New Years

Yeah, I know I'm a little late with my New Years post. Truth be told, I wasn't really looking forward to doing the New Years resolution thing. The last few months have been beyond difficult for me, and I think this upcoming year will follow that same pattern. Brody and I separated in November. It has been a very emotional and hard time. I moved back home to Houston, enrolled in college, and started thinking about changing many plans I had for my family’s future. This year my goals are based around that.

One of my goals has to do with school. It has been over 8 years since I was in college. I hope to be able to do well in my classes and obtain the knowledge I need to be successful. I am planning on getting a teaching degree. I feel like it is something I would be good at, and the fact that I will have the same holidays and summer off with my children is very important to me. I adore my children and want to be with them as much as possible if I'm a working parent.

One of my other goals is to be positive and strong. I have surprised myself with how strong I have been while going through this, and throughout my marriage and life. I realize my knowledge and testimony of the gospel has helped me more than anything. I don't think I would have gotten through this, and am going to get through these hard times without understanding my self worth and divine nature. I really do know that I am a daughter of God and that my worth is great, and that he loves me and wants me to be happy in this life. I have recently gotten answers to many prayers and felt comfort from my Savior more then ever before in my life. I know I am going to go though more hard and emotional times and will have to make some tough decisions, but I hope to be positive and happy about the choices I will make.

I also have a few other things I want to be working on throughout this year. I want to be more friendly, and I want to be a better listener. There are even a few more spiritual and physical goals I have, but that pretty much maxes me out. I hope all is well with friends and family and your year is full of happiness and joy.

I did it!

I did it! I ran a marathon. I still don't know why, because it was torture. It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, and yes I have given birth to two children, but with an epidural that is a piece of cake. I thought I was going to die when I got to mile 22. I literally hit a wall. I could not run anymore. I felt like I was going to throw up and pass out, and my legs would not let me run anymore. I hadn’t done any long runs for the last 1 ½ months, and my body was not prepared, but I still finished. I walked about the last 4 miles. I ended up finishing in 3 hours 48 minutes, which is 8:45 mile pace.

My oldest brother, Steve is a marathon runner, and he convinced 10 members of my family to run this marathon/half marathon with him. Those who did not run cheered us on. We had 47 people in my family here for the event, so we had quite a support group.

And because everything is bigger in Texas, instead of getting a plaque or a simple metal to hang around your neck we got a metal shaped like Texas, 1/2 inch thick, and weighing over 3 lbs. I could eat Thanksgiving dinner off this sucker, because it’s so big. It is a little ridiculous and nearly impossible to wear around your neck without falling over, but that’s how people do things in Texas.

Will I run another marathon?....hum right now I don’t know. I still remember how torturous it was, but with time life has a funny way of making you forget how dreadful things were sometimes. If I were to do it again I would try to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I was only a few minutes away from qualifying, and that was with walking the last 4 miles and not being totally prepared, so I am slightly, very slightly considering running the St. George Marathon in October to get my qualification time and then running the Boston Marathon next year. Again, there is a very slight chance of that happening, because this year is going to be full of all kinds of changes which might make that hard to accomplish, but I guess only time will tell.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Okay, so maybe it doesn't look like the Christmas you are used to seeing with children playing in snow. Winter in the south is a little different. Instead of playing in the snow we enjoy the 70-80 degree weather. According to the calendar today is the first day of winter, and here in Houston it was 80 degrees with lots of sunshine. The boys and I have been enjoying the Christmas season by going to Christmas plays, Christmas festivals, the zoo, parks, going to friends and cousins houses, riding on trains, carousals, horse carriages, all while eating popsicles instead of icicles. Houston does sometimes get Arctic cold fronts that cool us down during the winter season, but right now we are enjoying the comfortable weather.

Sugar Cookies

I think this is the best sugar cookie recipe. They are always soft and taste delicious. I don't really like cut out cookies. I would have just made them, because we like to decorate them for Christmas, but these cookies are good enough to eat too.

Cookie
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Frosting
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 cup powder sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Refrigerate at least 3 hours then work the dough, add flour, roll and cut out
Bake 375 for about 6-8 mins