Niece time!!!

We just got back from a week in Alaska visiting my Brother Chris, Sister in Law Jen and my two nieces Abby and Anna. My Mom flew out from DC to meet us there so we all spent some good family time together.

Our new niece Anna was just born 7 weeks ago, so it was so much fun to meet her! Stay tuned for those pictures later - she's an absolute doll and has such a sweet little disposition. As always, the absolute highlight of my trip was hanging with Abby, though. She's 5 now and just so much fun - I swear she is such a ray of sunshine. We had a blast snuggling with her, playing with her, etc. The highlight of the night was getting to tuck her into bed and read with her, and waking up every morning to her bright cheerful face at the top of the stairs was better than any strong jolt of coffee. She is such a sweet little person and my adoration for her just keeps growing and growing!

We took a TON of pics, but here's some of the highlights playing with Abby this week:
Hanging on the porch:

Riding bikes...
Snuggle time!
Playing her favorite game of SORRY:


Making a cake with Grandma:


Riding in the car:
Going out to lunch:

Abby showing off her scooter moves on the porch:




And finally: playing Wii Fit and showing off her hula-hooping moves...hysterical!

It's ALIVE! ALIVE!!!

Every year the San Diego Museum of Art hosts the Art Alive exhibit...and we've always intended to go but never got around to it until now. They host an event where people compete to create floral arrangements inspired by or based on works of art housed in the museum. It is super creative and I'm so glad we went - it was a really neat event.

I didn't think any of my pics would turn out because flashes weren't allowed but luckily, I got some great shots of the flowers and artwork! Thank goodness for the new camera. Enjoy, you can see how some of them were pretty literal interpretations while other ones were more based on the mood or general colors:
This one was my favorite: Portrait of a Lady:


Check out these gorgeous roses! They were technicolored!We had such a great day and roamed around Balboa Park after that - it's such a gorgeous place and it was a glorious sunny day. After that, we saw the Hangover - HYSTERICAL! Man, we're a diverse pair, from a cultured lovely event...to...not so much! Good times!

Not a lot of happs...

I was sick all weekend and managed to stay glued to the couch the entire three days. Although I did try to rally to a Padres Game on Sunday (which ended up being literally the longest this season - 18 innings! Luckily we only stayed until the 13th because after all of that, they lost, wah wah wah) but that wore me out and I've been shellacked to the couch since. I don't have any pics from last weekend but I realized I'd forgotten to post from Memorial Day, our friends David and Mary had a huge party at their house. Several bands played including our friends band (whose name changes minute by minute...my favorite? Band Meeting) - they were really good!


Carter's shirt says "my Dad Rocks", haha! It was cute, while Dad was playing in the band, Carter was dancing and playing his own instruments.
Paige and I tried our best to beat some kids at hula hooping, but I swear, I think that's a lost talent as you grow older. Pretty funny.
Not one of my best posts, but hey, I'm in my sweats and hacking up a lung. Whaddya expect?

I did it!!

I finally did it! Me, Beth, who has never done an organized event like this in my whole life just ran a relay marathon with my friends! I've been training for months and felt great about my progress - I was running 5 miles every other day and I felt GREAT - up until 2 weeks ago when I injured my hip and my knee. I got really nervous about the race because I took the last 2 weeks off of ANY exercise but I was so determined to do the thing and not disappoint my teammates.

Driving to the race I was super nervous I wouldn't be able to run because of my hip:
But then I got there and started getting really excited:
For the Rock and Roll Marathon relay, the baton is a drumstick - hysterical! Leigh had tricked ours all out with flames because our team name was Chariots De Fuego...but this was an extra souvenir one.
I waited for about an hour at my relay station and got so excited watching all the runners go past - and then came my friend Marley! I took off at a great pace and bolted through 2 miles...then I started feeling my hip so I figured I should go back to my regular pace for the rest of it. But, I'm proud to say, I ran the whole thing and I actually beat my regular pre-injury training time! My pace was a 9:56 mile, I'm really proud of that.

I didn't see anybody on the racetrack that I knew (despite my sweet friends hauling ALL The way there with a baby and setting up 2 hours in advance - somehow I blazed right by them without seeing them! Sorry, Karen and Alex!) until the last mile when I saw Rob and our friend Kevin. It was heaven to see them - it gave me the added boost I needed to come in strong. Rob took a video of me during my last mile:

Once I saw the finish line, I sprinted to the end and burst into tears - what an amazing feeling! We did it in 4 hours and 20 minutes!
Meeting up with Dave afterwards - he was #2 in the relay:
And the Chariots de Fuego teammates reunited - we rocked it!


Stretching it out afterwards:

And rehydrating:
And finally, a whole lotta rest while listening to the finish band English Beat:


Good times. I'm pretty sore today after not exercising the last 2 weeks, but I had a massage and am heading to the movies with the hubbs. Now I see why people get so addicted, it was so much fun. Next up: the half marathon in November!