Running in Circles

Monday: 7 miles on the treadmill and Insanity

Tuesday: 10 miles in 1:16

Wednesday: 6 miles of.25 intervals and insanity

Thursday: 10 miles and AB workout

Friday: 5 miles of alternating half-mile intervals at a 6:58 pace and circuit exercises

Saturday: 12.5 miles at the lake with a friend in 1:35. this run felt great!

Sunday: rest day

Saturday was my longest run postpartum (3 months) and it felt fast and hard, but good! I'm feeling better only doing insanity twice a week instead of three or four times (that's just too much with running for me)

1. Getting ready for the day makes a huge difference. Sometimes after showering I just skip the hair and make-up part of getting ready and just put on clean workout clothes. The last few weeks though I've been really good about getting myself put together and dressed and it makes a huge difference in my day...even if I am still just at home playing, it makes me feel like me.

2. Sacrifice is hard. I'm ready for a second car. I'm ready for a bigger apartment. I'm ready for more "me" time. I'm ready to teach Pilates again. There's actually a longer list of things I'd love to change or move up with- but living within our means in the big picture is absolutely more important. Of course I'm not the only one that is sacrificing so I hope this doesn't come off to whiny, but the truth is I have to remind myself to see the bigger picture on a daily basis.

3. A want is a want and a need is a need. This is a lesson you can learn over and over in your life. Just because you want something doesn't mean you get it. Just because you can afford it doesn't mean you get it. Just because it's the one thing you think will make you happy doesn't mean you get it. I've learned over and over again that buying things really is just buying things and it doesn't bring any kind of lasting gratification. The comfort of knowing we can get the things we need because were not spending on all of our wants makes me feel much more secure and happy.

4. Being a mom really is empowering. I feel so blessed to have two wonderful children and to be able to stay home everyday with them. I am realizing that I really can be the biggest influence on them and that gives me so much more power than I ever thought I had as a stay at home mom. I've always thought my job was to keep them entertained and learning, keep the house clean and the errands done. But really so much of what Hazel and Henry will learn, emulate, want, and need is influenced by me during the day.

5. Good friends are the best. I feel so grateful to have made such great friends here in Dallas. The kind of friends that are genuinely happy or disappointed for me when I am. The kind of friends that bring by a salad because they just knew i would love it. The kind of friends that offer rides, babysitting, meals, quality time, play-dates, and advice in an instant. 

A friend in the ward had her baby on Wednesday afternoon and that night after i had already fallen asleep a group text had gone out looking to bring them meals. Within 10 minutes and 28 text messages a weeks worth of meals were planned. I was blown away at how quickly everyone offered to serve and am so grateful for their example. This was a learning moment for my testimony.

6 Teaching the gospel to Hazel is coming more naturally than I have anticipated. For some reason i thought teaching the gospel to a toddler was going to be a waste of effort. But I'm amazed as she has learned to pray, repeats scriptures, is memorizing the prophets of the church, and asks the most sincere questions- family home evening, prayer,family scripture study, going to church and nursery all matter, even at two and a half years old.

One night Brice asked Hazel to bring the scriptures over so we could read as a family. She brought them to the couch and opened them upside down and started saying," And it came to pass, those Lamanites were naughty,amen." 

It was sweet and hilarious.

We were so lucky to be able to spend a few days with several of Brice's siblings in Gatlinburg,Tennessee. We stayed at a cabin up high on a hill just outside of the Smoky Mountains National Park. It was a beautiful area, and it seemed like everyday longer we were there- the trees became more green and full.

Hazel loved spending time with her dozen cousins- running, playing soccer, hot-tubing, playing air hockey, and just playing the way little cousins do! 

She continues asking for them everyday now that we're home.

We enjoyed hiking, exploring streams and ravines, doing crafts, building matchstick rockets (Brice's project for the boys), celebrating Easter with an egg hunt, catching up with everyone, and visiting the Ripley's Aquarium. The aquarium was actually pretty cool and it was easy to spend a few hours there on a rainy day!

Thanks Emily for organizing the trip- we were so glad to come, even with a 14 hour drive. Which by the way went pretty great both ways with two small children, but I need a long break from road trips!