Liking Being a Mom

Before Disneyland, we visited my aunt Debbie in Santa Barbara.  The cabin looked amazing.  Debbie is getting ready to rent the cabin and house in Santa Barbara.  We will have to go back without kids some day:-)  I had a wonderful time with my aunt.  Luckily, Fiona loves to wake up early so I got some morning time with Debbie.  She told me about how my mom and dad and their first five kids were headed to Disneyland (I was not born yet).  Debbie was going with them, but they broke down in Barstow.  Debbie and my mom get to the hotel pool after a long day.  While watching the five kids swim, Debbie turns to my mom and asks, "How do you do it?"  A few minutes pass and my mom responds, "Well, I like it." 

I was impressed that that is what my mom said.  I probably would have come up with some sarcastic remark like "I am amazing."  I knew being a mom would be hard, but I thought I would be better at it.  It has definitely been humbling to be a mom. Life is better when you have the right attitude so I will keep striving to "like" being a mom (especially when my kids are sassy like this).

A Little More Marathon



In case you wanted to see more marathon pictures. . .

my sister Breezy blogged about her experience

and the race photographers posted pictures on zazoosh (Sarah and I are totally in first place:-) and you got to love my face as I sprint to the finish).

 

Sarah and I leaving for our girls night in Logan.

We had to wake up at 4:30am so we could be bused up the canyon.

My Signs

My First Marathon

I ran the Top of Utah Logan marathon in 5:02:17.0. My friend Sarah finished it in 4.5 hours.  Sarah and I wanted to run the whole time together, but I was having tummy problems.  We ran the first 9 miles together and I told her to leave me at my second bathroom stop, which probably cost me ten minutes.  She left hesitantly, but I was glad she got to do her best on the run.  It was definitely not my best run but I finished!  I had perfect timing and caught Kira's stomach sickness just in time for my marathon.  I had to take three bathroom stops in the first 14 miles. I did have some problems with my knees by mile 19 so I had to walk occasionally in the last seven miles.  At mile 25, I had the medical aid rub some stuff that numbs the muscles on my knee which was cool stuff.  I wished I would have done that sooner.

I am so glad that I got to do the marathon with my friend Sarah.  I loved the time we got to spend together especially the night before.  We spent the night at her friend's house in Logan.  Evan spent the night at Brandon and Melinda's and brought the girls up to cheer me on.  He was waiting at the first spot that spectators can see you. I was just coming out of Blacksmith Fork Canyon.  I was a bit concerned at this point.  I had another 12 miles to go, an upset stomach, and some serious bathroom issues.  Luckily, I did not have to make any more bathroom stops.  Evan and the girls, Brandon and Melinda, and Breezy and Gabel all came to cheer me on.  It meant so much and helped me finish.  They cheered me on at around mile 14, 17, 19.5, 21, 22,  23.5, and the finish.  They also drove past me a few times.  At mile 21, Evan ran along side me with Kira in his arms telling me that I could do it.  I remember thinking, "I love that man."  Moriah even tried to hug my legs while I was running (not as helpful but cute).  A girl runner that saw Evan and Moriah told my family that they were going to make her cry.  My family definitely made me tear up a couple of times.  Evan says it's not too hard to make those marathoners cry.

The week before the race, Moriah kept telling me that I needed to win the race.  I kept telling her that I just needed to finish.  Evan talked to her that if you finish you win so she switched to telling me that if I finished, I would win.  Fiona and Moriah told me the day before when I was nervous that I should just be happy that I get to run the race.  They were really cute.  Moriah and Melinda made a sign that said, "Go Mom! F."  Moriah explained that the F stood for fast.  Breezy brought signs with my picture and "Go Driel."  I also had family and friends wish me luck before the race. 

