The Lillywhite Family

Christmas Family Pictures

2011-12-27T18:01:00.000-05:00

I've learned a few tricks to help out with Kyle on family picture day.

1) Don't tell him we are taking family pictures.

2) Wait until right before we are ready to snap the picture and then say, hey can you put this shirt on for me. Oh, you look cute, let me take your picture.

3) bribe...I'm not much of a briber but right before we took these pictures he asked if his bear could be in the pictures. I had a light bulb moment and said suuuurre, if you smile in every picture your bear can be in the last picture. Worked like a charm. Now this is Kyle we are talking about so who knows if it will work next time.

Michael's Utes Room

2011-12-25T21:17:00.072-05:00

We've been doing a little room swapping around here. We are getting some furniture from Owen's mom and plan to refinish it for Alicia. There isn't enough room in Alicia's current room for everything so Michael and her are switching rooms.

Alicia's old pink room:

Since we're hoping to put our house on the market soon, I decided to go with a neutral color on the walls. (Michael was hoping for red walls)

Putting the primer on before I painted his shelves black.

What my room looked like during the trading/painting process. One huge mess!!

I was telling our friend Udit about Michael's new room and he had this Utes logo done for Michael.

I bought Michael and Kyle new red sheets.

I also wanted red curtains but didn't want a bunch of different shades of red so I decided to make Michael's curtains. I took the flat sheet (that they never use) and made no-sew curtains found here except I used hem tape instead of sewing the bottom.

Michael and Kyle like to sleep with bunk beds but Michael makes sure everyone knows that this is not Kyle's room, he only sleeps here.

I'm a visual person so I hung up templates to see where I wanted to put his shelves.

His shelves with a few of his trophies from over the years.

His curtains all hung up.

His Park City Half Marathon shaddow box that Owen and I made him for Christmas.

I still have a few finishing touches to do before I start on Alicia's room but Michael loves everything so far!

A Whaley Christmas

2011-12-21T19:59:00.008-05:00

A BIG thanks to Michael and Sarah for hosting a fun early Whaley Christmas!

First up Owen and I enjoyed a long run along the Chattahoochee River. For Christmas, we were surprising my dad with a new picture of us three kids so we snuck in the back yard and had Owen hurry and snap this picture.

Aunt Sarah J. and the kids decorated ginger bread cookies.

The kids enjoyed rides on fun Uncle Mark.

Mark and his precious Alice.

Good lookin' brothers.

Dad's favorite...Countrys

Uncle Mike playing Santa

The girls wearing their hats and scarfs that Neina made them.

Michael putting his rollercoaster together that Uncle Mike and Aunt Sarah gave him.

Opa and Jack drawing together.

Sarah and Alice.

Reagan and Kyle playing with Legos.

So tired after a long day.

Michael and Hank dancing.

Hank and Tank always snuggling.

Relaxing Night

2011-12-13T18:17:00.000-05:00

Enjoying a nice relaxing night and some Christmas decorations.

Hurricane Hoppers Christmas Parade

2011-12-03T18:09:00.027-05:00

Michael was in the Christmas Parade again this year. We had fun cheering him on and then realized we parked at the beginning of the parade and needed to pick him up at the end so we walked the parade route right behind him. I bet you can guess what kid wasn't too happy about that...

Look how sweet, they're prentending they love each other.

Alicia practicing her cheer.

He was so hot and tired after he was done. A big difference from last year. Last year we had some unexpected snow and we were all freezing.

Christmas Tree

2011-11-27T16:59:00.000-05:00

We're in the process of doing a little rearranging in our house and have an empty room right now so we decided to go big this year with our Christmas tree. Every year after we pick out our tree we turn the fireplace on, drink hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows and or egg nog, blare Christmas music and watch the kids put all their handmade ornaments on the tree.

Thank You

2011-11-06T18:21:00.001-05:00

When Kyle first came to me and said he wanted to sell his pictures to raise money for a cure for cancer, I told him no at first, but then I was reminded of a conversation Owen and I had when we were engaged.We were talking about kids, when and how many we were hoping to have. I remember telling him that even though there was nothing I wanted more than to be a mom, a part of me couldn't imagine bringing kids into this crazy, scary, evil world. The more we talked about it, I began to think what if God has big plans for our kids. What if they are who He has planned to find a cure for AIDS or cancer?

