March

I guess it's time to finally update the blog. March was really busy. Rob finished his 6th quarter of school, and he took his first set of boards, covering cumulative information from all 6 quarters, along with regular finals. His boards were on a Saturday and a Sunday, and then Monday through Friday were finals from that quarter. He took 19 tests in 7 days. The weeks leading up to that were extremely busy! He would basically come home for dinner every night then go back to school to study until bedtime.
We made a kind of last-minute decision that Collin and I would go visit my parents in Salt Lake during the week of boards. It was nice to be away from home and have distractions, and Rob was able to better focus with us gone. Collin loved seeing his grandma and grandpa. He points them out in pictures and calls both of them "Bapa."

Plane ride

Playing in Grandpa's truck (the hat was because his eyes were really sensitive in the sun, and it's all I had!)

Reading time

The drumset! Collin picked up on it pretty quickly after watching Grandpa. He loves drums!

 Collin had his first real snow experience while we were there! He was fascinated by it.

A little taste

Taking a little nap

At a little cafe

The gigantic moose was also a  big hit

Collin and Grandma

Kayla came to see us!! Just back from her mission! Loved catching up with her. 

We went with my mom to Rexburg for St. Patrick's Day weekend to see Katie and Justin. We had lots of fun at their apartment! Collin had a blast and especially liked playing with Justin. I also got to see a family that I worked with when I lived there (I worked with 4 of their kids), and introduced them to Collin, since I was pregnant when I last worked with them.

Collin and Justin

St Patrick's Day

Collin "getting his hair done" at Panache :)

Doing an Irish jig for St. Patrick's Day

Collin and Katie

After our trip, we had a few more days until Rob was completely done with finals, and we were so relieved when it was finally break time!! Collin really missed spending time with his daddy.

We went to Tri-Cities for the weekend for our newest nephew, Corey's baby blessing. Collin had a blast with his cousin Jameson in his little police car! He looked like such a big boy riding around in the passenger seat. He even waved at us a few times when they passed by.

He also enjoyed the piano at Jameson's house.

We spent most of the break relaxing at home and around town. Collin loved this fun park called Imagination Station, and I think we'll spend a lot of time there this summer!

Sliding!

And more sliding.

Eventually he just went down by himself.

The first General Conference where Collin could look for grandpa! (He didn't actually see him unfortunately, but we took a picture as proof that he tried).

13.1

I ran a half marathon! I am so proud of myself. I have never been a runner, and when I started about a year ago, I could hardly run for 5 minutes at a time. I only ran to get in shape and lose baby weight, but I consistently ran 3 days a week, and slowly increased the distance I could run. I remember being so happy when I ran 2 miles straight for the first time. Then 4. And when I first ran 6, I signed up for our 10k, and that was as far as I was going to go. Rob could do his half marathon, but I was content with having done my race and keeping my Monday long runs at 6 miles. Until one day I felt great and did 8. Then a few weeks later, 10. After running 12 miles a few weeks ago, I decided I was ready for the challenge and I signed up for the Tri-Cities Half Marathon.

The race went really well! We arrived in Tri-Cities the day before and checked out the course and it was extremely windy and freezing and I was so nervous! We had a carb-filled dinner with Amber and Steve at Olive Garden, and spent the night at Cory and Minnie's house. The morning of the race was still freezing, but the wind had fortunately died down. 

Trying to stay warm

Ready to go

We all lined up and when the race started, it was a little bit slow since I was behind so many people and we didn't have time chips. I warmed up very quickly and felt comfortable running at a faster pace than normal, probably because of the excitement. Usually the first 3 or 4 miles are hard for me to push through, but I really felt great from the start. Near the turn-around point between miles 6 and 7, Rob and Collin were there with Amber and Eli to cheer me on!

It started to get hard around mile 10, when I started thinking about the finish line. It seemed so close, but I still had 3 miles to go and those were hard to push through! Miles 10 to 12 were the hardest, but the last mile went by pretty quickly.

It was the best feeling to finally cross the finish line! I had seriously been looking forward to that moment ever since I decided to do a half marathon. Although, as soon as I stopped running, every part of my body hurt like crazy, which I hadn't considered in all my daydreams about how great it would feel. But still, I'd just run the farthest of my life, and I finished faster than my goal!

Last stretch!

