I Trained. I Ran. I Conquered.

Most people know by now, but yesterday I ran in the P.F. Chang's Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon. It is something I have been training for since June. I lost 55 lbs. while training for it, and was only 4 lbs from my goal come race day. I can't think of a better way to celebrate loosing all that weight then by really challenging yourself and doing something of this magnitude. It has given me a new appreciation of how truly amazing the human body is. How hard you can push yourself if you want something bad enough and that it really is mind over matter. When I wanted to walk (during the training and race) I told myself I could do it. Being 75 lbs over weight I didn't tell many people about my plans to do the race because I didn't want negative comments made or anyone to question my abilities- I limited it to a couple of close friends and mine and Drew's family. Thankfully my cousin committed to coming out and running it with me. What a blessing that was. Knowing she was supporting me in my weekly communications with her (she acted as my coach/trainer) telling her how hard upping my speed on the treadmill had been or when I had hit a serious wall about a month ago and found little motivation to run everyday she knew what to say and what answers I needed.
I realized how important the support was and I started talking about the race more. I realized the more I talked about it the more people started expecting things from me, and the more excited I was because others were bringing it up and wanting to know how the training was going. It started to feel more real. At Thanksgiving I remember thinking it was mean of them to plan a race 2 weeks after the new year because it was right after the holidays, but it really helped keep me in check. Now I am grateful- I am sure I would've gained weight during that period had it not been for what was coming up.
My cousin flew in Fri. for the race-. We went to the expo to pick up our race packets and gear, sampled energy foods, drinks, got free stuff, and enjoyed the experience. Which we also saw Dan from The Biggest Loser. Honestly I would've loved a picture with him, but didn't want to seem like some geeky teenage fan. So I took a pic from a distance. :)

I kept expecting myself to be nervous and anxious that whole weekend but I was surprisingly calm. Sunday morning we got up super early we left my house at 5:40 a.m. and drove to Mesa to take the lightrail to ASU's SunDevil Stadium where the race began and ended. We got on the light rail at 6:35 and were at the race in 15 min. It gave us time to check my cousins bag, go to the bathroom and find our corral. We were in corral 10 and had planned to do the race in 2 hours and 30 minutes. The race started late because of a train accident, but when you're standing out in the cold seeing the huge mass of people you're going to be running with, the starting time really doesn't matter, it was exciting and fun to take it all in.
Before the race:

The first 3 miles we made excellent time and were ahead of our projected time we set for ourselves and were feeling really good. We were passing people and drink stations, we passed Dan from the Biggest Loser during mile 3 and I started to realize I had 2 more hours left of running. During training the longest run I had done was 8 miles. I knew I could run 8 miles so I told myself get to the 8 mile mark, then all you have left is 5 miles. :) The half way mark was fun to cross and it was especially nice having someone running beside me the whole time that we could occasionally converse and keep pace with. She actually was helping me pace myself faster than I would've alone. During mile 8 my cousin started having some pain and had to go to the bathroom. When you sign up to do something together you want to start and finish together, and I always figured I would be too slow for her and if we separated it would be because she wanted to go faster. :) But we did separate at this point and I can tell my pace slowed way down. I did great until mile 10, mile 10 was really long for me, I think that was my longest mile. But that was the mile I passed the dragon! (If you passed the Chinese dragon in the race you got a certificate for free lettuce wraps from P.F. Changs) Once I got to mile 11 I realized I was now only passing people who were walking and more people were passing me than in miles before. (Including Biggest Loser Dan, who we passed in mile 3) I felt discouraged and during those last 2 miles I wanted to stop and walk so bad but I kept reminding myself that I was passing the walkers! It was better to be running and my goal from the get go was to never stop, Even if I finished the race in 4 hours doing 20 min miles because of a super slow jog I wasn't going to walk. So I didn't. After passing the 12 mile marker I assumed some giant burst of adrenaline would kick in and I would have mad amounts of energy to quicken my pace and help me finish that last 1.1 mile really strong. I tried, I tried my hardest to quicken my pace and shoot for an amazing finish time, but I didn't go for very long before I went back to my previous pace and figured I would rather finish than pass out during the last mile because I was pushing myself too hard.
Crossing that finish line is like nothing else. I almost didn't want to stop because I had been in constant motion for so long! My finish time? 2 hours and 28 min. I was 2 minutes quicker than the goal my cousin had set for us. After the race I took advantage of all the sponsors tents and grabbed all the food and drinks I could get my hands on. My cousin finished 5 minutes after me. I was so excited to get my medal. I love looking at it. When I went to the grocery store this morning I started wishing it was socially acceptable to walk around wearing medals- I wanted to talk about it and let people know "Look at what I did! Me! I still can't believe it!" :)
After the race:

During the race I thought that there was no way I could ever do this again. Now that it's over- I know this is something that I will do again. That it's possible and obtainable. I trained. I ran. I conquered the half marathon.
(Stats from the website: My pace: 11 minute miles, my time: 2 hours 28 min, Overall: 9232 out of 15663  Division (30-34 yr olds): 896 out of 1570  Gender: 4838 out of 9505)

Christmas Day

Christmas Morning was awesome. It couldn't have been any more fun. I woke up at 6:30 sure that the kids would be up any min and since they didn't get up till 7:15 I took pictures.

