Experiment Successful! Fast Food is gross!

                      
Well,  8 1/2 weeks ago,  I started another biggest loser group.  As part of my action steps,  I decided to not eat fast food ( this did not count diet coke,  that is something I will have to tackle down the road ) ( second disclaimer:  I did not include healthy fast food, ie: Subway, in this exclusion).  Well,  today,  I was on my way home from a meeting and decided to stop for a diet coke and was really hungry so I slipped up on my action step and ordered a burger.  Now,  in 8 1/2 weeks,  I have not been a completely healthy eater but I have stuck to my no fast food rule pretty close.  As I was eating the burger,  I was thinking "Wow, this is really gross!"   Half way through the burger,  I thought, " I can't eat this but I insisted to myself that I used to love these,  I'm sure it will start to taste better".  No, it did not taste better, not to mention, afterwards,  I had this huge rock in the bottom of my stomach.  Ever notice you only feel the bottom of your stomach when you put bad things in your body?  I admit,  I am week and I have a lot to work on still but this gives me hope that if I work on things one at a time,  slowly,  my body will continue to want the things that are good for it and abhor the things that are not good for it.  I would much rather have my homemade southwest turkey burger with avocados on it than that gross burger from "you know where". Next 10 weeks, I might tackle the diet coke:/
                                

1st Day of school - finally

Finally posting the first day of school pics.  Justin and Kate off to seminary bright and early 5:45am.  This is Kate's first year of seminary.

                                             Kate - 9th grade,  dancing,  piano,  goofy:)
       Justin - 11th grade,  drums,  all other percussion,  scouts,  trombone - learning this year,  did I say drums,  music - especially Rush,  writing his own music,  jazz band,  his own band - "Piranha Gun",  did I                                  say drums?  Drumline,  OA, 5 AP classes, isn't that enough!

                                     Sarah's picture is not loading properly  I'll have to post that later.
                     Sarah started 7th grade,  starting ballroom dance,  volleyball at church,  guitar,  always
                                                       organizing  something:)

                           Eric - 4th grade, gymnastics, remote control cars (can you say obsessed!), lacrosse
                     

I have 4 children in 4 different schools again this year.  Next year we go back to 3 schools, yay!  Reallly,  I feel truly blessed that I love all their schools!  We have such a great school district!  Looking forward to a really great year!

Pink Day

Friday was "wear pink day" at Sarah's middle school.  Her principle is battling breast cancer so they asked all the kids to dress up in pink to support her.  I was so touched by Sarah's enthusiasm to do this.  I really think it is great that the school is teaching the children to rally around their principle and teach them to think about someone other than themselves.  She looks so cute!

Dance Festival 2012

 I have spent the last 5 months working on the costumes for our 6 Stake Dance Festival.  It was probably one of the most difficult things I have ever done. Luckily,  I didn't have to do it by myself.  I had loads of people helping with it.  Here are a few of the stats.  Thank you to all of you who helped!

Hours of service

Sewing hours- 4400 hrs

Stake Costume Chairs and assistants 600 hrs x 6 = 3600 hrs

Costume Chairperson = 800 hrs

Total hours by Costume committee = 8,850 hrs

Yards of fabric = Approx. 4600 yds of fabric

Number of costume pieces made = 3,680 pieces

Wow!  I am so amazed at how people stepped up to help the youth with their costumes!  These were only the costume hours.  Many more hours were put in by other stake leaders from all 6 stakes to make this happen. Here are some of the costumes that were made,  purchased or borrowed.

Fan Dance - China

Swing - USA

                                                                         Western - USA

                                                                       Cha Cha - Spain

                                                                       Bollywood - India

                                                                       Hula- Polynesian

                                                      Haka -  New Zealand   
                                                         There's my boy, Justin! 

                                                                      Flags-Seize the Day

                                                                     Tinikling - Phillipines

                                                                     Polka - Germany

Lights -  We are the World

Avenger's Contest

I'm trying to win this contest to get these cool Avenger items.  Justin is so excited about the movie.  Frankly,  so am I:)  Check out my friends blog.  She has some great deals.

Marvel’s The Avengers {GIVEAWAY}

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In celebration of Marvel’s The Avengers opening in theaters everywhere next Friday, May 4th I am excited to share with you this great giveaway! One of my readers will have the privilege of winning an adult sized t-shirt, 6 buttons and one pair of limited edition  3D glasses! (Giveaway open to U.S. and Canadian residents only.)

 

Just click the “Read More” button to enter the giveaway!

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I am a "Runner"

