Sunday- the BEST day of the week...

This is totally out of character of me- doing another blog entry so soon. Its only been, what, 9 hours since my last one?
So, Brian and I have been talking a lot about life, and how insanely crazy it has been lately. It seems as though, just when you think a break is coming your way, it just gets crazier. I'm not complaining. Life is good. We are happy, healthy. We have work enough to do! We have wonderful family and friends. But sometimes, we get caught up in the craziness of life, sometimes we forget for a time that we are not alone in this craziness!

I love Sundays. Sunday is usually the one day that allows a break from the world. A rest from all the craziness. We, as a family, devote Sunday to going to church, spending time with family, and pretty much just shutting out the "world" to reconnect with each other and spiritually reconnect with God-our Heavenly Father, and our Savior Jesus Christ.

So, this morning I took a little time to read in the November Ensign, the last few articles from October Conference that I'm missing. I love being able listen to Conference and then go back through and read the talks. I really love that I have 6 months between sessions, I need that. Obviously, since I'm just finishing up November's and we just had Conference this month!!
Anyhow, this morning as I read, a talk really struck me. So, here I am. Trying to share my thoughts to the blogging world. A little unlike me. Well, okay, A LOT UNLIKE ME. I'm pretty(really) personal, but I felt like I should share this one.
My attitude about life somewhere in the last few months has gotten slightly off kilter...a little like a frustrated child "I can do it MYSELF..I don't need help!" I wanted to do things MY WAY, in MY TIMING. I didn't want anyone telling me how things should go.
Yeah. Stop laughing. Its true.
Everyone knows that I NEED HELP! Apparently, I didn't get the memo!

Here's where his talk (Elder Corbridge of the Seventy) struck me:
"One of the most popular and attractive philosophies of men is to live life your own way, do your own thing, be yourself, don't let others tell you what to do.
But the Lord said, "I am the way."
He said, "Follow me."
He said, "What manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am."

Yeah. I'm listening now. (This is why its SOOO important to take the time to Be Still- and listen!!)
Elder Corbridge goes on to say that we might get caught up in thinking we can't really follow Jesus Christ because the standard of His life is so astonishingly high as to seem unreachable. We might think it is too hard, too high, too much, beyond our capacity, at least for now. DON'T EVER BELIEVE THAT! (This is the part I LOVE!!) While the Lord's invitation to follow Him is the highest of all, it is also achievable by EVERYONE, not because we are able, BUT BECAUSE HE IS, and because He can make US able too. (Yep, there it is. HE is able. Who am I to think that I can "do it myself?")
The Lord's way is not hard. Life is hard, not the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can either follow the Lord and be endowed with His power and have peace, light, STRENGTH, knowledge, confidence, LOVE, and joy or we can go some other way, any other way, whatever other way, and GO IT ALONE- without His support, and without His power, without guidance, in darkness, turmoil, doubt, grief and despair. And I ask, which way is easier? "

Life is hard, but life is simple. (Here it is...the grand finale...)Get on the path and never, ever give up. You never give up. You just keep on going. You don't quit, and you will make it. There is only ONE way to happiness and fulfillment. Jesus Christ is the Way."

I LOVE that. Get on the path and never give up. Keep on going. Can I just tell you, I can pull a whole lot of analogies about life through running- especially running LONG distances! There are times, during a long run, when you'll hit an incredibly hard wall- your body just wants to be done. But you don't give up. You have people- cheerleaders, friends and family, some who run with you during those hard times to keep your head up and your feet moving, people who know how you feel cause they are hitting that same wall (or did 5 minutes earlier!). So, you don't quit, you keep on going. In life, when I'm hitting that wall, I have my Savior who is there, reminding me to keep my feet moving and my head up. He helps me through "the wall". You don't quit, you never give up, and you will make it.
Yeah. Its a good morning. These are all things I know. But its been really nice to be reminded. I really needed to be reminded that I am certainly not at this race of life alone! And if I do feel that way, it is because I have moved, not Him. He is the Way. Get on the path and never, ever give up. You just keep on going. You don't quit, and you will make it...

Ready to Run...

