Memorial Day!

We like to do things last minute around here, (not b/c I like to be last minute, it's just how we roll! )

Last minute we decided to try to get together with Richard's brother and his family! We planned a nice cookout Sunday evening, and then a state park lake trip, monday!!! They have 3 boys, a little older than my boys, but they really had fun together at the park.

My sweet Landon - so thankful he is laid back

about life!!!

this is after dinner at a close-by park

Isn't this the cutest bib ever!

thanks to my A. Terre!!!!

(would much rather have EVERYTHING made

by someone I love/know, than

buying it in a store)

Our first Cook Out of the year!!!! it was a lot of fun! We had a great time!

Taking a break for some Lunch in the very limited shade!

had to grab carson away from the Sand for a quick Picture

I know it's just the beginning of the summer

but boy!! Are we a Pale/white Family

can you say "SUNSCREEN" :)

What a great day off from the daily grind!!!! We had such a fun time with family! The park was just in between both our homes, so it was so convenient, and the water felt great, thankfully! A great memory for us to cherish!

What's inside my fridge???

I'm new at this whole blogging thing (at least when it comes to "linking UP") But i thought this was an easy thing to do.

She thought it would be cool to see what all these blogger's refrigerators look like inside. I am always amazed at how empty mine always looks. I guess we don't eat much. I do cook a lot and bake, but I guess I only buy the essentials and I use things up like every week.

On the door I have eggs butter, and condiments. Lots of them.
Then inside, there is juice and sippy cups - b/c my boy loves to drink. And the other thing you will find is more eggs (we seem to go through that a lot), yogurt, and cheese. ha. We love our dairy. There is milk back there too. And left overs. And the prize possession - cinnamon raisin english muffins (b/c our grocery store had them on sale for buy one get 2 free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Under neath the last shelf is a drawer - and I keep my produce - didn't take a pic, but there is apples, carrots, peppers, grapes, and strawberries for now. :)

I hate a dirty cluttered fridge so I do try to clean it out all the time.

It's been fun looking through other people's fridges - hop on over to Moms got to Blog and link up a pic of yours.

And apparently - I'm the only one who hates vacuuming in the world . .. Check out my last post here

Worst "chore" ever!!!!!!!!

So I know everyone has a chore that they hate doing! There is always one or two (or 5) things that any mother puts off as long as possible and does the least often as possible. Mine is Vacuuming!!!! Maybe it's b/c I grew up in Ecuador where floors were all cement, and we hardly had rugs to vacuum (notice I blame everything on living in a 3rd world country growing up). Anyways - I just hate it. I hate to move everything off the floor, I hate that the vacuum cleaner is so heavy, i hate having to take off the little hose to get in the crevices!! It's just so annoying. Our apartment has the living room (small) carpeted, and the stairs to upstairs and the bedrooms with carpet. It's also very easy to mask the need for vacuuming b/c of the color of the carpet, so that is a bad thing for me. I store the vacuum cleaner upstairs, so I always have to lug it down stairs to do the living room. And our house is pretty small, so there is not much Open space to just go through fast with the vacuum. (I'm getting really sick of typing "vacuum" and I have to think about it every time b/c the spelling is weird). All that coupled with the fact that it's such a loud noise. i hate loud noises, I don't like movie theaters b/c they are so loud, I don't like our coffee grinder, blender, or food processor b/c they are so loud! I don't even like the tv or music turned up. I must have sensitive ears or something, it drives me nutzo!!!! and it freaks out my babies, they hate it. (maybe it's b/c I don't do it that much) All that to admit that I don't vacuum that much!!!! i know that probably grosses EVERY ONE out!!! sorry, but I'm not even that ashamed to admit it. Richard does a lot of the vacuuming in this house. I know it's so gross. I sweep my kitchen at least once a day, and the thought of all that dirt being in my rugs sorta grosses me out, but I can't see it so I ignore it! I know - so gross. (we don't have animals though, so it's not terrible). Just dusty I think . . .

