Impromptu trip to Salt Lake

Last Friday we had the Xterra loaded up with our skiis and were headed to Durango to go Skiing.  Then I got a text from Kim that said they got 12 inches of snow in Salt Lake and we thought hmmmm.....Should we turn around and go to Salt Lake?   We wanted to visit them and ski in Salt Lake in February but our trip was canceled because of a storm.  So why the heck not?   So we did.    It was so great to see Kim and Chris and it was fun to see Rachel and Savanna's friendship pick up right where it left off (on barbies and littlest pet shop).  

So after an 8 hour drive, the next morning we got dressed in ski clothes and headed to the ski resort...only to be stuck in a traffic jam before we even got to the canyon road.  We waited about 10 minutes in the line to turn at the last stoplight before the canyon, and we didn't move at all.  I have never been to the ski resort, so I had to take Sam's word for it, that this meant it was backed up for about 12 more miles at least, and we could be there for hours.  And then if we made it up there, we might have trouble finding parking etc.   Sam refused to wait, that is how much he hates traffic.  He loves skiing A LOT...but the traffic wasn't worth it.   So we called our friends and said we were coming back to play in the snow.

So after being gidding with excitement and being proud that we could be so spantaneous the day before, I felt a little like it came back to bite us in the butt, because apparently being spontaneous can work both ways.  :)   Thankfully, the second place option was hanging out with our friends and getting to eat some Brazillian BBQ for dinner  (which I had been craving since trying to go to a place in Phoenix when we were down.)  So as random and wierd as the trip was--I consider it a success!

Susan's run

Sam's parents started a foundation in honor of his sister who passed away from colon cancer a few years ago  (Susan M Turley Foundation)   And a few weeks ago we went down to Tempe for the 2nd annual run fundraiser.  We had a great time.  

Sam was all ready to do the one mile run but got called up to volunteer last minute, here he is at his post, making sure that no crazy runners miss the sign with the giant arrow and go the wrong way. :)

Rach had fun with two of her cousins that ran the one mile fun run with her.  I don't have any pics of my sister and my brother-in-law who came all the way out from Goodyear to run, so this picture of my neice will have to suffice as proof that they were there. 

I laughed when I saw the face that she is making while running, looks exactly like some other pics I have of her running the bases in t-ball, and at last year's run.  What I thought was some unlucky timing of the camera appears to be a signiture running technique :)

I ended up running the 5k and finished with a time of 26:58.05 and placed 12th out of 85 women.

Funny back story, after preparing well for the half marathon about a month previously, I had only run twice since that race since it got cold and I was in recovering (lazy :) mode.  Then, since we were helping out at the race I was in volunteer mode and didn't end of eating anything for breakfast or even having a drink of water, and didn't even realize this until I lined up on the starting line ...oops.  About ten feet after the start I was thinking "Man, I am tired."  ha ha

The entire cross country team came from the high school where Susan attended, so there were   tons of young, fast, runners that I tried to keep up with...so once again, went a bit too fast out of the gate.  Oh well.  It was a good time, and at least this time I had a little bit of a kick left at the finish line, unlike at the half-marathon...but I would like to have consistant splits instead of feeling laggy in the middle and watching lots of people pass me:) 

Snow Day

Here is one day when it snowed and Rachel didn't have to go to school.  We got to spend the morning playing in the snow with our good friends.    They really wanted to build a snowman, but it wasn't good snowman snow, so this is the best we could do. 

Thankfully, they were just as happy to eat the snow as anything else.   A little confession--I too love to eat snow.  As long it is a fresh snow (just fallen, so it hasn't been walked on etc) and as long as there is enough of it (so as to ensure you don't get any dirt with your handful of snow).   I went for a run a few weeks before this and there was still some snow on the ground, I was getting really thirsty and wished I had brought some water, then I thought of how Cali just eats snow when we are out walking and she gets thirsty, so I thought I would try it.  It was awesome.  totally convenient--much better than lugging around a bottle of water.

This made me laugh--evidence of Cali eating snow is all over that snout!  Love how sitting in the snow isn't enough, she has to stretch her legs out so her belly is in the snow.