An Open Letter to My Son : Running Your First Half Marathon

At 13 years old, you’re just one day away from running your first half marathon. You’ve always been an overachiever. Potty trained before you were 2, skipping the baby babble and going straight to complete sentences. You can’t just solve a rubix’s cube, you can solve it in under 30 seconds. Kendama, guitar, card tricks, algebra, reading, drawing, the list goes on and on. You’ve excelled in all you set your mind to do.

Except running. Because all those other things have come easy to you, but not running. Running has been hard. It’s been slow. It’s been chock full of complaints, struggles, and failures. Running has beaten you down. It has irritated you. Running has made you hurt. It’s frustrated you. Running has made you feel less than. It’s humbled you. And for this I say, thank you, to running. I thank running for teaching you that it’s not always easy to reach your goals. Running requires discipline and endurance and grit. These are all things I hope you’ve learned through running.

You complained about waking up early during summer break to run, but you did it anyways. We argued along the road many mornings, but it never stopped you. During moments of frustration, you still endured. So many times you wanted to give up, to turn around, but you never did. You kept going. May this be a lesson you take with you always.

I hope that running will always stay with you. I hope you find a love for running, as I have. But, if you don’t, that’s ok too. But I do hope you never forget the lessons learned during your training. Because, whether you realize it or not, running has taught you so much about life. It’s taught you to never give up. Wether you go fast or slow, what matters is that you are moving forward. Never forget that. Never forget that although there may be pain and it may be difficult, chasing your dreams is always worth it. Life won’t always be easy, but sticking to your goals and being true to yourself will always be worth it. Never forget that feeling of accomplishment you get after a long or difficult run. Let that stay with you and let that guide you. There is power in perseverance.

Running alongside you all these weeks has not always been easy, but neither has being your mom and I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world. I am so proud to be running with you tomorrow and sharing 13.1 miles with you. Crossing that finish line together will be a moment I never forget. I love you beyond words.

PS. I can’t forget to give a shout of of thanks and appreciation to the hubs for all those early mornings of driving him up to meet us at the mountain so he could get his long runs in. And to Valerie for all the rides up the mountain and encouraging him and me along the way. To all our friends and family who’ve also encouraged him, it doesn’t go unnoticed! XO

Summer Bucket List 2018 | Camping in Utah

Our family enjoys being outdoors. We like to go hiking and take walks at the park. Jason and the kids like going on bike rides and as you know, I’m a runner. However, we just recently started going camping as a family. I guess you can say we are officially “outdoorsy” now 😉 To check out my 5 tips for camping with kids, go HERE!

Anyhow, we’d been camping twice and both times to the same place, Navajo Lake in Utah, so for this year’s camping trip we decided we’d try someplace new. We made reservations to a campsite in Central Utah called Kents Lake. We went with 3 other families, all of which had also been with us on our last camping trip. We arrived on a Thursday afternoon and spent 2 nights sleeping in tents and enjoying the fresh air. The weather was a bit warmer than our last trips, but we appreciated it at night. We had one afternoon of showers and hail, which put a slight damper on our lunch and made Elysse freak out, but it cleared up pretty quickly and all was well again!

The main highlight for our family was Diego catching his first fish on the lake! It was so special to see his face light up! Huge thanks to the family fishing next to them for sharing their secret weapon with us and helping him figure out what to do once he’d caught it.

The camp site was fine, but I wouldn’t recommend it as it didn’t have flushing toilets. Now, I understand we’re camping and all, but flushing toilets are a basic necessity for me. They had vault toilets, which is really just an outhouse. Also, compared to Navajo Lake, there wasn’t too much to do around the campsite or on the lake. Of course, when you’re camping with 13 other people and you are all good friends, you don’t need much more than that! We still had a really good time with lots of laughs and new memories were made. We can’t wait to go camping again together, just not at Kent’s Lake this time. We’re thinking of changing it up and doing some beach camping in Southern California next summer. What’s your favorite camping spot? Have you been camping at the beach? Let me know in the comments below.

Half Marathon Training with a Teenager

Last year, my then 12 year old son said he’d like to run a half marathon. I thought he was just being funny or talking in the distant future, but no. He was serious and insisted on it. We researched some races and talked some more about it. I gave him the good and the bad, but honestly, mostly the bad because I wanted to paint a truthful picture and the truth is that training for a half marathon is not easy. He acknowledged that it was going to be hard work, but that he really wanted to challenge himself and run his first half marathon at the age of 13. So, we did it. We signed up for the Cedar City Half Marathon on September 8, 2018. I explained that he would be training for a half marathon all through summer break and even into his first weeks of back to school but he was not deterred.

