Busy...

Time has been flying by again and I haven't had a chance to blog. Now that all my kids are in school I should have all this free time, right? Not so far. This has been a crazy first week of school and I think next week will be just as busy. There is always so much to do and only so little time. I do spread myself a little thin but I try to make sure my family is taken care of first and foremost. I have been trying to remove the clutter from our house to help make it easier to clean and keep clean but after living in this home for over 7 years we have managed to collect quite a bit. What do I do with my time? Here's an example of what my day is like:
6:15 am Wake up for family prayer and scripture study
6:30 am Make breakfast and pack lunches for girls while encouraging them to get dressed, take their vitamins/meds, brush hair, put on shoes, get their backpacks, brush teeth, etc.
7:00 am Send two oldest kids to the bus stop
7:15 am Get myself ready to walk two youngest kids to school
7:30 am Walk girls to school and then run 3-5 miles depending on the day and how much time I have.
8:00 am - 2: 45pm Here's where I have to try to accomplish as much as I can, such as: exercise (I run, cycle, lift weights, yoga and am currently learning how to play tennis), clean house (dishes, laundry, vacuum, scrub, wipe, organize, mow & weed), pay bills, buy groceries and other necessities, car repair and maintenance, doctor and dentist visits, visiting teaching appointments, blog, my church calling, cut coupons, shower & get dressed, eat lunch, prepare for dinner, work on house projects (currently I am refinishing a dresser and painting our shed)...
2:45 pm Walk to school to get youngest kids or pick them up on way home if out running errands
3:00-5:00 pm Help kids with homework and getting prepared for school the next day
5:00-6:00 pm Make dinner
6:00-8:00 pm Eat dinner and clean up afterward, get girls to brush teeth and go to bed after picking out clothes and shoes, visit with husband after he gets home from a long day at work
8:00-11:00 pm Work on any projects not finished earlier in day... depending on the day I have basketball, my daughters have church activities, PTO meetings, BYU Alumni meetings & Church calling meetings as well.
11:00 Get ready for bed and hopefully get to sleep by midnight. I love to read so sometimes I am tempted to stay up late to read a delicious book but I know I will have to pay for that the next day so I try to be careful.
I'm sure I've left things out as this was just a quick example of all the things that I do. Life as a mom is very rewarding but a lot of hard work too. I'm often amazed that my mom did it with 8 kids. I am busy, but it's worth it. I love my life and my family. I thank my Father in Heaven for the opportunities to serve Him and for all the blessings he has given me. If only he would give me the blessing of being able to slow down time just a little bit. Just until my girls are grown. :)

Super Heroes

Girls Camp is coming up soon. I'm helping out as the High Adventure leader. I love Girls Camp and camping in general. I enjoy roughing it in the great outdoors because it helps remind me how good I have it the rest of the time. I also really appreciate the beautiful world that God created and camping gives me a wonderful opportunity to do so up close and personal.
The theme for camp this year is Super Heroes. Each of the leaders has to come up with a superhero identity. Wonder Woman was my first thought- she was my favorite super hero while growing up. I loved her invisible plane and lasso of truth! It was taken already, so I had to keep looking. I think I'm going to go with the Pink Panther. I like it for a few reasons: 1. Pink is my signature color. 2. I like to run- panthers are symbols of quick runners. 3. The Pink Panther is humorous and I love to laugh. 4. The Pink Panther is stylish & adventurous and so am I, if I do say so myself.
I went out hiking last week with a group of the camp leaders at the park where we will have camp this year to get to know the lay of the land. It was so nice to get together with these ladies and talk while we walked over rocks and roots. These ladies ARE superheroes to me. They are great examples of righteous women who let their light shine and serve the Lord without complaint. I can't wait for camp- it promises lots of fun for the Pink Panther and her cohorts.

Race for the Cure

This is my second time running in the Komen Race for the Cure for breast cancer research. My friend Emily and I joined thousands of other runners at Meredith College in Raleigh. It was a beautiful but hot and humid morning. We had a great time and loved all the goodies for runners afterwards! We decided to do it again next year. Want to join us? Let me know- the more the merrier!

5k Success!

The Lengthen Your Stride 5K was a success! We had beautiful weather for our first run and over 1,000 people participated! We collected over $2,000 and 5,550 lbs. of food for the NC Food Bank. We donated over 300 bags & boxes of clothes to North Raleigh Ministries and 50 boxes of clothes to LifeCare Pregnancy center. We also have 2 XL bags of long sleeve shirts for migrant farm workers to help protect them from pesticides and we gathered 2 boxes of used grocery bags for a local elementary school fundraiser.

