Long time no Write

Sometimes I feel like I have to update my blog with everything that has happened and that is too overwhelming so I don't update it with anything.  So here are a few pictures and happenings that have occurred in the last year.

Todd went on his first date in May.  He and his friend Hope went to "mormon" prom.  It was probably more fun for me to watch them and help with dinner than it was for the kids. 

Trip to Zach's playground in St. Louis.  Playing with cousins

At Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City

Came home from St Louis with our 4th of July stash

Joseph turned 10 and wanted a candy cake. 

Our family hiking on the Appalachian Trail

Hannah turned 14.  Her favorite gift was finally getting a phone which she said she didn't really need, but the amount of texts would say otherwise.

We did temple work together at the St Louis temple. (I can't figure out why it is upside down)

Todd is 16 and a junior in high school and is marching with the trombone this year.  We are still working in his license, but he should have it in the next week or so.  (Yay for me!)  Hannah is 14 and a freshman and is in marching band also.  Joseph is 10 and in 5th grade.  He decided he wants to play the trumpet.  Seth is 7 and in 2nd grade.  He is my little competitor, but hates to lose.

I have been training for a triathlon for the last 6 months and will finally compete on Sept 8th.  Nervous and excited.

Steve is still the bishop of our ward and life continues to be crazy and wonderful.

****Whew***  There is our year in a nutshell.

What am I running for?

This season of my life has been a strange one. Moving on to new things, yet not knowing what I am moving on to do. I am done having children, I am not a newlywed, I am done with small children. My youngest started Kindergarten and now I am now in charge of my own time for the first time in 15 years. What do you do with yourself? I could clean house, volunteer, work on projects or a million other things, but none of those things were quite right (though I did them all) Looking back I have discovered that I needed something that was mine. Something that said that I had accomplished something that wouldn't disappear and have to be done again the next day. Something that I was in charge of that was about my own determination and goal setting and achieving.

Am I a good mom? Probably. Am I a good wife? I try to be. Am I a good homemaker? Not so much, but I am not the worst. I play the organ at church which I am getting better at, but there will always be someone better. What is it that defines me or makes me good at something?

In December I got this crazy idea that I needed to start running. I don't know where it came from. I don't run; I don't like to run; I don't want to run, but I started. I decided that I needed to run in a race. I looked up how to train and got on the treadmill and starting running. During the training I figured out that I really don't like to run very much, but if I was determined enough I could do it. I just had to keep going and going and going.

I ran my very first race (5K or 3.1 miles) on April 22nd in Crystal City, VA. I ran it with both my sisters. I prepared and planned and then got sick. I ran it anyway (in the rain). Bib number 2031: Results 38:28minutes. I ran the whole thing and didn't stop. As I crossed the finish line the tears came. I really did it. I even did it 4 minutes faster than my fastest training time. I couldn't breathe and my feet had gone numb (from shoes that were not loose enough), but I finished what I started. I did something I never in a million years thought that I could do. I then ran another race in May. I am taking a break from running for the summer because I hate to be hot and I am a little bit burnt out.

So what is the next step? I think I am going to start training for a triathlon.

Gym Time

On the day that the kids all went back to school (August 20 something) I went to the gym and signed up. Over the previous year I had lost about 12 pounds by watching my diet, but I was tired of clothes that didn't fit and all that goes with it. I have been going for 3 months now and I am proud to say that I have only missed 3 days in that time. I never knew how addicting it could be. I go six days a week and think about it on the 7th (I know..) I have only lost another 7 pounds, but I have dropped 4 pants sizes. I finally went to the store on Friday because I didn't have any pants that fit. From the starting point of when I started losing until now I have dropped six sizes and I am only about 3 weeks away from another 2 more. I have so enjoyed getting toned and having time to think about nothing and everything. Who would have every thought that I would even be comtemplating signing up for a 5K race with my sister. I am still not a runner nor do I get on the treadmill most days, but I love all of the other equipment and am even up to 2500M on the rowing machine. To round off my total makeover I had my hair cut and colored. I even got hit on by some weirdo at the gas station.

(This is as close to a before picture as I am going to post) The after picture is still in progress.

