Keeping it up!

BELLY!

(day 2)

My belly after doing the elliptical this morning.  

 

I'm keeping it up. :) I got dressed and then got busy taking care of kids. So, I started putting it off until Jason made me go downstairs and get it done. I love when he helps me keep my goals. It was much easier to do my 30 min this morning than the other day. My body just needed a rest after all the craziness of those days.

Tomorrow's another day of 30 min. Go me! :)

The Elliptical....my friend...

After baking Butte Pasties, 4 pies (2 pecan brownie, 1 apple, and 1 lemon), sugar cookies, ginger cookies, Pioneer Woman's potatoes, PW's green beans, frying a turkey, cooking ham, making stuffing from scratch (first time ever), and making Watergate salad, I was DONE! (All of the wonderful food was SOOO healthy. LOL!) I made all that in 3 days and BOY did I feel it. I was having Braxton Hicks (at least I think that's what they were) like crazy. Not a good thing....

Jason's family left on Monday which meant I had the house back and the junk food was gone. I weighed myself the day before they left and I was 223. Yeah, not so great considering 4 days before I was 217. Too much junk and not enough healthy stuff makes Cathy gain weight (non baby weight). I can only use the pregnancy excuse so much, ya know. So, when I woke up Monday morning I got dressed and did the elliptical for 30 minutes. Sure, 30 minutes isn't that much, but after standing for 3 days straight cooking my butt off I couldn't do much more.

(Day 1)
Belly and all, I felt MUCH better after doing those 30 minutes. I need to keep it up until the baby comes. I need to be healthy when it comes time to deliver, cause Heaven knows, with Annabelle when I was 235, unhealthy, and trying to deliver, it wasn't the easiest thing. But, when I was 215 and in shape with Caleb, it was a cake walk.

So, here's to starting my New Years resolution a couple days early.  
Do the elliptical every day. 30 min or more.

First Race Post Baby

So, I'm thinking about signing up for my 1st race post baby.... 

It's on April 16th which is 9 weeks after she comes so, I should have more than enough time to recover, I think. I need to make my mind up before the year is over and the price goes up. It'll be a great race to start off with cause there's SOO many people there and it feels awesome to run with a TON of people cheering you on. Yeah, I think I'll do it....

Jason and I watched Fighter last night and watching him train made me miss running. I miss putting it all out there and the joy you get after. Running is so great.... :)

32 weeks and 7 years...`

Well, here I am, 32 weeks along and as big as a house. I'd post a full length picture of myself on here, but it's too embarrassing to post it on a running blog. If you want to see you can look at this post on my other blog. lol

I have to post more flattering pictures on here. I can't have huge pictures of myself on a running blog, right? lol 

You know it's bad when the nurse weighs you and says "Whoa! That's a big jump from 2 weeks ago." Yeah, I'm not offended, it takes a LOT to offend me. First, I weighed this morning and I was 5 lbs less. Second, I'm sure jeans, a coat, shoes, a phone, and other clothes add to the weight. Third, I've been craving sweets like crazy. And fourth...I plan on losing the weight once the baby comes.  I'm not going to stress myself over a couple little pounds of water weight. 

The baby's doing great, measuring big, heart rate is strong. Only 7 weeks and a couple days to go!

I have bigger things to be happy about today....Jason and I are celebrating our 7th year anniversary! I am so blessed to be with such a wonderful man. I think I've got him convinced to run a half marathon sometime in his life with me. Hahaha! He's so awesome. I have such a great life. :)

30 weeks

Here I am, 30 weeks...

It's not the most flattering picture, but we went on a walk this afternoon and I thought it was time for an updated picture. :)

I'm feeling great. No pains or anything. During my last pregnancy I had the worst groin pain. It hurt so bad that I couldn't even lift my legs to put my pants on. This time though....no pains. Nothing at all. It's really nice to be able to enjoy this pregnancy without hurting. I really owe it to running. Seriously, without running I wouldn't be able to carry this baby as easy as I have been.

I do need to get out and exercise more though. It's tough with the weather and the kids, but I get out and walk when I can. I know when the baby comes it'll be easier.

Oh well, I'm doing well. The baby's doing well. Less than 10 weeks to go!

All those running, run a couple of those miles for me. :)

I wish....

This week is one of those weeks where I wish I could get out and run.

I want to run until I can't run anymore. I wish I could run just to clear my mind and leave it all out on the road.

Only a few more months and I can run all I want....

Until then, I will keep enjoying the baby growing inside and her little kicks.

Dead and Alive

Well, here I am.... 28 weeks.

I'm still alive. Our little girl, Rosalie, is growing strong and kicking constantly. My belly's getting bigger and I've been getting what exercise I can, when I can. Remember how I was freaking out that I was measuring small? Well, at my last appointment I'm measuring big. I'm just glad to know that she's growing strong. That's what matters.