I would like to thank everyone that participated in Kyle's auction to raise money to find a cure for breast cancer. He raised $57.40! Kyle would like to continue raising money for the cure and is now taking request, please let us know what you would like him to draw and you can place your donation at http://www.info-komen.org/site/TR/Events/HeadquartersSite?pg=fund&fr_id=1120&pxfid=198362&JServSessionIdr004=szrli1q8n2.app337b

Kyle hard at work.

Two more of his illustrations:

*Red Cardinal*

*A Pink Cure Flower*

Halloween

2011-11-04T14:50:00.001-04:00

We had a fun Halloween this year. It started off a little sad for me, the boys decided they wanted to be something scary instead of cute super heroes. I knew this day would come but I thought I had another year or so.

The weather was perfect, just a tiny bit cold. We had beef stew, that had been cooking all day in the crock pot, for dinner and then took pictures before we headed out.

We've gone trick-or-treating with Julianna every year since we've move here except for one.

This year we met up with the rest of the kids from the neighborhood and went trick-or-treating together. This was just part of our group.

Kyle is always the first kid that is ready to head home and this year was no different. I walked him home real quick and then caught back up with the gang. We finished the last two streets and then everyone stop at our house to drop us off and get some candy. The kids rang the door bell and when Owen answered he said, "You guys look cute but I put Kyle in charge of the candy and it's all gone!" I guess he was giving the candy away by the fistfuls.

Kyle's Pictures For The Cure

2011-10-29T19:39:00.001-04:00

Kyle loves to draw and often talks about being an illustrator when he grows up. I've mentioned before that his second grade teacher, Mrs. McAteer, is fighting breast cancer for the second time. He has faithfully prayed, at dinner and bedtime, for her recovery over the past year. This past Monday, Mrs. McAteer had some important test done and the results were great!

Written by Kyle
I was thinking about the drawings I made and I thought about Mrs. McAteer at the same time, so I thought about making a sale of my pictures and giving the money to help find a cure. I started drawing pictures and I let my sister draw one too.

We put Kyle's pictures on ebay, feel free to bid on them here. Kyle would like to sell them for ten cents a piece so we are starting the bids at ten cents. All proceeds will be donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/owenandmalissa/m.html

Flying Frogs

2011-10-28T11:19:00.000-04:00

Kyle found this flying frogs project in one of his library books a couple of days ago. He's been begging me to help him make one. Yesterday I bought the materials and promised him we would make them this morning since he had the day off of school.

By the time I woke up he had everything ready.

Here are some pictures of us making them, please excuse my bed head.

Daddy's Girl

2011-10-25T20:23:00.002-04:00

Kyle and Sly

2011-10-23T21:08:00.001-04:00

Kyle and Sly are best friends. Sly follows Kyle everywhere. Every night when I check on Kyle before I go to bed I find Sly sleeping with him.

Kyle can be rough with Sly sometime, holding and squeezing him real tight. He reminds me of Lennie from Of Mice and Men. "Tell me about the rabbits George...I want to hold them and squeeze them and love them..."

I'm so glad we have Sly, he's the best cat ever!

Life Changing

2011-10-21T18:48:00.003-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I was watching a show where a doctor was getting ready to perform surgery on a baby with a cleft lip. He mentioned right before he went into surgery that he was getting ready to change this baby's life. At that moment I was overwhelmed with emotions.

When I was in early elementary, I walked out my back door to ask my brothers a question. They were playing baseball with a pinecone and a thick stick. My brother did not hear me and accidently hit me in the face with the stick. My lip was instantly split open, all the way up into my nose.

My dad took me into urgent care. The lady at the counter told him it was our lucky day. Their best surgeon was getting ready to leave but saw me and decided to stay and fix my lip. My dad remembers how slow and meticulous he was with each stitch.

My life could have been so different if that surgeon wasn't there or chose not to stay. Kids can be so cruel. I probably would have been picked on or stared at for the rest of my life. I remember right after I got my stitches, a boy teasing me, saying the reason I had stitches was from picking my nose too hard.

Over the years my scar has faded and for the most part is invisible. Only a handful of people have ever asked what happened and two of them have been doctors. They thought that I might have had a cleft lip and were amazed at the surgeon's job.

I know it's not an accident that the best surgeon was there that afternoon, that he took his time and stitched me up just perfectly. God was in control of the whole situation. He was in the room with us, He was helping my dad and I stay calm, and He was guiding the surgeon's hands.