While he was still in school, we started with 2 mile once a week runs. Then, last month, we started the actual 14-week training plan and he’s been training pretty consistently for the past 6 weeks. We have 8 more weeks to go and I couldn’t be prouder of this kid! But please, don’t get me wrong. He is no super kid. He is after all, a 13 year old boy and oh have we had our arguments. It’s been hard being mom and coach. I feel like because it’s been me giving him running advice, it’s been hard for him to accept it and we butt heads a lot. He’s cranky at 6am and when I remind him that he signed up for this on his own, I get attitude. I then have to remember he is still just a 13 year old kid and take a deep breath.

It’s been hard, but it’s also been rewarding. I’ve been learning to be patient and let things go. I’m learning to go at his pace and enjoy our time together regardless of our pace and whether I think he could do better or go faster. I remind myself that I just ran my first half marathon 5 years ago at the age of 36! This kid is 13 and about to run his first half marathon. I am so proud of him already! I’m not too mushy or sentimental, but I did cry after my 1st half marathon and after my 1st full marathon. I’m pretty sure I will cry for the 3rd time again after I cross the finish line with my son in September. But until then, there will most definitely be more cranky early mornings and arguments, and I’ll just have to be ok with that.

What races are you training for this summer? Any tips on running with a teen? EEK!!

Summer Bucket List 2018

Here we go! Another summer has begun and the Emeric Kiddos couldn’t be happier to be out of school! Our Summer Bucket List is something we do every year and is something we all look forward to. We don’t have a big summer trip planned this year like our trip last year to Seattle and Portland, because we’ll be taking a trip to Texas for my cousin’s wedding in September. But, we still have some fun weekend trips and activities planned to get the most out of summer!

This year, we decided to use our kitchen letter board to display our list.

Besides what’s on the list, we took Diego to go see the play Hamilton at The Smith Center. He’s been listening to the soundtrack for over a year now and has the entire thing memorized. So, when we saw they were coming to Vegas as part of the Smith Center’s Broadway Series, I purchased season tickets to ensure he got to see the show and then upgraded our seats to some much better seats for the show. It was an amazing show and so worth all the sacrifices to get him there! If you get the opportunity to see it, I highly recommend it.

Next up, I’ll be planning Elysse’s first sleep over party later this month! She’s planning a Hollywood Game Night theme with a waffle bar for breakfast! She’s super excited about it!! I’ll be sure to share a blog post with photos of the games and decor!

Now tell me, what fun do you have planned for your summer? Any epic trips? Family vacations?

2017: A Year in Review

Here we are at the end of yet another year. Most years go by really fast for me but, I think 2017 didn’t go by as fast as other years. We definitely had some busy seasons with work and travels, mostly during the summer and October, but the rest of the year felt smooth and less rushed than others. I’m so not complaining about that! I am not one to glorify busy and enjoy taking time to enjoy my days and not feel rushed.

A big highlight of the year for me was becoming part of the Rock N Roll Marathon Series ambassador program, called Rock N Blog and I’m excited to be a part of the team again for 2018! This definitely set the tone for my running schedule for the year. I ended up running 18 races! Seven of these were virtual 5Ks, but they still came with some awesome race bling!! One was the Run Love Virtual 5K by Running Skirts and the other 6 were with the Rock N Roll Race Series! I also did a fun non-competitive community 5K with the kiddos. And 2 more 5Ks, one at Rock N Roll San Diego and the other at Rock N Roll Las Vegas as part of the Remix Challenge. I ran 2 obstacle course races, the Vegas Spartan Super and the Badass Dash. Lastly, I ran a total of 6 half marathons this year. By far, the most half marathons I’ve ran in 1 year! My favorite was the San Diego Half Marathon, not because I PRed or anything, but because it was such a fun race! If you want to check out any or all the race recaps, you can do so HERE!

Traveling and getting out to explore new places, near and far, is a big part of our lives. This year, 3 of our trips were race-cations! We traveled to San Diego, Seattle, and Napa for me to run half marathons + we got vacations out of it too, I’d say it was a win-win for everyone! For Spring Break we visited the Getty Center in Los Angeles, Six Flags Magic Mountain, and Malibu. We took our summer family vacation visiting the Pacific Northwest. We spent 2 days in Seattle and rest of our week was spent in Oregon. We stayed in Portland and saw the main sights in the city, as well as visiting the Oregon Coast and the Colombia River Gorge, including the famous Multnomah Falls. We also took a kid-free weekend getaway trip to San Diego, mostly to run the Rock N Roll 5k + half marathon but also to unwind a bit. It was great. Another trip we took was to the Sonoma/Napa Wine Valley. That was a fun trip we took with our friends without the kiddos too. I ran the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon and the rest of the time we visited some amazing wineries and ate some delicious food!

