Mom's Garden Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Mom! We spent a fun morning at Minter Gardens looking at flowers, lunch at the Wildcat Grill and then off to Brian Minter's Garden Centre. Mom said it was the perfect day!

Minter Flowers...

Just some flower shots with my Macro Lens...

Got a flat...

As I was leaving work, my car started making a funny noise so I pulled over... after quick survey of the outside of my car my one tire looked a bit low, then I realized... it was flat! I know that sounds stupid, but it was kind of hard to tell with the lower profile tires, they sit low already!

The culprit...

Brian had been wanting to show me how to change a tire for a while now, but unfortunately we hadn't gotten around to it and he was in Saskatchewan!!! A co-worker helped me put the spare on and I was able to make it to Kal-tire where they fixed my tire for free! Awesome service!!

I did a Half Marathon!!

So today was the half marathon... Nadia, her sister Julia and I were all totally nervous and excited. It was supposed to pour with rain and somehow, we missed the rain. The weather was cool but windy which really was ideal (however, the wind was a bit too windy at times). The race was in White Rock and went through some beautiful areas. At the start, I ran 14 minutes and then moved in to my walk 2 run 5 rotation. At first, Nadia, Julia and I were all running together, then I fell behind. Then I am not sure what happened, but slowly I gained on them... passed them and didn't see them again until the finish line! I was probably with them for the first 5km. Since we were sort of at the back to begin with, it was a very quiet race for me as I hardly saw anyone else and when I did, I ended up passing them! Crazy right? Haha... at about the 16km mark, my knees and back had had it. I ended up speed walking most of the way to the end with a bit of running here and there. At this point the wind was particularly bad. I had told myself all along that I wasn't going to push myself if I couldn't run, I wouldn't. Still there was a bit of a drive to push forward quickly as I realized that this would be the first time in a race that I would ever have a better time than Nadia... haha, yes, I got competitive! My goal was to come in at 2hrs 40min keeping with my 2/5s, but would be happy if I came in under 3 hours. Due to the walking at the end, my time was some where around 2hrs 55 min (but that still needs to be verified as we all wore ankle chips so I will update my blog on that later). Nadia came in about 2 minutes after me and Julia shortly after that. We all did amazing. After telling Mom I didn't really want anyone to come watch the race, I sure was thrilled to see Mom and Cali just before the finish line. I really didn't expect that completing this race would be so emotional... Me and Nadia both cried after coming across the finish line. Julie and Sophie were also at the end waiting for us, so it was an awesome show of support for such a big physical accomplishment. Mom and Julie both took a bunch of pictures and here is what Julie gave me (great job Julie!).

Here is me finishing the half marathon! Honestly, I had to push myself to run across that finish line, I was so sore!

Little Cali was pretty excited to be a part of me coming across the finish line!

Julia, Me and Nadia after all doing an AWESOME job of completing the half marathon!

As I sit here on the couch, feeling sick to my stomach, in pain... everywhere... back pain, knee pain, sore toes, black toes, blisters, chaffing... haha, will I do it again? I think I will stick to the 10 kms for the moment! In all seriousness, I am proud of what I accomplished!

A running acheivement...

So after getting s**t from alot of people about going running last night after my back problems last week... Nadia and I successfully completed a 16 km (10 miles) run in 2hours! To date, that is our longest run and I am feeling pretty good today. We are going to bump it up to 18km by the end of the week as that half marathon is a week and a half away now. Exciting stuff!

Homemade PIzza.... Yummmmmm

In an effort to save money and pay off debt, I am making so much more homemade food and am totally enjoying doing it. Tonight I made pizza dough from scratch... then Brian and I each topped our own pizzas. Superstore has this great little package of pizza meat for a few dollars that is enough for a few pizzas... plus there no name pizza sauce is very good. I also used a 4 cheese mix and then topped it off with some oregano, it was awesome pizza!!

Babysitting & Cupcakes!

Brian and I got to babysit for John and Stefanie while they went out for their anniversary! It was great to get to spend so much time with the kids. We had a really great time. Mom was babysitting Lilah and Declan as well, so we got them all together to play and have hotdogs!

Scarlett wearing her carrots!

Declan, Jack and Tag (we couldn't leave the dog at home!! He had fun too)

Uh oh... better watch out for Jack with that water gun!

Us with all the kids... a rare sight!!

As a special treat... I made rainbow cupcakes for the kids... you couldn't tell until you opened them up that the cake was rainbow colored too, I think it was a fun surprise.

Declan with his Rainbow Cupcake

Lilah with her cupcake

Jeremy with his cupcake already half done!!

Jack ended up with cupcake in his hair... still don't know how that got there!

Flowers in our Garden

Thanks to Mom, our garden is looking great... all these flowers were things she has given us
(except for the weed and the spider!!)

Dutch Apple Pie

While I was letting my brown bread rise today, I thought it would be fun to try a recipe I found in a magazine... a Dutch Apple Pie. Basically its an apple betty with a cream cheese bottom in a pie shell... WOW is it good!!! And yes, I made it all from scratch!

My first loaf of Brown Bread!

Brian has been bugging me to bake him a loaf of bread.... when I was at the store today in the bulk section picking up more baking supplies, I saw the whole wheat flour and thought I should give brown bread a shot! It turned out so well, I am thrilled!

Bees in the Garden

We have so many bees in the garden right now and I thought it would be a good opportunity to get out the macro lens! It was hard to get the bees without any blur because they just won't stop moving!