How To: Get Over Yourself

Two years ago I ran my first race. I ran a half marathon. It was hard. I started having pain during mile two which caused me to fall behind the pack. My running buddies all took off and I had to dig deep to finish. My time was 2 hours 8 minutes.

Last year I ran my full marathon, TWENTY-SIX POINT TWO LOOOONG MILES. I had never in a million years thought I could do it. My only expectation was to finish under 5 hours. I trained hard and took care of my knee so there was no pain. I had the best run. I felt great and finished in 4 hours 20 minutes. I was more than happy with that time.

This year I decided to run the half again. 

(picking up our packets)

(pre-race carb/protien overload)

I had a great training experience. I mixed it up from the last two races by adding more cross training and sprints. I wanted to do this race for time. I wanted to run it in 2 hours or under. I knew taking 8 minutes off my time was going to be tough but I felt like I had it in the bag.


Last Saturday was race day. 

I started with the pack but it was hard to stay together in the sea of runners. I got a little ahead of my friends and realized I had lost my buddy Melissa completely. I slowed down to find her and she was not doing so good. She was sick already. I ran with her for a little bit but I had decided that at mile three I was going to go for it and run my own race. The night before my friend Meg who I had ran with the last two races kept telling me to go for it and see how fast I could do it. So with her in my ear I took off.


I put on my running tunes and found a good pace. I didn't have a garmin so I had no idea where I was. Half way through the race I was under an hour and felt great.


As I came into mile 11 I heard my friend Randi behind me so I ran with her for a tiny bit, but then she told me to go. So I took off again. I was excited to be so close to the end but decided to save my sprint until I could see the finish line. Then I saw my other running friend Jessica who had already finished running towards me and she gave me some encouragement so I kicked it into gear again.


The finish line wasn't where it had been the year before so I couldn't see it, but then I heard my name and looked up and saw the finish line with the giant numbers displaying 2:03:42.


UGHHHHH! I was so disappointed. I couldn't find my family in the crowd. My friends were either on the trail or had left. I was all alone at the finish line. I begrudgingly grabbed my medal and drank some water as I walked it off. 


I walked around feeling so annoyed. It was such a different feeling from the year before. I felt like I had blown it. I was too tired to cry about it, instead I was mad.


After a while I realized I still had friends out there and I needed to cheer them in. I also had my family that I needed to find.


We took pictures and congratulated each other.

I got home and Aric took care of the kids so that I could have some time to recover. I finally let it all out and let the disappointment take over. I had a pity party all by myself. I was so mad that I had left my friends to run "my own" race just to be disappointed with my time. It wasn't worth it. I wish I had ran with them, especially Melissa. It was her first race and I left her at mile three sick! I felt like a horrible friend.


It didn't take long for me to realize how stupid I was being. I ran a good race. The best part of the race wasn't the race at all. It was training with wonderful friends who love me and inspire me. It was my kids and Aric at the end who were so proud of me. It was realizing once again how blessed I am to have a body that can keep up with all the demands that I put on it.


I had to get over myself. 1:59:00 is just a number. It's not who I am. With the time of 2:03:36 my family was still proud of me. 

And my friends still loved me, even though I ditched them.

This whole experience made me realize how I let unnecessary expectations get the best of me. I get so caught up in how I don't measure up, that I can't see what I have accomplished. Not just in running, but in my life.


So here is to a new way of thinking,(at least for today), I am going to get over myself and see the positive instead of the negative. Instead of looking at my house and seeing all the things I didn't get done I will focus on the things that I did do. Like go to the fifth grade celebration planning meeting. Like reinstall the toilet. Like watch my friends kid so she could get some training done for her job. Like work on my book that I never have time to work on.


I hope my little experience/life lesson will help you get over yourself and see past your unrealistic expectations. Maybe then you can focus on all the amazing things you do that you don't give yourself credit for.

Camden's First Trip to Larry's

C's hair was getting out of control so we decided it was time to consult with an expert.

We took him to the only Afro Barber Shop in these parts...

Larry's Barber Shop

C wasn't to sure about it so he had to sit on Aric's lap.

Aric watched closely so that he can try and do the fade next time and save $20.

Even though Camden is only 2 1/2 he still got the full treatment...

I couldn't help but get a tiny bit teary. He looks so big!

I can guarantee you that in the 30 years Larry has been in business he had never seen an entourage like ours. Aric walks in, white dad with brown boy,  followed by hispanic light brown mamma with two creamy little girls and a very white grandma attached to a chemo pack. 

Yeah, we're our very own Unicef commercial.

How To: Get Out of a Sticky Situation

So the other day I was doing laundry and I heard some thumping in the dryer but I just figured it was a zipper from a sweatshirt. But I was wrong...very wrong. When I took the laundry out I kept finding these little balls. It didn't take me long to figure out these little gum balls were the culprit of the thumping.

Luckily only a few articles of clothing were damaged and they were mostly things I didn't care about. After the clothes were out I was able to see the inside of my dryer. It looked like this...

Those black streaks would be gum. They were all over the drum of my dryer.

So I googled "how to get gum out of the dryer" and there were several people who said to get a dryer sheet soaking wet and then scrub the gum out. There were some other people who said to use peanut butter but I didn't want all of our clothes to smell like peanuts so I opted for the dryer sheet solution.

