Cougar Run '15

I think the Cougar Run is going to become a Nelson family tradition for as many as can make it. 2015 makes it the second year in a row, and I would love to do it again this year. (Sorry to the Petersens and Grandma and Poppa who have not been in Utah for either of them - road trip this coming October, maybe?)

This year, I wanted to make sure Norah was ready for her race, so we "practiced" for a couple weeks beforehand, just making sure she knew she would have to run a whole 200 meters and that they would fire a gun for the start. She was so excited and told everybody that she was going to do the Cougar Run. Cutest thing ever.

I was actually pretty excited for my race, too. I wasn't pregnant this year, and I had been running pretty regularly. I felt like I was in pretty good shape, at least for me. I really wanted to get my best 5K time.

We came from Bountiful the morning of the race and thought leaving an hour and a half early would give us plenty of time to get there early on a Saturday morning. WRONG. Turns out there was a huge semi fire on the freeway which backed up traffic like crazy, added on to regular construction traffic (because it's Utah and there's always road construction). We ended up getting off the freeway to bypass the worst of the traffic and got to the track with enough time to get Norah into her shirt and number (which the Kidds had picked up for us). I even managed to get a couple pictures. Whew. The Wings were coming from Bountiful and literally got to the line one minute before the gun. Glad they made it!

 At the starting line!

 Norah was so excited for the whole race. I think she was a little surprised by how long it felt, but she smiled and laughed the whole time. I ran along next to her for most of it just to keep her going.

You can barely see her, but she's in front of the guy in the brown shirt, crossing the finish line.

In the chute

 Pretty excited about their ribbons

 We also got to watch Whitley and Hailey run their races. They both won. By a lot (Whitley by 17 seconds and Hailey by 18 seconds). There are some fast kids in this family! (I'm afraid my kids will just inherit my genes, though. Slow, slow, slow.)

After the kids' races was the 5K. It went really well for me, and I ran an even better time than my goal. I even came in 5th in my age group! (Cami and I have a theory about that. Everyone our age is in the baby-growing age group, and this year a lot of them must have been pregnant or had new babies, so not many competed. But hey, I still got 5th!) Rich got 11th overall and 2nd in his age group (moved up to the 30-34 year old crowd this year), and Cami got 3rd in our group. So the Nelson clan was very well represented across all the races!

 Up on the podium

The 5K runners (no, I'm not a Jets fan - Fanzz swag)

The winners (left), and the not winners (right)

 Nate and his girls were nice enough to watch the kids while we raced, and Norah loved every minute with Hailey, Whitley, and Madison. Jack even stayed pretty content in his stroller (until it was time to eat).

The whole group

Our family

I'm already looking forward to 2016's race!

Cornbelly's

As a seller for Jane.com, the fam and I were invited to visit Cornbelly's in Lehi at the very beginning of October. We had tons of fun, once we got past the traffic! (Seriously, all of the traffic in Salt Lake and Utah Counties really makes me love Davis County even more.)

This year, they had a Minion theme.

I love Norah's squeal as she goes over each of the bumps.

 Cutest little girl ever (and a tender moment from the couple in front of us - ha ha!)

We ended in the corn maze but turned back about 3 minutes in. Jack was in the stroller, and it was way too bumpy for it. We had a quiz thing that was supposed to help us through the maze, but the questions were harder than we expected (we realized once we were out that the answers were on the bottom of the page). Plus, I didn't feel like spending an hour trying to get through when we were all just really hungry. Maybe when we're all a little older!

Thanks to Jane.com for a fun time at Cornbelly's!

September Photo Drop

Probably too many photos for one post, but it's still happening. I want to limit my number of posts so that I may actually get caught up some day.

 I am terrible about getting pictures of both kids together, so when Norah wanted to jump into this photo shoot I was doing for some bandana bibs, I couldn't say no. Of course I couldn't get a good one of both of them, but it was still fun. (Jack's face in the top right one! I love it!)

Go Cougars!

 This little guy in his Sunday clothes. I swoon.

This was probably only his third or fourth time rolling over. The funny thing is, he's really probably only rolled over like 4 more times since then. This kid is just content to sit.

And here he wasn't happy with our continued attempts to get him to roll over.

Representing the 'Hawks at work

 I really thought this kid would turn into a thumb sucker with how much he would put his hands in his mouth. No such luck. He refused the binky and the thumb and is consoled only by nursing. The main reason why our nights were so terrible.

Norah was always looking out for the kid, making sure he was plenty entertained.

 I attempted to do a homeschool preschool with Norah. It lasted about two and a half weeks. I really need to start back up with it because she absolutely loved it.

Rich's uncle Rick had an extra ticket, so Rich was able to see his old coach, Ed Eyestone, be inducted  into the Utah Sport Hall of Fame in September. That was pretty cool for Rich to be there for it.

 We signed up to do the Cougar Run in October (more on that when I actually get to October), and Norah and I practiced "on your mark, get set, go" most days around the block.

 Scheel's fun

When Jack started sitting up, he was no longer content just laying down. He would often do this to show us he wanted to be up.

They start putting up the lights at Temple Square in September, and this marks the second year Rich has done plugged them in early, as a joke.

Master of sitting

Derrick Favors did an autograph signing at the Fashion Place Fanzz.

In September, I did my very first bandana bib deal on Jane.com. I had sold 40 of the 50 bibs that I listed and learned a lot about the process. I've done a could more since and learn more each time.

 Jack's first baby food (oatmeal cereal). He took to solids so much quicker than Norah, but we didn't really start them daily until he was about 6 months old.

Getting things out the Halloween stuff. Norah made huge steps in Halloween fun this year. Last year, she screamed at the sight of these masks. This year, Rich actually got her to put one on. Any time after this, though, when we would see a scary mask and we'd ask her if she wanted to put it on, she'd say, "I already weared one!" And when we took her to the Halloween store, she even voluntarily activated the scary mannequins. (And then also said the same thing when we'd ask her if she wanted to do it again - "I already did that!") See? Huge steps.

Okay, less than 4 months to go! I can do this!