Photography by Lauren

The J's

Seriously coolest family ever. In the coolest setting ever. I love downtown shoots!

 

 

Eeek!

This post is for my mom. . . She is dying to see what we looked like last night. Hope you all had a happy halloween!

 

I know I should be working. . .

If you are waiting for pictures, I'm sorry. I've been out playing this weekend and it's hard to get back into work mode. My sister-in-law Alyssa & I took to the hills on Friday. Has anyone ever hiked Angel's Landing in Zion National Park? It was totally freaky. And then I felt a little foolish because there was a 5 month old baby & an 87 year old man climbing the mountain with us. But the view was amazing so I would totally do it again. From Angel's Landing we hiked up on the west rim and camped in the most beautiful camp site. We saw a bazillion stars at night, an amazing sunrise, and three deer all from the comforts of our little tent. I would do this EVERY weekend if I could. It was so fun hanging out with my sister-in-law I'm sad to see her head back to PA this weekend.:(

 
 

Miss 'A'

I love these piercing eyes & GORGEOUS hair. Sometimes I just want to put these sweet ones in a bubble. Where they would never stop playing with dolls. And never have the attitude of a 15 year old. But alas, time moves on and this one will be 8 in a blink and then in another blink 16. Thanks Miss 'A' for a delightful afternoon.  

 
 
 
 

C's had a birthday, Shout Hooray!

My Mom helped me put on the cutest little 2 year old party last week. Homemade beanbags, birthday crown, & banner. Throw in some cousins, costco brownie bites, and red balloons. And out comes a party. 'C' knew it was her special day & she LOVED all the attention. 

  

 

'C' age at age two:

loves balloons, pretending to be a dog, babies, dress up slippers, and anything that 'K' or 'J' have. She's quick to give hugs and hates sitting in strollers, car seats, and shopping carts. Oh and her favorite thing; footballs (the english kind.) I love this little girl.  

ANYONE can run a marathon

If I can do it, anyone can. For those of you who are interested this is how it went. . . (if you're not, just scroll down and look at the cute preschoolers:)

09.19.09 (top of utah) marathon

4:34am Emily wakes me up from Grandma P's living room couch (my alarm had been set for 4:30pm. oops)

5:15 Brother John finds us "perfect princess parking" in front of the Logan tabernacle. I keep meaning to ask him what princess parking is?

5:27 board school buses in the pitch dark

6:30get dropped off at the city of portapotties lit by glow sticks

6:40 make our way down to the start line. It was freezing and still pitch dark. There was a heated tent that reminded me of a concentration camp tent totally jam packed with people. And a burning barrel. I must have spent too much time in line for the potty to get  a warm spot.

6:43 drink a fruit punch Gatorade. They had tables of Gatorade & water in dixie cups, and huge tubs of Vaseline with popsicle sticks sticking out.

7:00 the wheel chair race starts

7:06 muskets are fired by frontiersmen and native americans. . . and we're off.

 

For the next 4 hours & 44 min. we run. It's all kind of a blur especially after mile 21. I think I got a little delirious making silly Pollyanna comments like, "what a nice day for a 5 mile jog." blah.blah.blah. The other runners probably hate me. The first 14 weren't bad at all. We ran down blacksmith fork canyon with the river running by us, the changing leaves, and pretty mountains. John & Alyssa saw some moose. I think I was just focusing on the yellow lines in the middle of the road. When we got to mile 6 I couldn't believe we'd been running for an hour. Time seemed to fly by. 

The best part were all the people along the way. My fiercely determined running partner Emily stayed with me until the very end. We got to have one of our normal Saturday run chats. Talking about our families & church callings. We analyzed everyone's running attire.  We lamented that we had never purchased running skirts. It was fun.  

