2011 Remembered

2011 was a good year!  Here's a quick recap of some of the highlights that come to mind:

Family:
-My life pretty much revolved around Clara and getting my footing as a new mom.  It's a big change, but one that also felt completely natural for me.  It came with challenges, frustration and some seriously scary moments, but it has also been so rewarding to be a mother.  It has been a joy-filled experience!

-It has been so fun to watch Spencer grow into his role as a father this year.  He and Clara have a very special bond and they just love to be together.  Nothing makes Clara light up like Daddy coming home.

-We feel blessed to be living near the hub of family activity and got to see every one of our parents, siblings, nieces and nephews in 2011.

Work:
-Spencer's responsibilities at work increased and he went from super busy to crazy busy.  Most days he's gone for 12-14 hours.

-My etsy shop business has increased more than 150% over 2010 and been a great little thing to keep me busy outside of caring for Clara.  I really appreciate my clients and also my husband who supports me in my work.

-I've only kept up with one marketing design client from my Park City days.  She comes out to my house on an as-needed basis to work on brochures, web design, e-blasts and ads.  We get together every couple of weeks during nap time and I enjoy our time together.  I don't miss my other Park City work...

Church:
-I got released from Primary and called into Young Womens.  It is an exciting calling, but can be a bit intimidating and is a huge time commitment.  I really love spending time with the girls and getting to know them bettter.  I'm also blessed to serve with other great leaders and love getting to work so closely with some great women in my ward.  I'm still a bit scared that I'll eventually have to teach with a member of the YW General Presidency in the room (the second counselor is in my ward and attends our YW regularly; the president is in my stake!) but thankfully it hasn't happened yet.

-Spencer was called as the Elders Quorum President in our ward.  We had a great meeting with the whole Stake Presidency when he was called.  He has wonderful counselors and a great secretary and they are all excited and willing to work.

Travel:
-As soon as busy season was over we took a road trip to St. George - just Spencer, Clara and me.

-We spent a long weekend with my entire family at a cabin/house in Bear Lake.  The weather was perfect and my uncle was so nice to come along (with his boat).  Spencer and I both got up on water skis and Clara enjoyed splashing a bit in the shallow water.

-At the end of July we flew to California for a long weekend and stayed with Spencer's sister Heather.  They treated us to five star accommodations at Chez Richardson and we went to three different beaches.  Clara met the Pacific Ocean and traveled really well.  I also got to see my dear friend Jo while we were there.

-Spencer's whole family all met up in Orlando for a Disney cruise to the Bahamas.  We visited Nassau and Castaway Cay.  We had a wonderful time and enjoyed spectacular weather.  It was a really great trip.

Other:
-In June I started running again.  This time with some of my neighbor friends.  We run several mornings a week at 5:45 and Amy and I trained for a half marathon!  We ran the SOJO half marathon in October and had a great time.

The Second Half

Last weekend Spencer and I headed down to Green River and Moab for the Canyonlands Half Marathon. We had signed up for the race together, but a back injury made it difficult for Spencer to train for, and run the race. Instead he got me psyched for the race, made sure I was hydrating and fueling properly (great excuse to eat multiple candy bars), and was there to take photos and cheer me on as I crossed the finish line.
This is right before I crossed the finish line. Those first few minutes after finishing are so incredibly painful, it's difficult even to stand up and walk. It's amazing that within 48 hours my body felt completely back to normal and free of pain.The course was beautiful. We ran right along the Colorado river and sheer red rock cliffs and on into town. It was a sunny but chilly day. As we made our way into Moab, we tuned into a local forecast that informed us of the current temperature on race day morning - 27 degrees. Yikes! The hardest part of the race was waiting at the top of a cold and shady canyon for over two hours after being bussed up. I stayed in my warm clothes for as long as I could before stripping down to my race attire and tossing my sweat bag into one of the trucks. No worries though, by the third mile I could feel all of my toes again.