Finished

My overall pace was 10:37 and my time was just under 2 hours and 20 minutes. I know it's not a competitive pace in the racing world, but still faster than I usually run my long runs, and I've never run for speed. Distance was the goal, and I did it! Completing the half marathon was a huge accomplishment for me, one that I never would have thought I could do. But I'm so happy I did!

Keeping Busy

School is back in session and we are back into our routines. We have been trying to enjoy these winter months by keeping our schedules filled with fun outings. We got a zoo membership, started going to story time at the library, and have had fun get-togethers with friends.  

Collin is growing up so fast. He is almost 17 months now, and has learned so much in the last couple of months! I understand why parents always think their kid is a genius. It's so amazing to watch him learn to do something he couldn't do the day before. He started out as a tiny newborn who couldn't do much, and has quickly turned into a little person who can run around and understand words and communicate. It blows my mind how he can learn to speak words or mimic things I do. It's because he is a genius. Here are some things he's learned lately:

• He can do the sign for "more." We had attempted to teach him this a long time ago, but didn't try that hard. Then after not trying for a few weeks, one day I asked if he wanted more of something and he did the sign on his own! Now he does the sign and says "me!"
• He can say the following words: ball ("ba!"), kitty ("deedee"), binky ("beebee"), more ("me"), ducky ("dagaa"), cheese ("szees"), uh-oh, shoes ("szoos"), fish ("ish"), panda ("babaa"), peas ("bee"), bus ("bu-ye"), peek-a-boo ("ga-gaa!"), and of course Daddy and Mama. He also mimics and says the first sound of words often.
• He is good at following directions when we ask him to bring us something, put it back, shut the door, throw it away, stand up/sit down, go down the slide, etc, or ask him where something is. He also knows when I ask him to bring me a diaper, but he ignores that one and tries to run away.
• He helps me with the laundry. I give him clothes and he throws them in the washer/dryer.
• He is still a good eater and his new favorite snack is frozen peas. He gets so excited to see them and clears his tray and asks for more over and over again. He doesn't care much about sweets yet (he must take after Rob). He also loves to climb on the chairs and help himself to any food that's left on the table. 
• He sometimes gives kisses, which is the sweetest thing ever.
• He thinks it's hilarious to tickle people. Also he thinks it's hilarious to knock over the block towers Rob builds. 
• He is a little bit obsessed with our friends' cat. I think he knows how to get to their apartment from ours. When we go inside, he rushes to find the "deedee!" He loves playing with the kitty, but I don't think the feeling is mutual. :)
• He's starting to love books and his very favorite is called "Hooray for Fish!" Several times a day, he picks that book from the shelf and hands it to one of us saying "ish!" and sits in our lap. 
• While he used to just pull all the DVDs off the shelf all day long, now he only goes for one: The Simpsons Movie. He's never seen it, but no matter where we put it on the shelf, he finds it and pulls it out.

Here's a video of him doing the sign to ask for more peas. With a surprise ending! haha.

He thought it was hilarious to throw my keys down the slide one day. He has the best laugh!

And now an overload of pictures from January and February.

Zoo day

We had a little gourmet grilled cheese night with some friends who were here during the break. Complete with a menu Rob came up with.

This boy learned early how to put olives on his fingers.

He loves this slide.

We had a little snow one day in January. Collin just walked around with his hands out, and cried when it was time to go inside.

Playing with the bubbles at the library story time.

Collin came down with Bronchiolitis and we had to give him breathing treatments. He got a hold of it one day and kept pulling my face towards him and sticking it on me.

Asian night! With our awesome friends who served Asian missions, and. . . us. The Ottos brought a Korean dish, the Wallaces brought Thai food, and we made the sushi.

We also made some dessert sushi cupcakes!

Collin and his friend Adam

Chiro dads! Rob, Nathan, and Reed with their boys.

Hooray for Fish!

After putting his sweatshirt on him one morning, he insisted on wearing his other jacket as well.

Cupcake!

We went on our Valentine's date the Saturday before, since Rob had midterms all week. We went out to dinner and went to our stake's sweetheart ball. It brought us back to our old stake dance days and I loved it!

Kari and I made cupcakes on V-day, with plans to surprise our husbands with them at school. That did not happen. But they were delicious anyway!

Enjoying his Valentine's treat from Daddy.