Cruising on By

2011 is already cruising by at a breakneck speed!  Here are just a couple of photos from our Caribbean cruise we took Jan 2-7th.  It was a last minute vacation deal Matt & Erianne found (as in we only had a couple weeks notice).  How's that for bargain-hunting spontaneousness?  Had a great time!  Re-charged our batteries & got us ready for a fun year ahead of us.  For ALL the pics, go to our Facebook album. Here's a taste, though.

Just not feeling long-winded today, so hopefully the photos will give you enough of a play-by-play :)

Tour de St George Century Ride in October

107 miles on our bicycles. Hot bam. That's how it's done, folks. Fun weekend with Doug, Roque, Ryan, Erik, Dad Weight, The Greenwoods, Stacee, & Becky. My first century ride. Thanks for all of your support! If we see the guy that designed that course to have all the worst ascents between miles 85 and 95.....

Breckenridge in October

We spent a weekend in October w/ friends in Breckenridge, Colorado

Happy New Year!

We took a trip on a whim to North Reddington Beach, FL to pick up a new car for Doug.  We flew down on the 1st and drove back the night of the 2nd and all day the 3rd.  It was a fun little adventure together!  You can find more pics and the majority of my commentary on the random gaeity on our Facebook album.

Thanksgiving Weekend

After traffic fun on Wednesday evening, we got to my family's pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner at my brother's house in IL for a good time of yummy food, movies, & games.  Thanks for sharing the statement-picture-statement game with us, Bethany!  It was so fun :)  Of course Boggle ensued.... 48 points for me in the first round! I had the word "PANTHER."  How awesome is that?! Needless to say, nobody wanted to play further after 3 rounds, but I was still wicked proud.  Gets lonely at the top of world, jk.  No pictures, unfortunately, but if anyone in my fam has any, please do share!

Later that night we drove on to Doug's parents' in IL, getting in around midnight & crawling upstairs to sleep.  But the next 3 days were awesome!  Doug's brother Matt & his wife Erianne & their daughter Aleah were there visiting from Ohio.  We played games and had a great time hanging out.  Thanksgiving morning the boys all went and played the annual Turkey Bowl w/ the Geneva Ward.  Some older guy from their ward asked Doug which son was he, and he replied "I'm the one with the hot wife."  Doug's dad had to tell that one over the Thanksgiving dinner table :) A few little boys may have also been accidentially bulldozed during the game.  It's quite serious, I guess!  Er & I went for a run together while the boys were playing & Gran was watching Aleah-Bear. 

Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful as always, put on scrumptiously well by Doug's mom and with the traditional Baker's Square pies.  The day after Thanksgiving we did NOT go shopping.  We instead all went out to brunch at Lume's and drove up to Huntley to Lee's Trees to pick up this year's Christmas Tree.  As we were pulling out of the driveway that morning, Doug got a call for a case to go into work, so he drove back to Madison & missed out on that day completely, getting back to his parents' in IL at 4 am the next morning (case was in Wausau).  That afternoon I went rock climbing w/ Doug's dad, Matt, & Er at Vertical Endeavors inside Lifetime Fitness in Naperville.  Fake nails were a hinderance, but it was so much fun!  I am definitely going to do it again :) I'll have to see if there are rock climbing gyms here in Madison.  My arms were wasted for days.  Then the 4 of us went out to Noodles & Co in downtown Naperville, then headed home for relaxing. 

