Home at last

How do you spend more money in a single transaction than you've spent in the last few years combined? The number of 0's behind that dollar sign was difficult to accept at first, but we're so happy to finally have a place to call our own!

After all, one of the reasons we had to leave our beautiful Flagstaff residence was the inability to afford much of anything home-wise on one income. We wanted to own a home, to experience the ups and downs that come with maintaining a bunch of sticks and drywall plastered together. To weed a garden, fix a broken sprinkler line, spend hours on youtube figuring out which pipe is supposed to go where under the sink.

Most importantly, to have a place where Wren and any future Papenfi could run and explore to their hearts content.

We found the house on zillow.com the week before were were to move to the Tri-Cities (Richland, Kennewick, Pasco) area. Stopping in SLC to visit family on our way from AZ to WA, we enthusiastically showed our find to our family and wondered if it would still be around when we got there. Listings we loved had come and gone many times since we started perusing real properties once Layne accepted the job offer there and we weren't about to let our hopes get too high.

After arriving on October 21st, the first thing we did was schedule a walk-through of this home. It can be over-the-top and beyond annoying sometimes, but the amount of research Layne puts in to buying anything paid off this time. We knew what was out there and that this was the cream of the crop to us.

Walking through the house was a much different experience than online slideshows (obviously), but we felt a special warmth about the place that should definitely be described as "homey". The next couple days were spent gallivanting all around the three suburbs trying to find anywhere that might match what we felt in this Pasco home, but nothing really came close.

SO! After much hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth we put in our offer. A counteroffer and counter-counteroffer later we had ourselves a deal.

We officially closed on December 12, and then the movers brought our stuff on the 15! So far we are slowly unpacking. It is so much more space than we have ever had before so there is a lot of room for growth, and people to come visit... Hint, hint az and ut friends! 

We love our new ward and we have already met some amazing people. Heavenly Father really does lead you in the right direction. We have already been so well taken care of by the people we have met. Layne found a biking friend and I have some hiking/yoga friends. We are definitely feeling the love of the people here In the tri cities. I'm hoping I can find a good running buddy soon.

Here are a few pics from lately

Layne received his arrowhead from the NPS

This is a picture of me when I was a little older than Wren!

Moving truck. We were so happy

Update on Wren

Before I get around to a post about our move to Washington ( maybe in like year or so..haha) I wanted to do a small update on Wren!

Wren is talking so much. She now strings together two or three words together, and it just melts my heart! She basically repeats every word she hears us say now :)
She know most of her body parts
Loves to sing ring around the rosies
Goes on the potty at least once a day, and always tells me when she is poopy. A few days ago she told Layne that she was poopy but when he checked her she was clean. We put her on the potty and she pooped! No idea about how to potty train, but I think she will be ready pretty soon!
She loves being outside and playing at the park.
Sleeps bout 12 hours a night.
Loves her binky, and I have no plans about taking it away yet. Moving has been a little rough on all of us so I want to wait until she is totally comfortable.
Loves facetiming with family and friends!
Always does my yoga with me and know how to do a few yoga poses! so adorable!

I could not get ny pictures to upload from my phone and I have not updated my computer for a bit so sorry about a few older pics!

Imogene Pass Run

Back in June I had a couple ladies convince me that we need to run a race in Telluride, CO called the Imogene Pass Run (IPR). It looked so hard, but I felt up for a challenge and was excited to have something to keep me motivated during the summer. It might sound weird, but I like running during the wintertime so much more than summer! That might be the sunny Flagstaff winters talking, but it's true!

My training consisted of three or four short runs during the week (3-5 miles) and a long run on saturday that usually had a considerable amount of elevation gain  Flagstaff was the perfect place to train since IPR would be climbing 5,600 feet to summit at 13,114 feet above sea level!  

Training turned out to be super enjoyable. I was able to discover new places in Flag that I had completely neglected since moving here, and thankfully I had my trusty border collie Dessa so I always felt safe.  One of my favorite places to run was the Elden Lookout Road. I even passed Rob Krar on the trail once and he told me I was, "looking good." Talk about a confidence booster! 

