Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Ragnar 2015

This past Friday and Saturday I did the craziest physical activity I have ever done. I ran a Ragnar Relay! If you don't know what that is, to sum it up, it is a 12 person 200-ish mile relay. In AZ, the Ragnar Del Sol course ended up being 206 miles and went from Wickenburg to Mesa. My sister-in-law put together an awesome team that was split up into 2 vans. My van included my husband, brother-in-law, and 3 girls that I play soccer with. Looking back on it now, it was crazy! So much fun, but crazy. I learned a lot and definitely want to do one again despite the fact that it was exhausting. Physically, I didn't get hurt or have any unusual soreness. I was definitely less sore than I was with both of my half marathons, however, it took me a good 48 hours to recover from the lack of sleep. It wasn't even that long ago that I had a newborn baby, but this level of exhaustion was just insane. It didn't hit me until it was all over, probably due to adrenaline, but going to work Monday was haaaard! I just wanted to sleep more, haha. Specifially, I was runner 4 in Van 1 and so my legs were 6.5 miles, 6.8 miles, and 4.2 miles. I ended up running at around 11:00 a.m. on Friday (hot), 12:34 a.m. on Saturday morning, and then again at 10:51 AM on Sunday. My sister came out and ran my night run with me, which was an awesome boost! It made it more fun because it was super dark and a trail run which could have been lonely without her! I definitely missed my girls, but my mom and sisters visited us while Justin was running his 3rd leg so that was awesome. I am also nursing still too, so it will be nice to do this again and not have to worry about pumping. Overall, I had a lot of fun and we had a great group of people and I can't wait to do it all again! I have a ton of pics but here are some of my favorites!

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Our group in Wickenburg early Friday morning!
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Our decorated van. Team name: Scrambled Legs and Achin
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Justin on his first run and me on mine.
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My sister-in-law after her 13.5 mile leg! That was the longest of any legs and she earned a special medal for it!
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My sister and I after the night run.
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The ladies of Van 1
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Justin being greeted by Everly on his 3rd leg.

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Handing off after my last run which ended in Fountain Hills.

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The last runner in Van 1 was greeted with a toilet paper finish!
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Our Van waiting for Van 2 to finish.
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Running to the finish line as a team!
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Team Scrambled Legs and Achin. We finished 98 out of 212 teams in the mixed open group so not bad!


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Post race beers!

Thursday, February 19, 2015

AZ Strong Beer Festival 2015

Last Saturday, we went to one of our favorite annual local events, the Strong Beer Festival, which is a part of Arizona Beer Week. This was my 3rd year going because I missed last year due to being pregnant and all. You can read about our first year going, here. I was a little nervous/anxious about being away from Aspen and pumping and dumping but it all went really well. Thankfully it was not terribly hot, either. I did great hydrating and did not feel hung over at all the next day. We had a lot of fun and I am super thankful that I received this as a Christmas gift from my sister/brother-in-law. I am also thankful to my mom/sister for helping watch my kids and drop Justin and I off and for Kirin for giving us a ride home! We had a great group this year which included Justin's aunt who recently moved back to AZ. It is always fun seeing family. My friend even got her dad to go this year and I think he is hooked now, as we all are. If you have never been, I highly recommend it! Can't wait until next year!

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So many beers, so many people!
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Gotta get that cold brew!
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Justin hit it, Ashely and I didn't but she almost did!
 
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Had to try the Crazy Bitch IPA and the Ponderosa IPA from Prescott is always a favorite!
 
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Gotta cool off!
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Somehow, I always end up with a picture of Ashley eating a sandwich and I had to get one of her with her Daaaaaaaaaad! Also, it was her birthday so extra special!
 
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Droppin Beetz!
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It wouldn't be a beer fest without an inappropriate Carly pic!
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Justin after getting bummed because he thought he lost the bandana that was on his head!
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such a fun day!
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me and the husband on Valentine's Day at a beer festival. Wouldn't have it any other way!

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Valentine's Day 2015

So I am a bad mom and didn't get a picture of the girls on Valentine's Day in their outfits. I picked them out, but Justin was the one who took them to school and then when I picked them up they were both no longer in their outfits for different bathroom related incidents. My mom had actually gotten them special matching outfits which I had them where a week before Valentine's Day, here:

Everly was wearing her shirt from last year that she still fits into and Aspen was wearing Everly's shirt from her first Valentine's Day back in 2012 which you can see her in here. I will try to put them back in those outfits before they don't fit and take a picture...but no promises! In other news, it was Everly's first year handing out Valentine's and receiving them at school. I didn't want to add to all of the candy so I found an idea from pinterest and a $3 package of bubbles and made her some cute Valentine's. I like how they turned out, although 3 year olds are not mature enough to hold a vial of bubbles without spilling it...so sorry other parents!

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Everly got lots of candy and tattoos and I think she had a pretty fun day at her Valentine's party at school. I can't wait until she can write her name on her own Valentine's next year! 

