Half Marathon(s)

A little over a year ago, my sister in law had me run the Ogden Marathon 5K.  I never really ran just to run before that.  I had always played sports growing up but never really did much long distance running.  After I ran the 5K I was asked to run the Wasatch Back Ragnar.  I was not in great shape for that Ragnar and was a little embarrassed at how slow I was.  Just a little while after that my sister in law asked if I wanted to do the Las Vegas Ragnar.  I said yes and it all started there.  I actually had some time to get ready for that Ragnar and I ended up having tons of fun running it.  After that, my sister in law asked if I wanted to take her friend's spot in the Ogden Half Marathon.  I of course said yes and we started training.  We did a really good job getting ready and then the two weeks before the race I got pretty sick.  I ended up making the decision to run the race even though I hadn't been able to run and still didn't feel great. I didn't do as good as I hoped to but with how I had been feeling, I was glad I finished it.  About a month later, my sister in law asked if I wanted to do the Bryce Canyon Half Marathon with her.  I was so excited to get another chance to do better.  We didn't have much time to get ready but we still ended up doing pretty good.  I ended up taking a little over 20 minutes off of my first time.  It was a fun run and I was so happy to do better.  My sister in law, Sierra, is so nice to invite me to do all of these races with her.  We are going to be running the Vegas Ragnar again and I am so excited for it.  Thanks Sierra for pushing me and I hope we do lots more races together!  Love ya!

Just coming out of the canyon.

Almost to the finish line!

We made it!  

Breckyn likes to put these headbands on and she says, "I wanna run" because these are the headbands I use when I run.. . She is such a funny girl! 

I don't have any pictures of the Bryce Canyon race because we didn't take our camera.  I will have to steal some pictures from Sierra and post them later.

DWWYYAAANNEE WWWAADDDEE

Most of you know that I love me some Dwyane Wade! Mmmm hmmm.  Well, Brady knew that I wanted to go see him play the Jazz this year so he got us some sweet tickets for the game a couple weeks ago.  I was SO excited!  It was so fun to go on a little date with Brady.  It was sad to leave Breckyn but she had plenty of fun with grandma and grandpa.
We headed down to the game, got us some Crown Burger and then went to see my third love (ha).  I must admit, Brady and I were really disappointed by the game.  D-dub (that is what I call him) got "hurt" in the first half and didn't really play a ton after that.  I am used to watching D-dub do all kinds of sweet moves and make all kinds of awesome shots.  But, he didn't really do anything during the game.  The only time he did something "cool" I wasn't watching.  But, the Jazz whooped up on them, I did get to see my D-dub, and I had a fun time with my sweet hubby.  So, overall it was a fun night!

*I had to put a picture of D-dub with LBJ because I like LBJ almost as much as D-dub. :)

Catching Up...

I have been a slacker with blogging for a while now. We have been pretty busy the last few weeks! Here is a little update on what we have been up to the last month or so...

June 19-20: Brady and I were asked to help out with our stake Youth Conference. It was a two night conference. The first night was dinner and swimming party at Brigham City Pool. The kids had so much fun there! The next day was the BIG day. Everyone met at the stake center for a little opening prayer, breakfast, and then loading on the buses. Then we went up to the tabernacle in Brigham for a devotional. It was awesome. Then we were up to Logan for the rest of the day on the farm. . . Brady and I were in charge of games for all of the kids for 1 hour. We set up three stations for the kids. The first was a Cranium station, church style. The next station was four square with sheets. The third one was the Human Knot. We just rotated all of the groups through. I think that it went well. After we got our part over with, everyone went to eat lunch. After lunch, there were several different breakout groups to attend. Then there was dinner for everyone. After dinner, everyone got to listen to our wonderful stake president talk. After the talk they showed a movie. Brady and I left after the stake president's talk, but it was really a wonderful Youth Conference and we were so glad we got to be a part of it.

Some of our cranium winners!

Some more of our cranium winners!

Some more of our cranium winners!

4 square

Human Knot

June 21: Father's Day... I had to speak in sacrament meeting. This is why Brady and I left Youth Conference before the movie. I still had had NO time to prepare! But, it went well I think... I love you dad, Brady, and Dave! You guys are the best dads ever (or will be soon)!

June 25: Brady got to play in a 3x3 basketball tournament. I didn't get pictures... Whoops!