There was proof that Santa and his reindeer had been by. Which the kids loved seeing.

I was glad to capture a picture of them walking out to the living room and seeing all the stuff.

Their first thrill- the small play house for Bailey. It took them a minute but then they saw their scooter and tricycle and were off. :)

The noise of them on the toys woke Drew and when he came out we opened stockings, and Santa gifts. Then all other gifts under the tree. It was a lot of fun. They really enjoyed everything they got. Santa, grandparents and mom and dad got lots of thank you's that morning.
After all the presents were opened, we took a picure of everyone's loot.

 

My stuff (well the Wii games were for the family)

 Don't feel bad for Drew, he also got a Kinect that we had been using all week:

 Next we ate breakfast. Which is a tradition of Christmas Morning Bread  (similar to monkey bread- a friend brings it to us on Christmas Eve) and Sausage Souffle.

Breakfast was nice and enjoyable. While we were all sitting eating Drew and I once again used the opportunity to talk about the true meaning of the season, and why we do presents on Christmas. Bailey woke up while we were eating, so she ate and then got to open her gifts. Which she had very little interest in so Autumn opened them.
I love this picture of her though, in her house- looking at all her gifts.

 What was nice about church at 12:30 is we had plenty of time to take all the toys out of the packages, install batteries in everything and just play for awhile. I love this picture of the kids playing a new game.

One of my favorite things about Christmas time? Going to church and seeing all the kids in there Christmas garb. Plus dressing my own kids in it as well. Seriously- I can bribe this girl with anything and she can't keep her eyes open for a picture.

Thankfully- after church I realized if I turn the flash off, Autumn's eyes stay open. :)

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well.

Christmas Eve

I am loving the age my kids are at, and that starting new traditions are so fun to them because they haven't experienced it before. There were so many things I wanted to do with them last year, but with a 1 week old I was not into it. So this year we did most of the things I have always wanted to do, and next year maybe we can do more (like gingerbread houses...) We had our traditional Christmas Eve party a week early with my sisters family and my mom. My mom has all those pictures. We had dinner and opened a present. Then on the actual Christmas Eve I made Chocolate Chip cookies with the kids, and we added festive M&Ms to them. We had a nice fun dinner when Drew got home. During dinner we discussed the real reason behind the season, and why we do gifts on Christmas. We drove around and looked at Christmas lights. The city puts out a map (list) of homes that register as contestants for the Best Christmas Lights Contest. We saw some amazingly decorative homes, and the kids loved it.
After looking at the lights we came home to open one present each. We decided to open the gifts that my sister in law sent. Autumn has a sweet relationship with Mrs. Heather (my sister in law) and she is the only one outside of immediate family that Autumn occassionally blesses in her prayers. So it was an easy choice who's gifts we would open. And the kids loved them! It was the perfect way to get them excited about all the gifts coming in the morning.

Bailey loved the Cabbage Patch Doll Baby. She hugged it and carried it around everywhere till we put her to bed.

 Weston saw that it was a train and was so excited.

 I love the look on Autumns face when she got a barbie.

After opening presents we got Santas plate ready and his mug of milk. Then we put out some carrots and water for Santa's reindeer. We don't have a chimney or fireplace- so it's very obvious santa comes through the front door (according to Autumn) so I let her pick where we put the carrots and water for Santa's sleigh pullers.
Autumn did the cookies while Weston got the milk.

 Autumn got all the carrots and water ready and set them outside the front door.

For bedtime we read The True Christmas Story, which is based off the story told in Luke. I had wrapped Christmas themed books under a small Christmas tree and the kids had gotten to pick a book everynight and unwrap it for the bedtime story, and I am so glad this one was picked that night. It helped us review the true meaning of Christmas right before going to bed, which lasted only a few minutes and then the kids were talking about Santa coming. :)

Bailey's 1

 It's been really sad thinking about Bailey turning one. I have always been so excited for my kids to get older but with her- I've just wanted everything to slow down. I love this little girl so much, and she just melts my heart. I can't believe there was a point in time when I wished I wasn't pregnant with her. I can't imagine life with out her, and have been SO blessed by her sweet disposition and easy temperment. We got to celebrate her birthday twice this weekend. We spent Friday night with some of Drews family, doing gift exchanges for Christmas and celebrating Baileys birthday, then on Sat. night we did a gift exchange with my side of the family (my mom was in town) and celebrated Baileys birthday again. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas and Bailey.