We also planned smaller weekend and day trips throughout the year to Southern California, Valley of Fire, Willow Beach at the Arizona border, and Sand Hollow State Park in Utah. We had a great Summer Bucket List, full of activities and even though we didn’t finish everything on the list, it was a ton of fun! This year we also celebrated my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary!

This time of year, I always like to reflect on all aspects of my life and really take note of what worked, what didn’t, where I can improve, and start planning for the upcoming year. It can be difficult to balance life and I know it’s impossible to get it all right, all the time. The best I can do is learn from my experiences, grow, and start off with a good plan. I hope you too take the time to reflect and learn from this past year and not just dwell on what didn’t go right, but really embrace and appreciate all the good too! XO Jessie

Summer Bucket List 2017: In Review

Summer has come and gone and we’re finally out of the triple digit temperatures here in Las Vegas! Kids have been in school for a month and our days are packed and busy again. Anyone else out there ready for a break already?!?

I thought I’d go back and relive a little bit of our summer fun! As you all know, we’ve been putting together a summer bucket list for years now, but I think this year’s was a little too ambitious and it’s no surprise we didn’t get to do everything on the list. Some things we didn’t do together as a family, such as the grandparents taking the kiddos to Dave & Buster’s while we were away in Napa and Jason taking the kiddos to the drive in movies while I had book club. Diego got to go to Wet N Wild water park with some friends and I took Elysse to Gravady Trampoline Park last weekend with her friend. Sure we didn’t get a chance to try rolled ice cream, but we did enjoy plenty of ice cream this summer, including the famous Salt n Straw in Portland! YUMmmm! Although we didn’t get to visit Zion National Park, we did visit Sand Hollow Sate Park in Utah.

We’ll have to try to get to doing some ice skating this winter, try to get a camping trip in this spring, even if it’s close to home in Mount Charleston, and Spring Mountain Ranch Super Summer Theater will be back on the list for summer 2018!

Hope your summer was fun and that you got to spend time together as a family and make some messy memories together!! XO

Surprise Trip to Southern California | Summer Bucket List

The kiddos are on their 3rd week back to school and although it’s been nice getting into a regular routine and being able to work without interruptions, sometimes the school grind has me missing the lazy days of summer. The heat in Las Vegas has not let up, so carpooling and driving back and forth in 105+ degrees is the worse!! So, it make me so happy that we were able to squeeze in one more super quick trip before school started earlier this month.

Ever since Diego started school we’ve taken a beach trip to Southern California in August as our end of summer/back to school trip. We had such a busy summer this year that we just didn’t think the trip would happen. We told the kids and they were totally fine with it But, It’s been our tradition for years and I still wanted to make the trip happen! I decided to redeem some of our Hilton Honors Rewards points for the hotel and drive out to SoCal on Friday morning and head back Sunday!

Since the kids didn’t think it was happening, we thought it would be fun to surprise them! For the past few years we’ve added a “mystery activity” to our yearly Summer Bucket List and they’ve been simple things like mini golf with friends and driving out to get ice cream. Well, we totally surprised them Friday morning when we woke them up to our favorite California song! You can listen to it HERE 😉 Elysse got it pretty quickly and started jumping up and down and ran into Diego’s room yelling, “We’re going to California! It’s our mystery surprise!” It was a pretty funny moment! We had packed the car beforehand, so we had them get in the car in PJs and change when we got there. It was epic.

And just like that, 4 hours later, we were sitting on the beach under our umbrella in Crystal Cove State Park in Newport Beach, CA! The kids had a great time boogie boarding, building sandcastles, and just playing in the water. Once everyone started getting tired, we packed up and headed to our hotel to shower and grab some dinner. We were all beat after our long day on Saturday, so we slept in Sunday morning and took our time checking out. We decided to hit the beach again, this time making our way towards L.A. and hanging out in Venice Beach for a bit. Jason and Diego skateboarded along the boardwalk and Elysse and I hung out at the beach. The boys joined us after a bit and we stayed a little longer but we didn’t stay too long since we were driving back to Vegas.

It was definitely a whirlwind trip but it was still a good time and we made some fun memories together, which is always the best. The kids were so appreciative of their surprise trip and kept thanking us. I’m so glad we made it work and didn’t break one of our family traditions. Now, I hope the kids don’t expect us to top this “mystery activity” next year! LOL

What traditions do you have with your family? Have you ever had to break a tradition? How do you keep them going year after year?

