im gonna get married

For documentary purposes, lets talk about the days leading up the wedding. 

And leave the wedding day for a long and glorious post all on its on. 

Rudy and I were to get married on June 14th. 

I work at a school where it is incredibly difficult to take days off. 

The last day of school was June 13th. 

I didn't even ask for the days off, I just basically told everyone I wasn't going to be there and luckily they understood and were ok with it. 

My last day of school was our field day.

I was in charge of planning it and I procrastinated it for week. Finally Brad helped me and we came up with a pretty awesome obstacle course. 

The teachers had to demonstrate for the students and we did a boys vs. girls race and obviously the girls won. It was really fun. 

Every year we plan a way to trick the kids and getting them wet. Last year we had a surprise water balloon fight. 

This year we backed them agains the gym and told them we were taking a class photo. 

They didn't know teachers had climbed on the roof.... 

It was awesome and the kids freaked out. 

That night Rudy and I were up late packing for our drive to California in the morning. It was really surreal knowing that we were packing for our wedding that weekend. 

We got in early start in the morning, on the road just after 5 AM. 

The good thing about being in the car for a long is that I fall asleep really easily. Anyone thats been in the car with me  for longer than 30 mins can probably attest to that. So I feel asleep really fast. 

The bad thing about being in the car for a long time is that I can get slightly annoyed with Rudy. HA

Ive almost made a no car rule with him. 

I mean, I have to put up with stunts like this...

and sometimes worse. He likes to sing ridiculously and then talks in about 5 different accents and impersonations. Funny at first....

So I am slightly surprised we made it to California. 

I woke up in St. George and we did a session in the Temple. 

Rudy's mission president is on another mission in the Visitor's Center. 

We stopped by and gave them announcement for the wedding and chatted for a bit. 

We arrived that evening and I spend some time with Christina and Lillie. 

A last little friend hang out as a single lady!

Kelly and the kids arrived that night and I was so excited that they were there. 

In the morning Laura and her family came. 

It was so special for me knowing that my whole family was there for me and my wedding.

 I loved that. 

On Friday I was excited to see this pop up on my computer. 

And I loved getting this snap chat from my roommates. Love them so much!

The highlight of the day was all of the girls went to get their nails done for the big day. 

Cute little Lyla got her nails done for the first time. She was acting crazy excited when we got there and then she got a little in trouble for dropping the nail polish by a worker and she was quiet the rest of the time. 

I had the hardest time ever picking out my nail color! How do you decide what to get for the biggest day of your life! 

I can't remember exactly what else we did, but there was hanging out by the pool, and getting dinner all together. 

That night I do remember staying up a little late and watching TV with Kelly and my dad. 

My dad told me it was my last night being a Robins girl and being single. 

And although I was fine with changing my marital status, I was pretty sad at losing my name. 

Good thing its still my middle name! 

families are forever.

Today is my 27th birthday. 

I have to be a little honest. 

I wasn't that excited about it. 

I feel like I should have a baby or something at this age. 

But last night, as I was contemplating life on my birthday eve, I thought less about myself and more about my family. 

27 years ago I was born into the Robins family. 

{Dad, do you still have that shirt?}

And when I think about the concept of families it sometimes boggles my mind. 

A lot of time in life we are constantly looking for friends. 

I know I have been with my move and it happens in lots of different stages of life. 

The sometimes struggling ability to find people that you like, and they like you, that you can talk to them and I think the most important--be yourself around them. 

A lot of the time that is very hard to find and the search for friends is constantly happening. 

Yet, in life we have been blessed with instant friends in a family. 

You are given a family that has to like you! 

They have to accept you and love and they become your longest lasting friendship that you have ever had which makes you so comfortable around them. 

Perhaps I am rambling now but when you really think about, its amazing! 

I am so grateful for two incredible sisters that I LOVE hanging out with. 

I love being their little sister.

I couldn't be proud to call them my sisters and friends. 

I just love the concept of a family. 

An instant group of friends that love you and care for you. 

And if that isn't enough, you've been given two parents that have so much love for you that you can't even comprehend everything they have done for you!

 How awesome is it to have that many people in your life with so much love!

But wait, it gets even better! You get these people, that love you and are your best friends…really forever! I get to spend eternity with my family.

So that is what I have to be most grateful for on my own birthday. 

My family members who I have been given that I love so much. 

Thank you for loving me for 27 years. 

{and I may not have a kid at 27 but I have 7 of the best nieces and nephews around that I love almost as much}

Disneyland Half Marathon

This past weekend my sisters and I ran the Disneyland Half Marathon!