Saturday morning I went for a 20 mile run that was much needed, cleansing, relaxing, and rejuvenating.  It just feels so good during & after a run.  It's a beautiful thing.  Then me & Er went shopping at Kohl's and devoured their clearance racks for a good 2 1/2 hours while the boys all lifted weights downstairs at Doug's parents'.  Then we picked up the guys in the late afternoon and we all went to the Outlets which are about 2 minutes from where they live.  I had such a great time!  Lots of wonderful deals :) Didn't buy any pants yet- waiting for the last couple pounds to come off first then I'm rewarding myself w/ a new hot pair of jeans!  We got home & had yummy leftovers & yet more pie, then watched the end of the BYU-Utah game.  Go, Cougs! Sorry, Er :(

Sunday morning Matt, Er, & Aleah headed to the airport to fly home.  Doug and I headed to see his friend Joe, deliver a car to him (our neighbors' who sold it to Joe), and had a pug party.  Joe and his girlfriend Ashley have a pug named Dyson who's the same age as Frank but purebred.  I'll never complain about Frank's loud breathing and snorting again!  Dyson was louder than a real Dyson for sure!  So hilarious.  We made it back home finally Sunday afternoon, and then all the fun that ensues of course....LAUNDRY!  :)

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, too!!!!

The Epilogue

The morning after the marathon, we went hiking 4 miles on a trail in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore that goes above the sea caves on the mainland coast of WI & Lake Superior.  The bajillion pics I just uploaded to a FaceBook album, but here are some of my favs.  Unfortunately Doug rolled his ankle.... 3 times :(

The Marathon

This Saturday I ran my first ever marathon!  It was the Whistlestop in Northern Wisconsin, right on Lake Superior.  We ran from Iron River to Ashland.  Doug was the absolute best sag wagoner, cheerleader, sports announcer ever.  Thank you for the support!

I took Friday off work, rested up, did loaundry & packed, drove the pug down to Grandma & Grandpa T's house where he would stay the weekend, and met up w/ Doug after his classes.  Then Friday afternoon we drove 6 hours up north to where the four wheelers outnumber cars 10:1 at any given gas station.  Picked up the registration packet at the Bay Area Civic Center in Ashland, and decided not to wait in the mile long line for the pasta feed.  We dined instead at Ethel's in Bayfield, which is the little town where our condo was that we were renting for the weekend.  I may have carbo-loaded a bit much :) but it was oh so wonderful.  BTW- it was freakin' COLD outside. 

Saturday morning when we woke up, it was 27 degrees with a light dusting of snow.  Doug dropped me off at the shuttle buses at the finish line and I rode an extremely long bus ride to the starting line, gulping along w/ the people I was sitting next to -who were also first time marathoners- at "Oh my gosh, we have to run this whooooole distance back."  The starting line was at Tri-Timbers Resort.  I had a half hour to shuffle around and not cramp.  Did I mention it was COLD?  At one point, a big wind came and swooshed a roof-full of snow off a cabin in one big sheet on some huddled racers.  It was kind of funny, but it took too much body heat to laugh. I was so nervous.  There were 1,000 people in the marathon category, and another 2,000+ spread among the half-marathon, 10k, 5k, and Toddler 1k categories that had started an hour earlier.  I had a big old yellow house-arrest looking timer velcro'd on my ankle.  Announcers were counting down, runners were stripping off their outer layers and tossing them into the bag truck, and we shivered over to the starting area.  I was about halfway back in the pack.  We started a little late b/c one of the buses was delayed due to a car having gone off the road on the ice and blocking its way.  The wind blew and snow fell from the tree branches over our heads onto us in a big crowd and we collectively shivered and gasped. 

Then we were off!  The first mile or so was on a hilly blacktop road w/ black ice on it.  There was a lot of shuffling of feet and arms outstretched going on.  I loved my Garmin and forced myself to stay back slow in between a 10 and 11 minute mile pace.  We turned left onto the Tri-Cty Corridor and that's what we were on for all but the last block of the race.  The trail was a mixture of sand, dirt, and crushed limestone.

I began to feel my feet again at mile 3.  Doug met me at the aid station around mile 8.  I felt fantastic.  The race support was great- they had water/powerade every 2 miles the whole route so I didn't have to wear my water belt.  Doug met me at all the aid stations toting a little soft cooler we had packed w/ whole dill pickles, quartered PB&J sandwiches, gum, water, etc.  The route was flat, the wind was nasty, and the cold just plain smarted.  I lost 20 lbs in an unlucky portapotty around mile 16 and then started running again a new woman {sorry, you didn't expect a marathon story to be glamorous, did you?}. 

