Last Minute Getaway

Since 4/5 appointments cancelled on me last weekend, we threw all the necessities into the car and drove up Saturday morning to St. George to spend the long weekend with the entire Garff family.

Though it was crowded (8 adults, and two 1-year-olds in a three-bedroom), we did have lots of fun. Except for the part where William decided not to sleep much (he wasn’t a fan of sleeping in the hallway) and a few traffic issues, there were numerous fun activities to enjoy.

Like Café Rio. Yum.

And the new park near the condo:

It was so fun, we went back again the next day. They had tons of spinning equipment that made us all VERY dizzy. William got off and could hardly stand up after. But he LOVED it.

Dizzy Billy

Walking to church---note how handsome my little boy is in his suit!

Hanging with Grandpa Bill:

We also went to Brigham Young’s winter home in St. George. This picture includes the entire Garff immediate family. We haven’t all been together since Christmas, so this was a treat.

We were going to go rock climbing, but it didn’t work out. Luckily, Silly Billy got in some climbing of his own before bed one day.

Our Silly Billy never fails to amuse us. Remember those Cars jammies? He insisted on wearing them when I put on his swim suit. So they ended up as a hat. Every time he sees them, he has to wear them. Usually the shorts go on his arms since he hasn’t quite figured out how to dress himself yet.

No Memorial Day trip is complete without a little swimming. Of course, we couldn’t resist.

These two cute cousins couldn’t get enough of each other last time they were together. This trip, however, was almost too much togetherness. We got them to share the spotlight for this camera, but we had a hard time getting them to share ANYTHING ELSE.Silly Billy decided he wanted to be just like dad. My boys are too cool for this pool!

Babymoon, Take 2

We were supposed to go to NYC for our babymoon, but my OB requested we pick something closer to home and something that would not involve flying (in case I went into early labor). That left us with few options. The one we finally decided on was a weekend trip to Steve's parents' condo in St. George. One, because it was close; two, because it was inexpensive; and three, because it was beautiful after all the rainy weather we'd been having in LA.

It was a lovely, relaxing time. We lazed about the pool, ate out, read and watched tv (we really will get a converter box someday...) and slept to our hearts' content.

Most of our waking hours, (when not watching tv or eating), were spent hiking. Our first night we spent a few hours looking for Anasazi drawings (to no avail), and had a nice sunset hike.

We also spent a hot day hiking and looking for dinosaur tracks.

I would have missed them if it wasn't for Steve and Nike pointing them out to me.

The best part of this hike was watching Kiki and Nike trying to cross the cattle guards. Nike got stuck and just ended up leaping over it, while Kiki finally figured out that there was a crossbeam she could walk on. When Steve tried to get a picture of her face (she got so confused trying to cross), Kiki figured out she could just walk around the side and followed Steve around the easy way. Nike never did figure it out and spent his crossings stuck between the rails and jumping over them.

It was a fun trip. We're sad that we weren't able to go to New York since that is something we've always wanted to do, but also glad for the chance to save money before I take maternity leave.

Plus, we needed all that rest to prepare us for our neighbors' rock ballad karaoke competition at 4 am this morning!

Through rain and wind and cold and snow...

I finished the St. George Marathon. Okay, so there wasn't really snow, but the weather was pretty miserable. It started raining on the bus ride up to the start (about 4:30 am) and didn't stop until about noon. Thousands of people ran the marathon despite headwinds never-ending rain.

It started well. Fortunately this year I got to start with the "elite" runners, so there was less of a fight for the bonfires and port-a-potties. The weather was mild at first, off and on rain and wind. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the bonfires in the wind (it was lucky for us that the fire department was nearby). It got progressively worse as the miles went by. By the time I finished, I looked like I had competed in an impromptu wet t-shirt contest rather than a marathon.

I was with the 3:10 pace group until mile 14, when I started feeling queasy (I had been sick 2 days before). Without perfect conditions, I was perhaps being too optimistic in hoping for a 3:10, but settled into a decent 7:45 pace until just before the finish line. I was able to pick up the pace a little until my knee gave out and I nearly fell just as I finished in 3:22:19

After the race, I felt awful. I had to sit down for several minutes because I was sick to my stomach and couldn't put any weight on my knee. After getting a kiss from Steven, I went to the first aid tent to recuperate. It was still raining.

I think that the marathon volunteers bought the town out of trash bags. There were thousands of people wearing these impromptu ponchos. My clothes had not yet come in from the start, so I borrowed Steve's hoodie to warm me under my trash bag. I attempted to wait for a massage, but my lips turned blue and it was clear that I had become hypothermic, so I went back to the condo for a warm bath (it's a big taboo after racing, but I had to get warm).

I was pleased with the results. Last year, I had placed 13th in my division, and this year, I went up to 7th. Plus, I beat my first trainer from work, Jim Davis (nevermind that it was his first marathon). If you are interested, I have included a link to some pretty visual and colorful results from RunPix. My # is 4089.

http://www.runpix.info/stg08/ge.php

By the way, I made the local paper. I'm in the blue shirt in the left top corner. In case you were wondering, my shirt says "My running partner has 4 legs" in celebration of Nike and Kiki, who were there to cheer me on in Veyo.

Update by Steve:

Here are some more pictures that my parents took. The first is just before the finish line.

The second was taken immediately after the race. If you look closely you can see that April is experiencing the first stages of hypothermia (she got warm again before it got serious).

The last is of the whole gang (dogs included) in front of the condo.