The poor laptop is still in the shop (big reason I've been MIA) and my elliptical died the day I took that picture. It's like all the forces around me are making it impossible for me to exercise while I'm pregnant this time around. I just need to make it a priority to move.

The snow's been coming down the past couple of days and I really miss running in the fresh fallen snow early in the morning before anyone else. It was such a peaceful thing. Next year... I can't wait to start running again. It's going to be so great. :) I have a couple of races planned already. It's going to be a FUN running year.

I'm hoping to be able to post more soon, if the laptop is fixed when it's supposed to I'll post more often and show you a new review from CSN stores. You know them, they have everything from tv tables to cooking tools. They're the perfect place to shop for the holidays!

I hope everyone out there is having fun running. Run a few miles for me!!!

Keepin' it up...

I've been keeping up my walking, for the most part. But, since I can't get out there and run I've been doing other things to keep myself busy, like carving pumpkins....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend. I'm planning on wearing my garmin to see how far we go tomorrow night trick-or-treating. 

A little MIA...

I know I posted a couple days ago, but I feel like I've been MIA.

Let me show you why....

I was sitting on the floor watching a movie with the family when my little nephew (3yrs old) tripped over me and his little knee fell right into my poor laptop. The stinkin' thing's in the shop until November 11th. Let's hope they can fix it by then because Heaven knows I'm going to get tired of posting on my iPhone when Jason's out of town. lol! Good thing he's home this week so I can use his work computer. :)

Oooh, check out what we woke up to this morning....

Pretty, huh? I wish I could have gone running in it. I had to settle for a 1 mile walk...better than nothing, right? It was so awesome last year when I would get up and run through the snow early in the mornings. It was so peaceful. Next year I'll get to enjoy it...next year. :)

Ok, I'm off to do 40min on the elliptical. Fun, fun...

Check it out....

I did a guest post over at Joggin' Momma.

Check it out and give her some love!!

I have a new favorite shirt!!!

IT CAME, IT CAME!! Today my awesome Support your Girls shirt and Juno bra came! The shirt is the perfect size and length. I LOVE IT! I haven't really tested out the bra yet, but it fits good. :)

Exciting!!!

Being healthy

I love when I decide to be healthy. Actually...sometimes I love it, but other times I don't. Let me explain...

I love food. I really do. I'm not the type that could do any of those "no carbs", "no sugars", "no everything" diets. I love food too much for that. Jason and I love to make new things. Yummy things...things filled with cream and sugar and butter.  Our favorite meal is Pioneer woman's Burger with her fancy Mac and Cheese. At times when that craving hits for a nice juicy burger and mac and cheese, that's when eating healthy sucks cause you feel so guilty for eating something so "unhealthy".

But, I also love eating the fresh stuff. I could eat a BIG salad for dinner any day. When Jason's ma was here I made a salad for lunch and asked her if she wanted one too. She said she did so I went ahead and made one. I don't think she realized what size my salads were. She ended up only eating half of it cause it was so big. The thing I thought was really funny was one night she made a salad for dinner (there was 7 of us eating) and the salad was 1/3 the size of one of my salads. Haha!

Now, don't get me wrong...my salads aren't just lettuce and tomato. I put all the fixin's in it. A serving of meat, a little cheese, a bread of some sort, nuts, all the different kinds of veggies I have in the fridge. It's big, but not so big that one (or two) servings of dressing can't cover it.

Anyway...the whole point of this is, my house right now is all about apples. I've made applesauce (made with straight apples and 100% apple juice), apple crisp (twice), apple pie, and soon I'm going to can a ton of apple pie filling. Today after our 2 mile walk I had to go pick up my big bro's SoJo Half Marathon shirt at Chick-fil-a. I love a good Chick-fil-a sandwich with fries and a diet Dr. Pepper. After getting Aaron's shirt I got a meal for me and chicken nuggets for the kids. I ate the sandwich and went for the fries... Well, rather than eat the fries (dipped in buffalo sauce...mmmmmm!), I gave them to the kids. I felt good for making the choice not to eat the fries. I mean, I just did 2 miles and 30 minutes on the elliptical and I'm sure 1/2 of the fries would have made my workout pointless. But, what made me even happier was when got home and the kids wanted to eat apples. All 3 of them ate a WHOLE apple. Caleb seriously ate the whole thing except the stem and 3 seeds. I love that my kids love fruits and vegetables. It makes me feel like a good mom, even when I pawn off my fries on them. :)

Today's workout was good. I didn't feel like doing the elliptical, but I got up and did it anyway. Right after I was done we went and did 2 miles around the lake. I felt a little round ligament pain, but nothing to really worry about, it stretched out after the first mile.

