stout family: September 2010

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

So the marathon is in three days. THREE DAYS PEOPLE! I can't believe it's finally here. I've been battling a sore throat for quite a few days now and have been downing the vitamin C, gargling salt water, and drinking Airbourne like it's going out of style. Hopefully I can hold off any sickness until after Saturday. I haven't felt the nerves of the race yet. After four months of training all I'm thinking is; finally! The weather is supposed to be perfect and I'm so excited to run it with my sisters. Well, maybe just the first mile. We've all got our different goal times:)

The craziness of the past two months ended on Saturday when my sister Natalie and her Matt got married. It was perfect. From the temple, to the weather, to the set up on my parent's lawn, to the reception and live entertainment, and of course, the married couple (she snagged a good one). It all turned out exactly as planned. I choreographed a wedding party dance for the bride, groom, sisters, brothers, and Natalie's roommates. It was a big hit. Everyone was surprisingly willing to learn (even the boys!) and did an amazing job performing. As soon as I can find a video of it I'll post it. I wish I would have gotten more pictures, but the day was a bit crazy:)

P.S. If you want to see the most adorable wedding video ever of these two lovebirds, go here.

The happy couple. Isn't her dress gorgeous?

The sisters

Casey and Beckham (who is totally walking, by the way!
He just decided last week and took off,
like he's been hiding it up his sleeve for a while!
It's too cute.)

Onery Caleb (I refuse to spell that word correctly).
He wasn't into taking any pictures.

Jada and Reagan
(Yay for having the Cliffords come over from Japan!)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Photo Shoot

While Casey and I were gone for our relay, my mom was nice enough to take care of our kids. They had a great time. Part of their time was spent doing a photo shoot:

It's hard to pick a favorite, but probably definitely it's the karate chop:)

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Red Rock Relay 2010!

It's done. The Red Rock Relay has come and gone and I think I am finally starting to recover. As the hours pass I'm realizing just how fun the relay was. Immediately after the race all I could think was how seriously tired I was, the exhaustion my body was feeling, how much I would pay to have a shower, and how fast could I get a decent meal.

Our van met at 9:30 Friday morning. There were six of us; my sister Melissa, Jamie, Camee, Haley, Jamie, and myself. The only one I knew going into the race (in my van) was my sister. But those four strangers quickly became good friends. We packed up and headed up the road to Brianhead Ski Resort, where we met up with the other six girls of the team. We looked awesome. We all had our different color tutus and different style knee highs. After mingling and (lots) of picture taking, we set our first runner off at 12:00.

Since we were Van 2, we had about four hours to kill before our legs started. So we had us a nice lunch at a deli in Brianhead, which would turn out to be our only meal for the next 24+ hours. Then we headed up to Cedar Canyon for our van exchange. We were a little rusty after being in a van for six hours, but our first legs were way fun and took us down the canyon to SUU, where we exchanged with Van 1. We tried to rest at the PE Building at SUU, but they closed and we had to head out to Newcastle for the next van exchange. We parked in a church parking lot with tons of other waiting vans and tried to catch some sleep. No such luck. We met up with Van 1 and started on our second legs around 11:00 p.m.

The middle of the night runs were fun, but crazy! Who gets out and runs for miles at 3:00 a.m.? It was super fun with the girls, though. We all kept each other laughing, and then got some help from Baby Mama, which never disappoints.

We met up with Van 1 at the next exchange, which was Veyo at almost 6 a.m. Then we headed to the Washington Rec Center where we had about an hour and a half till the next exchange. (Not enough time!)

Van 1 ran in at 8:45 a.m. and we took over from there with the final legs of the race. Through Coral Canyon, Hurricane, LaVerkin, and up to Zion.

We finished in Zion, where we met up with the rest of our team and ran through the finish line together. It was awesome. So much bonding and unity. The official results are still a little unclear, since the race was pretty disorganized (and a little disappointing. I mean, they didn't even have water or gatorade or food or ANYTHING at the finish line. What kind of race doesn't provide those necessities for the runners???)

My legs:
1st: 6.5 miles down Cedar Mountain; 4 kills (the number of runners we passed)
2nd: 5.1 miles somewhere near Enterprise/Veyo. It was 3:00 a.m. so the details are a little fuzzy; 6 kills
3rd: 5.7 BRUTAL miles up the LaVerkin twist heading up to Zion. I was going on one hour of sleep, very little food, and 90 degree heat. It was so hard. I mean, so so so hard. I almost cried when I finished. Okay, I cried a little. But it was hard and I was exhausted and also so glad to be done; 4 kills (I'm happy to say I never once got passed by another girl! What, am I compitetive or something:)

Total individual miles: 17.3

Team Totals: 186 miles; 26 hours, 31 minutes

14th out of 180 teams!!!!!

1st place in all-female teams!!!!! (not totally sure, still waiting to hear officially, but for sure #1 in my eyes!)

Dancing with the Tar:
Aimee, Jamie, Melisssa, me, Haley, Ty, Renee, Liz, Jamie, Camee, Michelle, Mandy

Casey was running the relay, too, on a different team. It was fun to see him at the beginning and a little bit during the rest of the race. He ran some killer legs and did so awesome. His team, Classic Sports, took 9th place. Way amazing!