Disneyland- Day 2 (part 2)

I am terrible about blogging, so it's been hard to make time to do 3 posts so close together. So- after we met Goofy, we headed back to Disneyland. Drew really wanted an ice cream cone and I wanted to ride the Winnie the Pooh ride with the kids. Bailey- such a trooper.

 Bailey really enjoyed the ice cream cone.

 Weston on the Winnie the Pooh ride, I realized that on almost all the rides, I sat with Weston. :)

We were so lucky. When we got off the ride, 3 of the characters from the movies were right by the ride. We quickly got in line, just in time, because they cut the line off about 5 people after us. My kids were so excited.

Here they are with Tigger. 

 Eeyore.

 Winnie the Pooh. Sorry for the quality- I think the flashes of my camera, the photographer, and Drews phone all clashed when we took the pics.

 After that we had to hustle, to get back into California Adventure to eat at Ariel's Grotto. We had reservations and my father in law was there waiting for us. It was nice to just sit, eat, and relax.

After dinner we did some shopping, notice Baileys sweater changed? There was a disaster involving an explosive diaper, the highchair, my sweatshirt, and all her clothes. It was really cold at night and we had to wrap her in my sweatshirt and go to a shop to find something for her to wear. Good thing Disneylands clothes prices are reasonable...not. We got everything in 2T so she could wear it for a very long time. We got the kids toys to help pass the time while we waited for the World of Color Show to start. Weston got a light up bubble gun, which was pure genious, until the bubbles ran out. And they don't sell refills. :) (but we still use it in the yard at home)

So we pulled out the light up spinners we got the night before for the parade.

Autumn and Drew. She has a serious problem with closing her eyes for pictures, so I asked her to keep her eyes open, and this is the face she makes. She's obviously so focused on keeping her eyes open she doesn't think about the smile. :) 

On Drew's side of the family the boys are seriously outnumbered by girls. Weston has another boy cousin who's 4 years older, and another boy cousin who is 1 years old. These boys just adore their grandma. She holds such a special/tender spot in all their hearts. It's easy to see who they favor. 

And Bailey- well, it's special when Grandpa holds you and plays with you.

The light show was beautiful and held the kids attention, it was quite lengthy. As soon as we put them in the stroller and started exiting the park the kids were out. It totally made leaving easier.  

We had such a good time and feel so extremely blessed to have been able to go. There's no way we could've ever gone with out grandparents, they were such a huge help. And we know now that we won't ever go without them. The kids are still talking about Disneyland, I hear it come up in conversation atleast 5 times a day. This place is truely magical and so special to kids. The kids are at such a fun age to do stuff like this with. I never got to go as a kid, I have been a few times as an adult, but going with kids, and seeing things through their eyes...it's priceless.

DisneyLand- Day 2 (part 1)

We spent most of the 2nd day over in California Adventure. I really enjoy this park and the kids really loved all the shows, rides, and food this park had to offer.

They are building a new CARS area, and from what we could see it looks just like Radiator Springs, it was so funny, I can't wait to go back and see it when it's all done in 2012. Here the kiddos with Mater and McQueen.

On our way to the Bug's Life Show we ran into Pluto. 

I love this picture of Bailey. It was such a treat for my in-laws to get all this time with the kids, and all 3 of my kids just ate up all the attention. 

Us in the Monsters, Inc. ride. It follows the story line of the movie and the kids really enjoyed it. 

We then went and watched the Muppets 3-D show. Autumn still talks about this, especially since commercials are on t.v. for the movie coming out at Thanksgiving, and she always says, "the muppets, like the ones in Disneyland." 

After that show we went to watch the Aladdin show, it's basically the movie but a shorten live version. The kids were so into this, I was worried with it not being animated, but they knew the songs, dialogue and loved all the props. This is Weston and his grandpa waiting for it to start. 

This was a Disney Off the Page (kind of like a "behind the scenes") place. This was an interactive book, and you answered questions about yourself and it tells you which character your most like. I didn't take it, but Weston did and he was Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast. 

In that same place there was an area that looked like Ursala's lair, and you picked one of 4 songs, they show you the song and you hear the lyrics, then Ursula appears and steals their voices, so when the show replays you sing the song and then it plays it back to you, with your voices as the character. The kids picked Hakuna Matata twice.  

After that place we got in line for the new Toy Story ride. I don't know why both toy story themed rides are shooting games, Weston didn't get it, but he enjoyed his 3-D glasses, and just watching everything. It was the only thing that day that had a long wait line for riding, but there was plenty of fun toy story stuff on the walls to keep the kids happy. 

We also saw Goofy. 

We were heading out of the park to go back into DisneyLand because we had missed a couple of things there from the first day that I really wanted the kids to see/ride. We didn't think Day 1 could be topped, but I think Day 2 was just as exciting. More to come. :)