All that hard work paid off and I'm so excited that we will do it again next year!

Public Affairs

I recently joined the North America Southeast area public affairs team for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Someone asked me what that meant and why it was needed. I read this article today that I think answers that question very well. Click here to read what Elder L. Tom Perry said last week at Women's Week at BYU.

The September Issue documentary at Full Frame

This weekend I got to go to the Full Frame Film Festival in Durham and saw the documentary, The September Issue. Here's a synopsis:

Anna Wintour, the legendary editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine for twenty years, is the most powerful and polarizing figure in fashion. Hidden behind her trademark bob and sunglasses, she has never allowed anyone to scrutinize the inner workings of her magazine. Until now. With unprecedented access, filmmaker R.J. Cutler’s new film The September Issue does for fashion what he did for politics in The War Room, taking the viewer inside a world they only think they know. Every August a record-breaking number of people can’t wait to get their hands on the September issue of Vogue. The 2007 issue was and remains the biggest ever, weighing over four pounds, selling thirteen million copies, and impacting the $300-billion global fashion industry more than any other single publication. At the eye of this annual fashion hurricane is the two-decade relationship between Wintour and Grace Coddington, incomparable Creative Director and fashion genius. Through them, we see close-up the delicate creative chemistry it takes to remain at the top of the ever-changing fashion field.

I loved the film. Having worked at a magazine over a decade ago, I loved that some of the magazine industry hasn't changed much. Technology has made a difference though and that was great to see too. I also thoroughly enjoy fashion, so of course, I thought it was great. I LOVED the interaction between Grace and Anna. I think Grace was such a star in the film. Grace was there at the viewing and it was wonderful to see her reaction to the film too. Really a fun night. I got to go with my good friend Israel who used to work at the festival. We went to dinner first with some of his friends and had a great intellectual conversation (which I rarely get to have as a full-time mom). I look forward to going again next year!

2 Halves make a Whole

My best friend Megan and I ran in the DC half marathon last weekend. Add our miles together and we have a whole marathon! We had a blast. Last year we did the Richmond 10K together. We are making running together an annual event and are going to invite more friends to join us. Interested in coming along next year? Let me know!

It was so cold and dark when we started. Only 27 degrees and there were people in shorts and tank tops! We coudn't even feel our noses for a while. It got better when the sun came up. I wasn't feeling my best and told Megan to go ahead- I was going to walk some. We've had a lot of snow and cold rain in NC in Jan & Feb so I hadn't been able to train like I should have. I added a half hour onto my last half marathon time but I don't mind. I still finished all 13.1 miles. As someone said to me along the course, "They give out the same medal to the 6th place as they do to the last place." I agreed. No more March races for me though. I'll stick to late April or May, thank you very much.

Running Playlist

I love music. It speaks to me - always has. I sing along with the radio and dance in the kitchen with my kids when a good song is playing. Running is so much more fun when I have a good song in my headphones keeping rhythm with my steps. Here are some of my favorites. I hope they inspire you to get moving too!

Goody Two Shoes Adam Ant
Are You Gonna Be My Girl JET
SOS Rihanna
Start the Commotion The Wiseguys
Runnin' Down a Dream Tom Petty
Beautiful Day U2
Girls Just Want to Have Fun Cyndi Lauper
Jump, Jive an' Wail The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Get the Party Started P!nk
Rock This Town Stray Cats Stray
Queen of Hearts Juice Newton Juice
Popular Kristen Chenoweth Wicked (Original Broadway Cast Recording) Soundtrack
Take On Me a-ha
Viva la Vida Coldplay
Call On Me (Radio Edit) Eric Prydz
Come on Eileen Dexy's Midnight Runners
Walking On Sunshine Katrina & The Waves
Mickey Toni Basil
I Melt With You Modern English
The Safety Dance Men Without Hats
Tubthumping Chumbawamba
Keeps Gettin' Better Christina Aguilera
Shake It Metro Station
Under Pressure David Bowie & Queen
Now that We Found Love Heavy D
Move Your Feet Junior Senior
Sweet Escape Gwen Stefani
Groove is in the Heart Deee-Lite
Hot Mama Trace Adkins
Take a Chance on Me Erasure
Whip It Devo
Here it Goes Again OK GO
Unwritten Natasha Beddingfield

Lengthen Your Stride

I am organizing a 5K for the Raleigh NC Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as part of our Day of Service on April 25, 2008. You really should check it out here. It is a food drive to benefit the NC Central Food Bank. I'm really excited about it and am glad to be involved in such a great community event. It is another reason though, to explains my lack of posts lately. It has kept me very busy!