We signed up for this race way back in January and of course at the time it seemed like forever away, and of course it snuck up on me so fast. 

Kelly convinced us to run it only because we watched the prior years promo video and saw all the fun pluses of this race as opposed to perhaps boring half marathons where all you do is run. 

For this race you get to run through Disneyland and Angels Stadium and it just looked super fun! 

I probably should have started training a lot sooner for this race, but the craziness of life sometimes made me procrastinate running. 

{However its crazy what your body can do. I have always easily ran 4 or 5 miles and then all of a sudden Im running 7 then 8, then 10 then 11.5 miles all leading up to the race. Its crazy and awesome how your body can do things you didnt think you could before. }

We got a hotel down in Anaheim cause the race started at 5:45 am! I think I had some of my favorite moments before the race since it was so fun just to hang out with Kelly and Laura. Its hardly ever just the three of us and it was so much fun. I dont think I have laughed that hard in a really long time. Here is a glimpse of some of the shenanigans that happened...

In the morning we were up early for the race and made our way down to the start line. There were sooo many runners! We guessed about 15,000 people lined up to do this race.

The course starts right outside the park and then entered through California Adventure. 

{Disney always knows how to put on a good time and treat people right. All through Disney there were employees lined up to cheer the runners on. Just standing there to clap and cheer and even take our pictures. It was really impressive.}

We ran through the new Cars Land and then went on to Disneyland and ran through the whole park for about the first 3 miles. It was exciting to have the employees, all of the characters out and even some of the rides going as you run through the park. It was magical....

My favorite was running through Main Street and out through the castle

where I ran into my favorite princess, Sleeping Beauty. 

For miles 4-9 we ran on the streets of Anaheim. However this was not boring either. 

The whole course was lined with local High School bands, cheerleaders and dance teams. 

There is no better way to run then having so many people cheering you on!

It was incredible to pass the bands playing songs, or dance teams putting on performances. 

There was also streets lined with old school cars with the owners out cheering too. 

Its either go big or go home for Disney. 

I ran up to mile 6 or 7 with Kelly and Laura but as they are a bit faster then me and honestly I prefer to run alone, I told them to go ahead of me. Leaving me solo to tackle the rest of the half. 

By mile 9 we wound up to Angels Stadium.

Where tons and tons of boy scout and girl scouts troops were now cheering. 

We went down the tunnel and then up to the warning track of the Stadium. 

This was hands down my favorite part. 

I knew there would be people in the stands, however I was not expecting the hundreds of cheering boys and girls in the stadium with their hands outstretched to give you high fives. 

It was so exciting to run through a major league stadium! 

Seriously, so cool. 

Then it was on to the final 3 miles. Which were great until I hit mile marker 12. 

Longest mile of my life. 

Im sure most of it was mental, but my feet were starting to hurt, my calf was cramped and my butt was sore. 

But theres nothing like Mickey and Minnie Mouse standing at the finish line to congratulate you. 

and so 2 hours and 8 minutes later I finished!!

which I am pretty proud of since this was my first half marathon and during the race I stopped at the bathroom, took some pictures and ran by myself for a majority of the time. 

It was really really fun. I dont think I will be able to run a normal race now. 

Im glad I was able to participate with both of my sisters and accomplish something I never really thought I would. 

And. I got a really cool medal. 

Ragnizzle Fo Shizzle

You know those moments when you look forward to something for so so long. And then that thing you have been waiting for happens so fast and is over before you know it. 

And then you are depressed that its over. 

Thats kinda what happened for So Cal Ragnar. 

Ive been looking forward to this Ragnar race sine September 18th. 

Ya. The day after I finished Napa Valley Ragnar. 

Although I felt like Ragnar happened in a blink of an eye. i LOVED it. 

We had so much fun, anything that could have gone wrong, didnt. And anything I worried about (or my sister) didnt happen either. 

It was a party for 36 hours with my two sisters and some of the funniest guys. 

We did have some drama a day or two before the race.  Laura started to get super sick. Fever, puking, the flu. the works. We were worried that she wouldnt be able to run and would have to find a replacement for her last minute. But she got some medicine and started feeling better. We ended up switching a few legs so that I took a few of her more difficult ones which I ended up being really excited for to run longer legs. 

Our start time was 8:30 and Kelly rocked her first run. 

Beating us to the exchange! And from there on out Ragnar was on! I was vetoed from ever being the driver or the navigator and the boys jumped right in to wanting to know my whole dating history. Which I guess is what happens when you are the only single person in the van. 

