Hannah's Blessing

On Nov. 7th Ben blessed our tiny baby girl and it was such a great day filled with family, friends and the spirit!  Man, I'm thankful for the priesthood and a husband that honors it so well.  It is such a blessing in our home.   It was a beautiful blessing and she has the potential for a lot of greatness in her life to come.

Hannah is so sweet and fun these days.  When ever she makes eye contact she lights up and squeals and I swear there is nothing better in this world.

The Hoopes

The Gallands.  Notice Wyatt Hannah and Papa's hand.  He cracks me up.

And our not so little family.

We also had the joy of singing Happy 97th to Ren--the most amazing man I know.  I don't look up to any man more.

And the blessing even brought an ABQ cousin to our house.  Are these two cute or what?

Halloween 2010

This Halloween was a bit of a mess.  We had some stomach flu mixed in with a motorcycle accident and some broken bones and then a little down pour on the side.  It's a  miracle that we even made it out Trick-or-treating.  But we did.  It ended up being me with about 10 kids in the trunk of my car and we all got drenched.  Ben stayed home and faithfully handed out candy despite all his broken parts.  It was such a crazy day that I didn't even get a picture of all the kids dressed up together.  I at least got video of most of them at their school programs.  Hopefully next year will go a little better.

Some Hooter cupcakes.

I love this picture because Faith has such a crush on Lucas and you can see it in this picture even though it's super blurry.

And I forgot to add these pictures to the fall fun.  It was such a nice, warm fall.  I loved all the time we got to spend outdoors.

Fall Fun

We did do some fun Fall things.  For one we went to Cornbelly's with the Harts.  It was crazy to say the least, but at least it was warm, the kids had a ball, and no one was lost for too long in the process.

   

Jesse, Faith, Wyatt, Joslyn, Emma

These two love each other and don't see enough of each other.

I think "Intense" is Wyatt described in one word.

Everyone loved her fall outfit.  Thanks Erica

Wyatt kept asking me to take his picture.

Snow Canyon Half Marathon

On November 6th me and Lisa ran the Snow Canyon Half Marathon.  I signed up for it when I was about 3 month pregnant so I could have some motivation to get back in shape after Hannah.  The good news is I did it and I ran fast!--for me at least.  I also got a PR. 1:52 was my official time.  Which was 4  minutes faster then my other half.  So I was very excited about that.  The bad news is I'm still not back in shape.  I take that back  I feel strong and good, but I've still got about 10lbs. to loose.  It's getting tougher the older I get.

At about mile 10

At the finish line with Lisa--my 41 year-old SIL that spanked me.

Proof that I ran a half 3 months after giving birth.

The support.  Ben was planning on running but broke his arm and a couple ribs a week before on a motorcycle, and Ben's parents came all the way from California:)

Me and Nana.  She was the hospitable one that flew us down, let us stay in her house, and carted us all around for two days.  Truth is she really should have been running it with me.

It was such a beautiful fun race.  The prettiest race I have ever done by far.  If you ever have a chance to at least drive through Snow Canyon you must.  Running down it isn't bad either:)

St. George Marathon

Back in October Ben ran the St. George Marathon.  I have to be honest, back when he signed up in April, I didn't think it was really going to happen.  But train he did--in between all his bike rides--and he did such a good job!  I was so impressed that he muscled through it because running is definitely not his favorite thing.  But this is such an accomplishment!  Way to go babe!

Although spectating with 4 tiny kids was no walk in the park either.  It was like 98 degrees and no one was happy chasing him around.  I don't think I could have done it without the help of my sister-in-law.  Thanks Emily!  Next time we'll just wait under a shady tree after the finish line:)

Stewart Falls

Clear back in mid September Ben and I took a trail run to Stewart Falls.  The remarkable thing is that this was my first time EVER!  I know crazy I've lived in it's shadow my entire life and never made the short trek.  It was a really hard run for me back then, but it was a lot of fun.  The falls were beautiful and so were the first changing leaves.  It was such a fun date evening, and worth the trek again.

Park City Point to Point

Last minute Ben decided to race the Point to Point in Park City.  They say it's the hardest race in Utah and those that have done both say it's a lot harder than Leadville.  Ben road hard all summer, but didn't anticipate doing this race and I thought he was crazy for doing this and a marathon all in the same month.  Anyways it's 80 miles and 100% single track--Gnarly steep single track.  

Long story short--He did awesome.  He was ahead of his expected time.  He was happy and in high spirits the whole time--there were a lot of upset athletes coming into the pits.  He was feeling good and fast and then at mile 73 his rear de-railer broke.  So he managed his way down to the finish, cutting 7ish miles off, first by making his bike a single speed, then when that broke he strider biked it through the finish:(  So unfortunate, but thats how it goes sometimes when your bike breaks.

I was incredibly impressed none-the-less and had fun chasing him around and being his pit crew.  Maybe next year...