Family Fun

Since Jon doesn't get home til 7p most nights, sometimes later, I am trying to be more independent and go out and do things til he gets home. The elementary school in the area had a carnival the other day.

The boys had swimming lessons after lunch then we went to to the rec center to practice, then came home and napped so they would be ready for fun. This carnival was different than we expected. They had like 9 blow up things and that was it. I was hoping for booths of games with little prizes. The boys love that kind of stuff. My boys were too afraid to go on them with the other older kids and because there were so many kids too. So we just used all our tickets to eat carnival food and candy! :P

It was nice to have something different to do than wait for daddy to come home.

Then the next day we went to the United Angels Walk. This was the first year they did this. They support families who have children with special needs. It was a lot of fun. They had good food, fun games, and a bunch of mascots! (To be honest, the boys didn't know who any if them were! But it was a lot of fun anyway!

(I have no idea who this other kid is in the pic. I think his mom was right there, weird that she didn't take him out of the pic . . .)

These were all the PEIP families that were able to come and support the cause. This will be an annual event that PEIP promotes. It was fun to be a part of everything.

Mother's Day 2010

We celebrated a week later because we were camping during the actual holiday (and I was self fish and wanted traditional celebration).

Jon made me a great breakfast. He has perfected the omelet over the years. He wrote me a beautiful letter as always. And he picked out this dress and shoes all by himself!! What a great hubby!  

I just love love love these shoes!  Every time I see them I just want to wear them around!

I had some thoughts about Motherhood that I wanted to put in writing. It is hard to be a mom. Its so constant, and requires so much consistency. I see a night and day difference when I am praying daily for help to be patient, consistent, loving, playful, and not uptight ;) Sometimes, everyone gets caught up in what they have to get done, and doesn't think about the relationships that are involved. We start to all live like roommates rather than a family. I am sad to say I am guilty of that. To Jon as well as the boys. Instead of looking at my day as a to-do list, I try and think of it as, what can we do together today. Make the to-do's activities or projects that we can work on together and build our relationships through working on things together. I am trying to connect and talk to the boys more instead of rush them here and there, and being irritated about their consistent irrelevant questions. Irrelevant to me that is; they are important to my boys, so they should be important to me.

Lately, the boys have been in swimming lessons. They are the intense survival, safety type. They have had them for the last 2 weeks M-F. They are 20 min lessons. The first day the boys were nervous but still did really good. They didn't scream and cry like I thought they would. But the second lesson was the worst.

A forced smile

"I really really don't want to go in"

Doing great!

So sad

They were so scared, even though they did great the day before and even said they had a good time. They were both so clingy to me. Max was like a baby monkey hanging on me. They were both crying. I had to leave the pool bubble during that lesson so they would focus on the lesson.

Outside the bubble

It had been a long time since I felt needed like that from them. They are daddy's boys through and through. Sometimes, I guess, I'm jealous. Jon says when they are away from me, they ask about me often. But I don't see that. And of course they need me. The first thing they say in the morning is I'm hungry, I have to pee, what are we doing today or can I watch a show. But feeling needed in this way, their security, made me feel more like a mom. And reminded me that I want so much to have good friendly relationships with my kids, instead of just providing the essentials to live, carpooling and disciplining.

Its was great to see my relationship with them get stronger over the next couple weeks. When Zac and I are on the same page and communicating effectively through out the day, he wants ME to tuck him in. It makes me feel terrific! And I love when the boys just out of nowhere say, "I love you" to me!

Being a mother is truly, THE MOST REWARDING thing to do! There is honestly nothing I'd rather be doing with my life right now.

I am so not in the mood to blog, but its the only think left on my to-do list that will not interfere with nap time. And miraculously, both are napping!! :)

Live Your Dream 5k

On Saturday, I ran another 5k. This Live Your Dream 5k supported single mothers. It was the first year they did a 5k, so there were only a couple hundred people, if that. The race was on part of the river trail, which was pretty. There were tunnels and bridges so it was nice to mix things up a bit.

I didn't know if I would actually do this race, since I hadn't worked out AT ALL since the last 5k I did in March. And my knees have been swollen and sore off and on lately (and I have no idea why!)  But, I already paid the registration fee, and I wanted to get the second of my three 5k's finished. So I decided I would just do it, even if I had to walk most of the way.


Before

Well, the morning of the race my knees had no problems. I was so relieved! I actually did ok. I finished in 35:27. This is a little faster than the previous 5k I did. The trail was mostly flat, and there was a turn around point. It was nice to know when I was halfway and what to expect for the second half of the race.

It was fun to have Zac run with me a little ways at the very end. It boosted my energy a bit.

