My little girl is growing up! Tear :(

Jayda is getting to be such a big girl! She turned 17 months old last week! Here are some of the things Jayda is up to these days:

-She is FINALLY taking a sippy cup!

-She is weaning off her bottles and eating mostly table food (when she is hungry she'll go whine next to her high chair).

-She is starting to really talk! She now says mama, dada, bye bye (as she waves), hi, gama (grandma), puppy (more like puppa), baby.

-She is running everywhere (old ladies stop and comment on how cute and little she is, they get a kick out of how small she is).

-She has 6 teeth and working on 2 more.

-She can sign poo poo or pee pee by putting her hand over her nose.
-When you ask her where her nose, eyes, mouth, head is she will point to it.

-She can kick and throw a ball (underhand)

-She LOVES chocolate and suckers

-She loves to play with her baby and will give it hugs and kisses. She'll take it across the room and just play with her for awhile.

-She is very social and isn't afraid of people or other kids.

-She loves grandma's house because of all the fun stuff there.

-She loves ciara (Chase's sister). She always wants her to hold her.

-She's not liking the time change thats for sure!

-She is weaning off of 2 naps and some days will only take one (NOOOOOO!!! I love her naps)

-She loves just wearing a diaper or being in the nude. :D

-She loves puppies!

-Oh and she loves to climb on things. She has gotten up on the couch a couple of times but she is mostly too short haha!

Thats about all I can think of now. She is busy busy though that is for sure and learning new things ALL the time. I'm sad how fast she is growing up though. :(

Snow Canyon Half Marathon

So this past Saturday I ran my first half marathon! Yes that is 13.2 miles and I ran every one of them! I have been training for the past few months and had been looking forward to it so much.

I woke up around 6am that morning. I didn't get much sleep the night before because I was so nervous. I had my alarm set for 6:45am but I just couldn't wait so I got up and started getting ready. I made myself a PB&J sandwich, had a vitimain water, and a banana. Then I woke Chase up so that he could drop me off at Snow Canyon High School. Then I made him take my "before" picture.

I was SO nervous as we drove there. I got out and immediately went on the bus that would take us up the canyon to our starting point. I sat in the school bus seat by myself until a girl I recognized from high school came and sat next to me. Her name was Hailey Caplin (I forget what her maiden was). She was so nice and calmed my nerves. She had just ran the St. George Marathon (her second) so I thought it was crazy that she was running a half about a month later! It was nice to talk to her though.

So when the buses dropped us off (a little before Diamond Valley) I stood in line for the potty. It could have been that I was just really nervous since being nervous can make you pee a lot but it wasn't even 15 min after I peed that I needed to pee again. BUT the line was SO long I couldn't because we had to start lining up at the start. I was toward the front probably about 1oo ft from the start. As I had my Goo Goo dolls playing I noticed a girl in front of me that had a shirt that said "Runners Rule". I was like YEEEEAAAH. I was SO pumped. Then all of a sudden it started and I couldn't believe I was FINALLY running in the half marathon! My feet were so cold it felt like they were asleep, but soon that went away.

The weather was perfect. Not too cold not too hot. And the scenery was BEAUTIFUL! They also weren't kidding when they said to train downhill because a lot of it was downhill. I was FLYING in the beginning. My adrenaline was pumping, plus the downhill was pushing me hard. I kept passing people although there was the occasional person I secretly paced myself with. One thing that did hold me back was that I had to PEE! I thought there was going to be pottys along the way but they were lieing! I neared the 4 mile mark which was the first aid station and yup NO pottys. I was pretty upset. As we passed the 6 miles mark I was about to burst so yup.....I found a big bush and peed behind it (plus my shoe was untied). You wouldn't believe it either but about 1/2 a mile later there was 2 porta potties. GRRRR! When I came behind the bush this girl looked at me knowingly and laughed.

At around mile 7 is when I started to really count down the miles and it seemed like each mile took SO long. It really wasnt until mile 10 that I really felt like I was crashing though. At this point my hips and my knees were killing me! But I pressed on. I walked through practically all the aid stations (except the beginning ones) and at mile 7 I had some vanilla gu (which almost made me vomit the texture was so gross but I knew I needed something).

