Mud Run

Scott and his buddies created a team to run in a 5k mud run yesterday. 

(David, PJ, Andy, Mike, Scott)

 At the last minute my friend Kara decided it would be fun to run, and being the good friend that I am was not going to let her do it alone. 

Here I am duct taping my shoes on. 

At first I thought it was a silly idea, but that very first step into the mud I was so grateful I had that tape!

This is a picture I stole from my friends facebook. 

She strolled down the trail to get some good mud pictures of her husband. 

This is an idea of what we were doing:

My friend Kelly (who's husband was on Scott's team) was kind enough to take on the task of caring for all 10 children! Whoa. Then our other friend (wife to Mike) came with her 2 kids and helped with the rest. 

They had to wait patiently because it took Kara and I 44 minutes to finish. 

I couldn't believe how much it slowed me down and wore me out. 

Might I add that Kara just had a baby 8 weeks ago? 

Yeah, she's a rock star!

 I had just got done telling Lydia not to hug me because I was all gross, but Henry didn't listen. 

Sheesh - I love those kids!

We really didn't get that muddy, mostly because it reeked like poo and I avoided it at all costs. 

Then they sprayed us down with a firetruck on the last stretch of the run. 

The manly men. 

Scott ran to the finish, then ran back and finished with Kara and me, then ran back and finished with his buddy. Seriously - he's such a show off. 

 But I love him and his skinny legs. 

We found a house!

This is the beautiful home we will be living in while in GA. 

We were so lucky to get this house. It was a major breath of fresh air after all the dumps we had looked at before hand. 

Now I feel like I can move on. Georgia here we come! 

Mother/daughter activity

Last week I did a mother/daughter activity night for my Faith in God girls.

There was an ice cream bar:

 We had a little "get to know your mom" activity:

Made bracelets:

 And my sweet friend Mandi came and did a little photo booth for us:

It was a lot of fun and it was nice to remember that I do love throwing parties. 

Too bad we'll be just moving into a new house for Gracie's birthday. 

There's always next year...

We're breaking records!

I think this blogging break is a record for me. 

I have two great excuses!!

1. Back when Scott's parents were visiting we went to the zoo. I was super excited to take a picture of the baby elephant and in a moment of dumbness I practically threw our beautiful camera at the cement below. 

RIP dear camera. 

I have yet to convince Scott to replace it for me. 

2. I just haven't felt like blogging. So there. 

Here is what we've been up to the last few months:

(All pictures courtesy of my dear friend Kara.)

We attended the "setting up" of a traveling circus. 

We watched the elephants put up the "big top"! 

Henry's been playing Soccer.

Lydia has been playing too - only Kara doesn't go to those games because she doesn't have a kid that old. 

 This boy just melts my heart!

Lis, Kat, me, Kara, and Kelly

Girls night out to the Cardinals game...

only we couldn't get in. They said it was sold out, but it may have been just because only one of us actually wore Cardinals attire. 

Kat gave us some baseball history lessons. 

That is a statue Stan the Man.

Don't ask me to tell you what his real name is.  

Since we couldn't get into the game we had an impromptu baby shower for Lis who is due any day now!! 

You know, just in the last few weeks have I felt like I really finally belong here. 

And now I'm leaving...sniff, sniff. 

Nauvoo

Scott's parents came to visit and since Nauvoo is (relatively) close we took a couple of days and headed north to visit. This was my first time to Nauvoo and I spent the majority of the time in the hotel bed because I had strep, though I didn't know it at the time, and I was miserably sick. 

All these pictures were taken by Scott because I was in bed. I have to say he stepped up his "photography game". 

On our way home we drove to Carthage Jail. 

This is the room that Joseph Smith was martyred in:

 I was feeling so awful, but it was still a very spiritual experience to be there. 

If you're thinking, what in the heck is Nauvoo? What is Carthage Jail? Why would people go to visit?

Go HERE. And HERE. 

The girls desperately wanted these bonnets from Nauvoo and have been wearing them ever since. 

(literally, Gracie wore hers to school!)

Health is a journey, not a state of being.

I've now been off of the evil drug methotrexate for seven weeks.

I think I forgot to tell the blogworld that I quit taking it. 

I had to skip a week of taking it for some dental work and it felt SO good to have my life back. Sure, there was no joint pain but there was fatigue. Oh the fatigue. Believe me, I get serious fatigue with my RA, but nothing compared to this drug. 

I was convinced that the side effects of methotrexate were NOT worth it. As I've been off of it long enough I am feeling the RA slithering back into my life.  Will I feel the same way about methotrexate if my RA flairs up? Probably not. I'm a rollercoaster like that. 

I'm exercising regularly which helps a ton. Remember when I told you I was going to run a half marathon? Yeah - that's not gonna happen. But I didn't give up all the way. I'm running the 10K which will be a first for me. I realized baby steps are probably best. I am VERY slow. That is frustrating to me, but I still have three months and I hope to be able to run those six + miles in around an hour. Yikes - that is going to take some work. 

I try to work out 6 days a week. Usually I hit 5.  Besides running I've been doing some weight training classes. My absolute favorite class is called TRX:

It kicks my booty. Big time.

Also, Paleo. 

Remember that word? I do...sometimes. 

No, really I still try and do good most of the time. It's not hard for me to pass up bread and cereal any more. 

What's hard for me to pass up is having some cake on birthdays (believe me, there have been a LOT in my life lately). And hello Easter candy:

 My neighbor friend tries to be sweet and bring me what she knows is my favorite. 

DANG THESE EGGS TO H, E, double hockey sticks! 

I will not be free from sugar this week, or even this month. It is most certainly a journey. And I need to toughen up a bit. I've been much too soft the last few weeks. 

Sugar is to Mormons what alcohol is to...uh...everyone else. It's a social thing. I invite people over for dinner and they bring dessert. How RUDE to not have some, right!? I can see the thoughts behind the eyes of all the ladies at a "girls night out", "Oh, she thinks she's so much better than me because she's not eating dessert."

This is mostly all in my head, I'm sure. But I know I have those thoughts. 

A journey people. A journey. 

Thirty-two

Happy Birthday Love. 

A few favorites of my hunny:

 (on the Alaskan Highway in Yukon Territory, Canada)

(Homer, Alaska)

(Crow's Pass hike) 

(Hike past Byers lake at 1 am)

Dining table reveal!

Here it is! 

I love it! 

(now if I could just do something about that floor...oh, wait! We move in 4 months, so who cares!)

One more look at the before:

(I love how the bad lighting in this photo makes it look worse)

 I've been wanting to add a few plants to the space and it was so easy to just pick up a few pretties from Lowes while I was already there to buy the paint!