Two weeks after our Virginia trip, we went to Utah for the St.George Half Marathon and 5K races. This is becoming a favorite tradition with the Binghams. Unfortunately this year, Ryan got sick right after he started training and didn't have much time to recupe before the half marathon. Ok, so usually Ryan is a crazy good runner. Like these dinosaurs. I imagine that this is roughly how he makes people feel when he's passing them in the half marathon:
This year however, he truly ran it without training. He was a trooper and finished the entire race, but was also very, very wise and based his pace on something more like this from Lord of Rings:
In order to avoid injury, there was a lot of walking done before his finish line, but I'm still impressed at his dedication. Next year, for sure, he will fully trained, ready to beat his personal record and running like those dinosaurs again. This year though, his sisters, mom, and I all ran the 5K. It was a blast. (Though I could have used some training) Kaylin and I jogged it together, which was possibly the funniest race ever-we posed for every photographer we saw (and kept running). And Ry's Mom beat her personal record! She did awesome.
Some of our old roommates also ran the half marathon this year. It was so good to see them again and catch up a little. I hadn't seen my old roommate Ashli since she left on her mission in 2013.
Ryan and I had rental car that weekend, but of course they ran out of economy cars so we were given a mustang instead. Darn. Mmm, southern Utah highways have a speed limit of 80. Way too fun. Next post I'll tell about our more permanent new ride. All our love from the OK Binghams.
View from the airplane leaving St. George. What a crazy red desert!
In January we got to visit both Virginia and Utah! It was wonderful. We spent New Year's at the Massanutten resort in Virginia with my parents and siblings. It was an adventure having everybody stay in one huge house, but so good to spend the time together. Oden, Lucas, and Thia are all getting so big! Oden almost seemed all grown up; he was awesome playing a bunch of the Minute-to-Win-it games my mom had put together. Lucas was very serious about everyone playing with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and their sensei. Thia is getting so tall and loved exploring the big house, preferably with a snack in hand to leave a trail. Most of the time if we weren't eating, or playing with the kids, we were playing our classic late-night card games or learning new ones such as Tenzi. Tenzi is a pretty sweet dice game, which Thia particularly enjoyed because she got to shake a great big, noisy cup of the extra dice.
Mom organized a Minute-to-Win-It tournament for everyone to play throughout the 4-5 days we were there. There was a good variety of games, and I got a couple of the best ones on video. I think my favorite was the "Shake-off" competition (which probably had a different name). Everyone put a belt on, with a tissue box attached to the back. Inside were several ping-pong balls, which you had to shake out of the box without using your hands. Fastest time won. Stacy and I agreed that we needed pump-up music to help motivate everyone. So we played Taylor Swift's "Shake It off" and Meghan Trainer's "All about That Bass". We haven't all laughed that hard in a long time. It was great.
Courtney and Stacie Shake Off:
Lisa & Corey (who dominated this one!) Shake Off:
There was also a Oreo cookie race. You try to get an Oreo to slide down from your forehead to your mouth, without using your hands. Essentially you twitch the cookie down your face. This was also a favorite, hehe. :)
Mom & Dad succeeding at the Oreo race:
Courtney succeeding at the Oreo race:
It was pretty fabulous few days of fun and games and good food. We even spent most of one of the days at an indoor water park, where Oden was a true water slide champion! We also celebrated a belated Christmas together and enjoyed a visit from our cousins Brandon and Sarah!
Despite a slightly crazy series of flights back to OK, we did finally make it home safely. Not only were our flights delayed, but also overbooked, so we got bumped. It was so good to see everyone, but it was nice to walk into our apartment and feel like this new place really was home. All our gaming love from home :)
