Half Marathon Training

So, I haven't officially signed up or anything, but I'm planning on running a half marathon here in the Springs on Labor Day. I started a blog that will detail my training program and workouts. It's mainly for me - just so I can keep track of everything, but in case you are curious, here it is:


My First Half

I am most definitely not a "runner". I just want to finish the race and improve my endurance. Wish me luck!

Finally, some house pictures

So, it took me a while to unpack and even longer to take some pictures. I still need to take some of the outside and the basement. Here is the living room.



Here is another angle.



This is a semi-formal dining area that is next to the living room.



And the kitchen is right next to the dining area. It's kind of an open space with the living space, dining space, and kitchen all in the same room.



This is the front entry/hall way.



This is looking into the office/study, which is off of the main hallway, and has french doors. It could be a formal dining room, but we thought the room would be much better utilized as an office.



other side of office...



This is our bedroom - which is off of the living room.



another angle...



We really like the layout of this house. It is one level with a finished basement. Upstairs are two bedrooms (ours and Emma's) and the basement has a TV room, 2 big bedrooms for the other kids, a storage room, and a full bath. Next to Emma's room upstairs is another full bath. It seems to work well for our family right now. I'll take some pictures of the basement in a couple of days.

Congratulations!

David recently earned his wolf badge in Cub Scouts. We are so proud of all the work and requirements he completed to earn this badge. Way to go David!!

On the last day of school, they had a Pride assembly where some kids got awards. Josh got the science award, and Rachel got a reading award and a library award. I'm so proud of my awesome kids!

Home Depot Kids Workshop

One of the last things that David need to do to earn his Wolf Badge in Cub scouts was to build something useful out of wood, using a tool like a hammer or a screwdriver. Every month Home Depot has free projects for kids to do this exact kind of project. They each get an orange apron, a certificate, and a pin (to put on the apron). I took David and Josh and they had a blast building a little wheelbarrow planter. I think we will try and make it there each month!

David turns 9

Spring brings a bunch of birthdays in our family! David turned 9 on May 11th and had a fun birthday. We went as a family to Chuck E. Cheeses and all had fun playing the games. Then we came home to enjoy yummy ice cream pie and had David open his present. All he wanted for his birthday was an Mp3 player. We surprised him with one that can take videos and pictures, play videos, and of course play music.



He was very excited when he opened it. Here is David with his "cake".


Blowing out the candles...



We are so glad to have David in our family. He is very creative, loves to play with his webkinz, and has a sweet and tender heart. I think his new favorite animal is the platypus, although he still really likes turtles. Happy Birthday David!

E-Mealz

For me, one of the hardest parts of grocery shopping and making dinner is just coming up with what to make. I usually end up making the same thing over and over again. I finally tried E-Mealz because I had heard it advertised on Dave Ramsey's radio program so often. It is a meal planning service that gives you weekly shopping lists and menus. They have different lists that go with different stores and they have some different options (low-fat, low carb, and even a weight watchers point based menu). I have actually tried a similar service before, and ended up not liking most of the recipes. Our family has tried this now for a few weeks and it's a big hit. Aaron told me that he likes most of the new recipes. Even the kids have cleared their plates most of the time. Other than the main dish, it also gives side dish suggestions. That is something that I've always had a hard time coming up with. The program is only $5 a month (definitely worth the time that it usually takes me to come up with a plan and a shopping list). You pay for 3 months at a time. If you enter the word DAVE into the box at checkout, you will get 2.50 off your total. They have some sample menus on the website if you want to try some first. Here are a few of the meals that I am making this week.

Poppy Seed Chicken
White Rice
Steamed Broccoli
Sliced Cantaloupe

Enchilada Pie
Yellow Rice
Pineapple Kiwi Toss

Fish Filet Parmesan w/
Almonds
Sautéed Asparagus
Scalloped Potatoes

Foot long BLT
Sliced Oranges

The meals have all been easy to make. Having my meals planned out for me really takes some stress off of me - and I am saving money at the grocery store. I thought I would pass along something that I have found very useful. Please check it out!

