My Slow Progress, and a Little Bit of Memory Lane

Can you think back on your life and find things that you are proud of yourself for accomplishing?

I can think of only one.  Don't get me wrong I have done plenty of things, but I don't consider any of them accomplishments.  And don't bring up the deployments, because I don't think that I accomplished anything with those, I simply SURVIVED them.  Most things in my life I simply make it through, or survive.  There is only one that I feel like "I did it!"  " I accomplished this hard task."  For me that task was getting my Bachelors Degree.

A little back story for you.  Ron and I met our first week of Freshman Year of College.  I was a 17 year old freshman, he was a 21 year old freshman.  We married that next summer, and had Tyson two years after that.  Ron made a promise to my dad when we got engaged that I would finish my college degree.  I promised the same thing, but having Ron say that he would support me in that goal was a big deal.  Tyson was born when I was a Jr. at BYU.  He was an angel baby and with the help of my siblings who babysat for me, I kept going to school full time.  Then Zach was born my last semester of BYU.  Luckily my last semester was only 2 classes, both at night only once a week.  Finishing my degree was not easy.  The school work wasn't difficult it was managing being a wife, mother, and student that got the better of me many times.  I struggled alot with feeling overwhelmed and incapable of doing everything that was expected of me.  Many, many, many times as I walked back up the hill to our apartment after my day on campus, I would just cry and cry.  I would visualize in my head the day that I had my last class, when I was finished, and I could call my dad and tell him that I had done it!  I visualized that image alot, and every time I would cry, just thinking about the relief and the pride that I would feel knowing I had accomplished that goal of mine.  I still cry when I think about those days.  I wanted the picture of me in cap and gown with my 3 boys standing by my side.  I got that picture, and it's priceless to me.

Well, now I am training for a half marathon and trying desperately to loose 40 pounds.  Today was a hard run for me.  I've had a hard few weeks and last week I let my depression get the better of me and I didn't run at all.  So today was back to the pavement, and I felt the pain!  About a mile in I was dying - legs like lead, chest killing me, couldn't get my breath.  So I started to visualize that picture in my head - running past the finish line, seeing my entire family there cheering me on (because I will be the last of us to finish, I'm sure), and knowing that I did it!!  I finished!  I accomplished something that I didn't think I could do!!!  As I started visualizing my grand finish, I started crying.  Have you ever tried to run while your crying?  I don't recommend it.  Basically I had to take a little break and walk for a bit before I could start running again.  But I kept that image in my head the whole run, and I will keep it in my head for the next few months.  That image is what will get me through, keep me pushing, and hopefully get me past that finish line.

Ready, Set, Run!

So my oldest brother Macc went to cheer on a friend at a Marathon a few weeks ago.  Watching his friend finish the marathon and watching all the families and friends running together got him inspired.  Inspired to do what you say? well run a marathon of course.  But he didn't want to run a marathon by himself, no no no, he wanted his entire family to do it with him.  So he started calling all his siblings.  Lucky for me my sister Adriann was the first one to tell him no to the marathon idea, but yes to a half marathon.  I jumped on that one right away.  I'll run a half marathon, but a full marathon is just way way way too long.  So my brother convinced all his crazy siblings (and most of their spouses) to do a half marathon with him in September.  But my big brother doesn't do anything half way.  Oh, no, that would be too simple.  So he created a blog where we can all post about our experiences and cheer each other on.  He created a training schedule for us.  He also created a BOM reading schedule to go along with our running schedule.  He wants this to be both a physical challenge as well as a spiritual challenge.  So along with training for a half marathon we will also be reading the entire BOM by race day.  We will also have inspiration thoughts once a week, and of course for race day we have to have matching shirts.  He also picked a half marathon that also has a 5K race as well.  So for those family members that don't want to run the half marathon can run the 5K instead.  The name for this family challenge is "The Inconceivable Vaughan Challenge".  He chose the name from one of our families favorite movies, The Princess Bride; and there is a hilarious scene where one character keeps using the term "inconceivable".  Its funny - go watch it. 

