Caiden Scores!!

Last week, Caiden scored 2 goals for his soccer team and this week he added another one! He gets so excited when he scores! He will clap for himself, he will give anyone a high-five that will give him one and he can't stop smiling. He loves playing soccer and it's a lot of fun to watch him having so much fun. The team wears bright green shirts and they have named themselves the Green Monsters. My Dad suprised us and came to visit for the weekend along with my sisters, Lauren and Kelly were here so Caiden had lots of people cheering him on Saturday. It was a fun game!

Here is the link to the video of him scoring!! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytCKWS5qS_Y

Belle Fourche Bronc Homecoming!

On Friday, Belle Fourche celebrated Homecoming! Caiden and Chloe's preschool made a really cute float for the parade, but Chloe wanted to watch the parade; not be in it! Caiden was really excited about being in the parade and went and help decorate the float in the morning and then was in the parade in the afternoon. We saw our friends, Desiree, Lacey, and Nikki and their kids at the parade and the kids had a lot of fun collecting all of the candy that they could. When Caiden's float came, he was his usual quiet self, just sitting there and waving, but I did manage to get a smile out of him when he saw us!

That evening, we went to the field for some free hot dogs and to watch some football! I'm pretty sure the whole town was at the game! It was packed; good thing we got their early so we had seats. My friend Desiree came to the game with her kids and everyone had a fun time cheering on the Broncs! They played awesome against Stanley County and won 33-3 and are now 3-0 for the year!

GO BRONCS!!!!

Yellow Jacket 10K - Every Second Counts!

Today I ran in my 2nd 10k race - the Yellow Jacket 10K. My last 10K was 5 months ago and I ran it in 1:01:47 so I thought that I could break that hour mark now. I REALLY wanted to break that barrier of running 6 miles in under an hour. I have never done it before. I have been telling everyone about how I was going to try my hardest to run this race in under an hour so the pressure was on!

I got a really good night's sleep and even woke up before my alarm this morning. I drank some Gatorade and ate a banana and was out the door at 6:30am. I got to the football field and registered for the race, got my T-shirt, and chatted with some ladies that I knew. It looked like everyone was running the 10K (there was also a 5K) and there were a lot of women for some reason.

Right at 7:30, we were off and I started off way faster than I thought possible and way faster than I should have. That first mile was 9:01 (I do not run that fast!) and the later miles were way slower than that! In order to run the 10K in under an hour, I had to keep my pace at 9:39 so I set the Garmin to beep at me when my pace went slower. It beeped at me a lot! I just could not keep that pace up for some reason! The first half was pretty much uphill, not a huge uphill, but enough of one that I was feeling it! I was SO thankful to get to the halfway point so I could turn around and start going more downhill! I felt way better the 2nd half of the race, but by then, I was pretty tired from the first half! When I could see the football field, I looked down at I was at 57:30 so I knew I would be close, but I didn't think I was going to get it. I started going the wrong way on the track, oops, and had to turn around and go around the track the other way. I heard Chris, the kids, my sisters, and some friends cheering me on so I just kept on truckin' and hoped that I would be close. And close I was - I crossed the finish line in 59:59!!!! Wow!!!! Most everyone there knew that I wanted to run it in under an hour so they were going crazy laughing and asking if I could have cut it any closer! I ended up in 16th place (probably out of 30 or so) and there were 5 people in my age group - I know I wasn't 5th so I was either 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th! I'll let you know when the final results come out! I really don't think I could have run that race any faster today, but I will keep trying to improve that time. Here is how my miles looked -

Mile 1 - 9:01 - Way too fast for me!! Slow it down!
Mile 2 - 9:46 - 7 seconds too slow for my under hour pace
Mile 3 - 9:50 - A lot of uphill - way too slow!!!
Mile 4 - 9:37 - Perfect Pace
Mile 5 - 9:30 - Now I'm crusin' - Feeling good!
Mile 6 - 9:46 - A little too slow, but I'm getting tired!
Mile 6.29 - 2:36 - Not sure if the course was a little long or the Garmin was a little off!!

What's really strange is that my average miles were 9:33, which is exactly what they were at my half marathon in August and that was 7 miles longer!!! I think I really need to practice my hill running - I'm way too slow on them and they tire me out big time!

Overall, I had a good time - I feel really great now; not sore or tired or anything, but half marathons are still my favorite racing distance! :) There is just too much pressure when I am running 5Ks and 10Ks!