I am still alive

Time just kept on going and I didn't really try to keep up with it. I won't even atttempt to blog about the last 6 months I will just say that it was spent with family and friends.
We are still going and I am still trying to keep up. Todd started high school and seminary, Hannah made it into YW, Joseph was baptized, Seth started Kindergarten, I am finally left to my own devices during the day, and Steve was called to be Bishop of our ward.

Life is Good!

Oh the Joys

There are just so many joys of being a mother that I can hardly keep track of them all. My particular favorite is that they always keep you on your toes and you never really know what is going to happen next. On Saturday evening we were at the park across the street playing with some friends. Joseph and some of the other kids were swinging and jumping off the swings. They were also wrapping their legs around the swing and flipping over. They have done it a million times so I didn't think anything of it until I heard Joseph screaming. He had fallen off and landed on his face. I ran over and grabbed him and carried him into the house. He had blood running down his face and coming from his nose and mouth. He did a real number on himself. We were able to get the bleeding stopped and it didn't look like anything was cut open just a lot of little things and a huge amount of swelling. Almost like he had been hit in the face with a bat. We decided that we didn't want to sit for the next 5 hours in the ER for them to tell us that he had a swollen face. Not to mention that we have huge fears about the hospital here. There have been many horror stories about it. Anyway..... I kept him home from church the next day. By Monday it was pretty obvious that things were getting infected (pus coming from his nose and cheek) I took him to the doctor and she looked him over and put him on antibiotics. She said that he hadn't broken anything and with cleaning, neosporin, and antibiotics things should heal fine.

So for the last week we have been rinsing, cleaning, applying, and taking medicine. He stayed home from school all week to prevent dirt getting into the wounds and so that we could keep his mouth clean. We picked up all of his work so we had a week of homeschooling. He had some blood blisters on his gums and just a lot of bruising and swelling. On Wednesday we took him back to the Dr for a follow up and as she was looking in his mouth she noticed something and she couldn't see before. It looked like he had torn his bottom lip away from his gums. On Thursday we took him to the dentist and sure enough he had ripped his bottom lip completely away from his gums. The dentist said that he did it down to the bone. It had already started to heal on its own so they are just going to keep an eye on it to make sure that it continues to heal properly. He has to swish with salt water after every time that he eats something to keep it cleaned out. We have one more follow up appointment with the dentist. He was able to finally return to school today. He was secretly happy to go back, but would never in a million years admit it.

Todd's Birthday

Todd turned 14 yesterday. I can hardly believe it. On Friday he had his friends come over and they .....wait for it.......played video games and ate pizza. It is kind of nice once they get older and they don't need to be entertained in order to have a birthday party. I only saw the boys a couple of times. Once when they came up to eat and the other when they came up for cake and ice cream.

On Saturday he had a jazz band competition in the morning. It was held at Shepherd University. His band did a really good job. I can't wait until Monday to see how they did. Todd plays the bass guitar in the band and really enjoys it. After the competition we came home for a little bit and then headed to Seth's soccer game.

Watching four year olds play soccer is one the the true joys in life. We laugh so hard every week that you can't help but feel happy for hours afterwards. After Seth's game then we headed to the mall in Hagerstown to meet Steve's mom. Todd got several accessories for his bass guitar and then used his birthday money plus some gift cards and bought himself an xbox 360. I tell you he was one very happy little (or not so little) boy. Steve's mom took him out and bought him his very first suit and then we all went out for dinner. Today we got to see him ordained a Teacher and get his Duty to God award. All in all a good weekend.

"Oh What do you do in the Wintertime"

The kids have been out of school since Tuesday last week because of the snow and will continue to be out of school for the rest of this week. We won't have to worry about what to do in the summer time because we will still be in school then. We got over 2 feet of snow and will be getting another foot again today. *sigh* Here are some of our adventures.

Steve obviously needed to clear the satellite dish so that we could watch the Super Bowl.

All of us just didn't fit in the little trench that we dug from the house to the garage.

Joseph was the one that we just couldn't get to come in the house

Steve is trying to dig a small path so that we can walk down the side walk eventually
My two little boys