Pictures and an update

(Serena and Me watching a movie)

My cousin Serena was in town all of last week and we loved having her, we went shopping, out to eat, and we watched several movies. It was so fun having a 15 year old around to talk to and watch movies with. I was really sad when I took her to the airport on Friday. My girls just loved her and she is great with them, I hope we get to see her again really soon.

(Serena and with Payton and Kayda)

This week I also taught preschool at my house for the first time and it was fun. Payton is part of a preschool co-op and it was my turn to teach, the kids had fun going on pretend safaris in my living room and doing several craft projects. (Next week I am going to take them to the zoo on a field trip and probably have an Easter party).

(Everyone from preschool looking for little people animals in my living room)

On Saturday I ran in the Islands 5K and I won first place in my age group (20-29) I ran 3 miles in 20 minutes 55 seconds. It was a small race, but I am still proud all of my friends did so well it was a good day.

(Here I am with my friends Lisa, Cynthia, and Lindy after the the race with our metals on)

So Busy!

I feel like I am so busy right now that I cannot keep everything straight. Last week all my time and effort was spent on watching kids and going several different places and this week I feel just as busy. My cousin Serena is in town, I am teaching preschool, I have a small little class to teach for a church activity on Thursday, I am trying to keep up with my running schedule (I hope to run 23 miles on Saturday), and I am still trying to keep the house half way clean and my kids happy. I hope to have some pictures to post after this week and I hope I can remember everything that needs to be done. Wish my luck. I hope everyone is doing great I feel like I have not seen my nieces and nephews or in-laws in weeks.

Spring Break

This whole week I am watching my neighbors two girls from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm everyday. I am not usually one to volunteer to watch kids it stresses me out, but I thought I would give it a try this week, because I knew it would really help her out. I am just trying to stay busy, but I am tired and have a headache at the moment, but overall it is going okay. She has a three year old and the other one is one week older than Kayda so I am learning what it would be like to have twins. So far we have gone to the park two days in a row and I plan to go again tomorrow, and I tried to go to a movie at the cheap theater but it was sold out (bummer). We are playing outside a lot and I am praying for patience. They really are good kids, my kids just need get used to them and we will be fine. Kayda is not good at sharing right now, but we will just take it one day at a time. I hope to end the week with a trip to chucke cheese and I really hope all four girls have a good week, because I want it to be a fun week for everyone. Wish me luck. Happy Spring Break.

Finally getting more organized

For the past week I feel like I have spent all of my free time trying to get more organized. I have sent several days in my den/craft room and I am pretty happy with it now. I moved tables around, sorted and filed papers and got rid of an old desk and several boxes. We also moved our computer from our bedroom back into the den and I like it so much better. I hope that I can find some time in the future to actually use my craft room to scrapbook, but for now I am just going to enjoy that it looks better than it did a week ago. This week Reddin also cleaned up our yard and organized our garage, which made me so happy.

Tomorrow I am having a bridal shower at my house for a girl I visit teach and I am excited to see how it goes. I decided to take the simple approach. I sent out an e-vite instead of making invitations, and I decided to just have desserts instead of several other options. I really hope that there is a good turnout and that everyone has a good time.

Overall this past week has been pretty good for me. My kids have been pretty good, I feel like Kayda gets a little bit easier everyday (maybe that is because she is started to understand more). I also feel like my body has finally recovered from the Ragnar race, which is good because I have 20 miles to run on Saturday which will make it around 46 miles for the week. Wish me 6 and a half weeks until my first marathon.

Ragnar Race Recap

(team bling in Prescott right before we started the race )

I had such a great time doing this Ragnar Relay Race. We had a team of 12 girls and one of us was running at all times. Our team name was "Team BLING" (Better late instead of never girls). We had a blast, running, talking, joking, eating, driving, ect. One team member would run and then our van would drive ahead cheer on the runner and then drive to the next exchange point so the next runner could get ready to go. I was runner three and my first run was up a big hill it was 6.6 miles total (I think 2 miles were down and 4 miles up) I was surprised that I was about to finish is about 57 minutes and my average running pace was 8 min 48 sec per mile. My second run was in the dark and it was 8.7 miles, but my pace improved because there was no hill, and I just wanted to be done. I was able to finish in about 1 hour and 12 minutes and my pace was 8 min 16 sec per mile. My last run was 7.1 miles and I once again got better by just a little bit 8 min 12 sec per mile. This is my first real experience with really running hard and racing usually I just go to run with friends and family and just run whatever pace, but I was really happy with what I was able to do.

(this was right before it was my turn to run for the first time, it was so cold at first)

After everyone in my van finished up their first two runs we went back to a hotel in Wickenburg to shower and to try to sleep. I think I maybe slept for one hour before we got a phone call from our other teammates saying they had to temporary shut down the race because someone on another team got hit by a car. It was hard to find out that news and then run again, but we were about to snap out of it and finish the rest of our runs quite well. We finished the run at Tempe marketplace at about 5:00 pm on Saturday.

(here are the girls from van 1 Sharon, Sarah, Bryn, me, Lisa, Cynthia)

Overall I really had a great time. I spent 36 hours with great friends and I ran the fastest I ever have before. I think I would do this race again if I had all my friends with me again, but I do wish we did not have to run in the dark next to the highway.

Here is our team at the finish line

Here is some of us a few days later at a little party we had. I just loved our shirts and our hair ribbons.