Workin' It Out

I am in love with running. I have to run at the least 3 times a week or I go nuts. Right now in the blazing heat of the summer I am stuck running on a treadmill but I still love it. My mom is a personal trainer and told me that I need to get stronger and start lifting weights. My first thought was "whatever mom, I run. I am good." Then I started to think that as I see all of these people age they all have problems with their backs and knees and shoulders and I thought maybe I should work on my strength training now while I am somewhat young and prevent these problems. So I tell my mom I am up for the challenge and I will give her an hour each week to beat me up. About 3 weeks ago we began and it was some of the hardest stuff I have ever done, man I did not realize I was such a wimp. I was sore but I liked feeling sore, it felt like I did something good. So 3 weeks later I think I really like this strength training thing. I feel stronger and I think it will help me improve running. Moral of the story: my mom was right. I hope my boys say one day that I was right :) Another plus to working out with my mom is spending time with her. We have fun talking and hanging out between her making me kill myself. :)

Another "Does this stuff only happen to me?" Tale...

I love to run. I would prefer running outside most of the time but my schedule and the crazy temperatures of Tucson in the summer force me to run on a treadmill at the gym most days. So my usual gym routine consists of watching trashy reality television shows on the little TV's attached to the treadmills to pass the time quickly and keep me from getting bored running in place for 30-40 minutes. So last week my alarm goes off at 4:15am, I hop out of bed, get dressed and head out the door to get my run on at the gym. I usually see the same people every morning which includes an older lady that tans way too much and an older guy that thinks he is 25 rather than 55 and wears some very interesting things. I also see the very sweet wife of the pastor of our church. I used to babysit their children when I was in college and really enjoy chatting with her some mornings while we run.

So, back to this certain morning at the gym. I walk in, fill up my water bottle, turn on my trashy television and begin my 4 mile journey. I notice the pastors wife walk in, wave and keep running. She takes a treadmill one away from mine and I think nothing of it. Then all of the sudden I notice a man getting on the treadmill next to mine. Ok, no big....HOLD UP! It is my pastor!!! All of the sudden I am very aware of the horrible trashy television I am watching and I change the channel to Fox News. He says hello, I say hello and I keep running. "I really need to stop watching this horrible stuff if I get this guilty with my pastor running on the treadmill next to mine" I think. Now, let me tell you that I am sure my pastor could care less what I am watching. He is a very kind man that probably thought nothing of it if he even noticed at all what I was watching. Then I think  " I wonder how the drama is unfolding on that horribly trashy reality show" and I change the channel back. Oh well- maybe I will give him a good sermon illustration one day. Hey, maybe I gave him a new show to check out...maybe.... Like I have asked before, does this stuff only happen to me?

My Husband the Dreamer

My husband has big dreams and little dreams and he has a lot of dreams. Some of them I laugh at. Like, he has this crazy dream of our house always being clean. Now to most of you that have been to our home and know us you probably think this is true of our home, but the clean my husband dreams for is beyond anything that is possible. Plus, we are parents to two boys and again, this makes the type of clean he strives for impossible. He also dreams of owning everything in REI. He got dangerously close last year and is well on his way this year but I am confident we will never own all of REI.

He has dreams of our backyard being done (he says a man who owns a landscaping company should probably have a landscaped backyard...) and dreams of many backpacking and camping trips with me, our boys and of course James. He want to backpack Kauai and the Grand Canyon, probably in the same year.... He wants to travel a lot of places, and that is a dream we share! He wants his business to grow and he wants to take care of me and our boys.

The dreams my husband has that impresses me the most though are his dreams for not only himself and our family but everyone he comes in contact with. He has talked to me a lot about this dream lately and I love the passion he holds in his voice when he talks about it. He wants it for his employee and his sons. He wants it for his sister and his friends. He wants it for everyone. He wants people to dream big with their lives and through their relationships with Christ have the confidence that they can do anything that they dream. He wants them to dream big for their marriages, dream big for their kids and dream big for their lives. He doesn't want you to have his dreams, he wants you to find your dream. He will look you right in the face and tell you, I want you to live the best life you can, I want you to live the biggest and the best. This doesn't mean you are the richest person or the most successful, this means that you are living out what you think is your best and excited to be living that life. This is my husband the dreamer.....