Sometimes I feel like such a sissy for just walking, trotting, and doing the elliptical. There are other women out there like Hayley and Dorothy who run (like seriously RUN) through their pregnancies at a great pace (faster than me even when I wasn't pregnant!) all the way up to the end. But, I have to remind myself, that what I'm doing is better than nothing and all my effort will benefit me and "little miss" in the end.

Here's to being healthy and making the right choices!! :)

Well, that made my day....

I had to get up at 6 this morning, wake up all the kids, and get Jason to work. Today was one of those days where "little miss" (we still haven't figured out a name for her yet) wanted to take all my energy to grow and leave me with very little to chase the other 3 kids with, let alone do the elliptical or go 2 miles. So, needless to say I was feeling really drained. I took a nap during nap/quiet time and procrastinated the elliptical until the very last minute before the kids quiet time was up. I talked to my mom online, tried to take pictures of my belly, stared at the food in the fridge, checked blogs, tried to find a shirt and bra that actually fit, I ate a couple chocolates (lol!) and finally went down stairs and got my 30 minutes in.

I'm glad I did it. It gave me the energy I needed to chase after & clean up little Annabelle after she threw up all over the living room floor. It also helped me have patience with the other 2 who decided they'd totally trash their room "just because". I love how exercise can do that. As much as I didn't want to do it with the little energy I had, I got it done and I'm a better momma because of it.

......but, do you want to know what REALLY made my day?

I'm a fan of them on Facebook (go be their fan and enter the giveaway too) and they've been doing weekly giveaways to support breast cancer. They've been giving away a Support Your Girls shirt and a Moving Comfort sports bra each week. I've entered the giveaway for past couple weeks, hoping I'd win, because my girls are growing and my poor cheap little sports bras aren't doing much to support them anymore. I've heard GREAT things about Moving Comfort and have been eyeballing their bras forever, so today after I did the elliptical I came upstairs, cleaned up throw up, checked Facebook, and saw that there was a message waiting for me saying I had won. You have no idea how excited I was to see that!!! Momma's getting a new bra, plus an awesome shirt!!

So, now I'm off to do 2 miles around the lake with the kids...I'll be imagining the whole time what it's like to wear a spots bra that fits and supports my girls. I can't wait for it to come!

Pictures from todays 2 mile walk. We did good! :)

Go! Join them on FB and enter the giveaways!!!

keeping it up.

I did 40 minutes on the elliptical and 1 mile around the school while the kids played. It was another beautiful fall day. I am LOVING this weather.

A couple days ago we went to a local farm and got a bunch of apples. I LOVE apples this time of year. I've already made 2 apple crisps and canned 7 quarts of applesauce. My next goal is to can a ton of apple pie filling. YUM! 

So, how cool is this...I've been doing my workout for almost a week and I've already noticed a difference in my legs and back. About a month ago I tried putting on a pair of Recovery Socks and I could barely get them over my calves, but today I put them on and they went on SO easily. I think all this exercise is helping keep my water weight and swelling down. I can totally keep this up until the baby comes. 

I wasn't really feeling like doing the elliptical yesterday, but I could totally feel it working out my butt and the back of my thighs so I kept going cause I knew it was working. Before I was prego every time I'd try to do the elliptical my toes would go completely numb and I'd have to stop, but not this time. It's nice not to have to stop.

Tomorrow's another day 2 miles and 30 minutes. I just need to take it one day at a time and keep on keeping on!

Zensah Winner!

The winner of the Zensah Giveaway is.....

 Stacie over at Impossible is Nothing.

Congrats! Email me your info at runmommatwitchrun (at) gmail.com.

Thanks to everyone who entered!!

Gotta keep with routine...

Today we did a "leisurely" 4 mile walk around the lake. There were TONS of people out taking pictures. The lighting was perfect with it being overcast and all. It was a nice family walk. After our walk we came home to a house filled with the smell of 15 bean soup. Mmmmm....it was GOOD! What a great day! The weather was perfect, the family was great, and the food was awesome. I LOVE Sundays like this. :)

Feelin' good

Yesterday I was supposed to do 1 mile and 40 min on the elliptical, but I chose to skip it and clean the van. Then after I got the van cleaned I decided to clean the car. After that I decided to clean the whole house. Yeah, I think I might be nesting. :) I did get a REALLY good workout moping the floor, I was seriously breaking a sweat trying to get all the stuff off the floor. I mopped for a good 30 minutes too. 

 I got my workout for sure, the best part of it was the fact that Jason could come home to a clean house. It's a good thing the house was clean cause the poor guy came home with a runny nose, a sore throat, and a fever.