June 26: Brady and I got to babysit our adorable nieces overnight! They are SO cute! It was so much fun to get to spend time with them.




June 27: Marc came home from his mission! *See post below*

June 30: My cute mom's birthday! We went out to eat at ABC Mandarin and then partied at home with a DELICIOUS cake and presents! Happy Birthday Mom! Love you lots!



July 1st: My family left for Ohio, New York, Boston, Washington DC (without me and Brady) :( They had lots of fun though and brought us lots of cute stuff!

July 10-11: Brady and his brothers and dad always go up to a golf tournament in Twin Falls, Idaho. We went up this past weekend and it was so much fun! I got to hang out with my awesome sister-in-laws and mother-in-law! We did some serious shopping! It was so much fun! Brady and his brother Chris were in a three way tie for first place. They got to spend some money at the pro shop. Congrats guys! I can't wait to go again next year! I forgot our camera so no pictures from this fun trip...

July 14: I am officially 28 weeks pregnant! I can't believe that it is going by so fast! Not too much longer and we will have our sweet girl here! I haven't taken any official belly pictures because I really don't like to look at myself with this belly, let alone make others look at me. But, I have a couple pictures from when Marc came home I will put on here and you can see my belly. I will have Brady take a real belly shot and I post it.



So, we have had some fun things going on! The rest of the summer is going to be just as busy it seems! Next week we have some showers to attend, a going away party (SAD!) for my best friend, Laurel and her hubby Brady and their beautiful girl Paisley. After that we will be having more showers, birthdays, and then next month we will have our 4th anniversary and my sister will have her baby! Then only six weeks later we will be having ours! It will be so much fun! I will try to be better at posting more often.

BYU Las Vegas Bowl

Brady and I were lucky enought to go with our good friends Brady and Laurel Mock to the BYU bowl game. We left on Friday and drove down in the morning. We stayed at Samstown. Friday night we went to the strip. We walked to the Bellagio and looked at their Christmas decorations. Then we went to the ESPN center to watch the Jazz game. After the game got over we went to Cheesecake Factory. Oh man, SO good! I love that place! On Saturaday we woke up and went to the new James Bond movie. It was a good one! Then we headed to In-and-Out for lunch. Brady and I didn't really like it last time we went but we thought we would give it a second try. Well, it wasn't as big of a disappointment as the first time, I will admit that. Thanks to Brady and Laurel for getting us to go there again. We have a much better attitude about it now. After lunch we headed to the game. I am sure most of you know that BYU lost. Yeah it was sad but I seriously must say, that was my very favorite football game that I have EVER been to! Brady and I are just so grateful to the Wolthuis/Mock family for letting us take those extra tickets. We left a couple minutes before the game ended. It was a sad night. We went back to the hotel and ate some food and then did a little bowling. I am going to have to brag a little now. .. Laurel and I dominated bowling. Laurel is almost nine months pregnant and she still did so good! We both wooped on Brady M. the second game. I think that we beat them the first game with overall points too. But bowling was really fun. We headed home on Sunday. It was so much fun to spend some time with our friends. Laurel is going to have her baby any day now so it will probably be one of the last times it is just the four of us on a vacation. However, I can't wait for them to have Paisley, she is going to be SO cute and fun! Anyways, thanks Brady and Laurel, we had so much fun with you guys! Love ya!

Another funny commercial

Once again, Brady and I are watching sports. One of the funniest parts of watching ESPN is the commercials. Here is another one that Brady and I laughed at.

DWWWWYYYAAANNNE WWWWAAADDDE

If I am going to have to watch sports, I might as well get a little enjoyment out of it, right? Well thanks to Dwyane Wade, I am able to do this. He is SO dreamy! What an amazing basketball player! I think I have already done a post about him in the past, but we have been watching him play and I was given a refreshing reminder of what a crush I have on him. (Brady is okay with it) :) Here are a couple funny videos of him. Isn't he so cute!? (The title of the post is how the Heat announcer says his name when he scores)

