March by the numbers

TWO - books read (Alone and Love You More, both by Lisa Gardner)
THREE new albums(all new releases) were purchased Justin Timberlake, Blake Shelton and Tim McGraw.
FOUR a. - weeks until I run my very 1st half marathon. Woot Woot!
FOUR b. -  missed days(in a row) at Fitness MD. Trying to heal a foot injury. Boo that!
SEVEN -  blog  posts recorded in March.
TWELVE - the number of candles on Carter's birthday cake.
TWELVE.4  - mile run. It happened. I checked it off of my training schedule.
FOURTEEN - layouts created. They happened because I was at the beach for our Scrapbook Weekend)
NINETY SIX - miles logged this month.

Running

Never in a million years did I EVER think that I would posting a blog post with the title RUNNING!
I have spent the last few weeks/months training for my 1st half marathon. I have been running quite a few miles each Saturday in preparation  for my big run in May. When I started my "getting healthy" journey two years ago, I NEVER, EVER wanted or dreamed that I would become a runner. In fact, I am pretty sure that I swore (up and down) that I would NEVER, EVER run for fun...ummm hello 5k(Nov. 2011 and Aug, 2012) 10k (Nov. 2012) and now a 1/2 marathon(May 2013). I wanted to lose weight, get healthy, feel better AND to be able to do it without running :). Funny how things change. Let me just preface this post with the "I still don't love running"! I am actually waiting to experience that runner's high that people/friends keep talking about.

Fitness MD has played a BIG part in my being able to just run. Most of our workouts incorporate cardio/running. When I joined Fitness MD, those first few months were B-R-U-T-A-L. When I had to run a large lap, or worse, being told to run two large laps(=1 mile), in a row, I would cringe. There were days I wanted to cry. There were days that I wanted to take the short cut(basically cheat). There were days that I wand to get in my car and just go home. After two weeks of not being able to run those large laps without stopping at least once, I made a deal with myself. I promised myself that I would never walk a large  lap EVER again. If I had to, I could run it slow but I always had to run it. To this day, I have run every single large lap I have ever been told to run at Fitness MD. You may be saying to yourself, "so, why is she talking about this?" There are two reasons. First, I ran 12 miles on Saturday. I RAN 12 MILES on Saturday. It was on my schedule and I did it. I got it done. Woot! Woot! Thankful that my friend Stephanie joined me...made it so do-able! That is just 1.1 miles less than I will be running on my 1/2 marathon day! I can do it! I know I can. The 2nd reason I am recording my running feats on my blog today is because I was so proud of myself today. I actually slept in and hit the 11:30 am Fit Club class instead of the 5 am . In the 11:30 am class today, there was a girls high school softball team training and doing to workout with us. At certain points in the workout, we had to run large laps(1/2 mile) for time. The 1st two large laps that we had to run, I beat every single one of those high schoolers. Beat them...meaning I was faster than them. Who knew :)??? For the last two large laps that we ran, I stayed even with their fastest runners. I am not bragging or anything(ok, maybe I am...just a little) but I was able to hang with those teeny boppers. Who knew??? As I have thought about my running self, this quote has played over and over in my mind.

And that, my friends is what I have learned...YOU JUST HAVE TO GO!

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's day isn't really holiday that we celebrate or go all out for at our house. I have had to set SOME boundaries! There weren't any leprechaun traps made/set this year. The boys did not wake up to green milk or toilet water. The furniture and sofa pillows were all in tack when they woke up. They did not find pots of gold at the end of any rainbow. They did find an economy box of Lucky Charms to enjoy.

I did find this cute idea for anti pinch polish over on the eighteen25 blog and purchased some green nail polish and delivered a few to family and friends. I painted my nails before church and threw on a green cardigan. Brody was so upset that I would not let him wear his Old Navy 2013 green St. Patrick's Day t-shirt to church so I told him I would paint his nails green too. He loved the idea and we matched. He is 5 and care free!

 Besides it  being St. Patrick's day, it was a very special day for Carter. When the boys in our church turn 12 years old, they receive the Aaronic Priesthood. It is a big deal and big responsibility for these boys. Carter was thrilled to have Grandpa Randy(my Mom was in Utah for her brothers surgery), Uncle Tyson and soon to be Aunt Gina there for his big day! We are glad they could be there for Carter.

Life is moving right on by! I am seriously trying not to blink. I am afraid I will miss something!

12

It is so hard to believe that this sweet little guy/baby is 12 years old today.

Happy Birthday to our sweet, Car-Car!

He was up,dressed and ready for his special day by the time I got home from the gym(I attend the 5 am class). He woke up to his bedroom door wrapped and covered in birthday treats. John had already purchased his birthday donuts for the family to enjoy. He was patiently trying to to wait for me to get home so he could open his presents.

This is Carter opening the gift from GranRanSan(my parents-Randy and Sandy), he can already see what it is and he is one happy boy! It is a new 49ers hat. He was on cloud 9.

 Here he is opening one of the gifts from us. He is in shock because it is the baseball glove that he has been wanting/asking for. He had to start baseball practices without it because he didn't know he was getting it for his birthday!

