Saturday, January 16, 2010

Walt Disney World

I know this is way late but we had such a good time in Disney that I had to show you some cute pictures.

I absolutely LOVE Beauty and the Beast. Its my favorite Disney movie. Disney had a 20 minute musical of the movie and it was so beautiful.


This is Joey trying to take a sneak peek at Woody and Buzz! He just couldn't wait to see them. He had to look around the corner!







Dixie and her family were so kind to come out to FL to help with the kids while I ran the marathon. It was so much fun to have our kids play together and have her sweet mother join us. We had a lot of fun, in a little bit of time.

(Sting Rays, and Penguins)
We went to Sea World as well. It was cold and rainy, and cold and rainy. Did I mention that it was cold and rainy? But I'm telling you, the kids were such great troopers and did not misbehave. They were just so excited to see the animals. I am grateful Kevin stayed behind with Emma, cause that is one girl that does not like the cold.
Waiting for Shamu!



If I could own a pet whale, I would! They are such amazing animals!


The time share had a great tub. Sadee was hilarious because we would be at Disney having fun and all she would ask was if we were going to let them take a bath in the big tub! Check out Joey's pecs!

I really wanted us to make sure that the kids got all of Disney in the short amount of time that we were there. The afternoon of the marathon, we went to Hollywood Studios and met the rest of the Pixar characters.

(Mcqueen and Mater; waiting for the 4D Toy Story Mania Ride)



Monday after the marathon, we went to Magic Kingdom. I wore my medal and it was great because the cast at Disney would always go out of their way to express their joy at the accomplishment.


"Destroy Buzz Lightyear, Destroy Buzz Lightyear!"






I cannot wait until Emma is old enough to love the Disney Princesses. In the meantime, I will live the dream for her.



This is Dixie and the kids on the teacups. She was the biggest wuss on that ride. She was supposed to spin so I could take pictures! Let just say she was too busy closing her eyes and holding her face to spin so I had to do both! Ahy Rochie!




I love this picture of Joey on the flying Dumbo. Makes driving 14 hours and running 26.2 miles all worth it.





Thank you, Dixie, for an amazing weekend! See in September in Disneyland for the 1/2 Marathon! No backing out now!

Walt Disney World 2010 Marathon

So I finally did it! When Joey was 18 months old, I decided to get off my fat behind and finish loosing the pregnancy weight. After I did, I decided I would run a marathon. Kevin was, well, very doubtful about it. He knew how hard it would be, and at the time I worked a full time job and had a baby and he knew it would take a lot of discipline to train. Well, he was right, and I decided to have another baby instead! Emma came a long and I didn't want to stay fat as long as I did with Joey, so I ran my first mile a week after she was born. It took 15 minutes. So Kevin called it more of a brisk walk! Whatever!!! Kathleen Clawson was in my ward in Derwood and she is an avid runner. She was excited to have a running partner and I was excited to learn from her. After many 5 am speed work outs, running trails, and obstacle courses, I decided I would sign up for my first marathon for Emma's first birthday. Kathleen and her husband Brett do the Walt Disney World Marathon every 5 years and this was their year to do it. They motivated me, helped me get good shoes, and proper training started. Even though we parted ways, we still kept in contact on our runs.

In our race packet, we got our number, a cool shirt with the Marathon logo, a disposable camera to take pictures along the race (those are being developed), and some coupons, and food.

Morning of the race 3:30 am

The race began at the Epcot parking lot. It was SOOO COLD. I began to be discouraged then because my back was hurting from the cold. There were three waves and I was in the last one. For every wave, when they shot the gun, they had fireworks as well. Brett stayed with me because he had done the half-marathon the day before so he was going to go at a slower pace. I am glad we stayed together because if I would have started alone, I would have taken off quickly and not have maintained a healthy pace. There were characters along the route of the race (Buzz, Lilo and Stitch, Mickey, Incredibles, etc) but the line was about 10 people deep for each and I thought, "Ok, either I stop to take pictures, or I stop to use the bathroom." So I decided to keep my dignity (since women were squatting on the sidelines) and use the bathroom. We went from Epcot, through the back roads, to Magic Kingdom, through Animal Kingdom, through Hollywood Studios, and ended at the Epcot parking lot again.


If you were tracking me, you would have noticed that I kept of a pace of about 12-13 minutes per mile. It was slower than I wanted (10-11 minutes) but it was really cold and I was able to run the whole time. The times you saw that was slower was bathroom breaks (not walking). It was hard enough to stop for the bathroom and I knew that if I ever walked I would have never run again.
The miles went so quickly. Brett and I both said that if we were alone, we would have been discouraged along time ago, so it was nice to have company. We had Powerade, water, protein gels, and bananas along the route to eat. At about mile 21 we decided to pick up the pace and did the mile in 10:53 but it was too early it wore us out. By mile 23, EVERYTHING hurt. I have really flat feet and every time I hit the pavement, my non-existent arch hurt, my knees, hips, and back. At this point I started to cry and felt that I just couldn't go on. But I had so many of you cheering me on, I just couldn't let you down. I said a silent prayer and asked that I could finish and be strong enough to do so. The moment I closed my prayer, I heard the Spirit loud and clear say, "I am right here." Every pain in my body went away. I felt numb except for the cold. It was amazing to be reassured that I wasn't alone. I crossed the finish line at 5 hours 39 minutes and the minute I crossed that finish line, every pain came back and so did the tears. But it was truly worth it.

