The Race I Won (Kind of)

This morning I dragged my butt out of bed to go and run a 10k for the parent enhancement program. Seeing how I am not in amazing shape right now, I was especially nervous, but I had committed to do it a long time ago to do the race. I literally got to the starting line 2 minutes before the race started, turned my i-pod on and, and I was off. There was a different race going on at the same time as our race on almost (key word almost) the same course, so there was mass confusion with everyone of where to go. I was going straight through a corner, and was told that I needed to instead turn left for the race I was doing and that 5k people should go straight ahead, which was the exact opposite of what we should have all done. I continued to try to follow the few signs, and I when there was occasionally someone to ask a question to, I would be assured that I was going the right way (although the couple of people never knew how far we had gone). So basically, I finished the 10k in 39 minutes, but obviously as I finished, I realized that I in fact had run the course wrong as there is no way I ran the race in even close to that time. People at the end were apologetic for all of the confusion,and I later found out that I ran closer to 4 to 4 1/2 miles. So, the embarrassing part comes in when during the award ceremony, they call my name as the winner of the women. I immediately yelled out to everyone that I had run the course wrong and was not the winner, but they insisted that I come up and accept a prize (a $20 gift card to a local sport store) as they realized that many people had run the course wrong. So there you have it folks, I "won" my first 10k today :) even though I never ran a full 10k. Someday I will have to tell you about the time I accidentally scored a goal the one year I played soccer in high school :).

Update

Here is what has been going on in our neck of the woods:
*Chris broke his fibula, chipped his tibia, and may have torn tendons or ligaments in his ankle. Oh, and I was in Utah when he did it. I never leave the kids, so I was quite stressed about them when I first heard the news. My sister Heather bailed us out and picked up the kids for a couple of days. She is a rockstar sister. Thank you so much to the neighbors and friends who help us out during the days that I was gone!!! Seriously.
*Despite the stress of everything going down on the home front, I did have a great time in Utah. My main motivation for going was to surprise my friend Amanda for her 30th birthday (which I almost pulled off), but I was able to see my sister Niki (who drove to meet me for less than one day) and a few good friends as well. Here are a few of the awesome things I got to do: Cafe Rio, Avatar, Brazilian Food, and a little shopping with Niki. Running, temple, and hanging out with Elisa's family. Facial, massage, and good ol' hanging out with Amanda and family. I got to see Lyndi briefly on Monday morning as well. I am hoping to be able to do more weekends like this every once in a while, minus the whole broken leg business.
*Chris' parents were in town for the weekend, and I am afraid they weren't able to relax a lot. They were helping Chris and Gabe and I are getting over colds as well. Carlos worked on and almost finished a chicken coop for us. He is my hero of the day. Seriously.... I am so excited to get chickens, and I thought that I may not get a coop with Chris not able to build one. I am pretty blessed in the in-law department I must say.
*I am not pregnant or trying to get pregnant (sorry if tmi), but I have been contemplating a home birth for our next birth. I am going to call insurance tomorrow. I am guessing there is a good chance that it won't be covered, but I definitely want to look into it to see if it is an option.
*This last week has been beyond beautiful here. Since Chris can't really get around, we have enjoyed hanging out in the yard while I try to get some work done. I'm sure it will be back to cold and rain soon, but this break in the weather may be just what I needed to get through a rainy spring.
Okay, that's it friends. I really need to be on top of taking more pictures of the kids. I can assure you that they are still both cutie patooties.

Happy Early Valentine's Day

Happy Early Valentine's day. I am especially feeling the love for my sweet little family this year. Chris is such an amazing father and husband, and my kiddos....well, I am smitten. I seriously think that they are both at the best ages ever right now. I wish I could freeze time and just keep them this young for a long time.

Day 3

Okay, so I'm not doing too incredibly wonderful. Valentines' week is a tricky one. So now I know that I am a social eater and a holiday eater. Here's the list:
Breakfast-Bagel with cream cheese
Lunch-Leftover spaghetti and salad
Snack-waaay too much popcorn that we were making popcorn ball valentines with.
Dinner-Tacos and homemade pinto beans. Might I add that dinner turned out really gross tonight.
Okay... this may be the last time I post now that I am in the habit of writing down what I am eating.

Day 2

Breakfast: Cheerios and half banana
Snack: Grapes and carrots (had to resist cookie)
Lunch: Leftovers from dinner
Snack: Cheese and crackers
Dinner Spaghetti with salad
Dessert: Chocolate Chip cookie and handful of caramel corn. I realized that I don't always have dessert at home, but when I am with friends....I eat. Some people are social drinkers. I am a social eater I guess.

