Utah trip

We had a great time in Utah. Here's some pictures from our trip back in September. We got to spend some time with my mom and stayed at her house for most of the trip. Here are Jared and Sam lounging around in the morning. Sam found that Dad's head makes a great pillow.

We went to Park City and did the Alpine slide.

My mom and I also did the zip line.

We were able to make a trip out to Roosevelt to see Jared's sister and family. Sam discovered the piano. I think he's going to be a rock star just like his dad. We also went wake boarding with my little brother Geoff. It was his first time and he did really well. It's funny though how hestitant to try anything anyone becomes after face planting. Of course I forgot my camera so we don't have any pictures from it.

Caught in the act.

Logan marathon...finally

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get these pictures up. I finally decided I better do it or give up blogging all together.

**Warning** This is a long story; it was a marathon what do you expect.

The marathon was an experience. Jared and I drove up to Logan the night before much later than we expected. The procrastinator that I am, I didn't reserve a room until 2 weeks before and by that time everything was booked from about Ogden up to Idaho. I finally found a place that called themselves a retreat, a little ma and pap business. They said they rented out a house for family reunions and the Logan marathon. They said they were about 20 mi. outside of Logan, that means 20 mi. to the middle of nowhere. We got lost several times trying to find the place. We finally figured it out and ending getting there about 12am. The old man met us and showed us to our room and said that there was another guy staying there for the marathon. Our room had no lock on it and the old man said that he doesn't lock the house. I thought, "Isn't this the way all horror movies start?" We were so tired but couldn't sleep. Sam I think thought the same thing as me because he just kept crying and crying and would not under any circumstance let go of my cell phone. He was going to be ready to call 911 if needed. Jared really wanted me to be able to get some rest before the marathon and dealt with Sam. Between thinking about the creepy house that we were in and thinking about the marathon only a short time away, I got about an hour of sleep. I wish we had taken a picture of our room and the house. I got up somewhere around 4-4:30am, ate some breakfast and got dressed. Jared drove us into town so I could get my race packet with my number and then I had to get on a bus to take me up to the start. I got up to the start and waited on the bus until they made everyone get off. It was pretty cold up there in the canyon at 6am. I got off the bus and decided I better go to the bathroom before so I wouldn't have to stop for a while. There was a long line of port-a-potties with long lines of people in front of each of them. I saw people, who didn't want to wait, going up into the hills to go behind bushes. I wish I had gone behind the bushes. It would have been much cleaner and taken way less time. I finally got to the start a few minutes before the race began. I looked for a friend I knew was running but being so short I really couldn't see over anyone's shoulders. Finally the gun went off and we started running. It was pretty cold but I knew it wouldn't take long to warm up. I had my ipod shuffle and my Garmin Forerunner so I could keep time and pace so I was good. The canyon was beautiful. The leaves were changing colors, fall was taking affect. When I reached 6 mi. I thought I'm making pretty good time only a few more hours and I'll be done. When I reached 13 mi., half-way, I thought, "I feel really good. If I keep this up I'll make my time. I'm doing great." When I reached 15 mi. we started leaving the canyon and people were starting to line the streets. I saw tons of men with babies cheering on their wives. I looked for Jared and Sam. I didn't see them. For the next 11.2 mi. I kept looking for Jared and Sam. It seemed like the longest 11 mi. ever especially that last .2 miles. When I finally hit the 26 mile marker I thought, "I'm done" but oh no you keep going, you turn a corner and then keep going. I really didn't think I was going to make it to that finish line. As I got closer and closer to the finish I looked harder and harder for Jared and Sam. All I wanted was to see my husband and my baby. As I was crossing the finish line I finally saw them and I burst into tears. The volunteer behind the line said, "Those are well deserved tears of joy." I thought, "Are you crazy? I just ran 26.2 miles. These are pain tears." It was FINALLY over. We went and sat on the grass for a few minutes. Jared rubbed my calves until the cramping stopped and we played with Sam. Jared surprised me with a new cell phone because Sam had completely destroyed mine some time during the night. I'm glad it's over and I'm done training. It was nice thought afterwards that I wouldn't have to get up early on Monday to go running and that if I didn't want to I wouldn't ever have to run again. I will of course run again. I've run my whole life. When I was really little my dad used to pay my siblings and me to run. I needed to run after eating all the candy I would buy from the money I would get from running. But back to the subject of the marathon, my knees were so sore that day that I had to go up and down stairs sideways to keep my knees from bending too much. It was a pretty funny sight. Thanks to Eric and Jen for letting me take a nap at their place afterwards. I hope I haven't discouraged anyone from doing a marathon. It is more of a mental challenge than a physical challenge, although it is very challenging physically.