Evan has been so supportive of this marathon goal.  He watched the girls while I went on my super long runs, iced my knees, made me sport drinks, worked on running technique with me, mapped out runs, and kept telling me that I could do it and that it was a cool goal.  I would have quit a long time ago if it were not for him (and my amazing friend Sarah).  I was a mess after the marathon along with our three kids, but Evan took care of us all.  I am pretty lucky!

At mile 14, I am looking good.



My cute fans waiting at mile 14.



Mile 21 and looking a bit tired.



Looking very tired at mile 22. I do not even look like I am moving;-)



I finished and ripped off my shoes and made my way over to the bathrooms.

Sarah and I, we did it!



The girls were excited that I got a medal.

An amazing guy

Some crazy, tired kids

My support team, thank you!!!

Moriah in Kindergarten

Moriah started kindergarten this week.  She had her assessment last week.  She was so excited to wear her new dresses.  She really loves jewels and gems on her clothes.  She seems to be really enjoying school.  She was super happy the night after her first day.  I am having a harder time with it. I cried when we dropped her off.  I have been super nervous for her.  I think it would be less work to teach her at home.  Getting her ready and to school and home is a lot of work, but I am sure we will get this new schedule down.  

We all walked to the open house.  Evan met us there since he had to go back to work.

We stopped to see the ducks, chickens, geese, and peacocks next to the school.  Kira calls all animals doggy.  She loves them.

Feathers are so fabulous!

Reading with Dad in Moriah's classroom was so much fun.

The day after her open house was her first day.  We brought the snack.

Fiona went straight to her room and played by herself.  I brought Kira to play with her after she had some alone time.  They were pretty cute playing together.  It sure is different without Moriah.

We are going to miss those lazy, fun summer days!

A Cute Rascal

Kira is definitely a toddler; she is walking and biting (Kimball's definition).  She loves to wave and say bye-bye.  She loves the pool especially when she can touch and do it all by herself.  She lets us know what she wants with "uh, uh, uh" noises.  If that does not work, she resorts to harsher methods like whining or crying.  She loves dogs.  She will look through books to find the dogs.  She has a really cute smile where she scrunches up her nose.  She says "dow" for down and up.  She still loves to nurse. 

Kira went in the bathroom the other day and shut the door. I could not get the door open because she had opened the drawer, which blocks the opening of the door.  We tried sticking things under the door to shut the drawer, but she thought it was funny to take them.  I tried telling her to shut the door, but that did not work.  I left my phone in the bathroom, and she started playing with it.  This distracted her long enough for Evan to stick a metal ruler with a right angle under the door.  We found her playing with my running ap on my phone.  She is really cute, but kind of a rascal at times.

Working on Apricots

We have been hard at work processing apricots from Kathy's parent's tree.  I burned at least 8 quarts worth of apricot goo the other day, which was really sad, but we still have a lot of apricot products--dried apricot halves, apricot leather, and canned apricot goo to turn into smoothies, fruit leather, or other fabulous things. Moriah helped me a ton with washing.  I decided to let the girls help me cut with a butter knife.  Fiona really got into the cutting job.  It was a sweet bonding moment with her. 

On another note of working hard, I ran 13.3 miles on Friday in 2h:3m:50s. I am training for the Logan marathon on September 15th.  Right now, I think I would bale if I did not have a partner that I am running the marathon with and if I had not paid for it.  Running a long run every week is a lot of work and feels a bit stupid at times but also cool at times, too:-)

Disneyland

We had a lot of fun at Disneyland at the end of June with Evan's family.  It was intense and stressful and there was some tantrums in there, but I am sure we will go back for more some day:-)

Wow, Evan was really there! He was way better at taking pictures than I was.  You should have seen Evan run to get into this line for Mickey.  There was only one person in line, but Mickey had to leave for the Newsie performance so we got a picture with Pluto.  Fiona was so excited.  She kept petting him.  We went home to take naps after seeing Pluto.  When Fiona woke up, she said that she did not want to go back because we stay too late at Disneyland.  She values her sleep.