I began hurting at mile 20.  I passed a family reunion's corridor of encouraging signs, jokes, balloons, and streamers around mile 21 and cried.  An 80-year-old man shuffled past me around mile 22, turned and looked at me, huge long drool stream hanging off his mouth, and gave me a thumbs up, "we can make it."  I cried again- both b/c an elderly man passed me and b/c he was sweetly encouraging me.  I was running on numb stumps.  I fought myself at mile 23, "Sarah, you are really going to regret this after the fact if you didn't give it your 100% while you were running this race."  I carried on strong.  The last couple blocks or so wound around a park in downtown Ashland, a huge stereo system blared Black Betty, I put on the steam and kicked it up, wound around the caution cone path, and into the finishing station.  Jo from Platteville Branch was there cheering at the final gauntlet.  I pumped my arms in the air, saw Doug w/ the camera, pushed it to pass an old guy so Doug could get a clear pic (:)) and finished!  "Sarah Weight from Madison, Wisconsin"  Tunnelled into the chute where someone took off my ankle timer, got my finishing medal put on my neck, looked around for Doug, gave him a HUGE hug, cried a bit, told him that was the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life and how happy and proud I was, which he of course agreed to, and then I chugged two cups of powerade.  The end :)

Well, we walked around, soaked up the experience, got some gear, I sat on some ice packs on the way back to the condo, grabbed some grub, hobbled through a shower, and plopped down, clean and spent. What a wonderful feeling.  I was still icing the backs of my hamstrings and hips for quite a while.  Got a good foot massage from Doug. We grabbed some dinner at Hugo's Pizzeria in Washburn, got some marshmallows from the IGA, and when we got back to the condo, Doug built a fire in our fireplace and Doug made us s'mores. 

The next day we went hiking at the Apostle Islands State Park & came home {Next Post}

I RAN A FREAKIN' MARATHON!  SO PROUD!!!!  :)

Labor Day Weekend

Over Labor Day Weekend we drove out to Ohio to visit Doug's brother Matt, our sister-in-law Erianne, & our niece Aleah (a.k.a. Mattyanleah). It was such a nice visit, chance to veg, laugh, play, and workout all at the same time. I went running on the Slippery Elm trail on Saturday, we made taco salad Saturday night and pizza rolls Sunday night, I learned how to play poker (no talent whatsoever- I mean- why not go all in when you're playing w/ plastic chips?- yeah, no wonder I lost first), we went to an apple orchard that had a petting zoo and we picked apples and raspberries, and about a zillion and a half other things. I wish there was just more time in the weekend! I miss you guys! Wish we lived closer! The "pup pup" misses Aleah...
(More pics will come later when Mattyanleah emails them to me :) )



On our way back from Ohio on Monday night, we stopped at the Indiana Dunes, our old stomping grounds from my college days. We showed Frank our old beach, where we'd kick it a few times a week back in the day, the secluded dune we made out on top of, the massive dune we'd sprint up, and of course just ignore Chernoble in the background. Oh how we miss being by the dunes! They're the midwesterner's version of being a beach bum :) Now Valpo, Merrillville, & Gary? Not so much, Little MJ.

Annual Meeting

Doug & I went out to Milwaukee on Sunday July 19th for the first day of my company's annual meeting (Northwestern Mutual). It kicks off w/ a 10k race called Roots & Wings where the home office employees (the roots) compete against the field office reps & staff (the wings). I ran a 10k in 65 minutes, which was pretty good for me- faster than I thought I'd do! (I'm in the blue t-shirt & black capris at last picture, teeney tiny, middle right of the frame, finishing) 8,500 runners- amazing- there's just something about that sensation of being in a crowd so huge of people buzzing with anticipation & excitement that is so INCREDIBLE! That afternoon I was in meetings & sessions, then that night we had the Garden Party at the zoo where I proceeded to eat my weight in fried mozzarella marinara sticks & cheesecake. GREAT day! I love our company's annual meeting- it was my third- but I didn't stay the whole week this time- just the first day. Gotta love that NM koolaid to pump up & revive!

