I'm only HALF crazy! {13.1}

I ran my first ever half marathon on Saturday and I think I caught the running bug! I have never been a big
runner but one of my friends suggested I try a half marathon and I think I laughed at the idea. But that thought
stuck with me and I thought, "Why not, this is the healthiest I've ever been. Better now than later."
I started training in January because running was something I did about once a week and it would only be
for 3-4 miles tops! For my first half I am so glad I trained as early as I did because I got sick and did not run
for a week or two. We went to Hawaii and I only ran 3 mile runs, 3 times. Later, I got a small injury that prevented
me from running for a week. Just small setbacks but since I had 6 months I wasn't trying to cram in all this
training. With that being said, it was a lot more running than I was used to and I was anxious for my half marathon
to be over because I was so sick of running almost every single day!

I ran the American Fork Half Marathon Against Cancer and it surpassed my expectations!

The day started with waking up at 3AM and we were out the door by 3:40. Guys, I seriously have one of the best
husbands because he woke up with me and drove me to the race and he was not even running the thing! He walked
me to the bus and I was shuttled up to Tibble Fork. It was FREEZING! I'm talking about low 40's here with a
little wind chill. The weather this year is bizarre! I know it's  colder in the morning, and then it's up the canyon,
but why in the world is it so close to the freezing point in summer? And it got a little warmer as the sun got out
and as I started moving but it never got hot. (To prove my point, we had a BBQ later in the day and I was wrapped
up in blanket because I was so cold.)

The first 7 miles of the race were all downhill which was amazing! I have the app RunKeeper on my phone and
I have it set to tell me the miles I have covered and my average and current pace every 10 minutes and I
could not believe how fast the time and miles were going by! Thank you downhill! When I reached the mouth of
the canyon, Andrew, with my parents were there cheering me on and it was so fun to see them!

I was doing and feeling really well and ran 10 miles straight before I needed to walk! That is the longest I
have ever run before slowing down. From there I needed to walk more, not necessarily because I was tired (I was)
but more so out of the necessity because my calves were crying! I think it was all the downhills which I was not
used to because I trained mainly on flat ground with a slight uphill. It was a mix between walking and running
between miles 10 and 11 but when I got to mile 12 I told myself I was going to run the entire last mile no
matter how slow I went and that is exactly what I did!

I saw the finish line and I started to sprint hard. When I got there I realized that the finish line was not right in front
of me but around 2 more corners! You have got to be kidding me!!! I slowed down a bit because I can only sprint
for so long and when I turned that last corner I went hard! I saw the time ticking and when I saw where I was,
I was determined to make it before it turned into another a minute and I went faster. When I crossed that finish
line I was fighting the urge to not throw up and thank heavens it only lasted for about 10 seconds.

^Do you see my parents with in the observation area with their phones?^

I ran 13.1 miles in 1:57:58:55 and I am SO PROUD of myself! 

I did not expect to run it in under 2 hours but I just barley did it!

^My dad was my running buddy near the end of my training. He pushed me and kept me running when I was dying!^ 

 ^My parents came to cheer me on and kept popping up during the route.^

^My in-laws came to cheer me on at the end.^

I loved my first 1/2 marathon! I went into it thinking this would be my first and only half and doing it to cross
it off the list, but I absolutely loved it and would do it again! I think I'm still on this runners high!

If anyone wants to do it with me next year, let me know! I went solo this time but I think it would be so much
 fun to start the race with friends! I can't quite convince Andrew to run with me. haha. 

Wedding Planning

When Andrew and I were planning our wedding we had little to no idea what we were doing. 

We were both the first siblings to get married.

One of my best friends got married when I was on my mission, so I was completely un-involved there. 

When we were planning our wedding I wish we had some sort of rough guide of what people before us had done.  

We did not know where to look for so many different things. 

All things that follow are in the Utah Valley area. 

Our photographer was Maddie Thomas. She was wonderful and a complete life saver. 

We had her do our Bridals and Wedding Day

(the person for our engagements we didn't like too much so we found Maddie instead).

You can find her website HERE and her Instagram HERE.

And all pictures that follow were all taken by her! She's wonderful. We love her. 

For our luncheon we had it at a local church, that way we could invite as many people as we wanted.
We had a lot of people from out of town that we wanted them there as well as our local family and friends.
This worked perfectly! We had Kneaders cater and it was delicious! 

We also had our reception at a local church and these pictures do not do the place justice. It was absolutely beautiful! People were so amazed when they came in and many people told us that they had never seen a church reception so beautiful.
I was completely in awe. 

We had Michelle do it and her company is called Ivory Gables. 

Her website it HERE and her Facebook is HERE.
She was absolutely wonderful to work with.
She showed us so many different options and ideas and we got to pick exactly what we wanted.
Loved her! 

We had VIP Catering do the food at our reception. They do all sorts of food. We choose to do desserts. 

We ordered for 500 and when the reception was over we had over 600 of one kind of dessert. 

Their serving size is more than just one per person. 

Their website is HERE.

We had Emily do our cake (we found her through Thumbtack which is a kinda nifty site). She was so professional
and really worked with us for what we wanted. The cake was so beautiful AND she made those flowers out of sugar.
She did that!!! Talk about her talent! She doesn't have a website but I'm sure if you look at Thumbtack her information
will appear and I have her contact information if needed. 

~ ~ ~

We ordered our wedding cake topper off of Etsy. It shipped from China so it took around a month to come. I didn't realize
that fact and it came about a week before the wedding. Ah, sweet relief! Online it did not have "and" for
Mr. AND Mrs. so I asked them to include it and they did! 

To order this one or one similar the Etsy shop is HERE.

And today celebrates 6 months since we had this wonderful day that all this wedding planning 

work went into. Totally worth it. We loved everything about our wedding day!

I Got a Cup (and a job)

I tried too many different times for a somewhat decent picture

but it just did not work. This was the best one there was. 

So there you go. 

The purpose of the picture:

I got a job being an aide in a special education classroom.

Today was my first day and wow, I absolutely love it. 

It's crazy and I'm tired but it's wonderful.

I see these children and my heart expands. 

They are so loving and have so much to offer.

I love them so much. 

I am so excited to continue to work with them! 

As an aide I got a cup.

With an awesome lanyard and candy. 

I feel legit. 

As legit as an aide can be. 

Another positive side note about this 

is that I get first hand experience,

Special education is what I want to do.

I get to learn about different disabilities,

how to handle misbehavior, and how to reward. 

I get to learn from the teacher and the students. 

Oh and I get paid! Yay! 

Happy First Week Back to School!