26.2 miles? Seriously?

We're off tomorrow to fly to Oregon so that I can run my first marathon with Janica in Newport. I kind of think we're crazy. I'm hoping that everything goes well, and that we feel good. At least it's going to be nice weather, not hot like it is here! Newport's right on the coast in Oregon, and Robby and I went to the Oregon coast on our honeymoon. Janica and I used to run against each other in high school, and are really looking forward to running this whole race together-not trying to beat each other! We just want to finish this one! Robby and Lily are going to cheer us on, along with Janica's family, my parents, sister, and Robby's mom and sister. I'm not worried about the first 18 miles-its the last 8 that make me nervous! When Emily was in the NICU on the ventillator as a baby, they had her settings set in a way, that the respitory therapist said asking her to breath on the ventillator was like asking one of us to run a marathon. So I promised Emily that if she could do it, I'd run a marathon some day. So, here it goes! Send positive energy our way! Lily hasn't pulled herself all the way up yet, but she likes doing this when she can. And then she gets stuck sometimes, so we have to help her down.

Lily loves this chair that makes music, and will crawl to it from wherever she is in the house.

Robby tried to make a barricade to keep Lily in the living room the other Sunday. It definitly did not work!

Here's Em's marker. I debated about whether to post it or not, but I know many of you who look at this blog were at the funeral, either in San Antonio or in Quincy. The stone is actually green, but it's hard to tell because it was so sunny.

Behind Emily to the left is her Grandma Hammond, and to the right is Robby's Uncle Randy.

This Dang Texas Heat

I hate the heat in Texas. This year it actually didn't get super hot unti this week. It's been around 100, with 80% humidity. It's the humidity that I hate. It never cools off. At 6:00 AM it's 79% outside. That's just gross. For 6:00 AM, anyway. So, as I was laying in bed thinking about this last night, it made me think of Emily this time last year. The day after Mother's Day she had hip and foot surgery on her left hip and both feet. She was in this cast for 5 weeks, from May 12, 2008-June 16, or something like that. Look at that smile! She endured the whole thing like that, just happy. She never once complained that she had this cast covering over half her body. She would smile and play just like she always did. I was 6 months pregnant at the time, so we were quite the pair. That cast was heavy and akward!

Emily was able to go to school, even with this cast on. The staff was so terrific about working with her and helping her be happy and comfortable. This is how she'd get around.

Isn't that the most beautiful smile? I love this picture. It's so Emily. I went gararge sell hunting for dresses before the surgery, because I knew that's what she'd have to wear. COOL summer dresses. And I found a sell that had dozens. So all the dresses she's wearing cost about $1 each. It was great. I think she stayed pretty comfortable, considering it was 100 degrees outside and she was in this cast!

This is how she slept. We put a sheet down over the bean bags that our friends let us borrow. We'd actually prop her up on her side. This cast went up above her belly button. They cut a hole for the diaper area. We would stuff a small diaper up inside, and then put the pull up over the top. It worked pretty well! So, I'm done complaining about the heat. These pictures should help me remember not to complain-I'm not pregnant and I don't have a body cast!

Hawaii

Surfing and fishing on Sunset Beach.

The Laie Hawaii Temple

Lily had a great time!

We had a fabulous time in Hawaii. We went to Oahu and stayed for 5 days, spending three nights in Waikiki, and 3 nights on the North Shore. We enjoyed both places. Neither of us had been. I put a slide show on the right side if you want to look at more pictures. Some are the same as below, and some are different. Lily was great fun on the trip. She would just smile and laugh at everyone. When we got home she was a little grumpy from lack of attention. She loved the sand (especially eating it) but was not a big fan of the waves, even though I know you can't tell by her smiles in the pictures! Sunset on Sunset Beach. This was the last thing we did in Hawaii, and it was a great way to end our trip. These pictures are in reverse order. Sunset Beach is where the surfers go, and it was a lot of fun to see them surf. The waves were huge-I wouldn't swim past about 5 feet from shore.

Sunset on Sunset Beach.

I enjoyed playing with my camera settings. Lily was very fun to photograph!

Lily at Wiamea Bay. We went snokeling there, and saw sea turtles, which was one of the highlights of the trip.

Sunset at Laie Beach. This was the 2nd place we stayed. We had the entire beach to ourselves. There's pictures on the slide show of the Polynesian Cutural Center.

This is Pali Lookout, looking at the Windward shore of Oahu. It's extremely windy there, but Lily loved it.

This was at Bellows Beach, before Lily got splashed with waves and got sad!

Hanuma Bay. This is an amazing place to Snorkel. You walk down to it. This was probably my favorite part of the trip. We'd never been snorkeling before, and we swam with literally thousands of fish, all different colors and sizes. It was kind of scary (I'm not a great swimmer) but so worth it. We took turns playing with Lily while the other one snorkelled. If I had to do one thing on Oahu, this would be the thing.

Our first day there we hiked to the top of Diamondhead, which gives you 360 degree views of Honululu, Waikiki, and the mountains. We're looking down on Waikiki here. I got to go running along Waikiki twice, which was great fun for me. I also ran around BYU-Hawaii. The marathon is in 4 weeks-yesterday I ran 20 miles. I think I'm as ready as I can be!

On Waikiki with Diamondhead in the background. We hiked up it an hour after this picture was taken.