life as we know it

Life. We are born, we live our life, hopefully to the fullest, and then we die. Is it ever fair when one dies? No but we all know that one day we all will die. My father-in-law fell ill in May and June 21st he passed away. It wasn't fair. He was healthy, maybe not the fittest man on the block but he was healthy. He started getting dizzy and loss of hearing, well it turned out he had a brain tumor. The doctor said it was benign, said it was an Acoustic Neuroma, but sadly his symptoms worsened. It became so bad that he couldn't hear anymore and could hardly walk. He had the tumor removed and biopsied. He was diagnosed with large B-Cell Lymphoma. He died the next week.

Life as we knew it changed. We were dropped in the raging water with not life jacket. He was gone, just gone. A man who I knew for half my life, a man who I looked up to and thought of as a father, was gone. My children lost their last grandfather and my husband last his dad. Out world was turned upside down and it was not fair. Within a 2 month span he went from being fine to being gone. Not fair I say.

This brings me to a point. Everyone needs a will. Luckily I was so dang pushy that we got the will signed two days before he passed. But getting to that point was stressful. My mother-in-law didn't realize that people get ugly when someone dies, someone with assets. I was being pushy to protect her, knowing that there would be some people (they have kids from previous marriages) that would come after the estate. So if you are reading this...get a will! It is so important. Also please have all of your records in one place, let your spouse know everything and how to access it.

On another note, I received the okay to run again. So this weekend I will run. I will probably suck but I know I will feel good. I have gained like 10 pounds! Most of it is because we were eating so poorly going back and forth from our house to my in-laws. We had to eat and needed it quick.

Hope everyone is enjoying themselves and having a great day.

road to recovery

Hello. Sorry I have been a bad blogger. It has been very stressful in my life these days. I am injured and now I am wearing a lovely fashionable ankle brace, seeing the physical therapist each week, work has been crazy, and my father-in-law has a brain tumor and his health is deteriorating rapidly.

On the upside my dog has been cleared by the vet to start running with me...that is when I get cleared by my doctor. Once I start again I am going to take things nice and slow so that my injuries do not happen again. My daughters also want to run with me so we will all start together.

I have noticed how much exercise is important to your life. Before running I did nothing. I was always thin (skinny fat) and then these little monsters changed my body and they call me mommy. :) Funny how hormones can really change your body. My hair is no longer straight - it is wavy/curly now, I am fat, not horribly fat but still fat BUT I am changing that. Slowly but I am. As soon as I can I will get back to running!

Hope all is well with all my fellow runners out there in the running world. I will be back soon. So in the mean time I will blog about other things.

See you soon!

never say never

Just a few short years ago you would have heard me saying something like...I would never be a runner...I would never enjoy running...I would never miss not being able to run. Well let me tell you. Never say never, ever. After my half marathon a couple weeks ago my ankle has been yelling - no screaming at me. I know I rolled it but it was hurting before that too and the roll just made everything worse. I have tried to run a couple times since then and it is the by far the most pain ever. Seriously, childbirth was easier. My entire left lower leg kills me. It used to only when I ran and now it does when I walk. So I have stopped running until I can get to the sports medicine doctor. My appointment is not until May 21st. Ugh. So once I was told no more running I was bummed. The weather has become very nice and I have seen so many people running that I actually miss it. I actually said that I miss not being able to go for a run! I couldn't believe it when I said it but it's true. Funny how things change. I also miss my weight loss from it too. I am still doing some light exercise but I don't feel as good. Hopefully they can get me in sooner than the 21st.

I hope so. I have another race coming up in June!!!

my birthday girl

My daughter turned 8 years old on Saturday. Oh my where has the time gone. I remember everything still. How I felt going to the hospital, I had to be induced 2 weeks early...blood pressure was not well. I remember what I wore...gym shorts and a tee with a  sweater - real sexy I know. I remember being in the hospital for 5 days! Man was I happy to get out of there. I remember everything about the birth - I didn't get drugs so I felt and remember everything. That was an amazing experience.

Fast forward to last Saturday my baby is 8 and the little devil woke me up at 5:30 in the morning! What the bleep! Well I got up anyway since we had a house to decorate! My daughter invited 35 friends...well we invited the entire class and then other friends that were in other classes. I always invite the class so no one feels left out. They are young so feelings get hurt right now. Soon we won't have to do this. Well we ended up with 20 children...meaning 18 friends came. Everyone loves my daughter, she is friends to everyone. I think we will always have large parties for her.