Summer Family Vacation Part II: Portland, Oregon

Here’s Part II of our Pacific Northwest family summer vacation. We left Seattle in the early afternoon and headed to Portland. As soon as we were out of the city, the weather started to clear up and we were happy to see blue skies and sunshine!

We arrived at our rented apartment from AirBnB, unloaded our suitcases from the car and freshened up for dinner. Our AirBnB was in a great location close to so many of the best food spots in town! We met up for dinner at the Country Cat with some good friends who’d moved to Portland a couple of years ago from Las Vegas. The restaurant was small and cozy and we had a great table right up against the window and not in the middle of the restaurant. That was great for us with the kiddos! Afterwards we made our way to Salt & Straw on SE Division St. for ice cream. The ice cream shop had a long line and we probably waited a good 30 minutes before we had our ice cream, but it was worth it! Plus, time went by fast since we were chatting and catching up! Thank goodness our apartment was just around the corner, because we were stuffed and ready for bed.

Before heading out to explore on Monday, we grabbed breakfast at one of the awesome food truck pods that are all over the city. We chose Fried Egg I’m in Love because they had great reviews on Yelp and with breakfast sandwich names like Smells Like Protein Spirit and Free-Range Against the Machine, we knew they’d be good! They did not disappoint. Bellies full we took off on our day trip to the Colombia River Gorge area and got to see the famous Multmonah Falls and drive along the river and visit the countryside. We were a little early in the season for berry or cherry picking but we got to feed and pet some alpacas so that totally made up for it! Plus, the craft beers and gourmet food truck at the Gorge White House really hit the spot after our long day. Once we were back in Portland we picked up some groceries at New Seasons Market. It’s a local(ish)grocery store chain in Portland/Vancouver areas that is similar to Whole Foods. We were beat after our long day but so happy we got to spend some time in nature and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

We planned to stay in Portland on Tuesday. We started our day with a cool make-your-own-pancakes place called Slappy Cakes. The food was ok and the pancakes weren’t amazing, but the kids really enjoyed making their pancakes into different shapes! It’s a nice place for kids, but don’t expect an amazing meal. We did lots of walking and sightseeing in Portland and visiting a lot of the major attractions, such as the Japanese Garden, the International Rose Testing Garden, Voodoo Donuts, Powell’s Bookstore, and eating from yet more food trucks. We met up for dinner with our friends again at Deschutes Brewery and Public House, which was another not-so-great place. The wait was long, the food was mediocre, and the service was poor. We were disappointed, especially since there are so many other good places to to eat at in Portland. I don’t recommend it.

We took another road trip on our 3rd day to visit the Oregon Coast. Seriously would love to spend a full weekend out there! The coast is so beautiful and we really enjoyed Cannon Beach and Astoria! We got back to Portland just in time for dinner and we chose to visit another food cart pod, this one was on SE 28th Pl and Division. We were totally diggin’ the vibe there and we all ended up picking up our meals from different carts! Diego had pizza, they actually had a brick oven! Elysse chose mini corn dogs (not so adventurous this day) Jason had sushi, and I chose Indian. We were pretty tired from our trip, so rather than eat it there, we took it with us and enjoyed a nice quite evening at the apartment. I also took advantage of the washer and dryer and ran a load of laundry. Not exactly what you want to be doing on vacation, but it was just 1 load and it made packing easier. Plus, it was one less thing to do when I got back home!

Our last day started off with a quick breakfast in the apartment while we, and by we, I mean mostly I, packed everything up to check out. We then met up with our friends for lunch at Lardo. Do yourself a favor and go there for lunch next time you’re in Portland. I crave their Korean Pork Shoulder sandwich and the Pork Meatball Banh Mi! So so good!! The rest of our day was spent at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry! I didn’t think we would spend the entire day there, but there was so much to see and do that it really did fill up our whole day. Then it was off to PDX to head back home to Las Vegas! One worse thing about the flights back home to Vegas is that they’re usually filled with folks ready to party, while we’re always tired and grumpy our vacation is ending and theirs is just starting! LOL

Seriously though, it’s hard when vacations end but I’m always so grateful we got to go! We visited some amazing places, enjoyed cool weather, ate some delicious food, and made lifelong memories together. What more could we ask for?!? What are some fun places you’ve visited this summer? I’d love to hear some of your favorite vacation spots ever too!

Summer Family Vacation Part I: Seattle, WA

As I mentioned in my last post, I got to run the Rock N Roll Seattle Half Marathon last month. And, having never been to the Pacific Northwest, we decided to make it a family vacation, adding Portland and the Oregon coast to our trip. Today, I’ll be sharing all about our weekend in Seattle first and Part II will go into our 4 days Oregon.

