Girl Power!!! (plus a hint of testosterone)

I love Erika (middle) in this picture. Races are all about the free loot!

There's nothing better than a post race picture to capture all your hard work

Today myself, 5 girlfriends and one of their hubbies ran the See Jane Run Half Marathon, a predominately all women race. It was windy, cloudy, and flat but all in all a well run race by each of us. I'm SO proud of all my friends and they are such an inspiration to me. Girl Power!

It was my friend Jenn's first time she ever ran 13.1 miles and she did phenomenally well despite being forced to stop while they raised a draw bridge for a boat (super lame btw). It was Rachael's first time too and it makes me reflect on the first time I ran 13.1 miles. It was so HARD and I remember thinking running sucks. That's why I am so proud of all these girls and their desire to "keep on running!"

I met my goal and finished under 2 hours. I looked at my watch at mile 6 and saw that I had done it in 51 minutes. I thought to myself I better slow down or I won't make it. So I slowly tapered down which now I'm thinking was a bad idea because I started to loose my "umph." The last 2 miles I could have used a partner to push me. With about a 100 yards to go I see my friend Marianna come up beside me and say, "I'm going to beat you!" So my natural instincts kicked in and I pumped up my knees and sprinted to the finish of course! I could have used her 2 miles previously for that comment and then I could have really done some damage!!! Oh well next time :)

Anyway, hooray to all of us! I'll be the first to say without shame that training for a race is so dang difficult. It is a GREAT accomplishment that I hope all the girls I ran with are super proud of and shout from the roof tops...We did it!!!

Rain + Camping = Going Home

For a couple months we had planned to go camping with Jeremy's family for Memorial Weekend. Jeremy's brother Russell is getting ready to leave on mission so it seemed like one last hurrah before he left. Up until a couple days before the big weekend the weather was suppose to be a perfect 80 degrees and mostly sunny. You got to love California's weather and its unpredictability. The forecast now was high 60's, cloudy and raining. On Thursday I asked Jeremy if he still wanted to go and he convinced me that it was only a 30 percent chance of rain so yes he still wanted to go. I replied "It will rain." I even bet a body massage. So Friday we loaded up and made the 3 and half hour trip up to Pillsbury Lake. The scenery was beautiful up there. We set up and enjoyed the day. My girls love to camp so it doesn't matter what the conditions are. If it involves being outdoors, they will have fun; and that they did. The next morning it started off with rain. The girls' cousin didn't do too well and got sick over night (poor sweet Jazzlyn). They had decided before I even got out of bed that they were heading home as soon as possible, which I couldn't blame them. Sick kids are no fun and to add while camping makes it even more miserable. (I over heard that they were leaving as I "slept" in the tent.) This is in fact the real reason I love to camp. My husband gets up with the girls, feeds them, plays with them, all while I slowly wake up. Camping is relaxing for me and I have to admit I too love being outdoors. Anything that involves getting me out of my itty bitty apartment makes me happy. Yet the rain caused a damper and with Jeremy's brother and family leaving I began to lean toward that way too. His brother Darrell had brought his boat and we got to enjoy it that day off and on through the dry patches. We ended up heading out late that afternoon. It was nice to sleep in my bed that evening. It also meant we got to go to church the next day. I must say I felt like I needed to be there that Sunday. I felt like the talk in sacrament meeting was just for me.

Here is a couple pictures of Laney pole dancing...honestly I don't know where she learned that :)

Good ole' Uncle Russell helping Laney up the steps

Kaiyah's critter

Jeremy & Becca's Getaway

Infamous one handed snapped head shots

Last week Jeremy and I went on a 4 night cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada Mexico. Our fabulous parents watched the girls for us (thanks again!). Monday we caught a flight to Los Angeles and boarded the cruise late that afternoon. The first thing we did was went straight to the food. So if you know anything about cruises, you know that there is a TON of food and ALL day/night long. It's not necessarily the best food just a lot of it. Needless to say I came home 5 pounds heavier because of the massive amount of food they served us...not to mention dessert with every meal and an ice cream cone, oh I'd say every other hour!
Monday night we hit the dance show and a comedy show. Now these aren't just any comedy shows. They advertise them as "R" rated. We went to them each night they offered them and these guys were hilarious. I'm cracking up just thinking about them. Anyway, don't skip out on these if you're headed on a cruise but do be warned they are R-rated!
Tuesday was our day at Catalina Island. I started the morning off by running 6 miles on the island while Jeremy read at the beach. Then we went shopping and snorkeling. The snorkeling wasn't anything like our honeymoon in Hawaii but it was still fun. Jeremy thought it was particularly notable that there were hardly no cars on the island. The resident's main mode of transportation...golf carts. It was funny to see people going grocery shopping or dropping spouses off at work in golf carts! That night was formal night on the ship. We got all dolled up and had a yummy dinner and another great night of entertainment. We saw yet another comedy show and dance show and did some dancing of our own. The one complaint about cruises however are that all these shows and dance clubs all open up so late. We were up every night at least until midnight. In fact the first comedy show we saw started at midnight. So coming home was an adjustment!
Wednesday we were in Mexico. We rented a car and drove around to a few places. We drove to the La Bufadora (a glorified blow hole which basically is a wave crashing against rocks and spraying up water) yeah kind of lame and to think they charged some people $40 a person to drive them there and see it! We also stopped at a beach but the wind was picking up and we didn't stay too long. And of course more shopping. I was on a search for the right knock off coach bag and at the right bargained price. Unbeknownst to me Jeremy flashed a few pictures of me negotiating. How can I be taken serious when my husband is mocking me?!?! I ended up with a $25 fake Gucci instead, not bad. But once we got back on the boat we had another fun filled evening. Every night we ate at the same table with the same people that you are randomly placed with the first night. They were both fun couples and helped make our evening even that much better.
Thursday was "fun day at see." It was just that, plus relaxing. Jeremy did a lot of this
and I did a lot of this
. We also did silly trivia games which the cruise members put on, miniature golf, watched the hairy chest contest, newlywed game, and just enjoyed being alone with no schedule or kids to tend to. That night was my favorite evening. We watched drunk people karaoke, lost $2 at the penny slots and did some more dancing. I love to dance and it felt so great that I have the itch to go again. So girls that live close by, get ready for our next girls night out to be at a dance club! Oh yeah, you know you wanna get jiggy wit' it!