Her party was Hawaiian themed. So we decorated the house. Of course I didn't get pictures of the house completely decorated because I didn't think about that until I took them all down! Ugh. Oh well. But I did get some.

This is the birthday girl! She is standing in front door way. See behind her the wonderful lei flower hanging thingy. Yeah that was annoying after awhile. Cute but ever so annoying.

She picked out a simple tropical birthday cake. She didn't want any writing on it. I gave her the idea of putting one of her toy sharks in the water but she said NO. I thought it would be funny. Those flip flops are magnets so they are no hanging on my fridge.

These are the wonderful cookies made by The Green Apron. Amazing! We ended up with around 40 and these were passed out after the party at the goody bag. I don't do toys and icky candy I do things like this. They were so beautiful and so yummy! Definitely check her out on Facebook!

So those are the decorations. Great huh. I wish I would have taken more pictures but oh well. Can't do anything about that now. The other great thing about the party was the entertainment. Now I was suppose to have a "friend" come and do Henna on the kids but she canceled at the last minute because of a "family emergency" that happened to be at the beach during a beautiful weekend. Uh huh, I don't believe her either! So I had to find something else. Luckily I am smart and turned to Google, because that is where the smart people go. I found a lady who does face painting. She came and did an awesome job!

Here are some examples of her work. Here are my children. The one on the left was a frog but she kept touching her face and ruined the tongue. It was very cute! My other one is a butterfly of some sort.

Spiderman

 



A mask. I think it looks really awesome! In the sun it sparkled and shimmered.

 

The kids loved getting their faces painted. They all chose something different, most chose a full face. It was great and actually better than the Henna as the children got some many designs. It was a successful party. I love it when the children leave and they had so much fun. We have done so many different kinds of parties and each one I always try to make it fun for everyone and not just about the birthday girl.

a bit about me

Howdy everyone! I thought I would take a moment to share a bit about myself and introduce you to my family.

I am a mother to two little girls and a wife to a wonderful man. I am also the adoptive mother to 3 dogs and 2 cats. Last year, 2012, I started taking more time for myself and wanting to be healthy. I wanted to be a good role model for my children. I took up Zumba which was fun but wanted more. That is where I found running. I started but boy oh boy did I ever get shin splints! I was bummed as I wanted to run. I found out (after mass googling) that I was doing it all wrong. Too fast, too long, too soon! So I found a great program called C25K aka couch to five K or in another language get off your butt and run 3 miles. I followed that plan to the T and man did it help. I still didn't think of myself as a runner since I wasn't very good but I continued and I am still going.

My children are amazing. Love them to pieces! I have a Gwendolynn and a Matiline. My adoptive children are Wilbur, Griz, Zeke, Jazzy and Java.

Here we are...me, my wonderful hubby and my girls.

 

 

My hubby and I on a date (rare)

 

 

My children are my life...I can't imagine my world with out them. **Note to anyone who even thinks of harming them...mess with my children and I will make your nightmares seem like the happiest place on earth!** They are my pride and joy. Of course they cause me to want to pull my hair out too but that is what makes parenting so much fun, the ups and downs and everything in between.

 

My oldest is a big reader. I mean top of her class, above grade level, never puts a book down reader.

 

 

 

Here she is starting a new book. She is only 8! She loves it so far. I have read them all and I told her that there will be words that she will not know how to pronounce or understand and gave her a dictionary and if that doesn't help she can ask me. She will finish that probably by next week. No joke.

 

 

My youngest is the fashionista of the family. Every time we go somewhere she has on her scarf, glasses (sun glasses), purse and jewelery. She loves make up and all things girly!

 

Here we are at lunch at a place called Pasta Gigi's (I am in love with the place) and her scarf. She also is wearing a bracelet and her purse is on the table.

We always are trying to have fun when we can. Even if it means stopping a police officer to play in his car!

Such a good officer he was...turned the lights and sirens on too!

 



We also love to go to the zoo and feed the birds! We try to go several times out of the year. Not too much during the summer as it is too hot and the animals are not out and about but fall, winter and spring is the best time!

