The Biggest Loser

So this morning I did something a bit craaazy.  I registered for The Biggest Loser Half Marathon in Seattle!  I've only ever run 5k's and those are too easy because I can walk 3.1 miles faster than most people can run them.  So in order to give myself incentive to actually train for something I chose a distance that I would never ever do.  13.1 miles sounded about right.  haha  I had a couple of reasons for choosing a race sponsored by The Biggest Loser. 

1.  I love their show.
2.  They have the most freebies associated with the race..."free" shirt, backpack, race day photos, etc. 
3.  They have a 5 HOUR time limit for finishing the race.  (That equates to a 22 minute mile.  haha)
4.  It's a fun race and not competitive.
5.  Did I mention you get "free" stuff?!?  ;-)

Hopefully I don't end up walking the whole thing.  I'm kind of excited about it even though I really don't enjoy distance running.  I get bored easily.  Wish me luck! 

Reed's Birthday Weekend

I used to think that August birthday's were the best because school (we're talking K-12 grades) had yet to start, the weather was still great, and you could have all the fun.  Well, August birthday's are still the best but you have to take them with a grain of salt.  Every single weekend in August becomes this marathon of various events and the days you would celebrate a birthday become way too overbooked to even think of the birthday brat.  Last year was my worst birthday because of that situation (we hadn't realized how busy things could get) so Reed worked really hard to make sure that this birthday was an improvement. 

Reed had me make some plans and then on Friday evening we sat together and figured out how to make it work.  On Saturday we had a funeral in the early afternoon, a wedding mid-afternoon, and a high school reunion early evening.  After much deliberation we axed the wedding and decided to arrive late to the reunion. This made room for us to do my chosen activities. 

Chicken Twins

Early afternoon I went for a five mile run (made it through without stopping!) and then came home to find Reed warming up my Angry Birds game for me.  ;-)  He smiled and said "so Meghan, for my birthday I want to go to Sand in the City, a funeral, watch a movie, and go to a party in McCleary".  So all day long we joked that it was his birthday.  haha  Breakfast was a delicious omelet and toast.  The first egg I cracked had a double yolk!!!!  How lucky is that?

We unlocked our bicycles and headed down to the waterfront where Sand In The City was being held.  They had 13 sand sculptures and lots of tents with activities.  It's mostly geared towards kids but that seemed to make the event a little cleaner.  Our favorite sand sculpture was the Minion Bowling one.  We got to walk through a huge inflatable brain, watch bongo drummers, etc.  When it started to drizzle rain then we headed home. 

After lunch we ventured to the fire hall near my parents house.  Earlier in the week an 80 something year old woman had died and Mom rushed to put together a funeral luncheon.  In order to ease fighting between sides of the family the luncheon venue ended up being the volunteer fire department.  How neat is that?  We helped set up and then stuck around while the people ate and chatted.  We met a very nice woman who lives near us and drives the same type of car we do. 

Me and the Birthday Boy  ;-)

Even though the funeral was still going on we left at 3:10 and went straight to the theater in our church clothes.  We planned on picking up a Subway sandwich prior to the movie but the Subway in the mall only took cash.  Who carries cash?!?  So we ended up buying a huge pizza pie from the food court and snarfing down broiling hot pieces before the movie.  We only had like one minute to spare! Despicable Me 2 was the chosen movie and it was hilarious!  We liked it a lot and laughed constantly. 

From the mall we carpooled with Andrew and Maureen to the 10 Year High School Reunion of the Elma Class of 2003.  It was held in the McCleary Community Center and was one of the most awkward events I've ever been to.  I met some of the people from Reed's stories and we enjoyed chatting with a few of them. 

A grown-up girl needs a princess cake

The next day was actually my birthday and we celebrated with family.  We had dinner at my parents house and invited Reed's mom to come too.  Dinner was delicious (I even made the dinner rolls!  Thank you Rhodes rolls.  haha) and the cake was fabulous.  Mom made a double decker carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  She decorated using princess puzzle pieces and pink sprinkles.  Best cake ever!  We finished the event by watching 17 Again. 