(The kids found these on today's walk. I loved seeing their excitement. "It's like on Tinkerbell!")

Today I took a nap when I should have been doing the elliptical. So, after a short nap I got up and did 30 minutes on the elliptical while watching Cake Boss. Seriously, that's a fun show to watch, being part Italian, it's fun seeing their interactions, it makes me think of my grandpa. I find myself smiling while working out which is a big plus. Although, today I was so tired from my nap that I had a REALLY hard time getting moving, but I did it.

Right after I got the kids and went on a 3 mile walk around the lake while Jason kept napping.

I thought It would be fun to get a picture of the lake. They don't really do it justice, but it's a pretty lake and I'm very blessed to have something so great to be able to walk/run around.

The kids had SO much fun biking they found acorns and beetles and rocks. It's really nice that they can bike faster than me now cause it gives me a chance to walk/trot as fast as I can without having to stop constantly. I also love that it's becoming a routine. Lunch, nap time (elliptical time), wake up, walk/bike around the lake, playground, home, cook dinner. There's all these great mommies that take their kids to the library and to all these fun places, but I'm not "brave" enough to venture out into public with 3 little kids that like to touch and grab things that can easily break, plus Annabelle doesn't get the concept of "Shhhh..." so the library's out. I'm glad that we have this though. Brianna gets excited about it every day. 

Today while I walked I tried jogging more. I felt good. I didn't ache, but my legs we like lead. It's the same feeling I had when I was doing the marathon. Practice makes perfect right, so the more I walk and keep moving the better I'll be and the healthier I'll be.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!! It ends tomorrow night!

I'm on a roll!

I spent all morning making these babies... 

They turned out great! The only thing is they are WAY sugary. I don't know if I'm a big royal icing fan. Sure, they're pretty, but the pure sugar flavor takes away from the delicious cookies. Maybe I made the icing wrong, I dunno, but one thing I do know is sugar and I don't mix. I was feeling great about today until I ate 2 of those cookies. If you think a woman's attitude is crazy when she's PMSing, you can only imagine how I am when I get too much sugar. My poor kids. lol! 

Well, since I'm a nice mom (when I don't have a lot of sugar) I took the kids to the playground while I walked 2 miles around it pushing Annabelle. She's so cute, I wish I could have recorded it, but she was singing the whole time I was pushing the stroller. It was really cute. :) Her little voice sounds like Boo on Monsters Inc.

We got home after my 2 miles were done and I made dinner, they ate, and I gave them a cookie. That was all fine and dandy until I ate one too. Yeah, one too many cookies for me today. I think that was cookie #4 or 5 for the day. My patience went down the drain. I'm telling ya...sugar is NOT good for me, but it's Oh SO good...

I got the kids bathed and ready for bed and went down stairs to work off the sugar. 30 minutes on my darling elliptical and some fun Cake Boss and I was feeling MUCH better.

 My awesome inperspire towel kept me nice and dry during my work out and it felt great to have worked off my stress and the sugar. I made a nice bowl of taco rice for dinner and sat and watched the Thursday night line up on NBC.

So far, so good. Let's hope I can keep it up when Jason gets home.

I've got a plan!

Ok, so first here's my 22nd week or 21st week or 23rd week photo. I took it today, but here's the thing. The doc says to stay with my first estimated due date which is the 12th of Feb and that would put me in my 23rd week. But, the ultrasound said she was measuring 9 days smaller, which would make me due on the 21st and would make me barely 22 weeks. Now a couple days ago, the doc measures my belly and I'm measuring around 20 weeks. What the heck, man!! I just have to tell myself that her heart rate is great, every thing's measuring right, and there's no signs of anything wrong physically, so I shouldn't worry. 

It's just scary for me that I'm so much smaller this time than I ever was with the other kiddos. 

Anyway...here I am! I'm feeling good and she's kicking all the time. 

 Here's my plan:

I'm the type of  person that likes lists. I love charts, too, but most of all I love crossing things off and seeing progress. So, today I created an exercise chart/list for the rest of the pregnancy and put it on the fridge. 

Each day has a certain amount of miles to walk/trot and an amount of minutes to do on the elliptical. I figure it's a reasonable goal to move everyday and making a chart makes it easier for me to see what's going on. I have all the different months highlighted with different colors. It's two sided and laminated so I can cross it off and keep it sweat free. I also printed off a little one to keep by the elliptical so I could go down there everyday and know what I have to do. 

