RunDisney

What do you do to celebrate your kids 18th birthday when they are away at college? I went to Disneyland to run a half marathon. This weekend Tyler turned 18, I figured since he would be at BYU Idaho he wouldn't want me to drive up there to celebrate with him, so I decided to celebrate without him. I dislocated my kneecap in January and was in the knee brace until April, so I needed a race to help motivate me to start running again. This seemed to be the perfect race for me. Chris and I decided to go without the kids. We drove down Friday and went to California Adventure. Chris made our first ride be Tower of Terror. Chris likes the ride but I hate it. I don't like to free fall like that. We went on the other rides, walked around the park, walked downtown Disney, and then went back to the hotel. Saturday morning we started our day with breakfast with the characters and then played at Disneyland all day! We had a blast only going on the bigger rides. Everything was decorated for Christmas including the Jungle Cruise ride. It was so much fun! We ended our day by watching Fantasmic and the Fireworks. Then it was off to bed so I could wake up at 4 am to run my 13.1 miles! I Thought I was going to have to walk by myself at 4:30 in the morning to the start of the race at The Disneyland Hotel (about 1.5 miles away), because there was no way Chris was going to get up that early. But then I found out that I got a free shuttle to Disneyland and only had to walk thru the Downtown Disney District. I walked with a bunch of other racers toward the start line, this was the first race that I ran completely by myself. Other racers had either their spouse or a friend to run with. But this race was mostly to show myself that I could run this distance again. While I'm running I have to constantly talk myself into continuing. 13.1 miles is a long time to be with your own thoughts. As long as I was lost in the music the miles seemed to go by fast. As soon as I started thinking, oh man did those miles drag on. The wind was awful strong today too! If I was running into the wind, I had to push so hard, it felt like I wasn't moving at all. If the wind was coming at my side, it was pushing me so hard that I was tripping over my own feet! Then when the wind was coming from behind me pushing me, I was flying. It was crazy! We ran through California Adventure, Disneyland, and Angel's Stadium. Mile 12-13.1 was the hardest because you were running through the back of the park and the hotels and smelling food! I was so hungry I was smelling bacon and eggs, and BBQ pulled pork.there were so many people out cheering us on, including all the local high school cheer leaders and auxiliaries. They were out there ready to give us fives as we ran by. I am proud to say that I ran/jogged the entire 13.1 miles. I didn't really even train for it. The last time I ran more then 2 miles outside was the Ragnar at the end of September. And then my longest leg was 8.4 miles. I haven't run more then 3 miles on a treadmill since September either. I placed 183 out of 1115 in my age group, 824 out of 6,407 women, and 2091 out of a total of 10,449 runners! Not too bad! Overall I'm glad I was able to go and run this fun race! Thank you Chris for supporting me!

Mt. Diablo

It doesn't happen very often but it snowed in February on Mt. Diablo. When it does snow, we know that it doesn't last very long, so you only have a small window of time to go up there if you plan on seeing the snow. So it snowed on Tuesday, on Wednesday since the kids get out of school at 1 pm I picked Riley Jo and Kyle up from school then headed up the mountain. There wasn't very much snow but there was a lot of people. We attempted to slide down a hill, once. Not enough snow. We then had a snowball fight. Many people had built mini snowmen. They were all so cute! The kids had a fun time!

Valentine's Date Night

For our Valentine's Date we decided to try a new restaurant. I have never ate at Benihana's and Chris wanted to go. So I called them up and of course they were booked. My sister told me she just found out there was a restaurant in Pleasant Hill just like Benihana's, it's called Kobe Japan. So I called them up and made a reservation. The chef cooks your food right there in front of you. We watched him marinate and cook our food at the same time. We got Filet Mignon and chicken. It was perfect. And the portion size is so big we had enough for lunch the next day! I love when that happens!

