I have Dashed and I have Conquered!

Ok, I know it's been a long time since my last post. And quite a bit has happened. But I'm going to focus on 2 things for now.

In June I ran the Warrior Dash with my brother, Matt. It's a 3 mile run with 8-12 obstacles(I think we had 10). My goal was to do my best, have fun and not kill myself. I finished that run in 50.47 minutes. I was beyond proud of myself. I climbed walls, walked planks suspended over muddy water, ran though hanging tires, crawled under barbed wire and leaped over fire. It was more fun than I expected and such a rush.

Matt and I before the run. Still clean and smelling nice =)

                                                           
                                                              Leaping over fire!

Yes, that is muddy water I'm sludging through while trying not to get caught on the barbed wire above my head.

My sister-in-law, Megan(Matt's wife), was kind enough to snap some photo's of us at the end. This is my finish.  

                             Me and Matt along with one of his buddies, Tanner. We rocked it!

                                     After the run. We're gross and we stink. But we had fun!


So, the very next day Matt talked me into signing up for a run called Conquer the Gauntlet. It's a brand new race put together by folks here in the great state of Oklahoma. The difference between the Dash and the Gauntlet is this...The Gauntlet is a 4 mile run with 30 obstacles. Sounded like a run only crazy people or those with something to prove would sign up for. But I was still on a high from the Dash so I paid my money and locked myself in for the run in August. I ran more in the heat of the day to prep my body for the hot August temps. It was rough and I was not enjoying myself. But I had a goal...To run the Gauntlet in 1 hour and 10 minutes. The day before the run I changed my goal. I just wanted to do my best and have fun. Matt is a faster runner than me so I picked out another chick and stayed with her. Matt ran on ahead as my new friend, Tracy, and I trudged through mud, climbed over cargo nets, tried to climb over some very high walls, attempted to cross monkey bars that were angled, crawled through tunnels that were nasty and about 3 obstacles that included barbed wire. But, I crossed that finish line with a time of 49.45 minutes. I bested myself =) And the weather was AWESOME! It even rained on us. I have bruised legs, sore muscles and a touch of poison ivy and I'm looking forward to next year. I might even run it twice.

                                                                    The before

                                                       Let's get this party started!!

                                      Running through the vat of mud heading for the finish line...

                                                             ....So glad to be done

                                      Our shoes. Believe it or not, mine washed up  pretty good.

                                                                       The after

After all was said and done, I'm proud of myself and looking forward to my next crazy run. What an adventure!

The Run

Last year I ran my first ever organized run. The 2011 St. Patty 5k. I ran with my brother, Andy. I had 2 goals last year. First, to run the entire 3.2 miles without stopping. Second, to do it in 30 minutes or less. Well, I scored on both goals. I ran the entire thing in 27.54. I was beyond proud of myself. So, when it came time to do the run this year I was all excited to beat my time from last year. I didn't take pics from last year so this is Andy and me before this years race...

I did my best. Really, I did. I ran my first mile in 9.2o minutes and my second mile was done in 9.02. However, it was at that point the 24 ounces of water I had consumed prior to the run decided to hit my bladder. I tried to make it to the end but after 4 kids it was not going to happen. And I was not about to wet me pants for the sake of making good time. So, at the 3rd business I located a bathroom and found relief =) I finished the race in 30.20 with a pee break.
If you look closely you can tell Andy is laughing at me for opting to take that pee break. He thinks I should have just kept going. HA! I am too much of a lady to do that. Which is why I will never run a marathon. Next year I will remember to find a restroom BEFORE the run starts. All in all I had a really great time and I'm looking forward to the next one. Warrior Dash 2012, here I come!!

HELLO??

So, it's been a few months. I have a hard time blogging if I feel like I have nothing to say :/ And that's where I am right now. The kids are in school and doing great. We had a fantastic Christmas with both side of the family. My nephew, Judah, had a scare with a form of bacterial meningitis over Christmas but was healed and home in 3 days, PTL! Now it's getting back to life and trying to focus on getting fit before my contract at my gym runs out in March. I won't be going back. Evan would be potty trained if he would just sit on the potty. He tells me when he pees and he goes to another room and closes the door when he needs to poop. I bought him undies for Christmas and he looks so cute in them. I'm hoping he gets the hang of this potty thing so I can stop buying diapers. Ethan will be 8 on the 24th. He turning into a responsible young man. I have to remind myself sometime that he's only 8 because he's so big and smart I treat him like he's 10. Our break was so good I'm now looking forward to the summer. It was nice having the kids home but I know they love school. They all have amazing teachers. So, in a nutshell , that's where we are. Nothing new...just life.

He's 2!!

