Brigham's Feast

This morning Brigham said that maybe we could have Spaghetteos for out
Thanksgiving dinner. I told him that we don't have Spaghetteos for
Thanksgiving. We have turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes.

He responded, "Well, I choose that for my feast" (meaning the
Spaghetteos).

The Marathon

Traffic getting down to Richmond was horrible which meant we missed the whole expo the night before and weren't able to pickup our packets. The next morning we made in just in time to get our packets and head to the start line. It was quite a bit colder this year than last year but I actually preferred the cold.

It turned out to be a nice run. Both Trevor and I improved our times. I hit my wall at about mile 20. But that was much better than last year when I hit it at mile 13. Everything seemed to go by much more quickly this time and I felt much more mentally prepared than I had the year before. Last year there was always that worry in the back of my mind that I might not finish. This year I knew exactly what I had to do to get done and that I would be able to do it. It really was amazing how much easier that made things.

The traveling cheering section was great. Holly said that Brigham had a blast cheering for everyone on the course. She said that after they saw me on mile 17 Brigham wouldn't ride in the stroller anymore. He just wanted to run everywhere.

When I saw the finish line I was amazed at how fast I was able to run. Just a mile earlier I could hardly put one foot in front of the other but somehow seeing that finish line and wanting so badly to be able to stop running gave me the energy to practically sprint to the end.

Brigham was very excited to see me. He especially liked my medal. He told me that I had won the race. He asked if he could keep the medal. I told him that I would loan it to him until he got one for running his own marathon. Then he could give it back.

It was a good time. The National Marathon is coming up in DC at the end of March. We'll see if I can maybe do that one as well.

Here are some photos from the marathon and Halloween as well.

More Notes from The Kids Trip to LA

Here is a photo of the kids waiting to get picked up at Long Beach airport on our arrival in LA.

Sunday we went back to our ward in Valencia. It was fun to see everyone. Brigham had gone to Granny Dot's church in the morning so he was very angry that I was going to make him go to another three hours of church. He was yelling at me an being very grumpy until he saw his favorite babysitter - Katherine. Then his whole attitude changed. It was great to see everyone again.

The kids stayed in California all week while I was in some meetings in San Jose. The kids had a blast while they were in California. They went to Kids Space, Disneyland, a movie and Jacob got to spend some quality time with Granny Dot's computer. Sunday night I asked Brigham and Luc if they were missing their parents and they both said no, they hadn't been there a week yet so they were all right.

I flew back Thursday afternoon, picked the kids up and then my Mom and I caught a red-eye back to DC. That flight was very easy. The kids passed out almost right away. Once we got home a slept for a few hours and then headed out to Richmond for the marathon I was to run the next day. There was a major wreck on 95 south so what should have taken 2 hours ended up taking about 5 1/2. It was awful. When I wen to bed that night I realized that this very long trip had started out Thursday morning in San Jose and gone through Los Angles, DC and on to Richmond to finally end up Friday night.

Brigham is allergic to milk

A couple of months ago Jacob's school had some sort of party where
they were handing out ice cream bars. But they also had big
popsicles. Brigham went up to the lady and asked for a popsicle (he
has always been more of a popsicle guy). She told him that they were
only for the kids that were allergic to mild. So what did Brigham
say? "Well, I'm allergic to milk." And he got a popsicle. Ever
since then he has been telling people that he is allergic to milk. I
finally asked him if he knew what that meant. He said he didn't.
Once I explained to him what it meant to be allergic to milk he
decided that he really wasn't allergic.

Goin' to California

Friday Jacob, Brigham, Luc (Brigham's cousin) and I left for
California. I have meetings in San Jose next week so I decided to
take the boys to see their grandparents for the week. Holly picked
Jacob up at school and he was taking awhile to get out the door. She
said, "Jacob, you are going on the airplane today." He said, "To see
Granny Dot?" After receiving confirmation Holly said that his face
turned bright red and he broke into a huge smile. He went tearing
down the hallway yelling "I go see Granny Dot! I go see Granny Dot!"

The flight went pretty well. We flew Jet Blue which was great.
Everyone was very helpful and the boys were very cooperative. The
best part was that the lady at the ticket counter saw my situation and
gave me the entire bulkhead row to ourselves. That was very helpful
as we were also right next to the bathrooms.

Having those TVs were great. Luc was fixated from the time they went
on until just before we landed. Brigham would watch for awhile and
then switch seats and watch a little longer. Jacob of course was not
very interested in the TV and got a little frustrated that it was
taking so long to get to Granny Dot's house.

We made it though. We waited for everyone to get off the plane and
made our way to baggage claim. Brigham and Luc pushed the luggage
cart while I pushed Jacob in his wheel chair (I actually was pushing
Jacob with one hand and pulling the cart with the other). We had
arrived almost 30 minutes early so we had to wait a little while for
Tiffany to pick us up. Brigham was very frustrated that we had to
wait. He suggested that we take the bus.

Once she arrived I had to install all of the car seats. Let's just
say that a BMW 7 series is not setup for car seats. It took me at
least 20 minutes.

That night was very rough. I don't remember all of the details but it
went something like this. Brigham and Jacob were in the guest room
with me and Luc was in the "Cousins'" room. Brigham was snoring so
loud that I finally had to move him at 3 am into the Cousins' room.
Luc was upside down on the bed so I repositioned him. Jacob woke up
at 4 am (7 am est which is when he normally gets up) ready to play. I
told him that he had to go back to bed. It took him awhile but he
finally calmed down. I had just gotten to sleep when I heard Mickey
Mouse. I thought that Jacob had escaped but he was asleep next to
me. I went to check and Luc was up and ready to play. I told him it
was still night and he had to go back to sleep. He hopped back in bed
and I got to sleep a little longer until Brigham and Luc woke up at
around 6 am. They wouldn't believe me that it was night time anymore
since it was now light outside. Needless to say, I was a little foggy
the next day.

Brigham and Luc tore out every toy in the house and had the time of
their life. Tiffany and Jeff took them to a movie and Nathan come
over later to go swimming. They slept well that night. Jacob just
wants to get as much computer time as possible though we have forced
him to go on some outings, go swimming and attend church.

I asked Brigham and Luc if they missed their parents this morning.
They said "no, it hasn't been a week so we are all right."