Well all this to say - I VACUUMED THE ENTIRE HOUSE TODAY!!!!!!!!! yes, every nook and cranny, every ounce of carpet, even the stairs even the crevices. I vacuumed. I was so proud of myself. I put it off all the time, I hardly get it done, and richard ends up doing it for me. but this week, I put it on my list of things to do - and I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!

The saddest part of all this - the entire time i was vacuuming I was thinking through what i was going to write about. hahahahaha, that's so weird and sad at the same time.

before you judge me - I clean my kitchen all the time, I do the dishes all the time, i clean my bathroom all the time, and i change my sheets and do my laundry very consistently. i even sorta enjoy doing cleaning my bathroom and kitchen. My stove is usually clean, along with my microwave, trashcan and toaster. :) So we don't live in a pigs sty, I just don't like to vacuum!

What's your most dreaded chore?

Muffins!

Someone read this on Mother's day! I have been holding onto it for a random day to post on my blog. Most of you have probably already read it, but it is so true. The life of a mother. But I would venture to say this is probably how any woman's day goes, even if you work, woman's minds just go crazy from one thing to the next.

This describes my days so well - its amazing anything gets accomplished around here. Somehow we get it all done though. (or at least enough to stay afloat) :) Now all this talk about Muffins - I must got warm up my coffee again, and eat some breakfast!

If you give a Mom a Muffin!

If you give a mom a muffin, she'll want a cup of coffee to go with it. She'll pour herself some. Her three-year-old will spill the coffee. She'll wipe it up. Wiping the floor, she will find dirty socks. She'll remember she has to do laundry. When she puts the laundry in the washer, she'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer. Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper. She will get out a pound of hamburger. She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With A Pound Of Hamburger.) The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail. She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow. She will look for her checkbook. The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old. She'll smell something funny. She'll change the two-year-old. While she is changing the two-year-old the phone will ring. Her five-year-old will answer and hang up. She'll remember that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee. Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup. She will pour herself some. And chances are, if she has a cup of coffee, her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

by Kathy Fictorie

Refreshing especially for moms!!!

But really - anyone should be challenged, convicted and encouraged by these words. Let's live life b/c of the gospel, bring glory to him, no matter what our circumstances are!!!! God loves us; he saved us through the death of His Son, let's enjoy life, live to bring glory to him and love others!

I ran across this blog post today - and really think every one should read it!

http://www.girltalkhome.com/blog/lean-back-and-be-content

Please click on the link and go read it!!!!

Where's waldo?????

The other day we were out in the yard playing and stuff. We were starting our grill (that seriously doesn't work, and the charcoal never gets very hot, and it literally takes an hour to cook 2 hamburgers) and waiting for our friends to come over. I was busy in the house with the food, and Richard was playing with the boys. Then I walked outside and saw this. Can you find Landon??????? hahaha, he looks so little out there. I thought it was so funny that I took a pic and it looks even funnier in the picture. This tiny dot of a baby out in the yard all by himself. (I know the yard grass looks awful, and we rent, so we don't care that much) But Landon sat out there content as can be for a long time. Funny huh!!!

So I always see pics of people putting their kids in the bathtub together and I think, that must be so easy and way better way of doing it. One day I thought, "Landon is older now, he would like it, and we should try it". Richard was not too excited about it, but since I'm the mother he thought he would listen to me in regards to the boys baths. Well . . . it did not go well. I was so thankful that Richard was there, Landon could not sit up good in the water (the sloshing was making him topple) and Carson was afraid to sit closest to the drain where it was deeper, weird I know ha, it was chaotic and I just kept laughing while Richard was trying to actually clean them and get this thing over with. I kept laughing seriously laughing, I was crying, saying " this is terrible, why did I want to try this" hahahaha. Richard just kept giggling at me, but was more annoyed that he had to fix the solution while I kept laughing at how terrible it was turning out to be. So we gave it a month or so - and the other night I tried it again. it went much much better!!!! Both boys loved it, and sat great! and let me clean them. So now we will have combined bath times for a while.

