A Night of "Customers"

Happy Halloween!

Sunday, 10-31-10

We had had a busy weekend, so we decided to have a quiet Halloween evening. It was just us and the kids. Chili in the crockpot, cornbread just out of the oven and a beautiful evening (no rain) to walk around the neighborhood.

Oh yeah, and lots of "customers" to hand candy out to. Both of the kids called the trick or treaters, customers. They would ask when the next customer was coming. So cute. :-)

I had the hardest time getting Zach to put on his Batman costume. He decided that he wanted to wear his Boo! shirt instead. Angie gave this to him last year and it is one of his favorite shirts. I tried to tell him that he wouldn't get any candy if he didn't have a costume on. He kept on insisting that his Boo! shirt was a costume. At one point he says to me, "Mom, how many times do I have to tell you that this is a costume?!" Ok then... I finally got him to put it on.

 

We ran into the Chambo Family.

Zach and Christian were Batman twins. Aren't they adorable!

Then Elissa and Alyssa (who are in the same class), couldn't look more sweet. :-)

The kids had a fun time.

Though Zach pooped out before Elissa, so I took him home while Darin and Elissa did a little more trick or treating. They had to go to the house that hands out king size candy bars!

Here is what the kids were last year.

October Fall Fun

Monday play days are in full swing again!

10-18-10

Christian, Zach and Brady

They also all go to Preschool together. Pretty fun little group. :-)

School Fall Carinval

10-22-10

Elissa went with her friend, Olivia, and their family to the school carnival. She had so much fun! She even won one of the cake walks.

A beautiful Fall morning.

Saturday, 10-23-10

Thomasson Farm Field Trip

Thursday, 10-28-10 AM

Elissa's first 1st Grade field trip. Of course, it was a nice rainy, muddy day.

Then that same day, Zach had a Halloween party at Preschool. Papa came and took him since I was Elissa's field trip and then I met up with them half way through.

Zach took off his costume right after I got there.  Papa had the windsock station & is helping Christian with his.

This is Tysia.

Zach told Papa when he got to the house that he had a girl friend and her name is Tysia, but she is kind of mean to him. Zach has talked about Tysia before and said that she is not very nice to him, but he still thinks that they are friends. Such a cute little witch. :-)

Then it was sharing time. Zach looks forward to this every week. He thinks that the girls shouldn't have a turn and it should just be boys all the time. :-) Today he decided to bring a little black capsule that when you put in water it turns into a skull. He thought this was very cool!

Snack time!

 

Just too much fun for today.



The last soccer game!

Saturday, 10-30-10

Zach's first season. Elissa getting into it more and more.



There is a lot of fun in the Fall!

Courage to Start....Faith to Finish

There were never more truer words.

This saying was on the back of some women's shirts and I can so relate.

Girlfriend's Half Marathon

October 17, 2010

Vancouver, WA

I finished it!

(13.1 MILES!)

My journey to this half marathon started back in January, you can read about it here. I have been training for this half since July, but it has been a bumpy road. It turned out that it is really hard to train for a race when it is Summer and there are so many other ways to spend your time. My running was sporadic and my heart issues had me down. The first part of September I did a stress test with my cardiologist and got fully cleared to race. My heart is all better! I'm not on any medication and I am not having any erratic heart rhythms. Thank you Lord! So no more excuses, it was time to get down to work. It was still busy with the kids and I getting back into a school routine, so I had about 4wks of good training before the race. I felt confident, but not real strong.

Saturday, 10/16

Renee and I left in the morning to drive down to Vancouver and pick up our race packets (Renee was suppose to run, but she injured her back). It was a beautiful day, so then we went into Portland and walked around The Pearl District. We should have stopped about 2hrs before we did. I wore out my legs a bit. We had a great dinner at Jake's and then went back to our hotel where Keri, Cara and Allison were already chillin' in their room. We went to bed by 10pm.

Renee, Me, Allison, Keri & Cara

Sunday, 10/17, Race begins @ 9am

I woke up on and off from 5:40am until I got up at 7. I only ended up eating a whole wheat bagel w/cream cheese and I probably should have ate a little more. We left a little after 8am. There was lots of great energy at the starting line. We met up with Keri, Cara & Allison and Renee gave us a pep talk. :-) I was on the verge of tears all morning....full of anxiety. Then it was time for the race to begin!

This is just a couple of minutes into the race.