"Momma got a Didgy medal" (Special Agent Oso)


When I decided the second time to do a Marathon, I made Kevin promise that he would never discourage me. Well, he ended up being really hard on me and reprimanded me if I didn't meet my weekly mileage. He was so supportive and I am so grateful that he was there to meet me at the finish line.

Kevin- "How do you feel?"
Me- "Everything hurts! I am in so much pain!" Wahh Wahh Wahh



My inspiration



This is Dixie and her Family ( her children Sadee and Aidan, and her mother, Ana). Dixie came from Utah to help with the kids and so that we could spend some time together. We grew up in NYC together and have amazing memories. She pretty much saved me from myself and I will always be indebted to her. Yateebyalublue

On Monday, we met the Clawsons at Magic Kingdom. They were starting their fun, and ours was ending. Brett got three medals (one for the Half-Marathon (13 miles), one for the Marathon (26.2) and one cause he did both). It was like being with an Olympian! Thank you guys for your inspiration, motivation, and good examples. I am down to do it again in 5 years.

Dixie is a massage therapist in UT. She gave me a massage everyday! It was awesome. Don't let that face fool you, she enjoyed every minute of it. Even though I barely had toe nails left! Whatever, toe nails are for sissies.

When we got home, I was greeted with 26 American flags on the lawn and this great Mickey poster saying "Way to Go!" Thanks Jodi and Fallon!
So there it is... 26.2 miles in a nut shell. Thank you to all for your support and encouragement. Words can't describe how loved I felt. If you asked me on Sunday if I would do it again, I would have said no, but now, its just amazing to see what your body can do and I am totally doing it again. Some of us are doing the Disneyland Half- Marathon on Labor Day weekend in Southern California. Join us!

Joey is a Sunbeam!

Joey is officially in Primary now. It felt like he was such a big boy. I was worried that he would have a hard time not being in Nursery, but he has a lot of friends in Primary that made him feel welcomed. They grow so fast. But its so exciting to see them progress and grow their testimonies.

Friday, January 1, 2010

A Family Affair

It has been so great to have Kevin home for the last couple of weeks. It would have been nice to have taken a big family vacation but we still had some good times together and have good memories.
Joey just HAD to wear his Batman costume in order to play with his Bat Cave. The fun thing is to watch him play with his Daddy who is just as silly as any other child. Usually Daddy is the Joker and Joey is Batman Joey who sends the Joker to jail.



I have been really excited to use my new camera so we went to the park, fed the ducks, and took some candid pictures of the kids. I love my point and shoot camera but the pictures are so much more crisp and precise with the DSLR. Its totally made me want to scrapbook more.







See- He is just a big kid. And we love it!




Since we are moving in less than a month we are trying not to buy any food so we can get rid of the food we have and not have to throw it away or something. This night we made pizza with a weird spaghetti sauce. It didn't taste very good but, we had Joey help us make the pizza and he actually ate it. So it is true that if you involve your children in making meals, they will eat it.

This is my favorite. I was in charge of Super Saturday at our ward. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. My garage was totally neglected and then we decorated for Christmas so it was a big mess in there. I barely could make it to the deep freezer. On Christmas Eve, I just about had it! We went through a lot of our boxes, got some stuff ready for a garage sale, threw old magazines and papers away that we had for about 4 years and counting, condensed boxes, I mean we weren't messing around. One of the benefits of moving so much is that the military moves us, so we don't really take the time to get rid of things cause we don't have to do the labor. But it was just too much. So this is what it looked like before.


We went to Walmart, got Rubbermaid that were color coordinated for Christmas, got grey ones for every thing else, got out my Label Maker, and Walla!




Since we were doing so much cleaning, we decided to wash our cars as well. The kids had a blast spraying the water. Well, at least Joey did.



On New Year's Day, we went to Florida Caverns State Park. It was really cool. We were able to take a tour of a really cool, dark, wet, cave. We saw cave formations such as stalactites, stalagmites, draperies, rimstone pools that looked like glass, and enjoy the nature that surrounds it.


Emma playing on the steps waiting for the tour. They both had a lot of fun. At one point, the tour guide turned off the lights and had us see like bats. It was incredible dark. So dark we could not see our hands in front of us. Wow!



That little dark spot in the middle is a BAT!





Very beautiful and crystallized.




Joey and the tour guide turning on the lights in the cave.




Joey, Easton, Emma, and McKay. We went with the Burton family. They are a cute family that is also Navy. The boys had so much fun running around together. They all behaved really well.




Love that face! The camera just loves her!


So, we have spent lots of time together as a family. Now its back to the real world- Kevin goes back to training, Joey keeps doing Joy School, and I get ready to move.