Pioneer Day Fun

Chris - A great catch

Here are a few pictures from my mom, brother Tony, and Calee's visit from Cali. Ryan joined us on a couple of the days they were here. We had so much fun with them!

Karley on the giant water slide

Fireman's Foam!

Bobby & the fishin' gang!

Fishing on Logan River

Haley, Tony

Karley, Calee, Chandler

Bella, My Mommy

Danielle

Calee, Karley & Danielle

Tony, Ryan & Bobby waiting for dark and the amazing fireworks!

Look closely at the pic above, you'll see a stow-away.

After our family prayer before they left to go home, we all went outside to see them off. We couldn't find Snickers. She was in their car, hoping to catch a ride back with them! We were cracking up! It took a while to finally get her out. So funny! See, my mom brought her dog Bella, a chihuahua/poodle mix. She and Snickers are buds now and Bella gets to go on car rides and Snickers loves my mom so she must have decided she was going this time.

Still not wanting to get out.

And they're off...

I DID IT!!!

The hottie to my left is Calee, my brother Tony's wife. Bobby took this pic as we were passing my house early in the run.

On July 25th, 2009 I ran and finished my first 10K, with my adorable sister-in-law Calee by my side. I set a personal goal, a lofty one for me, once I had been running for a while, to run the 10K on the morning of our city's Pioneer Day celebration. I did it! It took me a long time and it wasn't fun, but I did it! Bobby, my mom, Tony and Haley were all there for us at the finish line and I could hardly hold back the tears as we approached the end.

I'm so excited that I stuck with training for it when I seriously didn't know at times if I could actually accomplish the task. For me, it's been so nice to run alone where I'm not worried about holding anyone back or carrying on a conversation. This has been so nice to just go with no interruptions. As I have been working towards this, I could tell I was making progress along the way when I no longer had to carry a water bottle to sip on every 1/4 mile; when I could talk a little when running with a partner and not die; not stop to catch my breath; and listen to soothing music rather than motivating, blaring music.

I challenge any and all who read this post to set a goal and go for it. Don't even think about quitting! I'm so much better for it, and if I can do it, you can too!

On to my next goal, a mini-tri next Spring...

A Fair Trade

(Pre-Post disclosure: I have decided to be a little more candid in my blog, hoping it doesn't backfire. I want to be a little more 'real life'. Not to flaunt my issues but to (a) document what's really going on and not candy-coat things for my own personal journaling, and to (b) share in the hopes that maybe sometime, someone, somewhere will gain from my honesty.)

This is the lowest dose I was ever taking of this 'wonder' drug. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been taking this since Bobby was just about recovered from his back surgery and we were waiting for his retirement to go through. It helped me and my family tremendously, so it served its purpose. There was a time that I didn't care if I had to take it for the rest of my life, because it helped so much. Well, that time has come and gone. I've been mentally and emotionally ready to stop the medication for some time, but not able to completely wean off of it. I was getting horrible headaches and having an increase in weird behavior, like pulling at my hair and eyelashes, biting the skin off my bottom lip, and clenching my teeth.

Out of complete desperation I starting running. Once I got a taste of how it made me feel, I was sold on the idea that it was good for me in so many ways. I still don't love running, but it's the feeling I have when I'm finished and getting a 'second wind' or 'runner's high' while I'm running that I love. Because of my consistency in running, I was able to trade my meds for these.

I'm amazed at how much better I feel physically and mentally when I am running consistently. I wish I could say that I lost all the weight I wanted to but that's not the case, however I am literally taking one step at a time and now I feel empowered to do much more. Yay me!

Typical

Ok , so I sat down to blog about the past month and a half and this is what is going on. (Just kind of typical of how we make plans and prepare. Then... life just kind of gets in the way.) Chandler is chasing Snickers around our yard, trying to get her to comply with taking a bath. This is not a normal Sunday activity, however, just before we were about to leave for church at about noon, we brought Snickers in from her morning galavant around the yard. She passed by me in the entry way and I about passed out. I thought maybe she had boofed, but no, she had dog doo all over her right ear and the right side of her body. Disgusting. So she stayed in the garage instead of her kennel area inside the house while we were gone to church. Now Chandler has the responsibility to get her all cleaned up and she is NOT at all happy about it. Not sure if Chandler or Snickers is more upset.