Independence Day

I officially came out of retirement from racing on the Fourth of July.  I hesitantly registered for the Freedom Festival 10K a few weeks ago, not really sure if I wanted the stress of a race on my plate.  It's really hard for me to enter a race situation and not get overly worried about it.  I wish I could just treat it like any other training run but I can't.  I've been running for over a year and I'm feeling like I'm in pretty good shape so I decided to go for it.  The race started at 7:00 a.m. so Randy stayed home with our sleeping kids.  Hank really wanted to come and cheer me on, so he woke up around 5:45 and went with Natalie, Isaac, and me.  What a little stud.  It really meant a lot to have him there.

I started out a bit fast and finished a bit slow but ended up finishing in 48 minutes, a 7:45 per mile average.  It was a challenging course, starting and finishing up hill so I really had to give it my all.  I was happy to learn I finished 8th out of 100 women in my age division.  It felt pretty good to be in the racing scene again.

There isn't a better way to recuperate after a hard race than some quality pool time.  

(Some of these pictures were taken a few days before the 4th.)

Precious brother moment.

Tucker, Lucy, and Hank

Sam loves Izzy!

Pool squats, a must for Sammy-boy!

I can't get over how unafraid Max is in the water this year.  I really think goggles have made all the difference. He is such a good little swimmer.

The boys played golf with my dad and then joined us at the pool later for a BBQ and lots of swimming.

Sam spent some quality time with Grandma.

They have the cutest little relationship.  He is definitely my biggest grandma/grandpa lover.

Later that day, Jeri and Scott invited us over for a BBQ and fireworks.

Lennon and Sam shared a plate.

Scott wowed us with his deliciously patriotic cake.

It couldn't get dark fast enough for the kids.  They couldn't wait for the fireworks show to begin.

Max is my little pyro.

He couldn't get enough.

Crazy cousins! 

Sam hated the fireworks last year and this year he refused to even look at them.  In his defense, it sounded like Jeri's house was under attack.  I've never seen so many fireworks in one neighborhood.

He kept pointing to the car saying "done".  

The fireworks were pretty impressive.  Who needs stadium of fire?

It was such a fantastic holiday.  We managed to squeeze in a race, 18 holes of golf, swimming, a BBQ, and fireworks.  The best part was spending the day with my favorite people.  We had little time to rest because we were off to Zion's the next day!