On the rizzle, fo' shizzle...

(Interpretation for the parentals: On the real, for sure)

See, I'm young, I'm hip...unless of course it isn't cool to talk like that anymore, probably not. Oh well, I'm being real, right? I'm really not that cool.

So, I hurt my leg. It was about 3.5 weeks ago. I did it in a weight lifting class I do for some cross training. Pretty sure I strained my groin muscle. I don't think it was pulled because I didn't hear a "pop", it just started hurting really bad when I went to run the next day. Well, being the elite athlete I was attempting to become, I pushed through the pain.

For a week.

I ran 9 miles the following Saturday.

Bad idea.

When it finally got through my thick skull that this wasn't going to just miraculously go away I decided to take a few days off. After a few days it wasn't any better. I got new shoes from a running specialty store and found out that my left leg pronates in. This is the leg I am having problems with. I got some shoes to correct that. I then talked to my dad, who knows everything, about it. His excellent medical advice was to take ibuprofen every 8 hours, heat it up before exercise and ice it after. I continued working out on the eliptical machine because that doesn't hurt it at all. I was very diligent with the meds, heat, and ice. My leg was feeling so much better after a week that I decided to try running last Saturday. I was just going to pick up where I was supposed to be that week. 7 miles. Easy, right?

Wrong.

My leg immediately started hurting again. But I didn't stop. I thought that it just needed to warm up. Will I never learn?? I ran the full 7 miles. Boy golly did my leg hurt the next day.

So then the doubt started creeping into my fragile confidence. Was I crazy to think that I could push myself like this? A marathon? Really?! I'm no athlete, by any stretch. The minute it starts getting too tough, can my body really not handle it? Maybe I should just shoot for the half marathon in May, and try another marathon later in the year. I discussed this on and online board for runners. I got a lot of support, a lot of advice. I was reminded that people often get injured and have to take time off. You just have to adjust your training schedule and press on. So that is what I am going to do. I have been continuing with the eliptical machine this week and my leg feels okay. I'm hoping it will be well enough to run next week. We shall see. But I will press on! Windermere Marathon 2010, here I come!

Prepare yourself, every needful thing...

"We become self-reliant," explains Julie Beck, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint's organization for women, "through obtaining sufficient knowledge, education, and literacy; by managing money and resources wisely, being spiritually strong, preparing for emergencies and eventualities; and by having physical health and social and emotional well-being."

Well, gosh darnit, we sure are trying. The leaders of my church council us to try and build up a years supply of food, in case of emergency. Be prepared, that says it all. My mom has been on the food storage bandwagon for a long time, and she has helped us to catch the spirit. We have a long way to go, but we are slowly getting there. For family home evening a couple of weeks ago, after Ray scored a bunch of big white storage buckets for FREE, we washed the buckets and filled them up with some of the food we have for our food storage.

The kids sure had fun helping!

Dad did most of the heavy lifting ;)

We even have this nifty little room in our basement where we can keep all of our food storage.

I just had to show everyone my HUGE score. Long story short, Albertsons was having a sale on Quaker products, add to that these awesome coupons I stumbled upon at Winco (I only took 20, okay?!), and I ended up getting all of this oatmeal, cereal, and granola bars (about 80 boxes of those) for about 32 cents each!!! Woo Hoo!!

My dear sweet husband said "I really need to get a gun to protect our food supply now that you are going to put that picture on the internet!"

**giggle** He and Glenn Beck, they're tight!

Weekend Love

The kids had another 4 day weekend (the second in a month, c'mon!!) and the weather was so nice! We went over to Lake Coeur d'Alene to walk around. It was so beautiful.

I can't wait to see this in the summer when the trees are all in bloom. But there is something so beautiful about those intertwined, leafless branches, don't you think?

PARK!! Run for it!

Monkeybar love...

We were following the Moose Trail...the kids were so excited to find the moose!

On Sunday we had our annual Valentine's cookie decorating party. Maggie and Naomi were a little sick, so we stayed home from church. Maggie helped me make the cookies (she washed her hands, promise ;) ).

Oh man, this cookie recipe was soooo good! I also made this frosting...YUM!

I got the new "neon" food coloring. Not sure if I like it, I think I'm more of a traditional color kind of girl.

Naomi sure did enjoy it! Poor Maggie was asleep during the decorating but she very much enjoyed the finished product when she woke up! That's all that really matters, right!?

Sugary yummy goodness!!

As for the rest of our 4 day weekend, well, we made the kids help clean the house. It can't be all fun and games, right?!

A Valentine's Day Story of Love

A beautiful orchid from my sweetheart

We met in the summer of 1995 at a dumpy little restaurant named JB's in Logan, Utah. I was 20 years old and I had just started working there. He had a girlfriend. I had a boyfriend. But, everyone who ever met Ray knew he was special, that he was such a good person. We were friends. Over the years we saw each other around town. Logan is a small place. We stayed friends, even after my stint at JB's ended. We even lived a few houses apart at one point in time (I moved a lot!!). Fast forward to 3 years later. Things were on the rocks with my longtime boyfriend and he had left for the summer to work in Washington. I was working at a different restaurant, Angie's. (Waiting tables, one of the many life skills I gained in college!) Ray and his friends would come in for breakfast on the weekend. We would often talk. At one point the subject of my boyfriend came up. I told Ray that he had left for the summer. I think I said something to the effect of, "I'm so bored now that he is gone, I have nothing to do". And I honestly meant it. I wasn't trying to flirt, I've never been very good at flirting. Well, Ray says "we should hang out sometime". I said that I thought that would be fun, because we were friends. He was just feeling bad for me, right??

Wrong.

He called that night.

There are those moments where you are standing at a fork in the road and your life could go one of two drastically different ways. You may not realize it at the time, I sure didn't, but that is exactly what is happening. Looking back on it now, that was the pivotal moment of my life. That was the day my destiny changed.

6 months later Ray asked me to be his wife.

6 months after that we were married, soon-to-be forever.

And we are living happily ever after...

Look Who's....

WALKING!!

Where has my baby gone? **sniff**