Disneyland Half Marathon

In May, my sister Rachael ran the Ogden Marathon. I went and watched her cross the finish line and I was amazed at the hard work and determination it must take to train for such a huge undertaking. I told her that she had inspired me to get back into shape and that I wanted to start running. I wasn't quite ready to commit to a marathon since I could barely run a mile. We started looking around for events in the fall and came across the Disneyland Half Marathon -- Perfect! My sister Karli and Rachael's husband Tyler also thought it sounded fun, so we all signed up. Pretty soon, almost the entire Gelter family had made plans for a week long marathon/Disneyland vacation (upcoming post)!

The first couple of weeks of training I must admit I didn't think I would ever make it, I could barely run a mile! But I knew that if I didn't work hard I would embarrass myself when the four of us got together on Saturdays to do our long runs, so I kept at it. It was awesome to see Karli, Tyler, and me go from barely being able to run a 6-miler one week to doing the full half marathon a couple months later.

Well, I'm sure you're getting bored, so I'll cut to the point. The race was this last week and it was awesome! The lower elevation totally helped. We ran through Disneyland and California Adventure, and then through Angel's Stadium! SO COOL! My goal was 2 hours and I was able to finish in 1:48! To my wife's dismay, running a half marathon only made me want to keep going! I'll be signing up for the Ogden Marathon next month! I'm excited but scared at the same time!

{Super blurry, but this is the only pic of me during the race. Yep, I'm on the field at Angel's Stadium!}

{Me, Tyler, Rachael, and Karli after the race. Good job everyone! (And yes, I look like a dork with that towel around my neck, I forgot it was there!)}

Thanks Rach, Tyler, and Karli for being my training buddies! It's been super fun!

When The Stars are Stacked Against Me

Today I got up looked at my planner and got a very nervous feeling in my tummy. The day started off with Early Interventions which Porter rocked, but his teacher and I got a little chatty making me rushed for the dogs appointment with the vet. Toddler and dog at the vet office isn't a great combo anyways, but having to wait an hour past our appointment time is awful. The dog got 2 shots and was wigging out as we finally left. I unlocked the car, sat P on the back seat floor to play while I put the dog in the kennel. Sydney (our dog) started freaking out because he thought I was making him go back in, when I got him out of the car I closed the door so P could safely play, reached for the front door to find it was locked... weird... reached for the back door... MY BABY WAS LOCKED IN THE CAR WITH MY KEYS!!! :( The mail man walked by and lent me his cell phone while he finished his deliveries. I finally got a hold of my Grandma, who had me call Grandpa, who dispatched my Rescuer Uncle Shane. I started bawling as soon as Shane got there to help. We ended up calling the Cops to get into the car and it took them 20 minutes to get there, when the station was only 5 minutes away. What part of "Baby Locked in a Car" suggests dawdling? Porter cried the whole time, not screaming I hate you crying but just a sad cry because he could see me yet I wasn't helping him. I was upset about it too! My cute Uncle was so kind to me, he told me it happened to them several times. If that's the truth or not I don't know, but it made me feel better. We had to take a walk once the car got unlocked because P started screaming when I tried to put him back in to go home. We regrouped at my parents house over lunch and stopped to visit Grandma Lynda on the way home.

I got home only to find a message letting me know I had written down a doctors appointment wrong and had missed it. Seriously, I should have stayed in bed!

The bright side, my busy day tomorrow is suddenly wide open. Porter and I can enjoy our normal routine before Aaron and I go to the John Mayer concert tomorrow. We'll both enjoy a normal day, I'm sure!

Surgery Pictures

With same day surgery there can be some time to kill and for us it's always been in a little room, so what do we do? We take pictures.

Porter was extremely happy this morning as soon as he woke up. We were both surprised because he hadn't eaten or had anything to drink since midnight.

My Boys

When he realized he was hungry he took it out on Mo. Side note: Mo is Porter's stuffed monkey that he cuddles for comfort; they've become well attached. Mo had an exam right along with Porter, got a name tag like Porter's and special access to the OR.

I find these PJ's adorable!

Porter can find trouble anywhere, our little explorer! His father is removing him, not helping him!

Playtime before surgery

{Mo in recovery.}

Porter's recovery went much smoother this time because they didn't have to use as strong of anaesthesia so his oxygen levels were stable which was a relief. He was super cranky coming out of it, but we were right there this time when he woke up so that was much better than last time. The doctor told us children Porter's age have delirium coming out of the anaesthesia and they just get super angry.

That cranky continued on the way home until we gave him Mo and then it was goodnight! The little man is still sleeping it off, but doing very well.

Again, THANK YOU ALL!!!

Success

Porter's surgery this morning was successful! They were able to place tubes in his ears. The left ear canal was too small so they could only place the smallest tube, which means we'll probably have to do this again in a year. However, we're very happy with how things went! This procedure was actually much simpler than what Porter had done last time. I hadn't understood that until we got to hospital so I was pleasantly surprised to hear he'd only be away from us for 15 minutes. I have some cute pictures I'll put up after Porter and I catch a nap.

