Happy Birthday Tanner!

It's gone so fast...

He's grown so big...

And I'm so proud!

My baby's 1 year old!

Easter Fun In The Sun!

My mom would always take us girls out for an awesome Easter egg hunt in the beautiful outdoors. I have a lot of good memories of Easter and it has become one of my favorite holidays. I hope to create some great memories of Easter with my own family.

This year we went to Sedona with some good friends who have three young teenage kids. Their kids helped hide over 150 Easter eggs for our kids. It was a blast! Everyone had a great time and enjoyed the beautiful warm weather. A few of us even had enough guts to jump off a rope swing and land into the freezing cold creek. Myself was not included!

Road Trip

Arches National Park

Never ending open land

as far as my eye can see

Draws me in, and makes me wonder

is my soul as free

To stretch as high as a mountains top

and be as bold as a canyons steep slot

To run as swiftly and constantly

as a rivers flowing stream

Or to stand as strongly and unafraid

as the lonesome tree

It makes me wonder where I would be

if my soul was as free

as the land that goes and goes

as far as the eye can see

I was inspired to write this little poem on the drive from Flagstaff to Moab, Utah. Ever since I was a little girl I have been fascinated by the amount of undeveloped land in the Southwest. I love being able to drive for miles and miles without seeing one sign of human civilization.

My family decided to come with me to Utah to support me as I ran the Moab half-marathon. The trip ended up to be fun although we wished that we had one more day to play since the marathon ended up eating up a lot of our time.

When I first signed up for the marathon I was so mad at myself for doing it. I felt like I didn't have enough time to train and I decided that I didn't really enjoy running. In the end I am so glad I did it. I have found a new appreciation for running and it has gotten me in shape for all the other activities I enjoy in the summer. Not to mention getting my body ready for swimsuit season! I can also check off another one of my New Years goals which was to finish the race in under two hours. I came in at 1hr 56 min..

The trip to Moab was the perfect way to finish off all the hard work of training. The condo and friends we stayed with were amazing, the drive was beautiful, and my little Noah learned how to swim! He is so excited! Hopefully I can post some more pictures as my friends forward them to me.

Winters End

I know by this time of year most people are ready for the snow to quit falling and the sun to start shining, but this year I am sad to see Old Man Winter go. I think it's a combination of a few things. One is that I reached my goal of snowboarding six times, and the amazing powder has just left me jonesing for more. Also, because of the training I have been doing for a half-marathon my family has spent a lot of weekends in Sedona. It has been great to spend one day a week on trails without snow and parks where our kids can play. It has definitely kept the cabin fever away.

I am so grateful this winter has been good. Not only for the land which so desperately needed the moisture, but for me who couldn't be pleased more to not have been pregnant in a year where the snow has fallen generously.

Yikes! Small Boobs.

This happens to me every time I quit nursing. There is just no preparing for the boob shrinkage. I wish this didn't affect me so much but it does! I go through about a month of depression which is accompanied by an obsession with getting a boob job. During this time I struggle with knowing if that would be the right decision for me. I just don't don't know if I could ever go through with surgery, or if I would want or like something foreign in my body. Most importantly I don't know how I feel about it spiritually. Maybe this is just one of my tests. Can I live and be happy with my breasts completely changing (and not for the better) and not give into vanity. But just as I think about all the reasons I could never go through with a boob job, I justify and think about all the reasons why I could. I have nursed three hungry, big boys, and although nursing has had physical advantages for the both of us I have had to sacrifice my full, supple breasts for deflated and shriveled breasts. Is wanting and getting my boobs back( well I guess they wouldn't really be my boobs) too much to ask for?
I'm not one to sit around and be depressed about something and not do anything about it, so the other day I went out and bought a couple of new push-up bras. They have truly made me feel better about my situation. As of now this is all I am ready to do about this dilemma.
At the end of the day I wouldn't have my life any other way. I love my family and I would sacrifice my body again for them. Sometimes I just wish I could have both. My family and my boobs. Huh. Story of my life........... Wanting everything.

DayQuil

I will tell you what............

I have been in the dark for way too long.

I guess it started when as a thirteen year old girl I started my period. Every month, backaches, stomach cramps, PAINFUL! What a way to get thrown into womanhood. Then I had a little accident having a water fight with my little sis. I ran into an old splintery coffee table which ended in a six inch splinter (if you can call it that) slicing through my leg and puncturing my hamstring. Next we move on to the removal of my wisdom teeth, two of which were impacted. Not pretty! Oh, and last but not least there was the birth of my three beautiful boys, the latter two born at home and the biggest weighing in at a whopping 9 lbs..

Now, do you think that I took advantage of modern day medicine to relieve some of the pain. No, No, No, not me. Never did I really use any of the painkillers (well at least not the way I was supposed to, but I won't get into details about that). I don't know, maybe I have just wanted to be tough, or maybe I just didn't know how great the relief could be, but about three days ago a new light was shed. OK, here's where it starts to sound a bit like a DayQuil commercial.

I came down with the flu and it hit hard. I felt like every cell in my body was screaming and crawling. Maybe it was the fact that it was Valentines day, or that I had family in town from Hawaii, or better yet that I had three kids at home and that I couldnt just lie on the couch for three days straight. But honestly, I think it was the fact that I had a party I didn't want to miss that made me take the DayQuil. It worked like a freakin miracle! No one would have ever known that one hour earlier I had been under the covers wishing they could warm me but not touch me. It didn't stop there. That night I followed it up with NyQuil and I didn't stop taking that stuff until I felt better.

I am a changed woman. No more needless suffering for me. The next time I feel any sort of pain I am reaching for some Tylenol, Advil, or whatever else I can get my hands on.

27 and loving it!!!

27 may be the year many famous rockstars have cashed out, but as for me 27 feels like the bigginning of an exciting adult life! I feel like for the first time I can truly accomplish anything that I set my mind to. I am finally gaining enough patience and focus to carry through with the goals that I set for myself. Maybe it's that recently I feel like I've become a more compitent homemaker, wife and mother. I have been raising my children for the last 5 1/2 years and I finally feel like Im not so clueless anymore, that I have a handle on things, and that all the loose ends are starting to come together.


It's nice to have homelife going well because I can venture out a little bit and work on some personal goals. Some of those goals Im starting right now. Others the timing just isn't right yet,but some day it will be.


I wonder at what other age I'll sit back and think, gosh I love being ___ ! Maybe it will be 40. I think that will be a good age. Maybe it's true what they say.... "Youth is wasted on youth." Wouldn't it be nice to have the wisdom and experience of a 60 year old but the body of a 21 year old. Maybe God knew what he was thinking when he created the resurrection...