Confession...

The cake was good.  

At least I didn't eat the entire cake, just the top half with the frosting ;-)

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Dare I say it is Fall here?

I woke up this morning (and yesterday morning) and was a bit chilly!  It is amazingly awesome!  This morning it was in the low 50's outside!  Honestly, it has been probably been since January since we saw low 50's.  LOL.  So, in celebration of fall, the pumpkins are out in full force.  They are lovely!

Here are some pumpkin pictures from the Dallas Arboretum...

Aren't the pumpkin houses just amazing???

And these boys are pretty cute too...

We had met a few friends there and had a blast.  We ate lunch, then took off.  A perfect morning.  I look forward to going again soon before the pumpkins are all gone.  (This is the same place that had all amazing tulips in Spring, check them out here and here.)

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A celebration of a halves...

Yes, today Dylan turned 18 months (one and a half!).  Hooray!  And today I ran my very first Half Marathon.  In celebration, we had this for dinner:

Yes, chocolate cake.  No joke.  This is what we ate for dinner.  It was delicious.  The boys were thrilled and I was happy  as can be.  It was lovely.

But for the record, we had some raw veggies and ranch for an 'appetizer'...

And the tomatoes came straight from our garden.  Yummy!
 
I can not believe Dylan is a year and a half.  Crazy.  I know I say this every birthday, but it seems like just last week we were rushing to the hospital with our impatient baby boy (aka our  'Freeway' baby).  He is just as impatient now, especially when he wants milk, he is a milk addict.  Seriously.  And food addict too.  He finishes his meal, asked to get down, then climbs up on Connor's seat and finishes Connor's food.  Too funny.  He has some of the funniest and most serious looks.  Here are a couple recent pictures of our little man:

Loving the chocolate cake!

Lovely bruise on his head.  He is all boy.  And he is eating a gummy fish.

So cute.

So serious.

We love you Dylan!  You are so sweet & such a joy each and every day.

And onto the half marathon...
I ran in the Heels & Hills  half marathon today.  Dare I say it was fun?!?  But it really was.  Who knew I could enjoy 13.2 miles of running ;-)  Certainly not me!  But I did.  I finished with a time of 2 hours and 8 minutes.  I was very pleased with that time.  Here are the stats:  I averaged 9:50 miles.  (Which is a bit off since I ran the first 7 miles considerably slower than I ran the last 6, which I realize is odd, but I didn't want to burn out before the finish line.)  I came in #11 in my age group, and #155 overall.  Not sure how many people total in the race, but there seemed like quite a lot ;-) 

Pre-race photo in the dark...

 

Note: my bright green bib not only stood out, it had my name on it & it said in big bold letters, "First Half Marathon".  LOL.  Way to call me out ;-)  It was pretty funny.

Not sure if the link will work or not, but click here to see the photos from Sport Photo.  Some are pretty funny.  You may have to search.  Event date 9-26-2010, my bib # 426

And an after race photo...

Yes, we went to eat.  Mexican food.  YUM.

And I couldn't pass up a margarita...

After all, I did earn it.  Well, actually I earned two.  Ha!

It was a fun-filled day.  I am tired.  My legs hurt.  But it was well worth it.  I am so glad I decided to be crazy and run a half marathon.  And even more excited that I finished the race!

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Ice Skating Video!

Okay, here is the video from Connor & I ice skating!  This is pretty much how the entire ice skating experience went.  LOL.  But we did have fun ;-)

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Ice Skating...

On Sunday, Connor & I went ice skating.  Dylan & Daddy watched us ;-)  Although Dylan really wanted to go too.  Luckily, there are a couple of malls with ice rinks in them, so it is pretty easy to go.  I will admit that I was really nervous taking Connor, he does get his excellent coordination skills from me!  Which sadly is none!  LOL. 

Here is the ice from a couple of floors up...

We had our skates laced up & ready to go...

Then we had to wait for the Zamboni to clean the ice. 

Here we go...

And we are already holding up the line...

I was laughing so hard!  Connor said to me within 30 seconds on the ice, "I don't think ice skating was a good idea!  I don't even know what my feet are doing.  My feet aren't working!"  I was seriously cracking up!  He is such a funny kid.

Then we got a little better, but that would only last for a few short seconds.  LOL.

But I am happy to report that we never fell!  Not even once.  I was fully prepared for falling A LOT!  After all, I think it had been about 15 years since I had been ice skating!  We had a lot of fun! 

We have a video, but unfortunately I can't get it to post ;-(

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WSU vs. SMU

We were happy that the Cougs were playing SMU here in Dallas.  Yah for 2 football games this season!  We left the boys at home with a baby-sitter (yes, for the very first time!!!  They had fun and did great!).