It's only 9 AM!

Wow!!! It's been quite the morning and it's only 9 am, and I have a very long list of things I want to accomplish. now I write this not to complain b/c I do enjoy life, but maybe so that everyone can see the funny-ness of life and how you just have to laugh at what happens every day.

I woke up this morning, bright and early, to do my normal routine of spending time with God and then at about 6:30 I put my clothes on and step outside for a run. I'm about 2/3rds of the way done, feeling good, and trip on the sidewalk (sidenote: Scranton has terrible Sidewalks and this was bound to happen sooner or later) and fall straight down, skid across the ground on my knee. never mind how dumb it must've looked, I was in quite a bit of pain, and you know the light headed feeling you get, plus I had just been running for like 2 and half miles. So I got up, made sure I could walk, and started walking home. UGH!!!! Very depressed and watching the bruise appear almost immediately, and the scrape looked gross too!!!!! Very sad day, b/c I wanted to do about 4 miles, but resorted to at least 3 and half. I had about a mile left, so I thought I would start running again. As I'm running up the huge hill close to our house I get shooting pain in my side, worse than a side cramp and have no idea what it is, and have to walk the rest of the way home anyways. WEird, but must be b/c of the scare of the fall, who knows. I get home very depressed about my run, and sorta wanting to cry.

Get home to our fridge not keeping cool (which happens about every 2 weeks). Richard is graciously feeding the boys, I'm trying to make his lunch, while he is trying to unload the freezer to start thawing it out with a blowdrying (which we do every 2 weeks or so). Boys are done eating and crying and running around. Richard decides to cook and egg and sausage for himself before work, and the fire alarm goes off (b/c they are so sensitive for some reason, if even steam comes off my stove the alarm goes off, and they aren't even next to each other) So we have screaming kids, fire alarms, and blowdrying all going at the same time. UGH! hahaha

And the funny part is, I have a cousin once removed that called me yesterday that wanted to see us, they will be in town for today only. So I told him to come for supper. So not only did I just get home from a trip last night, and our kitchen is a mess b/c we are thawing out our freezer so that the fridge will keep our food cold, but now I have to clean, grocery shop for supper, and organize my life before they get here at 3!!!!! While taking care of my 2 boys. All while my knee hurts from falling on it!!!!

Richard and I literally looked at eachother and laughed at the day!!! He left for work, I put Landon down for a nap, and need to get going on my very long list. I need to organize, put stuff away, get a grocery list together, get supper in order, and clean. :) FUN DAY!!!

Plus we are babysitting our neighbors kids for them (we do one night a month for free, and they do it for us one night a month, best deal ever!!!!) tonight after supper. WOW! Crazy day!!!! IT CAN ONLY GET BETTER!!!!!!! And I just might treat myself to an Iced Coffee on my way to the grocery store :)

Have a great Friday everyone!!!!!!!

If you don't know already - my parents ( a.k.a. gramie and grampie ) live in Ecuador South America (again i always specify that b/c someone actually asked me if it was in Africa) They love it there (as did I love growing up there) but something changes for them and us, when they realize they leave their precious family behind to go back there, whereas before we all used to go with them. It kills my mom to not be able to buy/send them stuff for all the little holidays and clothes when they need it. and it kills me to not be able to call them up to watch their grandkids for me at any given day/time!!! even the simple card for holidays with $1 in it, or stickers, or the little valentine or easter basket!!! That is impossible for them to do from Ecuador.

