I did it!!!!

I have been putting this post off for a while. It is weird to do a post about yourself. Mom's don't have time for themselves do they? Well, as I tell Aynslee every morning, I make your food, brush your hair and teeth, clean your house and clothes, it is time for mom to do something for herself.
I made a goal this summer to run a 5K by Blazes first birthday. Most of you are thinking in a very sarcastic way "wow a 5k!" It is a BIG thing for me. Some of my friends in high school (you know who you are) use to make fun of me by telling me that I couldn't run. This was because in the 8ish years that I had known some of them, they had in fact, never seen me run. Not even across the street if a car was coming. I would just walk quicker. Running makes you look weird and depending on how far you go, you get tired!! Yuck. I HATE RUNNING! Well, I did. Until this summer when I forced myself every other or sometimes every morning to run. I decided that I needed to do something for myself. I am finished having babies and now it is my turn to control this body. The one thing I thought of that would push me was running and making myself run in a race (yes, even a 5K counts) would make me actually do it. ( I had to practice, I am not one to just sign up for something with out knowing for sure that I could do it).
I wake up every morning and drive my boys to school and stop at the park on the way home and get my double stroller and Aynslee and Blaze and I go for a run. This my friends is the reason I have to tell Ayns it is mommys turn to help herself. Aynslee is more worried about how long it will take before she can watch her morning cartoons. I started out walking and running and before long I was running 2 miles and then 3 and then 4 and I haven't tried 5 yet because the "when are we going to go home" starts to drive me crazy and I stop at 4 so the princess can get her cartoons in. Anyway, on October 16th one week after Blazes first birthday, this 29 year old mother of four ran her first 5K. I know, clap if you want, I am!!! I had a goal of running in 30 min and I did it in 27.50. Not the best time ever, but I know now that I can push it harder because I was not a tired as I should have been at the end, and I have a lot of things I saw that I want to improve on. I really liked it and I placed 32 out of over 60 (not positive about the exact number but I do know there were at least 60). And, the first 15ish was the high school cross country team. I don't really count them in my perfect mind because they like to run and do it for a hobby, so count me as placing around 15th ha ha :) In my picture I am racing a 14 year old on the team. She beat me, but I was still racing. Pretty good in my mind. I did my race and I liked it and I accomplished my goal and I like running. I have lost a few pounds and it helps me clear my mind and helps mommy do something for herself. I have to say that I may actually do another one and try and improve my time. I honestly can't believe that I can say. I did it!!!!

Racing that 14 year old at the finish line.

After the race.

p.s. A BIG thank you goes out to Zach for listening to me talk about running for the past 4 months and then freak out right before the race about not doing it and then doing it and then not wanting him come watch and then calling him 10 minutes before telling him to hurry and come. And then talking about how great it was for 2 weeks after. Zach, you are the best. I know I couldn't put up with myself!!! You are a great man!

Blaze is ONE!!!

My baby is ONE!!!! I can't believe it. This past year has flown by. Blaze turned one on October 5th. Jax, Aynslee and I all had the flu, so we didn't celebrate until the 6th, but I still made sure he knew how special he was on his actual birthday. I LOVE birthdays. They are my favorite times of the year. I don't have huge parties, or give a million gifts, but I make sure birthdays are special. I think I told him a million times how much I love him and I think he understood that night when he gave me the best hug ever.

Blaze is such a fun little boy. He started out the hardest baby I had, but his sweet kisses and hugs make up for that. He LOVES to play ball and follow the other kids around. He stands at the door and begs to go outside and play. He walks around the house talking and if something he doesn't like comes in his way, he gives you some pretty good looks letting you know. I am SO happy to have Blaze in our family. He is the perfect baby to complete our family. He will always be my baby no matter how old he gets and he already works it.
Here is a little re-cap of our party.

Holding my sweet Blaze and LOVING it. (Even though I look so tired!) I love looking at pictures of him so little on my shoulder. My favorite thing is holding a sweet sleeping baby!

He is such a loveable boy. You just want to kiss him to death!

Loving his baseball he got for his birthday

Getting ready to throw it at someone

He got some weeble wobbles and a weeble wobble tree house. I think the rest of the family enjoys it more than he does.

