Braver than I!

We had a ward talent show on Friday night. I signed Maya up to play the piano for a talent. She was very excited about it. The activity was well attended and many people showed us their talents. I was afraid she might back out when we got there, but she went right up there to play. She started playing the wrong song at first so she got a little flustered, but then just took a breath and played the right one. She was one of the only kids that played her song memorized. I know for a fact that I would have been super nervous. I never played that well at recitals and things because I worried so much. I don't think she was even nervous at all! She plays really well. The only thing that bothered her was that some of the older kids played harder songs so she thought they were better than her. I was really impressed with Maya. She has no fear about these kind of things. I hope she will stay that way throughout her life because it will help her a lot.

A Little Disappointed!

I guess it is pretty obvious since I haven't posted that things didn't go well on Saturday. Actually they went really wrong! I had been having some hip trouble at the beginning of the week. The pain was pretty bad so I was running that week favoring my left leg. I went to see a physical therapist about my hip and found out that it was indeed out. He fixed it up a few times for me so I figured I would be in pain on Saturday, but that I could still run. Because of the compensation, my right foot had been bothering me a little, but felt like normal pain. About nine miles into the marathon, I felt a seering pain go across my right foot. I stopped running and tried to walk on it. It was still really painful. I thought maybe it was just cramping so I continued to run, just limping a little. Well, I continued to run 10 more miles like that. I wanted to try and at least finish. I knew I couldn't qualify with that much pain going on, but I thought I could at least make it to the finish line. By mile 19, the EMT's were following me on their bikes. They were trying to get me to quit. I normally wouldn't have, but I literally could not go any further. I was able to make it back to my family, but that was it. Since that moment I have not been able to even touch my foot. It is in extreme pain. We got an X-ray done, nothing major appeared to be broken. The Dr. thinks it could still be a hairline fracture, but he won't be able to see that for another week or so.
So here I am about to be 30 and I am completely bed ridden! Life is kind of the suck right now. Although, having Brian do everything is a little bit of a nice break! He is getting a taste of what it is like to be me for a few days! Let's just say that he needed some "Brian Time" last night! Now he knows what it's like to have everyone need something from you that by night time, you want to be left alone! He has been so good.
I feel really bad that my family was all there and ready to help on Saturday. They did so awesome! I only wish I had performed better! I guess it just wasn't meant to be this time. Hopefully I get better soon and can enjoy my summer!

The Calm Before the Storm

I am on my last few runs before the big one. I have pretty much done all I can do to prepare for this race. The other day I was telling Brian that I have trained harder and done more things this time around than for any other race that I am surprised I even finished my first marathon! I didn't know then any of the things I know now, and there is still plenty to learn I am sure. I have incorporated at least 4 different training programs together to get where I am.
When I first looked into the Boston Marathon, I couldn't believe the qualifying time. I never thought in a million years that I would ever be able to even run at that pace period. Now, here I am able to run much faster than that and may have a really good chance of running that pace for 26.2 miles.
I am definitely physically able to, but it's the mental part that I am not sure on. If you have run a marathon, or any type of long race, you know it takes a great deal of mental strength to continue when you are tired and sore. My plan this time around is to recruit people to stand along those last six miles yelling, "DON'T QUIT!!" I know on my own I am not mentally strong enough. I have been there enough times to know how hard it will be. Of course if I don't qualify, plan B is always to do better than last time! (Which is still an accomplishment in my book!)

