and i was ruhhhhnniiinnnngggg: megan marchant runs the stg marathon and we REJOICE!

the st. george marathon has been a natural part of october for as long as i can remember.

perhaps it's because i remember going to see my dad cross the finish line back in the early 80's and have the image scarred into my brain of his friend who finished in a white t-shirt.


which was SOAKED BY HIS BLOODY NIPPLES. (really.)



all kidding aside, it's probably because it's a pretty big deal 'round these parts--a beautiful but brutal course through our scenic country seems to be the siren's call that lures just about everybody i've known through the years.

this year, it was my baby sister megan who heeded the call--and we were wanting to support her, full force.


we went up to the north entrance of snow canyon to see her pass around mile 16:


we brought our signs with us, the most popular of which was this one:

(in my defense, it quotes mia when talking about megan's tiny baby cole, who was one thirsty guy. but it brought a resounding "ME TOO!" from more than one male runner.)




our friend, breque, was running that morning, too, and we realized that the sign would apply to her baby, zac:

(but we could NOT resist the photo opportunity with all THREE of her boys!)

we were so excited to see our megan--i was taking these while running behind her, so pardon the blur. i loved how madeleine ran with her for a few yards:

soon after megan passed, we spotted breque--


her boys were waiting up ahead for her, and this is one of my favorite photos from the day:

we saw a few other friends and loved ones.



mike, who was rocking the run:

darrin:

as well as made a few new ones--


as in the case of these two, who yelled, "why don't you want to take a picture of all THIS RIGHT HERE?"


so, of course, you know i had to:

and this gal right here, who stopped a few feet past me, turned back and asked, "is your name mindi?"

when i said yes, she said, "i read your blog!"


happiest day, ever. it tickled me to no end that she would have taken that moment in the middle of her personal hell (translation: 26.2 miles) to validate me.


you COMPLETE ME, monica:

we waited to see megan once more when she entered town at mile 24:

she was pretty beat, exhausted, emotionally spent, and OVER-HEATED:

but she still had a (semi) smile on her face. AND was able to give her devoted fans a few "high-fives":

our little trooper finished STRONG at 4:43.


amazing:

and she was the happiest girl in all the land:

tomorrow i'll post about the motivational posters we put up along the way for megan--

i quite liked them: (and i hope i don't break my arm patting myself on the back.)

ryan larkin KILLS IT as gene simmons.

gene simmons can break it down on the dance floor like nobody's business.

gene simmons can scale a rock-climbing wall in the blink of an eye.

gene simmons can make a grown man cry.

gene simmons can make a grown GORILLA cry.

gene simmons can love the ladies. (cuz the LADIES LOVE HIM!!!)

gene simmons can make you participate in YMCA.

and LIKE IT.

gene simmons can drive a miniature van.

and make it LOOK GOOD.

we took katie, mason, and bailey to the thirty seconds to mars concert.

this is the group that went to thirty seconds to mars on a whim last saturday night:






this was also one of the greatest moments of my adult life, as reese's apparently was a sponsor of the tour & welcomed us to "take as many reese's out of this bag as you'd like."

i took ten. and then wished later i had taken more.....



i have to admit that i was dragging my feet on this one--katie really, really wanted to go. but i was skeptical.


i guess i'd written jared leto's band off as just one more movie/tv star's vanity music project, much like juliette lewis , jada pinkett-smith or (heaven forbid!) russell crowe.

yawn.



plus, since i'd already written them off, i never gave any of the songs a chance. i was too busy comparing them to a "poor man's chemical romance".

it didn't help leto's cause that he was too good looking to be taken seriously-- and the guy-liner certainly didn't help. add to all of this a fan base that's loaded a little heavy on the emo side, and BINGO! you've got yourself a band that never stood a chance.



but. i must say that this concert changed my mind. completely.


if you have a moment, watch. it's following them on their world tour right now, so you can get the feel of what we saw:





being a concert-veteran, i figured i'd seen it all--but leto pulled out a few moves that made me gasp.

such as diving head-first into the crowd to body-surf. as well as standing on top of the railing while fans held his legs and inviting approx. 100+ fans up on the stage to dance & sing behind him for the last number of the night. insane.


my favorite of the night, however, was jared's big brother, shannon, who plays the drums:



this dude played the drums with more aggression and force than any single drummer i've seen.
(and believe you me, i've seen a lot.) we watched while a crew member wheeled over a little oxygen tank behind the drum-kit, and he'd take a big whiff every few songs--now THAT'S rockstar!

mama likey.

i wanna rock & roll all night.....(and party every day!)

we came.

we saw.

we ROCKED.



in fact, i'm pretty sure it's safe to say that we rocked the SOCKS off of the jdrf 'rock the walk'~

each family took their 15 minutes of fame:

there also happened to be an INSANE AMOUNT of "rocking on" happening all over the place:

russ, as usual, was KILLING it with the ladies:

(if you look closely, you can see from my boot's heel what i was doing all morning long. which was aerating the lawn.)




there were those of us who kept it strictly OLD SCHOOL:






while others choose a fresh (& japanese anime!) perspective:

we couldn't have been more pleased with ourselves:

one of the highlights was watching gene simmons get down and DIRRRRRRRTY on stage while performing YMCA with our posse:

**in fact, gene simmons was so AWESOME, that i decided he must have his very own post exclusively about him--

watch for it tomorrow!






my favorite photo of the day:

& my other favorite photos:

(how 'bout russ and his choice of lipstick?! stud.)

****YOU CAN STILL DONATE TO THIS WONDERFUL CAUSE! DON'T DELAY! ACT NOW!!!


go HERE!

devil horns and the clove family

just a little sneaky peaky of the rocking on that was GOING DOWN saturday morning~

we had such a great time~



lots more to come.

co-conspirator or how cole marchant helped get a photo of a female mullet

the best part of my day today was when this little man willingly helped me snap a sneaky-sneaky photo of one of the most magnificent examples of the female mullet (femullet to you) that i've had occasion to witness.


i wasn't sure if i could pull it off without being caught, but i think cole instinctively knew what to do. i dare say it could be in his genes. (but NOT from his mother. just his aunt mindi.)


he stood still, posed like a pro, and even gave me a smile the first go-round, though he knew perfectly well that i wasn't taking a photo of HIM.


he even waited patiently while i tried to go in a bit closer:

i couldn't have been more proud.

hot tub time machine or caylor turns 40 in park city, utah.

it was our long-time friend caylor's 40th birthday this month, and we were so very happy to spend a weekend celebrating his being expelled from the womb in park city.


the pictures above show the cottages we stayed in--LOVED.


the only hang-up with the entire experience is the fact that not one of us brought a camera, so amy's phone made do. (sorry for the fuzz.)




being party-girl extraordinaire, amy made sure that the "one year closer to death" theme reigned supreme:



we all had a pact before embarking on this adventure that the other theme of the weekend would be RELAX--we adhered strictly to this by eating, lounging at the pool, eating, hanging out in the jacuzzi, eating, sleeping, & going OUT to eat.



my newest favorite pc find was easy street's le bar boheme--


we ate dinner there saturday night outside under festive chinese lanterns, string lights & nestled right next to an outdoor waterfall & fire pit:

{can ya TELL that russ got some sun at the pool? not sure.....:}



our meals were very reasonably priced (for park city, that is) and the atmosphere just simply couldn't be beat. i recommend highly.




all in all, it was a lovely weekend.