running again.

I did it this morning...after 2 weeks of no running, eating like a fool and sleeping like I was back at girls camp...I ran again.

It was hard and it was painful and it felt nice!
I only ran 3 miles this morning...just enough to make myself hurt bad enough to teach myself a lesson on staying focused! The two weeks off was like I was some famished animal looking anywhere for nourishment...and looking in all the wrong places.

It started when I was driving home from Utah, by myself, and ate for 9 hours straight!!
who does that?

Anyhow...I am back and am motivated to get back to not letting it hurt so bad.

Oh, also...the strangest thing happened to me today...it has never been an issue for me...but this morning when I stopped running in front of my house...I full on peed in my pants....
who does that?

Cant' wait till tomorrow morning.

2....what the!

Oh, Memphis D...how you make my heart flutter, putter and stutter!

Happy 2nd Birthday, You Tasty Boy!

and some more appetizing photos!

xoxo

-mama

motivation

I haven't ran in two weeks and it's really messing with me!

I have eaten like a joke and have not slept very well.

MUST RUN!

I am giving it a whirl on Monday!

I can't wait!!

HOME part 1

Well we have returned from our 2.5 wk long visit to southern Utah...my home.
My girls have lived in Hurricane for only 4 months..and it was 6 years ago, but they claim this to be where they are from...it's funny!

We have been waiting for this trip since Thanksgiving and it was so worth the wait.
We had such a wonderful time visiting with family, swimming till we can hardly stand, eating till we want to puke, laughing till we wet thee ol' pants and just soaking all the scenery in.
What a good time.
I am sure my sisters and brother that lived there are glad we're gone...we kept them all occupied.

One thing that you can NOT pass up while visiting southern Utah is....

RED CLIFFS

Have you ever seen rocks this color before? It's almost blinding!
This little hike is an easy walking trail for all ages. And at the end of the trail you find a little pond that the kids LOVED to swim in.
With the older girls...I took them up the trail just a bit farther to a deeper pond that they were able to jump in.
This is a place I used to visit quite often in my younger years. We would take our bikes out there and ride, hike and swim.
It's just unreal!

After our little hike and swim. We, my two younger sister and their children, gathered around a picnic table and had ourselves a little picnic under the cottonwood trees. We watched birds that were colored bright yellow, red and baby blue...we fed the wildlife, (some very fat squirrels), and we let the kids search the stream near by for crawdads.

This was a good day.

Note to self!

Dear Self....

Don't mess with Helayna, she's super tough!
You have known all your life that she can whoop you...don't push your luck with this woman.
Espeically after watching her take on Dusky, Sisalee and Nicole in the pool!....well nicole can be whooped by Creed so that's not to scary. But, this lady is SERIOUSLY the kind to want to have on your side!

Keep that in mind.

Sincerely,
Me

 *the story behind the photos*

It all began on the 23rd of July...the final hours of our annual Goulding reunion. We all decided to finish it off with, of course, FIREWORKS.
All the kids, adults and animals sat back on the grass while a few of the nephews and my bro stood in the road, only 20ft away from all of us, and lit the little fountains and screamers. The ones you use every year, safely and with no harm.
However...they lit one with rockets in them that shot super super high in the air. The ones you see blocks and blocks away and wish you were closer to see who was cool enough to buy those.
Well as we watched we all ooohhh'd and aaahhh'd at the fantastic show. I even told my brother a story of when I was around 7 or 8 yrs old and was hit by a shell that was about the size of a half coconut from the cities firework show.
Not 2 minutes later we heard a scream...but assumed it was the reactions from the show. 30 seconds later I hear my SIL say "no more fireworks, Helayna has been hit in the face with something". I turn and see my lil sis on the front porch with her hands over her face and blood just dripping from her hands. I wasn't sure if I should go to her and see if she had lost a eye or her nose or a mouth full of teeth. BUt I went...I was late....every sibling was there by her side with towels, sitting her down on a chair, pulling all the kids around the back of the house so they didn't see the porch full of blood.. I got to her and noticed her nose had a good size cut on it and her nose was bleeding profusly. My big bro sat her down and started investigating the damage...why my lil brother went to investigate the problem.
Big Bro decided her nose wasn't broken...but she mentioned her vision was impaired in her right eye...a concern, of course. He and her husband administered a blessing to her with all of us feeling much better about the situation.
Lil Bro found a shell ,where she was standing, about 3 or 4 inches long and about 1.5 inch in diameter that had not exploded in the air and then came down from the sky like a bullet and nailed her right between the eyes. This thing was not light...it was packed full of whatever they use.
After all was accounted for and we were all in the house..her sweet husband decided to take her off to the hospital for a good look over. Especially with her eye having that dark spot
SO...with 6 stitches, 2 purple eyes, 1 swollen nose, eyes feeling better and teeth tough as nails...she survived a fight with a dang firework!

