Happy 3rd Birthday Rosalie

I did the same thing I did last year. I put out some photos of all the things my girls love. Dora, the Little Mermaid, Tinkerbell, Belle, Rapunzel, etc. I told Rosalie to pick what she wanted to use for her party theme. She picked Rapunzel!

I started party planning and doing some major research into Rapunzel! I looked on other blogs for ideas and even searched for the patterns on Rapunzel's dress, lanterns, flags, and more! Then I set out to make Rosalie's birthday invite!

I spent two weeks making the decorations! I found a cute idea on Pinterest and decided to tackle it on my own! (Idea here!) I don't have a special cutting machine, so I had to cut out each of the sun stars BY HAND, with a Xacto knife! I cut out 80 stars! Then glued them one-by-one onto purple paper! Hung them from fishing wire, then hung them in the living room about a week before her party!

The flags were very heavy and the decorations kept falling down. I ended up needing to tape them between every third flag! I don't have a picture of the finished look, but you'll be able to see them in the birthday photos below!

Everything else after that was a breeze! I found a few more ideas and decided on a cake design for Rapunzel's dress cake! I followed the general idea from Corner House and came up with this finished look for the cake:

I still hadn't put her hair down, but I wanted a picture before the centerpiece was finished!

I used marshmallow fondant for the dress and decorated on it with edible food markers! I looked up the dress design online and did the best I could to copy it! There were some flaws, but Rosalie didn't care! She was IN LOVE with her cake!

As soon as the cake was finished, I started in making the Magic Golden Flower cupcakes! I used the same Wilton mold that I used for Caitlin's Tinker Bell cake, only I used the flower molds! 

I used the orange food writer to mark the inner design from the mold!

While I was working, Rosalie put on her Rapunzel dress and started watching Tangled! She was very comfortable doing so!

Caitlin and Vivian were watching, too!

After I finished the cupcakes, I put them in the cupcake tower and got the dessert table ready! I put Rapunzel's hair down and placed the cake in a frying pan! This is how it looked!

Everyone LOVED it, too! I got a lot of compliments and laughs about it! Here are some up-close photos of the finished cake and cupcakes!

I set out the rest of the table decorations and food for the party!

I cut the flags on the banner a little differently from the ones in our living room!
Rosalie is on the right showing her cousin the food!

We served grilled hot dogs, chips, a veggie platter (celery, carrots, and ranch dip), a fruit platter (strawberries, cantaloupe, and pineapple), Cherry Limeade kool-aid, and birthday cake!

Silk flower basket I bought at a fundraiser! Fischer Price's Rapunzel toy with the brush that came with the Rapunzel doll used in the cake! All set on top of a sheet of gold scrapbooking paper!

I even made a Flynn Rider WANTED poster pinata! (Pinterest idea here!) I used a cereal box, printed the wanted poster from Google, and glued the frills on myself! I filled it with candy and hung it above the dessert table for decoration!

I snapped a quick photo of the birthday girl with her birthday cake!

We had a wonderful turnout for the party! The food was GONE by the end and we weren't able to smash the pinata with a frying pan, but I let the girls have the candy from the inside! I saved the pinata because I'm sure I'll be throwing another Rapunzel party someday! Here are some more photos from Rosalie's big day!

Rosalie digging into the fruit platter!

Singing "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" to Rosalie!

Princess lunchbox filled with goodies!

Princess velvet coloring board!

Rosalie's BIG GIRL panties! Princess panties for potty training!

French Fry shirt from Mommy and Daddy!

Princess Plate Set from Mommy and Daddy!

Princess toys from Grandma and Grandpa!

Rapunzel place mat!

I still can't believe that my girl is THREE! Where has the time gone? I am so thankful for each and everyday I get with my sweet Rosalie! She's still a Ninja! She has changed so much in the last year! I am overwhelmed with emotion when I think about it! I am so excited to see how she changes and grows this next year! 

I love you, Rosalie Cadence!

8 months pregnant with Rosalie!

Welcome to the world, Rosalie!
Don't mind my face! Natural birth hurts A LOT!

Rosalie on her FIRST birthday!

Rosalie on her SECOND birthday!

Rosalie on her THIRD birthday!

I am interested to see what party she'll want for her fourth birthday next year! Whatever it is, I'm going to go all out! Every birthday is worth a HUGE celebration in my book!

