April Shower

My BFF from high school, Jessika, is getting married this summer. This makes reason number 203 I'm so glad we live here: I get to be a part of the festivities! Yesterday was the first of a few bridal showers for Jessika. She has A LOT of friends, and rightly so! She's one of the nicest, most caring people I know. I'm so happy for you, Jess!

New Blankets

Since I knew we were getting the kids bunk beds, I was looking around for some coordinating blankets for them that were gender neutral but that still fit the black and white theme that I've had for the kids since Wes was born. I also wanted something that wasn't too thick so that it would work well on the bunk beds.

After not finding anything cheap that I liked, I decided to make blankets for the kids. I started them on February 4th while I was staying at my mom's house (when we were trying to find a place to live). I finally finished them on April 4th and decided I probably should have just bought something. It's one thing to make one blanket, but I made two!

I think they're cute, but I'm definitely not a blanket perfectionist (as my mom put it - which made me laugh because it's true - they wouldn't win a blue ribbon at The Fair). :) However, they added some much needed color to the kids' room, plus, the kids were excited about them.

If anyone is curious, I used the "Bright Hopes" quilt block, but sewed it a bit differently than the traditional pattern. I used partial seams shown here, and then I created my own pattern for the blankets from there.

First Family Hike of the Spring

Somehow I skipped over posting about this, so here it is. On March 26th, we "braved" the rain and headed out for a little (1 mile) hike with the kids. Santa brought me a book for Christmas called "60 Hikes Within 60 Miles"...I think Santa must have mis-tagged the package, as I believe it was meant for Brian. :) We all had a good time though!

Wes insisted on being the leader for the duration of the hike.

This is Brian and Wes in front of a "stump" of a tree that used to be the largest Douglas fir in King County. What remains of the tree is actually still 60 feet tall!

Crossing a bridge. Apparently I caught Wes mid-jump!

Signs of spring!

Brian took the kids down to check out the stream with a salmon ladder.

After hiking the loop, we crossed the parking lot to check out Lake Washington.

Boston Marathon Training - Weeks 13 and 14

This picture is from the 2nd time I saw a pair of ducks on one of my runs. I just keep wishing I'd see a goose standing next to them. Wouldn't that be great?

Well, the race is coming up and I'm definitely not as well prepared as I have been in the past. I leave on Thursday morning and I'm kind of in panic mode since I have a kid's birthday party on Monday, a bridal shower on Tuesday, and Wes' birthday party on Wednesday. Not to mention I have to run, pack myself and the kids for the time I'm going to be gone, and figure out what to pack to run in so I'm not freezing while I wait for 4 hours for the race to start and blah, blah, blah.

Somehow this race sneaked up on me even though I've been planning on it for over a year now! Honestly, I'm looking forward to coming home next week and having this race behind me. Finishing it has been in the back of my mind for SO LONG (basically since before I ran my first marathon). However, I am looking forward to it. There's nothing (that I know of) quite like the feeling of seeing - and then crossing - a marathon finish line. For me, it's been sort of emotional since I put so much effort into the training process. Granted, this time my training's been different (lacking), but I've had to get over some major mental hurdles for this one.

I'm glad for my other marathons that I was fully trained and prepared for. I have some really good memories and feelings to draw from when I run (walk?) this one. This has been a rough training road, and I've been dealing with some injuries/pains, but I will never regret doing it. I'm so grateful I don't have to worry about a time this go around. I just get to enjoy everything the Boston Marathon has to offer. And I've heard it's pretty awesome.

Wish me luck! (Just that I can finish and have fun.)

Monday, March 28th: 9 miles at 10:48 min/mi
Thursday, March 31st: 3 miles at 10:00 min/mi (focused on HILLS!)
Saturday, April 2nd: 2 miles at 11:01 min/mi (focused on hills again)

Monday, April 4th: 11.76 miles at 9:46 min/mi
Saturday, April 9th: 2.67 miles at 11:56 min/mi (more hills again)

Total for Two Weeks: 28.43 miles
Total for the Year: 139.42 miles