This Day of Service is being organized by the North America Southeast Area (NASE) of the LDS Church (it covers 10 states). You can check out what other areas are doing here. Each stake is encouraged to have a day of service to benefit their community. The LDS Church is well known for helping out in disasters and now members are being challenged to serve their neighbors in times other than emergencies.

I have also been assigned to work with the Public Affairs team of the NASE. I wrote my first press release this week. I haven't written for a newspaper in years. It was just the kick in the pants I needed to get back to writing. I have another press release in the works for this week and a newsletter for next week. They are keeping me busy. I'm flying to Orlando in March to teach a class on interviewing and writing press releases at a Public Affairs training conference with the rest of the NASE team. When they were telling me about the conference, I asked if I would be attending (I wanted to attend the classes) and the answer was "Yes, and this is the class you are TEACHING..." I laughed out loud thinking it was a joke at first but then as the Director of Public Affairs for NASE kept going on about the class I realized it wasn't! I'm lenghtening my stride and am amazed at all that I can accomplish with the Lord's help.

I'm a Minivan Momma but I Don't Like It!

I drive a minivan- well not this week- but that's getting ahead of myself. I don't like minivans. They just aren't my style but for several reasons it is the vehicle I'm forced to use.

Want to know why?

1. My husband is 6'9" - without shoes on. He doesn't fit in a lot of vehicles. We had a Honda Civic once upon a time (we were poor college students) and my husband's knees hugged the steering wheel and we kept having to jump start the battery because he would accidently turn on the headlights with his knees and not know it! He does fit in many minivans though.

2. I have four daughters. I have to have a car that will fit 6 comfortably.

3. Due to my husband's height and mine (I'm only 5'11") our twelve year old is over 5'8" already. We don't have small girls for their age and they are only going to get taller. I looked at some of the non-minivan vehicles with third row seats but none would fit our tall family for long.

4. I'm frugal. If you've read my penny pinching post, you already know that. I need a vehicle that gets good gas mileage and that isn't too expensive. I don't need a big car payment!

That's what brings me back to the real topic of this post. I had a minivan that was paid for... and I got in a fender-bender. Because of the age & mileage of my minivan, the repair value was more than 75% of the value of the minivan so the insurance decided not to repair but to give me the value of the vehicle instead. That meant I had to go car shopping! I hate car shopping because it only reminds me of #1-4 above!

Due to lack of competent communication from our insurance company, we thought we had the rental car for 30 days. That's only the car was being repaired, but since it was being totaled I had 5! I didn't know that before I decided to buy the MINIVAN that had to be shipped from Alabama (It was worth it- it has only 8K miles and was a fabulous price). My rental was returned and now I'm driving my husband's rust bucket.

When I say it's a rust bucket, I'm being all too serious and maybe a bit too kind.

-It is rusting away in several places, most noticeably on the rear passenger doorways near the back tires (I'm guessing due to salted roads where this car must have been driven and never washed).

-The driver side doorway handle broke. I have to open the door by reaching across from the passenger side or by reaching from the rear door (by all the rust).

-The lights on the dash work intermittently...when it's dark I can see outside the car because the headlights work but I can't always see inside the car, like how fast I'm going. I figured out how to turn them on inside yesterday though- if I flash my high beams the interior lights turn on for a while only to turn back off at some point so I am sure to blind someone as I try to see how fast I'm going.

-The gas gauge doesn't work. We know how much gas is in the car by resetting the trip odometer every time we fill up and use mileage to guess how long we can go before running out. -The rear windshield is not really attached anymore. The plastic brackets that once held it in place are broken and have quit doing their job.

-The dome light on the interior of the vehicle doesn't work when you open the car door. So that means at night I have to manually turn on the light (and hope it works because it doesn't always)so I can see where the ignition is so I can start the car and then manually turn it off before I go anywhere.

-It only seats 5. So we had to have our oldest sit in the hatchback/trunk area so we could all go to church this past Sunday. Good thing it is a very short drive to church! Hey- remember sitting in the back of a pickup truck? This wasn't much different. It's not something I'm proud of, but at least we went to church.