YMCA's Spring 5K Race Recap

I signed up for the YMCA's Spring 5K early in the year! It gave me plenty of time to prep and train! But the week before the run, I started getting very nervous! I kept going over things in my head like:

"What if there are so many people and I can't weave in and out of people smoothly?"

"What if there is no one there and I'm the only one?"

"What if there are a TON of teenagers who sign up and make me feel incredibly slow?"

"What if I completely flop and finish last?"
"What if I do very well and finish first?"

I had SO many questions that kept going through my head all week! It was ridiculous! As soon as I went to bed each night and my head hit my pillow, the questions would start all over again!

I have a friend, Erin, who goes to Zumba with me. We've gotten progressively closer over the past year. There are a few songs in Zumba where we'd both yell or repeat the words, look at each other, and start laughing. Mainly because it would be just us who were shouting and having a blast! It grew into a friendship that I did not expect! I am grateful for it! I asked Erin if she was going to be running the 5K. She said that she hadn't signed up yet and was scared to run it because she hadn't hardly trained this year. 

I told her to sign up! She kept telling me she didn't want to pay the full price to run it. I told her to sign up anyway! 

My neighbor Malissa signed up to run the 5K. She's been on a weight-loss journey and has been getting into running! The night before the run, we got to talk about our excitement, nervousness, goals, etc.. It was nice because I knew I wasn't the only one who was crazy nervous! We talked about what we ate for the week, how we tried to keep our meals consistent, and not do anything that wouldn't normally do! 

I've done a few fun 5K's like the Color run and the Glow run, and I've done some virtual 5K's, but I've NEVER done a timed 5K with prizes awarded! I was insanely nervous! So I prayed the night before the run that I would be able to sleep and get the rest I would need to do well during the race!

I woke up at 5 even though I set my alarm for 5:30. I made six different trips to the bathroom before I left for the race. I ate a banana about an hour before the race, as well. When I got to the Y at 7:30, I was the first one to pick up my packet. I got the chance to talk to some people who were nervous about running, but glad that all the "good runners" were running the Market to Market! Which made me feel better about my chances to place well! There were 39 people running/walking the race.

That's when I looked over and saw Erin! I about shouted for joy! I told her that I KNEW she'd sign up! She told me she finally signed up the day before! A little last minute, but I was glad to have a friend to run with! We decided to walk around the parking lot to warm up. The wind was AWFUL. AWFUL. We talked about pacing and our strategy to finish under 29 minutes. I told her to stay with me as long as she could because I had my Garmin on and it would help us to pace! We knew that we'd be heading straight into the wind for the first mile AND there were hills. We did not want to start off too fast!

We went back inside for one last trip to the restroom. Then it was go time!

We lined up. Erin and I in the front! Yikes! The start was off and we settled into a steady pace and clocked our first mile in 9:11! We were in third and fourth place at the time. I knew that we had some pretty tough hills coming up, we reached the turn around point and I talked Erin through the largest hill of the run. We encouraged other runners as we passed by them. It helped me to talk through the hills with Erin there! We finally made it through all of the hills and reached mile two with a split of 8:43. We were in second and third place. That's when Erin said, "You go on ahead if I'm slowing you down!" I laughed and said, "You're not!" But I lost her shortly afterwards.

When I came up on the turn to go around the college, the wind caught me by surprise, but I pushed through it. I looked at my Garmin and I was running with a pace of 7:50. I kept thinking, "I'm going to crap out soon and end this thing terribly! I've never gone this fast! But hey, I'm in SECOND PLACE RIGHT NOW! I think I can catch the girl in front of me! Here I go!" I looked behind me and knew I was good for second place if I didn't trip or have a heart attack! I hit mile three with a split of 7:30! 

I came up on the final stretch of the run and I could see the girl in front of me, but I knew I couldn't catch her! (Keep in mind that she in a sophomore in high school and I'm 25 and a mother of three!) I came down the finish and looked at the clock for the first time. It said 00:25:32, and I thought, "SERIOUSLY?!"

Yep! Seriously! I put my arms up and crossed the finish line about fell over with excitement! I also forgot to shut my Garmin off right away! But it was pretty accurate for my time! I finished that bad boy with an official time of 25:38! I plowed through my "goal time" by four minutes! Holy buckets! I felt amazing! I felt strong during the race!

