Easter Weekend

We had a great Easter weekend coloring eggs, flying kites, and watching conference at my Mom and Dad's. Somehow can't find the pics I took of the girls in their easter dresses, so sad. We had a great time!

SLC Half Marathon

This past weekend, I ran the Salt Lake City Half Marathon with some of my favorite people on earth. Friday night we all met at Olive Garden for dinner and loaded up on carbs! I took some random shots near the end of dinner.

The wonderful lady who inspired the whole thing.

Race morning we were up bright and early and took some pictures at the starting line. We didn't find Jennie and Christa so I was sad not to get any with them. Here's Misti, Abbie, and I. Training partners forever, ha ha! Misti's kids have Alpha 1 (a genetic liver/lung disease) and so her family and a few friends ran to raise money for Alpha.

Me and my brother Tanner, the gazelle. Seriously, Tanner didn't really train at all and finished in 1:41, placing #255 out of 1739 guys! So proud of him and so glad I stuck with him for the first 5 miles which we ran insanely fast.

The Wahlen Half-Marathoners! My mom has breast cancer so we decided to run our race in conjunction with the Hunstman Cancer Institute Hometown Heroes program where we raised money for cancer research. My aunts are so supportive and some traveled a really long way to do this with us, I appreciate them so much and am so proud of them! The 5k crew wasn't with us at the start but my sisters Jill & Hailey, and my aunt Debbie Briggs all did the 5k and also raised money for Hunstman and Misti's mom Joni Archibald did the 5k for Alpha. Here's the whole Half crew before the start.

The Finish line was at the Gateway. It was a great race! I got a time of 2:09:09 which I felt really good about.

Sisters, my mom and Aunt Deb

Tanner and I after the race

The runners we could find at the finish line. Hailey, Tanner, Joni, Misti, Abbie, Shannon, Jill, me, and Abbie's roommate Darien.

Hires B H afterward with some of the fam, couldn't eat much though!

After Hires, I went shopping in Park City (yay), out to eat and home with my good friends Jennie and Christa which I regrettably did not get any photos of. I could barely walk but it was still really fun. It was a great weekend and I'm so grateful to have such awesome family and friends. Thanks to Chan who stayed home with the girls and took care of everything so I could go, I missed them at the finish line but it would have been slightly crazy. I originally didn't want to do this Half a second time since I'm not really a fan of the winter training but it was so great we might have to make it a tradition.

Happy Birthday Halle Pal

Yesterday our little Halle turned 3 years old, she has been waiting for a long time for that day. She'd always say "why is my birthday taking SO LONG??" Sunday we were at my parents for Easter and everyone was there so we had a little party for Halle.I bought a pan and attempted to make a butterfly cake, I'm not showing it because I'm proud of it, oh no no no. I'm posting a picture of it because I am NOT a cake maker and I stepped out of my comfort zone for my child's happiness and I want it documented for posterity.

Here's the Birthday Girl on the day, it finally came.

She requested McDonalds for lunch.

She got a new princess bike

She passed out treats at dance, we went out to eat and then had a little more cake (Ridley's this time)

We love our little Halle, she is so easy-going, kind, loves to have fun and still holds her own with her sisters. We love you Halle!

Excuses, Excuses

When it comes to ways to get out of picking up toys, I was pretty sure I'd heard it all but tonight Halle (who's 2, how do they learn so fast?) came up and said "I can't pick up toys, my muscles are all runned out." Chan then told her that they only way to recharge muscles was to go straight to bed, pretty much wasn't the answer she was looking for...

Garrett's leavin on a jet plane

So as soon as we get one back we have to send one away again. I am never more grateful the Lord has blessed us with all girls so far than when I have to say goodbye to one of my brothers! Because of the new MTC rule that you have to drop the missionaries off at the curb the girls and I went to Aberdeen the night before to say goodbye, Chan was in charge of mutual that night so he said goodbye on Sunday. Garrett saying goodbye to Whitney and Hailey.

Garrett with the "three little maggots" as he lovingly refers to the girls

Me and G-Dub covering a zit he had on his forehead, yes it's much less apparent with the finger on it. Excuse my tear-stained face.

In true Garrett fashion, I was bawling saying goodbye to him and he was saying "What?" and comforting me and acting all embarassed but really inside loving that I was going to miss him so much. He is such a great kid and SO funny, I know his talents will bring many people to the gospel and his strong testimony will make him a great missionary!

Jazz vs. Suns in style..

So near the end of January, we were able to enjoy a great day in the Utah with the fam, thanks to Hailey watching my kids! Thanks Boog! We went to the Jazz game, and thanks to my dad's "connections" we sat in some awesome seats. Let's just say we usually sit a little higher than we did that night! Two of the seats were in the front row, we didn't make the rotation since the married kids are off the payroll, ha ha ! It was a great time!