The big 3-0

This summer I had my 30th birthday. I've been semi-dreading this because I really liked being in my 20s. Also, I had told myself a couple of years ago that I would like to have 3 kids by 30. Elements beyond my control - that wasn't happening. I decided I was going to set a goal to do another 5K. I ran a 5K almost 3 years ago - I think my time was 40 something minutes. I had never run a full 3 miles before then, and I walked a majority of that one.

My goal was to run the full 3 miles, after training for a little while I decided that a run walk would give me a better time than running slow the whole time. I had told my friend Jackie about doing the 5K, she hoped right on board. Honestly, unless she was doing it I probably would have whimped out, Thanks, Jackie.

I made a 5K mix on my mp3 player and I strategically placed certain songs, like "Eye of the Tiger" came up at about 1/2 way when I typically got tired.

So I walked a total of 4 minutes and I finished my 5K with a time of 32:33. I was pretty happy with that. I think its the fastest time of all my practices. Made turning 30 almost worth it... almost.



Here were my other friends that ran with me, Mary Ann and Jackie. It was fun to have someone else come along. Best part was having my hubby and girls at the finish line. I'm now contemplating doing a 1/2 marathon in Utah in May.


As for my 30th birthday, it actually turned out to be pretty good. MaryAnn had called and told me that her and our other friends were going to throw me a birthday get together during the afternoon. I got lots of phone calls during the day from friends and family members wishing me a happy birthday. I would say a lot more than usual. I was talking to MaryAnn on the phone and mentioned that I was on my way to Jackie's house for the party. She said that I couldn't go inside yet because she hadn't decorated. I appeased and sat out in the car talking to my sister, Becky. Jackie comes running out and says that she forgot to get tomatoes and sour cream for the luncheon and if I could run and grab some. They offered to take my kids while I ran to the store, so I went. On the way, Kim calls and we chat for a few minutes until she got to the store where she was going. I got back to Jackie's house and I knock on the door. I hear, "You open it, no you!" I was thinking just open the door.

When they opened the door, there were my friends, the place was decorated and had a huge "Happy Birthday" banner. I was so happy, as I look around I was a bit surprised.

Trav was there and...
My sister, Kim. Trav had flown her in for 5 days for my birthday. Yeah, I cried when I saw her. It was an amazing surprise, and I have a wonderful husband who is very good at keeping a secret.
We had a great time. We worked out, ate yummy and not so yummy food, watched movies, went swimming, ate junk, went to a great restaurant and a movie. I love my sister. I am so thankful for my hubby and hers for making it possible for us to get together like this. It made my 30th birthday very memorable.

I love you, Thithter.

Things I learned from my calling

My calling to play the piano has been very challenging. I feel like I'm getting better, and surprise, surprise I'm starting to like practicing.

Although practicing can get a little difficult with the girls under foot in our tiny apartment. A couple of months ago I was sitting down to practice. I wanted to run through one song just one more time and then I was going to play with my girls.

Rachel stood by me and said, "Mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama" and Lauren was on the other side talking incessantly. I hit my limit. I had a shining Mommy moment and I yelled at my kids, "STOP TALKING TO ME!" I put both of them on the couch and told them, "Let me go through this song 3 times and then I'll read you a story." The girls are crying on the couch and I sit down to play my song. I start laughing a little bit to myself as I look at the words of the song I was practicing, "There is beauty all around, when there's love at home." I really know how to spread the love.

Rachel

So I didn't mention 2 year old updates on Rachel. During her appointment we saw that Rachel was 65th percentile for height and 55th for weight.

She is the sweetest little girl. A funny thing about Rachel is that she has a very low voice for a toddler. Sometimes I have to drop my voice to mimic hers. Rachel vocabulary is coming along. After Rachel gets up from a nap she has to have some "snuggle time." Throughout the day she will come up to me, hold out her hands and say, "I nuggle mommy." I love it, its so hard to resist. She loves to snuggle in and press her face against mine.