 I love this photo! Brody had been busy creating presents for Carter. He he had even wrapped them all by himself. He had them placed on the kitchen counter with all of Carter's other gifts that had been arriving in the mail prior to his birthday.Carter opened up 2 pieces of birthday art from Brody! Carter made such a BIG deal about each gift. He ran right to his room to hang them on his bulletin board next to all of the other items Carter sees as important in his life(All Star photos, report cards, etc...).  It was very sweet.

 The birthday door. This is a fun idea that I got from my friend, Brenda! It is now a tradition that the boys looks forward to each year! We pick up a few of their favorite things and attach them to their bedroom door. A few of Carter's current favorites are : Licorice, sunflower seeds, Mio, gum, etc...

 I always feel bad about having to send them to school on their birthdays. I guess it is real life training though, right? We usually have to work on our birthdays in our adult years. John and I surprised him with lunch(Taco Bell) at school. He had baseball practice after school so I made his favorite chocolate crackle cookies to share with the team. He had Costa Vida for dinner, the birthday boys pick. We ended his day with cake, ice cream and really bad, obnoxious Happy Birthday singing  to this cute 12 year old! Happy Birthday, Carter!

Our favorite season

It's here! It's here! It's here! Baseball season is here! It is one of my favorite seasons :)!

We have 3 ball players this year. Tanner decided to umpire instead of play ball this season.

Carter is on the Padres for a 3rd year in a row.

Garrett is on the Royals and Brody is on the Tin Caps(a minor league team).

I love that the boys have made some wonderful friends through our crazy adventures in the sporting world. These boys have played lots of sports together and continue to do so. As crazy as our schedules can get get, trying to get everyone, everywhere, John and I would not trade it for the world. We are thankful for the friendships that have been formed through our boys sporting events.

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Opening Day was fun! They announced each of  the teams as they walked out onto the field. They were all lined up, smallest to biggest on the field. There are over 900 kids playing in our league this season! That is going to a lot of baseball. They also announced Carter's Padres team from last year. They were 25-0, rolling through TOC's and bringing the banner home for the league. It was such a fun morning for the boys and for our entire family.

Carter was the only one who had a game on opening day. It was the Padres vs. the Diamond Backs.We won, 21 - 4. the boys looked great. Carter was the starting pitcher and did a great job.

I love this photo of Coach Kruppy. Coach Nick gave Carter that nick name several years ago. Carter has always had no fear of cheering the team on and coaching them when he thought they needed some extra help/guidance -LOL. The coaches tease that he is a part of their coaching staff.

It's gonna be a great season! Go Padres! Go Royals! Go Tin Caps! 

Living in the 1800's

Garrett and I went on a fun field trip to the Bernhard Museum in Auburn, CA.It is a piece of property that that county was able to purchased after it sat vacant for many years. It is such an awesome piece of history pertaining to the Gold Rush years in California . You are asked to come dressed as if you were living in the 1800's. You are asked to bring your lunch in a basket, pail. etc... They like to keep it real and have you experience life on the farm. During their time there, the children got to make crafts that children in the 1800's would have enjoyed. They made their own biscuits and butter. They work with leather. They played marbles. They tilled the garden. They washed  laundry by hand and they got to make their own little crate to take home! It was a fun day, filled with learning and fun experiences. At the end of the day, Garrett and I both agreed that we are thankful for the modern day luxuries that we get to enjoy!

 I am pretty sure Garrett's favorite part of the day was the bottle of Root Beer I packed in his lunch. Keeping it real...no boxed juice or plastic water bottles in the 1800's.

Annual Moms Gone Tired Weekend

I really look forward to this weekend each year. My friend, Lisa did the math and figured it was my 6th year attending this Beach Weekend with the group of girlfriends. We rented a new house this year at Dillon Beach. We agreed that we loved the layout of the house but were not fans of the ants that invaded the kitchen in the wee hours of the morning on our first day/night there! As usual, we stayed up way too late. We enjoyed lots of yummy meals. We went for beautiful walks along the beach and up that GIANT hill. Some of us scrapbooked. Some of us made cards. Some of us read. Some us received massages. We laughed. We cried. We took lots of photos. We enjoyed an 80's themed weekend...80's movies and music. We met Baby Andrew for the 1st time. One word, ADORABLE! We enjoyed our yearly girlfriend gift exchange.We made lots of memories and created the silly quotes that will be remembered as the 2013 Moms Gone Tired Weekend!

 "No! Not the tape gun!"

 My dear friend, Michelle!

 Friends! Eve, Lisa B.,Denise, Lisa H., Debby, Izzie, Michelle, Sheri and me!

Baby Andrew

Scrappin' while watching Better Off Dead.

 My sweet friend, Lisa H.

Debby caught napping at 10 pm. She looks so peaceful!

The layouts I completed. My lowest number to date. I figure it is more than I would have completed at home!

 Michelle and Debby...team RED!

Raimi and Sheri...team PURPLE!

One of the gorgeous sunsets!

The trek back up the HUGE hill! It ended up being my daily exercise while we were there!

Izzie and Lisa

 Our ENCOURAGE squares. We each were given a letter and asked to make it look cute. We all used pattern paper from the same line and in a sense, created our own little 3 by 3 scrapbook pages. We swapped letters and now have our own ENCOURAGE art work. FUN!

It was so hard to narrow this post to just a few photos! I am already looking forward to next year!