Football, Computers, and Other Fun Stuff

Well I am sure most of you know that football season has officially started. This is a good thing for Brady since he can't play any sports right now. However, it isn't as good for me. But, so far it hasn't been so bad! Saturday was the first day that we were going to be watching lots of football. So, Brady took me shopping to get me a laptop. He bought me a new laptop so I can blog while he is watching football, but we can still be right next to each other. (He is so sweet, right?) We had something done to the computer so they said it wouldn't be done until 6:00 at night. I was a little bummed because I was going to have to watch at least a whole football game, if not more. But, I was saved when we were on our way home from the store. My sister-in-law, Sierra, called me to go to Swiss Days with her. I usually don't like to leave my cute little hubby on the weekend but I was more than happy to go with her. So, Brady stayed home and watched football and we went and had tons of fun (thanks Sierra). After I got home, our friends Justin and Melissa Chambers came over to say hello. We set up a blog for them (they just got married). So, check it out if you know them.
Sunday I was so happy because Brady got to help me with my primary class. Primary children are so incredible. I love being in the Primary. After our ward we went to listen to my dad speak. He did an incredible job.
Today we got up and went to get me a sofa table. I have been looking for one for SO long. We got one and I love it. Then Brady's family came over so that we could do our fantasy football draft. This is what Brady uses to get me to watch football. It was really fun though. I think I am going to win this year. I need to think of a good team name. Any thoughts? My team name last year was "Smack n' Sack". I need a good one for this year. Brady and I just got done watching the first show of the newest season of Prison Break. (We finished season 3 on Friday with Brady and Laurel (thanks guys)). It was amazing as usual. I will have to post about it more later.
So, tomorrow is back to work as usual. I am glad that this is a short week.

Poor Brady. . .

Last night Brady went to play a little basketball with some of his buddies. We drove to North Ogden together so I was just waiting for him to get done while I hung out at my family's house. I got a call from Brady and he asked if I would come get him because he had hurt his hand really bad. I could tell that something was wrong by the sound of his voice. I hurried down there and it was already getting swollen. While Brady was playing, he went to shoot the ball but one of the players on the other team stripped the ball and hit his finger too.
Of course I was worried and tried to talk him into going to the ER. He would not go. So, I gave him some pain medicine and we went to bed. We woke up this morning and it was really swollen. I told him that he really needed to go to the doctor. He had a big presentation and lunch that he was putting on for work so he didn't have a lot of time to do anything during the day. I talked with some of the ladies I work with (they are nurses) and they said that he should at least go in and get it checked. I finally talked him into going to the doctor. We went in and found out the he had broken his hand. The whole time we were in there he was saying how he didn't think it was broken. He really just didn't want it to be broken. When the doctor gave us the news he was so sad. We also have to go see a specialist so he was really worried. Seriously he was going to cry. Brady is not like that at all so I knew it was going to be rough. I was proud of him getting the splint on. He didn't even cry ;). The poor thing now has to do everything with his left hand. He can't golf, play basketball, football, softball, or any other sport. He was planning on doing all of these in the next few weeks. I guess it is good that he has been golfing a TON so far this summer because he might not get much in before it gets too cold. He says that the cold weather won't keep him off the course. My family brought him a Zeppes Gelata. That lifted his spirits a little. So, poor Brady but yay for Steph. Because he really can't do anything for a while, I get him all to myself!

Golf is the hardest game in the world to play, and the easiest to cheat at.