Tennessee Weekend Getaway

2011-10-20T14:30:00.001-04:00

At the end of the summer my dad mentioned they wanted to take the kids for a weekend but wasn't sure when. A few weeks ago he called and said his guest bedroom was ready for guests and was wondering if the kids could spend his birthday weekend with him.

A weekend without kids, what's a couple to do?? At first we were planning on staying home, catching up on some things around the house and maybe going out on a couple of dates. On Wednesday I was talking with Owen trying to narrow down our plans, so we didn't just let the weekend pass us by without taking advantage of the kids being away, and we decided to try and find a 5k that we could race in. We are racing the states so Owen mentioned we could find one in South Carolina since it's just a half hour away but then I remembered that I'm running the half marathon and he is running the marathon at Myrtle beach this Feburary. I mentioned we could find one in Tennessee and stay the weekend. We found a small 5k in a small town in the Smoky Mountains. You can see pictires from the race on our racing blog over here.

Owen is the best at planning trips so he was in charge of planning the rest of the weekend. He found a cute little bed and breakfast for us to stay at. This was my first B&B experience so I was a little scared going into the weekend. It turned out to be a great experience.

I loved the headboard and footboard made from branches.

When we checked in, we told the owners we would be leaving before breakfast because we were running in a race. They said they would save our breakfast for us. Not only did they save the breakfast but the cooks stayed and served it to us.

The cabin we stayed at was right next to a beautiful creek.

After breakfast we showered and then headed to Ramsey Cascades for our eight mile hike. It was four miles to the waterfall and four miles back. It was the never ending hike! We are so use to running that we thought a four mile hike to see a waterfall would be nothing. Boy were we wrong. It was an amazing workout and I'm still sore!!

The sign right before the trail started. Every dark object I saw I was worried it was a bear. Thankfully we didn't see any bears.

Crossing one of the "bridges". I'm not afraid of heights but I was a little scared.

We finally made it!! The picture doesn't do it justice, it was amazing. Not sure if it was amazing becuase we had been hiking for 2 1/2 hours and were very tired but nonetheless it was amazing.

It took us 2 1/2 hours to get to the waterfall but only 1 1/2 hours to get down. And what's a Lillywhite vacation with out me falling?! Yep that right, on the way down I tumbled. Thankfully it wasn't by any of the drop off parts of the trail. It's actually a pretty funny story. I had just mentioned to Owen that I was shocked that I hadn't tripped yet. The trail was covered in tree roots and rocks. I really needed to go to the bathroom and said I hope I don't fall because if I do I'm going to pee myself. About 15 minutes later I was tumbbling down the path. After making sure I was ok Owen said the first thing he did was see if my pants were wet. I'm thankful that they were not wet because we were heading out to eat right after the hike. Leave it to me to fall on the smoothest part of the trail.

After the hike we headed into Gatlinburg and went to the ripley's believe it or not museum and then ate at the Hard Rock Cafe.

We were so tired by the time we got back to our cabin that we went to bed at 8:30pm. The next morning we hobbled to breakfast and then headed to my dad's to watch football and celebrate his birthday.

Family Pictures: Take One

2011-10-02T14:22:00.000-04:00

We were in need of a new family picture. We got all dressed up and headed to my favorite lake. I would love to have our pictures taken professionally but I gave up on that once Kyle was born. There is nothing the kid hates more than taking pictures. We even tried two years ago to have them taken professionally to see if he had out grown it, but no such luck. And there is no way I'm going to pay a bunch of money for pictures that look like this:

We did manage to get a few pictures before the screaming and yelling started. Here is my favorite family picture:

My favorite one of Owen and me:

Before we take our next family pictures I need to read a little about lighting. I hate how our faces have shaddows on them plus I think it's time for a camera upgrade :) I'm thinking about a Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera. I don't need anything fancy just something that takes a little bit clearer pictures.

My Little Artist

2011-09-06T14:08:00.001-04:00

A piece of Alicia's artwork from last year is displaying in our local coffee shop. It's the top picture. Her art teacher wanted her to draw the center of a flower using a certain technique. I remember the day she worked on this in school. She was so excited to show me how to make this flower. Alicia's favorite subject in school is art and it thrills me to pieces to see her excel in something she loves!