Thanks for all your love, prayers, and support! It means so much to have such a loving response for something so little but at times worrisome for us. Thank YOU!!!

Ear surgery

Porter will be having tubes put in tomorrow. I'm much calmer this time around than last time since he is older and did okay with the anesthesia previously. His hearing has gotten worse and the number of infections has been increasing this last year. :( Porter's E.N.T. and pediatrician feel like tubes are the right thing to do especially going into winter. His E.N.T. was very honest with me that it will be difficult to successfully place tubes in Porter's eardrum because of his collapsed ear canals. While this isn't a high risk procedure we'd appreciate any prayers you feel like sending Porter's way for a successful and safe day tomorrow!

Empty Hangers

I mentioned in my last post that my husband has lost 30lbs. Well, the other night we had what Aaron referred to as a "Fat Clothes Intervention", leaving him with a very limited supply of clothing. It was super late when we did this and as we finished up I saw this sight and started singing, ~~"Empty hangers in empty closets where my clothes will hang no more! ... Oh my shirts, my shirts forgive me!" ~~

There was more, but you've been subjected to enough. My siblings and mother will understand the late night showtune outburst. It's not something we can control, it just happens. When we get this way it's like living in a musical. I think it's fun. Aaron has yet to join in, but is more than happy to laugh along.

So proud of my man! I was going to post a before and after picture but thought I better ask permission. What do you say babe?

p.s. pictures from this weekend are coming... I just need to finish gathering them.

Through Thick & Thin

{Happy Together}

August 3rd was mine and Aaron's anniversary. We weren't able to properly celebrate because of Aaron's crazy work schedule so we've scheduled and set aside 48 hours to celebrate this weekend! WAHOO!!! To kick the festivities off I wanted to write a post acknowledging our marriage. Which sounds super cheesy and it probably will be so if you don't want to read, I forgive you. ;)

My thoughts are a mess and can't really be organized into nice neat paragraphs that flow easy from one to the next so I'm just going to do bullets of all the randomness.

Lately I've been thinking about:

• The fact that Aaron and I have been married 6 years now and together for 7. This seems crazy to us, but when we stop to think about the first year it feels like yesterday and yet so distant.
• The hour car ride we went on to get peaches to go with our vanilla ice cream. This is when we realized we would be great friends. We were total strangers and shared details of our lives that we'd never shared with even our best friends and it felt safe.
• I'm a sporadic person and I have this habit from my childhood where I hide important sentimental papers in my books. As I've cleaned out the basement I've found lots of notes from Aaron and they're so fun to read. (Did I mention I'm also finding lots of cash?) These notes are a reminder of where we've come from, who we were then, who we are now, and what parts of us are still the same.
• The big sacrifice it was to get married. We had nothing, we were so young, we didn't even have jobs when we got engaged. We lived in a one bedroom apartment with the tiniest kitchen. We paid $450 a month for it and that included all our utilities. It was small, money was tight/non-existent, but our lives were happy.
• We worked our tails off together to make it through school.
• Once I started working we used my teaching income to make some life long dreams come true (i.e. trip to Europe, down-payment on a house, and a modest savings), each an adventure and achievement for us. It's really cool to me that we actually did it, there was a long time where we didn't think we would.
  
• Recently, with the decision for me to be a stay at home Mom and having a child with some extra medical/therapy needs we are remembering what it's like to live on a tight budget. There's something exciting about not being completely secure financially. We communicate better, we get creative with family activities and often have more fun than if we'd spent a lot of money! Don't get me wrong, it's not my favorite topic of conversation and it's stressful but I enjoy working through it with Aaron.
• I can feel a shift coming in our marriage, it's very hard to explain but I'll try. We know this union is a safe and sure place so each of us has allowed the other to shine as an individual. This has actually brought us closer together and strengthened us. For example I remember when Aaron said he wanted to start training to run a marathon I didn't want to give up all that time with him. I didn't want to hold him back so I got out of his way. The result: He's lost 30 pounds, he's healthy, and he's proud of himself every time he finishes a run. It's like the first few years we spent working on proving we loved each other, that we were a good team, that we had a good marriage. Now we've stopped trying to prove those things and we just know it in our bones so we don't fret. If that makes any sense at all.
• Since Porter's birth we feel like we've been tossed into a time warp and we really understand what it means to enjoy the moment. We love taking the time to "breathe Porter in". Last night Aaron was on an elevator with a crowd of people one woman said in reference to Porter, "14 months today, 16 years tomorrow." Aaron's reply, "Don't say that!" We know our time with our children is brief, we don't want to miss it. I hope this strong marriage can cultivate a strong family.

{For Aaron- his favorite}

Aaron, I'm so glad it's you I get to spend this life and forever with! I know that together we can make it through anything and have a good time while we're at it! Thank you for always being there for me even when the only thing you have to offer is a shoulder to cry on and a witty comment to make me smile through my tears. You mean everything to me. It's such a bonus to be madly in love with your best friend.

"Can I keep You?"