Toward the end of the race I was dying but as we neared the crowds and the little kids cheering us on it helped. I think I really made some of those little kids day when I slapped their hands in a high five. I wasn't moving very fast but I was secretly pacing myself with this girl and I think she was doing the same because she would walk periodically and then I would pass her and that was her cue to start running again. She would sprint (at least it looked that way) past me and then walk again. Yeah.....she ended up beating me. I wasn't moving fast but I had to keep moving no matter what because I knew if I stopped I couldn't keep going.

When I saw the finish I just wanted to collapse but hung in there. In my pics I really look like i am in pain....and I was. But once I hit the finish I felt so accomplished! I finished in 2hr s and 6 min which is averaged a little under 10 min a mile and great for a first half marathon. It was a great experience and I would love to do it again.....once I am able to walk without gimping again. :)

Purple is the new Pink!

So with October fading away along with the pink I see on every product and every tv commercial, November begins with no purple at all.

Pink is everywhere. Purple is never to be seen. Purple is the awareness color of preematurity.

I'm not asking for a sob story because I'm sure those that started pink never did. They got out there and got results! I plan to do the same thing. So if I start to sound like a broken record....then stop listening cause SOMEONE has to sing that tune!

The fact still stands. Your chances of getting breast cancer is 1 in 8. But did you know your chances of having a preemie are also 1 in 8? That effects not only you but a helpless baby. Billions of dollars are spent every year on saving preemies and most of the time they can't even tell you why you had them early.

Did you know that Stevie Wonder is blind because he was preemature? He was born in a time when they didn't know that giving preemies too much oxygen could cause blindness or ROP (rentinopathy of preematurity). Now that they know this though, the rates of ROP have greatly declined.

That was my facebook status today. Everyday this week I am going to post a fact about preemies to educate those that don't know very much about preemies in honor or Preemie Awareness month. My hope is that one day purple will be the new pink. In that everyone will see purple and think preemie. Maybe one day....

Halloween!!!

Ok so I have been slacking in the whole blogging department! Halloween was a lot of fun and luckily we made it through the weekend without any sickness! In fact Jayda hasn't been sick for like 3 weeks! It's seriously a miracle and a much needed break for her and us! BUT she is cutting 4 teeth so she is pretty fiesty! She's evil with those choppers too. She even bit the crap out of my friend's baby Summer the other day and even made a bite mark! Poor little baby! :(

On Friday we dressed Jayda up in her costume. She was a cheerleader. A couple of months ago my parents went to Hawaii and got this little cheerleading outfit for Jayda. So we decided it was perfect for her costume for Halloween and she looked so darn cute in it! So after I got her all dressed in it in the morning we went to Walmart to go visit Chase and to pick up some things. She had been eating candy, half a string chees, 8 oz of milk, a cracker, a kit kat, and half a cookie. She was just chomping! Well on the way to Harmons to pick up some stuff she threw up EVERYWHERE. I was super pissed but then had to laugh about it later because lets face it kids are supposed to eat so much crap on halloween that they throw up. It's just what they do. :P

So later after we got home and had her clothes cleaned we took her to Karen's work (the Washington school district) for a trick or treating thing they had for their kids and grandkids. We dropped her off and it was fun to watch her getting candy. Granted next year she will really start to understand the whole trick or treating thing she still got a kick out of it and got to reap her spoils with us. :P She had a lot of fun thats for sure.

Later after her nap I took her to a trunk or treat at my parents ward. They had games and chili but she mostly just ran around being crazy. She got too tired and we had to take her home before she got to trick or treat but she didn't know the difference. Next year will be a lot more fun to take her out. It was still fun though.

Then on Saturday I dropped Jayda off at my mother in laws house and I went and ran my last big run before my half marathon this Saturday. I ran 10.5 miles! I was so proud of myself! Then later that day we went over to our friends Bret and Sandi's house for dinner. Then Jayda had a blast going in their back yard to watch their doggy. She loved that dog. Then we went to our house and played games. We had some friends Melissa and Ryan and their cute baby Summer stop by too. She was the poor baby that Jayda bit hehe and she was dressed up as a bee. Too bad I didnt get a pic of them together. Aw well.

Anyways that was practically our weekend. Here are some pics!