Draft Night

2011-09-04T12:48:00.000-04:00

Last year Owen started up a family fantasy football league. He thought it would be a fun way to keep in contact with his family. Last night was our draft night. Owen's family is all over the world so we do our draft online. We had quite the set up in our house last night. Maybe one of these years we will be able to all get together for draft night. Now that would be fun. Good luck everyone! Oh by the way, you're all going down!

Utah Trip 2011

2011-08-29T18:14:00.001-04:00

We had one last trip planned for the summer before the kids went back to school. This is a trip that I have been wanting to take for the past 3 years. Both Owen and I have been wanting to visit Utah but because we are in the process of getting out of debt, we couldn't justify spending the money on the plane tickets to get there.

I'm usually the saver in the family but I really wanted to go to Utah so I played the part of the sneaky wife. Now that we are running all the time and training for our marathons, we have decided to spend a little extra on races. I knew Owen would need to run a half marathon race sometime in August. I looked up races in Utah to see if there were any and mentioned to Owen, "Wouldn't it be cool to run your half marathon in Utah?". I also threw in that I had already looked at ticket prices and they were really cheap at the moment. Hook line and sinker!

We decided it would be a great anniversary present to each other. We called our parents to see if they could watch the kids while we went to Utah. Both sets of parents were busy the week we wanted to go. Wondering what we were going to do now, we were already sold on spending the money for Owen and I going to Utah but did we really want to buy five plane tickets? After some serious thought we decided to splurge and take a family vacation to Utah and boy am I glad we made that decision!!

We bought our plane tickets and registered Owen for the half marathon. When we first were making our plans, Owen was going to be the only one running the half marathon. I was just getting ready to start training for a 10k so a half marathon seemed crazy for me. When I looked at my training program I realized if I started that day I would have just enough time to train for the half marathon. I took a leap of faith and signed up the next day.

The next day we posted to facebook that we were coming to Utah to run a half marathon and we would love for all our friends and family in the area to come cheer us on. Our friend Corey is also a runner so Owen asked him to run the race too. My sister-in-law Lu mentioned that she and Zach might run the race. Then a few days later my brother-in-law Eric said he was going to run in the race too and Owen's sisters said they would come down from Idaho to watch. We could not wait for our mini family reunion!

Michael kept telling us that he wished he could run the half marathon with us. I really didn't think we should let him because he is still so young. We talked about it with his doctor and he said, "Let him run". Owen and I talked about it some more and decided we would make a special occasion and let him run this one time. We surprised him on his birthday with a framed list of all the names of the people signed up to run the Park City Half Marathon with his name highlighted. He was so excited!

For the next 3 months we all trained together via a facebook group that Owen created for us. We shared our tips, challenges, and progress with each other.

Then the day we were excitedly waiting for finally came...

It was time to get on that plane. We woke up at 2am Utah time to get to the airport on time.

We couldn't get plane seats all in a straight row. Alicia and I were flying buddies, Michael and Kyle were together, and Owen was always by himself.

We had serious business to get to when we landed. We were craving us some Apollo Burger, a Greek restaurant that Owen would eat at for lunch when we lived in Utah. We made sure we dipped our fries in the yummy fry sauce.

Owen was also craving chocolate covered cinnamon bears from the Sweets Factory near the airport so we stopped by there on our way to Eric and Pam's house.

That night Owen and Michael ran a 4 mile training run with Corey. Here is a picture of Corey and Michael overlooking Layton.

The longest day of Michael's life. We got up at 2am (Utah time) and went to bed around midnight (Utah time).

We met our one year old nieces for the first time. They are the sweetest, most precious girls. I wanted to take them home with me.

The kids loved having cousins their same age to play with.

On Wednesday, we visited Owen's dad's grave.

And went by our old house that we lived in when the kids were babies. This is Michael standing next to his foot print from when he was days old.

Another treat we had to get that we don't have in Charlotte. Slurpees from 7-eleven.

As my niece, Faith (David's daughter),would say, "We were slurpee thirsty".

Owen dropped the boys and I off at my friend Britney's house so I could visit with her and the boys play with her boys. (I'm mad at myself that I didn't get any pictures of the boys together.)

Here are Britney's two beautiful girls. She also has another boy that will arrive soon!

When we got home from Britney's, Eric had the water slide ready for the kids to play on. The kids had a blast.

On Thursday, we hung out at Eric's house and then all went over to Corey and Tracey's house for a spaghetti dinner and fellowship.

Alicia was so excited to help with the babies' bath.

Owen enjoying his vacation.