           
I am a "Runner".  I used to be a "Dancer", well,  I still love to dance too but there is something about running.  I don't know how to describe it.  I am no athlete by most peoples description but in my heart and in my soul,  I am a "Runner".  Those of you who run, know what I'm talking about.   I always said, "I will never run!"  As Fiefel says "Never say never".  When I started running,  I didn't like it, not one bit.  OK, well, maybe one bit.  The part I liked was that I was doing something with my husband and my son and now my daughter and my other son too.
    I used to only run with someone else.  It was too boring to do by myself.  Revelation:  There is something I have come to realize about myself.  I used to hate to be home alone.  I always had to be out doing something when the kids were at school and BJ was at work.  I had to go shop or go out with friends or just go anywhere.  The last two years,  I have found that I really like being alone.  What's the difference?  I realized that I like myself more now.  Not to be proud or boast.  I just enjoy being around me.  I have gained such confidence, not just by losing weight but by the accomplishments that I have made for myself in running.  These accomplishments are really nothing to brag about in the "running world" but in my world, they were mountains that I climbed!  I'm not breaking any records but my own and that's what counts.
   I have a long way to go, especially with my recent set back.  I had a herniated disc removed from my neck four weeks ago.  I went running today for the first time since the surgery.  For the last two nights, I have been up late, just antsy, wondering what is the matter.  I couldn't go to bed.  I just felt unsettled.  I realized today as I was running, that I was just out of sorts because I hadn't been running.  This is how I used to feel all the time.  I couldn't sleep,  I was anxious,  I was depressed sometimes.  I know that running has cured me of all that and I realize now that I was starting to slip back into that.
    As I left for my run today,  the Lord blessed this day to have some beautiful sunshine.  I was pretty sure that he did that for me:)  It was pouring down rain and then all of a sudden, it was sunny and I knew that I wouldn't have to go do my run at the gym.  I went slow on purpose but just the feeling of running and the sunshine made me start to get a little emotional.  I couldn't stop the tears from trickling down.  Who would have thought that running a mile could make you cry.  Once again,  I will regain control of my body and continue my journey to be healthier and happier than ever.  I can't thank the Lord enough for giving me this wonderful life!  I am blessed.

Race Report - 2nd Half Marathon

So apparently, this is what "runners" do after a race. They make a race report. Seeing as my race was over a week ago, we will see how much I remember. I decided to just rest last week and that will be another post. Now for the "Race Report"

I prayed and prayed the night before that the weather would cooperate, at least until after the race was over. I mean, yes we do need rain but for a couple hours in the morning while I was running, was it too much to ask that it just not rain? I guess not, because the Lord was very accommodating. I have said this before but I owe the fact that I run at all, to the weather here. It really was a perfect morning for running. It was a little chili but my wonderful husband let me borrow his extra pair of running gloves, which I only wore for a couple miles. It was cloudy but not raining.

My 11 year old daughter Sarah was also running the half marathon. This was her 6th one in less than a year! She amazes me, she doesn't even train for them. That's kids for you. Of course, my husband was running with us too. I do not run alone- or do I. We started out really great. Sarah was ahead of us and kept looking back to make sure we wouldn't catch up to her. Well, eventually, we did catch up to her and she was not doing so good. She was having some leg pains and the was getting discouraged about the race.

I had a goal to stay at a certain pace and Sarah was just struggling more than she ever has so I told BJ to just stay with her. So, I ran ahead of them, by myself! I couldn't believe what I was doing. BJ said, they would catch up to me. Well, I went for another 2 or 3 miles and realized that they weren't catching up with me. He had given me one water bottle so I could refill that but I had no food. I don't like gatorade or the goo's or actual food while I'm running but have found that I can handle the Shot Blocks. They are basically like really big fruit snacks. I didn't have any with me though. As I make the turn around at the halfway mark, I start thinking that at least I'll pass them so I can get my Shot Blocks but I was also worried about how Sarah was doing.

As I come up to them, Sarah is looking a little better so I feel better. BJ hands me my Shot Blocks and another water bottle and off I go again, by myself! Who is this woman, running a race by herself? Not me, oh yes it was! The fact that I was doing this by myself, just kept me going for another mile or 2 until it started to get really hard. By now I'm at mile 7 or 8 and I am getting really tired. BJ had told me that our friend Bob was going to come up and ride his bike to check on Sarah and I started thinking that maybe I would run into him. Well, we are so lucky to have friend like Bob. Here he comes on his bike with his Yoda helmet. Always good for a laugh and not a moment too soon.

I was starting to talk myself out of keeping my pace and just telling myself, to just finish. It didn't matter what my time was, I just needed to finish. Along comes Bob, like an older brother just watching out for us. He rides along with me for awhile and tells me he will go check on BJ and Sarah in a little while. I start thinking "Please don't leave me" . He stays.

BJ catches up to us to see how I'm doing. He did some pretty fast running to catch up with us. He didn't know that Bob had showed up but was hoping he had. Checks on me and says to Bob "You're going to stay with her, right?" Bob says, "sure I will". I am so relieved! BJ speeds off to go back and catch up with Sarah who is about a mile behind us.

I tell Bob, how grateful I am he is staying with me and that I didn't think I would be able to keep running at that pace without something to motivate me. I mean, with someone on a bike next to you, you don't really want to slow down. It's hard enough to ride slow while someone is running, I didn't want him to have to slow down even more!

Well, I didn't walk more than a minute for each of those last miles. I'm not saying I ran as fast as the beginning but I didn't just give up my goal pace!

The last quarter mile, Bob rode up ahead to tell my daughter Kate that I was coming so she could take a picture of me. She and Eric hung out at the aid station, the whole time. They were real troopers. I came up over that bridge and saw the finish line and I was so happy!!

I had a time in mind that I thought was doable and I had a time in my mind that I wanted to beat but wasn't sure if I could. Well, I did! I beat my previous half marathon time by 30 minutes!

Sarah and BJ were only a mile behind me. I was so proud of her for sticking to it and not giving up, even though she wasn't feeling her best that day. She is amazing.

Thanks to my wonderful husband for being an inspiration to me, Sarah, Justin and many of his friends. Hereally instilled a love of running in me!

Thanks to our good friend Bob Satko for being such a good support to all of us, especially me this time. He has given us the gift of his time many times to be race support.

I am so grateful for this experience. I think I'll do it again!