If any of you girls play golf, you will probably understand this post. Brady is in love with golfing. He would go every day if he could. I told him that he needs to start making some money off this passion. In the last few years, Brady has been trying to get me to love golf as much as he does (or even at all). Yesterday Brady's dad called us to go golf with him. Of course we could not pass this opportunity up, right? We went to the Barn at about 6:30. We started off on the back nine but there was a huge wait when we got to the 11th hole. So, we headed across the course to the front nine. We started on hole 2. Brady and I are a little skeptical to go this late golfing because last time we went we were eaten alive by mosquitoes. But, we sprayed on the bug repellent and were on our way.
Now, I am very out of shape and usually talk Brady into getting a golf cart. But today that didn't happen. He threw my clubs on my push cart and handed them over to me. I was doing just fine until I got thirsty. Just our luck, the sprinklers were on all over the golf course (yeah, this was annoying when we were playing). I almost went and drank out of the sprinkler. But, we made it to the water fountain and filled up our water bottle. After about three or four holes I start to get a little discouraged. I hit the ball on average, I would say, three times to the one that Brady hits. Unless we are playing with other people (other than just family) Brady will cut some strokes off my score on each hole. Anyways, we were at the 6th hole (which is a Par 3) and it was starting to get dark. I told Brady and I was just going to start playing from his drive so it would go a little quicker. I put my ball on the tee and hit it, expecting it to go ten feet or so. To my surprise, it went SO far and straight! Brady was like, "wow that was the best hit out of the three of us!" I was so excited. I made it all the way to the green but it rolled off to the left a smidge. I didn't have to use Brady's spot because mine was better! The one thing that I am horrible (I mean REALLY horrible) at is chipping up onto the green. So, I like to use my putter as often as I can. In this case, I pulled out my putter and hit my ball. Because no one else was on the green, the flag was still in the whole. My ball rolled and rolled and hit the stick and bounced off to the side. I am convinced that it would have gone in the hole if that darn stick was out. Brady agreed, reluctantly at first (because I got half his score on that hole). So, I was so excited to get my first real, non-cheat (I know that isn't a real word) birdie. I was thrilled. Of course, after that I didn't do another great shot, but I didn't even care.
So, I guess golf can be fun sometimes. I was laughing that I am just so bad that when I do get one good hole I am content for the whole golf game. So, girls, are any of you good golfers? If you are, we should go play. I can get birdies now, so you better watch out.
"You've just one problem. You stand too close to the ball after you've hit it." -Sam Snead
"The reason the golf pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing." -Phyllis Diller

Rocky Mountain Review

Last week our friends Brady and Laurel asked us to go to the Rocky Mountain Review with them. Brady had wanted to go down to this and I had never been to one before so we were excited to go with them! As I mentioned in an eariler post, I am not a huge sports fan when it comes to watching, but this was really fun! I like when we get to go to basketball games. Anyways, on our way to Salt Lake we stopped in Bountiful and went to Pei Wei (like quick PF Changs). It was really good. When we got to the review we found some pretty good seats. Laurel and I were dying when we saw this lady's ring. We decided that it was the Jazz assistant coach's wife. I tried to get a picture of it without freaking her out.
Right before the game was starting Jerry Sloane (spelling???) was sitting on the same side as us down by the court. I was looking over to take a picture of him and he started waving at us! Okay, actually we thing he might have been waving at someone behind us, but I will continue to think it was at us. . . here is a blurry picture of it.
We were sitting right behind the scouts and the media and we found one of the guys that find out information for other teams. This guy was writing down all of the plays that were called and the formations that the Jazz did and what the sign was for each. Brady could see what he was writing but he was trying to be sneaky. He looks like a little sneak, right? Look how closely he is paying attention to the game. . .

Here are a few more pictures from the game.





After the game was over we were on our way out and we were right next to Matt Harpring. He is a big guy!
We ended up following behind him out of the parking lot. He was turning to go to the freeway or somewhere to the left and totally ran a RED light! He was turning left and it was a red arrow but we were going straight and it was green for us. He just went right through the light. He was talking on the phone when he did this so I am sure he didn't even notice. I guess that is what you would call distracted driving. . . Oh well, we all do it sometimes. It was pretty amusing to catch him doing this though. We tried to get a picture of it. Here is the only thing I could get from the backseat of the car.
This was a really fun night! Thanks Brady and Laurel for taking us with you to the game! You guys are the best!

Bitten

This past week Brady and his dad and brothers all went to play golf at Thanksgiving Point. I thought that since the boys were going to go have some fun, the girls should too. So, I called up Patti and my sister-in-laws to see what we should do. We decided to go down to the Nordstrom sale and to dinner. It was Patti, Sierra, Skylar, Sailyr, and me (we missed you Kerri and Jamie). Sierra and I got some cute clothes at the sale. I was hoping to find some shoes but didn't find any I loved. After Nordstom sale, we all went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. It was really good! After dinner, we decided to go to this store I have been wanting to go to called Steve and Barry's. It has clothes from Sarah Jessica Parker's clothing line, Bitten, along with other celebrity's clothing lines. Everything in the store, I think, is supposed to be under $20.00. However, I looked all through the store and everything I saw was $9.98 so maybe it is all under $10.00. Anyways, I got some jeans, tennis shoes, and a dress. There was a ton of stuff for guys and even some stuff for babies! Truthfully some of the stuff there looked really ugly but they really did have some really cute things! So, the boys had tons of fun golfing and the girls also had tons of fun shopping and eating and getting to talk!