I looked over and saw Erin coming down the finish and started cheering her on! She ended up getting fourth place with a time of 26:46! SO PROUD OF HER! She did that with hardly any training! I said to her, "Imagine if you HAD trained for this! Sheesh! You would have WON the thing!"

My friend Malissa finished in 31:14. Not quite what she was going for, but she got a Personal Record! I was (and am) SO proud of her! I am sad that we didn't get a photo together... 

Erin and I stayed and cheered on every single finisher before we went back inside the Y to eat a banana and get some water. But first, her husband snapped a photo!

Photo by J. J.

Once inside, we talked for a little bit before the drawings for some free stuff. My friend Malissa was the first person drawn out of the names! Erin and I even got some free stuff! A Dilly bar from Dairy Queen and a free dollar menu item from McDonald's! WOO HOO!

Then came time for the awards! I had NO idea that they were handing out trophies for the top people who placed in each age category! I got called for FIRST PLACE in the 20-29 age division and Erin got called for SECOND! WOO HOO!

Photo by J. J.

Photo by J. J.

I had to think of how to tell my husband how I did once I got home! He was going to try to be at the finish to cheer me on, but our youngest daughter over-slept and he wasn't able to make it out. And that was okay! It made bringing home the trophy that much better! 

I walked into the kitchen and saw all of my girls first! Then Charles turned around and I pulled the trophy out from under my jacket! I told him how I finished and he gave me a HUGE hug! And kept telling me how proud of me he was! It seriously meant the world to me! 

I wanted to get a photo of my girls with me and the trophy, so we headed outside for some quick photos!

Three of the four reasons why I run!
Charles, being the fourth reason!

A proud moment for me!

This is my loot! I got a shirt with my packet during pick-up. My racing bib. My free food vouchers (WOO HOO for the Dilly Bar! SCORE!). And my TROPHY! 

I have never won ANYTHING when it comes to running! Not even in High School! The closest I ever came was third place at a small track meet where there were only six runners in the 3,000 m run! So this trophy is kind of a HUGE deal for me! It proves to me that I CAN do it! I can finish first in my age class! I can finish second overall. I can do it.

I honestly never thought I could. I doubted myself. I kept thinking after the 5K that if the people who were running the Market to Market were running the 5K, I wouldn't have placed at all. And I wouldn't have! I looked at last years results and I would've placed 16th overall! 

But who cares?

Because on May 11th, 2013, I got first in my age group! I trained hard, ran hard, and earned that trophy! I am proud of myself! I am proud of my friends who finished! 

I am so, so happy! 

I am confident that with more training in speed work, I can get an even better time for my next 5K!

But first, the Dam to Dam 20K is 19 days away! Yikes! Back to training tomorrow!

Sunday Run? Not Me.

I have debated on whether or not to even write about this topic, but I am getting tired of explaining myself over and over again. I love my faith, but I hate debating it with people. Especially my family. So let me preface this by saying, I am not going to debate this with anyone. I am, however, willing to answer questions. Please do not ask me questions out of hate or spite. I am happy with my choices. So here it goes.

Firstly, for those who don't know, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am a Mormon. I am the only one on "my side" of my family. My husband and most of his family are members.

Secondly, I do not run on Sunday.

It is a religious choice. I say "choice" because even though God gave us the commandment in Exodus 20:8, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,", He also gave us agency. Agency allows us to choose. I choose to follow the commandments of God. With agency comes accountability. Which basically means that I am free to make my own choices, whether good or bad, but I am NOT free to choose the consequences.

It. Is. Difficult.

Especially when almost every single race or marathon I want to run in is held on a Sunday. It is hard to find big races that are held on a Saturday. At least, ones that are close to where I live. All the big marathons that I want to participate in (Chicago Marathon, IMT Des Monies Marathon, the Quad Cities Marathon, Disneyland, etc.) are held on a Sunday.

Even though I am proud of my friends who sign up for those events, it is so hard for me to not be jealous. I want to run with them. I want those memories, too.

I struggle with it.

But when I decided back in 2007 to commit my life to living the gospel as best as I can, I never thought that keeping the Sabbath day holy would be such a challenge. (I was baptized in August of 2005, but fell away shortly after.) Since becoming a runner again, it has become a challenge.