Utah Trip

We were in Utah for a great vacation last week. Doug went out on July 9th and got to go to his cousin Christine's wedding in Timpanogas and then I flew out July 12th after my Nauvoo trip & we hung out until the 17th. We stayed with our friends Jared & Littia & their daughter in Spanish Fork. We got to see Desiree, Jeanie & her new baby, Brad & Janette & their son & new baby, Ashlee, Jay, & Doug got to see all his aunts, uncles, cousins, & grandpa. We ate at all the old places & some new...Five Guys, Burger Supreme, Magleby's, Bajio, even went for slurpees at the 7-11 that was next door to where we used to work when we lived there... We test drove a Smart car at the Mercedes dealership where Jared works- hilarious! It was a great trip! Drove through campus, through our old neighborhoods. The highlight was this off-roading trip up the mountains in Fairview Canyon w/ Jared & Littia. Again, I have a million pictures, so check the album on Facebook for them, but here are a couple of my favs. Oh how I love the nature of Utah!

Nauvoo Trip

July 9-11th I went on a trip to Nauvoo with the YM & YW from our ward. It was so fun and I have TONS of pictures, but I'll save that inundation for Facebook (so check out the album on there). Here are a few of my favorite of my girls. Andrea Rose & I went as YW leaders with ALL five of our YW. There were also 3 YM leaders & the Bishop with 12 YM. We had such a blast! We did everything there is to do :) We stayed at Nauvoo Family Inn & Suites' Manor House, Historic Nauvoo Visitor's Center w/ movie & tribute to women statue garden, Sunset on the Mississippi musical, swimming at the hotel pool, baptisms at the Nauvoo Temple, carriage ride to Inspiration Point, scavenger hunt of historic sites like the homes, tin shop, blacksmith shop, gunsmith shop, bakery, brickyard, post office, mercantile shop, print shop, Penndleton school, gravesites, & monuments, etc. We went the Nauvoo Pageant the last night, and did the Trail of Hope walk the next morning with vignettes by the pageant actors, then the Carthage Jail & visitor's center. I have lots of recommendations for any of you who are going with your families or youth groups! A great idea Andrea came up with for food was we did crock pot meals cooking in our hotel rooms all day while we were out & about. Fantastic! And when placed in the hallway on our fancy schmancy triple ironing board buffet- CLASSY! :) Such a fun time! I can't even begin to put into words what a tremendous testimony strengthener this whole trip was- I have such a new testimony of what faith means!

Starved Rock

We went last weekend to Illini Rock State Park & Starved Rock State Park in IL on a camping trip, meeting up w/ our friend Toto & some of his friends & their 3 kids. So fun! Hiking, sparklers, s'mores, the whole 9 yards :) The best part was exploring the waterfalls and canyons on the hike.

Easter

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! We are all tired and drained, but it was a good time! We went down to Doug's parents' house in IL Saturday & Sunday. We enjoyed meeting up with the Wardles in downtown Naperville for ice cream on Saturday, going to 2 different dog parks w/ the Weight's puppy pack, going on walks, watching movies, and Easter brunch at Walter Payton's Roundhouse. Yum!


Us w/ Doug's mom & dad


What the....low-calorie Easter baskets??!! That darn red-headed rabbitt... Best quote of the day: "See, Frank, this is what the Easter bunny brings fatties...." :) ha ha!


The Frankers & the green octopus chew toy that wily wabbit brought him...not quite as cool as bacon, but cool nonetheless. My Easter tradition growing up was that when you wake up on Easter morning, your basket was at the foot of your bed, so the 3 of us were all piled up in the bed going through our baskets and Frank kickin' the octopus' trash.