New edition to the family!

On March 26, I ran 20 miles. First time ever. I was running with Janette, Liz and Liz, and Shalees. All the fast fast ones. I did my best to keep up, but thank *heavens* I brought my ipod for when I couldn't keep up any more. I was so proud to have finished! The bad part is that the entire rest of the week...until the present time...my FOOT hurt really, really bad. Plantar fasciitis is what I diagnosed myself with. So I have not been able to run nearly as far since then. I did calculate that I have in deed run over 500 miles since I bought my last pair of shoes in January, so I decided it was time for some new ones! They just arrived today, so we'll see if they make a difference.

On Wednesday, the 30th of March, we had a meeting for Ragnar. It made me pretty nervous. They were talking about what to pack, the rules, sleeping and eating conditions, etc. It was pretty overwhelming! I was especially nervous when they discussed the running conditions. I am not conditioned to run uphill!

I worked the night of the 31st, which is the same day my mom flew in from Henderson. Before work, we all met at Allison's and had a little birthday party for Angela. She opened presents, and Kaylee gave her some cookies she had made with Grandma Cindy.

And now some pictures of the whole event!

Angela, Ammon, Carissa, Allison

Last day pregnant

Ang opening presents. She deserves to be SPOILED ROTTEN!

Angela wasn't the only one getting gifts...

Ang with her new sewing machine. Her face is priceless!!! Yeah, we made her cry. :)

Haha! Allison might kill me for this one. ;0)

It was also the night Allison went in to be induced! She was there at 8 PM, and they told her to come back an hour later, so she got to come and visit! I introduced her to some of my co-workers. I kept my phone on me so she could text me if she needed me. Around 1 AM when they were starting the pitocin, the anesthesiologist wouldn't do an epidural because of her health history. Poor thing! I went up right after work, and thank goodness a new guy came on and was willing to give her an epidural.

Poor Sis!
Darin enjoying breakfastMoments before delivery!
After a few hours, she delivered a beautiful baby boy with me, Angela, Mom, and of course Darin there. I felt so privileged to be there! I was quite sleep deprived so I went home at about 10:30 AM.Baby Michael!

Time for Dad to make some important phone calls!Sweet. I love this family.

When I woke up, our whole family went up to the hospital to visit. I completely forgot that children weren't allowed to visit! I felt bad because the girls were so excited to meet the cute baby!

Grandma Julie had purchased 'Tangled' for them to watch, so that smoothed things over nicely. My mom and Carissa came over later. We had dinner and watched Tangled. Carissa cut Brenna and Kaylee's hair.
She didn't move a muscle...she was entranced by the new movie, which she had already seen 3 times...

After Carissa cut Brenna's hair, the girls were in the hair stylin' mood, and Daddy was the victim. And of course Ammon wanted in on the action.

The man's a saint. He's even pretending to enjoy it!

The next morning, Angela and I went running. My foot was still bothering me, so I did about 7 and she did 14, which is the farthest she's ever gone! Yay Ang! She's running a half marathon in a few weeks! Carissa came, and she cut my hair while we listened to the morning session of conference. My mom came over later. We literally spent the entire day lounging and talking. It was SUCH a good day! She flew home the next morning.

So on Sunday, we had our traditional waffles for breakfast while listening to conference. After the morning session, we headed up to the McGary's. Grandma came with and we dropped her off at the Smith's. We also picked up Jakey on the way so Allison could get some sleep.

It was such a nice day! It started out sunny...but as the day progressed, SNOW! {Sigh, Utah weather!} We ate lunch while we listened to the afternoon session. I had printed out packets for the girls from sugardoodle.com so they could be entertained during conference. My favorite talk during that session, and perhaps all of conference was the one by Elder Richard G. Scott on the Eternal Blessings of Marriage.

Afterward, we picked Kirk's brain concerning the housing market and mortgages, since we have never purchased a home, and may be doing so in the near future. He had lots of good advice for us. He is such a valuable resource! He owns a very prestigious property management business, so he knows all the 'ins' and 'outs.'

I was supposed to work on Tuesday, but I got called off. It was kinda nice. My mom flew in on Thursday, so it would have been nice to have been called off tonight (Friday) instead...oh well. I got caught up on some cleaning and even worked on re-decorating my bedroom, which is apparently going to take me months to finish! I went over to Allison's last night right after my Mom arrived. I tried to take some pictures of Micheal, but apparently I still don't know what I'm doing with my camera, and I couldn't get the lighting right in her house. I did get a FEW good ones, but he was crying, which made Allison ready to be done with the whole thing. Perhaps we'll try again another time.

Here's what I did with the ones that turned out:

I ran on the treadmill at the Bringhurst's last night while watching 'P.S. I love you.' I was very distracted, but I was NOT feeling well. It took all my will power to bust out 7.5 miles. All my running friends are in Moab right now for a marathon on Saturday, so I have no buddies to run with! Not to mention it won't stop SNOWING outside!

This morning I listened to Elder Paul V. Johnson's talk on trials and conquering them. I highly recommend it. It made me grateful that our Heavenly Father gives us trials so we can become more like him!