My first run started off in Anaheim. Right across from this place. 

boo!

It was starting to get HOT. It was a 4.6 route along some dried up river. By the time I finished I thought it was 100 degress. Turned out it was 75. But it still felt hot. 

Our break in between runs was very different than most other Ragnar teams. Ryan sweet talked our way into LA Fitness. Scoring us some nice warm, private and free showers. Although I might have been a little anti-showering at first (It goes against the Ragnar experience! And I may or may not like taking showers. I can thank Cort for that ha) But it was nice after a nice run in the heat. We then spent the rest of our time at Target. HA. 

Our night runs started off and unfortunately it was still hot when Kelly started us out. 

{hahaha loooove this picture.}

But by the time I ran it was around 9:30. 8.3 miles running through downtown Murrietta and Old Town Temecula. I felt a little ridiculous running through Old Town as so many people were out to dinner and partying and Im running on a friday night, wearing a reflective vest, a headlamp and a blinking tail light. 

It was a good run though and the farthest I have ever run before so I was proud of myself. 

We also had a different night time experience as my parents rented a hotel near the major exchange where we finished. Allowing us round two of showers and a place to sleep. 

We crashed till about 3:30 AM and were back at it again. 

We finished our last legs around San Diego. 

I ran my 5.4 along the SD coast and downtown Encinitas {I got all pretty cool locations} around 6AM and got misted on the entire time. By this time my legs were a little shot. And jumping right into the van in the cold, for Laura to start running her 2 miler, I got pretty dang stiff! 

{getting ready to cheer on Ryan}

We finished all of our legs by around 10AM and then had to wait for van two. We hit up some breakfast in La Jolla, took a nap at Coronado and then waited some more at the finish line. 

Gay brought us home around 4PM and Ragnizzle Fo Shizzle crossed the finish line! 

Like I said, we had a great time. Especially for being a little worried with sharing a van with three married strangers--It turned out way better than anticipated. It is crazy how fast you get to know people when you are thrown in a van together and know you will be spending more than 24 hours together.  Im pretty sure my abs hurt more than my legs did from all the laughing that was had in Varsity Van One. 

I am stealing this from Laura, but added some of my own. And all the good moments I want to remember from Ragnar:

-Ryan negotiating showers at LA Fitness

-that guy Jake

-Disobeying all parking attendants and disregarding yellow tape

-Jake and his wolf pack

-Ryan sporting his wolf shirt

-all the u turns, Ryan forcing Tom out of driving cause there were too many of them

-Ryan getting us completely lost

-The Jake Bartlett invitational (and hearing more and more details of it as he told the story more times, which  I WILL share with you cause its that good of a story)

-second shower and sleeping in the suite

-looking for that guy Jake in his sports bra reflective vest

-shouting false hopes to runners, including Ryan

-Jake pulling a Jake

-Ryan having no idea what he was running for each leg

-being the best smelling team

-running into my old hook up's van, pulling over next with excitement from my van while I was freaking out, only to find out Ryan and him were friends at BYU and took a class together. the irony. 

-Being chastised by fellow Ragnar runner for not wearing our reflective vests at 6:30 pm

-Never wearing our reflective vests

-Tom pulling a Jake in Target and buying 1 item at a time

-Ryan chasing down a 10 year old girl on the hill from H E double L

-Trying to shout encouragement to other runners, but coming off sounding like jerks

-Spending so much time with my sisters

-Laura running balls out on her lat 2 mile run

-Ryan pretending to push over a runner who past him up on a hill..and look up and see the runner's van staring him down

-Jake yelling WOLF PACK as Ryan ran up the hill

-my team not getting out of the van as they met me on my night run and telling me if I wanted water, I had to come to them. Thanks guys!

-Laura not remembering to put her number on at our night exchange and me coming back to the team "Really guys!? You couldnt have reminded her on that one!?"

-Jake only being 1 for 3 on his meeting Kelly at the exchange

-Me being late to my last exchange with Jake and him throwing our slap bracelet to the ground

-Our team never properly using the RagMag for directions and only going off the street signs, which led us being lost every so often. 

-Bumping into my other ex at the finish line. {Ya I was two for two. My team said I am no longer allowed to date runners/ Ragnar participants}

Also as Laura stated, might only be funny to my sisters and teammates. But every time I read this list I start busting up laughing.  

AND. I even got to run into Bardi at the finish line. 

Now I will just be counting down till I run Napa again in the Fall!