Family Re-RUN-ion

I never know how to post about trips other than having a lot of pictures, because I don't want the details to bore anyone. But the details are so FUN about this trip, that I just have to post a few!

FIRST: The RUN


My first 10k!! Seth and I were the first two people off the block running through the start line holding hands (we ARE in this together, after all!). Seth continued running fast, and then a LOT of people passed me :). A little into the race, my friend from Ashton (think All-State Choir, Steve Dodds, and Nate Lowe!) Meieli Eidam Allen came up by me!! She was running the race with another friend of hers, so I picked up my pace a little bit to run next to her--and I have to give her a lot of credit for my time! I'm so sad I didn't get a picture with her after the race, I wasn't thinking!

Anyway, at Mile 3 there was a switchback, so running up a hill I saw Seth running back down--in 3rd place!! I was so excited for him, and it was fun to see him along the way, so I kept running hard! At about mile 4.5 I realized I wasn't tired, and probably wouldn't be, so I picked up the pace again. Since it was all downhill from there, it wasn't hard to just coast down. BUT, by the time I got to the finish line, I realized I might be outdoing myself a little bit...because the heaves started coming! Seth, who finished super fast, came back up to run a little bit with me at the end, and as I hit the final stretch I saw Mary and raised my arm to wave...and it was just a little bit too much for me!

I debated whether to post these pictures, because they're not for the faint of heart...but ultimately decided to share my FULL experience with the blogosphere.


"Hey Mary...oh wait...hold on..."

"ugh...yep. not pretty...seriously did i just barf in front of sugar city??"

"Yup...sure did. across the finish line? seriously??? uh oh!" (but check out that quad muscle!)


Oh well, it didn't take me long to recover. Also, I wasn't really using that banana as a phone, I'm also holding my phone in that hand. I wasn't THAT out of it! I was just calling to check on my baby boy Ryan, who mom was nice enough to watch during the race so both of us could run!

My goal was to run the 10K in under an hour, and I honestly didn't think I'd be able to do it, but I got SOOOO excited when I realized I was going to (about mile 4) and then with the nice downhills I was able to finish in 58:13!!!! From a girl who didn't ever run, I felt pretty excited.

After the race, we went back and got kind of ready, and then rushed back for the awards ceremony, since Seth is a rockstar and PLACED in the race!!!! It was a little anticlimactic since they just read off the names of the top 3 in the 10K, and didn't have them come up, but I still yelled and cheered and took pictures of my honey in celebration. I thought the sweetest thing about it all was that Seth wanted to take Ryan up with him if they had the winners come up to get medals. Of course he wanted to share that with our baby!

NEXT: The ReUNion

It was so fun seeing family! Friday we all met up at Mary's and then went to Pickett Bambinos for some delicious scone pizza goodness and....drumroll...Ryan's first ride on a carousel! I guess I never imagined that my childhood carousel would someday be the carousel my child would ride on--it was a little nostalgic!


I'm so glad Mom and Dad always make an effort to get us to the carousel, it's magic to see the kids on it, running to the "perfect" horse. Mom and Dad also gave all the kiddies "Remember" necklaces and bracelets so they could "Remember" the trip...and their awesome grandparents!

On both Friday and Saturday we got to go swimming at the hotel's pool with the kiddies. Ryan is quite the swimmer, he loved it (Well, he also loved watching from the sidelines on Grandma's lap for a long time, too! I think he just likes being with family!) I loved seeing all the cousins playing with each other, young and old!

Saturday after the race we went back to Mary's to celebrate Amy's birthday with some delicious sheet cake! It was divine, thank you Mary and Pioneer Woman! I thought it was nice that we got to Celebrate Amy's birthday, since she's the oldest in the family, I haven't celebrated many of her birthdays with her (that I remember!) so it was a treat!

The nice thing about this trip was that we all had time to do what we needed to do, and we had time together to just chat and relax. Ryan got to play on the floor with cousins, we got to sit back and enjoy the Idaho Water, the fresh breeze, and each other. It's nice to have a change of pace and to share that with family.

