Carmel Marathon 2015

April 18th, 2015

After running his first half marathon in October last year, Mckay decided to train for a full 26.2 mile marathon. He found a friend from church, Nick, who was equally as crazy and agreed to run with him. It was probably better that they had each other to be accountable to, otherwise there wouldn't have been much training during the cold winter months.

The marathon was on April 18th in Carmel, a suburb of Indianapolis. We drove down the night before and stayed at a nearby hotel so we didn't have to drive for an hour to get there early the next morning.

We dropped Mckay off at the starting line. My friend Ashley (Nick's wife) took these pictures. I "borrowed" them from her Facebook page. 

Mckay is all the way on the left of this picture, in the red shirt. Nick is in the picture too, he's the third person from the left, with red hair and wearing a blue and white shirt.

There were race photographers along the marathon route taking pictures of the runners. There were a couple pictures of Mckay. Here are screen shots of them: 

Mckay saw the photographer coming and posed.

The three boys and I went to cheer Mckay on at a few points along the route. We made some motivational signs.

I would have taken pictures of the boys holding the signs, but they weren't very interested in holding them up, so it was mostly me doing the sign holding. They did cheer though!

 The Marathon conveniently had a phone app for tracking the runners so I had an idea of were Mckay was at points. One of the spots we planned to see Mckay was at mile 24, almost to the finish line! The way the race route curved around, we were able to park at the finish line and then walk almost a mile to reach the 24 mile marker. I was pushing the two older boys in our double stroller and carrying Bennett strapped to my chest in a baby carrier. We made it to mile 24 with a few minutes to spare before Mckay made his way around the corner.

The boys hugged him and cheered for him as he ran past.

Now we had to hurry to walk the one mile back to the finish line, hoping to get there before Mckay could run 2.2 miles there. I thought that the older boys could run on the sidewalk for a bit and make the stroller I was pushing a little lighter. That lasted about 20 seconds before Connor tripped and fell into some sharp bushes and mulch by the sidewalk. He was all bloody on his legs and had a bloody nose too. So not only did I lose time stopping to clean up and console the poor boy, but now I had to push 75 pounds and carryanother 15 pounds while walking quickly. Did I mention it was the first warm (75 degree) day of the year? I was a little sweaty and out of breath as we approached the finish line. In fact, a man nearby commented, "I can't help but think that you are working harder today than whoever it is you're cheering for." I told him I'd thought the same thing several times that day.

We made it to the finish line just in time to see Mckay crossing. Here are a few more professional screen shots:

I love this one because you can see Nick clapping for Mckay in the background. You can see Nick's face inside the letter "f" of Proof.

And here's the picture that Ashley got of Mckay crossing the finish line.

There was a ton of free food being handed out to the runners at the finish line; chocolate milk, water, pizza, bananas, apples, crackers, chips and trail mix.

The runners also got free massages. (I say free, but when you have to pay to enter the marathon, I don't think it really counts as free.)

When it was Mckay's turn for a massage, he was asked where he needed it the most. Um, legs. Mostly the legs. Dallin and Connor worked on his arms a bit though.

After Mckay was rested enough to begin using his legs again, we went to the van, got some lunch at Chipotle, and then drove by the new Indianapolis temple being built in Carmel.

Looking beautiful and almost complete!

Mckay ran the marathon in 4 hours and 36 minutes. A new personal record!

He also beat his old half marathon time with 1 hour 59 minutes this time around. He is pretty amazing.

Half Marathon and Connor's Birthday

Connor turned 3 in October! The day before his birthday, we took him out to lunch while Dallin was at school.

I think Connor felt pretty special having time just for him with mom and dad.

On Connor's birthday, we all woke up early to take Mckay to run the Purdue Boilermaker Half Marathon!

This was Mckay's first half marathon.

It was a cold, drizzly morning.

The boys seemed rather annoyed that we pulled them out of their warm beds.

The runners were off!

If you look closely, you can see Mckay in this picture, just about to run under the archway.

Since we were close to home, we went back to eat breakfast, get dressed and make a sign for Mckay. Then we returned to campus to greet Mckay at the finish line. 

I knew what time Mckay expected to be done, and planned to be waiting for him well before that time. Being hugely pregnant, it took longer than I expected to push a double stroller with two kids in it up the hill from the parking lot to the finish line. I still figured we were ok on time and we watched and waited for Mckay to cross the finish line.

After about 20 minutes at the finish line, Mckay called my phone. He had finished running about 20 minutes before (we must have just barely missed him!) and was now freezing and waiting for us to bring his jacket.

He finished in 2 hours and 2 minutes! We were all so proud of him. He has plans to run a marathon someday, maybe this year. I think that next time we'll make a better plan for meeting up with him afterward.

After we all took a long nap, we celebrated Connor's birthday.