He shares this passion with his good friend James, and I think that they have such a heart for people and I am positive that they are going to influence people huge with their desire for people to want to want the best. I have been thinking about this all day and I am a very thankful wife to have a husband that has big dreams. I am also thankful that he has a friend that shares that vision.

Moving On...

I begin this post by telling you that I have lived in Tucson all of my 10,251 days on this planet. I have traveled many places but always come back to sweet Tucson, AZ. When I was about 17 or 18 I thought I wanted to move to California and start a new life because, don't you know California is better? Well, that is what I thought when I was a crazy teenage girl ,but God had other plans that included a boy named Brandon Ingram. I realized that when I married Brandon I was here; in Tucson, AZ, forever. This is because his family business is here and it is his passion. He loves working with his dad and really enjoys what he does. So, I will be here for the rest of my life and I am completely OK with that.

I say this because this week I have learned that one of my sweetest and closest friend will be moving. This made my heart sad, thinking about all of the things we will miss out on in each others lives as she is going to be 7 hours away. That was the moment that; as tears welled up in my eyes, I realized God gave me her as a gift and even though we will not be in the same city we will forever be in each other hearts. Her adventure that God has planned for her is taking her to another state with her husband as mine keeps me here with mine. God has different plans for both of us but I am sure his plan doesn't include us moving on from each other. I think he knew exactly what he was doing when we met and as we became close friends. There will never be another friend like her to me, she is a Texas special. People leaving and moving kinda sucks. It makes us sad and feel a little rumble in our world, but it is so reassuring to remember God is in control and has put us in each others lives for a reason, even if it is just for a short time.

I am also unbelievably blessed with a few other close friends here that are going nowhere. For now, they are still here to do life with me and love me. I have to remember to stop and celebrate the fantastic people that are in my life. I am a lucky girl!

So, next week as I have to give Lacey a big hug and send her on to New Mexico, my tears will be both of joy and sadness. I am sad we will no longer be in the same city to share life, but I will be happy that God gave us the time in the same city as he did. And watch out my other sweet girlfriends, I might squeeze you a little harder. As much as I sound like I am OK for friends to move away, I would like Gods plan to be for the rest of you to stay here. Forever.

Oh, and I guess there is that Brandon guy I mentioned earlier. He is kinda my closest friend and stuck with me forever. Stuck like glue forever. God is good.

May Is A Big Month

I never used to care about May except for the fact that that was the month school ended and summer began. Nothing else about May was all that interesting, fast forward 8 plus years and May is now a very big month for me.

May 4th my sweet little Kaden Cooper turned 3 years old. This little boy has turned my life upside down. He is crazy and stubborn and funny and loving. He challenges me everyday and I try and live up to those challenges. This morning he told me I looked like a pony, when I answered him " A pony?" He says " Yes, mama your hair(which was in curlers), You seriously look like a pony." He just makes me laugh. His outlook on life is so refreshing and God has big things for him! I hope I can keep up!

May 8th was Mother's Day. This is a big day for mom's and my boys made me feel like a very special lady. I was showered with flowers and cards and lot's of  love. I am a blessed girl to have my boy's and they made me feel like they were blessed to have me.

On May 25th we will celebrate my crazy good looking son, Tyler and his first year in school. He started kindergarten this year and on the first day I was a mess. I cried and cried because I could not believe my 4lb. 2oz. baby was tall and handsome and 5 years old going to school. He has had an awesome year. He can read and do math. He has learned so many Bible verses and has acquired some good social skills. He has bloomed into this amazing and responsible little boy and I am beaming with pride. So on May 25th, along with the rest of his classmates and proud beaming parents we will celebrate what an awesome job he and all the Kindergartners have done this year and I can not wait. He is worth celebrating big time!

Last but certainly not least, on May 31st my Brandon and I will celebrate 8 happy, fun, crazy, stressful, romantic, and adventurous years together. He is the best thing for me. We have been through a lot in 8 years, we cleaned carpet together for the first couple years barely making ends meet sometimes but always smiling. I remember Tyler being in his car seat about 4 months old sleeping on top of a desk in an office building while his dad and I cleaned carpets until 3 in the morning. I wish I was the one sleeping! We have come a long way from our carpet cleaning days but we are as happy now as we were then because we have each other and God. So Brandon, you are my everything and I could not be more honored to be your wife. I have loved every minute of our 8 years of marriage and I can not wait for many more. You are my man.

Do Only These Things Happen To Me?

