I did it!

I officially signed up for the half-marathon in Olympia for May 16th! I also have a great new running coach/friend who has written up a training schedule for me and is doing all my long runs with me. These next 7 weeks will be hard training, but I am ready! I already completed my longest run yet, 13 miles, last weekend and I did speed work yesterday. I have always hated speed work and I have always hated training schedules, but something in me has changed and I want to go as prepared as possible to this half-marathon, so I can get a good idea of how I might do for the full marathon that I hope to do in October.

The October marathon is in St George, Utah and my hopes, dreams, and goals are to qualify for Boston at that marathon. I am officially inviting all who want to sign up in my group for St George marathon to let me know as sign-ups are April 1st! I am so excited that my mother-in-law, Lynn, is going to sign up with me and my friend here in WA, Sally, is going to sign up as well. So, wish me luck with my training, and pray that my feet will cooperate with me!!

Beautiful View

I really did not have a great day today, actually my life has been turned upside down for the last almost two weeks and I am not really sure what "normal" will feel like anymore. I recently had an event in my life that will change me forever and I am not sure if it's a good change or not. I feel the need to just write and express some of my thoughts and emotions right now. Some of this may not make sense to anyone else, but the thoughts in my head aren't exactly normal for me right now either, so this blog is really just for me to let some of this out and express my fears and emotions.

I have had so many emotions since this event; fear, sadness, empathy, love, anxiousness, anger.. which have made me ponder so many aspects of life. If anything good came out of this, it is that I love my own family including my husband, children, parents, brothers, sisters, and in-laws more than ever and I know I am the luckiest person alive with the family that I was blessed with. Even though this event did not directly happen to me, it impacted my life so much that everyone has really come together for this person that I truly care about and for me, yes believe it or not, for me. I am scared and tired and just trying to keep up with life right now and I can't imagine how much worse it would be if I didn't have so many people praying for me and listening to me every day pour out my crazy thoughts and fears. Life is so precious and there are many things to be grateful for, but life can sometimes be dark with people that can suck the beauty away by evil and the devils promptings. As far as my not-so-great of a day today, I was just running on very little sleep, with my two small children who were also running on little sleep and I took a dear friend of mine around town today to accomplish some important errands that needed to be ran.. which meant sitting in a DMV for 3 hours going to the county courthouse, the bank, Costco, gas, about 10 bathroom breaks... etc, etc, etc... then on my drive home I looked out the window and saw the most beautiful site... Mt Rainier. It was an amazing view. The clouds were rolling in and the sky was getting dark, but the cloud cover had not yet reached the volcano and it was glowing with light when everything else was shadowed in dark clouds. I had to stop and take a picture because it was juts so incredible. And I have to say that I thought about the beauty of life and even thought there was dark clouds and it was dark and gray outside, I could still see the most beautiful light shining on this magnificent volcano and I know that there is still beauty to be found in ugliness, we just have to see it and look at it and dwell upon the beauty and not the grey, darkness that can sometimes surround it.

I have a beautiful family and I am blessed with so many amazing things in my life and I want to look at the beauty, my own children who have no idea what happened and are just as happy and loving as ever. I am still cautious and I am still scared, but I know that I will be ok and I will focus on the good and the light.

I do just want to say thank you to everyone who has been there for me and my family and to anyone who actually reads this and endures my aimless writing that makes no sense, but makes me feel a little relieved. BUT, just look at this beautiful picture below and think about the beauty around you that may be surrounded by dark clouds, but does still exist and focus on that when you are having a bad day.

Check out what we did in 2009...

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More Fun in Utah!

This past week has been very busy, and full of fun! Here is what he have been up to....


For Valentine's Day we an adult couples dinner at my parent's house, unfortunately my valentine was not with me and I missed him very, very much, BUT Ginny was so kind as to be my date for the evening and Devan came by himself! Everyone in my family had a different food assignment and the dinner was so yummy.

Katie made these adorable and delicious heart cream puffs.

Here is my date looking fabulous as Ginny always does.

The beautiful table setting done by Jena.

On Monday we went to the dinosaur museum with the Lewis family. This is a favorite for Tyler and Kai and it's a very fascinating museum with a lot to see and do.

They loved this huge shark and Kai was very curious to know if the red on him was blood.

