Horse rides!

I have a HUGE backlog of pictures from this summer, so be forewarned.

Julia loves fairs. We went to several. At the Miami County fair, they had pony rides. Julia had always been terrified of horses. Well, she saw these ponies and just watched them for several minutes. She saw other kids riding them and walked closer. Finally after about 10 minutes of her watching them, I asked if she wanted to ride them. She got all excited and jumping saying "Yea!".

I thought for sure she would get scared, but she walked right up to them and let the lady put her on one without a fuss. She enjoyed the ride and wanted to do it again! I told her one ride was enough for now.

I am still shocked at Julia. Gone is my super shy, super scared little girl!

Mmmm... Cake

Julia loves helping me cook and bake. She especially loves making cakes and cupcakes because she gets to help decorate them.

Made a cake with Julia last weekend. She really helped decorate it. She picked out the color, mixed the icing, put on the M&M's, and more. This was my first attempt at a two-layer cake. I think it turned out great. Julia was very proud of it!


Jude thought it tasted GREAT!

Skid-loader rides!

On Saturday we took pictures as the extended family. My parents, my siblings, their kids and us. That was 10 adults, 1 six year old, 3 three year olds, 3 one year olds and a baby. We knew going in that we would not get any great pictures, but hoped we would just get one with everyone looking at the camera. I think they turned out okay. I also had the photographer take photos of Jerrod, me and the kids, and some of just Julia and Jude. I think I might have gotten some cute ones of the kids, but I think our family picture was a dud. Oh well.

At one point, my dad wanted a picture of all the grandkids with him and the skid-loader. It was really cute. He was sitting it in holding 3 kids, a couple were in the bucket, and Julia was sitting behind the bucket.

After we were done with pictures all of the kids wanted rides in the skid-loader. Grandpa was happy to indulge them. I was surprised Julia wanted a ride, because she has always refused before and seemed afraid of it. I think it was because all of her cousins wanted to ride. Peer pressure at it's best!

Race results!

Checked the website that had the results of the 5K race. I finished in 26th place; 4th place for my age group. They also had a picture of me as I was about to cross the finish line. I'm not sure if I should be proud or embarrassed by it! LOL

First 5K race!

I have not really posted about the fact I took up running a couple of months ago. I did not know if I would actually stick to it and I could only run small distances, so I did not want to embarrass myself.

Well, I have stuck to it! I used the Couch 2 5K program, which has you gradually increasing distance until you can run a 5K. It is designed for people like me who have never run before. It starts out having you do intervals of run 60 seconds, walking 90 seconds. I figured it would be a piece of cake, after all, how hard could it be to run 60 seconds. It turns out, for me, it was really hard. I was panting and wheezing after each 60 second run!

I have never run before and hated running. It was a real struggle to find the willpower to actually do it the first several weeks. I also refused to run in 90 degree heat, so there were some weeks this summer where I was lucky to get one workout in.

But I stuck to it and started running more as the weather cooled a bit. It finally got to the point where I no longer disliked running. I still don't love it, but I also no longer dread it.

Several weeks ago I finally finished the program and could run an entire 5K without stopping, while pushing the kids! This is the first time I have ever actually completed an exercise program!

To help keep myself motivated, I signed up for a 5K race. This gave me something to work towards. My goals for the race were; 1) not to embarrass myself, 2)run the entire thing without walking, 3)Finish in under 40 minutes.

Well, the race was yesterday! I shocked myself by surpassing all my goals! This was a hard race because it was at John Bryan Park, which has a lot of huge hills, so I was thrilled with the results. I ran the entire thing, finishing with a time of 33:26. That is the fastest I have every run a 5K!! It was only 38 degrees out when I got there, but I like it on the cool side when I run.

I had Jerrod take a picture of me when I got home from the race. (He stayed home with the kids.) I am still way overweight, but I am in the best shape of my life!


I started doing this for many reasons. Mainly, I wanted to be able to keep up with my kids without being short of breath while doing it. I also was frustrated with trying to find clothes in Plus sizes.

I have reached several of my goals. I can now keep up with the kids, I fit into Misses' clothing sizes again, and I can run an entire 5K. Now I just need to work on losing more weight. I think I have lost about 20 pounds so far, but I have a lot to go yet.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would become a runner or do what I am doing. I guess it just proves that anything is possible!