Here is the video that Chris took of me at the finish! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyYSVp6CqOg

Sidelined with a Bee Sting

As you can see I got stung by a bee; and as you can see, I'm a tad allergic to them. Not deathly allergic - Thank God! But allergic enough to make a mark. This picture was taken more than 2 days after I had gotten stung so imagine how bad it looked yesterday! I was at Caiden's soccer game on Saturday and the bees were just horrible. Chris spent most of the game hitting me with hat to get them off of me. For some reason, they like me and they like me a lot. I guess it's because I'm so sweet ;) Anyway, one snuck through the wrath of Chris and got me right on the calf. At first, it didn't seem like a big deal. It hurt a little, but nothing too serious. After the game, I went for a 6 mile run, I went to the BHSU football game, and went grocery shopping. By the time we got home though, I was starting to feel it. I went to bed early, but woke up around 12:30am with some major throbbing pain. I iced it and took some ibuprofen, but still couldn't get much sleep. In the morning, Chris went and got some benedryl and I took it and immediately it knocked me out. I spent most of yesterday sleeping or feeling really sleepy. I constantly sprayed the sting with benedryl spray and kept taking the benedryl in hopes that the swelling and the pain would come down. I slept really good last night and felt pretty good this morning. I was really mad that I had missed an 11 mile run on Sunday because of the string and I was determined to get back to running today. I went out hoping to get at least 7 miles in, but the pain was pretty bad every time I went down on that leg. I only made it 5 miles so I still have more miles to make up. The area that is red and swollen is much less than yesterday so here's hoping it will be even better tomorrow!

Caiden's First Day of Preschool!

The Big 4 Year Old

Excited for School

Caiden and his friends, Myah and Lexi

Caiden and his friend, Storm

Caiden and Chloe and their favorite teacher, Rebecca

Last Wednesday, Caiden started his 2nd year of preschool. Just like Chloe, Caiden also loves his preschool. He went to the same one last year so not very much as changed although he has gained another teacher and there are a few more kids in his class this time around. There are 6 boys this year instead of the 3 there were last year! There are also the same 3 little girls in the class from last year and when you ask Caiden who his friends are in the class, he will say his teacher and those 3 little girls! :) It's really funny to see how different he is in class and at home. He hardly speaks a word at preschool, but then comes home and that is all we hear; his voice! I am glad that he saves all of naughty energy for when he at home! :)

The First Week of September was a Good One!!

The first week of September turned out to be one of the best weeks I've had in a while! I have felt very motivated to get my runs in and the weather has been absolutely amazing which makes getting my runs done a lot easier! We have seen highs in the 60s with some sun mixed with a little rain - my favorite - I love fall! Here is how the week went down!!

Sunday - Had a really great 8 mile run after not running for a few days due to a lovely bug that all of the kids (except for mine) got at my daycare. It wasn't an all that fast run (11:37 miles) but it felt good to be back out there running again. After my run, we headed up to the Waterslides to spend the last day of summer in the sun. We all had such a fun time and it was a great way to end the summer!

Monday - First Day of September! And Happy Labor Day! which means no work for my Chris or for me! I got to sleep in, which rarely happens and after just being lazy for a couple of hours headed out for a run. I don't normally run after my long Sunday runs, but I did today for 3 reasons. 1. The weather had shifted and it went from being 95 on Sunday to 65 on Monday - how can you NOT go running when it's that nice outside?! and 2. I didn't have to work so I would feel completely lazy not running! and 3. My gym was closed for Labor Day so the only choice I had was to run outside!! :) I ended up running 5.6 miles (10.42 miles), so a pretty easy pace, but I wasn't in any hurry on my day off) Today was also the day that I was going to really focus on my eating and have a good week eating wise and running wise so it felt like a new beginning. Today I also challenged myself to run 100 miles in September to help motivate to get my runs in this month!! And so far, it's working!

Tuesday - Chloe's first day of preschool! She is probably the most shy little girl I have ever met and we were pretty worried about how she would handle her first day of school, but she walked in there like she had been going her whole life and had a great day! She loves her teachers and her classmates and her school, which is a huge relief to us! Today was also Caiden's first day of soccer practice, which is pretty entertaining to watch 4 and 5 year olds trying to understand the fundamentals of soccer. ;) I also ran 4.5 miles today for my tempo run (10:00 on the dot miles) and it felt really good!