My baby is now 4

We had a fun time celebrating Emma's birthday. She turned 4 on April 26th. I can't believe how old she is getting! She wanted a flower cake for her birthday so this is what I came up with.

Here she is blowing out the candles.

She got this cute monkey from Rachel. Rachel had "points" she earned from reading books and she was able to get this from the store at school. Emma loved it! It was actually her favorite present.

Here she it opening a present from us. She loves letters, numbers, and animals, so we got her a bunch of fun refrigerator magnets. She spells out her name on the fridge, puts a number 4 beside it, and a pig (her favorite animal).


Emma is a very sweet girl. If you call her anything else - like a sweetie or something, she says "no, I am a princess!". She's very quiet, but after you get to know her - she warms up quite a bit. During the day, when it's just Emma and me at home, she talks non stop. She also loves High School Musical and likes to pretend that she is Sharpay. She loves music. I gave her an old mp3 player and she loves to listen and sing to music. She is a joy and we love having her in our family!

Easter 2009

We had a nice Easter this year - despite the weather being very crazy - we had snow. We had baskets and eggs on Saturday and a nice dinner on Sunday. I was still trying to get all moved in and consequently I didn't take very many pictures. I did manage to take pictures of the kids in their new Easter clothes.

The final leg

{I did a lot of posts at once, please scroll all the way down to read them in order.}

Our plan was to leave for Colorado Springs on April 1. Utah/Wyoming/Colorado had been going through a series of storms. It was supposed to snow on April 1st, but we decided to watch and wait to see what the weather would do. We didn't want to delay leaving, and then get stuck behind a storm. It did snow that morning, but cleared up and we left around 10:00am. The freeways were all open and the weather didn't really seem all that bad. There was a little bit of snow here and there between Utah and Wyoming, but nothing that slowed us down. We ate lunch in Little America, and Dinner in Cheyenne. Sarah took over driving and the roads from Cheyenne to Denver were great. I had wanted to pull over and take a picture of a Welcome to Colorado sign (we did that when we entered New Mexico) but we never saw one. Here is a picture of Josh at a rest stop just over the border by a Colorado Map.

That's when I jinxed us - I said I was officially glad that we had decided to leave that day.
Soon after, we started to have issues. I don't want to embarrass anyone, but we some issues with bodily functions. Then the roads got very, very bad. They were snow packed, slushy, and very slick. One funny moment was when we opened the windows to get some fresh air, and a snow plow zoomed past us showering the interior of the car with wet, slushy, dirty snow. I am very grateful for a lot of things. I'm glad that Sarah was with me, and that she was driving when I needed to help the kids (doing something only a mother could do). I really feel that I was inspired to bring round, plastic tubs (old food containers) to pack some of the food in. They even had lids! That was a lifesaver. The last 40 miles took over 2 hours. We didn't pull in until after 10pm. Driving time - about 12 hours (25 for the whole trip!) I'm also very grateful that we made it there safely and that the car didn't give us any trouble (well, except for a dead battery at the very beginning, but then the battery was fine the rest of the trip).

I am very glad that we are a family again. I'm excited about living here. I'm thankful that Aaron found a nice house for us to rent. I'm looking forward to this next chapter in our lives.

Our trip - part two.

The next leg of our journey was up to Fruit Heights, Utah to visit with my parents and sisters. The trip went pretty well. We just had a little bit of snow over Soldiers Summit, but it wasn't really that bad. We made the trip in 7 hours (hours of driving so far... 13) and had a very nice week with Grandparents. My parents had recently put in an endless pool, so that kept the kids entertained quite a bit.







We also had fun visiting my sister Sarah, going out to eat, and just relaxing. Rachel was very lucky and got to go to a David Archuleta concert with her grandpa. Sarah was very generous and offered to make the drive from Utah to Colorado Springs with me. Our plan was to leave on April 1. More to come...