Official training started this week.  I ran fairly well the first 2 mile runs on Monday and Wednesday.  In fact Wednesday was the best run I've had to date.  I felt great and ran great.  But today was the longer run for the week, a whole 3 miles - don't mock, its a long way.  Anyway, my run today totally stunk.  I felt horrible and had to walk quite a bit.  But there is a lesson in all of this.  I will have great days and bad days, but as long as I get my butt out there running, thats all that matters.

So here I go on a great challenge.  Wish me luck, I'll need it!

Easter

Okay, I know I know.  Way behind.  If you want my excuses I have a whole list, but let's just skip that part and jump right in to now.  I might go back and do some posts on things that I missed, but that will only happen when I have tons of time on my hands - so who knows when that will happen!!! 

So lets start back up with Easter!  We were on vacation over Easter Sunday so when we got back home I made the kids get dressed up in their Easter clothes in the middle of the week - they were not happy about that.  But I wanted Ron there to help me keep the kids happy and make them smile.  So here are the results of the group effort.

I don't know what the deal with Emma was.  She kept making goofy faces and she looks like she was leaning sideways in the pictures.  But I think everybody else looks great.  And I really wanted to take the pictures in front of one of my parents orange trees, to commemorate our stay here in California.

The Place Where Dreams Come True

The kids voted to have a smaller Christmas so we could go to Disneyland as a family.  I even convinced Grandma and Grandpa to come with us.  We had so much fun!  We went on everything we wanted to, and found awesome souveniers (I'm all about the souveniers!).  At the Star Tours gift shop you can build your own Lightsaber.  Emma made herself a purple one (shock!), Zach made a double ended red one and Tyson made a blue one.  Tess of course picked a princess toy set and a fun princess mickey ear hat.

Tyson isn't a big roller coaster person, but he loved the rockets.

There is a fun Jedi training show where they pull kids from the crowd to learn the art of the Jedi's.  Tyson tried twice and Emma and Zach once, with no luck.  They like the younger kids in the show.  I felt so sad for them, they wanted to do it so badly.  (A fun side note.  I took Tyson back to Disneyland for his birthday two weeks ago and he was picked to be in the show that time, I'll post that later)

Don't look too closely at this photo, we don't look that great!

Tess got to meet Cinderella, Aurora, and Jasmine

Emma got pulled out of the crowd to dance during the parade. 

Tess had such a great time and was happy the whole day!  When we finally got in the car she zonked right out, but wouldn't let go of her bag with her souvenier in it!

I can't believe we went to Disneyland to ride a carousel, but it was one of their favorite rides. 

My kids are weird, but it was a great day!

BAPTISM

Baptism's are a very special and sacred event for our family.  We purposely had Ron come home for R&R after Emma turned 8 so he could baptize her while he was here.  We had tons of family come and it meant so much to us.  Unfortunately I didn't take very many pictures, which I really regret.  But I did get some of Emma and Ron after the baptism.  Emma always beams when she is with her daddy.

And per our family tradition, Grandma and Grandpa Vaughan bought Emma her first set of scriptures.  Of course the case HAD to be purple!

New Beds!

The girls have been sharing a full size bed for a few years now.  It started becoming a bit of an issue (that's a bit of an understatement).  So when Ron was here, I recruited him to help me find the girls new bunk beds.  We finally found some that fit out requirments: they needed to look similar when they seperated into individual beds,they needed to be REALLY sturdy, and there needed to be enough head room on the bottom bunk.  We had the beds delivered when Emma was at school and suprised her with them.  She was THRILLED! She has been telling everyone she sees about her new bed.  I love them!  And for now I let the girls pick their own bedding, Tess is princess of course, and Emma is purple and green with flowers.  Lots of fun!  Oh, and it came with a trundle bed, which we are currently using for storage!  Love it!

Their room is pretty small, so its hard to get a good shot of the headboards and footboards, but they are really pretty.  I'm thrilled with what we picked and I'm even more thrilled that the fights at bedtime have stopped!

P.S.  a side effect I wasn't expecting is Tess misses sleeping next to someone so now I have become her someone, usually around 5:30am!

Pumpkin Picking

I miss REAL FALL so much it's driving me crazy.  Luckily there are a few fun fall things here, like Bates Nut Farm where you can go and pick your pumpkin, buy candy, pet and feed some goats and take a pony ride.  Luckily Ron was with us to do the heavy lifting!