Highlights from the Recent Past

Here are some of the things that have been keeping me busy:

• I turned 28 about two weeks ago. I didn't think about it until just now, but we celebrated with cuisine from the two countries I've lived in for extended periods (outside the US) - churrasco from Tucanos and a liege waffle from Bruges Waffles & Frites. I've also been treated to family dinners and friend lunches. All lovely!
• Spencer got me a kitten for my birthday! After much debate, I decided to just name her what I'd been calling her all along - Pumpkin. She's pretty much doubled in size since we got her. She's been a joy and such a good little companion to me during my lonely work days at home. She spends most of the day curled on my lap while I type/design/fill orders.

• Sugarhouse Ink has been BUSY. I couldn't be more thankful. December has been a record month and has grown significantly over last year.
• I finally got some furniture for our living room (aside from the couch we already had). With the tree up and the new additions, it's definitely feeling more homey!
• We had two of my college roommates and their husbands over for dinner last week. It was so great to spend the evening with Jenny and Nigel (visiting from Boston) and Whitney and Jeff (who live in Provo and I don't see enough for being so close!).
• Just as I completely stopped running (for sub-freezing temps and/or lack of motivation), Spencer and I got word that we got into the Moab Canyonlands Half Marathon. We signed up twice before and weren't selected , and now I'm wondering why we kept trying. :P Training in freezing cold of winter? Training in busy season? Training while the days are the shortest and the coldest? I'm not sure what we were thinking. Race day is set for March 20th.
  
• Every Christmas Design Mom hosts Christmas giveaways with really big prizes. This year I won one of them! $250 to Cambria Cove... still trying to figure out what to buy. ($100 cheesecake anyone?)
  
• In an attempt to be a real grown up, I've been gathering addresses for Christmas cards. I just haven't designed ours yet... It may end up being a New Years card instead. (or a Valentine?)
  

128.65 miles (of training)

A long time ago I set a goal to run a half marathon. I tried twice to run a Utah race, but due to it's popularity and my lack of luck, I was never selected to run it (it was lottery style). When my sister made plans to run a race in her new hometown on her birthday, I thought it would be the perfect excuse to train for one myself.

Amanda and I ran the American Discovery Trail Half Marathon on Labor Day and had a great time. We were both pretty nervous in the days leading up to the race, having never attempted such a feat, but everything went really smooth and we had a really good race.

This is right before the race while we waited in the infinitely long bathroom line and tried to warm up and stretch a bit.
Waiting for the starting gun...
Coming around the final stretch (trying to give a thumbs up)
Just after finishing
All done!

Winter Song

A few Saturdays ago, Spencer and I went snowshoeing! We both knew it would be one of his only free Saturday mornings for the next few months, so we needed to take advantage of it. It was the perfect day for it: fresh snow, plenty of sunshine, and virtually no one else on the trail. We headed up Elbow Fork in Millcreek Canyon and me, oh my, it was beautiful! I think it's so great that with the right gear, you can feel perfectly warm despite the snow and cold temperatures. Two gadgets (both gifts from Spencer) made the trip even more fun. We used the insulated thermos he got me last Christmas and had steaming hot chocolate at the summit. I was also super excited to try my new Garmin Forerunner 305 on the trails. It's a heart rate monitor with GPS. When we got home I plugged it into our computer and it gave me a cool map of where we went, along with all the stats about speed, pace, heart rate, elevation, etc. I'm a geek for such data.

-Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson-

Cold Turkey

I realize I'm a little late with the Thanksgiving post (hence the cold turkey). We managed to have a splendid Thanksgiving celebration with both of our families. Spencer's brother and his family came to Utah and we had dinner at Spencer's parents' house, who were also kind enough to invite my parents to the feast.

Spencer often comments that his family isn't too big on tradition or ceremony, but a few days before Thanksgiving it came out that his family has one of the coolest Thanksgiving traditions around: every year before the feast they go BOWLING! This is definitely one that will be carried on...
-John Lennon-

Bicycle

For months and months I've been planning on riding my bike to work both as a quest in fitness and surefire way to save a little cash. With gas going up, oh, five cents or so every few days, it only seemed appropriate to do what I could to save our little family some moola. For those who might be wondering, this has nothing to do with the environment. Sure, I believe in being good to the planet... but all of this pop-culture-eco-friendly-going-green garbage drives me insane. Just to set the record straight.