Since our trip ended in Portland, that’s where we flew into. Whenever we have trips where we are visiting a few cities or doing a road trip once we land, I prefer to fly into the city we’ll be visiting last. The main reasons I prefer to do this are 1: Renting a car one-way is a lot more expensive than returning it at the same airport. 2: It’s less stressful to be near your airport at departure than having to calculate for a few hours drive. I’d hate to miss our flight due to unforeseen traffic or getting lost.

The drive to Seattle from Portland took longer than anticipated due to traffic, but we had plenty of time to pick up my race packet at the expo and then make our way to Pioneer Square for our walking tour by Beneath the Streets. We’d heard about these tours from some friends and when I saw they were giving 1 complimentary tour to Rock N Roll runners, I figured we’d give it a try. We don’t normally do group tours on vacation because I prefer a more authentic vibe, plus with little ones, you just never know if they’ll find them interesting. Well, to my surprise the kids, who aren’t so little anymore, did enjoy the tour. They found it interesting and even asked some really good questions to our tour guide. Afterwards, we stayed in the area and enjoyed some of the fun games they had in the square.

Our next stop was Pike Place Market. The market was closing when we arrived but it was still super crowded. I know this is an icon Seattle tourist spot, but I wasn’t really impressed. I think there were just way too many people walking around aimlessly and being, well, tourists. We originally planned to walk around the market, watch the famous fish throwing, and eat from a few of the popular food places. With the market closing, we didn’t get to see much and we only made it to one place Beecher’s Handmade Cheese for some mac n cheese. It was cool to see the cheese making process through the window, but it wasn’t really amazing mac n cheese. The best part was seeing all the beautiful flower stands.

Afterwards, we checked into our hotel room for the night and we were all so tired & a bit cranky from waking up early for our flight and walking around all day, that we just ordered a pizza and salad and had it in our room.

It was another early morning for me on Sunday to get up and run the half marathon. It was a great course and I really enjoyed it and the VIP lounge area. You can read the race recap on my previous post HERE. After the race, we made our way to Seattle Center for a closer look at the Space Needle and to grab some lunch before making our way to Portland! I wish we would/could have spent more time in this area. I would like to go back and check out some of the museums, but we still enjoyed our time walking around the pretty gardens and the kids had a blast at the playground there. Our last stop was to go see the Fremont Troll under the Aurora Bridge. Such a quirky spot and I’m so glad we got to see it!

Although it was a bit of a whirlwind, our weekend in Seattle was a ton of fun. Coming from Vegas, we welcomed the gloomy and rainy weather. It never really rained but we did have a few drizzles. Ideally, I think 3 days in Seattle would have been perfect and would have allowed us to visit a museum or two and not crammed so much into 2 days.

Have you been to Seattle? Besides the museums, what else would you recommend we do or see on our next trip to Seattle? What side trips would be worth a visit from Seattle? Thanks for stopping by and be sure to come back for the rest of our PNW trip!

Summer Fun at Pinot’s Palette

Last week I was invited to a fun family blogger painting event at Pinot’s Palette in Boca Park. This would be the first time the kiddos went to a painting event, so I was really excited to share this experience with them. Jason and I had a blast the last time we painted together.

The event was held in their “open studio” style. We received a blank 10X10 canvas and we got to choose from lots of options which picture we would paint. We got written instructions with step-by-set pictures and the specific colors of paint we’d need for our individual masterpieces. They hold these types of classes once a month at each of their 3 studio locations throughout Las Vegas for only $20. It’s a fun and relaxed way to practice your painting in a less structured setting and the written instructions are easy to follow.

At first, Diego was getting a little frustrated because his painting wasn’t coming along exactly like the sample but, he chilled out after a bit and really enjoyed the process. And, his finished painting turned out really nice. Elysse was intent on doing her painting with little help and I’m proud to say she did a great job all by herself. We cannot wait to do it again soon!

With our crazy hot summers here in Vegas, this is definitely a nice option for a family activity. It allows you to unplug, enjoy time together as family, and it’s indoors with A/C 😉 They’re also offering kids camp for ages 7+ this month!

They’re offering some discount codes for It’s a Messy Life readers for July and August:

FamilyFun – By 3 seats to any Family Day class, get one free ($25 value)

DateNightFun – Buy one seat at any $39 public class, get one at half price ($19.50 value)

These codes are valid for each of their 3 locations at The District, Boca Park, and Town Square. Check out their class schedule HERE. Enjoy!