"Hello new world," says Avey.

I wanted to follow up Eric's previous post with things I learned from my half marathon.

First off, don't run a half marathon to lose weight.   Don't get me wrong, I wasn't trying to lose weight at all when I decided to run the half, but I'm pretty sure I gained weight.  (We don't own a scale at our house so I can't verify this.)  And maybe some of you have more self control than I did, but it was hilarious I would say to myself I just ran 10 miles, I can have 3 servings of ice cream.  Or, I will run 10 miles in three days, I can eat two full plates of dinner to prepare, or two bowls of oatmeal.  Which leads me to another thing called portions.  I think I eat more in general than most people.  If a serving size for a normal person is half a cup, generally I eat twice that.  Seriously, every time it tells me what a serving is I almost always eat double that just to feel full.  So add running 10 miles once a week into that and I was eating a serious amount of food.  :)   But the funny part is I feel guilty if I know what a portion is and that I'm eating way more than that, but I still eat it, because I know my body will be hungry again before lunch unless I eat that much oatmeal.  I know my body more than others and I know serving sizes are to help the general person, but I still feel guilt, and I wish I didn't, but it doesn't consume my life, so don't feel bad, I just wanted to let you all know I eat a lot more than the average person, that's all.

Second, don't try to go someone else's pace while running, unless you're going a little slower to help motivate or help someone run with you.  Even when trying to go a little faster than what your body is ready for makes the run not a fun experience.  Thanks so much Candy and Betsy (who ran the hippie with an 8:04 mile!!!) for teaching me this lesson.  I ran 9.5 miles two weeks before the Hippie Chick with them so they could push me (because they are fast girls!) and we ran it in at an 8:40 mile.  I did it, but whereas I usually loved my long runs and had so much fun with them, I was just pushing myself to keep up and it was hard, and not so fun on that run.   Although 8:40/mile is only 20 seconds faster than my 9 minute mile that I ran for the Hippie Chick, it made a world of difference that helped me enjoy the race and be smiling rather than frowning or feeling like punching someone at the end.  

I also realized this information is good for me in my life.  I shouldn't try to be someone I am not.  Just because I admire someone for waking up at 5 AM every morning to exercise, read scriptures, pray and write in their journal and be ready for when their kids wake up at 7, doesn't mean that will be best for me.  I wake up around 7, exercise while my kids are already awake, study scriptures during their naps, and blog to count that as my journaling.  This is what works best for me right now, and if I tried to force myself into doing it all before my kids woke up I would probably be grouchy and not happy about the flow of my life.  (Especially because I know I would become sleep deprived.)  But the point is, I know right now what is working for us, and it's good to try to change my life and become a better person in many ways, but it's also good to stay solid on where you know you have been successful, and not feel guilty about that success even if it is a little different than someone else's.  

But the biggest lesson I relearned is how awesome goals are, and how much I love reaching them.  To push myself, not too hard too fast, but where I'm still improving and feeling good, that's a great place to be, and I loved crossing that finish line knowing I had reached the goal I had been working on, and that I was still smiling, that was my favorite part!

Anyway enough with lots of words, and onto lots of pictures from our last few weeks.

Eric bought me tickets for Cirque de Soleil for my birthday clear back in January.  (He got them 50% off for those of you that know me.)    So May 11th came and off we went to the circus!  Yes, it was the night before the Hippie Chick race.  And Sunday was mother's day, it was an awesomely full and happy weekend!

 They wouldn't let us take pictures inside the tent,  so that's why all of our pictures are outside.  And the story they tried to act out was really lame about bugs, but at least not offensive.  However the tricks and feats were AMAZING!  And totally worth being there.

 My cute friend Brittany and her running group had these shirts made for the half and messed up on some and so gave one to me since they had extras.  It was too big for me however, and so I ended up just wearing my normal shirt during the race.  But Eric made it look so good, I had to post this picture.

 My sister Becca drew some amazing letters to my kids, that they have loved and cherished ever since.  She drew the Disney princesses for Avey, and some angry birds, a light saber and a Mario for Jack.  I should have laminated them straightaway knowing how much they would love them to death, but we have had lots of fun with them.  Thanks Becca!

                                      
My awesome Cantico choir had our concert a week ago Friday night.   It was such a fun night, and I'm so grateful to be able to sing with such a talented group of singers.

These were some of the shots taken by someone to put on our blog.  (Which translates into, someone might make me take them off my blog if they're copyrighted, I'm not sure, so take a good look while you can.) :)  

This was the one Eric took of me from the audience.

 Afterward we went to get dessert with our friends the Maxfield's, and the Xanthos'.  It was such a fun night, and I'm so glad to be getting to know great people here in Portland.

 We went to Voodoo donuts for family night this week.  The kids loved waiting in line, as did the people watching them I'm sure.  Sorry for Avey's immodesty, we're working on it. :)

 See, working on the modesty.

 We had a groupon for 4 random donuts, and they picked the best ones in the shop for us I think.  Mango filled, purple grape, a cake donut with sprinkles, and a normal one with red white and blue frosting drizzled on it, yummy yummy yummy.  (Although I hadn't recently run 10 miles, so I couldn't justify eating two or three just myself.  Good thing there were only four donuts, and four people to eat them.)