A Little Taste of Paradise

Last month we experienced a little bit of paradise over on the east coast. We have some really great friends here in our ward that are kind, generous, fun, friendly, etc. They have a great beach house at Emerald Isle, NC. It's a beautiful place and they have shared it much with so many people. They were so sweet to invite us to come out with them to "hang out". The great thing about this place is we stayed right on the beach but just about 1 mile away is the Sound where they have a boat. So we would spend the morning playing, running and enjoying the waves. In the afternoon we would go over and get in the boat and ride over to another town or just to a sand bar and get out and look for sea shells (which there were gazillions of them.) One day we just spent the time water skiing and then back over to the beach. Unfortunately I kept forgetting to take the camera with us on the boat. I'm proud to say that I was still able to waterski after all these years. The whole trip was just what I needed. The girls had a great time and they were so good that it made the trip that much more relaxing. The only downfall was that we were enjoying ourselves so much we weren't paying attention to the time so we ended up not even thinking about dinner until after 7pm. We are so grateful for these great friends - they probably don't know how much we really appreciate them.

Here's the view right off their deck.

Tim and the girls. We loved how warm the water was - even with it being a little cool outside.

The Pier! (Not like the piers I remember at Newport or Huntington.)

Maya and Olivia loving our friend's dog, Cocoa. Although McKenna calls him, "Toto."
Building sand schools? Only my girls would think of that. One of our Late Night dinners.
"Bicycle built for two."

The Guys!

I love this picture.

Maya, never misses the opportunity to pose!

McKenna really enjoying the vacation.

Getting the boards ready.

Tim

Alexa, first time on a boogy board.

"Carolina Charm" - the house we got to stay in.

Oh! Costco, How I Love Thee, Let Me Count The Ways. . .

1. Snacks to keep the baby busy and our tummies happy while shopping.



2. The Best Customer Service



3. Hot Dog and a Drink - $1.50



4. Gigantor Pizza for under $10



5. 2% Back on ALL my purchases



6. CHEAP Prescriptions



7. Huge containers of Sour Cream



8. AWESOME baby back ribs (well, after Tim cooks them.)



9. Inexpensive car and home insurance



10. Return ANYTHING at ANY TIME!



11. Muffins and orange juice in the morning.


12. The NiCeSt door greeter EVER! - well, at the Winston Salem, NC Costco.


13. The ability to buy a kayak and a watermelon all at the same time.

14. Rose for me and a giant cookie for McKenna just for walking in the door.

(This really did happen. I had to go shopping at Walmart so of course, I stopped to get the babe a cookie to keep her quiet while I shopped. BUT, I was told they have "discontinued" their free cookies at the bakery for the kids - a stinkin' sugar cookie, they couldn't hand out to keep kids happy. So, after listening to McKenna crying as we walked away from the counter - she has grown accustomed to that cookie - we quickly shopped and left. We headed to Costco where I was greeted by the hearing aid guy at the door who handed me this beautiful rose and then took a few more steps in where they had GIANT cookies waiting just for McKenna. I will always love you, Costco.

I'm ADDICTED to Blogging

I have such a hard time posting on my blog because when I sit down to do it, I spend all of my time reading everyone elses. I love getting ideas and being inspired by you all. Thanks for all of your examples.

I have to share one thing. I have written about a darling friend of mine, Chelsie. I have mentioned how great her blog is and how inspiring it is. She always writes about how she showed love to her husband or how he showed love to her that day. I thought, what a great idea. I want to focus on how I show love to Tim. The problem is that I end up just noticing what he does for me. I have discovered that I am quite a selfish person compared to how he treats me. So, I decided to share how Tim has shown love to me:

Tuesday night (while I hid in the office working on church stuff.):
1. Made dinner
2. Did the dishes
3. Cut up a whole watermelon (I hate cutting up watermelon.)
4. Brought the laundry down to the laundry room so I could start the laundry the next morning.

Wednesday night (while I was at church):
1. Put the kid's to bed
2. Cleaned the kitchen
3. Waited to eat dinner so we could eat together
4. Folded the laundry
5. Changed the laundry

Thursday night:
1. Ran to the store to buy choc. chips (just cause I told him I really wanted Choc. chip cookies.)
2. Made choc. chip cookie dough
3. Cleaned up after himself.

I think I'm a little spoiled, but don't tell him that.

Race for the Cure

So, I don't consider myself a "Runner". The first time I ever REALLY ran was after I had Maya. Tim and I decided to try Body for Life to lose all that wonderful baby fat. I was desperate and decided to start running at the age of 30. (Before I just walked.) I did the BFL regiment which is short interval sprints I guess is how you could describe it. I did that for a few years and then got pregnant with McKenna. This is how I know I'm not a runner - As soon as I started getting sick, tired, lazy, etc. I gave up on the exercise. As soon as I felt well enough to eat yummy foods, I did. Just didn't get back on the treadmill - EVER. Most "runner's" I know run all through their pregnancy as long as they can. Not me - I figure that for 9 months I'm going to gain weight so why not enjoy it. So 50 - 60 lbs. later, I have a baby and well, 50 or 60 lbs. So, again, after McKenna I got back on track and did BFL again.

I always thought about running a 5k or something but thought it was absolutely impossible. The most I had ever run was about 1 1/2 miles. I decided to give it a try and started seeing how far I could go. I realized that I just might be able to do it. So, I took the opportunity to run in the Race for the Cure. I figured, if I'm going to do it I might as well do it for a good cause.

I couldn't find anyone to run it with me. Tim came with me that morning and stayed while I ran. I had no idea what to expect. I was REALLY mad at myself because I was so nervous that I didn't eat ANYTHING all morning and the night before I just had a salad. The whole week before I had hurt my back exercising and so I didn't hardly run or do much of anything trying to heal before the race. I didn't even know how fast I would run or COULD run. I lined up with all these people and could tell they were serious runners. They all had their gear and did all these stretches. I stood there wondering, "what was I thinking." I tried to blend in but I think I really stood out like a sore thumb. Anyway, the race started and I realized at first that I was probably starting off too fast. The first mile was all up hill. I REALLY thought I wasn't going to make it if it was like this the whole way. It evened out pretty good after that. At first I just kept thinking, "I'm never doing this again. This is ridiculous, who does this? This isn't fun." Then after I hit the 2nd mile I thought, "Hey, this isn't so bad, I can actually do this, keep going, don't stop." I realized it was such a mental game. I finished the race and poor Tim wanted to get a picture of me crossing the finish line but right when I was crossing the line a woman with an umbrella came and stood right in front of him. He felt bad but I figure it was ok because I'm sure I wasn't a pretty sight at all. We found out my time and I did it in 30 min. 37 seconds. Just under 10 minute miles. Not bad for someone who didn't start running until she was 30. I have to start somewhere. I can't wait to do it next year.