But there are advantages - and they are #1 when we actually do see them - they go ALL OUT!!!! and shower us with blessings upon blessings to help our family!!!! They sacrifice so much so that they can see us and help us out!!!! And my mom more than makes up for not being able to send little cards here and there or bring home little gifts to them!!! Her gift is "gift giving" and i appreciate it more and more the older I keep getting! #2 I know for a fact that we appreciate it more than the average person (I get annoyed when I hear of people complaining about living close to their family and all that entails). we enjoy each and EVERY SINGLE minute together, and our kids LOVE them to death!!!! #3. we dont' get sick of each other #4. my kids will always have memories of very special times with their grandparents!

And another side kick - modern technology is so WONDERFUL!!!! It helps us and our kids stay connected since we live far away from both sides of grandparents!!!

Grampie truly loves his grandkids!!!

So back to why we were together - Well my parents were coming back to surprise my other sister who lives in Minneapolis for her (and her husbands) graduation with their masters. they were able to surprise them! and it was wonderful. Now the confusing part (which by the way - happens all the time when you live in a different country but have roots in the states) - my parents home address and license is in PA where my sister lives - and they both had expired lisences that had to be renewed, so they took a 3 day jaunt to my twin's house and I drove down to be with them during their stay! they flew back to MN today and we had to say good bye! I was so sad this time for some reason - maybe b/c I don't know when we will see them again. I know we will, but don't have a planned time yet.

I had to add a couple pics of the cousins all together!!! They love playing together. They were so worn out from each other by the end.

My Twin - She loves babies :)

and Landon loves her!!!

Cousin was so enthralled with Landon

He kept saying "baby" and

you shoulda seen

his face when I asked if he

wanted to hold the baby :)

these 4 had too much fun!

This last picture was so precious!!!

Love, Love, Love!

3 Months

So it's been 3 months of setting my alarm earlier and getting up before the kiddos and clearing my mind, drinking a whole cup of coffee without interruption and spending time reading my bible, journaling and talking with God. I'm finding a half hour goes by so fast, and I should start some days getting up earlier. Richard is getting up too, and he so helpfully makes the coffee at night and sets the timer for me! I do think it's gotten easier. A little bit anyways, it's now my mindset to just get up. I think the first month was easy for me b/c I was all excited about it, the second and third have been harder. And I will admit there was a week between not feeling well, and being super busy that I did not get up, but after that week was over I got right back on track. Also I haven't been running as much in the mornings b/c I've been going with friends in the evenings. But I've been playing that one by ear as opportunities come up b/c honestly I prefer to run with someone. But there is something about a good, invigorating morning run that cannot be replaced.

I will tell anyone who still thinks it's not for them (which I will say some are different make up) that you should at least try really hard for about 3 months; to get up and clear my head like that is so refreshing. I helps my whole day and my focus for the day. How have you been doing? Has anyone else decided to try it? It will change your life (at least your day :) )

Guilty Pleasures

I'm not sure if these count as guilty pleasures or not, because I'm starting to get calloused to the guilt and just enjoying them to the fullest.

First One - Dunkin Donuts French Vanilla Iced Coffee's with Cream and Sugar. (although the new caramel one is a close second) I know I know, so unhealthy and terrible for you!!! But I LOVE them!!!! I am pretty sure it's official that I'm "addicted" although that seems like a harsh word. it all happened last summer when I was pregnant and it was so hot. and for some reason this Scranton Franchise sells them super cheap - Medium is only $1.47 and sometimes in the summer they go down to $1.16 (at least last summer they did) and they often have $.99 coupon any size in the paper. So it's very cheap guilty pleasure, although I stay away from adding up how many I have and what the price is over time. But I find ways to come by petty cash to fund my guilty pleasure. :) (that is sorta an addiction huh,?? doing anything possible to be able to attain one.) oh well. when i drink hot coffee I drink it black, and I try really hard to not drink calories in my day. I only ever drink water, and we never have anything other than water, milk, and juice for the boys in our fridge. So this is the only time I drink calories. So I excuse myself, and just enjoy each one that I can get. I don't even care if other's judge me for this "addiction" b/c I have no desire to back off. :) Sorry friends. I love it, what can I say????