He got lots of good things (books, trains, cars, clothes, treats). One of his favorite presents was his very own baby.

Connor is definitely a rough play, loud, energetic kind of kid, but when he plays with his baby, he gets very quiet and gentle. It's sweet. I made some felt diapers and a simple blanket for Connor to use with his baby. After Connor unwrapped "Charlie," he changed him and dressed him in pajamas.

Then Connor said that baby needed to sleep and ran to our real crib. I thought he would just drop him into the crib.

Connor climbed in...

...and very gently laid the baby down for a nap.

It's really fun watching Connor grow up into a sweet, smart, fun boy.

Day 18: Mckay

My post the other day about marriage hardly scraped the surface of how grateful I am for Mckay, so I thought I should devote a whole post just to him. He does soooooo much more than turning pages.

We've been married for 5 years, but I've known Mckay for 9 years. Even as a young 17 year old college freshman, I was impressed by what an outstanding person Mckay was. Sure, he did his fair share of playing Halo all night and sleeping through a class, but he was different from the other boys at college. He had his head on straight and knew what he wanted from life. Education was (and still is) a big priority for him. At the same time, family is a bigger priority, and I'm glad we have that in common. 

Mckay is a great teacher. He knows just what to say to describe the most complex processes in terms that anyone can understand. His graduate studies in chemical engineering are obviously out of the realm of what I learned in college, but when he explains his research to me, it makes sense (for the most part). He tutors in math and has helped hundreds of people understand it better. When I took Calculus in college, Mckay was a big help to me when I was stuck on a homework problem. He has a way with words. In fact, Mckay proposed to me by writing a book for me.

Not only does he love to learn, but he encourages learning in others and makes it fun. At any time he's always reading at least one book among a variety of topics, though classic literature is his favorite. I can already see our sons following their Dad's example because they love books too. Mckay is a life-long learner. As an old man, he will still be learning new things and teaching them to me.

Mckay is a great Dad. He can talk our kids into doing almost anything. When I say something, the kids start to whine and cry, but when Mckay says it, they listen and hop right to it. He can calm the kids down better than I can. He knows just what to say to comfort them. At church on Sundays, I play the organ so Mckay spends more than half the meeting taking care of the kids by himself. And the kids behave! They are relatively reverent and quiet. And it's not that we were blessed with quiet, angel children. They've certainly had outbursts at times, but Mckay has taught them how to sit reverently and they do a pretty good job at it. I love looking down from the organ and seeing Mckay holding both boys on his lap while they fold their arms for prayer.

I've had the same long, straight hairstyle for 12 years. Mckay is not afraid to try out new hairstyles...

 

...or facial hair styles.

He knows how to have fun.

Mckay is really good at landscaping/yard work. Everything he does turns out to look amazing. This summer, he put up a fence in our back yard, and put in a brick paver patio in our front yard. (I promise I'll post pictures of those sometime...) Yes, Mckay did it, we didn't pay someone else to do it. (I put a lot of work into these projects too, but this post isn't about tooting my own horn.) I wanted to start a garden this year. My thought was to just dig holes in the ground and plant seeds, but Mckay is the one who built planter boxes for my garden and then built a retaining wall around it. He doesn't do projects halfway, he goes all out. Even if he has to get dirty in the process.

I don't know where I would be without Mckay. I doubt that I'd be in Indiana and I am loving it here. I am so thankful for Mckay. I'm thankful for the great example he is to our children, our extended family and the youth in our community. I'm glad that I get to spend the rest of forever with him.

Gluten Free Almond Cake

Mckay's birthday was at the beginning of September. I think he's 27. We've stopped counting.

His parents made their yearly visit to Indiana the same weekend as Mckay's birthday, so he had a birthday "week" celebration.

We chose one day (Sunday) to eat cake and open presents. For his birthday dinner, I made BBQ Beef brisket. I forgot how delicious this recipe is. I don't usually buy brisket because it's pricey, but I found a local restaurant supply store that sells huge 13 lb slabs of it for $30. That's still a lot of money, but only $2.30/lb. I cut it into quarters before cooking and froze most of it. Now I just need to remember to use it before that beautiful brisket gets freezer burn.

Mckay's requested cake was a Gluten-free Almond cake. 

Mckay's mom has Celiac disease. As much as I love her and happily make gluten free dinners when they visit, I've never attempted a gluten free cake or other baked goods. I made a delicious almond cake a month ago and we fell in love with it. So moist! So flavorful! And it only calls for 1/2 cup of flour. We figured it would be easy enough to alter and make it gluten free. And it was easy! And still so heavenly!

After talking it up so much, I guess I should share the recipe of deliciousness with you. Here is the original recipe, with a note at the end for how I made it gluten free.

Almond Cake with Strawberries

3/4 cup sugar

8 ounces almond paste

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened**

zest of 1 orange

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1/2 cup flour*

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups sliced strawberries

2 Tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

powdered sugar for dusting

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 inch by 2 inch round cake pan. Line the pan with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit the bottom and butter and flour the paper.

