I Did It!!!

I. Don't. Run. Did you see the period at the end of that sentence? Because it was a pretty declarative statement. I remember the fourth grade, being the second to the last person to finish the one mile run--and I'm pretty sure the other kid was walking. I have never been able to run. Whenever we did those Presidential Fitness programs in school I always counted on the "sit-and-reach" and "arm hang" (girls didn't have to do chin-ups) to make up for my truly embarrassing running times. When I learned in health class that certain people are more "white meat" muscles and others are more "dark meat" I just assumed I was the one who couldn't run.

I moved to Arizona last year, which happened to be only an hour and change from my little sister, Stacy. I was talking to her in January when she mentioned she was running a 5k in October. I decided to do it with her. I was extremely nervous, but I thought I had ten months to train so I could probably handle it. Being a new SAHM, I needed a goal to work towards.

When I first started running I could run exactly .2 miles, from our house to our park. That's it. Embarrassing, right? I hadn't run a mile in over 15 years, and had never run more than a mile in my entire life. But I started slow. And kept at it.

In May Stacy and I ran a 2 mile race in Prescott. We came in at about 22 minutes and were extremely proud of ourselves. To be fair, it was a very hilly course. I started working towards three miles, buying a treadmill so I could run inside during these awful Arizona summers.

Then I got up to three miles! Awesome!

(Stacy and I getting ready to run the Anthem Turkey Trot 5k.)
(Me, Stacy, and others from the Eyecare Associates of Prescott team, running the October Fight Against Diabetes 5k.)

A funny thing happened one night in August as I was preparing for our October race. I ran four miles. I realize that to my awesome running friends this is a nice warm-up; but to me it was incredible. I began to get the feeling that maybe I really could run. I decided, as I was running and had nothing to do but think, that maybe I could do more than I thought. I decided to run a 10k in December. I called my father-in-law, Ray, and asked him if he wanted to run with me. He is amazing and jumped right in.

Over the next two months Stacy and I ran our two 5k races and I slowly worked up to my 6.2 miles. When December came I was able to run a nice race, I didn't feel winded or tired, just happy to see everyone.
McKay ran up to meet Ray, who promptly picked him up and ran him across the finish line. Logan joined in soon after this was taken. Cutie!
I finished with a time of 1:01 and change. Had I known I was that close I would have picked it up a little more!

So why the long post? Because I have told myself for 20 years that I can't run. And I can. It might not be fast, and it might not be pretty, but I can do it. So what other things have I told myself that I can't do? I learned that while I may not have innate talents in certain areas, that doesn't mean that they are impossible. It may take a whole year to do it, but it can be done. Now I'm trying to decide what to do for next year.

What have you told yourself you "can't" do?

Thanksgiving!

A holiday for eating? Count me in. My Mom flew down to hang out with us for a week, and Stacy and Lilly came to join the fun. The kids enjoyed playing with each other:

And they especially loved all the extra attention they received from Grandma!

We took the boys to the Train Park, where they got to take a ride and play on the equipment.

Of course they thought they should climb on the roof:

I'm not really a fan of pumpkin pie (gross), so I made some alternatives:

Loren cooked a delicious turkey, after participating in a hard fought turkey bowl. Stacy, Mom and I thought it would be a great idea to go to the Anthem Outlets at 10 pm on Thanksgiving, which was insanely crowded. We stood in line for two hours, and the interstate was backed up an hour as well. After getting home at midnight we thought it would be great fun to get up at 4:00 for more shopping! Three stores and we were home by 7 to greet our waking kiddos! Um. Perhaps not my smartest move ever. My best purchase was 30 batteries for $3.50. Maybe next year I'll pay extra and sleep.

What a great week!

Logan is Four!

I cannot believe our little guy is four already! Sometimes it seems as though we've always had him, and other times it feels as though we had him just yesterday. Logan is such a good kid. He is pretty mellow and low key. He is also shy until he warms up. He is so funny in that sometimes he is afraid to show his excitement, and the happier he is the smaller his smile gets. Logan will still cuddle with me, and want to be carried. He really likes to "fix" things with Daddy, and bake with Mommy.

Logan loves Lightning McQueen, he has worn out our copy of the video and consistently asks for McQueen related presents. Here he is blowing out the candle on the Lightning McQueen cake my Mom made for him (notice I took their shirts off before giving them cake--I learned a few things in these four years).

For his birthday we had his Grandma, Aunt Stacy, and cousin Lilly come over for dinner and presents. He has so many people who love him! We also brought cupcakes to park day and preschool, and went out to McDonalds with a friend to celebrate.

