Hood to Coast!!!

What an amazing experience.  I cannot even begin to describe the emotions that go into this 198 mile relay.  Think of an emotion, it was felt by someone, if not everyone, at some point during this event.  Between the fear of failure, the pain throbbing through legs and feet, the heartache of missing loved ones, the joy of reminiscing, the humor in conversation from lack of sleep, the excitement of being there, the pride in accomplishment, and the sense of togetherness from family and friends who are now family.  What a powerful event and weekend!

After dropping the boys off with my parents at Jess's aunt, uncle, and grandparents house, we met up with our team, Soul to Sole, at the airport in Portland, OR.  After introductions, we were off to the mountain.  The trip up seemed to take forever, we did have to drive half-way up Mt. Hood afterall, we made it to the Resort on the Mountain.  We checked in a quickly made a mad dash for dinner before the restaurant closed, then it was off to bed!

Bright and early, wait, let me rephrase that, EARLY Friday morning we were off the starting line.  With our 7:30 start time, we had to be there by 6:30 to check in and get ready for the next adventure. 

Anna and Raleigh ready to head out

 

Jess and I ready to make tracks for the top of Mt. Hood.

I was the first runner and was nervous and scared, but totally pumped to be starting our team down the mountain.  We had time for a team picture at the starting line.

Team Soul to Sole: Ashley, Kelly, Raleigh, Jess, Dan,
Chantelle, Sheila, Christel, Bekki, Brandi, Anna, Jill

Shortly before 7:30, it was time for each Leg 1 runner to head out to the starting line.  At this point, my heart was racing so fast I think I could have flown down the mountain.  For me, I think I actually did!

And we're off!!!
You can see me if you look hard.  I am just above the girl with the curly hair, I'm in the gray shirt and black hat.

Dan and Chantelle at the top

Raleigh and Anna

Holy smokes!  Almost at the end of my first leg.
5.6 miles and 53 minutes later, I'M DONE!!!

I didn't realize just how difficult it would be to remember to take pictures along the route.  Between trying to watch for and remember to have a bottle of water for the runner coming in, getting ready for the runner going out, etc., remembering where the camera IS, and to turn it on seemed to prove more challenging than I expected.  I wish I had more pictures to choose from...definitely a learning experience!

Here comes Anna into exchange #2, ready to hand off to Jill.

Here comes Jill!

Ashley is ready for her first leg!

We stopped to decorate the vans and cheer on Ashley, too.  

Might as well get a picture of us!  We aren't too tired or sore yet...

Kathy met Ashley just down from us and jogged with her for couple minutes.  

So sweet!

Chantelle and her whistle....

Here comes Jess!!!

Raleigh and I are waiting at exchange #11 for Dan to come in.  

This exchange was crazy busy!  Only a time keeper and the runner could actually be at the exchange.

After the longest 7.6 miles of my life, I am almost done.  It was here that I saw Aunt Darlene at the exchange and cheering me on that I lost it and broke down.  I started tearing up and crying before handing the bracelet off to Anna and completely lost it once I finished.  If it weren't for Uncle Darwin carrying me through, I don't know if I would have finished.  I was exhausted, hotter than all get out, and ready to take a nap.  I know Darwin and Connie were with us every step of the way.

Ashley and I waiting for Anna to come into the exchange.

Here's Anna!

Time for Jill to run again

Go Jill, go!

We had the coolest van ever.  Except for the Taco Soup and Breakfast Burrito....

Jill and Ashley are so cute!!!!  Jill just finished her final leg and Ashley was so proud of her sister.

Raleigh flying up the mountain.
I'm sure the 4am Taco Soup and Breakfast Burrito help move him up the mountain.
Toot Toot

WE'RE DONE!!!  

I got one picture of a runner from the other van.  GO BEKKI!!!

This is what happens when Van #1 finishes...

Go Team Soul to Sole!

We weren't allowed to take team pictures with our own cameras here. 

We had an awesome team and support.  

Les, Dan, Sheila, Kelly, Raleigh, Jess, Aunt Darlene, Kathy
Bobby, Christel, Chantelle, Ashley, Bekki, Jill, Anna, Brandi

And once again, TEAM #283:  SOUL TO SOLE!

Can't wait until next year when we do it again!!!!  