This was a full week. We had a good, but crazy week. J had two baseball games, we had numerous church meetings, B had activity days, I had classes, we seemed to go from one crazy day to the next successfully enough.
Wednesday night I had the worst allergy attack of the season. Brian was gone part of the night studying. But when he was home, he was totally making fun of the fact that my eyes were swollen and watering at an alarming rate, and that I couldn't finish a sentence without sneezing at least 4 times. I won't even go into what was coming out of my nose! At least he offered to pick up some meds from the store for me. Sweet man that he is-always looking out for me. I believe his comment was, "hey, I can stop by the store and pick up some medicine for you, that way we can turn on the whole house fan tonight..."
Oh yeah. It was 94 DEGREES on Wednesday!! Yeah! Its April, people! We had a three day stretch of the 90's. I'm really fine with that level of heat, but I was not prepared for it to hit in April. Although I must say, we really enjoyed using Brian's parents pool on Monday night for a little FHE action. That was awesome.
Okay, okay. I'm talking in circles here. Sorry. I do have a point to my story. So, Brian and I, along with 4 of our good friends-Becky and Terry; and Justin and Dena, are training for a half marathon that we are running (in less than a week) on May 2nd (American River Parkway Half Marathon to be exact!). Here's a picture of all the crazy runners: (although, we are not running here!)

Anyway, since its getting to the end of our training schedule, we are having to work in a long run- like 10+ miles, once a week, in addition to a few short-er runs. We usually try to go running in the mornings. Its just mo' betta that way- for life and schedules, etc. However, Brian and I can't run together for two very good reasons:
1-we have little children that can't be left alone;
2-Have you noticed he's slightly taller than me?? The man has substantially longer legs than I do, and runs MUCH faster! Due to a lack of self motivation on my part, I need a partner (or partners) in crime to help keep me motivated.
A little history: So, mi Amiga, Becky and I have been running together for a few years. This is the second half marathon we'll be doing together. (First Half we did 2 years ago with Brian and my sister, Gina-see picture below). Gina was our inspiration for this one. She's the one who started it all...

It was a great experience. At the level of greatness that I will remember the experience my whole life. That great. Anyways, although Brian and I swore we would never do it again (much like childbirth, I think...) here we are two years later, having forgotten the pain, we've recommitted...and brought a few friends along for the ride!

Terry started running with Becky and I about six weeks ago. Dena and Justin used to run with Brian and I when they lived here, but sadly, they moved away, and now do their running closer to home. But we've all been checking in, and trying to help motivate each other. Needless to say, we are all totally excited to run the Half together.

So, back to this week. Sorry for the run around, but I felt you really needed to understand a little history! Becky, Terry and I coordinated our schedules to fit a long run in Wednesday afternoon. The weather forecast said mid-80's for a high. We carefully planted some Propels along our running route as to not dehydrate ourselves and thought we were good to go. After about 3 miles of running in what was really 94 degrees- we were done- and when I say done, I mean, well-done! We were cooked! I have never sweat so much in my life! Yeah, 12 miles was NOT happening. We stopped and drank a little, cooled off, and managed to eek out another 3 miles, if only to rescue a few more of our pre-planted drinks along our running route. (Thanks to Rachel and Michelle for helping me with kidlings!!)

So, back to re-scheduling our run. I know I said we like to run in the mornings, but we can't do our long runs in the morning because they take TOO LONG. We realistically have to carve out a 3 hour time slot for getting ready, and then the run-start to finish. Its a big chunk of time. So, a morning run would mean starting at 4 a.m. which is way to early to even be awake, let alone run!

We rescheduled for Friday evening. It was the perfect plan. Brian had to be somewhere, but our kids were taken care of, thanks to Weaver daughter babysitting. We had grand plans for Brian to bring back dinner- with lots of red meat- right as we finished our run, so that we could reward our hard work with a feast afterwards. It was a great plan. Anyone remember what was happening Friday evening, say around 6pm? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Okay, I'll tell you. It was RAINING, THUNDERING, and LIGHTNING! HELLO!!! 48 hours earlier it was 94 degrees. The ENTIRE day on Friday it was beautiful, blue skies. We hit around 4pm- clouds gathered. 5:30, I called Terry worried about the ugliness that was developing. 6:40 at exactly the same time we finally stepped foot outside, raindrops came, and so did the thunder. Amazing timing. What crazy weather we had!

Well, this story has a happy ending. We ran in the rain, and were supremely grateful it was 60 degrees instead of 94 degrees. We did finally complete our last training run, and as we rounded the second-to-last corner, Brian drove by with the BBQ dinner we were salivating over. It was a great day. Totally crazy, and typical of the week, but great. We all got to eat yummy food, and we lived happily ever after.

The End.

Oh yeah. Now, I can officially say, WE ARE READY TO RUN!

Eight is Great!