My baby boy turns 2 today. And he is a mess! He's little for his age...still wears size 12 month shorts =) But makes up for it in attitude. He thinks he's big enough to do everything the big kids do and that sometimes gets him in trouble or hurt. He has a few sentences he says. My favorite, just because it's the funniest, is"Oh my gosh". He loves bugs. If a door is open he thinks it needs to be closed. He likes going for bike rides(he sits in a bike trailer), and walks. He's not afraid of much. He thinks he's too big for a sippy. He also thinks he's big enough to sit on the potty. He loves bath time, especially if he sneaks into the shower with Ethan. He loves dogs/cats. And best of all is that his siblings LOVE him! He has rocked my world these past 2 years. And sometimes it was not the best. But God knew what He was doing when he placed Evan in our lives. I don't know what I would do without him. He's super lovey and so stinkin cute! If he gets in trouble or I'm comforting him after he's gotten hurt he'll pat MY back. Just like I do to him. What else can I say except he's awesome =) Happy Birthday, Evan!!

Katie update

It's been a little more than a month and I feel like a slacker. But life happens and I haven't felt motivated AT ALL to be on here. So, here's the deal. Katie had tubes put in her ears and adenoids out. She did great! We went back after weeks for a check-up and repeat hearing test. Her ears looked good but she failed the hearing test big time. Just her right side. So, the ENT wanted to get a CAT scan to make sure they were

n't missing something. The scan came back clear. Answered prayer. Now we get on with life and go back sometime after the first of the year for a 6 month check-up and another hearing test. She has started school and is doing awesome! She loves going to school every day with her brothers and her teacher is fantastic. All that being said...enjoy soem pictures =)

Katie getting ready to go back for surgery

First day of school

tears because I told her I would not buy her a chocolate milk =)

Eating ice cream is a full body experience for this guy

The biggest dorks EVER!!

Lord give me strength!

This has been one crazy week. And my emotions have been all over the place. We'll start at the beginning. For about a year now Katie has acted more and more like she can't hear us at times. She'll look at you like you're crazy and what you just said is the dumbest thing ever. She hasn't had any problems with her ears that the docs could see. She'll say her ear(the left one) is hurting and because she's cranky I'll give her some Tylenol and then all is better. Well, a few weeks ago she said her ear hurt. Always the left one. And this was the first day of the Summer Fun Club at our church. I gave her some Tylenol and off she went(all 4 went, hehe). I picked her up at 2:30 and her teacher said she had been complaining about her ear a little. We get home and she lays herself down for another nap. I notice some junk in her ear and think she has an ear infection. We make an appt. with a new dr. The diagnosis? A ruptured ear drum! So, we decide to see an ENT. That appt was Monday. The dr. was super nice and explained everything really well. Katie had her first REAL hearing test. The results? Fluid on her left and profound to complete hearing loss on her right! I almost cried. Not because I was afraid of what that meant but because I felt completely overwhelmed. With the combination of her hearing test and the fact that she had fluid in one the dr. suggested tubes in and her adenoid out. We'll do that next Thursday. No big deal. After things have time to settle down and the fluid in her ear is gone we'll go back for a repeat hearing test. Nothing is certain until it's been confirmed. And, right now, nothing has been confirmed except the fluid. So...Yesterday we decide to take a little overnight family get-away to a state park about a hour from the house. All was going great and we were having so much fun until the lights went out and the kids went to sleep. Evan sounded like he was having such a hard time breathing. He slept with me most of the night and I didn't sleep much. His breathing got better thru the morning but I noticed it was getting worse after we got home. He was running a temp of 102 and just having a really hard time catching his breath. So, we went back to the dr. After a breathing treatment, a chest x-ray and a steroid shot we leave for home. My poor baby has croup. Watching him breath these past 24 hours has been one of the hardest things I've had to do. Knowing I couldn't fix it was such a bad feeling. The meds have started to kick in and he's breathing and sleeping better than he was last night.

Next week will come with it's own set of adventures but right now I'm praying the adventures for this week are over.

Holy Cow!! Things have been busy!

I feel like I've been so out of touch with my blogging. Much has happened since Katie turned 4.

• school ended
• Knox Family Reunion at Fin and Feather(pics to come later)
• VBS
• Summer Fun Club at our church(every Tue/Thur from 9:30-2:30 for 6 weeks)
• Aaron and I put rails around our back patio and our front porch(pics to come later)
• Levi turned 6

Along with all that we make a weekly run to the splash pad with friends and have play dates. Fit in family time on the weekends and try to recover from the past 5 days. We wanted to take some short trips this summer but it looks like we'll only fit in one. Kinda sad about that. But for the most part the summer has been good. The kids aren't going crazy yet and neither am I. I hope you are having a great summer as well. And now...A picture of my crew =)