My Senior!!

 Edward is a senior this year!  It is crazy to me how fast high school goes by.  I just can't!!  It is so fast!  I adore him.  There are so many things we have to do this year to prepare him for adulthood!  How did this time creep up on me? 

 

Taco Bell 50K

Yeah, these two things should not go together.  But they do and they did.  This weekend I traveled with my friend Spencer to Denver to run 31 miles and eat taco bell all along the way.  It was epic!!  Friday, we flew out at 4 PM and met up with Spencer's friend Samyam and his Daughter Eva.  We headed to Meow Wolf in downtown Denver.  We grabbed a bite to eat at the "museum and then spent three hours walking through the exhibits.  It was insane!!  We had a blast.  

 

 We stopped at Taco Bell before going to our hotel to order our food for the race the next day.  We ordered 6 menu items.  I got 5 hard shell tacos and a chalupa.  Except they didn't give me a chalupa.  They gave me a crunch wrap supreme.  Not what I wanted but wherever.  We went to the hotel and put our food in the fridge and went straight to bed.  

We woke up at 5:30 AM to race prep and head to the start line.  The CRAZIEST thing happened!!  I saw KARA AND NATE!  My favorite (and only) youtubers where at the race filming for their channel!  It was a celebrity sighting!!  I actually hugged Kara and told her I love their stuff.  Then we ate a taco and started running.   It was crazy!!  The first taco went down fine.  The second taco went down Ok.  The third taco did not go down.  The fourth taco was a huge nope.  The fifth taco was also a huge NO!  The crunch wrap supreme was 6 bites then garbage.  I started to feel really gross after the 5th taco bell. I started searching for a bathroom and ran by some at the park but didn't stop thinking there would be another in a few miles.  That was a mistake.  I should have stopped.  We ran through the Denver Broncos stadium that had a ton of por of pottys!  ALL LOCKED!!  Ugh!!!  So as I got into downtown Denver on to 16th street, I was dying.  I ran into the Walgreens and they wouldn't let me use the bathroom.  Then I saw a jimmy johns and said "I'll buy something but I have to use the bathroom first".  They were so excited to have a taco bell runner in their restaurant.  I was their first.  I used the bathroom and didn't have to buy anything,.  They were so nice.  I ran past stop six and tried to eat the taco but had no luck.  I put an order in for stop 7 that was about 3 miles away and ran like crazy to get there.  My two friends kept waiting for me at each stop.  They were so nice as I was about 10 minutes behind them.  I picked up my food and stuffed it into my back pack and kept running. I had 2 packages of cinnamon twists that were extremely dry!! I ate a few of them at stop 7 and 8.  My friend Leigh Anne came to cheer me on and by mile 18 my knee was not feeling great so at mile 21 and Stop 8 I got in the car with Leigh and we went to lunch.  We had pizza and mimosas!!  It was so fun! I am so glad I stopped.  It took Spencer and Samyam two and half more hours to finish the race.  Spencer said he felt awful.  Samyam felt great and ate every. single. taco!!!!!  Impressive.  

 

We showered and rushed like crazy to catch our flight back to Albuquerque to go to Mumford and Sons.  There for a minute it looked like we might cut it very close to missing our flight.  We had to return our rental car, drive 45 minutes to the airport, and get to our gate.  Our flight left at 4:00 and we made it to the gate at 3:40!  The only reason we made the flight was because someone on the previous flight had pooped on a seatbelt and the maintenance crew had to come replace it so our flight was delayed by 20 minutes!  Lucky us??  Or unlucky us?  Which seat got pooped on? 

We landed in Albuquerque around 5:30 and spent some extra time at the airport because Samyam's daughter, Eva didn't have a seat on the flight home.  After figuring that all out, we drove back home.  I was dropped off and waited in anticipation for them to return for the concert.  It took them a little while longer than I anticipated but that was fine. I unpacked, got gas, and grabbed some peanut M&M's for dinner.   We had a blast at the concert.  I don't know a lot of the Mumford and Sons music but it was fun to hang out with all of the new friends I have made this last year.  Our entire kickball team was there.  We got home at midnight and I passed out!! I was so tired.  