And then there were the other runners that crossed my path.

mile 14- a woman with a knee brace who fell into her husband's arms crying & had to drop out of the race. I started to tear up when I saw her. I didn't think it would be so emotional. But I was thinking about how I would feel after training for 16 weeks and working so hard, it would be a huge mental defeat to have to quit.

mile 19- we caught up to a girl who was on her 8th marathon. She overheard me saying I wish I could run naked (by bra was buggin)  and then for the next mile or so she couldn't stop talking about running a costume race in San Fransisco with naked people. Her fave was the totally nude silver guy. At the start of the race 40,000 people were packed in together tight, but silver naked guy had a 3 foot radius, no one was even close to him:)

mile 20- ran into the guys we met from the Provo river trail. (Emily & I are easy to spot. We wore the same thing for every long run. It's good luck you know:)

mile 21- I finally asked a woman about the soldier sign pinned to her shirt. 

me-"Is that your husband on your shirt?"

her-"yes" 

me-"where is he?" 

her-"he died 6 months ago, he was scheduled to come home today." 

me-"Oh I'm SO sorry"

her-"you're doing so great, keep it up."

mile 23- as we rounded a neighborhood corner there was a man cheering from the sidewalk, "Great job athletes, looking good." I thought, athletes? Is he calling ME an athlete? Well yes I am. If I am running a marathon then I AM an athlete:)

me-"sob.sob. no YOU are AMAZING.sob. heave. gasp. run faster so she doesn't have to hear me sob & heave some more." At that point I realized a marathon is much more than running the race. It is the months and weeks of preparation. It's mental, it's physical, it's spiritual, it's monumental for so many people. And it can be cheap therapy.

mile 24- I had Emily leave me. She slowed down just to run with me and at that point I had to stop and open my jolly rancher they gave me. Then I met Ray (attorney from Seattle with 5 kids) who must have needed someone to coach. He said OK Lauren no more walking. When you get to that stop sign we are going to run, OK? Lauren, do you see that stop sign? OK ready run. OK now we are going up a hill but we are going to do it, no walking, we don't have to go fast, just go, you're doing it, good job. OK, Lauren, here comes a drink station we're not going to stop, we don't need any more water, we're going to run. Run through it Lauren, run through it. After about 1/2 a mile I was done being coached so I stopped and walked.

mile 25.5- I met Tracy, a senior at BYU. This was her first marathon, she seemed impressed that I was running after 3 kids. I was impressed that she found the time to run while in school. I could have never done it.

25.9- My family was yelling and taking pictures. Mom. Riley. Katie-Lynn.Claire. Jarett decided to run with me. I have never been so happy to see my family. I threw open my arms and helled,"I love you guys." (I think I was a total sweaty, exhausted, incoherent freak by that point.)

26.1- Gina & Danny were on the sidelines. Cheering and taking pics.

26.2- I crossed the line with BYU student Tracy. WHOoHOo!

And then everything is a blur again. I remember bumping into people (it was kind of hard to walk straight.) and hugging my family. Wading in the ice cold canal. Waiting in line for a massage. Cheering for John & Alyssa (they did it even with the altitude change, bad knees, bronchitis. . .) And then there was a cold shower & cafe rio shrimp tacos! Aahhh it never tasted so good!

It's that time of year AGAIN. . .

 Preschool Picture Day! Preschoolers are sooo easy to photograph. They aren't camera shy and they are so honest. The camera can tell, they are beautiful inside and out. I love that they haven't lost all of that innocent baby look and yet most of them are 4 going on 14! Just too cute. Here's a few of my faves.

Back to School

So officially my kids have been back to school for almost a month. But I have held on to August with a death grip. And today I had to turn in my pool key and bid summer goodbye:( I was totally looking forward to school starting. New backpacks, schedules, new shoes, brand new teachers, alone time during 'C's naps. . . but now the shiny new has worn off and I wish I was back at the pool with nothing on the agenda today. Call me crazy, I know. I woke up this morning freezing and it finally hit me, summer is gone and here comes winter. So to cheer me up I think I will post pictures from the summer all year long. Just pretend I live in Australia or better yet Hawaii where it NEVER changes seasons. Maybe if you squint while you look at the screen the green will appear to be palm trees & pineapple fields:)

 

Happy Days

 I can't believe my baby sister has been married for 2 months! Happy Anniversary D&G.

Happy Birthday Papa!

My new favorite quote reminds me of  you. . .

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air. . ."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hope your day is Happy!

love, Lauren