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

5 Month Update

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Our squishy little Aspen turned 5 months old yesterday. I took her in for a weight check and she weighs 12 lbs 6 oz. and that was after she blew out her diaper, haha. She is still just under the 1st percentile for weight but at like the 30th and 10th for head and length. We are about to transition her into size 2 diapers but she is still in a lot of 3 month clothes. I do put her in some of her 6 month outfits though because it is starting to warm up and I don't want to miss out! I spent my first weekend away from her last month and she did great. She is a pro with the bottle and we don't even have to hold it for her anymore. She is currently drinking four 8-ounce bottles and then nurses twice from me at night. She is still exclusively breastfed but I am looking forward to starting solids with her next month. She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth. She is still drooling a lot but no teeth yet. Last night she rolled over from her back to her belly. It was the funniest thing because I didn't see it happen, but I just looked down and she was on her belly. She had her first Valentine's Day and she has been loving her little activity center. She is still sleeping great, and does best with a little blanket. I know it sounds dangerous, but she just loves covering her face with a blankie! She constantly gives us smiles and I just love her little giggles. I love when she grabs at my face and can't wait for baby kisses! I miss her all the time when I am not with her. She is the sweetest!

Friday, February 13, 2015

Video Updates

When my dad was here last week and we got to see him briefly, Everly sang him "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." She has actually been getting much better at remembering and singing songs since being in preschool full time. It is nice to hear more than just "Jingle Bells" haha. This video of her singing is really cute because she accidentally sang it more than once and we started laughing. She also says "uppa uppa" instead of "up above the" but it is really sweet.


 
This second video is of Aspen playing in her activity center. We have been putting her in it for awhile now and as you can see in the video we stuff it with a blanket because she is still so dang tiny. She will play in there for like 30 minutes sometimes and does really well. I love her little face when she first hits one of the music buttons and I love all of her sweet baby noises.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Another Baby Yancone on the way!

This past weekend we celebrated my sister with a baby shower. I have not talked much about my future niece/nephew because my sister has been pretty quiet about the whole thing so I am just taking her lead. We call the baby "Baby C" because she is waiting to find out the gender. The shower was held at a clubhouse that one of her co-workers let us use. It was perfect and even had a little kitchen. My mom and sisters did most of the work but I made some muffins and was in charge of beverages and alcohol (champagne). I was super glad Costco still had some of their giant 2 packs of Cook's from the holidays! They are the best! My sister had also set up a little display of all of her nieces and nephews after they were born and when they were still in the womb. It was cute. Her mother-in-law also came in from out of town for the shower and helped as well. My sister's ran a couple of games, we had some yummy brunch food and then my sister got to open all of the presents! One of my sister's also set up a thumbprint guestbook that was really cute. She even had a book with instructions on how to create different things with your thumbprint. I made a duck with mine and Everly's thumbprint and it was a lot of fun. It was all "fish" themed as well so everyone got to take home a little bag of Swedish fish! Everything went really well and we had a lot of fun. Now we just need that baby to come but we still have a while because my sister is not due until April!


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The girls in matching outfits from Grandma which they will wear again for Valentine's Day.
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The spread!
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The display my sister made.
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so many presents!
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Some soccer girls and my niece's son Remi who is only 2.5 months older than Aspen.
 
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Teddy and Everly helping their Auntie open her presents.
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These two crazies eating cupcakes. They are only a couple of months apart as well and finally living in the same state !
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The guestbook
 
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Two sleeping babes.
 
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From left to right: Aspen, Me, My older sister Kim, my pregnant younger sister Krystyn, My baby sister Katy and My Mom.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Toddler Tooth Update

So back in December, I posted here about how Everly chipped her tooth right before I went back to work. Well, last week we went in for a checkup to see how the tooth was doing. I wasn't expecting them to say "Everything looks great" but I also wasn't expecting them to tell us that her tooth needed to be pulled...and they did. We looked at X-ray's from days after the incident and updated ones and you could see the nerve damage/infection right there on the screen. There was a clear black spot under the tooth. To prevent it from hurting her adult tooth they had to pull it. Everly did great while they looked at the tooth and did the x-ray. We went back in the waiting room and debated whether or not to pull the tooth that day. Justin was taking the girls to the zoo and I just wasn't mentally prepared for that, however, if we didn't do it that day we would not have gotten an appointment until the end of the month and I didn't want her to wake up one day with tooth pain so we decided to do it. It obviously gave me a lot of anxiety, but mostly I was just sad that they were going to be messing with that smile that I love. When we went back in to the procedure room, she did not want to be back in the chair. She got upset but the doctor did a really good job of calming her back down so she could get the laughing gas. The whole process took like 10 minutes. She was chewing on cotton after but she was really fine. Justin ended up taking the girls to the zoo anyways and while she was a little moody she still had a lot of fun. She got money from the tooth fairy that night (which she wants to use to pay for a ride on the zoo carousel because Justin told her he didn't have money for it, haha). It is sad because that tooth won't grow in for another couple of years but she is not traumatized by it at all. If you ask her she will just tell you the dentist had to take her tooth out. I know that in the grand scheme of things, my children are healthy and happy and I am grateful for that, but that day sucked.

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Heading in to the dentist.
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Everly and Figaro in the waiting room and Aspen trying to steal the attention.
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Pretty much the saddest thing. She was so good though.
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Silly girl at the zoo. What a great Dad she has!
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This was just not even a couple of hours after the procedure so obviously she is coping well.

Weekend in Review

Summer is basically here and we are already in full on pool season. On Friday I had the day off so I spent some time with Aspen and took he...