We met Andy & Becky (who I ran the last 10k with) for lunch before the game.  Beers were on the agenda...

The boys opted for a liter each of the seasonal Octoberfest, while I went for my favorite Hefeweizen.  Yum!  And had a delicious lunch at Gordan Biersch.  They had garlic fries...yummy!  I love me some garlic!

The game was fun.  HOT.  Not the best outcome.  And did I mention HOT?  It was 96 degrees and we were sitting in the direct sun. But we were sitting in the first row on the Coug sideline.  Of course, I decided not to lug my camera around, so all I have is cell phone shots.  Sorry ;-(

And see, even Butch was trying to cool off by sitting on some ice ;-)

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Tour des Fleurs 10K Race

I completed my first 10k race today!  The first mile and the last 1.2 miles were the longest ever!  It had a few small hills, but wasn't too bad.  But it was really humid!  Yuck.  I am so ready for 70 degree weather.  No more 90 degrees, I am ready for true fall weather!  I ran with a new friend Becky, which I had never ran with before.  First, let me tell you what Becky's comment was after the race: "I can't believe you can talk the entire race!"  LOL.  Yes, this is true & I do.  It is a great distraction! 

I finished the 6.2 miles in 54:47.  That is amazingly fast for me.  But I felt pretty good, so I kept at that pace, which is an average of 8:50 per mile.  Here are my stats: I came in #10 in my age group (ages 25-29) out of 135 people, #54 out of 795 females, and overall I came in #163 out of 1181 people.  Not too shabby for my first 10k race!

Okay, of course I am such a nerd and took some pictures ;-)

So, since it was such a big race, there was little parking at the Arboretum, so we parked off-site and rode a school bus to the race.  Connor was thrilled to ride the school bus.  There were a few of these signs posted around the bus.  It just made me laugh. 

Pre-race photo...we are happy, smiling, and excited to run ;-)

And after the race...sweaty & gross.  But still smiling ;-)  Just look at the view.  Love it!

And Happy Jenn...Blue Moon post race is awesome ;-)  The shade is awesome too!

And look at our wonderful boys cheering for us...

Check out this view...

And the boys enjoyed the after race treats.  There was bagels, ice cream, pizza, amazing cookies, and  donuts!  The ice cream was an instant hit...

The race  was great, it was put on so incredibly well with awesome vendors after the race.  It was extremely organized!  And the Dallas Arboretum is just amazingly beautiful!  Perfect!

Then we rushed home to get ready for the WSU vs. SMU football game here in Dallas!  There will be a post about that soon ;-)

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Battles. Attitude.

Connor has been bossy, full of attitude, and just plain rude somedays.  Honestly, there is no nice way of  putting it.  And the fact of the matter is that he is way too much like me!  Which is the reason we butt heads all day long.  Here are just a few (off the top of my head) of his favorite sayings:

"End of story."

"I don't like this one bit."

"I am not happy with YOUR attitude Mom."

"Ahh, Darn it!"  -or- "Ahhh Shucks!!!"  When I tell him no about something, anything.

"Do you hear the words coming out of my mouth?"

"Dylan you pick up all these toys right now!  1-2-3-4-5"

"You are the BEST Mommy ever!"  {long pause}  "But why do you yell at me so much?"  (It is like he gives me a compliment, then takes it right back.  Funny kid.

And this was our conversation this morning:  "Are we going to the gym today Mom?"  Me, "No, not today!"  Connor, "Alright, woohoo!  We get to stay in our jammies all day!"

Love this crazy child, but some days I think he has just a little too much personality ;-)  And I wonder where this sweet little boy who loved to cuddle and eat anything I made for breakfast, lunch, and dinner escaped to...

Yes, this sweet little boy has grown into a little man, which is so amazing and rewarding, but at the same time frustrating and challenging.

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The Beach!

Yes, I am still going through Washington photos!  There are still tons left!  But these are some of my favorite!!!  We had planned on meeting my sister-in-law Amy and Chris' cousin Megan and taking all the kiddos to the beach!  Let me first tell you that this beach was not sandy, it was more like mud.  But since this was the very first time the boys had been to any beach, they could care less!  All the kids had a blast!  They got very muddy, but it was worth it!

Ahh, fun times!  So fun for all the cousins to play together.  (Lily was very out-numbered 5 boys to just her.)  And the one you can't see in the pictures was the super cute tiny little baby Landon.  He was only a couple of weeks old when we met him.  He was precious!  And I got a little cuddling in, which made me very happy!  We all had fun at the beach.  And we collected lots of sand dollars too ;-)  And a few shells.  I had fun!

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Books.

Currently, this is what I am reading. Too bad I don't get a chance to read more than a couple of pages at a time. Now if only I could run & read, I would be set. HA! Can you just imagine what a disaster that would be?!?

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