In his new Lightning McQueen bedroom, complete with a Cars bedspread and pillow (courtesy of my mom).
The other night while Logan was saying his prayers he mentioned "and thank you to my loyal fans." We sure do love our little guy!

I love Anthem!

I love, love, love Anthem for Halloween. Growing up in Montana, you really only got to wear a mask because the rest of your costume was covered by your snow suit. Your mom waited in the car with the heat running, and you dashed from house to house. We never even had any trick or treaters brave coming to our house--it was grad school before I ever had to buy candy. Here in Arizona you can wear whatever you want, it is perfect weather. Our neighborhood is so awesome for Halloween, everyone decorates and gets out and has block parties, with food for the parents and treats for the kids. The houses are close as well, so you can clean up in a short amount of time. People are also very generous with the little ones.

Nothing like McKay being a cheeseball to get you in the holiday spirit! His favorite color is orange, and he constantly wanted to wear his pumpkin shirt.

Ah, he cleans up well! Such a ferocious looking dragon!
Very official looking fire fighter.
When it was time for trick-or-treating we were joined by my sister, brother-in-law, and niece Lilly. Aren't they so cute? Stacy, also feeling deprived from Montana Halloween, was a trick-or-treating machine. Finally, Logan asked if he could go home and go to bed. Silly kid.
We love having family close, McKay especially likes getting cuddles from Stacy.

Trampolines, Space, and First Days of School

Not the greatest picture, I know, but I ran out of batteries before I could take another one. I took the boys to "JumpStreet" with their friends--basically a big bouncy/trampoline place. If you know anything about McKay you know that the kid loves to bounce. All. The. Time. He rocks himself to sleep, he rocks when he's in his car seat, he rocks when he's bored... Needless to say, it was his favorite day ever. Logan was excited just to play with his friends, McKay was excited to spend two and a half hours in perpetual motion. It was a good nap day.

Some day in October, I can't remember which one, was a free museum day sponsored by the Smithsonian. We took the kids to the Space Center, the kids reaction can pretty much be summed up in the picture below:

A little unsure and hesitant. I think they were maybe a little too young, there were a lot of displays they couldn't touch. But, hey, it was free! And they got to eat ice cream made with liquid nitrogen. Maybe we'll try again when they are a little older. We did manage to find some fun:
The big news since the last post was that Logan started preschool! He just goes once a week for three hours, but he loves it! Miss Amy at Busy Kids does a great job, and I already knew most of the kids/moms involved. He has made great progress on writing his name and loves to come home and show us his projects. He got a Lightning McQueen backpack to start school, and he feels like such a big boy when he sports it.

Logan

Just two quick notes that I didn't want to forget.

One: I am learning to be a mom of boys. Today while I was running on the treadmill I managed to make a ramp and race cars with Logan, all without breaking my stride or slowing down. I'm learning how to deal with all this boy stuff! Of course, Logan mostly liked to drop cars on the treadmill and watch them go careening off the back.

Two: Logan's hair is kept really short, so we never really brush it. Today he got out of the shower and decided to use my comb. Then, my quiet, shy, sweet little boy looked in the mirror and said, "I look dangerous."

Hysterical.

McKay is Two!

McKay turned two in August, which is so incredible to me. He is so, so tiny, he is still in 12 month clothes. But he is funny, and loving, and often a pill. He believes that he can get out of anything by dimpling up, the sad thing is, it works more than I would care to admit. McKay loves Thomas the Train, Elmo, cars, and playing with anything that Logan has.

I love him looking down at the Elmo cake, while Logan is obviously thrilled about the prospect of sugar.

He is excited to be in a rocking contraption, as he rocks himself to sleep every night. We actually had to pad his crib because the rocking got so loud, and the back of his head starting losing hair.

My mom got him a new tricycle, which the boys love to fight over. Logan thinks it is his "motorcycle" which he can only drive while wearing his red fire fighter hat and sunglasses. I don't know why.

With his new scooter, tricycle, and Thomas the Train remote control and tracks. He is obviously excited for the "manly" toys.

Excited for cake! One of my favorite things about him is that he calls his special blanket "tee-tee," just like I did. No one ever mentioned it, he just did it. He also tells me he loves me every night, and will still cuddle with me. My favorite part of the day may be listening to his morning conversations with Loren. He wakes up singing, so every day I hear Bob the Builder or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I will take it over the beep of an alarm any day! Although, he doesn't have a snooze button. I love the little guy!

Family fun

We enjoyed our chance to stay and play with the awesome Chase families of Utah and Idaho. We had sushi with Grandma and Grandpa and Brent and Lori, and crashed Kevin and Becky’s house. The kids absolutely adored hanging out with their cousins, playing in the pool, tinkering with trains, and enjoying the green yard. Thanks for putting up with us, guys! It was so fun to be with you! I didn’t get my camera out much, but here is McKay enjoying his first corn on the cob (raw).

