A Trip to the Zoo

So we FINALLY sold our Highlander! And the family who bought it lived near Hogle Zoo, so we checked it out before delivering the car. Tyler loved it! It was the quickest zoo experience I've ever had. We only had about 45 minutes, so we went through pretty quickly. It actually worked out fine that way because we didn't have time to get tired of all the walking and Tyler didn't get restless since we were on the move. He's still talking about all the animals. The morning after, he growled at us and said he was an aligator. Then, we talked about the dancing elephants. The elephant who wasn't eating was swaying back and forth like he was dancing. It was tender. The zoo is a magical place to me. There's just something about all those magnificent animals.

Top of Utah 1/2 Marathon

So I'm going through my pictures and found these from my 1/2 marathon experience in the summer. My Mom and I ran the Top of Utah 1/2 Marathon (13.1 miles, I think) in August. It was an awe-some experience! Ever since we moved here to Ogden I have learned how much I seriously LOVE running! It's such a release for me. Every aspect of my life benefits from such exercise. And I think my distance is the 1/2 marathon. It was just longer than I could stand, but long enough to push me. I had never run that far before the race, so that added to the fun. It was nice to run with my Mom. We naturally kept the same pace pretty much the whole time. That was a surprise to me because she was way more consistent than I was at training, so I thought there was no way I'd be able to keep up with her. Our miles were consistently 11:45 minute miles. And our total time was almost exactly 2 1/2 hours. (By the way, I'm documenting our times this year to compare next year's times to see our/my progress.) :) I love running and setting goals with running. I find goals (ie races) are a good way to keep me motivated. So I'm trying to find a 1/2 to run in the spring and I'll run the TOU 1/2 again in the fall. It was nice to run that one, too, because it was all downhill. :)

My best friend Natalie and her two sweet children were the only ones who witnessed our finish. Here I am with Natalie, Olivia and Logan. It was so great to see them at the finish!! And it was so nice of them to travel just to watch us. Natalie was just like a week away from delivering their new baby! (Now born, a boy named Paul. :))

My new fave picture of Tyler. He's age 2 1/2, but looks so grown up in this photo. It's taken outside our apt. here in Ogden. We were going to Logan for the day and it was raining outside. Tyler thought the umbrella was pretty neat.