I just have to tell you

"Dogs are not our whole life -- but they make our life whole."

This may seem like a weird post to some, and a year ago it would seem crazy to me.
The story begins like this. I come home from a long day of work and Joe says to me, "Let's get a dog."
You know how the story ends up the next day we are at the Humane Society for 5 consecutive days finding us a dog that meets our checklist.

1. Must be good with babies
2. Must be able to run
3. Must tolerate cats
4. Must be well behaved
5. Must be a lab
6. Must love us unconditionally

For the next 3 months after we've have had Blacky, I keep wondering what's wrong with him. Why would someone give him up? I don't understand. I keep waiting for him to tear up stuff, become aggressive or some other bad behavior that would make you get rid of a dog. While there are many things we don't know about his previous owner or life we do know this. He has an unconditional amount of love to give.

He's my sidekick he follows me around all day and by my side twenty four seven. He's my training partner no matter if its the crack of dawn, or right before the sun goes down he's ready for our training run. Him pulling me the first two miles and me dragging him the last three. If I'm on the treadmill he's right by the side waiting to slime me if I get off.

He let's Tymon use him as a step stool, crawl all over him and shove chapstick down his throat (true story) and yet he's still as happy as can be to be here. Sure he gets hair everywhere, has horrible gas (no joke, its bad) and refuses to miss a meal--we love him to death.

I'm pretty sure Joe knew I needed Blacky more than I did. Its weird how that works out. Joe hates dogs. But not Blacky. I have a half marathon coming up the end of next month and I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it alone. That's when I call in my sidekick, and don't worry he'll be there one of us dragging the other.

Savor the Moments...

Everyday when Joe comes home from work he asks, "What did you do today?"
Since leaving my job, I always try to think of some huge task I accomplished. "Hmmm... I cleaned the bathrooms." "I studied for my personal training test." "I read Ty 12 books."

The more I have been thinking about this question, I have come to realize something very small. I don't need to sale $5,000 in clothing, clean every window in my house and have everything in perfect order to accomplish something that day. Its not about the big things it is about the little things. Not about the hours it took to clean up every piece of dog hair off my light tile. Not about the hours it took to organize my closet by color and sleeve length (I know I am kind of obsessive) rather its about the minutes and moments. The moments you think about someone else, write them a note, or send an e-mail. The moments you take time to savor, to appreciate.

Its about the moment that Ty learned that a cow says Moo. (However he can't pronounce his M's so it sounds like bmooooo. ) Or when he learned to go down the slide and constantly demands to do it again and again. Its about the moment I let Ty dip his own spoon in the yogurt for the first time and feed himself, which ended up with yogurt on the carpet instead of his mouth. Its about those moments when he gives you a big sloppy kiss, with his tongue of course. Its about those moments when he snuggles up to me when he is tired. Its about the moment he gets a smile on his face when he hears the bath tub water, sees his dad come home or mickey mouse on the t.v.

I've been touched lately with a spirit of gratitude for all of the huge things I have been blessed with. I am a very very lucky person. But I think its more than the big things we have to be grateful for, its the little things. Its the moments...the moments we have to savor.

I love...

I love this face. I mean really how can you resist. His hair is getting so long but I don't want to cut it because that means he is just getting old enough to need hair cuts. Look at his big eyes and that little scratch on his nose as he screams everytime I try to clip his fingernails. This was just after he woke up and right after I was chasing him around to put his diaper back on.

I just can't believe it

I cannot believe that in less than two months this little one will be 1! Where has the time gone!

Happy 4 Years!

Yesterday was our 4 Year Anniversary. Here ia quick look back at the past wonderful 4 years! Happy Anniversary Joe, I love you.

Year 1: Here is where it all began. This is one of my favorite pictures from the Wedding, because both Joe and I had no idea how to do a dip when the photographer asked us to. So we are both laughing. What a fun day 4 years ago!
Year 2: A fun cruise with our friends to Ensenada. One of our formal nights.

Year 3: Can't believe I even posted this picture wow I was HUGE! Oh Well. Here we are at my Aunt's Bridal Shower, Awaiting Tymon's arrival. I was offically 8 months preggo in this picture!

Year 4: A Trip to Lake Powell, and even better with Tymon at 8 months

Eat your Peaches...

Make Sure that you have the sound on! I give credit

To my Mother for Teaching Ty this. At one

point he grabs the camera cord and you

get a shot of the kitchen. I can't help but

laugh at how cute he is doing this.

I finished.

I have a lot of blog catching up to do. It may be out of order but I am determined to catch up on Everything. Here is Tymon catching some Zzz's the morning of my 10k. Mind you this was about 5:30 a.m. He is getting so big :( He is almost 9 months in this picture just two days away!

This is about mile 2 of the race. You can see how dark it still is outside. I was super nervous the night before as I have not ever ran this far and I really wanted to come in under an hour!

There was a ton of downhill in this race which was so nice and really helped me be ahead of my race goal by over 6 minutes! At mile 3 here I was into the race about 24 minutes, which gave me a 6 minute cushion to help me finish in less than an hour. At one point in the race I began to cry. I began pushing all those painful feelings I had from the past week out of my body. From quitting my job to all the weakness and sorrow I felt. It felt so amazing to stomp it out through the payment.

The photo below is after I finished. I finished in 54 minutes and 24 seconds almost 6 minutes faster than my goal. I felt pretty good the whole time until I hit mile 6 and I still had .2 miles to go that felt like an eternity. I couldn't find Joe and Tymon at the end of the race because there were so many people!!! I asked this lady if I could use her cell phone reluctantly she said, "Are you calling another country?" I laughed and said no my husband he's here somewhere I just can't find him. She then said, "Is it long distance?" Come on lady just let me use it for less than 2 seconds you can even dial for me! It was pretty funny. But eventually I found them!

I am so grateful for my husband who supported me doing this. Joe is not a runner at all but he watched Tymon graciously every time I wanted to do my long runs and he even did the Murray 5k with me (post coming...) to help me prepare for this. I love that in this picture Tymon is in his Pj's still (remember it was about 5 in the morning when we dragged him out of bed!

This is me after 6.2 miles and looking pretty sweaty. I don't' really sweat that much either.

We then decided to catch some of the parade, Tymon was sure enjoying it!
Watching the police on their motorcycles.
This is our AMAZING stake float. It won two awards, the people's choice and the animation award. I wish I would not have been so busy working 50 hours a week and been able to help with the float. It was a family of seagulls making cricket cookies! It was so awesome. There was even youth from our ward inside the seagulls making them move. It was by far the best float!
"When life gives you crickets?" "Make Cricket Cookies!!!"
Congrats Dave for an awesome Float!!

I really enjoyed the 10k running has done so many wonderful things for me mentally and physically. I feel more calm and less stressed when I run. I have dropped all the baby weight and some and can buy smaller clothes. I am the most in shape I have ever been. I am now looking forward to a half marathon. I would love any suggestions!