So far so good. During nap time I did 30 minutes on the elliptical while I watched Cake Boss. Right after I was done the kids were ready to go on a walk. We did 2.25 miles around the lake and then went over to the school  playground. The kids loved it. They biked so fast that I had the chance to trot a little. I felt good trotting, but my pelvic muscles were like, "What are you doing? We haven't moved like this for a few months now..." so they'd ache and I'd walk until it didn't ache and then I'd trot again. It also didn't help that she was sitting on my bladder, so each time I'd trot I'd have to use all my muscles to hold it in. LOL! My walk/trot was kept around a 15.30 pace. Not bad, not bad.

Everything feels great right now. No achy muscles or joints. Things are good. 

Here's to a new plan!! Let's hope I can keep it up. :)

Family walk

This morning we went on a 3.65 mile walk around the lake. The kids had fun biking while Jason and I tried keeping up.

Jason and I are a little sore from going so far so fast, but it's a good sore. We'll have to keep it up. There's nothing stopping us from walking every morning.

The weather's perfect. It was really nice today with a slight mist of rain. I am LOVING this Fall weather. :)

A great start to the day...

30 minutes on the elliptical with a wrinkled running skirt. You know, that's the good thing about having an elliptical in your basement... You can wear what ever you want and there's no one there to look at you like you're crazy. I'm sure if I wore this outfit to the gym people would be looking at me like, "Get some pants on and find a shirt that isn't so tight." Haha! Oh well, I don't care, it was comfortable in the hot basement, plus I wanted to show off my leg sleeves. :)

Last night I woke up with the worst RLS, my legs just wanted to move...it's the weirdest feeling. So, I stretched out some and then put on my leg sleeves and Ooooh...it was like magic. The RLS feeling went away and I was able to sleep for the rest of the night. I love these babies! :)

So, 30 min on the elliptical + Jason wants to go on a walk around the lake later. It really feels good to be moving. I just love it!

Earn your Subway walk

Today after the kids got out of school we went on a walk down to Subway for lunch. Going down hill isn't so bad, it's easy for the kids to run and for the stroller to just go, but going back up is hard! Jason took on the task of pushing the stroller up to the little amphitheater and was more than ready to sit down while the kids ate their sack lunches.

Caleb was a little tired too...that or he was tired of me taking pictures of him. lol

 I felt good, no aches, no pains. I was a little tired during, but nothing to complain about. It's 9:30pm and I'm exhausted, which is crazy cause I took an hour and a half nap during the kids quiet/nap time. I just hope every thing's ok.

 Jason was proud of our walk. 3 miles round trip! :) He had the idea, "You know what we should do? Every time we want Subway we have to walk down and get it." I love his ideas. Oh, he lost 1.6 last Saturday. Go Jason! Go Jason! That's 6.6lbs total so far. :) He's doing great sticking to WW and moving.

I just LOVE this picture of Brianna and Caleb. "I love you Nana." Caleb kept telling her that while they were running. He's such a good boy. They had the most fun playing together today, running, jumping, and rolling down the grassy hills.

Can you believe this? He JUST turned 4 and he's the size of his 6 yr old sister (and she's tall for her age). He's got his daddy's height.

What a great day today!

Zensah Compression Leg Sleeve Review + Giveaway (Giveaway Closed!)

Suzanne over at Zensah contacted me to see if I'd like to review a pair of their Fresh Legs Maternity Sleeves.  I was more than excited to try them out. Here's what the site says about them...

The Fresh Legs Sleeves feature graduated compression, which increases circulation and oxygen blood flow. This will act to minimize swelling and thereby relieve pain in both the shins and calves. Pin-point compression goes to work on the exact source of the pain in the lower leg that women commonly experience during pregnancy.

I was SO excited to get a pair. Every time I've been pregnant I've had issues with restless leg syndrome (RLS) at night and I was really hoping that these babies would help with that. Once they came I tried them on and wore them around the house for the day. They are so nice and comfortable and they didn't feel restrictive at all. They really helped my legs feel relaxed before bed. So, on another day I tried not wearing them during the day and just at night and when I woke up my legs felt just as great! I didn't have any issues with RLS or anything. I love these sleeves!

They have all sorts of great compression gear on their site. I can't wait to wear my sleeves after I start running again. I bet they'll feel awesome on my sore legs after a nice long run. I might also have to get a pair of their arm sleeves.

Would you like a pair of Compression Leg Sleeves??

Here's what you need to do to enter...

-Follow my blog or let me know you already follow

-Go to Zensah and tell me what you think

-Follow Zensah on Twitter (HERE)

-Follow them on Facebook (HERE)

-Post about this giveaway on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook

All of you pregnant runners/walkers spread the word to all your other pregnant friends and tell them to enter this giveaway. It's not just for runners!

This giveaway will end in 2 weeks on the 17th of October and the winner will be announced the morning of the 18th.

Now, go spread the word!! :)

It's a......

We went in today and found out.....

My due date ended up changing from the 12th to the 19th of February. This girlie was measuring small. We are really excited! :)

There goes another one...

