Jeenee Jeenee Jeenee

Jeannie's Welcome sign...courtesy of Caroline

Anyone who knows me (even just a little bit) knew we were anticipating April 15th for months. Not for the usual taxes are due reason, or the fact that it was Zac's 2nd birthday, though both these things are valid reasons to get excited. (OK, one more than the other.)

No, for me, April 15th was J-Day! I adore my sister-in-law Jeannie and in the last several years we have become close - our children are the best of friends, we laugh and play games all night during family get togethers, and have found over the years we share many things and email each other long and newsy emails several times a week. Jeannie is married to Steve's older brother Brad and they live outside of Atlanta. Last year I went to visit for her 40th birthday party and this year she wanted to come visit here. She had served part of her mission in Tucson and had wanted to come back to Arizona some day.

We have both started running in the past year and when looking for a weekend to come, I suggested she come the weekend of Pat's Run and we could do the event together. We would also be able to celebrate Kate & Zac's birthday as family.

Jeannie had 3 requests for her trip to Arizona:

Eat at Cafe Rio
Attend the Temple
Have a Pizookie

I promised her we would do all those things. (And probably then some.)

My camera in my phone is terrible...but I forgot my real camera and who could resist a picture of Jeannie eating a Cafe Rio Burrito AND salad...all while calling her sister Nikki to celebrate the landmark event. (OK - we shared both - she didn't eat it all by herself!) It was so good...and I had homemade Oreo's waiting for us when we got home.

We made it to the temple Friday for a little girls day out. The Atlanta Temple is closed for over a year for renovations so attending the Mesa Temple was a real treat. I love our temple - it has so much history and as Jeannie pointed out, it is quite large!

I planned a little GNO with some dear play group friends and my sisters Molly and Maddy. Pizza and Pizzookies at BJ's and some fun girl talk too.

New on the menu is Pizookie sampler - sometimes it is so hard to choose just one flavor.

Saturday everyone was up bright and early to go park and ride the light rail to ASU for Pat's Run.

We were there with plenty of time to spare because we knew traffic would be difficult. It was a huge crowd - 22,000 runners and assorted family members - but it was an upbeat positive atmosphere. Notice my arm - I had my iPod and my phone on my arm. Later, as we were running the race, Jeannie was to my left. Then she said she had to change sides because of all my "technology." I don't know if it was crashing into her or it was just unnerving but it was funny. That phone would be my downfall later on...

After the race, Jeannie and I finally found each other after about 10 nerve racking minutes. This is when we made it to the stands where Steve and my girls were waiting for us. We have different running styles - I was running a steady pace, Jeannie sprints and slows down. 6 of one, half a dozen of another! We ultimately finished within 20 seconds of each other. For the last stretch coming into the stadium, Jeannie and I were separated. I was trying to call Steve to tell him we were finishing but as I opened my phone it crashed (of course) and I was fumbling with the battery and trying to re-boot my phone which slowed me down. Jeannie was sprinting looking for me everywhere and I was working with my phone not looking for her. We took forever to find each other!! I was so proud of Jeannie - she had never run this distance, 4.2 miles, and did it like a champ.

The girls also did the Kid's Run - a .42 mile dash that was a sprint into the stadium and finished on the same finish line on the 42 yard line of Sun Devil Stadium. Caroline was hurting - she was fighting an ingrown toenail (which eventually required antibiotics, poor kiddo) and her running sneakers hurt her feet so she ran in her Uggs. Steve ran with Lindsay; I ran with Caroline. We ran into a friend from her school class too!

They didn't slow her down too much!

Afterward we went to Yodipity in Mesa for frozen yogurt - a yummy after race treat for everyone!

Jeannie from Georgia left a note on the Yodipity coloring wall.

And the day was not over yet. Caroline wanted to go out for a little shopping spree with a gift card she had and really wanted to do it with Aunt Jeannie. So off to Target we went. And later, we celebrated the little cousin's 2nd birthday at the Molly's house (Shelly's Pool) with Maddy and family and Grandpa Mike.

Let's just say we were pooped at the end of our 17 hour day.

Sunday we went to church and rested and ate yummy food.

Monday morning it was time to say good bye. I was looking forward to this weekend for months and I hope Jeannie had as much fun as I did! I love you Jeannie!!