Valentine's Day

I had seen this very fun idea on Pinterest, thanks to one of my friends, and I decided that I was going to do it for our family dinner! You set up the table with just a tablecloth and candles for a candlelight dinner. You place menus around the table so everyone has their own menu. Then you all sit down and you welcome everyone to Cupid's crazy cafe.There are 8 menu items for everyone to choose from, problem is it's in code and you don't know what you're ordering until you place all 8 items under the Appetizer, Main Dish, and Dessert columns. 1. Huggin' was a fork. 2.Cuddlin' was a spoon, 3. Snugglin' was a napkin. 4. Squeezin' was salad. 5. Squishin' was garlic bread. 6. Smoochin' was Ravioli's. 7. Kissin' was a drink. And 8. Lovin' was dessert. I made giant Rice Krispie Treats shaped like chocolate kisses for dessert. The kids all had so much fun with this dinner. Tyler sat down and read his menu and asked if he could just skip dinner! He did not want to be hugged and smooched and loved on. Teenagers! Tyler' appetizer was his dessert and Ravioli's, but he didn't get his fork until main course. Kyle didn't get his drink until dessert so we decided to give him water until dessert. The special drink for dinner was Sparkling Apple Cider. Riley Jo wants to do this for every holiday and birthday now!

Prom Night

February 9 was Prom! Tyler and Alaina, Parker and Michayla went over to Morgan's house to take pictures and have dinner before Prom. So fun to see all these kids dressed up for a fun evening. It was fun to help serve dinner to all the kids. It was a great group of kids. They all had fun at the dance and went to Fenton's for dessert!

Hawaii

Every year Chris and I make it a point to go away for the weekend for our anniversary. Since we were married with kids, even for our honeymoon we only went away for the weekend. Chris has been trying to get me to fly away with him for a week somewhere for a couple years now. But my guilt of leaving my kids kept me from doing it. After a conversation with my Aunt and her telling me how important it is for Chris and I to have alone time together, I finally agreed to a week with Chris! So this year for our anniversary we wen to Hawaii! I was fortunate that after I graduated from High School I was able to go to Oahu to visit my Uncle, Aunt, and cousin for 2 weeks. So this was my 2nd time on Oahu but Chris' first. We had a blast!

 We went to the Dole planation

 Drove along the coast

 went to the Laie Temple,

 BYU Hawaii








 The Polynesian Cultural Center, we both got a chance to be Warriors. Chris said he enjoyed throwing sticks at me. We saw a guy climb a tree with his bare feet to pick coconuts. Loved the dancing on the river. Watched the Luau and the food was amazing. We even danced after dinner because we were there celebrating our anniversary.

 We went to Pearl Harbor and on the USS Missouri

 

We hiked Diamondhead Volcano. The views were amazing!

                                  Snorkeled at Hanama Bay and swam with some sea turtles.

We were able to Stand Up Paddle Board. This was a lot of fun. We were on an island, and along with us were some Australians. They could not figure out how to stand up without falling into the water. It was 9:00 am and like 60 degrees outside. The water was very cold and I did NOT want to fall in. I asked them if the water was cold and they told me "yes, freezing. Whatever you do, don't fall in." "But if you do, watch out for this corral, it will cut you up!" We didn't fall!

we also swam in the ocean, kayaked, hiked to 150 foot waterfall, and shopped. We had so much fun just being us. I wouldn't have been able to have snorkeled if our kids were with us because I would have been worrying about where they were, and if they were ok. We wouldn't have been able to do as much as we did with the kids either because they woud have gotten tired. We were busy! One morning we left the hotel and walked to the beach and Hawaii 5-0 was being filmed right there in a parking lot! We stood and watched for a minute. I am glad that Chris and I had this opportunity. My mom watched our kids for us and answered the phone for us. I had friends helping with rides with the kids to help out. I am truly blessed and I felt it while planning and during this trip!

Colton Michael Siegmann

 January 19, 2013 was Colton baby shower. Colton is Steve and Jeannine's first baby. We are all so excited. Jeannine's friends Jessica and Dana threw her the shower. We played some games, ate, decorated onesies and then watched Jeannine open the gifts. It was fun to see friends that I haven't seen in awhile. My gifts for baby included a onesie with a Raiders tie apliqued on, a Raider infant carseat cover, a Raider burp cloth, and a Raider/Niner quilt! I was happy with the way they turned out!