2. Place the sugar and almond paste in a food processor and pulse until it's blended, about 40 seconds. Add the butter, zest, and vanilla extract and pulse until smooth, about 40 seconds. With the processor running, add the eggs one at a time. Remove the lid and add the flour, baking powder, and salt, then pulse a few more times, just until blended, about 15 seconds. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

3. Bake the cake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 45-50 minutes. Meanwhile, place the berries, honey, and vinegar in a medium bowl and stir to combine. Refrigerate at least one hour or until the berries are juicy.

4. Cool the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes, then loosen the cake's sides with a knife, invert it onto a serving plate, and peel off the parchment. Serve the cake dusted with powdered sugar and topped with berries.

*I used a slightly mounded 1/2 cup of Pamela's gluten free baking and pancake mix in place of the flour, baking powder and salt. It's essentially a self rising flour and can be found in most grocery store's gluten free sections. 

Also, if you're making the cake gluten-free, don't "flour" the cake pan. That would kill all your hard, gluten-free work. I just used lots of cooking spray. I suppose you could use a little of the baking mix. I haven't tried it though.

**I used salted butter and it was no big deal.

You must try this cake. Seriously. It's simple yet elegant. It comes together so quickly and looks like you spent hours on it. Make it. Eat it.

Cinco de Mayo!

We were invited to a Cinco de Mayo celebration hosted by one of Mckay's volleyball league teammates. We were told to dress up, so we did.

 

Our very own little mariachi players!

 

We had so much fun putting these costumes together.

I added the black pompom fringe to Dallin's sombrero. I sewed up two quick black felt vests for both little boys and we decorated with silver ric rac ribbon and fabric paint. Mckay pinned/stapled the silver ribbon to the boys' pants. And Mckay made a card board guitar (technically a vihuela) from an internet image. Top it off with a sticker moustache and you get the cutest little mariachi!

 

 Mckay and I got in on a little moustache fun too.

The moustache may have been the best part of Mckay's costume. He's been growing his beard/moustache for several months and shaved just for this occasion. A few people asked if it was real. It sure is--- real creepy. :) (see what I did there...?)  Mckay's serape was a challenge but a work of art. Trying to make his costume inexpensive, we bought some burlap by the yard (I didn't know you could buy such things at a fabric store and that it came in colors like "Idaho Potato"), trimmed it and painted stripes with craft paint. Cheap and effective. So effective that he won "Best dressed Male." I'm so proud of my mustachioed man.

 

I've now typed "moustache" so many times that the spelling looks weird so lets move on...)

 

The boys each got a turn to hit the piñata.

 

It took the help of several other kids, but they finally made some progress.

Connor found a donkey to ride.

 

The boys (Mckay included) went running when the candy fell out and they collected a pretty nice stash.

 

There was also a lot of great food, including homemade tamales. It was a lot of fun, but we needed a little siesta afterward.

2012 in review

I know we're well into the new year now, but I'm still catching up from being out of town.

2012 was a great year for us. It was a year of exploring and trying new things. We took a spring break trip to Cincinnati, bought a bike trailer and went on several bike rides, and went camping one and a half times (we were hit by a huge rain storm and went home early one time). We flew to California twice and Denver once and learned that as much as like living here in Indiana and doing our own thing, we miss our family. We had family members visit us here and took trips south to Indy and north to the Sand Dunes and Chicago.

Dallin started preschool this year and has loved every minute of it. He learned to talk so much this year and is actually putting his own thoughts into words rather than just mimicking others. He got to go on his first school field trip to the pumpkin patch. He discovered his love for pancakes and ate them for breakfast about 330 days last year. (As a result, I've gotten VERY good at making pancakes.)

Connor has probably changed the most over the year. He started it as a brand new baby and ended as a full blown toddler boy. He rolled once or twice before quickly moving right into crawling. He learned to laugh, walk, talk, eat solid foods, all with very little help. He is a busy, busy boy, always running around and playing with cars, and he is always hungry.

I didn't know two kids could be so angry with each other one minute and then best friends and laughing the next. I guess that how brothers are.

I've loved watching these two play together and be so loving and kind to each other.

Mckay has played many sports this year. He played several ultimate frisbee pick up games. He started playing basketball weekly at the church and joined a volleyball league. And he played soccer alongside his classmates against the Chem.E. professors. The students won. Mckay landscaped some of the front yard and spent countless hours watering and trying to bring our grass back to life. He still says it need lots of work, but it looks better than our neighbor's grass!