After much training the race weekend finally came. Huge shoutout to my mom and sister who came down to watch Wren. Wren was in heaven with them! Imogene is notorious for bad weather so we packed every piece of running gear I own. We made the 6 hour drive, set up camp, and headed to Ouray to pick up my packet and grab some dinner.  During dinner we met a guy named Ryan. Him and I had similar goal times so we wished each other luck and hoped to see each other out on the trail! 

Layne drove me to the bus the next morning, and the first person I see is Ryan! I was so happy to have a bus buddy. The bus ride was about an hour long so we chatted about life. I was praying for a missionary opportunity but it never came! my bad! After the bus ride we stretched together and once again wished each other luck. Come to find out,.... he is really fast! I didn't end up seeing him again but I know he finished about 50 minutes before me! 

Because of the proliferation of variety races (i.e. Color Run, Halloween Run, Turkey Trot, Mud Run's, etc.) and local 5/10k's, the pre-race lineup has become less of a check on any competition and more of a party. This one was definitely the former. You don't sign up for IPR on a whim, and the crowd in Ouray that chilly morning reflected that. I've never been more intimidated by such a strong group of athletes, nor have I felt such elation at the thought that I was one of them! One thing for sure, despite the competitive spirit toeing the line, we knew we were all in it together.

 

Once the gun went off I was surprised by how easy the first four miles were. It was a little up and then a little down. Everyone was keeping a good pace, and I was feeling strong... what was all the ruckus about ?! hahah....After mile four it really started to climb, but I pushed through and met some amazing people on the trail who kept me going.  

Most longer races have time limits on how long they can hold roads or intersections closed in order to keep runners safe, but IPR does things a bit differently by necessity. With the massive climb looming between miles 8 and 10, Mile 7.5 becomes the cutoff point and anyone wanting to complete the race with race support has to make it there in under 2:30:00 and I beat it by 40 minutes! There was no turning back now, and that gave me some mental ammo to fire away at my inner blerch the last couple miles. 

 

You can actually see the top of the pass at this point but you still have 2.5 miles to go and it is straight up..... and when I say straight, I mean straight. The next 2.5 miles were physically the hardest thing I have ever done. I called it the "Death March" No one talked, and no one stopped, no one was really "running". It was intense to say the least.  Hundreds of runner above me and hundreds below me all feeling the physical and mental struggle. I was so humbled and so inspired!

Once I reached the summit I shed a few small tears because I knew that Heavenly Father had helped me. I expressed my love and gratitude in a silent prayer, had some chicken broth (that stuff was golden) and headed down the other side. It was just as steep as the way up the other side, so it was more of a "controlled fall" than running, but hey I'll take credit for running it! This was the easy part, and I cruised those 7 miles right into Telluride. I was so happy to see Layne about 1/4 mile from the finish cheering me on. I could not have done it without him! He took care of Wren most Saturdays during my training and sacrificed his exercise for mine! 

This was one of those races that changes you. It challenge me to the point of almost giving up. I know Heavenly Father played a huge role in helping me to reach this goal!  It makes you realize what your body can do. It helped me to see a side of myself that has been missing ever since I had  baby. I feel like an athlete again. Like a runner. A week or so before IPR, Layne and I attended a Q&A with the aforementioned Rob Krar, now winner of three elite 100M races in the last three months and he talked about how what your mind goes through during a particularly grueling race. He calls it "The Cave", a dark place he goes to face suffering head on. Battling that out in particularly tough runs helps him with depression, and I got a glimpse of that ascending the San Juan Mountains. It's a place you can't just access any time you want to, it has to kind of be forced on you in a way that makes you decide whether or not you are going there or giving up. 

My answer that sunny Saturday morning was to reach way down into a part of me I don't recognize often enough and put one foot in front of the other.

some of the many switchbacks of the race .

Life has brought so many challenges the past couple years. So many of them were unforseeable, like how I would feel not contributing to the workplace. Like how I would react to the 634th time my kid woke up unexpectedly from a nap or at3am. Others I could kind of prepare for. Facing an unmoving, uncaring mountanside with 1,600 other loonies helped me understand why God lets "The Cave" exist. I needed to learn how to go freely into that place of suffering and pull myself out again, better for the journey. That may seem contradictory, but it was exactly what I needed to cope with life's twists and turns.
 

The little town of Ouray where the race started.

my support group.

crazy

near the summit!