I scrubbed like crazy and had sore arms the next day but it worked!

Nice and very clean breezy smelling dryer.

Honestly I was hoping that there was no fix to this problem so that I would finally have an excuse to get a new dryer. And you know what they say....If you give a mom a new dryer, She'll need a new washer to go with it.

Easter...I want a redo.

The Easter Egg Hunt Happend

It was Camden's first real hunt. He had no clue what was happening. It didn't take him long to figure it out. Every day since he has asked to go on a hunt.

Maya was thrilled to find out that even though she is technically a big kid now, she still got to participate.

Eggs Were Dyed. 

I don't have any pictures of this, oh, so fabulous tradition due to the fact that I was in a super bad mood, and didn't really participate other than setting it all up, oohing and ahhing, and then cleaning it all up.

Easter Outfits Were Purchased

Camden's tie didn't really match but he likes to wear a tie and his pants were high watered but I didn't realize it until we were taking these pictures.

We took them literally right before we jumped in the car to go to church. There was no one around to take pictures...except for Maya. She did a pretty good job.

She cut off my feet on that one and this next one didn't turn out so hot but she did get my cute shoes.

Dinner Was Made. 

It did involve pork, just not a ham.

Peeps Were In Abundance.

(even though I hate them)

According to the pictures, it seems like we hit all the high notes of Easter, but that was far from the truth.

Usually I start a few weeks before Easter preparing my family for this most important holiday. I have special Family Night lessons on what Easter means. I teach them about the symbols of Easter. We read from the scriptures of Christ's life and focus on the events leading up to his crucifixion. We talk about what happened in the Garden of Gethsemene and how he atoned for our sins. Then on Easter Sunday we read about His resurrection and what that means.

It brings a neat spirit into our home and prepares us for that special Sunday.

Well this year I blew it. I have a million excuses...we were out of town for part of the month, our house has been under construction which means every free and not free moment we have been working on it, Aric has had some exceptionally stressful weeks with work, I took on a new tutoring student, I've been training for my half-marathon,...yadda, yadda, yadda.

I blew it. I knew it and I felt it. 

The kids were fighting over candy. They were being demanding and ungrateful. I was making last minute shopping trips to get food for Easter dinner, the right gifts for the kids and the right accessories for Sunday outfits. We were all at each other's throats. The guilt was making me even more grumpy. 


Then after prayer and pondering I realized Easter is just one Sunday that the Christian world stops to officially recognize this holy event. But I don't need Easter to make me focus and honor my Savior. I can do it every day. Christ atoned for my laziness and he loves me inspite of my weaknesses. This is what I needed to teach my children. So on Saturday night I called off Easter...I told them that we had lost focus and there would be no Easter baskets and candy until we got back on track. We talked about what we could do on Sunday to put our thoughts back on Christ and how each of us needs to do our part to keep our home a "Christ Centered" home. I even took back almost all of the gifts. We kept it simple.

Easter morning Maya and I went to choir practice (yes I said choir, and no I don't sing...but that's another post for another day). I felt the sweet spirit of Easter. The one that I had been missing. I was so grateful to sing praises in gratitude for a loving Heavenly Father who sent His son to suffer, die and then be resurrected for me and all mankind. I was able to feel His love for me and express my love to Him.

We spent the morning together listening to hymns and watching Music and the Spoken Word, we then spent the afternoon worshiping together at church. In the evening we had a relatively quiet dinner,(that Camden refused to eat), then we spent some time talking about what Easter should be and how we are going to "redo" Easter. I don't need a holiday in April to talk about Christ's atonement, His resurrection or His love for us. It is something that as a family we need to focus on every day of every month.

So for tomorrow's family night we will be discussing what Christ's atonement means to each of us and having a family testimony meeting. 

Thank heaven for do overs. In fact next year I have decided to start a new tradition, the Easter Bunny doesn't come until after Easter Sunday and he only brings Christ centered gifts. No more toys and just a tiny bit of candy. I get that this may seem drastic and it isn't for everyone, but it definitely is something worth trying for me and my peeps.

Facial Hair, Teasing, and Crazy Humor

That became the theme of Aric's Birthday 
"Roast and Toast"


I had asked all of our beloved's to come prepared to share something about Aric. Who knew that a theme would be born...

Our house is still under construction so the Romney's kindly offered their home for the festivities.

We had a table full of pictures of Aric growing up and with friends and loved ones who couldn't be here.

The roast started off with an email from "Friend of Friends" Mike Sampson sharing a lovely memory of him and Aric trying to pick fights with random people at the park. Then Jessica shared some lovely text conversations that she and Aric have had over the past couple of months...

Many other stories were shared that made us all laugh until our cheeks hurt. They almost all included facial hair, friendly touching (Ryan has been the target of most of those), silly drawings being passed around during church meetings, medical emergencies turned comical and more funny text and email exchanges.

After the roast we played a hilarious drawing game and laughed some more. It was such a fun night, we definitely needed a break from the home makeover chaos.

We also had a small celebration with the kiddies. Aric requested banana cake minus the strawberries so that is what he got. He also got a new wallet, a facial hair trimmer and some sham wow's. What more could a guy ask for right!?

And that is how we celebrated Aric this year...

The End.

*BTW...what does blogger do to my pictures to make them look so crappy!?