stuff

I started Couch to 5K on August 19, so it's been about a month since I did it for the first time. The first week went pretty well. I could tell at the end of the week that I was getting better because the last couple of running intervals weren't as hard. For the second week, I decided to repeat the week one routine, but I skipped the third day of running because I was feeling sore. The third week, I ran on Monday (repeated week 1 for the third time) and it was really hard. My knees were really sore and I wasn't sure if it was a bad kind of sore or muscle soreness, but at any rate the pain was bad enough that I didn't do anything cardio that week except walk about half a mile one day. So I took a break for that week. I did some research and asked friends for advice, and I learned some things about proper form and decided to ditch my new shoes and go back to my old ones. I started up again for a fourth week, repeating the week 1 routine one more time, and that week went a lot better. This past week I finally moved up to the week 2 routine and it went pretty well. My calves are feeling sore, but I'm not worried about that because I can tell it's the good kind of pain like you get from working muscles that aren't used to exercising. I'm going to repeat the week 2 routine again this week. I can tell that my lungs and heart are in a lot better shape already. The main thing is that my leg muscles need to get stronger before I can run for longer intervals.

On Friday after we picked Kevin up from the bus, he dashed off and ran up the hill, wanting to check on our garden (the neglected one that only has dead plants in it). I didn't want to do that because it was hot and Heidi didn't have any shoes (and there wasn't anything to check because all of our plants have died), but he wouldn't listen to me when I told him to come back. The cool thing was that I was able to run after him. Before I started doing Couch to 5K I couldn't really have done that. I got tired too fast to be able to run after him for very long. This was one of the main reasons I started running. I don't know if I'll ever get fast enough to keep up with him, but I wanted to be able to "run and not be weary" so that I can keep up with my kids better (and play with them more!), so that has been a blessing. And even though sometimes I feel like Jello after doing a run, I also love that feeling of accomplishment and exhilaration afterwards. It really helps my self-esteem to know that I am doing something for my health and to feel the power that my body has. I've also been going to a Pilates class and lifting weights at the YMCA when I can. Heidi can do all of the puzzles at Child Watch in the time that I do a workout.

Kevin is enjoying school. In the evenings he will often get a piece of paper and sit and practice writing letters and numbers, which was something he would very rarely do before school started. He's improving a lot.

Some people in our ward have started a playgroup for kids that are Heidi's age. I've been asked by various people if I was putting Heidi in. I haven't really felt a strong need this year to do anything like that. Right now I feel like she needs to be home with me. She really is a sweetheart, and I enjoy having her around. She likes to help me fold washcloths and diapers, read books, and color.

You would think that now that I've graduated and Kevin is in school I would have a lot of extra time, but the reality is that I'm busier than ever, and I'm not sure why. Other than the meals, changing diapers, and feeding the baby, it seems like most days I can only manage to do one more thing. It's hard to keep up. I'm trying to become okay with that and realize that this is not a clean house season in my life.

I haven't been participating in social things as much lately. It's probably largely because Ryan's at work all day now that I'm not in school, so at the end of the day I usually would rather spend the evening with him than go to the girls night or whatever.

This week I got to go do an endowment session at the temple. On Wednesday I was feeling really overwhelmed by my responsibilities and some decisions I needed to make, and I had a very strong prompting that I needed to go to the temple the next day, so I made the call right away and scheduled an appointment for Thursday. It was a really special experience. As I approached the doors I was already in tears because it felt so, so good to be at the temple and I knew I would be in the presence of Heavenly Father there. I gained a lot of insights during the endowment session, and as I was praying in the Celestial room afterwards I got some answers to some questions I had. I also had a strong impression that God and His angels were there in the temple, including my ancestors, and that my family members who have died are helping me with my work as a mother because they want our righteous branch to continue. I probably have not felt the Spirit this strongly in the temple since I received my own endowment six years ago, so it was a really good day.

Kevin and Heidi started soccer yesterday, so hopefully they will enjoy that. Kevin is the tallest on his team, and Heidi is the shortest on her team by a head.

Yesterday was our annual Stake Women's Day. It's kind of like Super Saturday, except there is a much wider variety of classes (not just crafts). In the past I've attended classes about couponing, making ties for boys, managing finances, raising children, food storage, various spiritual topics, and more. This year the classes I chose were about building our children's strengths, making the most of attending the temple, and self defense. The self defense class was really interesting. The two main things I learned were that if you feel like you're in danger, you should head for lights and lots of people--not the bathroom or your car--and that the most important thing you can do to avoid being a victim of violence is to be aware and avoid getting into unsafe situations. We learned a few basic self-defense maneuvers, but I realized that for those to be useful you really would need to practice self-defense enough that those moves are instinctive.

Ann Marie rolled over from back to front on Tuesday. So now she sometimes has the problem where she gets on her tummy, plays for a while, then gets too tired to remember that she knows how to roll back over.