Second - Lindt Chocolate truffles!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If i was a writer I would describe them to you and it would make you want to go to the store right now - but I'm not. So all I'll say is no matter what variety you get, the hard shell, and the soft smooth filling inside that just melts when you crack the shell and it hits your tongue is ABSOLUTELY amazing!!!!!!! it's the best chocolate to me - as far as what I've been exposed to in my life. The hazelnut are my favorite and second most favorite is the Dark chocolate.! HMMMMMM so yummy!!!! And really - I could eat a whole bag in one sitting - although I try to limit myself to 2 a day when we have them on stock (which is only after bdays, mother's day, and valentine's day, or our anniversary :) )

I'd be interested to know what your "guilty pleasures" are or what makes your day better. what do you treasure and enjoy and look forward to??????

How Could I have missed it!

oh I know - we had a super busy celebratory weekend. :)

I'm talking about Landon being 8 Months old. he turned 8 Months old on Mother's day!!!!! Boy i can't believe it. He is so much fun. Really and truly he is at a perfect stage right now. He takes 2 naps very regularly - he eats 3 meals a day, and he is sleeping like 12 hrs at night. And he is pretty consistent. B/c of his consistency he is pleasant little guy. He can sit up finally! and it's so nice for me to just sit him somewhere. He can spin around on the floor and roll around. But he isn't too close to crawling yet. He sorta is starting to pull his legs up under him, but mostly pushes the toys away from him, and then gets frustrated b/c he has nothing he can reach to play with. he smiles ALL the time, but doesn't laugh out loud too much. But when he does - it's so cute and we love it. He loves his momma - that's for sure. It seems to be getting a little worse, but I don't mind it yet. I'm not worried about that. He loves Carson just as much I think. They are so funny together. I can hardly feed landon b/c he's always turning his head to find where carson is. ha - it's funny. he has tons of teeth. I think like 6 or something. (side note: I think I'm the only mother that has a hard time knowing how many teeth they have. #1 -he bites my fingers every time i put them in his mouth; #2 he twists and turns and he doesn't like my fingers to be in his mouth #3 between the slober, normal bumps, and rigged teeth how do you know how many there are. so I just wait until they are big and then count them. ) Nevertheless - he is teething, but only has moments that he is miserable, and it's not been too bad.

--- I don't know why Landon likes Carson so much. He is so rough with him, and Landon doesn't seem to mind at all. One example - I walked into the living room, and Landon was on his stomach, Carson was straddling him, and then falling on his back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and Landon wasn't complaining at all!!!! Carson grabs every single toy away from him (btw - we are working on that), throws stuff at him, pushes him, rolls him over whether he wants it or not, and is just plain rough, but Landon seems to enjoy the interaction. So I guess it's fine. (we do work on it with carson and it is better, but boy - they are going to have lots of fun wrestling in a few months)

I just always think back to when he was born - the whole ordeal of my water breaking 6 weeks early, labor not kicking in, delivering him VBAC (which I was so happy about), not being able to hold him, and him being in the NICU for 6 days, pumping, going into hospital to be with him, the jaundice, all of that - and look at him now! those bad memories are just a spec in my memory now, he is such a joy and blessing, and has no problems from any of that. Our life is normal now and so thankful for him!!!!

BTW - pics taken were the ones that our friends did - they do an excellent job!!!!!!!! We are so happy with them! and we have so many to choose from

Who needs them anyways??!!??

Cars that is!!!!!

We have had so many car issues the last year and half. We have put dollars after dollars (lots of them) into getting our dumb car fixed and it still doesn't work!!!!!!