The good news is that the engine is fine. It stops and starts fine. It gets me where I need to go this week. I got an email that the minivan should be here this week (right before we are headed out of town so it will get a good test drive). The picture at the top is of the "new" minivan I will be using for the next several years. I made my husband promise me though that this is the last minivan I have to buy.

Biopsy Should Be a Four Letter Word!

It's been a while since I've posted anything and thought I should explain why. My life has always been a roller coaster but lately the ride has gotten a little wild!

Last month when I was at church I noticed my neck was hurting and thought a headache was coming on so I took some Excedrin and went back to class. The pain didn't improve and by the time church was over I was miserable (I'm really glad I stayed at church though because the Relief Society lesson was awesome and I got to sit with my best friend Megan who was visiting from Virginia). I had a huge knot in my shoulder and my neck was pulsing with pain. I took Aleve, Tylenol & Advil (rotating each every few hours) but it still hurt so bad I was in tears.

The next day I went to the Dr. and the diagnosis was that I had wrenched my shoulder and I was given a muscle relaxer- even though I told the Dr. that my neck hurt when I swallowed. Three days later my shoulder was great but my neck was worse. After I was brushed my teeth on Wednesday night I swallowed in front of the mirror and gasped at the lump I saw on my neck. The next day I saw the Dr. again and was sent for an ultrasound. It was a cyst of some kind on my thyroid and I had to have a biopsy the next day.

The Ear, Nose & Throat surgeon did the biopsy and said for me to call with the results on Tuesday evening. Those days waiting to find out if I had cancer were pretty stressful. I let my family know and asked for prayers. By this time the Dr. had prescribed some antibiotics because I had a fever too. The antibiotics worked and by Monday I was no longer on 800 mg. of ibuprofen. It snowed Tuesday and Wednesday and I didn't find out the results of my biopsy until a week after I had it done. It was benign! I was so grateful and know that prayers were heard. At my two week follow-up the Dr. was amazed at how small the biopsy had shrunk compared to how large it was previously.

I was relieved and told I have to keep an eye on it and have biannual ultrasounds. I thanked the Lord and was ready to move on. Then this Friday I got ANOTHER LUMP on my thyroid! I was having the same symptoms but the lump was on the other side of my thyroid. I called the ENT dr. and got antibiotics again. Sure enough, I felt better a day later this time because it didn't have as much time for the infection to spread. I don't know what is going on with my thyroid and am going to keep a close eye on it but am grateful for now that I don't have cancer and I don't have to have surgery!

Basketball Babes

I've been blessed to serve as the Coach of our Young Women's basketball team this year. We have a great group of girls. This is a photo of just a few of them - those that played this last Saturday. I want to share about what happened at our last game. #3 is Nikita. She has cerebal palsy and is a wonderful girl that I am blessed to know. Basketball is not an easy sport for many and is even harder when you have special physical differences. Nikita got out there and played hard. She tried her best and kept a good attitude.

The referees were great and let her start over again when she travelled. They brought tears to my eyes though when they called a "technical" foul at the end of the game and let her shoot free throws a few feet in front of the free throw line. There was no reason for the technical foul- they wanted to give her a chance to shoot without anyone on her. Both referees agreed to do it and explained to the other team's coach and it was great. No, Nikita didn't make the shots, but as you can tell from her smile in the photo- she loved it.

It was a great game and I'm proud of all the girls. They played hard. When Nikita was on the court it was harder for them and they could have won if Nikita hadn't played, but that wasn't the point. They are a team and worked together. I told the girls that ten years from now they won't remember if they won or lost the games but they would remember that Nikita got to take a shot.

Who Is Jesus Christ to you?

I was watching this video clip of Rachel Esplin, a student at Harvard, who was on a religious panel and talked about her LDS beliefs. She did a great job of articulating her religion and I recommend everyone watch it at http://vimeo.com/2120177. The panel director asked Rachel, "Who is Jesus Christ to you?" I watched Rachel answer but couldn't help answering for myself as well. I wanted to blog right away because I feel so much love for my Savior that I started to get teary eyed!

Jesus Christ is my Savior, my friend. He guides me and helps me on a daily basis. He strengthens me when I am weak and lifts me up when I am down. I feel his love when I pray. I know that he knows ME and loves me and wants me to succeed. He has shown me the path to follow so that I might return to my Father in Heaven one day. My joy in life has come from following that path. I talk to God through my brother, Jesus Christ. He is my lifeline. I am so grateful for the atonement and all that Jesus went through for me. I am so blessed to know Him, how could I not cry when asked "Who is Jesus Christ to you?"