and in other news...

So I have been away from the blogging world for the last couple of months because things have been crazy busy.

I'm finally finished with school, and the last thing I want to do is get on my computer.  In fact I haven't even turned it on since I finished school until now.

So here's the Reader's Digest version of the last few months.

Where I left off I was just about to take the MPRE.  That was crazy.  See this little adorable boy got a raging case of pink eye days before the test.

 Then the morning of the test I woke up with the worst case of pink eye I had ever seen.  My eye was swollen almost shut, and there was so much pressure on the eye that I spent the first few hours before the test in the ER getting medication for my eye.  Then I took the test with one eye.  That was hard.

But luckily I PASSED!

Then I went to Nebraska for Spring break.  I took a class out there.

 Pretty, no?

 Then Drake started baseball.

He's pretty good at nailing the ball!  Generally he hits it on the first or second pitch.  And his outfield dancing is to die for.  He may have even caught a ball in his hat rather than his glove.

 I did the El Tour de Mesa.

Tres fun.

Marquee Olympic Triathlon.

The Taylors were in town and we did some family pictures.

 Just look at these adorable kids.

Then finals started.

Would you like to know how to add even more stress to law school finals?  Go run Ragnar SoCal right in the middle of it.  But as much stress as it added, it was also a good brain break.  

80's Ladies and Some Dudes rocked it!  

Gwen did her first duathlon.

So cute I could die!

At the same time Drake and Ryan were camping for fathers and sons.

You know, just catching mice and killing snakes.  Fun man stuff.

Then I finished finals and also my paper that I spent months procrastinating.

Holy cow, I can't even put into words how elating it is to be finished with my SECOND YEAR OF LAW SCHOOL!!!!!!

I've celebrated by going on a crazy cleaning spree.  

My house is in a constant state of deterioration throughout the semester, so come the end of school I have major cleaning to do.

To reward myself, I did the Rio Salado Olympic tri yesterday.

My BIL Gavin did it too.
I know that nobody looks good in a swim cap.  I'm embracing my inner ET.

 It was a super fun way to kick off the summer!

So here's to summer break!!

No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks.

Hahahaha!

MPRE

It's not ethical for a lawyer to have sex with his client. Unless they were already doing it before she was his client.

That's the kind of stuff I'm studying right now.

I take the MPRE on Saturday morning. Let's hope I only have to take it once!

Phoenix 1/2 Marathon

This was a good one.

I knew that I had wanted to run this, but wasn't 100% since I knew it'd be the weekend after the Ultra Ragnar. Since I had never run 34 miles in a 24 hour period before (like I did for Ragnar), and having just recovered from stress fractures in my femurs, I didn't know how I'd feel or what condition my body would be in. But I was pleasantly surprised at how good I felt after Ragnar. My right knee was sore, but I'm sure it's just IT band stuff, so I wasn't too worried about that. And I know my legs weren't at 100%, but felt like I could still do the half. So I drug Ryan with me to the start dark and early.

My pre-race breakfast:

wheat toast with peanut butter, bananas, honey and chia seeds.

Mmmmmm... I'm addicted.

I usually eat two pieces, but I didn't want to be burping it up while I was running, so I stuck to just one.

How cool was this? The bagpipers leading the runners to the start up on Usery Pass.

So we started towards the front, and I wasn't sure what kind of pace to try. I felt good, but I also wanted Ryan to be able to keep up, and he hadn't been running much at all.

So for the first 4 miles, it was a decent down hill and we did about an 8:05 pace.

Mile 5 it leveled out, and I tried to maintain that pace, but I was worrying about Ryan.

So right when we hit mile 5, Ryan gave me the go ahead, and he hung back.

I debated just staying with him since I knew I hadn't trained for, and my body wasn't in shape for a PR. But I also just wanted to run at a fast but totally comfortable pace. So I just kept going.

And that was my strategy for the rest of the race. I found another runner who was running at my pace, and I just stuck with her, and didn't look at my watch until mile 12.

When I finally did look down, I saw that I was totally going to get my PR. CRAP!! Why didn't I run faster?!

So I surged ahead of her, and pushed up the last hill to come in just barely still at 1:48.

Then I hit up all the goodies!

This race had the best finish food! I got a giant cinnamon roll for crying out loud! As well as strawberry Rocket Fuel (my favorite post race drink!), Jamba Juice, granola, fruit, cookies, yogurt pretzels, the list goes on.

They know what runners like.

Then I ran back to the finish to look for Ryan.

He came through at 1:58 and just said, "water!"

He rehydrated, then made his way to the medic tent to get his knees iced.

Silly boy. He doesn't train for these things, but comes with me anyway.

I appreciated that though. I was worried he'd back out that morning, but nope, he ran. Untrained. And still PR'd!

It was a perfect morning for a run.