I'm looking into getting my Halloween Half registration switched to next year's race. I don't think it's best to do it this far along especially since I haven't been training like I should to be doing something like a half marathon.

I feel like such a quitter when I bail out of a race. I know, I'm pregnant...it's ok, but it's still rough. Jason's such a great man. He can tell that I'm upset about it and he says, "Hey, just cause you aren't running a half marathon it doesn't mean you can't sign up for the smaller races. Why don't you sign up for some 5ks?" I can do 5ks. 3.1 miles...I've done that before and I can still do it. I feel good about that. He'd go with me and run/walk the races with me, he says that way he can keep an eye on me. The funny thing is, his walking stride is my running stride, so it keeps me moving. I'll make sure to wait until the last minute to sign up in case something comes up.

On a plus side, my plantar fasciitis is gone and my IT band doesn't hurt! Yay! I'm feeling great. It feels SO nice. I need to keep up with my goal of moving 30 minutes a day. That's not much to ask for. I just need to make it a priority.

2 more day and we find out what we're having!! I can't wait! Ooh, 2 days ago I felt the first kicks on the outside of my belly. It's SO cool when it gets to that point. I just love it!

CSN Review and Taco Soup Recipe

My stuff from CSN came!!! I've been so excited for my package to arrive. It came so quickly!

 CSN has SO much stuff it was hard to choose, but in the end I went for a bunch of fun Rachael Ray stuff. First, since soup season is coming up I had to get the 4-Piece "Soup It Up" Cookware Set. I was really interested to see how well the "Last Drop" Flat-Bottom Soup Ladle worked and it worked SO good. I just love it! The next thing I had to get was the Bench Scrape Shovel. I've seen her use it on her show and I thought it would be pretty cool to use one. It's really nice cause you can pick up all of the food you chopped without having to use your hands and getting them all dirty. Last, but not least, I had to get the Lazy Spoon & Ladle Set. These spoons have always caught my attention. I love that I can set the spoon on the side of the pot and not on the counter. It helps to keep the counter all nice and clean. These babies are heavy duty. I think they'll be in the family for a long time.

To celebrate all the fun stuff I get to review I had to test it out right away, so I made some...

TACO SOUP!

(Forgive my pictures, I wish I had better lighting in my kitchen. Oh, well...the soup was good at least!)

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED:

1 lb. extra lean ground beef

1   onion, chopped

2 cans (15.5 oz. each) mild chili beans, undrained

1 can  (14.5 oz.) kidney beans, undrained

1 can  (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can (14.25 oz.) corn, undrained

1 can  (8 oz.) V8 Juice

1 pkg. (1-1/4 oz.) Taco Seasoning Mix
1 pkg. Ranch Dressing Mix

1 cup water

HERE'S HOW TO COOK IT:

BROWN meat with onions in large saucepan; drain.

ADD all remaining ingredients; stir. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 5 min., stirring occasionally.

SERVE topped with sour cream, cheese, and/or green onions.

ENJOY!

PUMPKIN!!!!

Ooooh!!! The house smells SO good.

 It has a nice fall smell going on. Too bad the weather's not cooperating right now...it's in the upper 80's and tomorrow it's supposed to be 90. Come on Mother Nature...we need to cool it down around here!

Here's the recipe you've been waiting for!

Crust:

1 pkg. yellow cake mix (reserve 1 c. for topping)

½ c. melted margarine

1 egg

Mix together and stir in 9”x13” pan.

Filling:

3 c. pumpkin

2/3 c. milk

2 eggs

1 c. sugar

2¼ tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Whip together until smooth, then pour over crust.

Topping:

1 c. reserved cake mix

¼ c. sugar

¼ c. soft margarine

Mix together until crumbly and sprinkle over filling.

Bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes until set. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

I forgot to add an egg to my crust, but you couldn't really tell. It turned out REALLY good. Jay likes his cold and I like mine warm. Either way works. I took the pumpkin at the top of the post and cooked it up and used it for my puree. I love cooking my own pumpkins...none of that canned pumpkin for me. :) But, if you're not into cooking your own, the canned works just fine.

It's not a lowfat recipe by any means, but you are getting some vegetables and that's good...right?

I hope you enjoy!!

SoJo Half Marathon

 This is Aaron, he's my big bro and I love him.

