100

Well sorry to tell ya but this post is going to be about running.

For the first time in my entire life I ran 4 miles in less than 40 minutes. It's a run like tonight that makes me feel like maybe I'll be able to one day run 13 miles. Tomorrow morning... probably not so much. My hips, knees and ankles are going to need a LOT more strengthening. My joints are so sore the day after I run. I think I might need some new running shoes pretty soon. I don't love the way my current ones feel, plus they're getting kind of old.....

And I might need to do some underwear testing for the big day to eliminate as much "riding up" as I can. No one wants to see me pullin' that out for 13 miles that's for sure.

To sum it up, most days I gripe about having to get a run in. Today I kinda wanted to. (could the addiction be kicking in? That would be nice!) Right now at this moment I'm excited for all of this!!!!

TODAY'S TRAINING:

4 MI. RUN

37:44

(Not bad for a 100th post!!!...Cheers!)

Day Off

Today was a day off of work for me and I must say, it's been a long time since I've been HOME all day long! Nothing spectacular happened. I went through all the boys clothes and switched hand-me-down sizes for Jack and put the clothes Cooper has grown out of in the hand-me-down bucket. Sounds simple, but let me be the first to tell you it takes forever. First of all, all the laundry has to be clean! When does that ever happen? Then you sort and empty and fold and fill. So I spent a lot of my morning doing that and found lots of cute clothes I forgot we had! PLUS I found a shoe that went missing basically right after Grandma Fry bought the pair for Cooper a little while back. It must have been tossed in there last time we did the size change....HURRAH! That's always fun right? And because these bins were in a storage closet at our place, of course I had to empty out the whole thing and re-organize. Some visiting teachers came to see me and we had a great time. I baked bread to go with the lasagna I made and I ran.....all before 6 o'clock. OH, And the boys were good and fun and happy all the while. Pretty darn good day.

TODAY'S TRAINING:

4 MI. JOG

41:22

Sickos beware....

I have just changed the way a comment is left on MY blog. Recently, there have been weird sick people leaving pornographic links and I'm getting ticked about it. COME ON!!!!!!! Do I look like someone who wants that as a comment?! Do yourself a favor and MOVE ON to somewhere else. You should be ashamed of yourself for putting that on ANY type of FAMILY blog (or anyone's you don't know personally). And by the way, if you're thinking that it is enticing to either me OR my husband, you are very wrong. Do it again and I'll track you down.

GET-A-LIFE.

Tiring Week

It's been a long week for us! We launched the Vote Decclo blog, I worked a few days, we've been trying to exercise, Jake has had bball games, I helped with youth stake volleyball and we've been house hunting again.

We want to be able to buy a house in time for the tax credit. Our budget is only so much and that gives us TONS of not so great options. It's amazing what little $200,000 will buy these days. We've been looking for a place that is in atleast an OK area, has 3 bedrooms, a good enough yard for little kids, and possibly a shop or garage for the screen-printing stuff. Let me just tell you it's been mad. Not to mention we've had some serious grumpy moments over here at our house. Lots of mixed emotions about everything I guess. So needless to say the weekend is looking good to us right now even though we'll probably be driving around a lot looking at places.

I know that what happens.....happens. I have full trust in the Lord that we'll end up where he wants us to be, whether that be somewhere new or right here in our current setting. I just hope I can keep the patience! (or be better at being patient for that matter)

On a side note, I had the day off today so I wanted to get my run on before tonight since we're having a bunch of youth over tonight. I just ran last night so this morning was hard and there were kids distracting me. Looks like the evening might be the best time after all!

TODAY'S TRAINING:

3 MI. WALK/RUN

32:34

shavin' time

TODAY'S TRAINING:

4 MI. WALK/RUN

43:54

(That's 5 minutes!)

Mental Note

Remind me NEVER to break that vow I made last week about not missing more than one day. Today was HARD! But I totally needed it......

TODAY'S TRAINING:

4 MI. WALK & RUN

49:14

Cute story

Well yesterday was my day off from training, ha. I have vowed to not go two days in a row without a run/walk.

In other news (since there obviously is more to my life than this lofty goal of mine) I have a cute little story from work yesterday. I was sitting at the reception desk and a young family was sitting in the waiting room: Dad, mom and 5ish year old daughter. Mom and Dad were reading magazines and the daughter was rummaging around through the kids books and made her way to the little table with a bible, a book of mormon and some LDS pass along cards. She picked up a card with a picture of Jesus on it and showed it to her parents and said, "Look! It's Jesus!" Her parents had these stunned faces as her mom basically was like, "Yeah, it is! Good job!....I'm surprised you know that!" And her dad was joking about how the daughter found Jesus in a dentist's office.....

I wanted so badly for her parents to talk to her more about it but they went right back to their magazines. It was too bad but my heart was full at that moment watching her stare at the picture for a few more long seconds before she put it back and I left for the day.

I am always amazed at the keen recognition of the Spirit that children have. They are so sensitive to it without even knowing it. It's no wonder we are instructed to become more childlike!

TODAY'S TRAINING:

2 MI. WALK/2 MI. RUN!!!

50:49

Whew!

Well 3 days down.....and how many to go???

TODAY'S TRAINING:

4 MI. WALK 57:37

Training

I am still working on a schedule for training for the half. It is six months away and the legit schedule I was given is only about three months total and........drumroll, starts at 3 miles. Cha-right. I can't run 3 miles right now so I will have to work up to that in the next month and a half or so.

That's what I'm ironing out right now.

After a busy day at work and having friends over for dinner, I decided I had to work out at 9:30pm. Glad I did it though.

TODAY'S TRAINING:

4 MI. WALK--58:42

(it can only get better from here!)

