I got to go to Utah this weekend to spend it with my entire family for my dad’s 70th birthday. I am number four of five siblings and my dad was not super young (at least not by the standards of the time) when he married my mom. It makes sense. But it’s weird to think he’s five years older than my grandpa was when he died. Life and death. Such interesting things to think about.

Anyway, it has been four years since my entire family had been together. Coordinating such a gathering for 17 people is kind of crazy. That’s right. There are seventeen of us now. In my effort to not overly orchestrate the entire thing (I tend to be the planner of these things), I made no real plans other than we would be going to dinner on my dad’s actual birthday. It was great. And low stress. We played in the snow. We played at this indoor gym. We played at my brother’s house. And we ate. And ate. And ate. And ate. (Pictures of the gathering and playing to come…I did not take any eating pictures.)

Oh, and I ran with my younger brother and sister-in-law. And by with, I mean we followed the same route. They are both quite a bit faster than I am to begin with and then you add in the altitude that I’m not used to, and well, I ran 9 miles for their 10.

So, a couple of thoughts from the weekend:

1. I love my family. I mean, we have issues, but I really do love them. Especially my nieces and nephews. 
2. I have the cutest nieces and nephews in the world. (I’m not biased at all…). Seriously, from the 16 year old to the 2 year old, they are just so adorable. It is so fun to see them develop and grow and become their own little people (or big people…my nephew has got to be at least 6′ now). I also decided I cannot have children because the odds of cuteness just aren’t in my favor. I mean, after seven absolutely darling cherubs (it’s a term my grandma loves), I can’t imagine I would get so lucky. And they LOVE me. There’s nothing that makes me smile more than my nieces or nephews say, “Hi Auntie Chlo-Chlo” or “Cwo-Cwo” as is the case with two of the littles.
3. Running at altitude is not easy when you’re not used to it. And running down the canyon that has no been plowed and has four inches of fresh snow…is cold and wet. Really wet. More to come on this. It deserves it’s own post.
4. My family is a bunch of enablers when it comes to eating. Doesn’t matter how hard you try, somehow my sister and her “I need a treat” just sucks you in. And of course, she’s the skinniest of us. (Okay, I’m really just putting the blame on her…we all did it.)
5. I love that I have somehow managed to get my brother and sister-in-law on this road race bandwagon. While I don’t love that I’m the slowpoke, I do love that they will be running the half marathon with me a few weeks from now.
6. I am too old to be flying the redeye and thinking I will somehow be functional. At least I was smart enough to plan to work from home today, so I got to take a little nap. But seriously, not my favorite thing. And this time around, I had a kid who decided he needed to lay on my shoulder while he slept. I was annoyed. 
7. I love New York, but someday it’s nice to take a break every once in a while!
8. And this has nothing to do with the post, but everything to do with my week as I’ve been listening to this album non-stop (when I haven’t been hanging with my fam) since I downloaded it last Tuesday. Adele is just amazing!

And one more.