A couple weeks ago I decided to opt out of running the SoJo Half so I called him up to take my place. Being the great brother that he is, he said, "Sure!" and ran it in my place. He'd been hoping I'd choose not to run a half while being pregnant, so he was more than happy to run for me. Gotta worry about your little sister, ya know. :)

We went to cheer Aaron on at mile 6.5, but for some reason it was taking him longer than we thought (The race ended up starting almost an hour late). We hung out for an hour cheering on all the runners going by. The kids got a couple of high-fives in and then got bored. They colored a sign for Aaron, but by the time he came around I had them in the van waiting cause they started a pine cone fight that I was trying to keep away of the runners while holding Annabelle. So, about 5 min after getting in the van Aaron came around the corner. We followed him for a minute or two and all the kids yelled, "GO AARON, GO!!" over and over for him.

After we saw him I went and got Jay from the house he was at WW when we were waiting for Aaron. He lost 4.8lbs, by the way! Go Jason!! I'm so proud of him. :)

We missed Aaron crossing the finish by about 5 minutes. It's my fault. I took a wrong turn cause my iPod wasn't pulling up the address of the finish line and I guessed at which way it was. He ended up finishing in 2.09.44! Go AARON!

It's all good though. Aaron was excited to see us and Brianna was even more excited to see him. She always gets excited at races. Last night we made a sign to hold up for Aaron while we cheered him on. I wrote out the words and Brianna and Caleb colored the letters in.

Brianna was so excited to show it off to Aaron since we missed holding it for him at the halfway point. She told him who colored what and what it said.

It says, "GO AARON YOU CAN DO IT!" plus, "Run, run, run, go, go, go!" and "We love you!" Even though he didn't get to see it while running there were some runners out there who hopefully benefited from the kids cheering.

There's the cool metal he got for running the half. Aaron, being the great brother he is "presented" it to me for being a good mom and opting out of the race to take care of myself and my baby. I told him I couldn't take it cause he earned it, but he insisted saying that he ran it for me, so I deserved the award. I'll make sure to put it in a special spot so I can always remember my big bro's love for me. :)

Tomorrow.....PUMPKIN RECIPE!!! Plus, yesterday Jason and I walked 3 miles around the lake with the kids in 45 min and kept up with our food.

Pumpkin...why do you tempt me so?

(Picture from pumpkin picking 2 years ago.)

I love pumpkins! I can't wait to get a couple of those little sugar pumpkins and make some homemade pumpkin pie. Mmmm! My favorite pumpkin recipe is this one that Jay's mom gave me when we were first married. I'll make it this weekend and share it with you guys. But, holy cow...there are some good recipes out there.

We're doing good though, we haven't made any pumpkin deliciousness yet. Everything in moderation, right? :)

Today I took off, but tomorrow I'm going to go around the lake and do the elliptical. My big bro, Aaron is coming over tomorrow! He's being a great brother and running the SoJo Half for me. I'll be there cheering him on and taking pictures on Saturday.

I've been feeling the baby kick a lot today. He/she really enjoys kicking my bladder the most. I have a feeling this baby's going to be a long/big baby like Caleb, he was 22" and 9lbs 1 oz when we was born. I'm just glad I'm starting to feel movement cause it was getting to the point where you know you're pregnant, but you aren't feeling anything move and you just feel fat. Now, there's a little one in there that's kicking ya reminding you that you're pregnant. I can't wait to be able to feel it on the outside too.

1 more week and we find out what we're having!!!!! Yay!! Sept. 30th at 1:20!! I can't wait.

I LOVE FALL!!

Today was a nice rainy fall day. It was a great start to the season. As promised I did 2 miles around the lake with Jay and the kids.

I knew there was a chance that It would rain, but I wasn't expecting this....

(My voice sounds so weird on the video...just know, that's not how I really sound or at least I don't think so.)

I'm glad we ended up going around the middle part of the lake and not the full thing cause let me tell ya, that rain was CRAZY! It was coming down so hard and the drops were SO big. We were only in it for a minute or two when the bridge came up and we hid under it for about 10 minutes until the rain stopped. The kids loved it though. Brianna rode her bike the whole time and Caleb was frustrated with the hills so, his bike ended up going on top of the stroller. But, we had fun. We made some fun fall memories while getting our exercise in. :)

The hail was coming down really good during the down pour. I'm glad I wore a light jacket cause the rain/hail with the wind was pretty chilly.

Jay and I did good today eating. We tracked everything and stuck to the plan.  Go us!!

Why, Hello Motivation...I've missed you! :)

First, I have to say thank you to Janine over at http://www.jogginmomma.blogspot.com/ for the email. It's just what I needed. Really, it was. It made me look back and see where I've come and it reminded me of where I want to go. It also reminded me that there are people out here reading this blog and I may say something someday that will give someone the boost they need to get started on their goals and that makes it all worth it.

Thank you, Janine for giving me that boost today. :)

 I've been wanting to give up running and just "be pregnant", but I know that's not good for me. I know that when I'm pregnant and I don't watch what I eat and keep moving I gain too much weight and it's painful in the last couple months. Why would I do that to myself if I know that it's not good?