Our church has a small booklet called "For the Strength of Youth". I love it! It's not only for the youth in the church, it is for all members of the church. In the section about Sabbath Day Observance, it says, "Sunday is not a day for shopping, recreation, or athletic events."

There it is. I want to tell you that it sucks... but I get why we need our days of FULL rest. Not just physical rest, but rest from all the other day-to-day worries. Buying groceries, buying gas, trying to fit a workout or run in, etc. It is nice to just spend a day with my family, focusing on the Lord.

I am not saying that it is easy. But I KNOW that it will be worth it. When I look at my life, there are many earthly things I want to accomplish, but there are also so many spiritual things I want to accomplish. I have found a balance between both things.

I am training to run the Dam to Dam in June. I am following a half marathon running guide from Hal Higdon. The thing I like about his running guides is that I can change up the days I run, as long as I make sure to get all of my miles in each week. I think that all of his guides have runners running a long run each Sunday. I knew from the start that that wouldn't be possible for me. I just changed the days on the schedule around and my long runs are now on Saturday's.

And with a little detective work, I have found many races held on Saturday's here in my state! I have signed up for a few 5K's, a 20K, and a marathon so far! I am going to be signing up for a half marathon in the next few weeks! It will be ran the week after the Dam to Dam!

I don't think it sounds silly for me to say that I have been blessed for not running on Sunday's. I have lost count of the many blessings that God has blessed me with in my life. I always feel wonderful on Monday knowing that I rested on Sunday. I feel refreshed and ready to take on the week ahead of me.

I also want to say that I do not look down on people who work out, run, shop, and what-not on Sunday. We all have choices. I know not everyone is a Mormon. I know that everyone is different. We all have different beliefs. I love all of my family and friends, each and every single person, just the way they are! I'm not asking anyone to stop running on Sunday, I am just explaining why I do not.

Running is a gift! And I thank God for my ability to run! It is a privilege  I thank Him for my body and that everything works as it should! I am thankful that I haven't been seriously injured. I am thankful each and every time I go out on and return home from a run.

I hope to set a righteous example for my children so that they know the importance of keeping the Lord's commandments.

My Virtual Run for Boston

Ever since high school, I have had this dream to run the Boston marathon. I'm not sure who gave me the idea, but I remember wanting to run THE Boston Marathon. I don't even think that I knew exactly how many miles were in a marathon! All I knew is that I wanted to run it.

Yesterday, a friend asked me if I was sure that I wanted to run it after the awful events that took place. My answer was simple.

YES!

When I woke up this morning, my Facebook feed was full of posts from running blogs about wearing a race shirt in honor of the victims in Boston. I put on my Color Run t-shirt. There was also an event for a virtual run called Runners United to Remember. I joined the event and knew that I would be running my scheduled four miles for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.

I ran the four miles today in silence.

I prayed the entire time for the victims and their familes, for the FBI and police officers investigating the bombings, and for all the runners who were affected by this.

My heart is still saddened by all of this, but I know one thing for sure:

It won't stop me from reaching my goal of running the Boston Marathon someday.

I will get there.

After my run, I noticed that my "elbow pits" were especially sweaty today... so I had my husband take a quick picture! I always sweat from my elbow pits when I run! I guess I never realized how bad!

Happy 4th Birthday Caitlin

I did the same thing I did last year. I put out some photos of all the things my girls love. Dora, the Little Mermaid, Tinkerbell, Belle, etc. I told Caitlin to pick what she wanted to use for her party theme. She picked Tinkerbell!

I started party planning and I made her birthday invite!

I used the entire week before her party to prepare for the party! I've got a lot on my plate with the girls, marathon training, working out, cleaning, etc, so I wanted to make sure to spread things out over a few days so that I wouldn't feel rushed on the day of her party.

I decorated the house using the $0.97 table cloths from Walmart, cut into four strips. I hung them on the ceiling with balloons! Caitlin said it looked like a spider!

I made EIGHT POUNDS of ham balls the night before her party. I was up until midnight! It took me a few hours, but I was able to catch up on my Hulu queue!

The morning of her party, I went on a 5 mile run at 7 a.m. with my friend Desiree, got home as fast as I could, showered, got ready, and started working on Caitlin's cake! I posted a few ideas for the cake on my Pinterest and showed them to Caity. I told her to pick the one she wanted. She picked this one and I decided to make it using this Wilton mold for the leaves! This is how it turned out!