On Friday we drove to Park City. We made a stop at Devil's Slide.

On Saturday, we woke up early and ran the Park City Half Marathon! You can read more details about our race over here.

I'm so thankful for everyone that came out and cheered us on. I'm pretty sure we had the largest cheering section! Here's a few of our cheerleaders.

Relaxing with my Aimee after the race.

Michael took second place in his division, 18 and under!

After the race we showered and then met back up at Flippin' Burgers. The burgers tasted so good after running 13.1 miles.

It was so nice to spend time with Owen's sisters Shalila; Lisa and Whitey.

Alicia and Malya thumb wrestling.

I love this picture. Alicia and Malya were best friends before we moved to Charlotte. They were 3 and 4 at the time. I love how even though it has almost been 4 years since they last saw each other, nothing has changed with their friendship. It was so fun to see them pick up where they left off.

After lunch we heading up to ride the Alpine Slides.

Nathan with his buddy Jake.

We rode the lift up the mountain and then came down on the slides. Kyle and I rode together. We had a very smooth ride down. I was trying to get off the sled and I turfed it big time. My legs and hands were bloody. Owen came over and asked me how I was doing. As soon as I said I was ok he said, "I'm glad you are ok but I'm bummed because I hit stop on the video camera right before you fell". He loves me so much.

Michael rode down by himself and he was a little scared. He went down very very very slow and backed up the slide. Poor guy.

We took a break from the rides and spent some time with baby Lucas so Lu could go on a ride. He is the sweetest, happiest little guy.

I had so much fun hanging out with my Tracey Lu!

On Sunday, we had lunch with Britney, Haden, Gage, Aimee, and Malya. We ate at Sill's.

And this is the reason we ate at Sill's. They have the best scones!! There's nothing like fried bread dough with honey butter smeared all over it. It's making my mouth water as I type right now.

After lunch, we headed over to Lagoon. The kids loved the water park, Lagoon A Beach. I wish I had a water proof camera.

On Monday Zach, Lu, Nathan, and Lucas came over for breakfast. Nathan is showing me his muscles.

The babies loved playing together.

Monday night we drove to our favorite pizza place in Logan. When we lived in Utah we would usually drive to Logan every October so we could see the beautiful fall colors on all the trees through the canyon.

It was very hard to to leave on Tuesday. We had such an amazing time with all our family and friends. I'm looking forward to the next time we see everyone!

Visiting Grandma and Gramps

2011-08-11T17:42:00.000-04:00

We spent the week at Grandma and Gramps apartment. We had a bunch of fun swimming in their pool.

Alicia met a new friend.

Grandma teaching the girls how to water ballet.

The kids enjoyed cooking with Gramps and Grandma.

They also enjoyed playing video games in their game room.

Owen, Michael, and I ran a 10k with Gramps. Look at all our running shoes!

Went to church.

We had fun trying to see how many people we could fit on a full size bed.

And we played Chicken Foot.

It was so nice to spend a week with Grandma and Gramps. We're looking forward to their visit here this September!

Homemade Lava Bottle

2011-07-14T18:16:00.000-04:00

Jhanvi learned how to make a lava bottle at camp and wanted to show the kids how to make one.

What you need:
empty water bottle w/lid
1/3 cup oil
water
food coloring
alka seltzer (at least two)

First get your empty water bottle with lid.

Fill the bottle with 1/3 cup oil and then fill the rest with water. Leave a little room at the top for air.

Put six drops of food coloring in. Put the lid on and tap the bottom of the bottle a few times but don't shake. What you're wanting is for the food color to make it's way through the oil and to change the color of the water.

When the water is colored drop in alka seltzer tablets 1/2 at a time and watch the magic happen.

Italian Bean Soup

2011-07-13T15:42:00.035-04:00

I'm one of those weird people that love eating soup even when it's 100 degrees outside. It probably has to do with the fact that Owen keeps our house pretty cold. I've been craving this bean soup that I had when I was in Rome. I googled to see if I could find a recipe to make the soup. I found a recipe over here and Alicia helped me make it. Her recipe calls for sausage but I didn't put any in mine because I don't remember the soup in Rome having any meat.

Italian Bean Soup

1 cup dried cannellini or cellini beans or 1 15-ounce can of any beans you like, drained
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 medium carrot, diced
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
6 to 8 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
1 cup ditalini pasta, or any small pasta
grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

If using dried beans, place them in a pot, cover with cold water and let soak for several hours or overnight. Drain.

