Sad Day

This morning I was going to write on here excited because I had run 5 miles, my most so far, but when I got home from my run, my dad called and told me that my grandpa had died early this morning. I know it is for the best and he didn't want to go through all the pain with his cancer and everything else, but I am still sad. As most of you know, I was supposed to go see him last month but ended up not going because of a snowstorm. Now the time is past and I am sad. He was one of my most favorite people in the world. They are going to try to have his funeral on Tuesday. My sister flew down yesterday to visit him for the weekend but didn't get there in time so my aunt is trying to get it all organized so they can have the funeral before my sister leaves. I will be fine, but right now I am sad.

It's Getting Closer!

Three very important things are getting closer:

1. I am so excited! They came to day and measured for the carpet in the basement. The trim is almost finished. Hopefully the basement will be completely finished next week. It will be so nice to be able to take all the toys back downstairs and finish clearing out the garage. I will so do a happy dance then!

2. I signed up for a 5K today. I run it in 2 weeks. It's part of my training. I am excited for it. It will be fun and I will get a new t-shirt. I'm almost done with week 3 of my 12 week training. Tomorrow I do 5 miles. I feel strong. I think I'll be able to do it. I've been quite pleased with my progress, considering I just started under 3 weeks ago. Before that I hadn't really run since the beginning of last summer before Michael started travelling. Now I am running 4 days a week, lifting weights twice a week and riding bike one to two times a week. It feels good and who knows - maybe I'll actually lose some weight doing it! Wouldn't that be nice?

3. St. Patricks Day! Now for all of you Irish people and wanna be Irish people, it can be a very fun day! Did you know that Leprechauns go to Target and hand out leprechaun socks before the big day so all the children can have cool socks to wear to school? I actually get them from the $1 bin but it's way more exciting if you tell them the leprechauns gave them to you. Also you can call the leprechauns to come to your house and make a treasure hunt for the kids. You have to do the right call - Leprechauns, Leprechauns come out to play because today's St. Patricks Day! Then the kids have to run into the house and hide while the leprechauns hide clues and a treasure. When the leprechauns are done it's time for the big hunt. The kids love it. They follow the clues until they find their treasure. My kids talk about it all year. They absolutely love it and they still believe that the leprechauns really come. This year we are going to do it a little different. They'll each get their own green bag with treats that they have to find. Then we make some sort of Irish food, last year it was soda bread, this year it will be scones.

Anyways, 3 fun and exciting things to look forward to! If anyone wants to come join us, come on over - you're all welcome!

Everything has HOLES!!

I wake up one morning and I swear overnight every piece of clothing that the kids own have holes! Zane has holes in 4 out of 5 of his pants, Makenna has more holey places in her snowpants than she has unholey places, even Olivia is getting holes in her pants, it's crazy! I had to go buy Zane new pants yesterday. He was quite excited. I just wonder what exactly they do at school everyday. Oh well, spring is coming right? Then we can get rid of all the winter stuff and wear shorts - no more holes to worry about, just shorts and sandals. I can't wait to put on flip-flops again. I do wear them off and on right now but when the wind chill is 40 below, I figure I should at lest wear something to cover my toes. Today is going to be around 40 and I am wearing them today!

Beauty in the Kitchen

Ha! Just teasing! Michael thinks so. I made fried apricot pies today. I haven't heard "I love you" so many times! Dillon, Zeke and Olivia helped me. Now my feet are sore. I had to run on the treadmill this morning because the wind chills were so low. I hate running on that thing. It was the longest 3.5 miles I have ever done. It took me almost 10 minutes longer to do it inside than to do it outside on all the hills. I am hoping for warmer weather tomorrow. I don't think I can do another morning inside. Anyways, after running , breakfast and showers I started the fried pies. I got done at 12:15 just as Michael walked in the door. I think he could smell the hot grease from the barn! After I cleaned up that it was lunch time. Now Olivia's down for a nap and I am catching up on my e-mails, facebook and blog. I am so excited too because I found my long lost companion from my mission. She was my absolute favorite and I haven't heard from her since 1998. She's from England and her name is Emma too. Anyways, I found her last night on facebook and sent her a message. She sent me one back this morning. It is so good to have contact with her again. There are some people that you just connect with right away and that always have a special place in your heart. She is one of those people for me. Well, enough of that. I am attaching pictures of my beautiful masterpieces, one with the kids helping and one of Zane in his super cool sunglasses from the eye doctor. He is very upset that his eyes are no longer in need of him wearing those all the time. He was hoping to get to wear them to church Sunday! No such luck. Life's rough when your 5 almost 6!

Pinkalicious!

Have you ever read that book? It came to life here at our house today. We had one regular little girl turn pink right before our eyes (actually it happened when we weren't looking)! She didn't eat too many pink cupcakes like in the book and eating green things won't turn her back to normal. She covered herself in bright pink lip gloss and lots of it. Shampoo and dish soap lightened the color (except in her hair and eyebrows) but only time will turn her back to normal. Good thing pink is her favorite color because she gonna be that color for a while! Luckily we got most of it out of the carpet, the door cleaned up after some scrubbing as well as the toilet. The bathtub still has a nice pink tint but I think I'll be able to get the rest of it up too. As for the pink lip gloss? It's gone and I don't ever want to see any bright pink lip gloss again! Should anyone have the desire to send my children lips, as they call it, please keep it light if not completely clear and make sure it comes in very small containers, not gigantic ice cream cone containers!

