Mt Nebo Half Marathon

My sister, Sarah, and I ran the Mount Nebo half marathon.

We had so much fun spending the evening together and talking and just being with each other without the distraction of kids, husbands and anything else. Just us. Just sisters.

Sarah had the goal to finish the race in under two hours. So we started together with the 1:55 pacer. Sarah immediately made friends with them and she was off.  As I fell behind and found my own pace, Sarah finished at 1:54!!!! 

I finished?

 at 2:06. 

I used to call Sarah my "little" sister but there is nothing "little" about her. She is a power house and a rock star! She is an amazing example to me of positivity, joy, love and determination!

Cottonwood Half and Westlake Homecoming

Sometime in June or July, Sarah approached Sydney and I and asked if we would like to run the Cottonwood Half Marathon with her. 

Now, running is not my very favorite thing to do, but Sydney and Sarah are two of my favorite people, so if they were both in, so was I!

We woke up bright and early and bused up the canyon. 

And then the race was on. Sarah and I stuck together the whole way but Sydney left us in her dust at the starting line.

The canyon was so beautiful. I really enjoyed every minute of the run in the canyon.

The last five or so miles in the city were less enjoyable but we made it and crossed the finish line. I think we ran a 2hr. 12min. race.

At the finish line, Sarah lifted Cooper over the barrier and he finished with us. Sarah was also there with her Homecoming date, Evan, who was nice enough to get up early and meet her there. 

My first and maybe only Half Marathon and it was awesome. 

So is my sister.

Stats:
Sydney - 1st/ 28 in 15-18 age category
Time: 1:48:10.49 at 8:15/mile pace

Karin - 138/273 in 40-44 age category
Time: 2:10:41.29 at 9:58/mile pace

Sarah - 154/294 in 30-34 age category
Time: 2:10:42.42 at 9:58/mile pace

Later in the day, Sydney and Evan went to the Homecoming dance.

I've included this video to demonstrate how awesome my kids are.

They set up streamers for Sydney to walk through and Rachel played the trumpet. And everyone said I Love You as she left in a big old beat up truck. 

That's a pretty good window into the personality of my family!

April stuff

Sarah's sweet baby, Coleman, was blessed at their home on General Conference Sunday. It was a very nice day with family and boy oh boy, did we love on that sweet boy! Nicely done, Sar and Dallin. He's beautiful!

We've been enjoying time outside in the yard again, now that the weather is warming up! 

And Spring has Sprung. New baby bunnies and...

...and the bulbs are blooming.

I just love this picture someone took of HashBrown.

Jolley boys

On Saturday, we picked up our Jolley cousins and took them to Wheeler Farm for the morning. We sure love being with these cute little boys. 

When we loaded up and seat-belted into the car, Cooper was a mass of uncontrollable giggles. He couldn't stop laughing. I don't think he could believe that all his cousins were sitting in his car. It was the best thing EVER!

And when we pulled up at the farm, Milo could hardly handle his excitement. He was running all over, with no reason or direction other than the fact that he was so excited!

Like a typical 3 and 1 year olds (or is Milo 2 yet?), they ran from one thing to another, hardly taking time to recognize what they were looking at. I didn't see Cooper for most of the time because he was grabbing Parker and running to and fro. Those two boys sure have a special bond. I'm grateful for Parker's willingness to play with cute Cooper and take the time to be his friend. Knowing that someone that young and small looks up to him and is watching him has made a big difference to Parker. 

We saw pigs and horses and cows and sheep and goats and cute, snow-white baby lambs. We climbed on hay bales, played in a tree house and wandered around huge tractors. 

And we watched the ducks and geese swim in the pond. Rachel made duck noises and Milo LOVED it. I didn't get a picture of his face when she made the sound, but believe me. It was an ear to ear grin, every time!

OK. Maybe I did get a picture.

We had so much fun with those boys. They are so good and so happy and surprisingly obedient for such young little adventurers. Sarah and Dallin are doing a magnificent job raising them. I am blown away by my sister! Her perseverance in raising a special needs child sandwiched between a rambunctious 3 years old and a newborn is nothing short of amazing, awesome, awe-inspiring, humbling, miraculous. I could go on. She is an angel. She is doing an angel's work and doing it so well. I have no doubt when she returns to heaven to report for her time as a mother, God will say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." 

Love you, Sar!!!!!

14 years-sister-sister-niece

I am the oldest in my family and my youngest sister, Sarah, is...well...the youngest. There are 14 years between us. There were a number of years there, somewhere in the midst of my gypsy years, when we shared a bedroom. I think this was after Russia but before China. Anyways, I was on the top bunk, she was on the bottom. She was my little sidekick. I don't know if she liked it much but I sure enjoyed having her around.

Soon enough I got married and had my first baby, Sydney. And guess what? Sydney and Sarah are 14 years apart. I've always thought that was pretty cool. Seeing Sydney and Sarah together often reminds me of myself and Sarah. They have a pretty cute relationship. Sarah recently blogged about it with several pictures. But she couldn't find any older than 6 or so years ago and asked for my help to find some.

She may regret doing that. I don't know. But here's what I dug up.

2000, when Syd was 3 days old.

The first of many combined birthdays 2001.

Couldn't find a picture for 2003, so here's just an awkward picture.

2002

bday 2003

bday 2004

2004
(This scrap book page actually had a very funny picture of brother Tom too. Darn it, I should have posted that.)

Halloween 2005

So there you go, Sar. Hope you enjoyed the little trip down memory lane. It was fun for us.

for my sister, Sarah

Hey Sarah.

I'll bet you'll like this video. I read an article about it in the paper this morning. The article is here. Hope you enjoy it.


p.s. the youtube has interesting comments too. Watch the shadows near the end.

Exclusively for Aunt Sarah

Married

My baby sister is married. It happened yesterday. I'm a little sad about that. Really extremely happy but a little bit sad. I will miss her.
.
.
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She's growing up.
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.
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I'm turning her care and well-being over to Dallin, her husband.

By way of introduction...



Um, so I hope she's, . . .well . . ., ok.

AWKWARD!!!





Actually...

Dear Sarah,

We LOVE Dallin almost as much as we love you! I just know you will be so happy. And obviously, you will have a lot of fun figuring this marriage thing out together. I couldn't be happier for both of you. Keep loving each other, cheer each other on in every good thing you do, say "I love you" a lot and say "I'm sorry" even more. You are both beautiful people, inside and out and I love love love you!!!!

Your sister,
Karin