It took me about an hour and a half! I will be making a tutorial for this cake on my craft blog with all the details on it! Everyone loved the cake, too! I got a lot of wonderful comments and compliments for it! But most importantly, Caitlin LOVED it! I wanted to take a picture of her with it, but she refused to give me a decent smile!

We had a wonderful turnout for her party! Cailtin got a ton of gifts and our house was crammed full of people who love our girl! She is one blessed *not so* little girl! Here are some more photos from her big day!

Tinkerbell cake, cupcakes with purple fondant flowers (from the Wilton mold), and all of the Disney Fairies in jars!

Fairies in jar idea here.

Iridessa, Fawn, and Silvermist in jars!

Rosetta, Periwinkle, and Tinkerbell in jars!

Cupcake tower!

We served ham balls, a fruit platter (fresh strawberries, green grapes, purple grapes, and bananas), a vegetable platter (carrots and celery with sour cream ranch dip), party punch, and birthday cake!

Silk flower basket I bought at a fundraiser! Silvermist and Rosetta had a special birthday sign ready for Caitlin! She thought that they wrote it!

Singing "Happy Birthday" to my four year old!

Making money!

Ariel Pool!

This picture cracks me up! HUGE Dora pen!

Tinkerbell and Periwinkle poster! Caity was BEYOND excited for this!

I'm not sure what face this is, but this is the plate, bowl, cup, and silverware set Charles and I got for Caity! She screamed at the top of her lungs when opening it!

There were some friends who came after everyone had left. My Mom stayed and gave the girls their late Christmas presents! Of all the gifts Caitlin got, she was most excited for the two Barbies she got!

I still cannot imagine my baby being FOUR whole years old! Where has the time gone? It seriously seems like yesterday that I was sitting in the NICU watching her tiny stomach move up and down with each breath she was struggling to take... now she is a vibrant little lady with so much energy and zest for life! She takes my breath away!

8 months pregnant with Caitlin

Caitlin Nadine born at 35 weeks, 6 days

Happy First Birthday, Caitlin!

Happy Second Birthday, Caitlin!

Happy Third Birthday, Caitlin!

Happy Fourth Birthday, Caitlin!

As we go into Caitlin's fourth year here on this earth, I am excited for it! The journey so far has been a wild one! She will be starting school this year and learning new things each day! I am glad that I kept her home for a year before putting her into preschool. I wanted that extra time with her. I know that preschool isn't very long, but I didn't want to sacrifice those precious hours with her! She amazes me each and every single day. Sometimes, every hour! She is smart like her Daddy! I cannot wait to see what the Lord has planned for us in Caitlin's fourth year! I have so much love for this girl! I thank God for blessing me with her! I am thankful for each and every minute! 

I love my Caity Bell!

My Third Virtual 5K

I ran my third virtual 5K today! It was the second run in the 13 in 2013 Virtual Race Series, the St. Patrick's Day Virtual 5K. I started training for a half marathon a little over a week ago and my first long run was this past Saturday. 4 miles. I was planning on using that run towards this race, but that was a slower run. And it was very cold and windy that day. 

My friend Desiree and I weren't able to run this morning like we have been, so I decided this afternoon to run a 5K on my own to count for the St. Patrick's Day race! (Even though it's not St. Patties... oh well! I wore my GREEN Bay Packers hoodie to be festive!) The weather was a little chilly but GORGEOUS and I had enough time before my circuit training class! My goal was to finish in under 30 minutes. This was my first virtual run on the pavement and NOT on a treadmill!

I finished with a time of 28:10! I started off fast and I knew it right away! I was excited to be using my new Garmin! It is wonderful know my pace! I slowed down enough to get a nice pace going during mile 2. I kept it there! I had some pretty tough hills during my run, but I powered through them and finished strong! 

I hope that I can finish some of the 5K's that I've signed up for with a time this good! I don't think it's fast enough to place high, but it's fast enough for me! I was very tired by the end of this run, so hopefully with some more training, I can get a little faster!

Registration for the Dam to Dam opens tomorrow! I will be registering as soon as I possibly can to ensure that I get in in time (there are only 8,000 spots and they fill up fast!)! Considering it's the reason that I've been training! It will be held on my one year anniversary for my lifestyle change! What an awesome way to celebrate! I'm going to be running a 20K! Woo hoo!