which is about 20 minutes north east of us to the Big Orange Pumpkin Farm.  

Love that these two are best buds.

We got to feed animals, go on a hayride, pick a pumpkin, play in a corn maze, and run around like crazy boys.

There favorite thing was going through the maze which we did at least 3 times.

Our friends Lauren and Brock.  Lauren has been so sweet and welcoming to our family.  Sometimes god just knows who and what we need in our lives and mine has definitely been good friends with this move to Texas.

It is still so weird to me to look around and see no Mountains of any kind.  Texas has beautiful clouds, but boy has living here made me homesick for the mountains.

Alex and Cole got invited to a birthday party and Pump It Up and had a blast!!

So the weather was 80 on Friday and then Saturday morning it dropped to 40.  How does that even happen?  It doesn't work well with 3 year olds and soccer, but they were troopers and the bribe that day was we can go to lunch wherever you want.  

Seriously so cold!!!  

Al was excited he got to get back in his mask and in the surgery room.  

Love this sweet sweet boy.  He has changed so much in the last few months and talks like crazy right now.  He actually never stops talking or asking questions.  He asks me what's that mama about every 30 seconds.   He has the sweetest personality, is so sincere, and thoughtful.

Cole loves choo choo trains.  I might be investing in a train table soon.

and this is one of my favorite things Cole does.  Every morning he drinks his cereal from his bowl, too funny.  Can't you just see him 40 years from now doing the same thing and his wife saying Cole that's so gross, but it's cute when it's a 2 year old.