Ragnar 2012

 Let me just say- I love these relay races!!  I did my first one in 2009 and now I've just finished my 6th relay!  This one was a lot of fun because I got to do it with mom- sort of - we were in different vans so I only saw her when I passed off the baton to her but still we had fun at the finish line together :)

 I was pretty impressed with ourselves after 197 miles we were still able to jump!  Although this time I was awfully sore - one of our runners ended up getting injured after her 2nd leg so I got to run her third leg- I don't know if my legs were really thrilled with that but they still cooperated

 Ben was wonderful and came and volunteered at the finish line- you can tell that I had only really had 2 hours of sleep over the last 48 hours - I was feeling a little sleepy/goofy

 My van!  We were the the spankin spatulas again and I love our team!  Joel, Sarah, Josh, Terry, Me and Allie- I ran with Joel and Josh last year so it was fun to see them again!

Me hanging out and trying to stretch out in the van!  It is just a lot of fun to challenge yourself and do things that you just don't think you could - my second leg this year was 8.2 miles up a canyon and I still remember the first year I ran this race and my team member ran this and I thought 'I will never be able to do something like that!'  And this year I did!  I ran 8 miles up a canyon and didn't die - it was a pretty great feeling :)  I can't wait for my next race!

randomness

Well since I haven't updated my blog since September when Katie was born - here are some random pictures from Sept until now - enjoy :)

Katie was a witch for halloween this year

 Gracie was helping katelynn to play with barbies

Katelynn LOVED the swing and it was the only place I could get her to smile for the longest time 

Gracie learning to write her name at the beginning of the school year

We went to Disneyland in December and these next few are from our trip:

Katie just hanging out

 Smiling at our hands

 They had a HUGE christmas tree

 The small world ride was all lighted out

 The castle was so pretty at night!

 Snuggling with dad

 You can really tell how big the tree is from this picture

Gracie and I eating our suckers - yummy

Back home again and gracie was making katelynn laugh

Gracies christmas card she made for me

Happy baby without the swing

 Very happy baby with the swing!!

Katelynn did not want to crawl using her knees so she would try to push up and crawl in pushup form - it was weird but very cute

Katelynns special weekend

 It was a special weekend for Katelynn a couple of weeks ago!  On April 7th 2012 Katelynn because an official member of our eternal family!  It was very exciting and long awaited! 

 Almost 4 years ago - back in July of 2008- Ben called my from work one day and said that someone he worked with was pregnant and was going to give the baby up for adoption and did we want to express interest in adopting that baby- well it was kind of a confusing phone call for me because I knew I wasn't getting pregnant but I didn't know if I was ready to admit that I couldn't and that we needed to look for other ways to expand our family- anyhow as I got off the phone with him I was kind of stressed out and so I said a quick prayer to help me feel calm and to know what to do

Anyhow Gracie came into the room and wanted me to read to her - so I sat the phone call aside and I picked up the friend and flipped through trying to find a story that wasn't too long- because her attention span was like 5 seconds- anyhow so I start ready a story to her and it is about this little girl who was getting on her special clothes and doing her hair special because they were going to the temple that day to have their adopted baby sister sealed to them- anyhow as I read that story I felt the Spirit so strong - and I knew that our family would do that one day-

Anyhow so it is wonderful to me that after so many ups and downs with life that almost 4 years later Heavenly Father was able to fulfill that promise that He made to me one afternoon so many years ago- I just love that Katelynn came to our family and the blessing that she has been - and I love knowing that our Heavenly Father loves us so much and that He guided and directed our family to where we needed to be so that we could all gather together as a family one beautiful Saturday afternoon and seal Katelynn to our family forever

 Our happy family all in white

 Our wonderful friends who have been with my along the way :)

 The Johnsons

The Andersons

 No day would be complete without Gracie posing for the camera!

 The next day, Easter Sunday, we were able to bless Katelynn - and it was a wonderful blessing- I cried through of it - but I love where one part Katelynn was blessed - i'm paraphrasing- to receive all the good characteristics from all those who love her- which as a mom made me happy because even though I didn't give birth to her I can still pass to her things that will make up her character

 Our family

Its hard to see but it is suppose to be a picture of the two dresses I made

Anyhow it was a very good weekend!