Last Thursday I rode my bike to work for the first time. It's about eleven miles, and I figured out that one ride to work right now saves me about $1.36. If I ride my bike to work and home, I save double that. This means it will take me about 17 bike rides (to and from) to save an entire tank of gas. So that's my goal for the summer. One tank of gas. That could be $43.72... or it could be a lot more...

-Queen-

Through The Dark

(running up the pass near Jordanelle Reservoir)

Last weekend at this time I was running. In the heat of the day, and the dark of the night, and the early of the morn, I was running! My team (The Racing Hormones) had a great time running 180.5 miles from Logan to Park City. We did it in just over 30 hours. Everyone did their best and was severely sleep-deprived by the end, but it was a wonderful experience.

(At the starting line)

One of my favorite things about the race was to watch Spencer run and support all of our teammates. He is such an example to me of selflessness and compassion to all people. As a self-supported race, our "van" (a rented Ford Expedition) would leapfrog each runner and stop every mile or two to douse with water, hydrate with gatorade, and provide support, pain reliever, hugs/high fives, etc. Most of us took breaks from getting out to "support" the runner because we had either just run, were tired, sleeping, lazy, cranky, or sitting in the very back of the car. But I'm pretty sure Spencer was out of the van at every mile of the entire course, whether he was driving or not... gatorade and water in hand. He even ran my toughest hills with me (though he had 16+ miles of his own to run). I'm a very lucky girl.(The Racing Hormones)

(The first Spencer-Mandy exchange)

(a country road near Paradise, UT)

(near Snow Basin as night starts to fall)

(Spencer dousing Mandy)

(Sweet Victory)

-KT Tunstall-

Run

Here's a little video about what I'll be doing a week from today (and tomorrow).


-Snow Patrol-

Grazed Knees

On Monday I had a little accident. I fell off my bike. Bruised, scraped, road rashed and with moderately bruised confidence, I think the worst part was pouring the hydrogen peroxide on my wounds and letting it soak in and bubble up. Spencer was there to hold my hand. And to remind me that no matter how much this hurt, it would be nothing compared to child birth. I had to laugh. I'm so glad he's in my life.

And no. I'm not pregnant.

-Snow Patrol-

Maybe I'm Crazy

My Bishop and I organized a team from our ward to run the Wasatch Back Relay in June. It's a race from Logan to Park City (that's 178 miles) and takes approximately 24 hours to complete. Yep.

-Gnarls Barkley-

Mudfootball

Since I'm dating a proud two-time graduate of the U, some of you may wonder where my loyalties lie. Let me just say for the record that I am true blue, through and through.And two season tickets to BYU football games are perhaps an attempt to put a little blue in Spencer's blood too.

-Jack Johnson-

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

On Friday Spencer took me to a Bees game! I love the atmosphere of baseball games. It's pretty chill and laid back with moments of intensity so infrequent you can focus your energy on capturing the essence of the experience (or other people's baseball food).-Jack Norworth-

Run

Yesterday Spencer ran the Deseret News 10K with me.I know, sick, huh? I hate these love is comics... at least they are wearing clothes in this one.

-Snow Patrol-

Till The Sun Turns Black

There's seriously a lot to catch up on - between a grand opening of my favorite store, a trip to Boise, one of the best concerts my ears/eyes have yet experienced, a hike to Silver Lake, a visit from my sisters, and a midnight hike to Lake Mary, I'm in serious need of some blogger time. But I've got to start somewhere...

On Friday, under what was thought to be the first of two full moons in the month of June, (later I discovered that my 'phases of the moon google calendar' is set to the eastern hemisphere, making Friday's experience nothing more than a waning gibbous) Spencer and I hiked through the remaining snow of Brighton to Lake Mary. It was a bit chillier than expected but the night was clear, the moon was nearly-full, and the company was good. We played with flashlights and cameras and got a few cool shots.

Click on this one to see it big - that's the big dipper!One flashlight, two people, night
Sepia mountains, moon and starsProbably some time around 3:30 am
The moon setting
Morning Lake MaryIn the early morning-Ray LaMontagne-