We did it!!!

Saturday was such a great day for the Running With Angels 5k! After raining pretty much forever, the skies finally cleared and the day turned out to be absolutely beautiful!!

Skylar stepped up and joined me in doing her second 5k...what a rockstar, eh? My sweet friend, Mindy, was going to walk with me to remember her Sarah, but wasn't feeling well. She just had surgery two weeks ago so even thinking she could do it in the first place was amazing enough! We missed you Mindy and Sarah was definitely still remembered!!
They started the walk out by releasing some doves in remembrance of all of the angel babies. It's so hard to see just how many people are at these kind of things because they have had the pain of losing a baby. My heart literally aches to see so many but it's also so inspiring to see how many don't want to forget their babies and are finding a way to honor their memories.
We started to walk and we took it slow. We were quickly passed up by plenty of runners.
Meanwhile, the littles and Ben headed over to the Children's gardens for some playing. What a bonus that they could visit there while we walked.
The walk couldn't have been in a more beautiful place. I absolutely love Thanksgiving Point Gardens!! It's just amazingly beautiful there!
After about a mile and a half Skylar was spent. In her defense, she had been at a late-over the night before so was missing out on a little bit of extra rest. She was ready to quit though and was looking for all of the escape routes along the way. I reminded her that we were doing this for Gabe and she kept on....with a lot of coaxing from me!!We made a quick stop for a pic of us at one of my favorite spots in the gardens.
The last hill was kind of killer, but we made it! Skylar was pooped!!
Towards the finish line Nick, Kade, & Alexis joined up with us. Kade had wanted to do the entire thing with us. He absolutely loves to do anything for Gabe and never forgets his baby brother. In the end, he was happy to just help us cross the finish line!
Cross it we did! Okay, so I didn't really have a goal for time or anything...I just really wanted to finish...but I kinda was hoping we'd make it in less than an hour. We had walked very slow the entire time...more for Skylar than me...but we kept at it. We were beat by a ton of old ladies and little kids but we made it at 59:59!! Woot! Woot!
Along the way, we were able to meet up with my new internet friend, Kris. Kris contacted me after reading my story on Faces of Loss (which isn't even there anymore...but is now here). She lives here in Utah and has a very similar story to mine. We lost our baby boys, both our fifth babies, at the same gestation, both due to cord accidents. We've been chatting a bit over the last few months. She's actually the one I found out about the Running with Angels 5k from....thanks Kris!! Her baby, Luke, just had his due date the day before the 5k. How awesome is she for getting out there to do a 5k in his memory in a week that I know was one of her hardest in this? I have found out through this that many of the moms of these angel babies are some of the most amazing and strongest people I've ever met. I've heard the saying..."It's a horrible club to be in but with the most wonderful members." I'm so glad we finally met Kris!!
Oh and my foot? Fine. It seriously, honestly, did not bother me at all. I consider that no less than a miracle because it has been nothing but trouble the last few months (and years). There is no doubt in my mind that my Heavenly Father and my little Gabriel helped me get through that 5k. I know for most people (um...especially my three kick-a friends that did the Women of Steel triathlon at the same time) a 5k isn't a big deal, but if you had to walk a usual day with the pain in my foot, you'd be amazed that I completed it without pain. What an amazing tender mercy...oh how I love those!! I'm so glad we did this. Next year we hope to include the whole family in it. We've already decided it's going to be a yearly family tradition as a way to remember our precious baby Gabe. We love you sweet boy!


P.S. I finally figured out how to take the pictures off our new camera! More picture posts to come soon!!