The Zoo

While Uncle Rob, Aunt Danielle, Cameron, Kendra, and Kaelyn were here, we ventured to the zoo. Of course we had a GREAT time. The kids were very excited about the animals and chasing each other around.

Cooper was having fun running back and forth across this little bridge.  It was fun and totally cute.   

The baby jaguars were out and offered great photo ops.  Check out this little guy!

Kaelyn loved the penguins.

Eli loves his big cousin Cam and really looks up to him.  It always amazes me how willing Cam is to play with and amuse his little cousins.  He is such an amazing young man.  I couldn't be more proud of the man he is growing up to be.

And my sweet Kendra.  She is definitely a girly girl and in that pre-teen phase.  She was also more than willing to play with her little cousins and carry Cooper around.  What a sweet girl.  She'll always be my girl.

The three biggest cousins.  They're super cute! 

Daddy and Eli getting ready to go feed the birds!

Cooper wasn't exactly thrilled to have a bird this close to him.
His expression didn't change much....

...espcially when this happened.  This little bird flew down and kept nibbling on my cheek and necklace.  Cooper was less than thrilled to have it this close - he either wanted to be put down or that thing to fly away.

 Playing with cousin!

Looking for elk, which there weren't any...but fun anyway.

They found their walking buddies.  No one was getting lost today!  HAHA

Ohhhhh!  Time for a snack!

 GO COUGS!

 Lunch time!

One of Cooper's favorite activities, slides!  Up or down, it really doesn't matter.  

My girl!

Watching Eli on the zip line.  

Such a handsome young man!  Love!

Hi Cam!  I got you and you got me.

Our Reader

I love that I showed Eli this book from my classroom library and he couldn't put it down. Every minute or so, you'd hear a little, "WOAH!" or "Check it out!!!" Adorable.

This picture collage customized with Smilebox

Wednesday Water Fun

Our beautiful summer weather continues.  I will be the first to admit that I am thrilled with the summer we've been having this year.  The past two summers combined didn't give us the same number of sunny warm days that we've had this year above the 80 degree mark.  

Today, the boys and I pulled out the pool and had fun playing in the sun.  I did improvise and created a shady area using a deck chair, broom, sandbox lid, and potted plant.  I should have taken a picture of that monstrosity, I could have made millions with my ingenious invention.  

The boys had a BLAST playing in the water and, of course, with cars.  

First we have to let the water OUT of the pool.

Watering the house.  We'll do anything to try to make it bigger!

They both had to hang on to the hose while they "filled" the pool for the second time.

Cooper really enjoyed flinging water everywhere, especially on his big brother.

He was not a fan, however, when I put the hose away.

 Someone watered my plants for me.  Which is probably a good thing because I'm awful at it.

A Sunny Saturday

We've had some pretty nice weather lately (hence the brownish lawn in the pictures) and while Jess was washing the car, the boys were playing in the sprinkler hose.  At first, Coop wasn't exactly thrilled with it, in fact it was spraying him in the face and he just stood there and whined.  We kept urging him to move but he really wanted one of us to go in there and save him.  When we didn't he finally moved and decided to have fun!  

Eli has really been into having me take pictures lately.  They're either great smiles, like this toothless one or goofy goofy faces.  Gotta love it!

Cooper was having fun tossing Daddy's car rag into the bucket.  He loves the bubbles!

While we worked on dinner, the boys played in the sandbox.

The final event for the evening was when Jess fixed the loose post.  Both kids were interested in what he was doing and the gold deck screws.  Too much fun!

10th Anniversary

Yesterday we celebrated our 10th Anniversary.   I can't believe it's been ten years since we were married.  I guess they're right...time flies when you're having fun!  The next 10 are going to zoom then!!

We celebrated by dropping the kids off with our good friends and we headed downtown.  We rode had dinner on the Space Needle at SkyCity.  It was delicious!  After dinner we went to the waterfront and rode The Great Wheel, it was gorgeous!

Family Pictures!

It's official!  We went and had professional family pictures taken and I have to admit, I love them.  I smile when I see them.  Let's just say, pictures make me happy.  Very happy.

Me and my darling boys.

Eli - 6 years

Cooper - 17 months

Have I mentioned just how much I love and adore these two little boys?  

Well, I do.