The race was well run.

And I am definitely doing it again next year!

Oh, also I got my new shoes!

I tried the Brooks Pure Flow hoping to find a cheaper natural running shoe. But sadly my feet didn't like them. I can wear them for shorter runs, but over 5 miles, and I'm hurting.

So back to my beloved Newtons. I guess you just stick with what works.

So pretty.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Banana Bread

Oh. My. Goodness.

This is good.

I buy bananas all the time, because I eat a lot of bananas.

Plus if I have extras, and they go bad, then that's only an excuse to make banana bread!

I have a go to recipe that I make all the time. It is so yummy, with orange peel in it to add a nice flavor. I'll post that one sometime.

But for now, I'll post this recipe.

I love Emily Malone's blog Daily Garnish!

The other day she posted this Whole Wheat Oatmeal Banana Bread recipe that's vegan. Well I didn't keep mine totally vegan. I threw in an egg to add a little more leavening because I was worried that it'd be too dense. Plus I used Coach's Oats rather than rolled oats, so I thought it might need a little more liquid.

It turned out FANTASTIC!!

Go make this yummy, healthy bread. You won't regret it.

Starbucks Lemon Pound Cake

Two posts in one day?!

(I must be sitting in a really boring class right now)

In an effort to use more of my lemons, I found this recipe for lemon pound cake on the "internets" (as President Obama would say).

Just like the lady who posted the recipe, I found that in searching for a lemon pound cake recipe, most of them call for lemon extract rather than using real lemons. Well that doesn't help my lemon problem. So this one is claimed to be "Better than Starbucks", and I don't know if I'd go that far, but this is pretty dang good!

Use up the rest of your lemons, make this cake.

Next, I'm going to make this Baked Lemon Risotto. It sure looks delish. I'll let you know if it is!

Gloves in a Bottle

My hands are dry.

Like really dry.

Winters in AZ certainly don't help in the skin moisture department.

For example, Sunday I was in nursery (I work with the 18 month to 3 year olds at church), and I was writing a child's name on his coloring when I noticed blood on his picture. After quick inspection, I found that the blood was from my thumb, and it wasn't from a cut, but a crack from dry skin. How pathetic is that? Granted during nursery I do alcohol sanitize my hands like 20 times over the 2 hours I'm in there, but alcohol aside, my skin is dry anyway.

It was to the point that my hands were always uncomfortable. I'd constantly be applying lotion, but only have to reapply an hour later.

Well, let me tell you about this,

Gloves in a Bottle.

This stuff is amazing!

It's not greasy, doesn't wash off, and it creates a "shield" to protect your hands and keep your natural moisture in. I've been using it for a day and a half, and am already seeing a big difference in my hands! I applied it this morning, and haven't reapplied lotion to my hands yet, and they aren't all dry yet!!

If you are having dry hand issues, go buy some!

(It wasn't at Walgreens or CVS, but I found it at Fry's.)

Ragnar Del Sol 2012

Introducing the

SPARKTACULAR SIX!!!

Six as in instead of 12 members on our Ragnar team, we had six.

So because we had half as many, we ran twice as far.

And slept half as much too.

As if getting less sleep is possible right? Well it is.

We sparkled up our van.

This Ragnar was amazing. And key to that was the girls.

Can you imagine being stuck in a van for two days with people you don't care for?

Luckily we did NOT have that problem.

Let me introduce the players:

Moi

(great picture I know!)

Marie

Carolyn

Breezy

Jasmyn

and Erin

And let me tell you, silliness ensued.

For instance here, I am hiding behind this lush bush to jump out and scare an approaching runner.

front seat sandwich making

And don't ask what I'm doing behind this random play pool we found.

But I might be on my way to find a spot to do the same thing here too.

Let's just say I only hit the porta pottys once over the two days. The rest of the time, I was getting to know nature.

Or what about when our van broke down, and we thought it was all over for us?

We also had road side rolling, and thank goodness for Carolyn, I was there to flag that car away.

Impromptu Justin Bieber dance parties.

I'm adjusting my britches here to make sure I'm always modest.

Right girls???

When we finally finished, we were a little sad it was all over.

It was such a fun bonding experience for six sparktacular ladies.

Who are also some of the toughest girls I know!

D-boy

If I'm not wanting to kill this boy, I'm smothering him with kisses. Seriously, he has been all sorts of naughty and funny and sweet lately. Observe...

Here's my boy helping out at the ward service project.

Of course he was just so excited to use a shovel.

Look at this outfit.

Who doesn't love a little boy with a big puppy belly, and skinny little legs and hips?

(and really really stinky feet!!)

How about the school work he still brings home with pictures on the back?

bombs, tanks, hot lava pit, parachutes-

bombs-

pirate ships and sharks-

And getting to wash this:

(don't look if easily offended)