I started teaching piano lessons and had my first student recital in November. I tried out countless new recipes (several of which I posted about here), learned to make yogurt, gingerbread houses from scratch, and kept our grocery budget between $250-$300 each month. I helped plan and host a walk for Williams Syndrome, and I got to write a guest post on a friend's blog about our life raising a child with WS. I did many crafts (a diaper baby, bow ties, crayon roll, necklace display and bathroom artwork,  finger puppets and an advent calendar), some less successful than others (like the Valentine's heart).

Here are my personal and family goals for 2012 and how we did with each one:

• Read scriptures daily as a family. We didn't read every day, but we did better in 2012 than the previous year, There is certainly room for improving this one. 
• Weekly Family Home Evening. Every Monday night, we set aside time to have a gospel lesson (about things like prayer, service, faith, etc.) and quality time as a family. We did very well with this goal and had family night almost every week.
• Watch less TV. Having started the year with a new baby, I was at a pretty low point as far as productivity. I pretty much spent all day feeding Connor. That on it's own is an important accomplishment, but the rest of the household duties were lacking. And watching TV all day didn't help things. We went through phases with this, but ultimately, we spent a lot less time watching TV.
• Less wasted time on the computer. This one kind of goes with the TV one. Same excuses: it's easy to waste time while you're stuck feeding a baby. I did pretty well with managing my computer time. It amazes me how much more I can get done in a day when I don't go near the computer.
• Read more books for entertainment. Part of having less screen time involved finding something to fill the absence because I still had to sit and feed a baby. I finished seven books this year (maybe more that I can't remember): The Picture of Dorian Gray, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Help, The Strangest Song, and Brave New World.
• Establish a daily cleaning routine. I kind of worked on this and was really good about it through the summer, but then got really busy as school started up again. We'll say I half accomplished this one. :)
• Plan a weekly Dinner Menu. It took some time but I got really good at this by the end of the year. It really helped me save time trying to figure out what to make for dinner each day, and I tried to plan dinners that would use similar ingredients so food didn't get wasted. Planning really helped me to keep our grocery budget down.

Overall, I'd say 2012 was a successful year for us. I'm looking forward to the new year. We're making more goals as a family, and I'm excited to see how we grow and change for the better this year.

Birthday Weekend

I love that Mckay's Birthday is always close to Labor Day, because it means we get a three day weekend to celebrate and relax as a family.

Mckay usually requests something new and different for his birthday dinner and cake. I think he likes to keep me on my toes and really challenge my cooking capabilities. This year for dinner he requested Nahm Toke, one of his absolute favorite dishes he ate on his mission in Thailand. I'd never made it before but luckily, our friend Lynn (from Thailand) taught me how to make it before she moved away from Indiana last year. Nahm Toke is served with sticky rice, another thing I'd never made! If you're familiar with how sticky rice is made, you'll know it requires a special funnel like basket for steaming the rice. We don't have the basket, but several googled recipes and youtube videos claimed you could use a strainer or steamer basket instead. I'm sure the bamboo basket has magical sticky rice properties and makes a far superior rice, but mine turned out pretty good, and being my first time ever attempting sticky rice (bamboo basket or no) I think it was a success.

 We ate outside on out Thai straw mat. Food in Thailand is served with a Pepsi so we had to be authentic. 

Basically, Nahm Toke is marinated sirloin steak cooked on a hot grill "until the juices fall." (Nahm Toke literally means "water fall.") The sliced steak is tossed with lime juice, fish sauce, onion, cilantro, dried chili peppers, and little bits of toasted rice, which gives it a nice crunchy element. Serve alongside fresh cucumber and cabbage leaves. So good!

 Mckay said this was some of the best he's ever had in the USA.

All Mckay wanted for his birthday was books. He's always loved reading, and right now he is on a reading craze.

 So he got mostly books for his birthday! And some hugs from his cute boys.

From his two volume set of boys (Dallin and Connor), he got a two volume set of War and Peace published in 1938. Just what Mckay wanted! How did they know...?

He got 6 other books from his parents which he will probably finish in a month. My gift to him was that I fixed his pants. Mckay had a favorite pair of pants that got a huge 6 inch rip down the back. These jeans were still very nice and in good condition, except for the extra air vent. So he held on to them for 2 years (this rip happened when we lived in Utah), intending to have them fixed but it never happened. Finally, I felt confident enough in my sewing skills to attempt a repair.

 I think it turned out pretty well. He wore them the next day and the stitching held up fine, except in one place. And looking at the picture now I can see my flaw. Hopefully after I fix that he'll be able to wear these pants for a long time.

Mckay requested a red velvet cake. I don't think he'd even had red velvet cake before (or at least not for a long time) but it has a cool name and it's something new and exciting that I've never made before. So I made it!

 I underestimated just how much red food coloring this required. I think it turned out as more of a raspberry color, but the beauty of having a color blind husband is that it looks totally red to him!

It was very tasty. Despite Dallin "helping" me and dumping ingredients into the batter at completely the wrong time, it still turned out well.