Answered

So the problem with signing up for marathon #2 is that I've already run one marathon so I know I can do it. With the 1st one I thought I had to do every training run because I was scared if I didn't I wouldn't be able to finish the marathon in 6 hours. Well no need to worry I finished it in 5 hours and 55 minutes and that was with stopping to take pictures at every mile mark, stopping for the potty 4 times (there were 3 of us), stopping to chat with our hubbies at the half way point, etc. I felt great when I finished and didn't ever hit a wall. So this go around I keep thinking ahhh it's no big deal I can do it. SO I've missed several training runs and actually have a bad attitude about training. I've talked with my running partner and she has the same bad attitude so we decided we better get it together and change our attitude. I tried and tried but just didn't want to run and hated when I did, every run felt hard and I wasn't having fun. I have a marathon in October so I need to train and I promised my sister-in-law that I'd run it with her and since it's her first I can't let her down. So last night I decided to pray to my Heavenly Father and ask for his help.
Well guess what?
This morning I woke up at 5am and jumped right out of bed. Even though I went to bed at midnight last night so I didn't get much sleep I was still rested. I got ready and as I left I was excited to run again. I ran the first 3 miles and felt great, next 3 still great. Even towards the finish I was still feeling good, tired but good!
When I got home I realized that my prayer had been answered!
Along the trail I saw a deer, a skunk and so many bugs it was crazy! At one point I was running into a swarm of bugs and the 2 girls I was running with started laughing because they were all over me. When we stopped to get water I had them stuck to my neck and on my ipod. Gross! Ya know what's even worse, when I took a shower today I had bugs down my shirt.
Although I am super thankful today because even with all the bugs I still enjoyed it and it felt great!

joy

Went to the zoo with my 4 year old son today. He's such a cutie patootie! He talks my ear off and I love it!
To have the excitement of a child again would be wonderful, wouldn't it?
I mean, he jumps around excited about everything. When I told him we were going to the zoo he responded with, "yay, I love the zoo!"
On the flip side when he's mad, I know he's mad. That boy can throw a mean fit! He amazes me! :) Still I always know where I stand with him either he loves me and I'm so nice or he hates me and I'm the worst mom but he's not shy about letting me know.
We saw some camels at the zoo today and he said, "mom are them real?" (I love the way he talks, everything is them him or her) I said, "Yes they are." He says, "Wow I never knew that." and then he ran towards them to take a look. We saw two parrots in one cage and he said, "mom are both of them real?" When I told him yes he was so excited to see two "real" parrots. At one point he told me he was thirsty so I sent him over to the little statue of a lion that is a drinking fountain. He started laughing and said, "mom, him's not real. I know that!"
Oh the joy he brings to my life.
I love him and it makes me want to try harder each day to be thankful for the simple things and find joy in my journey!

What goes around comes around

Recently my sister blogged about how her 1 year old daughter had chewed up a library book and then took a bath with another one, for more click here.
I laughed so hard when she was telling me the story but somehow as I sit here looking at yet another set of books that are late to be returned and the fees stacking up I'm not thinking it's so funny. My highest fee yet has been $15 but then the next time I paid $12 and now this time it's $12 again. I think I might be better off to go buy books instead of checking them out for "free." Every time we leave the library my oldest son says, "I can't believe we can just take these books for free, completely free can you even believe that?" In my head I think really free? I'm pretty sure I need to add a category for library fines to my budget or maybe I should call it a membership fee that sounds a little better. You think my husband would go for a $30 membership fee to the library each month?
So there you go Abb now you can laugh your head off at me and my library fiasco.

What have I been up to?

I'm potty training my youngest son, ugh, need I say more?

On to the main course

So this morning I asked Kaden if he was ready for me to get him some cereal. (remember he's 2) and he replied with, "Yep I'm ready, I'm all done eating my boogers." So there you have it apparently if it takes me that long in the morning to get him some cereal he's gonna find something himself, boogers.

Where have I been?

Seriously where have I been for so long? December 8th, is that really the last time I posted on this blog? Can't be.

I had a great holiday, spent a week at my parents cabin in the snowy mountains. Which speaking of mountains. I was driving with my 4 year old son, Tyce, the other day. We were on our way to my sisters house to go tie quilts for the kids for Christmas. He looked out the window and could see the mountains and made some comment about them. I replied with, "Your cousin Dylan lives just over those mountains." He turns to me and says, "He lives in the smoky mountains (there was fog on the top of the mountains)." I said, "Yep just over the smoky mountain." He then says, "That would be a great place to pray mom."
My reply, "Oh really."
Tyce, "Ya you could climb the smoky mountain and pray to the Lord."
Me, "What would you pray about?"
Tyce, "Anything. Like if Dylan lost a toy he could climb up the mountain and pray to the Lord to find it."
He is so much fun and I have to say this is one of my favorite conversations I've had with him in the last month. What child says, you could climb a mountain and go pray to the Lord? He's so cute!
I also spent like 2 full weeks making Christmas cards. When I decided to make my own Christmas cards I didn't think it would take that long but it ended up taking me nearly 2 weeks off and on to finish them all. Take a look, I actually think they turned out super cute.

The downfall . . . . . . well they have buttons on the front so apparently when they go through the machine at the post office the buttons end up shredding the envelope. So some people got them with a shredded envelope and my sister who lives about 45 min. away actually got her Christmas card with 20 cents postage due, it was shredded and in a clear plastic post office envelope. So there you go that's a great sign that the economy is bad you get a Christmas card with postage due! :D If I didn't laugh my head off when she called to tell me what happened I might have been embarrassed. Luckily everyone else I talked to did not have to pay postage for our cards. Cute none the less!
I also went to a favorites party. This is one of the things I look forward to every January. My friend has about 12 of us over and we all bring a list of our top 10 things from the past year, we bring something to give everyone, we bring our favorite dish to share and a recipe. It's great and we end up with so many awesome ideas to try. Love it, love it!
Anyway, just thought I'd let you all know (abb that's you) I'm back, but not for long because Thursday I leave to California for a couple days. Yeah sunshine here I come!

Spreading Christmas Cheer

I absolutely love the holiday season with all the fun things to do. One of my kids favorite things to do is to help create an advent calendar or if they don't help make it just to help eat the treats! This year I created one with my sister-in-laws, it was so much fun to make and we are just loving it.



Usually I add a scripture or a thought on Christ to each day but this year I only had time to put treats in it. So tonight for Family Night I'm going to allow each of my boys to help me fill the calendar with thoughts or kind deeds that they can do for each other or scripture stories that they love to hear told. It always seems to be more meaningful when you help so I'm trying to make this years calendar more meaningful for them.
Another great idea is to choose a family or friend to do the 12 days of Christmas for and to think of ideas to give them on each day. I've been pondering this for a few weeks now trying to decide what family we can do something for. So tonight is the night we choose the family and then we'll spend this week getting preparations done so that we just have to deliver something every night and it doesn't turn into a big hassle.
Happy Holidays everyone! For more ideas on Family Moments Monday visit Motherhood for Dummies.