Silly Jake

Jake- I want to go get something.

Rachel- What do you want to get?

Jake- Well it's not in line with this new half marathon thing.

Rachel- What do you want to get?

Jake- Icecream.

Rachel- Jake, being able to run a half marathon and eating icecream have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Let's go.

Let it be known that although my goal is to run this thing in a short 6 months from now, I will be eating icecream all along the way. And anything else my little heart desires for that matter. Quality of life my friend, quality of life.

Ok fine, I'll start.....

There is this tiny off in the distance goal that I have to run a half-marathon.

That's it. I haven't planned it out. I know of races coming up this year, just like every other year. That's the problem. They come every year so if I miss out this year it's kinda like, Oh well, maybe next time. But this year is an important one because currently I'm not pregnant and I don't plan on it anytime in 2010. My kiddos are getting easier to take care of.....well that's not true but you know what I mean. I have a lot of drive to do a lot of things this year but for some reason exercise and running just isn't kicking in for me. We have an awesome treadmill and we've even taped a picture of Dara Torres on it cause let's face it, she's a total fitness bombshell babe. Jake wouldn't mind looking a little more like her either. I like working out. It just takes time. It's hard for me to wake up before my kids do because, well I'm tired. I'd love to get the workout done in the morning because heaven knows there's no way I will get it done at night when all I want to do is relax. Listen to me, I sound like a lazy bum. I'll admit it, I kinda am but in my defense, I have kids. It's no excuse but it sure is a good reason.

So in order to be held more accountable for this very desirable but hardly attainable goal of mine, you will be hearing about my progress. And I would like to run the Seattle Rock and Roll half marathon on June 26th. If I register before 2/28 it's only $85. So I'll take the next month or so to try and get myself started. Pump me up! I need it! And if anyone else wants to jump on the bandwagon do it with me! It'd be fun......well, once we finish it will be :)

For starters, today Jake and I along with the kiddos took a nice brisk 4 mile walk. Watch out Dara....

Dream Job

Yesterday Jake asked me what my dream job would be. It could be anything, anywhere, I would be totally qualified, etc. I thought about it for a sec and came up with some hot shot editor or someone like that working at a big magazine in NYC. Is that completely shallow of me? I think I've been watching too many movies and reading too many books with main characters holding these oh so glamorous and dramatic jobs. There's something a bit appealing about the hectic rush, short deadlines, trendy shoes, weekend getaways, workaholism, riding the subway from my penthouse apartment over looking central park, screaming bosses, witchy backstabbing co-workers and a super hott mail guy or something. Ha :)

Jake is reading this over my shoulder and just asked if this was my fantasy. "I can do mail," he says. HA!

Anyway. I'm glad I don't have that option. I love my job. I love being a momma and wifey. I love living in a smallish town close to a biggish city. I love the slow, lazy days that grace us ever so often and the freedom to go out and explore together without being tied down by 'the man'. I'm pretty sure I actually have my dream job right now :)

Sweet Baby Jack

One year ago my sweetest Jack was born.

Holy fastest year of my life.

Anyways, although it was a super fast year, we sure didn't miss a second watching our little babe grow. Jack has been such a joy in our lives. He cuddles, even when he isn't sick. That boy could be held all day long and he'd be okay. When we first brought him home we had a super cold spell with the weather so I used that as an excuse to have him sleep in my bed with me and crank the heat up in our room. He stayed in our room for about 4 months (I think?) then it was time to put him in with Cooper. That's about how long it took for Cooper to be ok with the idea of having Jack around permanently.

How could you not be okay with a face like that?!

Our plan was to have them close so they'd be buddies. It's finally starting to be that way! They are starting to play together a lot. And even though Cooper picks on Jack non-stop, Jack just follows him everywhere and watches his every move. I love my two boys :)

Jack will eat anything you put in front of him. He is a bottomless pit. He can recognize the clanking of silverware on a plate and will come crawling faster than you can get the first bite in. I don't know that I've gone once without sharing a meal with Jack as long as he's nearby. Because of this, his nickname is "Chancho".

The helmet made his cheeks that much chubbier.

We love our Jack and his cute little face. He's a pleaser and likes to make us laugh. He is a very observant little boy so we must watch ourselves now that he's picking up all sorts of tricks.

Black icing on a first birthday cake: One of the best ideas I've ever had.

We thank our lucky stars and our Father in Heaven everyday for this special boy and hope for more boys like him and Cooper in the future.

2010

It's officially here and I am super duper excited. I have a feeling about twenty-ten. Along with many others I want to make a list. Not all of them are probably super realistic but they are most definitely possible. I feel like I need to bring in the second century of my life with a bang this year and I will do that by living like I've never lived before. I want to do new things, play more games, see new places, meet new people, etc.

My list, which will of course be a continuing work:

1. Go to Mt. Rainier and hike around

2. Go to a sunny warm sandy beach

3. Write atleast every other day on my blog

4. Bake bread more often

5. Take the kids to the Seattle Zoo

6. Take the kids camping

7. Take a road trip...maybe to California?

8. Plan meals

9. Read the Book of Mormon, maybe twice.

10. Learn to play the piano again

11. Be able to watch icky dental procedures without getting knots in my stomach

12. Write letters to my grandparents

13. Go to a Sounders game. I want to see what all the fuss is about :)

14. Take the kayak out a couple times

15. Teach Cooper lots of things like letters, numbers, colors, sounds, shapes, etc.

16. Be more patient and kind

17. Plant flowers

18. Exercise and be in shape

19. Run a half-marathon, or maybe just start out with a 10K (baby steps)

20.

21.

22.

To be continued...