Here's Sam waiting for Mom at the finish line.

Here I am finally crossing the finish line not interested in the anything but finding Jared and Sam.

This is where I see Jared and Sam. The tears are about to start.

Sam's more interested in the medal than Mom.

About a month ago...

I was tagged by sis-in-law. I have to list 8 interesting things about myself. So for the last month I've been trying to think of interesting things. So here goes:
1. I love my feet. I know it's weird but it's the only part of my body that has always been skinny (except at the end of my pregnancy and right after when even my toes swelled to look like big fat juicy grapes).
2. By the time we leave here, I will have lived in this apartment longer than any other house I have ever lived in. My dad is still in the army so I have moved a lot. I've been in almost all 50 states and visited or lived in several countries including: Australia, Chile, France, Germany, and Italy.
3. I never really had a boyfriend until after my mission unless you count the boys from elementary school and junior high where I was asked to "go out" in a note where I circled yes and then didn't ever talk to the boy. I don't remember how many of those I had.
4. I just ran my second and last marathon on September 15th. As soon as Jared gets back I'll post pics of me crying at the finish line. I was a little emotional and in pain as I had just run 26.2 miles. That last .2 miles seemed to go on forever.
5. I have never bought a formal dress including my wedding dress. I borrowed my wedding dress from a friend.
6. I graduated from BYU completely single. Jared and I went on our first date about a week after graduation and were married 4 months and 4 days later. We just celebrated 3 years of marriage September 4th. Jared surprised me by taking me to see Wicked. It was amazing.
7. The only bone I have broken is in my middle finger.
8. I have been skydiving. Jared signed me up and then told me that I didn't have a choice. I'm glad he made me do it. It was fun but I will never do it again.
Hopefully you've enjoyed my interesting things. Whoever has read this....Tag, you're it.

Family Pictures

I hope my sister-in-law doesn't mind that I direct you to her link, she is an amazing photographer. I was hoping to ask her at the family reunion to take some family pics of Jared, Sam and me. When we all got there she actually asked me if she could use our family to pose for her web site. I was so excited for us to be her models. She has just posted them on her blog so if anyone wants to check them out here's the link: www.jenniferlee.typepad.com/. The pictures turned out great. I'm excited to put up some family photos around the house. Thanks again to my sister-in-law for making us look so good.

I'm hungry Mom!

Sam found a box of his crackers in his diaper bag I had left sitting out from our trip and started feeding himself. I had to snap a picture it's the first time I've seen him do anything like this and watching him eat is pretty funny. Maybe I'm home too much, everything Sam does is pretty funny, although I think most would agree kids in general are pretty dang funny.

The Samuel Martin family reunion

Every three years, the descendants of Samuel Martin, Jared's great grandfather get together in McCall, ID for their family reunion. Three years ago was my first time at the reunion, Jared and I passed out wedding announcements at the reunion. This time we came with little Sam and passed him around to all the family members. We had such a great time and I learned a lot of Jared's family history. Here are some pictures from the reunion. This first one is Sam with Papa Mel, who has now nick-named Sam, Bubba.

Every reunion there's a 3 on 3 basketball tournament. Jared's team won. Here's Sam on the side lines.
Jared took a break to play hide-and-seek with Sam.
Here's all the Mel Martin family. All of Jared's siblings were here at the reunion, a first in many years. Sam had not had his nap that afternoon and so he was not happy at having to sit still.
They have a ropes course at the camp so Jared and I competed on all the challenges. The zip line was the most fun.

The lake was so beautiful but a little cold, Sam was a trooper though. There was a trampoline on the water. Bella, our niece, jumped with us. I think Jared used to be a cheerleader. Go Team Martin!

Sam's enjoying his propel on the lawn not so much the life jacket on the boat.

We even got in a little wake boarding. I'm not sure who this is on the air-chair but I thought it was a great picture so I had to throw it in.

Here's one more picture of Sam just because he's so cute.

Christmas in July

Jared finally got a new bike a couple of weeks ago after getting his old bike stolen out of our garage over a year ago. It was like watching a kid tearing open his christmas presents as I watched Jared unwrap his new mountain bike he bought on ebay.