We all know she was so blessed and lucky it didn't hit her .5 inch in either direction.

MUST SAVE THE EYES!

what a cool experience!

Luke and I had a wonderful, amazing and such a spiritual experience at the Mesa Temple last week. I can not go another day without writing it down.

Let me just say....the process for us to get to them Temple on this day seemed like it took forever. It started at 5am with a run with my lover and then breakfast with the kids.
Once on the rode...only 2 miles away...we get a call from home, with kids crying in the background that there is a meltdown at home. We turn around and go back to put the kids in order, again, and off we go once more.

We had a few appointments to get to before the Temple, a few family members to hug, a little Memphis to drop off at the Sister-in-laws house and then off to the Temple.

As we drove there we were both trying to stay positive and upbeat, with our energy a little low due to our early morning...we were both fearful of napping during the session.

Once there we approached the check-in desk I noticed 8 different signs set out on the desk that read
"Patrons, Sisters or Brothers needed in the Sealing Room" It was obvious where we were going.
We got dressed and headed to the Sealing Check-in station and were surprised to see 7 or 8 people waiting...with the same idea in mind.
When I approached the desk I noticed we were going to be placed in the "next" group...which meant we had to wait for another 4 people or more to show.
We sat and waited and waited. THEN...a couple came in, the Lemmon's. They looked like they could be related to me. I had this feeling of family when I saw them. They resembled a few members of my mother's family thatt I knew I should know...but didn't!

I felt so tired, slouched over in my chair and my mind couldn't stay focused on just one conversation in that small room. I tired to listen so carefully to Luke as he explained life, love and world peace...but my ears took me to the "lemmon's" conversation. I heard something about a sealing of a family member and  then a few "should I do It today?"  questions were thrown around. Still trying to focus on my Love but being distracted by others....I noticed the woman get up and leave with a Sealer.
A few more people trickled in over the next 10 minutes and then Mama Lemmon returned. She sat quietly and talked with her husband about some sealing that they were going to do today.

Our group finally arrived...

Me, Luke,  the Lemmon's, A single woman (who brought names of her own), a young man and an elderly man. I thought to myself that it was a unique group...only 2 "couples" really were there. After my experience on this day...I wondered....who were we all to these people we sealed? Could we of been friends in heaven? Could we of made a promise to them long ago to do this work? For some reason it was like we were all lead there that day.

Once we were all accounted for, the Sealer marched us to the elevator and told us "this thing has a mind of it's own. Sometimes you up where you want and some times you go down to the basement". Luckily we made it to the right floor and we made our way out to a BEAUTIFUL Sealing room.
While preparing ourselves for the sealings the man in charge told us that this room we were in was the only sealing room that was origianl to the temple...as far as the walls and space. It was amazing and such a warm, strong Spirit there.
The Sealer also mentioned to us that there was going to be a live sealing today. I heard what he said...but it didn't register to me at that moment what it meant. He proceeded to ask the Lemmon couple if they would like to ask someone to help stand proxy for her mother and grandmother during the sealings.....she looked at me and asked if I would do it. I was HONORED & overcome with the amazing opportunity that I was going to get to experience.
Mama Lemmon was given counsel and was told that her parents were happy for this day and that she was doing a wonderful thing. She was also told that we can only give this blessing to the ones that have passed on...it's their responsibility to accept it or not...BUT...if they don't accept the sealing....it will in NO way take any of the blessing away from her as a child of theirs. What a cool promise!

So we began.

Bro & Sister Lemmon stood proxy for Sister Lemmons Parents & Grandparents for each of their Sealings. Then I was able to stand proxy for Sister Lemmon's mother and Grandmother while she was sealed to her parents and then she stood proxy for her mother as she was sealed to her grandparents.  confused?

