Friday, January 30, 2009

Overdue promised pictures --all out of order, sorry!


One of John's gifts from us... I figured he'd need one to defend himself against Aiden (who got one also). Cris is thinking, did you open the right one John? :)




As many times as I post pictures on the blog, I still can't figure out how to get the order just right! Thanks for your patience!


Here's Emily pretending to blow out her candles for her birthday. Happy 8th!!!




Emily's dress I made her for her baptism. It looks so cute on her in person. It's just hard to capture it in a picture.


Playing with the pinata Jill brought all filled with goodies!



Big one teaching little one how to wack it.




Fun in the snow fort Daddy built.





Jill and Thain with the gang on their sealing day at the Ogden temple.






Nate and Ben swimming for Ben's birthday celebration.



Happy 6th Ben!!!




Tilt your head to see. Thanks Jeremy and Kathryn!





The new favortie sled! Luckily Ben likes to share it with all of us.



More cute "kids" at the kids table...



Ahhh....




The excitement is in the air... :)






What a good looking family!



Acting out the Christmas nativity



um, is this a foul, or just fancy football?



Mom and me



The tag say To Justin from Alisa on Alisa's head and vice versa on Justin's.




The cute kids at the kids table that they didn't want us to join.







Emily's dance recital before Christmas!





































Sunday, January 25, 2009

Arizona Recap

Justin and I are back from Arizona and had a great time. We didn't end up going to the Grand Canyon...so, Arizona, we'll be back!
Friday we arrived and were met with glorious sunshine and upper 70's! We went to the race expo (i.e. the place you pick up your race number, t-shirt and can buy lots of running goodies(yay, new shoes!)). After the expo we walked around a bit of downtown phoenix, found lunch and frozen yogurt! (YUMMMMY!)

Saturday we were supposed to go to the Grand Canyon but slept through the alarm and decided we didn't want to drive the 230 miles just to get out of the car, take a few pictures, and drive the 230 miles back to Phoenix. Instead we drove out to Sedona. I've heard great things about Sedona and was excited to see their famous "red rocks." We were not disappointed! We drove around a bit and ended up finding a short trail. At the top we had 360 degree views of the surrounding red rocks. It was gorgeous!
Sunday, race day! After much deliberation given my injured knee and bronchitis I decided that I trained for the full marathon so I was going to complete it! Race morning was a bit chilly but really for January very mild. Justin and I probably have vastly different race reports (i.e. experiences during the race) as he finished in a smokin' 3:28 (a PR, personal record, of over 15 minutes) and I had to make a few port-a-potty stops (ugh) and was struggling from the 20 mile marker to the finish--but I finished too...in 5:56, which is a PR of about 5 minutes. My strategy was run two miles take a short minute walk break and continue. This worked great for the first 6-8 miles. Then I went to a run 10 minutes/walk 1 minute, which again worked until about mile 15 when the port-a-potty stops came. From mile 15-20 I ran 7 minutes and walked 2. Mile 20-24, I ran 3 minutes/walked 1. After mile 24 race strategy was out the window and I just wanted to finish! Which I eventually did! Yay! I am so lucky to have such a loving and patient husband who waits over 2 hours at finish lines for his poor wife to finish. Seeing him near the finish always makes me finish with a smile no matter how much my blisters hurt or how much I'm still coughing!
We both agreed the race course in San Diego was much prettier. As advertised, Arizona was pancake flat. With the flatness came no vantage points along the course. Despite not loving hills (or really training on them) I think we both prefer races with a gentle rollers which allow for nicer views.
--Justin here with a quick recap of my race. Like Alisa said, I PR'd! I didn't really expect to break an 8 min/mile pace, but I had the help of a couple of annoying women behind me that forced me to run faster to get away from them, and from mile 20 to ~26 the help of the 3:30 pacer (the marathon organizers have people who go out and run certain paces to help the participants along) who was giving motivational quips every few hundred yards: "only 30 minutes to go, everyone's tired, don't give in now" and "we are doing great, we could walk the last mile and get in on time... not that we are going to." I was very tired for the last 6 miles or so, but didn't have to walk at all! I also never fully hit the wall, though it did politely bump into me a couple of times. It wasn't the prettiest course, but I was thankful for the "flat as a pancake" aspect. I was very impressed by Alisa coming in ahead of her SD time with all her troubles! It was a great vacation and I really love the unique landscape of Arizona. I am looking forward to exploring similar geology in Utah!---
Here are a couple of pictures of our respective finishes and one of us after we're both done:

Monday we spent the day lounging around our 5 star resort. It was truly a beautiful resort! We started the day with massages...ahhhh...by mid-day we were drinking margaritas and soaking up the sunshine. We even came back with a bit of a tan! Here are a few pictures from the resort.





All in all, it was a great trip all around! Thanks Mom and Dad for vacation money this year, we used part of it for this trip and will be using the rest for a summer excursion.

Maybe some year we can find a race that a few different distances (and walker options) and make a weekend out of it...Dunlap Family Race Weekend (it has a nice ring to it!). (John Dunlap's there is Disney World Race Weekend with a 5k (3.5 mile walk/run), half marathon and marathon.) Who's in???

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Nothing new for tooooo long!


Betty (Jerry's ex wife), Jeff (their younger son), and Jerry (my Dad's cousin) at lunch in Winters. Brub and Carol were there as well. Jerry lives with Betty and her current (3rd) husband - she tearfully stated she's always loved Jerry and now has him back. He has cancer, COPD, and kidney failure.


Brianna shows off her mission for visitors in her classroom Friday! Mrs. Waring is her teacher!

The orchid plant in bud over Christmas has blossomed! Wish you were here to see it!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Vacation website

I am a blog slacker! I have lots of cute pictures, but time seems to just evaporate in my world.

Anyway, I wanted all of you to know about this website. Nate and I found it while we were looking for fun vacation ideas (Thank you Mom And Dad!!!!!) for our anniversary. It's www.bookit.com If you go to the tab that says packages and click on it all kinds of ideas come up. I don't know if it's legit yet, we haven't booked yet. It just was fun to search on. We found some great deals.

I am hoping to get some pictures up soon. We have some good ones of everyone from Christmas.

We'll be thinking of you Justin and Alisa! Love, Jen

Monday, January 12, 2009

Dunlap's go to Arizona

Justin and I will be leaving for Phoenix on Friday morning. Things we plan to do while we are there:

1) Run a marathon (duh, that’s the whole reason we are going)
2) Visit the Grand Canyon
3) Visit Sedona
4) Get a massage
5) Enjoy the sunshine!

I’m sure there are other things we will be doing but those are the big events. I personally feel very under prepared for the marathon. I injured my knee about a month and a half ago and had to dial back my training. Also, I am still SICK! My lost voice before Xmas, turned into a head cold which has now morphed into a chest cold---GRRRRR! I will be making a game day decision whether I want to run the full marathon or the half marathon option…Justin, of course, will be speeding along on the full marathon injury and illness free =).

You can track us online here: www.rnraz.com
(With Live Results, your family and friends can track your progress on the course, even if they’re not at the race! Each participant’s time will be recorded at the 10k, half marathon, 20-mile mark and Finish for the marathon, and the 5k, 10k, 10-mile mark and Finish for the half marathon. Times are available 60 seconds after you cross each split. To view race day Live Results, visit www.rnraz.com and click the Live Results button on the homepage.)
In San Diego they had a live video feed up on the website of the finish line, I’m not sure if they will have this option or not. I will be wearing of the following two outfits (who knows what Justin will be wearing):
Hope everyone is doing well…I know we are really looking forward to Utah this summer.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Meet Romeo

Here he is...Brianna's new friend Romeo. We are back to school and basketball and dance and running around like the crazy people we are. Looking forward to a trip or two to Utah this year
I may have figured this out and you'll get more pics from us...That's it for now....