New Record

Saturday is my "long run" day.  Last week I had to run 9 miles, and this week it was 10!  I promise to me this is soo far!  Today's run was a bit harder for me for some reason.  At the 9 mile mark, I was one minute slower than last week.  I finished the 10 miles in 91:32 minutes!  I feel good about that.  Its finally nice outside, and the snow is mostly gone, so I think next week I'll try and run outside.  I think outside running will be easier mentally, but harder physically.

Wednesday Supper

I decided to try something new in our family.  Every Wednesday, someone gets to be in charge of Supper.  They get to pick what we eat, and I will teach them how to make it.  I am hoping that this will give me the chance to teach the kids how to cook, and also spend a little one-on-one time with them.

The first Wednesday Chase was in charge.  He chose pizza for supper.  Here he is cutting the pepperoni.  I think he had a lot of fun cutting, and cooking.  And he was proud as punch to tell dad that he made supper!

Kadie made dinner the next week.  She chose Hawaiian Haystacks, her very favorite meal.  I forgot to take pictures of her cooking, but she had a lot of fun too.  I think that it is easier for everyone in the family to eat the meals that the kids make.  There was no crying or complaining when we ate.  Maybe the kids should cook every night!

Even Spencer wants to help cook.  He is making us some casadia's.  I was sure that he was going to burn himself on that pan, but he didn't.  He definitely loved being in charge that night.

I think this is a really fun thing for my kids to do.  I'm sure that some of you parents are thinking, you only let your kids cook once a month!, but for me that is plenty.  Supper time is definitely the most chaotic time of the day, and if I cook with my kids once a week, I feel like I'm doing pretty good!  So if anyone wants to start a fun new tradition, I would definitely recommend this!

Marlies B-day!

On Sunday it was Marlie's B-day.  She has been waiting for months for this special day!  The first of March she made a paper chain countdown, but that only lasted for a couple days until Nixon got ahold of it.  Everyday since then, she has asked "how many days till my birthday?".

Well the special day finally came!  Since her Birthday was on a Sunday, and church starts at 9am, the only celebrating that we got in that morning was the Lucky Charms that I bought for her b-day breakfast.  (Gma Evans was very disappointed in me that I'm not carrying on the tradition of birthday mush...) 

After church we opened presents, and made a b-day cake.  Marlie's favorite present was the two Kinder eggs that we gave her!  Later that evening, the Darby's and the Judd's came over for cake and ice cream.  It was a really fun evening.

 
Marlie turned 4 this year.  I seriously can not believe how fast time goes by!  It seems like only yesterday that she was a baby.  But now shes a big 4 year old!  I laughed at her today, at breakfast she said to me in her most serious voice, "Mom, it feels so good to be 4".  And later this morning, she said, "I can't wait to have a 4 year old bath."  Apparently things really change when you turn 4!

Here are a few facts about Marlie:

• Marlie's best friend is her thumb!  She sucks it all the time!
• Marlie can be the biggest sweet heart!  If your ever feeling sad, all you need is a hug from Mars and you will feel instantly better.
• She loves to help me do any job.  Cleaning, cooking, babysitting.  Anything is fun if you do it together.
• She is going to playschool next year, and can not wait to be a school kid like everyone else.

• Marlie went into Sunbeams this year, and loves to sing.  Every song she learns in singing time she practices at home, and every week for FHE she loves to do  musical numbers for us!
• Marlie loves to make phone calls.  Every day she wants to call someone.  It is usually her cousin Summer.  I laugh at the little conversations the two of them have.
• Marlie has a very high pitched scream, and she knows how to use it!

I really do feel so blessed to have Marlie in our family.  Marlie I love you so much!

The Results Are In

I know that all of you have been sitting by your computers all day, waiting to hear how my longest run ever went.  And I'm here to tell you that I survived, and it went just fine. 

Was I bored?  Yes I was. 
Do I wish it was 10 times warmer outside so I didn't have to run on my  treadmill?  Yes I do.
Did I read about 10 conference talks while I ran?  No, only 9.
Am I proud of myself?  Yes I am.

I ran 9 miles today in 81 minutes, and burned off 1130 calories!  That works out to about a 9 minute mile.  For me, that's a decent time.  So for my half, I just need to run 4 more miles than I did today...  Yikes.

Tracie told me that one of her friends thinks about a different person for each mile she runs.  Trac, I tried that.  I started with you, and it lasted for about 1 minute.  Then I tried Matt, it lasted about 2 minutes.  Then I just decided to just turn on my music.  I promise that worked A LOT better for me!  I was especially happy when Footloose came on!

Anyway, I'll keep you all posted on my running adventures!

Running

When I was living in Lethbridge, one of Matt's cousins was turning 30, and she decided that for her b-day she wanted to run a half marathon.  I was totally impressed.  She trained for it, and did it!

Then a couple years later, one of my best friends from high school, did a half.  Again I was really impressed.

Last year I started running, I did a few 10km races, and had lots of fun doing them.  This year, I decided to try the half marathon...  I run it on June 11, in Cochrane.  My bro-in-law Mini Matt, is going to run it with me!

Now I must tell you that I'm not a naturally talented runner.  Some people just have it (Kristen G.), but I'm not one of them.  I have to work hard at it.  I signed up for my race and then got on a training schedule.  This week I'm half way through training, and tomorrow I run the farthest I have ever run in my entire life, 9 miles.  I promise I'm nervous.  The thing that makes this even harder, is that because there is still snow outside, I'm running it on my treadmill.  Not really exciting.

Anyway, lately I've been reading a lot of running blogs, and they tell about their running experiences.  I find it really motivating to read what others are doing, so I hope that by writing down what I'm doing, I will be held more accountable.

I guess I'll let you know tomorrow how it goes.  If anyone has any advice for me, please leave me a comment.  I can use all the help I can get!