In a large pot add onion, carrot and olive oil and saute for 2-3 minutes until soft. Add garlic and saute about a minute more. Add the tomatoes, 6 cups of the chicken broth, thyme, bay leaf, some salt and pepper, the drained beans and the sausage and cover the pot. Cook for an hour over low heat, at a gentle simmer.

Dominos

2011-07-11T20:59:00.025-04:00

Owen took Michael and Alicia to the store to get something with their gift certificate that they won at the Firecracker 5k. Kyle stayed home with me and we built with dominos.

Kyle drawing our plans so I would know where to put the dominos.

Big Sur

2011-07-06T13:37:00.001-04:00

Owen and I have decided to run the Big Sur International Marathon this coming April! I'm probably a little crazy in the head but I think if I continue my training I will be more than ready come April. I was planning on running the San Diego Marathon in June but after seeing pictures of Big Sur's course and once Owen told me it ends in Carmel (one of my favorite places ever) I knew this was the marathon for me. Also this April I'm turning 30 and I thought it would be fun to torture myself a little.
My friend Melissa is running it with me. I'm so excited, we started our running journey about the same time. She has been training in California while I train here in North Carolina so it's going to be so fun to finally be able to run together!

Peachtree Road Race

2011-07-05T21:20:00.230-04:00

Owen's recollections of July 4th, 2011:

We awoke at 5:00am, got our running gear on that we had set out the night before. We were staying in the Courtyard Hotel, about a mile from the finish line. The race didn't start until 7:30am, but we needed to catch a train to the starting line, as it was a point to point race and we wanted to secure our positions early. Here is how Kyle and Alicia were sleeping as we left.

Michael and I walked about 1/4 mile to the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) station. There, we bought our passes and boarded a train headed North. Once on the train we noticed we had boarded the wrong train, this train forked away from the path we wanted. Some other runners mentioned we could stay on and just walk a tiny bit further and it's actually better because there are less people coming from that direction. I decided I wanted to stick to my plan so we got off at the next station and waited to board the correct train.

I am really glad I boarded the wrong train, then made the decision to get on the right one. Otherwise we wouldn't have met Gary. While waiting for the second train, Gary approached us and commented on Michael's bib. At the Peachtree Road Race, because there are so many runners (60,000), they seed you into starting waves, and that information is represented by a letter at the beginning of your bib. Michael qualified for the first wave, so his bib started with an 'A'. At the train station, where 100's of other runners waited for the train, everyone was eying their competition. Michael got a lot of comments because he was so small and yet was wearing an 'A' bib.

Gary, Michael, and I had a nice conversation while waiting for the train to arrive. He asked where we were from, when we answered Charlotte, he mentioned how he was once injured while running at the U.S. National Whitewater Center. Michael and I had just ran 8 miles there a couple of weeks earlier and had decided not to do it again for fear of injury. They welcome runners, but the paths are more designed for mountain-bikers. Tree roots are everywhere, Michael tripped and fell 5 separate times during our run. I turned an ankle, but did not injure myself.

Once the train arrived, we boarded and sat across from Gary. We asked him to take our picture, below:

After we arrived at the MARTA station nearest the starting point, Gary went his separate way, and I didn't give it much thought at the time. Michael and I had about a quarter mile walk to the starting point. It was still dark at this point, and not very many runners were there that early. Each start wave was fenced off from the others, and they had volunteers making sure nobody from a slower wave tried to enter a faster wave's staging area. So Michael and I had to separate far earlier than I had hoped.

Saying goodbye to Michael in the streets of downtown Atlanta, in the dark, knowing that 60,000 runners and 150,000 fans would be in the area was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. We had purchased a pre-paid cell phone that he carried with him, and we had plans of what we would do at the finish area to reunite.

Because we were so early, I was able to secure a position at the front of start wave 'D'. From there I snapped the following pictures and video.

Still very early, Michael is down there under the flag in starting wave 'A', while I am back in starting wave 'D'.

Michael's group is starting.

Group C is starting, I'm next...

I had to wait about 90 minutes by myself, hoping Michael was OK. I called him once and he was just as brave as can be. Two noteworthy memories during this 90 minute wait: 1) While waiting I was talking to a stranger, making small talk. I asked if he had kids and if they were running. He said he did have a son, but that he was not running because he was only 10. Pretty funny in my position with my 10 year old son down there out of sight, preparing for his run. 2) They sang the National Anthem, concluded by the most amazing F16 flyover. That was an amazing moment, I thought the buildings were shaking they were so low and loud.