After

I think that not preparing for the run gave me more side aches, and a more tiring, pretty sore recovery on Sunday. My throat/chest was burning so so bad when I was done. But, there was great food after, and lots of cool water. The race started at 9a, later than most, and it was at a nice park so Jon and the boys were able to be there and support me. I am so glad that I did this, and that it was so much better than I anticipated. Now, I just need to be sure to prep for the next one!

(On a side note: I lost 7 pounds in the last month, by cutting my calories A LOT-no sweets, way less junk and fat, and much smaller portions. I was eating tons of junk food! I would ideally like to loose a few more, but in the last week or so I have lost control of what I eat on the weekends! Time to recommit to a few things!)

Zions

I have been wanting to go to Zions for the last few years, but the campsites book up so fast. A few weeks ago I was looking at campsites to see what was available and already things were booking up. They only had some weekends available, over the 4th of July, in August (right after another big vacation), and Mother's Day. 

I am so glad we have a DVD player to take with us on long drives. It is so nice to have the peace and quiet and be able to talk to Jon.

Here is our campsite

The boys needed constant reminding to stay away from the fire.

I much prefer this guy, to the real thing.

With the exception of spiders (black widows in this case), I don't really think I get that grossed out with bugs during camping. But after several run-ins, I can say caterpillars thoroughly gross me out!
Eww! Just looking at these pictures makes me cringe. They kept crawling up my pants and legs! It was hard to feel them. And some how one was crawling up my lower leg INSIDE my pants, to which I proceeded to freak out and run to the car, undress, and throw my pants out.  And other time, I think I stepped on one and it was stuck in the bottom of my jeans and when I tried to wipe it away...gross!

(There are 10 on the wheel in this pic)

Taking the tent down was a race against the caterpillars! A bunch had already made cocoons. After getting the cocoons and active ones off the tent and tarp, they would come right back. We didn't want to take any home or smash any on the tent so it was tricky. At least two left the site with us.  One was seen 30 mins after leaving, on the ceiling of the car. And the other fell out of the dryer after the 2nd load of laundry was being done. GROSS!

Now back to the trip. On Saturday, we drove through the Zions/Mt Carmel Tunnel. It was built in 1930 and is 1.1 miles long. It was the longest tunnel in the US in 1930. It was pretty fun to see it.  There is another tunnel a few miles later. Its short but it was so cool to see the marks in the sandstone that the drill made in the walls.

Neither Jon nor I had been to this part of Zions for a long time. We didn't realize that you could no longer drive through Zions. They now have a mandatory shuttle system. At first, it seemed inconvenient. But it was great! The shuttles come every 6-8 mins and it sure feels less crowded and more peaceful without all the cars. It was sad though because on the way home we were hoping to drive through Zions and see the scenery more.

Our first stop was Weeping Rock. It is about half a mile to the rock.

Zac in the "tears"

Then we decided to go see the Emerald Pools. I remember going to this when I was a kid, but I didn't remember any of the hiking. Just the last pool. And I think we came later in the year. It is amazing to think about how just a couple months, May vs. August, can make such a different in what the park looks like. It was so green and pretty, but the pools weren't as green as I remember. Probably since the green algae didn't have enough to time grown and turn green.

The Emerald Pools stop is at Zions Lodge (I totally want to stay there some time!) On the way to the trail we walked by this tree. As a kid I used to always draw trees with a hole in them, and an owl in the hole. I have never seen one in real life.

Zions is so beautiful!

Meet Superman! Jon was amazing. He did so much. He basically did this hike on his own with the boys. My knees were tight, and I had water in the joints, so it was harder to hike, and I endured an IBS attack during the hike. Max is in the child backpack carrier. We rented it from a local outdoors shop. It was amazing, and we'll rent it again in the future.

This is the lower pool. This waterfall is coming from the middle pool.

The waterfall coming from the Middle pool.

It was cool to see the wind blow the waterfall to the side.

Zac and Me at the Middle Pools

This is the waterfall going into the Upper Pool

Max thought the sand was too cold for his bare feet, so he wanted to be held the whole time at the Upper Pool. Nice pic, huh? :P

Zac in front of the Upper Pool

Zac writing in the sand

Zac did great on the hike. He pretty much complains the whole time we are on the paved/easy dirt trails, but when it comes to hiking with rocks and small boulders, he loves every minute.

A deer came into camp and was so calm and not afraid. Look how close we got. It was there for about half and hour.

S'more lessons

S'more, s'more lessons

He was so surprised the first time the mallow came out on fire!

I love his cheeks in this pic

Getting ready to go.

Max chillaxing with his snacks!

The weather was perfect and it was so nice to spend so much time outside in gorgeous Zions.