Date with Maddi

Today Maddi and I went on a date. She got a free kids meal from the Burger King Reading Club so we went there and had lunch and then did the shopping. It was fun to spend time with just her. This morning I ran another 4 miles. That's 12 miles this week. Next week I go up to 14. The hills are still hard but I'm getting there. It is cold today so went spent our day inside cleaning the house (the kids had a really good time with that). The house looks good though. Next week, supposedly, they are coming to do the trim and carpets downstairs. We'll see if they show up. I hope they do. I am certainly ready for the basement to be done.

FRIDAY!!

Today was a beautiful day. The weather was gorgeous. The little kids were out in the sleeveless shirts, shorts and mud boots (probably slightly underdressed). Olivia did wear her winter coat and hat along with her shorts! Today was bike riding day for me, just 30 minutes. It was nice to have an easy day. I've already logged 8 miles this week with another 4 to go tomorrow. Yikes! It's hard to keep up the mileage with all the hills I have to run here. Even my neighbor who has run several marathons says the hills are hard. Makes me feel a little better. I took Zane to the eye doctor today. He has to get glasses. He has been complaining of headaches after school so we took him in. He looks pretty cute. They had to dialate his eyes. He loved the cool sunglasses they gave him to wear! I'll post a picture of those later. His glassses should come in a week or two. Tomorrow there is supposed to be snow coming. I hope it doesn't make it here. I am ready for spring to come! Anyways, it was a good day and we are all ready for the weekend. I'm posting a few pictures from Monday when we went to school with Zane. Dillon took the one of me and Olivia. Zeke took a picture too, but it ended up being some ladies

backside and not me and Olivia. We won't post that one!

Climbing the Walls

When I was younger, I remember spending lots of time climbing the walls and doorways of our many different houses. As kids we would climb the walls and sit up by the ceiling talking, daring people to run underneath us, or seeing who could jump down from the ceiling without lowering themselves down first. Well, the other night I decided it was time to teach the kids how to do this. It had never even crossed their minds as something they could do. Once they figured it out, the girls spent the rest of the evening going up and down the walls having a blast. The boys however are still a little too short to do it so they were quite upset by the fact that they couldn't join the girls up by the ceiling. Soon enough, soon enough. Then we'll have all of them lining the hallways acting like monkeys. Makenna was especially proud of herself. It took her a while to get enough courage to make it all the way up so her head could touch the ceiling. She'd get with in an inch, get scared and drop to the floor. Once she finally did it she was jumping and shouting and hyper for the rest of the night. Simple pleasures bring the greatest joys!

Another 3 miles

This morning I ran another 3 miles. I must say I was expecting it to be easier than last week but I was wrong. It was probably the hardest day I have had so far. I couldn't breath very well, my legs seemed weak and I think the hills got bigger over the weekend! Now today I am sore and tired. Luckily tomorrow will be a cross training day! I have been amazed at how much this running has helped me pay attention to the rest of my life. When I get up in the morning and do my exercise, it completely changes my day. While I am running I am paying attention to my body, how it is feeling, what my mind is doing, etc. I am able to change my self talk to get me through the workout. Then it helps me through the rest of the day. I pay attention to what I eat so that I am fueling my body properly and I can tell when I have eaten something I shouldn't have. For example, last night I had cupcakes (yes it's plural). I went to bed feeling yucky and woke up feeling yucky. Today, no cupcakes and not only do I feel better physically (except the soreness) but I feel better about myself. It also helps me keep the house cleaner and talk nicer to the children. I drink more water. I read my scriptures every day. I say better prayers. I shop differently, for me and the kids. I put on real clothes everyday and makeup. I still have a long ways to go and a lot of weight to lose, but I am liking the changes that I am feeling and the greater awareness of my body and what it needs, not just physically but also mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Missing Friends

This morning I had to go to school. The kindergartners were having a Dr. Seuss party and the parents were supposed to come and help celebrate. No siblings were supposed to come. Well, I have no one here to help watch the kids so I called Zane's teacher and she said it was all right if I brought the others. I got there late, which if you know me I hate being late (I get it from my dad). I was the only one who brought siblings. I walk into a gym of total strangers (except Zane of course). It was so hard for me. In Hendricks, every one knows who you are, who your children are and they seem to like the fact that you are all there. Today no one knew who I was and the little children weren't allowed to participate in anything because they didn't have enough supplies for them (paper and crayons and glue). I'm not trying to put the school down. Tri-Valley is a much larger school than Hendricks so it is a completely different situation. They do good things with the kids and I was glad I was able to come and spend the morning with Zane. It just made me miss Hendricks and all the friendships we have there. So to all my Lincoln HI friends - I miss you and I was thinking about you all today.