Halloween 2013

We weren't too creative with costumes this year.  Lynlee chose her costume; a "butterfly princess."  Whatever that is.  And we were lucky to get Coop to wear this cowboy hat.

I call this Coop's "Fat Man in a Little Coat" costume. One of my favorites. He wears it all year long.

The Cooper Chronicles

Oh Cooper....bless your little heart.  I was going through pictures on my phone the other day and realized that I had a "surprisingly" large collection of the disasters Cooper is responsible for over the last few months.  Blog worthy? of course.

This incident is evidence that he will likely not survive past his toddler years.  It was the saddest thing, we were at a hotel, and had put him down for the night.  My niece was watching him because we were headed to the temple for Janeen's endowment.  Apparently, she had checked on him multiple times through the night, but the last time she checked on him, she walked in and saw blood all over coop and his pack n play.  What was Coop doing?  Just sitting amidst the glass as if nothing had happened.  No tears, just sitting.  We don't know exactly what happened but we assume he broke a glass that was on a nearby counter, and then pieces fell into his crib, which he then crawled over and cut his knee on.  Needless to say, it is a pretty wicked scar.  Jason gave him stitches.

This is of no particular importance.  I just thought I would show what meal time looks like. Three times a day, this is what I am up against.  He is a bottomless pit, which I love.  I don't however love the mess.

....The time he got into my paint while I was painting my cabinets......

.....The time he raided my pantry...........

.........The time he painted bright pink nail polish all over everything. And I mean everything.  I'm still recovering from this one.......

 How can I get mad at this face?  And I really can't complain.  He is actually a really easy kid in some regards.  He easily entertains himself  (with nail polish).  And rarely cries (even when his knee has been sliced open).

And this is one of my favorites.  Cooper clogged the toilet upstairs.  It ran over...and leaked through our ceiling.  Some patchwork, drywall, paint and about 400 bucks later, it is fixed.

 I dedicate this post to adult Cooper.  Someday when you are all grown up and have kids of your own I hope you will have as much fun with them as I'm having with you.  Paybacks baby.

Mud Run 2013

Jason ran in the mud run for the Hope Arising Team.  He took first place for his team.  And yeah, he ran one time to train.  I swear, these nelsons are just natural runners, its kind of annoying.  I am really looking forward to joining him next year, we weren't sure how it would be to run it 6 months pregnant, so I sat this one out.

Family Lake Powell Trip Summer of 2013

What can I say.  This was probably our best family trip ever.  Thanks to Crystal and Alicia for planning it and putting it together.  I mean really, who can beat boating, cliff jumping and fun in the sun.  We were super lucky this summer to get to make two Lake Powell trips, and we have decided we want to make Lake Powell a family tradition.  Because really, it is the best.  All of us were there including Celeste and Jackson, and Alicia and her cute family.  My favorite moment of the trip?  Well I have a few.  In no particular order.  Ben popping out of the water on a wakeboard in a speedo.  I kept thinking his swim trunks fell off in the water before he came out.  But, it was all planned.  Also, not pictured...my dad got up on the wakeboard!  What a man.  Fully clothed in paleontology garb.  Belt and all.  Lynlee cliff jumping.  She was a brave little thing.  It was probably an 8 or 9 feet cliff?  Crazy right?  I don't know who was more scared, me watching, or Lynlee jumping.

There is nothing better than time with the family. 

Lake Powell Summer of 2013

 Lake Powell was amazing.  We stayed on a houseboat with the Hills and the Belnaps.  Such a blast.  We loved every minute of wakeboarding and soaking up the sun.  Lynlee was quite the paddle boarder.  Coop loved the mud.  We stayed up "late" and played Ticket to Ride, and woke up and went out on the water.  Heaven.

Lynlee's First Day of Pre-school

Marathon

Well, I ran a marathon.  Something I never thought I would do.  Ever.  I was 3 months pregnant too.  Terrible idea you say?  I agree.  I would have never trained had I known I would be pregnant when the day of the marathon came.  In fact, I had told my friends (who peer pressured me into it....ps), that that was my only stipulation.  I would train, but if I got pregnant I was out.  I wasn't about to put having a baby on hold to train for a marathon.  It took us a while to get pregnant with Cooper, so I didn't want to wait or put things on hold if it was going to take a long time to get pregnant again.

What happened was, a group of my friends decided they would put a team together to run RAGNAR.  That wouldn't be too bad, I thought.  So I trained and ran that.  It was hard, don't get me wrong, but still a good time.  Well, when that was over, my friend Leanne said something along the lines of, "You know, we are already at 13 miles....if we train 7 more, we could do a full..."And that's where it all began.  Just like Satan, little by little, I was convinced that hey, maybe I really could do a marathon.  Maybe I should just try it.  It can't be that bad, right?  After I ran my first half marathon, I remember Jason and I both saying we would never run a full.  Never.  But I think we both knew in the back of our mind that it would have to be something we checked off our bucket list one day.  So, I decided this is a better time than any.  I would do it once.  Check it off the list, and be done with it.

So, my friends and I trained.  We got up at 3am to do our long runs, and to beat the Arizona heat.  We were dedicated.  It was hard.  We got up to our 20 mile run, which is the longest run you do before a marathon, and I thought, okay, I'm there.  I'm going to do this.  And then, I found out I was pregnant.  I didn't know if I should go through with it.  I didn't want to put the baby at risk, and I knew the marathon was secondary to the baby's health.  I did a lot of praying.  I also talked to my OB, who happens to be a runner, who said to go for it.  My body is used to the running, and the baby would be fine.  Just to be very careful, don't get dehydrated and listen to my body. 

I ran a half marathon on July 4th with Jennette, Jolene and Brent.  We ran the Neola Half Marathon, which was great.  I ran it in 1 hr 54 minutes, which is an 8 minute 40 second pace.  It gave me hope that I could do the marathon.  I had never run that fast in my life.  Digestive wise I had done really well, and there was no cramping.  Hallelujah.

Well, the day of the marathon came.  I will never forget the terrible anxiety, and resulting digestive issues I had that morning.  Just the worst thing ever.  I ran the first 9 at a good pace.  In fact the first 4 miles were under an 8 minute pace.  Then there was this wretched 2 mile long straight up hill, or so it seemed.  Marlane and I stayed together for the first 9 or so, we lost Leanne and Amy around mile 2?  Then I had to stop and use the bathroom, so off went Marlane.  Around mile 12 I texted Jason and told him I was dying.  (I'm not dramatic at all) He caught up with me around mile 16, and ran with me until mile 20.  I was cramping, and didn't know what to do.  Running is a mental thing.  And when you are worried about the little baby in your belly, the mental toughness kind of goes down the drain.  I was really concerned because I wasn't sure if the cramping was from the digestive issues, or being pregnant.  I slowed way down.  In fact, I was walk running.

I will never forget how grateful I was for my family that day.  Each of them were stationed 2 miles apart, so that I could run with them for a couple miles, then get handed off to the next person.  Had it not been for my family, I would not have finished.  Truly.  I'm not just saying that.  I had asked Jason where the car was at mile 17. 

Needless to say, I'm sure I'm boring you with the details, but I finished.  My time was horrendous.  5 hrs 17 minutes.  Don't laugh.  The hardest part for me was feeling like my time did not at all reflect my training.  I had trained hard.  But when it came down to it, my time did not end up being my priority.

Looks like I'm really trucking doesn't it?  Well, my dad said, hey why don't you run for a second so I can get a picture...

This was reality:

And that's how I came to run a marathon 3 months pregnant......