Day 1

Here it goes folks~
Breakfast-Oatmeal with raisins and 1 tsp pumpkin butter.
Lunch-Bagel Turkey Sandwich with 4 kettles chips and 6 oz OJ.
Snack-1/4 sugar cookie and 3/4 cup fresh pineapple
Dinner-Pineapple Chicken/Rice/1 raw carrot
Dessert---I tried to resist, but my friend Adrienne lured me with her Heath ice cream. I only had a tiny scoop. Promise :). It was good though.
The End

Food Journal

So as normal, I gained my nice 5 pounds over the holidays. Nothing new here folks... it always happens. The problem is, I have gained a couple of more pounds in the last week on top of the Christmas weight, and I have no idea how. I haven't been eating too bad, and in fact, I had a stomach bug for a couple of days where I hardly ate anything at all. If any of you remember the "before" picture that I posted last year, I am sad to say that I look the same if not a few pounds heavier (although I did get in much better shape than I was in the picture).
I still feel fine about how I look overall, but since I have a tendency to eat like a lumberjack in the first place, I think that now would be a good time to get my eating under control. I have tried to keep food journals in the past, and when I was consistent.. it really helped...but the consistency thing was hard for me. So my dear friends... I ask for your help. I will be posting what I eat (I mean everything) on my blog for the next few days to help me get in the habit of keeping a food journal. I realize that you could all care less about what I eat, but it will be a good way to hold me accountable and think about what I eat since I have to write it down. I think that once I get in the habit of writing things down, I will be good to go, so help a lady out will you? If anyone wants to participate with me... we could all help each other out, and maybe it would be good to hear about healthy meals/snacks that other people eat on a daily basis.

Gender Roles

This picture cracks me up. Not only is Gabe dressed up in full diva attire, but he has colored all over his face (and legs) with marker. So speaking of Gabe being dressed up in diva attire, Gabe really loves to dress up. I attribute it to the fact that he has an older sister who loves teaching him the ways of girliness. I do not worry. Chris doesn't for the most part either, but I think he wishes that I would encourage more "manliness" with Gabe. I don't discourage manliness at all... in fact, anyone who knows Gabe probably has a vision in your head of a little guy who never walks.... only runs and jumps everywhere. He loves to wrestle and growl, which I suppose could both be classified as "manly" things :). He just loves being like Sofia too.
I know that parents play an intricate role in helping kids identify with a gender identity and role. You often hear dads telling boys to stop a behavior, because that is what girls do. You probably don't hear parents as often telling girls not to act like boys, though.
For those of you who have older girls and then boys, do you or your husband discourage "girl" behavior at young ages? I think that gender is essential and that Gabe will be shown the ways of manliess or whatever, but 2 seems like a young age to be pushing it too hard to me. I think that as parents, we sometimes push weird issues/cultural prejudices/ onto our kids, and they pick up on it. We make things that are innocent and sweet into more than they are sometimes. I know that Gabe will grow up to be a great man someday, but at least for a little while longer, I will let him enjoy the innocence of a crown and tutu.

This is how we roll

Here are some things that we have been doing recently instead of blogging :).
My sister Kris just welcomed her new baby Relia (my Grandma's name) Lily into the world last Friday, so we headed down to get a baby fix. She is absolutely precious!!

Gabe was in a bad mood when we got there as he had just woken up, but I was very surprised how long it took him to warm up to the idea of my sister having a baby. He clung to me and whined/cried for a good 1/2 hour and wanted nothing to do with the baby. As you can see, he eventually warmed up.

Sofia was ready to hold Relia from the get go. She looooves babies. If you are around us with a baby, Sofia will immediately ask to hold the baby.


I have had a bit of an obsession with making things out of felt lately. Felt hair clips, little animals for the kids to play with, and now I am on to headbands. For those of you who know me, I am not crafty.... so I am excited to have found something easy enough that I can do :)!



I have been making more of an effort to get the kids outside this winter. Last week we fell in love with Jackson Frazier Wetlands by our house. It is a great walk for the kids, and we are working on toughening Sofia up as she has a rep for whining on walks :). Oh, and I'm really not sure why Gabe scowls in almost every picture. I assure you that he really is a quite happy kid :).
Life is great right now, and I am feeling pretty busy, but good busy. Gabe continues to make us laugh with almost everything he says lately, and Sofia is always amazing us with her insightful comments. More posts to come.