My kids are sassy and smart. They love to play together and love to get into trouble together too.

Told you they were sassy!

 

 

And they are too smart. LOL. I laughed so hard when I saw this sign outside of Gwendolynn's door!

 

Luckily my kids have never really had anything wrong with them (broken bones, etc.). Hardly can believe it myself given how much they fall over themselves or fall off their bikes. But last summer, summer 2012, my oldest had an emergency appendectomy. I knew what it was right away and luckily got her to the ER and surgery before it got bad!

My poor baby girl.

 

My husband is a huge hunter! He hunts everything. So we always have a lot of meat in our house. He is quite excited as he is going on a big guided elk and deer hunt in Montana in 2014. He cannot wait! Here he is pheasant hunting with his dog Griz.

 

 







Here are a few pics of our animals. Griz is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Zeke is an Australian Shepherd, Wilbur is a Long Coated Chihuahua and Java and Jazzy are shelter cats.

 

WilburJavaZeke

Griz

 

That's all for now. Hope you liked a bit into me and my family!

 

 

 







half marathon baby!

Sunday was my Blooms to Brews Half Marathon! It was suppose to be a beautiful sunny day...well it wasn't, it was cloudy and sprinkling. At least it wasn't pouring or freezing. And really it was better than having the sun beat down on your for 13.1 miles, so I guess I am glad it was cloudy. The run started at 8am. We started off a little fast. I wanted to keep a 13:30 pace. Yes I know that is slow in runner's world but I wanted to finish strong and I knew in order to do that I had to go slow.

By mile 8 I was starting to fade. I was so annoyed and pissed with myself. I knew that morning when I woke up my body was not right. It was not feeling it usual pumped up self for running. I ate and drank but something was just off. So I did end up having to take a small walk break. I kicked myself (not really) for it but my sweet loving husband kept telling me that I need to remember why I run, I am not running to be the fastest, I am not running to make it to Boston, I am running for fitness and fun. I shouldn't worry about people going faster (even though one of them was my ex-running partner), I should only worry about myself and how I feel. So I took his advice and we ran again. Well I was going about my merry way when they decided to route us off the road and onto a dirt and rocky path. I tripped and rolled my ankle. Oh boy I was in pain! Not only that but the rocks kept digging into my heel and my PF started acting up. So I hobbled for 2 miles - the worst 2 miles in my life. I thought I was going to die. I saw cows and wanted to jump on one and ride it to the finish! I was in so much pain. Once we got off that god forbidden hell of a path we ran again. I wasn't going to quit! I was going to finish this race even if my foot fell off!

I finished! I crossed the finish line! Sure it was a slow run and sure I walked and got injured but I FINISHED!!! I had an average time of 13:51 which wasn't too bad considering I hobbled for 2 miles. I really need to watch my pace next time to make sure I am not running too fast. Need to figure out how to do that on my Garmin.

So this is what I look like after the half marathon...granted this pic was taken about an hour later at Burgerville since I needed more food then what they had.

Okay and now tid bit about the course and photos!

The course was named because we were running by fields to tulips and coming back for beer. Okay so I don't really know if that is why they named it that but it fits. We started running and I kept thinking (as I passed fields with not a single tulip) where are all the bloody tulips?! Well finally at the end, like the last 2 miles we finally see fields of tulips! It would have been great to see those damn flowers a littler earlier! The route was very pretty mind you but they hyped it all up about tulips and I wanted to see some tulips!

Here are the tulips...finally!

Pretty huh? I wanted to pick some on the run by but too many people around. LOL.

Well it is rest for me to recover from my rolled ankle. I have 53 days until my next half marathon. This one is the Vancouver, WA Half Marathon. Excited!

Anyone done any races lately or in the near future?

my thoughts are with those in Boston

As I sit and remember my run on Sunday, 10 miles, and how proud I felt and how I am starting to feel like a runner, I was brought to tears as I watched the tragic events at the Boston Marathon. I don't understand the world we live in, I don't see how someone can be so mad at the world to take another life. My heart breaks for those that were hurt, those who lost their lives and those mourning the lives lost. I congratulate the men and women who stepped up to care for the wounded, both medically trained and courageous citizens. I would like to ask everyone to keep them in their thoughts and have a moment of silence for those who lost their lives.

If you are able to today, wear a race shirt to honor Boston.