Well...needless to say....it was such a wonderful lesson to me of our family unit. The strength and blessings that come to those children who have been sealed to their parents. What a wonderful and again OVERWHELMING spirit that filled this room!

I also need to mention that we were able to take part in sealing, if I remember right, of 4 sisters and 2 brothers to their mother and father. These were names of the single Sister that was there. She was grateful and so happy to have that family together.

Numerous others were sealed that day and I will not forget what a joy it was to picture them all in Heaven embracing one another. Some might accept it and some may not...but the work has been done and it's up to them.

Now....to follow up the story of the Lemmon's.

During our session....the lights went off and then dim and then off again and finally settled. We were later told that a transmitter blew in Mesa somewhere knocking out power all over that area. It started to get warm in the room and a man told us the air conditioning was out and so we needed to just finish up and be done.
Once we finished we were then told the Temple was being closed due to power and air conditioning problems.

Later in the foyer, Luke and I ran into the Lemmon couple and I mentioned that they looked like family and that I knew some Lemmon's from my hometown. Brother Lemmon then told me that he has family in Hurricane Utah....um....where I am from. We tried to put names to faces to no avail....but then Mama Lemmon said to me "you both look so familiar to me....I don't know where I know you both, but I do". She then informed us that they had tried to have this sealing done last month but things just didn't work out for them.
I was so glad, so glad, so glad that I was able to have that experience!

For those that might read this and wonder what in the world I am talking about....
Here is an article from our Church's website that explains this thing we called "Being Sealed".

what a cool deal!

shoes shmooze, what a bother

These are the winners!
After 3 pairs of shoes in just short of a month, numb toes, slushy heels, blisters on the ends of my toes, ankles that are sore....I finally settled on a pair that seems to be just for my crazy, knobby jointed, wide feet! So...we'll see how they do.

I ran in them this morning and they felt great...but it was only a 3 mile run.
Cross your finger and your toes that I can make these puppies do the trick.

licked by the fog!

Luke and I were just talking about running a race and just stopping and being done because you're just tired.... only to find out you're minutes from finishing.

Then today I came cross this video of Laurel Christensen, a presenter for this years Phoenix Time out For Woman weekend in November.



This is so true in so many lives...I know mine for sure. Things just look hard and I give up or change my mind before I begin...if I only knew how close I was or how I'd feel once I completed the task.

I must be honest...since I am on my blog.

I get so saddened by people I see on facebook that post things that are totally blinding themselves of the shoreline. It makes my heart hurt to see people I know and love and see that decisions that their making aren't guiding them back to safety. It's like the fog has got them distracted from the purpose. I am not saying I don't get distracted from important things in my life and allow unimportant things occupy my time. I am saying that the decisions that I am seeing/reading are ones that are blinding my friends of the whole "Return with Honor" statement. It breaks my heart.

OH...to find the shoreline among all this fog.!
What a fight we have on our hands!

It turns out my new shoes gave me nightmares! No fun! Purchased another pair and we ll give them a try!
Crossing my fingers and toes!

new shoe dream

Yesterday I went to purchase my new kickers and had to pass because I forgot my darn coupon. It is a good coupon. You get a $25 gift card if you spend over $100.

So..is it legit to purchase your shoes...get your gift card...return your shoes and then use your new gift card to repurchase your shoes once more? I am crazy, I hear,  for thinking like this...but I want a pair of shoes $25 less than the sign says.

Anyhow...I couldn't get them and have to wait till Luke goes back that way tomorrow.

But last night I dreamed of my beautiful, comfortable shoe.

In my dream it was just a really large shoe sitting in mid-air  with a blurred out background rotating ever so slowly to make me drool. I couldn't touch them or put them on...but they were there...oh so real and beckoning me to get them.

I can NOT wait till we meet tomorrow!

-i am dumb, i know...but i love you new shoe
(said in a soft whisper)

curious

Do you think it's bad to run and feel super good about what happening and then spoil it all by eating possibly 15+ no bake cookies in a few hours?

Just wondering.

Big Bro!

SO SO Proud of My Big Brother!

He achieved a goal he has been working towards!

Love this Guy!

Good JOB Dacer!