We have had our fuel pump replaced 2 times before this, and it broke again!!!!! Supposedly there is gunk in our fuel tank that keeps ruining our pumps, so now we have to pay $1000 to get a new fuel tank!!! And why didn't you do this the first time it broke, and before we paid you to fix it twice and all the other problems you decided to find when you were looking at our car???? This is my question to the mechanic. Richard is in charge of the cars and I am very thankful for that, but he always asks me what I think and talks with me before he decides anything. I appreciate that too. He has spent hours upon hours fixing things himself, figuring it out by himself, and then hours researching, and talking with the mechanic, and things just keep breaking!!! Big things too!!! (like wheel barrings, breaks, fuel pumps, electrical things)

We knew the fuel pump was going out earlier last week, but we were hoping it would limp around until after the weekend, since it was a very exciting weekend, and a very busy one, and one that we needed a car that fits our family in, so we could go to all the fun events. But no, after graduation rehearsal it decides to not turn on anymore!!!!!!!!!! (it was like it knew it was a busy weekend for us) (btw - everything did work out and we are grateful for friends/family who helped us out)

So here we are again, at the mercy of what the mechanic tells us to do. At the mercy of the internet and it's vast knowledge. And at the mercy of my husband's time constraints. He is so busy at it is, with life, and now this. :( poor guy!!!!

And now - do we just cut our loses, fix what we can, try to sell it, and buy a different van/car???? (with practically no money for downpayment or monthly payments) UGH!!!! Sometimes I wish my mom could make a decision for me again!!!!

Comments I've heard come out of Richard's mouth lately in regards to the car - "There needs to be automobile socialization - everyone has the same car! and when it breaks the government replaces it - and we don't have to worry about it." or "lets move to NYC and walk everywhere and use public transportation", or "we should've bought the Honda when we were deciding between the two 5 yrs ago" or "every time I ride in a newer vehicle I get slightly jealous that it runs nicely" or "I'm going to be stuck in Scranton forever b/c every time I try to figure things out to leave, something happens" (this one made me the most sad, b/c it shows his discouragement in the situation).

But we strive to find the "funny" in it. We know God always works it out, provides for all our needs, and takes care of us. I am confident we will be fine. Just praying for wisdom to make the right decisions

No this is not ours - but it's nice huh :)

Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day

I am blessed to be a mother.

It brings me so much joy and

satisfaction. I never knew how many emotions

you can feel as a human being until I became

a mother. I am intimidated by the

responsibility but at the same time

honored to be chose to be a mother.

It also helps that I have an Awesome husband

who helps make my job easier.

but I'll save that for Father's day! :)

I love my sons, and I love my days at home

with them.

I hope everyone out there has a great day

And I hope my mother has a wonderful day.

I could be the person or mother I am if not for her

example and love and sacrifice.

She is AMAZING!!!!

Celebrations

This weekend is going to be full of Celebrations - and if you know me at all or my extended family - we LOVE celebrations :) (comes from my mom's side of the family).

First is Richard's Graduation from the Grad department at Baptist Bible College. He worked hard for 3 years, working full time and crazy irregular hours (24 hr response job to fire and water damages for home owners), he took all hard classes like Greek, Hebrew, and theology classes and got AWESOME grades all while trying to help out at church as much as possible, have a social life, and be a great father and husband. He sacrificed his hobbies, and money to maintain a stable family and keep his grades up, and always working hard to Glorify God in everything he did. He is a humble man and as faithful to people/commitments as anyone I know!!!!!

On Saturday he will walk in his regalia proudly. Though not the degree he originally planned for - he has learned so much, and we have grown so much in our lives and experience. I will proudly be there for him and probably be more excited that he is - or at least showing it. :)

It stinks that not more family can come out. But it is our fault. :) Richard is never one to do things inside the box and how everyone else is supposed to. Everything he does he likes to do different than the flow, so how could I expect his degree to be any different. :) We just found out a few short weeks ago this was a possibility so no time to plan for anyone. We know our family is proud of him, and they are as sad or more sad than we are that they cannot be here. One of his sisters will be here and we are happy for that. It still does not diminish the accomplishment. :)