Lately, when she talks she will say things out of order. The other day she caresses my face and says in a soft voice, "I mommy lub. I daddy lub. I noree (Lauren) lub. I cat lub." It cracks me up. We don't have a cat - she was just letting me know.

Rachel also has a bit of a stubborn side. We have tried transitioning her to a big girl bed, she keeps on crawling out and turning on the light. Or she'll sneak downstairs and stand there until you notice her. On the other hand, she is quite easy going when it comes to playing with other kids. She is such a blessing in our house.

Words to describe Rachel at age 2: funny, sweet, snuggly, loveable, stubborn, self-reliant (I do it!), tough, active, & curious.

Lauren

Here are my two birthday girls. These two crack me up. I love that Lauren loves sharing a birthday. Its one of the first things that she tells people when she meets them.


So on their actual birthday we decided that we would go to Chuck E Cheese. Our good friend, Mary Ann and her kids, went with us. It was all worth it seeing how excited she got over everything.

Rachel loved all the rides. When she was playing the game where you roll the ball up into the targets, she kept on chucking the balls every which way.
By the time we left there I was a little overwhelmed. We headed home to decorate Lauren's birthday cake. She wanted a Word Girl birthday cake - Word Girl is a show on PBS. I had grandiose plans for her cake. I was going to do it with fondant, but after a failed attempt at doing another cake with fondant, I gave up that idea. This was what we ended up with.

Lauren liked it, although she asked me where Word Girl was. I told her I wasn't talented enough to draw her on.

Here she is doing Word Girl's pose as she says, "Word Up!"At Lauren's 5 year old check up, I had them check her eyesight without her glasses and then again with. She had been saying that she didn't want to wear her glasses - that she can see fine, "They just make everything big." The original doctor said that she thought Lauren would grow out of the glasses. They check her vision and said that it was fine without the glasses. It was 20/20 in one eye and 20/25 in the other. We decided she would no longer have to wear her glasses. She has been ecstatic about that.

She was in the 98th percentile for height and 75th for weight. Lauren is almost 4 feet tall and gets mistaken for a 6 or 7 year old a lot. Our second Sunday in church the Primary president asked me if she was just 4. I said she was and she said, "Wow, she's so tall." Lauren is usually the same height or taller than most 6 year olds.

Lauren talks almost non-stop. She has heard me say on various occasions, "Let's just have a few minutes of silence." Lauren is so social. She talks to everyone and always wants to invite someone over for dinner and playing. In Arizona, she really got into swimming. We did lessons at the local Aquatic center and it amazed me how quickly she caught on. She can swim totally unaided. Lauren is also very sensitive. She's made the comment, "I don't want them to laugh at me." She can get her feelings hurt very easily, but she also bounces back like a champ. She is my "super helper," she loves to do anything that will help me out. She is so good to her little sister.

Words I would use to describe Lauren at the age of 5 are: sweet, talkative, social, smart, kind, helpful, friendly, active, and inquisitive.

Grandma & Grandpa visit

At the end of June, Travis received an award from the Army. The Army even paid for Travis to have a guest come in, so Trav's folks made the trek down. It was so wonderful to have them.
On this day we had a series of events that we attended including a luncheon where Travis got his award. We were so proud of him. Later that evening we headed off to a Military Ball. I enjoyed this Ball a bit more than other one's that I have attended.

The next day we headed off to a local farmer's market, had lunch in the park and played with Grandma & Grandpa.
We had so much fun with them. We decided to celebrate Rachel's 2nd Birthday. I made her an Elmo cake. I loved that she recognized it right when she saw. You know that is a good sign. She kept on saying, "I see, I see!"


The cheeser of a birthday girl.

Catching up

I've been putting it off, but I figure I better update my blog. We'll see how much I get done tonight - it has only been 4 months ago. We really haven't done much except celebrate 3 birthdays, an anniversary, and moved into our first home. Okay. Let's get started.