Marathon and General Conference

It is October again and that of course means Ben's birthday and also the St. George marathon.  This was Ben's 9th St. George marathon.  I have gotten pretty used to the marathon being part of our norm.  Ben has ran it 7 times out of the 9 years we have been married.  I think that I have become an expert on what to do for the marathon.  This year though was the first time that I have not taken Ben to the start line so it did go a little bit different.

I got a babysitter for the babies and took the girls with me to go and watch Ben in Veyo.  It is my favorite place to watch the runners.  They all have so much energy and are so happy...quite a different feel than the finish line:)

The girls made signs so that Ben would know where to find us.  This year they put up some barriers, which made it a bit more difficult but the girls still got LOTS of high 5's.

Here we are waiting for Ben to cross the finish line.  Although I think that it is kind of weird that he literally wears the same thing every year, it is nice because I know exactly what to look for...his blue hat and red shorts.  I have tried buying him other running clothes but this is what he likes to wear and has worn it every year that I can remember!  We were so excited to see him approaching the finish line.  Every year I get a little nervous around the time he is supposed to be coming in so it is always a relief when he rounds the corner heading to the finish line.

All the family sitting around watching the marathon.

This year only Ben and his brother, Ryan, ran the marathon.  We had lots of friends but that was it for the family.  Last year there were 6 that ran.

Ben did AWESOME! He has been wanting to get under 4 hours and he finally reached his goal.  He finished the marathon in 3 hours and 51 minutes...his best yet!  He looked great once again:)

As we were sitting there after the marathon with Sadie & Stockton playing with Ben's medal, a guy came by who had just completed the marathon.  When he saw them both wanting the medal he leaned over and gave Sadie his medal.  He said that they both needed a medal and that he doesn't run the race for the medal.   

After the marathon we took a well deserved nap and then headed up to Pine Valley.  My sister was in town from Phoenix and it was so fun to get to see them and spend time with them.  

On Sunday afternoon we met up with Ben's family and had a picnic.  It was beautiful and a lot of fun to once again enjoy being outside.  The kids had a great time!

These kids are only two weeks apart and it is so fun to see them playing together.  While we were sitting around having a little Testimony meeting, the babies found spoons and sat and played in the dirt.  I think they took a few bites of it as well:)

They also enjoyed the chips!

These little girls are so cute as well and love playing together.  

We had a great weekend.  We love being able to spend time with our families and I always look forward to General Conference weekend.