Colorado Surprise

My family has a tradition that started about 7 years ago when I was a sophomore in high school.  If you know me and my family, you know that running is a big part of our lives.  

A BIG part.  

Each one of the kids tried out different sports to find our own "niche" but for some

reason we all came back to running. 

This post is all about my fantastic family, especially my little brother Bradley, but I want to give some background info first.

Story time: here's how the tradition started...

I'm pretty close with each of my 3 brothers, but during high school I was especially close with Kyle (my older brother).  When I was a freshman he was a senior and that year was a blast.  We both got to run cross country together and we both made it to state and it was so cool to experience that! He went to college in Utah the next year but stayed in tune to how running was going for me and my team. We made it to state again and I knew my brother wasn't going to be able to come home to support me but it was OK because I had lots of family, friends, and a great team there.  Well the morning of the state race I was up early to catch the team bus to Colorado Springs where the race was.  As I was getting my things together I heard a knock on my bedroom door and somebody say, "Bug??" (That's my nickname).  I stopped, turned around as the door opened and there stood my big brother!!!  I was shocked and immediately fell on the floor and started crying!  Haha, he got a really good reaction from me.  I was sooo surprised.  He made a huge effort to be able to make it to my race and it meant so much to me to have my whole family there!

Fast forward over the years and...

for each year that one of the kids makes it to state in cross country the kids who aren't at home anymore have found a way to make it home for the race.  It's such a great way to support each other and it's a blast to all be together again.

Here's a pic from a year we came back and watched Danny race

Bradley is such an awesome person.  I LOVE being able to just talk with him.  He and I always have really easy and great conversations.  He's always been my little buddy.  He is so funny. He seriously knows how to make people laugh!  And he is quite the trooper.  He's endured a lot of hard things in life.  I wish everyone could see the amazing young man he is, because he definitely isn't the type of person to go out and say,"Guess what? I'm awesome!"  He has great leadership qualities too.  He gets things done and will pick up any slack.  

The bottom line is, I love my little brother and I am so proud of him.

This is from several years ago when we played in the rain

I'm sure he'd appreciate me pointing out that he's a lot taller now :)

This year, Bradley is the only child at home.  Danny and Kyle are in Utah and I'm in Minnesota.  The prospects of me being able to make it home for state were very very slim.  This was so hard to accept because Bradley has been the one who has been there for ALL of his older siblings through ALL the many years of running.  He's had to sit through countless races, awards ceremonies, and who knows what else for each sibling.

My wonderful mama had some inspiration though and using sky miles we were able to book a flight to Colorado for me!  I was SOOO excited to surprise Bradley.  The day finally came when I flew to Colorado and got to surprise my little brother!  I got him good.  It was awesome.

Here are some pictures from the weekend

 My amazing parents :)

I sure do love my Papa

The star of the weekend - Go Bradley!

Mine and Danny's weak attempt at dressing up for the Ward Halloween Party

(He's wearing a bear hat and I'm wearing cat ears)

The kids - minus Martin

The Family (minus Marty)

Bradley did GREAT at state (even though he said he was disappointed at his race - the goober).  He placed 63rd out of 200 people.  And that's just the 200 people that even MADE it to the state championships out of the entire state of Colorado! This boy can run a 5k (3.1 miles) in 16 minutes and 11 seconds!  That's so fast!

I LOVED being able to just hang out and talk with my family.  All of the kids were there except for my handsome husband who we all missed so much and kept saying, "We wish Marty were here!" But he had to work and we're saving for twins :)

Speaking of which...here is my 15 week photo!  I was busy packing and getting ready to go to Colorado last week so, unfortunately, I didn't get a 14 week photo.  But it's fun to see the change in my size since my last post!

                       15 Weeks                                                                                13 Weeks