Today was a big day! B was baptized a member of our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We love and highly value our membership in the church and it was such a blessing to be able to see her make this choice- and really understand what she was doing. She's so sweet. I could tell by watching her, the sweet change that came over her as she came out of the water all sparkly clean, and again after she was confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. I felt the spirit so strongly and I know that Heavenly Father was smiling down on her today.

My brother Brad's daughter and B are the same age- only 6 weeks apart. It was funny that their baptisms ended up on the same day. It made for a very crazy, but very fun and meaningful day for our family. Betsey, a friend of my sister-in-law(Julianne), took pictures of the two of them together a few weeks ago, in their MATCHING white dresses. We scored and found them at Costco for a REALLY great price. Anyways, Betsey did an amazing job! We really appreciate all of her hard work!

Thanks to all of our family and friends for their love and support. We have such a wonderful ward family that really supports and loves each other. And as far as family goes, Brian and I lucked out on the parent and sibling side of things. We are surrounded by wonderful people who we look to as our examples in so many ways. We were blessed to hear from both grandmas and both grandpas at her baptism today. It was a great experience to be able to hear their testimonies. My heart is so full! I don't know what more I can say!

Public Service Announcement

To World:

Please please PLEASE if you are sick, or any of your children are sick- please refrain from leaving your house. That means: don't send sick kids to school, parties, church, friends houses, MY HOUSE! Please don't think its okay to go any of these places YOURSELF if you are sick.

But wait, I digress. What is sick? I mean, coughing? Sniffling? That can go on for months! No, that is not what I'm referring to. When I say "sick" I mean the really icky sick- fever over 100, puking, diarrhea-in any combination. Really, there is absolutely no need to share the love. I don't care WHAT your excuse/reason is. Please, for me and the rest of the world, stay home, get better. We really love you, but STAY HOME! Get rid of the nasties, no symptoms for 24 hours, THEN come out into the world. I'd love that. What a selfless act. What a kinder world we would live in.

In my perfect world, THAT would be a rule. Maybe not number one, but definitely in the top ten.

Thank you for your time. This concludes my public service announcement. Please take no offense, if you are an offender of this "rule" of mine- I still love you. Nobody's perfect. Just please, try to be perfect at this! Just Kidding- well, maybe not all the way.)

Less nasties going around = happy me!

Eight years ago...

Eight years ago our lives changed forever- when we welcomed our sweet little B into the world! I can't believe she's 8! Life goes by so fast. Although her arrival coming into the world was an extremely long and grueling process- I was in labor for 28 hours with her! But she was worth every bit of it.

A few of her baby-baby pictures. She's grown so much over the last 8 years. We are excited to continue watching her learn and grow. We love you B! You're growing up into such a beautiful girl. Your kind, and thoughtful, and so fun and silly. You are so much fun to be around. We are so happy you are apart of our family.

The next American Idol...

America- she needs your votes! What do you think? Could she be...the next American Idol?? We sure think so! I especially love her dance moves. This girl's got skillz.



J even gets in on the dancing action towards the end. Lucky for you the camera misses the part where he moons us. NICE! What can I say, he's a total goof ball and 100% pure boy.

Our Smallest Leprechaun

This was after Mommy and Me last week. Thanks to Becky's quick thinking with the camera, we got a great picture of her dressing up for the occasion!

We had a fun St. Patrick's Day! Somehow, those little leprechauns always get into our house and play tricks on us! They turned our water and milk green-but they always leave Lucky Charms for breakfast! They also left little footprints ALL OVER! They got into all sorts of trouble and left a few messes that we had to clean up. But, we had a lot of fun chasing them and trying to trap them. Its a good thing they only come around on St. Patty's day, or we'd be in trouble. B reported that the water in her lunch water bottle was green too! Mysterious??

I got to go work in J's class on St. Patrick's Day and holy cow! Kindergarteners are so much fun on this day! Their room was a mess and they were hunting all over for those sneaky little leprechauns that kept messing things up. They did find the Leprechaun's pot of gold and they all split up the findings. Rumor has it, even the toilet water in their class was green. I tell ya, these leprechaun's just keep getting more and more creative every year. It was fun to see the kids so excited. They all had to tell me their own version of what had happened. J is lucky to have an amazing teacher who loves her job and has an incredibly fun time doing it! The only thing I didn't do (which I am famous for) was bring my camera and get a picture of him with his teacher. She was all decked out for the day. Anyway, we had a really great day!!!