A Fun Easter

I didn't plan a whole lot for this Easter weekend, but it seemed to turn out ok anyway. The kids got a package from Grandma Hughes that had some candy in it and a Barbie movie. The girls screamed hysterically for several minutes when they saw that they got Barbie in a Mermaid Tale. Easily pleased I guess! They have watched that movie non-stop for days now. I pretty much have it memorized, along with all the songs!
On Sunday we went to Grandma Bullock's house and had an egg hunt. Gavin loved his new train Easter basket. He had it on his head whenever he didn't have candy in it! It had snowed a lot the night before, so we just found eggs in the kitchen and living room.
The littler kids went first. Gavin was much more interested in finding the eggs than eating them. He was screaming and running around wildly to get all the eggs. He didn't want his cousins to pick up any of the eggs!
He was very unhappy when I told him he had found his alloted 15.
Here they are in their cute Easter clothes.
They wore them to church last week since there was no church on Easter. The girls love getting dresses on, especially Kaitlyn.
She insists on wearing a dress to school as often as she can get away with it. She tells me that when she wears a dress "everyone just stares at her because she is so beautiful!" Clearly she does not lack any confidence in herself! Even Gavin likes to get dressed up. He is always wanting me to do his hair too and dress him up all Dapper Dan!
Between conference sessions the boys were playing XBOX. Maya was on the couch watching her Uncle Bradley play. He died and Maya said, "Oh, Uncle Bradley you just got owned!!!" It was pretty funny. I know I was laughing pretty hard! Apparently she picked that up from her lovely new Barbie movie, and clearly understood exactly how to use it in context.
They all had way too much candy, especially Gavin. They gave up eating their candy from guessing the apostles and listening for certain words during conference. They just started saving it. I was happy they would still watch conference even though they weren't eating anymore treats. It was a fun and crazy weekend!

Obsessed? (maybe just a little!)

Gavin has this thing going on for Thomas the train. I guess I shouldn't say thing, it is an obsession! He insists on wearing his Thomas PJ's every night. The problem is that I only had one pair until recently. Now we have two, but that is still not going to cut it. He throws the biggest tantrum you have ever seen in your life when I try to take these PJ's off in the morning. He has Thomas shoes as well. He wears them constantly and takes a nap with them on. He lets me take them off at night now, but it is still a struggle. One night, I left the Thomas shoes on his dresser. When he got up the next morning, he had put the shoes on himself in the night and slept in them!
This has been going on for months now! The girls really liked Princess stuff, but this is a whole other level of liking something. He now has Thomas sippy cups, a Thomas swimsuit, a Thomas sweatshirt (that he wears constantly!), and several Thomas trains to play with. He wants to watch Thomas all the time too. Luckily he will also watch "Chuggington" (if you don't know what that is, you are lucky!) on the Disney channel.
His obsession makes buying things for him very simple, but taking things off or away from him a nightmare! Every night I ask him to get his PJ's on and he says, "Choo, choo?" It's worth it for me to do laundry more often just so he is happy. I don't know what I will do when his shoes get to small. CLEARLY I should have bought a pair in several sizes!
I am thinking it might help with potty-training though. The girls did good with princess underwear, so I am hoping the Thomas underwear will work for Gavin!

Another Born Swimmer?

Gavin is finally old enough to learn to swim. He got to have his first private lesson starting this week. I had my doubts about him. He is super super sweet, but when he doesn't want to do something, he is the most stubborn person I know. I fully expected him to throw a huge fit and not work well. I was completely wrong. He actually did really well. He cried and screamed of course, but he did what he was supposed to do. He got more upset at me for taking off his swimming suit than he did about swimming.
Usually she doesn't have them stick their faces in the water right away, but Gavin did that all on his own. He is already floating on his back on his own as well. He might just be another born swimmer in this family. He is still a butt in the pool because he throws the toys that are meant to make the little kids feel better. He just throws them out of the pool in defiance, but he gets the swimming done.
I just love the swimming lessons. It makes going to the pool so much fun. Very expensive, but worth every penny in the end!

The Big 3-0

That's right! Brian is 30 years old! He has entered the next decade of his life. I asked him if he feels older, and he said that he used to feel like a young guy trapped in an old man's body, but now he feels he is just old! So there you have it! I am still younger for a couple more months! He was kind enough to watch the kids most of the day because I had to run one of my 20 mile runs yesterday. Boy was that fun! It is not so much fun to have that plus a birthday all packed into one day. He was a trooper to help out and not complain. I guess he kind of got to feel what it is like to be a mom on her birthday! (Like we ever "actually" get the day off!) I was exhausted by the time I got to bed last night.

The kids were stoked about it being dad's birthday. They also think it is hilarious that he is 30. Don't ask me why!



Gavin loves having his picture taken. When I was taking pictures at dinner, he kept posing and asking me to take another one of him.
It's so nice to have digital cameras that you can just erase the pictures!
I had some help pulling off the cake, otherwise, it would have been store bought cookies or something! I think overall it was a good birthday. He is a pretty simple guy. He just likes to have people around to celebrate with him! Happy Birthday Babe!