Idaho Golf and Shopping Vacation

This past weekend we went up to Idaho with some of Brady's family. Brady, Travis, Chris, Dave, and Dave's brother Barry and his son Brian all played in a tournament in Twin Falls. We all left early Friday morning to get up there. The boys played 18 holes while the girls (Me, Sierra, Skylar, Sailyr, Kerri, Kami, and Patti) went shopping. Sierra and I found some sweet deals on clothes at the mall. We all got some sweet deals on rugs too (thanks to Kami for finding those)! Later on Friday the girls all were back at the hotel waiting for the boys and we found out that the new Twin Falls temple had its open house. It was the first day for tours. We got online and got some tickets to go. The temple is SO beautiful! I think that all of the girls were glad we got to see that. Skylar was such a good girl through the whole temple! After we did that, we all went to dinner. It was a little late and we were all hungry. The next day the boys went and played another 18 holes. While they did that we went shopping again and we went for a little drive so that the little girls could get a nap. It was fun to just get some time to hang out with the girls. I am so lucky to have such great sister-in-laws and such an awesome mother-in-law. Anyways, after the boys got done we went down and met them and then went to get some lunch. Then we went back to the golf course to see if they had won anything. Barry and Brian got first in their flight for gross and Travis and Brady tied for first and second in thier flight for net. After MUCH deliberation, Brady got a new putter for himself and a shirt and glove for me with his winnings (thanks Brady!). It was a really fun trip for the girls and the boys! Brady and his brothers and dad are so close and have so much fun together. Sports are their thing and that is such a fun way for them to stay close.

No Sports? ? ?

Well I don't know how any of the rest of you girls feel out there, but I am loving the summer right now! Summer is fabulous anyways, but I am especially loving it right now because there are not five million sports games on right now! Most of you know that my cute husband is a sports addict. I am pretty much completely opposite when it come to WATCHING sports. Right now there is no football (college or NFL), there is no Basketball (college or NBA). Another thing that most of you know is that I didn't grow up watching many sports games. I watched some Jazz games but that was pretty much the extent of it. Before I met Brady I thought that the Superbowl was on Thanksgiving because that is the one and only time I had seen football on TV. So, after meeting Brady I was thrown right into it. Anyways, yesterday Brady turned on our television and was looking for something to watch. . . there was nothing that he was even remotely interested in. (We only have bunny ears right now, he is still trying to decide which company to go through) He was telling me about this and I was laughing because really he only watches sports and sometimes the history channel. I was just talking to him about how I am loving it right now because I don't have ANY sports to watch or to schedule in our weeks. I am just enjoying the time right now because I know as soon as August starts it will all start again.
Now, I do have to add that Brady has done as much as he can to make me try and like sports. He likes a football team with a hot quarterback (Tom Brady) so he uses that to get me to watch. (Yes, it work usually) He also has me to fantasy sports teams so that "I have someone to watch". So from the teams I have had, I have found a few teams I like to watch (actually just a few players). So, I have to say "GOOD JOB BRADY" for getting me to watch these sports. My favorites are Dwayne Wade or "D-Dub"(yay he is going to be playing in the olympics), Tom Brady (ohhh baby), BYU (pretty much any teams), and Tyler Hansbrough (this one is a must because Brady is crazy about NC and he is SO good). So, even though I am enjoying the short time off, I guess it might be fun (at first) to watch some sports again.
****I must add to this that I have made a deal with Brady in the past that if I watch sports with him, he has to watch E! channel and Style network with me. Ha ha ha he loves sports SO much that he agrees! What a sweet husband, right?!

Poor North Carolina

Well tonight was a disappointing night for the Hess boys (and girls, I guess). UNC lost to Kansas tonight 84-66. I went out to dinner with my mom, sister Karlee, mother-in-law, Brady's grandma, and three of our neighbors. When we got back to where the boys were watching the game, the score was like 12-40 for Kansas. Maybe not that bad, but close. Anyways, they started to come back in the second half but just couldn't make it. Brady has been a huge fan of UNC since he was a little boy. So it was was sad for his team to lose (and it totally messed up his brackets). He didn't wear his NC attire tonight so I told him that was why they lost. Tyler Hansbrough got Associated Press Player of the Year so that was good. So anyways, now that North Carolina is out, who do we cheer for? Kansas or Memphis?