Do things ever happen to you, and you think, "Why does this always happen to me?" This happens to me often and it began at an early age...

At age 11 I was doing cartwheels in my living room, got my foot caught in my nightgown, fell weird and broke my wrist. Who does that? I have no cool I was skating or riding my bike story. I am just a klutz, that is it.

My first day of high school I was puking my guts out in my bathroom so I didn't get to go. Our school started on a Friday ( why do they do that?) so the next Monday is my first official day and I am a nervous. first time high schooler walking around trying to look cool. Then I see my best friend at the time and we have the exact same shirt on, and other people are noticing and commenting and I begin to feel really uncool. Neither of us have a sweater or anything to cover up our fashion faux paux so we just walk next to each other looking like the bopsy twins. It gets worse.... We meet up with our other friend and lunch and guess what- she too, has the exact same shirt on. So now we are triplets, freshmen triplets ripe for the picking to make fun of ,and boy do we ever. I am now on my last class of the day and certain this nightmare is almost over. I go to the classroom number printed on my class schedule and walk in and start to feel really small, everyone else in this class seems older... The teacher then informs me in front of the whole class of Seniors that the freshmen class was switched to another room and I need to go there, as I am walking out the cutest Senior boys says "Hey it is one of those girls that dressed like triplets today!" The whole class laughs and I again am left wondering, why does this happen to me?

So my most recent, why does this happen to me moment? I am running my second half marathon and I am feeling good! I am with Karen, my BFF and Brandon, my sweet husband. My shoelace becomes slightly untied at the very beginning of the race but I am in the zone and not stopping to tie my shoe. So at mile 4 we are getting out or race fuel to get a little burst of energy and as I am reaching into my pocket to get my sports beans I biff it big time. I go down hard on my hands and knees. I get up and realize I am bleeding but I do not care, we are going to continue because we are making good time! My husband and BFF makes me stop and tie my shoe and we are off again. I keep up with my little team until about mile 9 and my knee starts throbbing and I have to slow down. I tell my teammates to go on without me and I slow down my pace, and finish. I would have finished faster if I would have just tied my shoe at the beginning. Again, why oh why does this stuff happen to me?

These things make me laugh and make me who I am. They are annoying, embarrassing, and silly but add to my story. These are just some of the things that make me perfectly imperfect.

The Sheep that got me out of my Fog.

                     I love writing. So the last time I tried this blogging thing I thought I would love it and for sure stick to it; but I didn't. Lately, I keep thinking I want to write and tell the stories of my life; just as an outlet to get some of my creative juices flowing, so I decided to try this blog thing again. So here I go.

                     I have been in such a fog recently because I am plagued with allergies and therefore I take allergy medicine to help with my runny nose and watery eyes. This medicine helps me feel like my head isn't a running water faucet but it also makes me feel like I am going through life with a fog around me. So, in this fog I drove my two sweet little boys to school yesterday, gave them kisses and sent them off and then began my favorite part of the day: the drive between school and work. I usually love this time of day, it is my time all alone in my car to sing out loud, think about life, pray and just be all by myself.  So, here I am driving down Oracle road in my fog and really not doing any of the a for mentioned activities because I am in a allergy medicine coma. Well, I look up and sitting next to me in the left hand turn lane is a Toyota truck with a bed full of sheep! I look over again making sure I am not being delusional also thanks to this medicine, and again I see this truck full of sheep, and they weren't you run of the mill Dolly. These sheep had horns and were every color from black to white. What does one do when you see something like this? Tweet it of course! I get my iPhone out trying to take a picture, because a tweet with a picture is worth double of the tweet without! Then I look up and realize the turn signal has now turned green and I am holding up Thursday morning traffic. Man does that truck with a dozen horned sheep take off fast and blast, I am without a picture!! So; because I am a very safe driver and never text on my phone while driving, I wait until the next red light and send out my slightly witty tweet about sheep in the morning. Then, I realize that my fog has slightly lifted and I feel a bit more normal. It just took a few sheep to wake me up. I wonder what other fun and crazy things I miss, not just because I might be in a allergy medicine fog but just in the fog of everything else I fill my life with, good and bad.


On another note, I kept my poor husband up all night with my coughing from these stupid allergies and found him cuddled on the couch this morning as I was leaving to go running, trying to get in some cough free sleep. Poor guy, I think we both are looking forward to the end of allergy season!