Reed threw me the best birthday party ever and I really appreciated his efforts to make me feel special!  Now to spend the year getting used to saying I'm 26 years old! 

Princess Birthday Cake

For my birthday celebration, Mom went to new heights for my birthday cake.  She made a double decker circle cake that she frosted and decorated with princess puzzle pieces!  Isn't it the cutest cake ever!   She also let me take home most of it and so I'm loving the constant supply of carrot cake.  Yummy! 

The Last Bahrt Wedding Pictures

Kandace and Ken Nance

Some of the Bahrt family

Our lovely hosts

The three little girls and Daddy

Best friends

The Happy Couple

Tommy Photobombing

The Last Bahrt Wedding

Last weekend was busy busy busy.  Honestly I can't say that I'd like to recreate 28 hours of driving with only 25 hours of "resting" in the middle anytime soon.  However, the memories created as a result of the road trip are priceless.

Friday early morning we left Olympia in our lovely 'rental' car.  Reed, Dad, and I settled in for the long haul to Utah.  We took two hour shifts of driving and took ten minute walking breaks at each change of shift.  It went really well and traffic was great all the way through.  We were all thoroughly exhausted so whoever wasn't driving ended up sleeping.  There were a lot of snores and sleep twitches.  When we arrived in Utah, we were accidentally locked out of my sister's house so Reed and I took a walk around the neighbor and chatted.  It was so peaceful and wonderful to be with my hubby after a long week of him being at scout camp.

When family arrived again we were all punch drunk tired so we had a great time laughing over crazy stories and random things.  Jeanne's father-in-law had ensured we had mattresses so we would be comfortable.  Reed slept like a log but I was busy sleepwalking all night (as I usually do when I am in a different location).

We all woke up early and it was so nice to sit in the living room with two of my sisters while we all did our hair and makeup. Dad made sure to give us a teaching moment while we were all gathered.  He taught that all of us girls are now grown and have our own households and we need to be sure to not compare but rather to treat each other as peers.  I liked that a lot!

At the temple we met Kandace's in-laws and they are quite nice!  We also met up with Adrienne and Rebekah and Tommy.  I miss those people!  In the sealing room we all sat down and I looked up at the chandelier and realized that I was about to cry.  So I got myself tissue and then all of my sisters decided that it was a good idea too. Good thing we got ready because all of us cried through the sealing.  It was very beautiful and Kandace and Ken looked radiant.  Afterwards the sealer looked at me all red-faced and hiccuping while clinging to Reed and he asked "Newlyweds?" and I thought that was cool.

We took pictures outside the temple and then went to lunch at Magleby's where Adrienne and Daddy made me cry again with their toasts.  The food was good....to be quite honest I could have gotten quite fat off of their delicious breadsticks.  YUMM!   Kandace and Ken showed us their apartment and it is ginormous and super cute.  They will be comfortable and happy there.  Personally, I had major jealousy issues over the kitchen!  haha

Back at Jeanne's house we had a few hours before the reception so we all changed into comfy clothes and I laid down on the floor next to Rebekah and we chatted for a few hours.  Really us girls have never been too elaborate in what we do together.  As long as we can talk then we don't need anything else!  Kayden and Kaitlyn had a lot of fun playing with Reed.  The kids were constantly arguing about who would get to decide on what to play so Reed suggested they flip a coin.  It was funny when all the coin tosses went to Kaitlyn.  They would flip different things and pick different sides but she always won.

The reception was very nice.  I spent some time talking with my cousins from the Pappas family and then with the Compton and Washburn group.  It was such a relief to have people there that we know and like!  Plus the food was good. We ate banana cream pie and pulled pork sliders.  YUM again!  Afterwards we bid adieu to the happy couple and went home.

Early the next morning we left for Olympia and made it back safely in good timing.  Now we just need everything to get back to normal!  :-)

PS.  Pictures in the next post.