So, that's why today I am changing. I am going back to how I was at the beginning of this year.

At the beginning of the year I'd get out and run everyday and I watched what I ate. I put my health first! This time it's a little different because it's not only my health that I need to put first, but my baby's as well.

Before I got pregnant I was doing Weight Watchers. I LOVE WW! The best part about it is, you can eat what you want (in moderation) and there's no cutting carbs, or over eating on protein, or any of that crap. It teaches you how to eat right. My wonderful man joined WW today. I'm so proud of him for putting his health first. To be a supportive wife, I'm going to follow the plan with him (with a couple exceptions, I'm not trying to lose weight. I'm trying to track my food, so I can eat healthy  and get the food I need.) It's just what I need. I love eating healthy, but it's not easy to do when you have to make a different meal for yourself. Jay's lucky, he's got a high metabolism so he can eat whatever he wants and gradually gain a pound or two over the years. I only have that when I'm running like crazy. Tomorrow is day 1 on Jay's WW journey. He's going to do great!

Today after Janine's email I said "I need to get out and move!" I did 1.5 miles walking with Jay and the kids, but that wasn't enough. Rather than sit on the couch and watch TV I thought I'd go down to the basement and do the elliptical.  

Our poor little elliptical...we've had her for a year or more now and we've used it maybe 3 times total. I thought I'd show here some love and give her some exercise every day. Today I only did 15 minutes at a level 4 (the kids weren't going to sleep like they were supposed to, so I had to cut it short), but hey, 15 is better than none. Tomorrow I'll walk 2 miles and do 30 min on the elliptical.

 I've gotta get back in shape. I'm starting to get more body weight than baby weight and I've gotta be careful. Gaining weight is a very slippery slope. I know...I know...you're pregnant...you're not supposed to be all worried about your weight. I don't want to lose weight! I want to eat healthy and I want to move and be HEALTHY!

My reward for exercising is watching the Biggest Loser...

Ok, so I know The Biggest Loser is getting old and it's one of those things where either you love it or you hate it, but with me there's always one person that I connect with and makes me want to watch. This season it's the chick from Utah. Yeah, I know...Utah...it's cause I'm in Utah, right? No, I think the thing that made me connect with her was when she was running the mile and her girls were behind her running along with her and she was so proud of herself and she could see her children being proud of her as well.

 It's such an awesome thing when you can see the pride in your children's eyes. That's why I LOVE to race. I love crossing the line and seeing my kids so excited for me. I love running because I love reaching these new goals and showing my kids and family that it's possible and they can do it too.

You can do anything you put your mind to!

CSN

You all know about CSN, right?  They're a great company that has over 200 online stores where you can find everything from a coffee table to fantastic fitness equipment to cookware! Pretty cool, huh? 

In a few weeks I'll have a fun product review for all of you. I'm sure it will have something to do with fall cooking since fall's coming around the corner. I can't wait! Soup sounds sooo good right now. Potato soup, vegetable soup, taco soup....I LOVE SOUP! Now, if only Mother Nature would agree and get it cooler around here. :)

Stupid is as stupid does...

I've decided that I'm not going to be stupid, but first....

Check out my new shoes!

They're nice and comfy and give my just the right amount of support. I've even been wearing them around and not going barefoot. Go me! :)

So, back to not being stupid...

I was scheduled to go 10 miles today. I got up and thought that 10 miles probably wasn't the best idea considering I haven't really been running for the past 3-4 weeks. So, I started out walking like I usually do. I felt fine so I ran some. Well, even though I have the new shoes that feel good on my feet, I could feel some of the plantar fasciitis flaring up, a blister forming on my right ring toe, and my IT band was starting to ache too. So, rather than push myself to go 10 miles I stopped at 3 and went home.

I did a lot of thinking during my walk and I decided that I'm not going to run the SoJo Half. I'm trying to be smart and I know that if I wasn't pregnant I would have run it anyway, but being 19 weeks pregnant and all I think it's best not to run it.

So, I called my brother, Aaron who ran his first half marathon last month, and asked him if he would be willing to run the race in my place. He was more than happy to. The only question is, will they let me transfer my race over to him. I know the Halloween Half (the one I'm supposed to run in October) won't let you transfer, but this one doesn't say anything about not being able to.

Now, the question is...next month since I can't transfer my place in the race to anyone, do I think that I can train myself enough in one month to be able to complete the Halloween half even if I have to walk the whole thing? I think it might be possible. We'll see.

19 weeks and still growing. :) Funny thing is, I feel SO much smaller than I did with the other kids at this point. Let's hope it stays that way and I don't plump up like I did with the others.

I hope everyone has a great productive weekend!