Utah 1: Half Marathon and Shopping Marathon

The Edwards and Nufer families have done fabulous work coordinating summer vacations. When you have 8 younger siblings, it is "dangerous" to plan anything in the summer until you are absolutely certain there will not be a wedding in the family. Thankfully, my brother Kevin's wedding and the Edwards Family Reunion fell in the same 7 day time period. Scott, whenever you read this, feel free to plan your wedding accordingly.

One of the main highlights of this trip was also meeting Joshua Monson, my sister's 8-week-old son. He smelled every bit the newborn, and reminded me so much of little Zachary.

Natalie was nice enough to drive all over Utah to pick us up from the airport, and she and Steve also hosted us later that night. We spent the day Friday running from store to store, trying to make up for lost shopping time over the past 8 months. We worked to find any 24 month summer clothes, but mostly we found autumn clothes that would never work in Kauai.

Friday night, we met up with my siblings, and had the privilege of meeting Kevin's fiance, Kristen. Kevin can't stop grinning with her around. I commented at their wedding that she apparently missed the "lay low" memo to new sister or brother-in-laws, because she really gets out there and makes the first effort getting to know her new family. It made Brady and I really excited about their upcoming wedding.

It is always my goal to find a race while we are on the mainland. For the second year in a row, I ran the Provo Half Marathon. It is a batter-your-legs, mostly downhill run that leaves you sore for a good week, but at least your time is fast! This year, Brady also trained and ran it. Kristen, Kevin, and my brother Eric (in town for BYU Volleyball camp) came in the early am to watch us, and even got some pictures.

Brady's first photo op:
Me at the same spot (mile 5), thinking that I'll hit my goal time:

Brady, after the uphill, counting the number of people he picks off (51, by the way):

Me, thinking, "This is by far the most exhausted I have ever felt in a half marathon":
Brady finished with sub-7s at 1:30 (WHOO-HOO!), and I squeaked by at 7:44s with a time of 1:41 (27 sec/mile slower than last year!). Eek. The only thing keeping me under 8s was Aaron Varney--who irritatingly told me stories of ultra-marathon runners not giving up, and blahblahblah! Ha! Just teasing, Aaron. You really did save me from a disastrous finish, and I can't wait to race you again. Rematch 2010?

All Work and No Play

I'm a sucker for recreation. Lately, with our move and previous illness, it's been hard to get a few hours of fun squeezed in. I told Brady that I want our Saturdays as protected as our Sundays--no one takes our time, we decide how to spend it. Sounds pretty crabby of me, but you have to defend the weekend!

We got our weekend, and spent it dancing in waves and sunshine, plus another run to Home Depot and our typical weekend tasks. Friday night, we each had over an hour to zoom around on big waves, visit with friends, and end the night with a hot tub and show. Saturday, we both ran long and hit Brennecke's again before heading over for some delicious, Cafe Rio-inspired fresh Mex with friends.

Brady getting some sun:

Tonight finished it off for us with a seashore stroll. The waves crashed hard against the cliff side and Brady kept commenting on how much his dad would love this. All I could think was, "Why did it take us so long to move to Koloa?"

Shots from earlier in the week

Brady fed Zac lunch on Monday so I could run at lunchtime, and we could see the early Harry Potter show after work. I came back inside to find them both zonked out.

Poor Zac has been wearing long-sleeved PJs for too long (the long-sleeves used to help him sleep at night). We finally got some new ones for the scortcher evenings we've had lately.It's so precious to come into his room and see him reading to himself. It happens almost daily.

Our New Digs

Living Room, Office: Cherry wall:Functional Kitchen:
Zac's Bedroom/Playroom:
Whoo-hoo: 2 SINKS! And teal walls!
When my family stayed here in March, my sister Janece ran to me and pulled me outside to show me evidence that "there used to be more to this house...see the shower?"
Abundant natural lighting:

Gripes:
-Leaks, everywhere. Refrigerator, sinks, washing machine, toilet--you name it, and it leaks.
-Broken garbage disposal, broken floor board, broken television (which led to new television, seen above)
-Dirty, ew... The "professional" clean hardly even included surfaces, as evident by numerous cobwebs, barefoot black feet, and crumbs under the very-mobile couch.
-Owner's junk all had to be packed up and placed carefully in the attic=sweat and hours and hours and hours of labor.

This is no brand-new, hardly-lived-in, white-walled condo. My bedroom has pink walls, my wicker furniture is hardly fashionable, and this house wasn't even ready for Internet!

We love it.

Hibiscus surrounds our yard, along with several Plumeria trees:

The green (or as seen here, slightly brown) belt:

Zachary's backyard freedom:






Worth each minute, leak, and even my very black feet.

Brady's 30th Birthday

Brady, Zachary, and I were all very ill on Brady's actual birthday. We stayed home from church and everything. We still ate cake. We are Edwards. We eat cake and pretty much anything with sugar on proper occasions. Who cares that we can't taste it?

Zac was finally well enough that he could taste. He ate it all up.

To celebrate, we went to dinner on Friday night, opened presents, and kept things low-key. We were moving, and our condo was too small to host a party. I had to wait until the following weekend to throw a party.

I planned the party for the day after our move. The next day, a Friday, was really our only option. Saturday, most of our guests were going to the temple in Kona, and if I waited another week, it would just be out of place. At 5:30pm on Thursday night, we got back to our new house after cleaning the condo. Not one box in our new house was unpacked. All I could think was "Uh, oh." I'm sure Brady thought I was crazy when I asked him to hang paintings in our living room while absolutely surrounded by boxes.

Friday was chaos, but it got done--enough. When Brady got home from work at 5:30pm, I told him I needed an hour to myself to go run and just have some quiet. He believed me, and took Zachary to the park, asking me to PICK HIM UP! How perfect! I thought he must know about the party based on the ideal circumstances.

I ran around like crazy, setting out my (hidden) food, decorating with helium balloons (stuffed inside my car's trunk all day long), and putting the room into party condition. It was 6:20pm when I got IN the shower, and guests showed up at 6:30pm. Whew! I picked Brady up from the park and as we pulled into the driveway, his only comment was, "Why is Shaun's [Brady's boss] car in our driveway???" He said it with irritation, so I knew I had him!

We had some yummy pizza from Brick Oven, and then watched Brady open some gifts.

Everyone was a good sport and played "Hilarium" with us. Thanks, VEM fam, for providing our entertainment. It was "hilarious!" If you haven't played this one before, it's worth a purchase. It's sort of like really loud charades.

Birthday cake #2:Here I am telling him it better not take 5 tries to blow out the candles (like it did with cake #1):

Karaoke can be a bear at parties. It can be what makes everyone decide to suddenly leave, or those who do participate sing seriously and everyone wonders why they are staying. I was nervous to try it out, but with this group, I thought it would fly. Enough people there didn't care about appearances.

Brady bearing his soul:

Jason:

Me and Wendy wailed:
Preggo Rachel and Julie:The boys:
Genevieve, who provided the machine and music!

Will and Karen, who were up so many times, I couldn't keep track of numbers. They were in karaoke heaven.I am sure our neighbors are questioning the judgement of the owners in their decision to rent to us after so much noise, but maybe they'll forgive and forget. Happy Birthday, Brady!

I Had My First Day in Nursery Today

It was good.