My friend Jen flew out from SLC to run in the NY marathon on Sunday. Her daughter Laura and Maddy were great friends in Virginia so Maddy and I drove down for the weekend. The marathon is AMAZING. It was really warm that day so most of the runners had a harder time than they usually would have. But I'm in awe of the self control and motivation needed to run 26.2 miles. We had such a great time rooting for the runners. Many of them have taped or markered their name to the front of their jersey. Maddy was especially great at calling to people by name, saying "You can do it! You're doing great!" Wonderful to feel a part of it, even if it was standing by the side and yelling. Jen finished but a little longer than she'd hoped. We had pizza with her and her family and Sam & Deirdre, who were in town on business. FUN. 

Perfect autumn day in Central Park! Maddy's a great travel companion...non-complaining and game for anything. 

So, don't be alarmed by this picture--we're fine--but on Sunday night we had our second encounter with a deer this year. Late at night, coming home from the NYC marathon (and, ahem, going 80 mph on the freeway) I hit a deer. Amazingly, Maddy and I were fine (but shaken) although the deer came through the windshield. It flew up over our car and the car behind us swerved and rolled their car into the median. Stupid deer! We ended up with shards of glass all over ourselves. In fact, when I got home I found I also had deer fur and deer ticks under my clothes on my skin. (Too much information?) Anyway, I'm convinced the deer mafia has a hit out on us.... 

AAAARGH! She's a pirate. Maddy knew for quite some time that she wanted to be a pirate. She realized later that she wanted to have her sword and earring for the picture but by then my batteries had died. Imagine if you will..... 

Sorry for the fuzzy, ill-lit picture of angelic Lauren! Lauren was planning on going as a witch but then her friend persuaded her to be an angel and her friend would be a devil. As luck would have it, her friend was sick on Halloween so she went with another friend, who was dressed as a toilet. As hard as we tried, we couldn't come up with a cute, duo connection for an angel and a toilet! 

It was a no-brainer for Sam to choose Harry Potter for his Halloween character, since this has been his Year of Potter. He's whizzed through the first four books this summer and has been begging to read the fifth, which Lauren protests is too mature for him.