And, as a testament to how much fun Logan had, he didn’t even make it ten minutes in the car before this:

McKay, of course, the little turkey, was a bit more perky.

All in all, a great trip, a nice escape from the heat. Happy times with loved ones!

We love weddings

The real purpose of our Utah visit, to see our friend Betsy get married, was amazing. I only cried a little. But, it was her wedding and not ours, so here are just a few pictures.

We love you, Betsy!

It has been almost 8 years since we got married here. Aww.

BYU Cougars!

I had worked with the kids all week, teaching them the BYU fight song so that they would be prepared for our visit. It was so fun to see everyone, have some J-Dawgs, eat some fudge, and enjoy the beauty of Provo. We stayed with my awesome former boss Duane, who graciously put up with our shenanigans. I didn’t get any great shots on campus, but I got some adorable ones at Betsy’s reception that evening.

What happens in Vegas…is pretty tame, actually

We decided to not push our luck, and broke up our Utah trip into two parts. We did this at the last possible minute, booking a hotel the day we left. Loren’s brilliant idea? Circus Circus in Vegas, baby! Actually, this was a fabulous idea. The only problem was that we got in at 11 at night, and had to stand in line for an hour! What a ridiculous city! I could not believe there was such a line at that hour of night. The kids were a little unsure of the situation, so I did what any good mom would… changed them while we stood in line and then plied them with Fruit Roll Ups. What? It was midnight and they had been in the car for five hours. Don’t judge me.

After a nice rousing rendition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and “Bob the Builder” at 4 am (courtesy of McKay, who sings himself to sleep) we all woke up at a nice leisurely 9 am. Heaven. We decided to get the wiggles out before driving another 5 hours, so we took them on a few rides…

And then got $5 worth of tickets and let them play a few games. You can tell Logan/Daddy had some good times. The kitties they won are named “Lightning McQueen” and “Racecar.” After a manager saw the boys fighting over Racecar, he gave a kitty to McKay as well.

Just look at the joy.

We got a great big convoy…

Now if only we could avoid the car ride.

Getting out of the heat!

One Friday we decided to get out of the heat and head up to Flagstaff. We went ninety minutes north and went from 110 to 82. Ahhh....

One of the activities we tried was the lava tubes. Perhaps a better idea in concept than reality. I think the kids will really like the caves when they are a few years older, but it was cold and wet and they had to climb down a bunch of boulders. Logan wanted to get out right away. It is kind of strange when you think of it, he wants to climb all over everything until he has permission...

We also stopped by the Pioneer Museum so the boys could see the trains. They loved it, of course. They were sad they couldn't go in the trains, but we got plenty of smiles just for getting up close.

McKay kept asking where Thomas the Train was.
Logan picked up this little passport booklet at the visitor center--a former train station. He carried it around everywhere, and when I was reading in the hotel that night he decided he wanted to read his book as well.

It was too cloudy to go to the observatory, but we had fun going to a small Greek restaurant and checking out the shops. Loren grew up in Flagstaff so we saw his old house, elementary school and playing fields.

August has just started so I wouldn't be surprised if we had to go back!

Random Dimply Cuteness

Is dimply even a word? These didn't fit any where else, but he is just too cute not to share. I posted several entries tonight, so settle in with a nice glass of ice water and scroll on down. Unless you are still in Montana, then maybe a hot chocolate.

There is a picture in Loren's baby book that looks exactly like this! Change the eye color and it is a little spooky! Both cuties!

Ah, love my boy!

Don't Judge Me (Nerds Part Two)

Well, I don't dress up in costume and wait in line for a movie to come out, because that would be way too nerdy. However, throwing a party before a movie comes out? Totally fun!

Mary, Lisa and I (aren't we cute?) decided that we needed to throw a party in honor of the movie Eclipse (now in theaters!)

We got together some of the biggest Twilight fans we knew (looking awesome, ladies), and had a great girls night in. We played some Twilight Scene-It, had a very intense Jacob v. Edward debate, and listened to a very entertaining and educational PowerPoint presentation on Stephenie Meyers. We might have also learned how to stalk her, but I can neither confirm nor deny. You will have to check Lisa's blog. And her directions.
We also had awesome themed foods. Here is some lovely red soda.
Some puppy chow and Emily's chocolate muffins.
And, of course, red hots and vampire cookies. We also had fortune cookies with movie quotes, apples and red velvet cake. Thanks, Mary for the great job on the food. Lisa, nicely done on the entertainment. Thanks for coming ladies! (PS--We still haven't seen the movie yet, but are planning for next week... who's in?)