This was a large hands-on wet play area with sand and play dinosaurs and trees. They spent a lot of time playing here with cousin Bella.

Katie is the best Auntie and the nieces just LOVE her! Katie put music on in her room and they had a major jump-on-the-bed/pile-on-Katie party!

There was so much giggling, singing, jumping and playing!

Tea time with Auntie Katie using bananas and hot chocolate.

Can't forget the zip line with uncle Sam. Tyler has moved from the baby swing to a harness and she loves it because she can go upside down!

Kai thinks she can go upside down too....



Until next week when we have more fun things to share with you....

Utah!

Tyler, Kai and I came to Utah for a little vacation, unfortunately we had to leave Daddy behind since he is in the middle of a semester of school and coaching wrestling, but we do miss him!

We have had a great first few days here at my parents house and the girls have been very busy playing, although, poor little Kai Kai had had a battle with a stomach bug and was pretty sick on Saturday and still is not fully back to her normal, high-energy self.

Devan and Sam are their favorites of course (although Kai is pretty good buddies with Ginny) and Tyler just LOVES when Sam comes over so he can take her on the zip line! On Sunday everyone came over to my parents for a super bowl party and the cousins all played like crazy, Tyler and Afton are best friends! I ate way too much crappy food, but had a really good time doing it! I love to see my family and it's been so fun to hold baby Ellie and see Massiel's baby bump, and go running with my mom and sister. The weather has been beautiful and I have had a few great runs already, plus I got new running shoes, YEA!!
Overall, our vacation is going great and we still have so much more fun to be had (if Grosi could just get back into SLC from Baltimore on a flight that is not cancelled for snow!)

Kai just resting on Devan.

Kai helping Katie get baby Ellie's pajamas on.

The cousins playing duck, duck, goose.

Kai playing WOW with Devan, about the only thing he knows how to do with his spare time.

My mom, sister Danna, and I getting ready for a Saturday run. Support some local runners and check out www.sherunslikeagirl.blogspot.com and become a fan! If your interested in running with them then leave a comment with your interest, they always welcome new runners to their group, or offer great tips if your already a runner.

Christmas in Cali

This Christmas we went to California to be with some family. We did the long drive, and thankfully we had a smooth drive there and back without any problems. First we stayed with Austin's Mom, Karen, or Opie as the grandkids call her. She just bought a new house and she had been busy trying to get it ready for visitors. It was fun, but very chaotic with a brand new baby just home form the hospital (Cody and Kendra's), a new puppy Garrett was getting for Christmas, our family of 4, plus a few days later Jesse, Tara, and Bella.. it was a full house! We all had a great time together and enjoyed the new little addition to the family, Baby Blaze. We spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning there, then we headed to Scotts Valley to Richard and Lynn's (Poppi and Noni) house. And we spent the next couple days with them playing games, watching movies and of course I got in a run with Lynn and Tara on some beautiful trails with Redwood Tree's.

Tyler is at a fun stage right now with Christmas and it was so fun for me to watch her excitement and anticipation for Santa Clause. And Kai was an amazing present opener and had no problems tearing the presents open as fast as she could!

It was so nice to have everyone together and spend time helping Kendra with her new baby, playing lost of games, running every day, and eating lots of food!

We had a wonderful Christmas and I am grateful for so many things this year and I know we are truly blessed with wonderful family and friends. I am grateful to be home safe from the long car trip and to have our warm house to come home to. After we got home, we opened a few more presents from other family and parents and the emotion was so strong that I couldn't help but cry because of how grateful I am for such loving parents and in-laws. Tyler asked why I was crying, so Austin and I had a long talk with her about how some children don't have as much as she has and that we need to always be grateful and give back. I told her that I was crying because of how happy I am and that is the truth, I am happy, healthy, and incredibly blessed. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoy the New Year!

This was taken at Karen's house in Oakley, CA

Bella and Kai... two peas in a pod. Kai likes to "mother" Bella, and treat her like a baby, but it's funny because they are almost the same size.

Who cares about presents, the boxes and bows are the Best part!

New baby Blaze with Richard and Lynn.

Decorating the Christmas tree at Opie's house. The boys went through some of their past ornaments that they made when they were kids.. it was fun to listen to their stories that went along with an ornament.

Uncle Garrett read, The Night Before Christmas, and the three little girls just adore their Uncle Garrett!