It was a perfect day for a race and it was a beautiful course, but I didn't feel strong. I started way too fast. I was averaging between 10.20 - 10.40 pace the first couple of miles and my usual is right at 11. Then I stuck to around 11 (a little below & above) right up until mile 10. I had been feeling nauseous for quite awhile, so I made the decision to take a bathroom break thinking that if I relieved my bladder it might help my nauseousness. I didn't care about my finishing time by now. I was just praying that I would finish. That cost me around 8 minutes and Keri & Allison passing me. I sure could have used their encouragement to help me finish stronger. It was "down hill" for me the rest of the 3 miles. There were several long slow inclines that just killed you. I walked more than I ran. I was really questioning whether I was going to finish. I have not felt so defeated while running. Then around mile 12 my right foot started cramping up. My toes would curl up on their own real fast and then release. I knew that I was on the edge of getting a debilitating cramp so I tried to spread my toes out while I walked/ran and prayed that I would just be able to finish. I was telling myself that I was never going to do this to myself again. I started crossing a bridge and saw the crowd and knew the finish line was close, so I ran the rest of the way. I turned the corner to the finishing line and saw my family there. I was not expecting them. They totally surprised me! I had a smile instantly and I wanted to just stop and burst out into tears. I held the tears back and Elissa came running up and ran the rest of the way with me. I was so exhausted and sick that it was hard to be happy that I had just finished a half marathon. I really just wanted to sit and cry. It was a hard race. It humbled me.

Waving to the kids.

My goal was sub 2:30. Here are my stats:

So even though I was pretty sure that I was not ever going to run a half again. I would just stick to 12k's or less. Today I signed up for the Seattle Half on November 28th. I'm already in the running mode and I really want to do better. I know that I didn't do my best during this race. I let the mental part of the race get to me and I want to overcome that and be stronger. I don't want to wait until the Spring to try again.

I texted Darin this afternoon and said that I was thinking about signing up for the Seattle Half and he replied, "Awesome. I'll be at the finish line waiting for you."    Love that! :-)

P.S. Thank you so much Renee for driving down with me - even when you couldn't run - and being a huge support and cheerleader and taking awesome picctures! Love ya girl!!

"I Do" x 8

Happy Anniversary Baby!

I love you!

It was a perfect day.

You are the perfect man for me.

And after 8 years, that statement is for certain.

Voight Fish Hatchery Field Trip

Thursday, 9-23-10

Zach's First Field Trip!

He was VERY excited to go on this field trip. He learned about salmon at school on Tuesday and he made a picture of the different stages of a salmon's life. He was telling everyone about it the picture and even slept with it that night. He is a pretty committed guy. :-)

Here is Zach telling you about his picture and what he saw on the field trip.

He says adult salmon (not dog), fry and fingerling

Of course, since we live in Seattle, it was raining for our field trip day.

It was a fun day, even in the rain! :-)

Zach's Playdate

Monday, 9-20-10

Zach and Brady had their first play date of the school year today. Zach was VERY excited for Brady to come over and play. He gets pretty bored on Mondays and Mommy gets tired of keeping him busy. :-)

Our official Monday Play Group starts in October. We are welcoming a new boy (and Mom) to the group. Can't wait to share some of the fun times we have this year.

Here is a little taste of what these silly boys do. :-)

Fresh Grounded Faith

Friday-Saturday, 9/17-18/10

LOVED this conference!

Not only did I get to hear Lysa TerKeurst speak in person (middle), but she also walked right in front of me - like just inches away - eeeekk!! I grabbed Amalea's hand and whispered "there she is!" I follow her blog and love her books and I think she is just a really real Christian woman that has whole heartedly given her heart to Jesus and tries to live that out in her daily life.

 Lysa started the weekend off speaking about the verse 2 Timothy 1:17, "For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind." (NKJ) Lysa said that fear should only be an indicator, never a dictator. If we let fear rule our life, then how are we women of faith?

Then Abby Rike from The Biggest Loser (left) spoke about how she has managed to continue her life even after her husband, daughter and son were all killed in a car accident. It is unimaginable how you could go on. She agreed that if she was sitting listening to her own testimony that she would think it couldn't be done, but she said that she has learned that, "if it didn't seem impossible, then you wouldn't need faith." So inspiring to anyone who tells themselves that something is impossible.

Luke 18:27

Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."

Jennifer Rothschild, the founder of Fresh Grounded Faith conferences, was also an inspiring speaker. She became blind at 15yrs and talks about how her faith and dependence on God has helped her move past her fear and live a fulfilling life. She gave several examples of what she would have missed out on if she hadn't had the courage and power from God to move past her fear. Her message was also challenging about letting go of the "impossible thinking" and to instead step out in faith to see what God has waiting on the other side. I think the next book I read will be her new one "Self Talk, Soul Talk". It is about speaking words of truth, from the Bible, to ourselves. Sometimes the most destructive thing in our lives is ourselves and what we say to ourselves about ourselves.

I love this prayer that Lysa says daily for her kids:

Lord please save them from the wrong friends,

save them for the right friends,

and if they make a mistake, let them get caught.

If you ever have a chance to hear from any of these women, take the opportunity!