Anyway, thanks Bush for the economic stimulus package for the dough to go on the cruise, thank you Jeremy for graduating so I could give "you" the cruise as a gift, and thanks to our parents for watching the girls and taking good care of them while we were gone!

Graduation

Two and half hours in the hot sun, half naked protesters, hard seats, a shout out to Obama, and a proud walk across the stage and you get Jeremy's graduation ceremony from Berkeley Law School. It was a great day. We had some of Jeremy's friends over to celebrate with cake and ice cream, had a nice picnic lunch with the family at the park, and are ready to fall into bed and get a good nights sleep. Here are some pictures of this long awaited day. Thanks to our friends and family who were able to make it and celebrate with us and those that wanted to but couldn't. Congratulations again Jeremy, I love you.

My Mother's Day

Jeremy and I are back from our cruise, which I will blog about later. I wanted to make sure I captured my Mother's Day in writing. First, Jeremy who knows me so well, made chocolate strawberry crepes for me for breakfast. Only on Mother's Day is eating chocolate for breakfast oh so appropriate! They were delicious honey, thank you! Then Kaiyah crawled into bed with me and enjoyed helping me drink my hot chocolate. Here is a silly picture we took that morning while still in bed. She is my silly girl :)


I asked Kaiyah if she knew who made me a mother. Of course she said Jesus but I told her that morning how she was the one that first made me a mother. She thought that was kind of silly. I truly have the two greatest girls that bring my life moments of joy that I could not experience otherwise if I did not have them. I got lots of cute things from Kaiyah that she made for me at preschool and church but the best gift was a transcribed letter by Jeremy from the mouth of Kaiyah. Here is a taste of what Kaiyah said in her letter. (oh how her thoughts go!)

Mommy I love you!
I love to pick flowers for you. I love to draw pictures for you. We don't like spiders but I sure like you. Ladybugs are ok though. I'll try my best not to be too loud today. I love it when you draw pictures with me. You don't like worms? I don't like worms and neither does Laney. I love the sun but not in my eyes, that's why I like sunglasses. I love bottles for when we go running. I love to snuggle with you. I love to play with you. I really love you and I don't want to miss you. Love Kaiyah

It was a great day and we finished it off by having Jeremy's parents and his brother Darrell and his family for dinner. It was a late night though getting ready for our cruise the next morning. But all and all another great mother's day. What is there not to like about being celebrated? :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was a great Mother's Day and I do plan to blog about it at a later date. But tomorrow morning Jeremy and I are headed off to Catalina Island and Mexico on a cruise so we're busy getting ready for that.

Mexico here we come!!!!!!!!!

Hip Hip Horray...He's Done!!

Jeremy took his one and only final this semester on Monday. This means my man is officially done with law school!! I am so proud of him. He is such a great husband. He managed to make the past 3 years more bearable for me than I anticipated. He finished much higher in his class ranking than he thought he would. I never doubted him because he always worked so hard. I'm so envious of his natural ability to be so stinkin' smart too. He balanced family and school so well that I'm actually sad that he is done with school (even though he is thrilled to not be a student anymore). We've been afforded the luxury over the past 3 years to have a lot of family time. The student life is bliss, minus the no income part! Now I just cross my fingers that he'll get a job that will somewhat let us continue to have lots of family time...wishful thinking I know. Anyway, I'm super proud of you Jeremy!

This picture is of Jeremy when he got home from his last final...he looks tired and relieved to have it all over with :)

What a grip

Have you ever noticed how strong baby's grips are? In a tug a war contest between Laney and Kaiyah, I would bet on Laney. I literally have to pry her fingers one by one to get something from her. When she wants something, she wants it!! I'm just amazed at how strong kids can be. There will and there grips :)

Kaiyah's 1st Pet

Kaiyah went to her friend Owen's birthday party on Monday. As a party favor each child got to take home a goldfish. Kaiyah was so excited and as soon as we got in the car she said it needed a name. So she named it Star and then I dropped her off at preschool. When I got home I put it in a large glass vase. Laney loved watching the fish and I noticed it looked really hungry (it's mouth was moving like crazy). Of course, I didn't have any fish food so I used my own "fish" food. I smashed a gold fish cracker and sprinkled it in the water. Star didn't seem interested so who knows if she actually ate any. I then proceeded to put Laney down for her nap and then worked on homework for 2 hours. Then before I left to go pickup Kaiyah I noticed Star wasn't moving. Not only was she not moving but she was laying on the bottom of the vase. She was DEAD!! When I picked up Kaiyah she was SOO excited to go home and see her new pet. Right before we got home I told her that Star died and Kaiyah bawled for a good minute. I explained that goldfish didn't have long lives usually and they often died fast. She composed herself and then asked for a cat because "they don't die so soon." We waited for Jeremy to get home and we gave Star a proper burial down the toilet with a prayer given by Kaiyah. She thought it was fun actually. So there you have it, our first pet lasted 3 hours! Better luck next time...