Spooktacular Season

I love October. Everything starts cooling off. Pumpkin spice smells are okay and more than welcome to come out again. It's baking season. And on and on. And we've had a great October.

Another great thing about October is Halloween. I love Halloween. The decorations, the spookiness, the costumes. It's always so fun. Plus, lots of candy is involved, so. . . .

Here are some of our Halloween-y adventures:

We went to the pumpkin patch last week. I didn't even know until this year that there was a PP here. I wish I had known last year. Oh wells. We went with our neighbors, picked out some pumpkins and then carved them.

One of Lish's coworkers is a big Halloween fan (who can blame him?), so we went over to his house to check out all his decorations. He's going to teach me how to make those headstones next year. I know you're jealous.

Then we found out the college was doing a Trunk or Treat last night (the night before Halloween), so we moseyed on over there to get our Trick-or-Treating on. It was so fun to walk around with Yale and have him say oh so quietly "Trick or treat." When we practiced at home, he was never that quiet or shy about it. Silly little shark.

Tonight we went to our ward's Trunk or Treat, then headed to our friend's family's house for some delicious soup and scones, then did some Trick or Treating around our neighborhood. It was so fun. Yale got tired of walked towards the end, but loved holding out his pumpkin and loved showing people what a shark does. (He puts his hand on his head, pointing up like a fin, while saying, "Da na, da na" and then growls while doing some shark bites. If you haven't seen it yet, please ask him to do it next time you see him. It's pretty great.) 

Marathoning

One of my stepmom's friends says she tries to do at least one hard thing every year. That's a good thing. And I've decided to try my hand at it. In 2010, I gave birth. That was hard. In 2011, I ran not one, but two half marathons. The first one was so hard, the second was just hard. Now it's 2012, and I ran a marathon. A full 26.2 miles. And it was hard. Training was hard. And I did it.

There was a group of people I started running with down here during my training and they pushed me. They helped me get faster and more confident in my abilities. I ran with one of the girls in the group for the first 12 miles. Then we split off and I was by myself for the next 11 miles. I felt pretty good until about mile 18 or 19 and then my legs started really hurting. Around mile 21 I started getting tired and just wanted to be done. My dad jumped in at mile 23 and ran the last 3 miles with me. That was awesome. It was refreshing to have some fresh legs to help keep me going. And to have someone talk to me to get my mind off the burning. Such a welcome distraction.

The last mile was soooo long! My dad warned me of that. Before he split off he pointed out a girl to me that I should try to pass, because I was running at a pretty good pace and I had been passing people for the past couple of miles. I felt like she was so far ahead of me that I couldn't do it, but I tried and I passed her as we were rounding the last corner before the finish line. That pumped me up, along with the crowds of people cheering, so I just started picking up my pace more and more and by the end I was sprinting. Or at least I felt like I was sprinting. I'm so glad that I finished strong. I think that's what made me the happiest. I finished at 3:52:43.

Such a great experience and I have so many people to thank for supporting me through the months leading up to it. But most especially Lish. He was so patient and understanding of my schedule of waking up at 4 in the morning and napping in the afternoons, massaging my feet after my long runs, being with Yale during those many hours, and making sure I was eating and drinking enough to keep myself sustained.

I can do hard things. Especially with so many people helping me, I can do very hard things.