When the race started for group 'A', tears were rolling down my cheeks, as they are now as I write this. Just a few minutes later, they were marching us up to the start line and I was off.

I wanted to take pictures and/or video during the race, but it was so crowded I was worried I'd run over someone if my focus wasn't 100% on weaving in and out of the slower runners. My goal was to be below 50 minutes (8:04 per mile). I think I could have achieved that if I was up with Michael, but back in start wave 'D' I had to navigate constantly to pass people, slowing down, speeding up, etc. At the end of the race my Garmin said I had run 6.35 miles (on a 6.2 mile course). My time ended up at 51:06 (8:15 per mile).

After I finished, I collected my finisher's shirt, and started to make my way over to the area we had planned to meet up. I called Michael, but he had accidentally turned his phone off! Luckily he did that after talking to Malissa and they had already met up. I talked to Malissa and told her exactly where I was and we reunited with no issues.

Come to find out, Michael had met up with Gary (from the train) during the race. Gary took Michael under his wing and really helped Michael, by pacing him, helping him at the water stations, etc. Michael finished with a time of 48:19 (7:48 per mile).

We made our way back to the hotel room, collecting free popsicles, ice cream sandwiches, peaches, and Powerade along the way. We showered, called our parents, and relaxed for a while at the hotel room before packing up and heading home.

While on the ride home, Malissa and I discussed Gary and how awesome it was that he was there to protect Michael. We decided we would try to find him (at the time I didn't even know his name). When marathonfoto.com released their pictures, we were anxious to find every one with Michael in it so we could get Gary's race number, then use the results to find his name. I was quite disappointed when he wasn't in a single picture with Michael.

We then received an email from Gary, who had looked at the results for 10 year olds and found the fastest one, then Googled his name. He remembered we were from Charlotte, which is also listed in the results. His Google search led him to this blog, where he commented and gave us his email address. We have now exchanged emails and are friends on Facebook. I hope to meet up with him again one day.

Here are some pictures Malissa took at the finish area.

Kyle, Alicia, and I woke up at 6am. While I was getting dressed I got a phone call from Owen saying he had just dropped Michael off at starting wave 'A'. I began to panic a bit because I thought Owen was going to stay with Michael until right before he started. Owen reassured me everything was going to be okay and then a few seconds later I got a call from Michael. He sounded so little but grown up on the other side of the phone. He was telling me about the train ride and how he was so excited for the race to start.

After I got off the phone with Michael we finished getting dressed and then started walking to the finish line. We walked a little over a mile, weaving in and out of people. I was focused, all I wanted to do was get to the area where the runners would be as soon as they were finished with the race so I could get my baby! I was standing next to a lady who was waiting for her 13 year old son. Like Michael, this was his first 10k. We both were waiting anxiously looking for our sons to come through the white gates. We were getting a little nervous when we didn't see them come through the gates at the time that we thought they would. I worried that because Owen was not there to pace Michael that he might have started out too fast and was having a hard time finishing. Then I got the call I was waiting for (I'm so thankful we bought Michael the prepaid phone). He finished the race and was waiting for me at the A balloon. In the park where I was waiting to pick Michael up they had balloons set up with each letter of the alphabet on them so you could make plans ahead of time to meet at a specific balloon after the race. We told Michael to meet us at the L balloon and then give us a call. Again I was so glad that we gave him the phone because he said he didn't hear us tell him that and that he decided to go to a random balloon.

As soon as I saw Michael's face I was a happy mom and was ready to have fun.

Here are few pictures I took of the massive crowd of finishers. It was so crazy!

While we waited to get a phone call for Owen we went searching for a Georgia peach. You can't run in the Peachtree Road Race and not eat a peach afterwards.

Headache

2011-07-05T11:46:00.000-04:00

Conversation with Kyle this morning:

M: Hey Kyle, did you do your spelling this morning? (I know, I'm one of those mean moms that makes her kids do school work over summer break.)
K: No, I have a headache.
M: Maybe you have a headache because you have your shorts around your head??
K: No, I put the shorts around my head so I wouldn't feel my headache.

I guess we don't need to buy advil anymore. From now on the Lillywhite family will just put shorts on our head when we have headaches...