Playing a new game Tyler got from Popi and Noni.

Then, of course the Men have to turn a 3 year old's game into a heated competition.

Tyler and Kai in their new twirly skirts from Grandma and Grandpa Gregory. They have only taken them off to go to bed since they opened them 2 days ago.

Happy Birthday Kai Kai

Kai Ann is now 3! I just can't believe how time flies! She is such a little blessing to have and we just love her so very much. Kai is the cutest little girl and we love having her around us all the time. She can be challenging at times because she has so much personality, but she is also very loving and says, "Mom, I love you" and "Mom your so nice" periodically out of the blue (sure glad she thinks that even after ALL the times I have to put her in time-out). She adores her Daddy and wants to talk to him on the phone all the time and can't wait to see him after he gets home from work and she looks up to her big sister, wanting to do everything she does, as she is her best friend. We love her and have loved these 3 years with her. Kai is definitely aware that it is her birthday and all she wants is a birthday cake and she has made that very clear! She is such a special little girl and we all adore her!

Kai Kai.. Happy Birthday! We love you!

I just LOVE these Girls!

This post is a "just because", because I took these pictures of the girls the other day while they were so cute in their Christmas skirts and I thought they looked adorable! I love these two little girls more than anything in the world and I am blessed that they love me unconditionally back, even after I get upset with them for something, the second I go to hug them, they are all full of love.

Austin has been gone a lot lately with school and his wrestling coach job, that we don't see much of him during the week, so it has really been just the three of us (and Amiga) most the time and we have been doing fun things and spending a lot of time together. I have not had a car to get around (since I blew the tire in our Mini and Austin has not had time to fix it since he has finals right now), so we have just been home, coloring, reading books, etc.. I love to just spend time with them and being with them all day. So, anyway, my just because post is all just because I love my girls!!

It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas!!

I just love this holiday season, it makes me so happy and feel so good inside! I love to just sit in my house and have all the reminders of Christmas all around me and listen to Christmas music. We decided to just get a small tree this year since we will be going to California, but even though it's small, I still love it! Tyler and Kai keep asking ever day if Santa comes today (this will be a long December), and they started their advent calendar to the countdown (thank you Grosi). This year we will spend Christmas in California with some family. It will be so fun to spend time with family this holiday season and meet our new baby nephew on the Schmidt side of the family. I can't help but be so thankful with how blessed we really are I am thankful for all our blessings and to be together as a family this Christmas, because that is what really matters. Here are some pic's of what makes me so very happy! Tis the Season!

Austin did a GREAT job on the Christmas lights on the house!

The stockings are hung just waiting for Santa!

And what Christmas is truly about, the nativity scene.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was a lot of fun this year with these little girls! (sorry the pictures are in backwards order..) Tyler was a witch and Kai was a monkey and the cutest monkey I have ever seen, every house we went to people had to comment how darn cute Kai was and she was so happy and exited to say trick-or-treat and then get candy! Then she would immediately say, "mommy, can we go to another house now?" And Tyler was a champ, she stayed running with the big kids and wanted to go to as many houses as possible. Before trick-or-treating we went to our neighbors for a halloween party that they have every year, we played games and had scary food to eat. I made "mummy pizza's" to take over, and they had other items there like bloody fingers (chicken trips), mummy toes, and lots of other scary things to eat. Then we started to walk through the neighborhood trick-or-treating with some friends, when Austin and our neighbor decided to go get our trailer and hook it up behind his Excursion. So we piled a lot of kids in the trailer and drove through the neighborhood trick-or-treating. They got so much candy and loved every minute of it. And thankfully, we had a dry evening! We had non-stop rain for 24 hours before the evening of halloween, then it stopped raining and was actually not very cold for the entire night.

This is the "candy sorting" party that we all love to do! We did this the morning after Halloween because we were too tired that night

The trailer filled with kids going trick-or-treating

Tyler doing good, filling her pillow case with candy!

She was making a drink out of witches brew!

My mummy pizza's we took to the party.

Aren't they so adorable! Or scary I guess I should say since Kai wanted to be a scary monkey and Tyler wanted to be a mean witch... what is with that?

Yes, I dressed as a witch too! But I was a nice witch.

This was the day before Halloween before Tyler went to preschool in their adorable skirts that Grosi made.