 

Sunday, I woke up at 5:20 and rushed to get ready to take all of Spencer's high school friends to Balloon fiesta.  He invited Ryan, Samyam, Eva, and Rich.  So there were 6 of us in the car that morning.  Nolen has a parking pass that allows him to park close to the fiesta while avoiding all the traffic.  So we pulled in at 6:30 and walked right in.  We watched the Balloons rise at 7 AM and then walked around until 10 AM.  By the time I got home, I was back to being exhausted.  I fell right back to sleep.  General Conference was on for church on Sunday but I didn't watch a single session.  I basically slept the rest of the day.  It really was a fun filled weekend and I am so glad I was invited to participate.   

 

San Fransisco Trip #3

 How will I ever keep track of how many times I fly to San Fran?  Is this really the best way?  Well I decided to surprise Stephen and fly early to see him.  I just earned my A-list status on Southwest and I wanted to test out the free standby option.  I went on my bike ride and then went home and packed.  I thought I had a lot of time, but I ran out of time really quickly.  I needed to get my standby ticket one hour before the flight.  Well, I though the plane left at 11:20.  It left at 11:10.  I left my house at 10:00!!  It takes 20 minutes to get the airport.  So I figured it was all in vain.  Right as I was about to leave my dad jumped on the phone with wells fargo and Striker peed in my room. I left the door open for a total of 3 minutes and we walked right in and peed!!  So freaking frustrating.  So I had Nolen clean up the dog pee as I grabbed my dad and we drove quickly to the airport.  I didn't include time to stand at the help desk for 20 minutes and I didn't include time to run all the way back to the back of the terminal to get my ticket.  BUT I MADE IT!!  It was a miracle!!  

I landed in Burbank and left Stephen a Marco Polo that said, "Surprise!  I'm one hour away from seeing you!"  I think he was genuinely surprised and happy.   However, I sat on the tarmack for an hour after I landed so that sucked!  

 Friday, I woke up early and ran 15 miles on Sawyer Camp trail.  I finally got to run the way I had planned a few weeks ago.  OH MY GOD! It was stunning.  No words can describe how beautiful that trail is to me!  I love it.  There are pay phones, bathrooms, drinking fountains, and garbage cans all along the route.  It was tough but I made it.  I did a little weight lifting workout and then showered.  That nearly took the whole time while Stephen was at work.  He came home and we got pizza and foot massages.  It was the perfect Friday!

 Saturday we went on a hike near Muir Woods.  I learned that day that you have to have a reservation to park in Muir woods so we had to park just outside the park and do a totally different unplanned hike that lead us down to the beach.  We missed the trail and went off course for 2 miles so we ended up hiking 10 miles instead of 6.  I was actually really tired after running 15 miles the day before so I was grumpy and Stephen had to put up with my bad attitude.  And to be honest, this back and forth is WAY harder than I ever thought it would be.  What's hard??  Well the hardest part is being away from Stephen.  And the hardest part is being away from my amazing boys.  I want to parent them. I want to be in two places at once.  It is SO HARD!  I feel so torn apart.  I miss Stephen when I'm home and I miss my boys when I am in San Fran.  So what can be done.  Tear myself apart and be in two places at once?  It is extremely difficult.  After hour hike we got a good burger and headed home to sleep.

 Sunday we went shopping at the mall south of Stephen's house.  We stopped at Uniclo and bought a new iphone for me!!  YAY!! Better photos!!  It was a big purchase, but I am glad we did it.  I needed a new phone.  This phone batter lasts all day.  Monday, I ran 10 miles on the same Sawyer Camp Trail and cleaned Stephen's apartment.  He came home from work and we just ate dinner and watched movies.  It was a perfect trip.  I left Tuesday morning again really early to see my boys and work.