THEN: The FOLKS
Oh Sugar City, how we've missed you!

It was SOOOO nice to see bff Cara and her hubby Brandon in Idaho! It's been way too long. Thursday they treated us to some delicious Craigos (have you HAD their dessert pizzas?? I can now say that I have--pretty sure I tried every flavor--delicious!) and then we spent the night at their place, staying up all sorts of late chatting about...everything. Then on Saturday we got together for some Gs Ice Cream and Cocoa Bean Cupcakes--who said you can't have two desserts? (not us!) Quality talk time was the best. Love you, Cara and Brandon!

We also got to see Lisa Luke Toney from high school--first time in 9 years since we'd seen each other! They have a cute son named Benson who is ADORABLE--Lisa got married the day before us, and had Benson about a month and a half before we had Ryan, so it's fun to be in the same phase of life. Even though we haven't talked much, we picked up right where we left off--it's so nice having friends like that!

We also got to stop by my friend Alli's house to meet her little guy Grant! I was so excited to see Alli, she's a friend who has spanned high school, college, and beyond (even my BYU days...she has truly seen it all!). And I was THRILLED to meet little Grant, it was kind of a dream come true. Grant has changed my life--hearing about his condition, watching miracle after miracle, seeing his courage and his parent's courage through his miraculous journey through life...take a look at his blog and you'll see! He was adorable and even shared his crawling toys with Ryan to help Ryan learn to crawl :)

At the race I also got to see my friend Alli Blackham Whittaker, and later met up with some old class of '99ers, Stup, Courtney, and Lori, for a minute before Ryan was ready to sleep and we had to take off! I LOVE that everywhere Seth and I go in Utah and in Idaho, we see the Strongs. We really have seen them about once a year since I moved to DC, they've met Seth more frequently than anyone else in Sugar City (except maybe Cara!). We saw them at the race and got to see their kids for a minute, too! I love the old crowd in Sugar City (mostly) (just kidding) (okay, really mostly).

AND THEN: Some Tidbits

--So...Thursday we headed on a direct from LAX to Idaho Falls. As soon as we got our rental car and started driving, Seth said "Okay, Janey, where do we go?" to which I responded "How am I supposed to know?" "Well," Seth said, "YOU grew up here, don't you know how to get around?" .... "No!!!"...Seriously, I had no idea where to go. We went to roberts first, because somehow I thought we should continue north, but little did I know that you turn onto the 20 to get to rexburg. I thought it was just the I-15 the whole way! (oops). So...after that seth asked other people for directions....ANYONE else he could find (I'm pretty sure he asked Kyle and Kaitlin for directions a few times...)

--So Ryan lost his rattle when we were at the Brunson's house, and Seth asked the kids if they knew where it was. Kait quickly yelled "I do!" and took seth upstairs. She then turned to him and said "Okay... so... what does it look like?" Awwww, precious girl!

--Seth went to Millhollow with the family and sat by Trevor, Jim, Kyle, and Kaitlin. They were talking about what they wanted to be when they grew up, and Kyle had some of the funniest one liners ever..."Oh, I want to be a policeman, but I don't want to give out tickets--I'm a nice guy! I don't want to take up people's time." "I won't listen to that scanner, I want to listen to my iPod instead." "If I ever had to arrest Kaitlin, I would pretend like I was taking her to jail, but really I'd sneak around and take her back to her house. And if they looked in the Jail, they'd be like 'that police officer is not doing his job.'" "They might fire me, but then I'd go get my job back the next week." "If I ever had to talk about my Dad in court, I'd be like 'he's my dad and a good guy and never does anything wrong.'" Seth came back to the hotel room and told me the entire conversation. It was so cute to hear about how Kyle and Kait were peppering Trevor with questions--it's fun to see the cousins all interacting!

--We stayed in the NICEST hotel! It was beautiful, clean, and a great layout. Kudos, Mariott, Heather, and Mom and Dad, for a GREAT place to stay!