Wednesday - Caiden's first day of preschool! He went to preschool last year so he knows the drill and he loves every aspect of going to preschool. He is also a very shy little boy so he is the quiet one in the class, but this year, there are 6 little boys in his class (compared to just 3 last year) so maybe as the year goes on, he will get a little more out-going in class! Another 4.5 mile run today (11.02 miles) so a little slower pace and for some reason, I saw a lot of dead animals on the road today! I got sprinkled on, but was hoping for a little more rain - I love running in the rain - as long as it's not too windy! :)

Thursday - Chloe had a little harder time going to school today as she cried when I dropped her off, but her teacher said that as soon as she started reading the book to the class, she stopped crying and had a wonderful day. And the way Chloe talked about her day the rest of the afternoon, I know she had a good time. They are learning about dinosaurs and got to make a nest and she had to show everyone her nest over and over again! So cute! For my workout, I showed a friend of mine who just had a baby a month ago a Leslie Sanstone walking DVD and we did that - so we walked 2 miles and then did the firming part of the DVD with some abs and leg work - it felt like a good workout!

Friday - I love Fridays! I sense the weekend is coming and it seems like everyone is in a great mood! After Caiden got home from preschool, my friend and her two young kids came over for a visit and it's so nice to get some adult conversation in as most of my day is filled with chatting with kids aged 0-4. She stayed for lunch and we talked about lots of health-related topics, which is always fun for me! I did treat myself to a Blizzard on Friday night, but I didn't feel guilty about it because I knew I had had a great week and had gotten all of my workouts in that I wanted to. We then sat in the car and listened (our radio inside broke!) to our high school football team win their first game of the season against the 5th ranked school in the state!! Whoo hoo! Go Broncs!

Saturday - Caiden's first soccer game! Now add another team to the mix of 4 and 5 years olds playing soccer and you have some real entertainment! The kids all had a really great time. Caiden ran after that ball with all of the energy that he had and had so much fun - everyone was commenting on the huge grin he had on his face the entire game! They didn't score any goals, but luckily at this age, they really didn't care! The important thing is that they all had a wonderful time and that they all got some great exercise running around that field! After the game, I got a 5 mile run in (10.22 miles) and I'm glad that I did it when I did, because not 20 minutes after I got home, it was a complete downpour! I mean, I like to run in the rain, but this was insane! This afternoon, we went to our friends house to meet their daughter's new hamster, Henry, and my kids didn't really know what to think about that! Their pets are cats and dogs, so having something that small as a pet was new to them! And then we headed to the hospital to see our friends brand new baby, Weston, who was born at midnight so he wasn't even 24 hours old! Such a cutie! You really forget that your kids were once that small too! We ended our week by watching the Montana Grizzly Game on the Internet and I GUESS it was a very exciting game, but in my true fashion, I fell asleep. :)


So, there is my week - here's hoping next week is just as great!!

Soccer Has Begun!!

Last night was Caiden's first soccer practice and he had a lot of fun! He says he wants to go back, which is a good sign! His coaches are really nice and great with the kids. They practiced kicking the ball into the goal and stopping the ball with the inside of their foot and then "tried" to play a scrimmage game, but mostly 2 kids took the ball and the other 5 kids watched them! Their first game is on Saturday and I'm thinking is going to be pretty entertaining to watch 10 four and five year olds on the field trying to score a goal! HA! There are 4 girls and 3 boys on his team and get this - the 3 boys on the team are named Caiden, Cade, and Aiden! LOL! It was pretty funny watching the coach trying to keep them all straight! Their shirts are bright neon green and they are trying to think of a a name for their team so if you have any good ideas, let us know! :)

Some pictures from practice

Chloe Loves Preschool!!

What a big girl!

Waving Goodbye to Me and Caiden

Reading a book at Preschool

Today was Chloe's first day of preschool and she loved it! We had been practicing "going" to preschool so she was prepared and it was very easy morning! I had to wake her up of course and she isn't the happiest morning person, but she remembered that she was going to school today, so it wasn't so much of a fight. She got all ready, we took some pictures, and then she immediately started asking Chris when they could go. Finally it was time to go and she got out the door as fast as she could! Chris took her there and got her all settled with her school supplies and told her that he was going to work, gave her a kiss and a hug, and she went right with her teacher, Ms. Rebecca, and didn't look back! If you know Chloe at all, you are shocked by this too! Chloe does not just let Chris or I leave her without some kind of crying or hanging on to us for dear life. But I think by talking about it all summer and practicing it the past few days, she was really ready and excited to go. When I picked her up, I asked her teacher how it went and she said that she did get sad for a brief minute, but they talked about how much fun they were going to have at preschool and then I was going to come and pick her up and that was all it took for her to perk back up and have fun. When I asked her if she was ready to go home, she said, "No, I want to stay here." So, I guess that's a pretty good sign! She has been talking about it all day and can't tell us enough how much fun preschool is. I am so glad she surprised us all and didn't cry the entire 2 and half hours like we thought she would! And she wants to go back too! She is growing up so fast!