(although I am having a hard time figuring out what to do with my boys b/c we don't have family in to help, but it will all work out ok)

Then the next celebration is Mother's Day!!! Is it obnoxious of me to be super excited about this day. I told Richard "this day is almost better than my birthday" :) My birthday I did nothing to obtain and love that day so much, but don't deserve any praise at all. Mother's day is thanking me for being a mother and all the work I put into it. All of us mothers out there understand it is constant sacrificing of everything, and we gladly do it!!!!! And Mother's day is the day we get recognized for it!!!!! WOOOHOO!!!! Richard is great at making it special too. He knows me well.

So I'm excitedly waiting for this weekend to come to do all the celebrating!!!!!!

Jewelry

Some of you know that I've gotten into the hobby of making Jewelry. My sister is better at it, and sells it a lot. I picked it up from her, and really love when we get together and can put things together and she can show me new ideas. She is very good at it.

I wanted to post a few items that I have made recently. I enjoy doing it. I am open to trying to sell it, but don't know if I'm cut out for it.

recently a friend has asked me to make specific things for specific outfit or person, and I loved having a reason to put something together with a goal. So if anyone is interested, spread the word that I am available and would love to make something for them. If you're interested in any of this, let me know. I'm open to selling it but don't want the pressure of keeping up a website for it yet. But just was wondering if this will help spread the word

Mother's day trio

Green

Wrap around bracelet. One of my favorites

another favorite: No Name :)

Birthday present

Blue Zebra

Silver chain and earings.

It's a relaxing hobby - and its getting easier to come up with ideas. Now I just need more reasons to make stuff and go shopping for more beads. :)

Children's Advocacy Center Moonlight 5K race

My friends who let me run with them

Josh did the 10K. He did great!!!

Caren and I did the 5K and

got good times.

My boys came to support me. :)
Thank you loving husband

to stay with them for so long

while they were cranky in that stroller

just so I could run. :)

Starting out the run!!! Can you see us?? :)

At the first Mile - Feeling great still :)

Sprinting to the end.

It's been a hobby of mine to pick up running for a while. Although I must say - I am in no way considering myself a runner. It's sorta joke compared to a lot of people that I know that are true "runners". But I try a little, and enjoy it. I do aspire one day to be good at it and run good times and long distances, but for now, I keep it as my hobby. :)

I had done one other race but that was over a year and half ago. A 5K is 3.1 miles. I have been running up to 4 miles pretty consistently so I wasn't too afraid of the distance. It was more just nerves for the race, I was kinda nervous. It was way funner (that's probably not good grammar) to run with a friend and that helped. I felt great the whole race. At the end I sorta wished I had pushed myself a little harder, but it's hard to pace yourself when you don't know the course or exactly how far you have to go still. I was afraid I would push and then lose steam and didn't want that to happen. I came in around 28.14 which I was happy with. (but I know to all your "runners" out there, it's not that good of a time) (The time thing did get messed up b/c I didn't know to go into a certain spot with my little ankle timer thing, that's b/c of my inexperience I guess; i saw the clock as I ran past, so that's the time I'm using :)). I had plenty of energy left at the end and the adrenaline kicked in and I blew past a couple people right at the end, that's a good feeling, but in my heart I know I could've started sprinting earlier and maybe beaten my goal of getting under 28. But it was hard to know how far I had. Oh well. Next time maybe I'll have a fancy watch that keeps my pace and time and distance. :) (if I become a "real runner" )

My next personal goal is to do a 10K which would be 6.2 miles. I definitely know I can do it. and depending on how my life goes, maybe I will do it this year. :)

Overall, I'm glad to donate to a good cause to protect children, and I'm so happy for the experience. It makes the waking up early to run in the AM a little more exciting when you do something like this in the end. :) Thank you Michaels for letting me do it with you - it was so much fun!!!!!!