Loving his $20 from Mema and Papa

Since I was sick he got a store bought cake. I will make it up to him next year.

Not really sure he want to eat that mess

Then he decided it would be ok and to just dive in

Pretty good stuff!!!

Soccer 2010

Soccer 2010 has begun. We talked to the coach (Zach and our good friend Ty) and they let Jax and Shade be on the same team this year. It is SO NICE to have them together. Aynslee decided she needed to play as well, and let's just say she will be finding a new sport next year. Not really that into it. Plus, she hates that her uniform is green, girls don't wear green, they wear pink!
Jax and Shade are both doing SO WELL. I am the screaming mom on the side lines that everyone is staring at. I never thought I would be that mom, but when both your babies are out there, you get aggressive. They are both learning a ton and Zach is having fun coaching them as well. Shade is a great defensive player and Jax is awesome at forward. Makes a pretty good combo. I will get more pictures of the games and post some more.

It all starts over......

When I was feeding the two little kids the other day I was reminded once again how when you have another baby "it all starts over." I was just getting into the phase of only having a little mess when eating, and now I am into having a total disaster again. I took pictures to prove it.

Little mess

Total disaster

I love every minute of it!!!!

Our New Truck

Zach and I have been looking for a new truck for quite a while. Zroy (our blue truck) has been a WONDERFUL friend for the last 9 years. He has driven from Idaho to Mississippi, Mississippi to Texas, Texas to South Dakota, South Dakota to Idaho, Idaho to Texas, Texas to Mississippi!! That's a lot of driving for a 1991 Chevy. We love old Zroy. These last few years though, we have been able to tell that Zroy has been giving us a few signs that we might need a replacement soon. Things like: No air conditioning (bad news in Mississippi summers), you have to pull the brake pedal up with your foot to get the brake lights to turn off, no seat belts and we can't find any new ones to fit, only one speaker to the radio works, reverse is sketchy right now. Even with all those things, we still love ol' Zroy. But, the time has come to let Zroy take a little breather. We are not and never will get rid of him for good. Just taking a little break. We checked out Craigslist a few weeks ago and after test driving a few and wheeling and dealing with a lot of dealers, we found our dream truck. It was the perfect price, perfect 2 inch lift, perfect 35x1250x20 tires, sunroof, and (zach's favorite, not mine) camo seat covers. We almost couldn't believe it. We jumped right on it and after a sweet test drive and used our great bargaining skills again, we drove home with the White Beauty. We are still working on a name, but this is a sweet ride (as the boys say everytime they are in it). We love it. Zach still drives Zroy to work once a week and I can tell he (both Zach and truck) are ok with that. We are so excited, as if you couldn't tell. I am just hoping that with the camo seat covers I won't be blogging a deer in the back one day. Cross your fingers for me that this truck stays a "family truck." yay for us!!!

Beach!!

For Labor day this year we went to the beach again. We love Dauphin Island in Alabama. We stayed in Mobile, and drove to the island for a day of fun. The waves were not really there, but it really was a great day to go. We had fun just playing around for a while and not being home. We LOVE vacations and will take anything we can get. I am already looking forward to next year.

Shade getting his boogie board ready.

There were a ton if fish in the water and Ayns was not happy about that so Zach got to swim around with her in his back. What a good daddy!

Jax ready to catch some waves that never came.

Cute Blazer hanging out on the beach with me. He liked the water but was mad that he couldn't just get down and swim like the other kids.

Just like Grandpa

When we were driving home from Idaho this summer and our car broke down(BOO!!) in Texas, we had a little while to shop while we were waiting for our car. We went to Old Navy and while we were there, Jax found this shirt that he HAD to have. He said it looked just like one Grandpa Stewart had. He saved it for weeks not wanting to wear it in case he got something on it. He saved it until Grandpa came to visit a couple weeks ago. As luck would have it, Grandpa brought his shirt just like Jax's. Jax put his on and took grandpa's glasses and felt pretty cool. We had to get some pictures of Jax and grandpa. Can you tell who is who?

Grandpa and Jax

Jax looking like Grandpa