Five Lies and One Truth

1.     I have lived in four different states.

2.     I have three children.

3.     I swam the ocean with sharks twice.

4.     I have been skydiving.

5.     I have traveled outside the United States five times.

6.     I have eaten chocolate covered worms.

Halloween

Halloween is right around the corner! Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. I enjoy helping my girls pick out their costumes and helping them get all dressed up for the night. This year, my oldest daughter is going to be a purple fairy and my youngest daughter is going to be a dead monster. We have so much fun making the scary costumes with a lot of blood and guts J. We have entered in many costume contests and always seem to be picked for a prize. It is a ton of fun! I also enjoy dressing up, but haven’t decided on my costume yet. Our family has a few traditions we always sick to for the holiday. We will make cookies shaped in Halloween shapes and decorate them with lots of candy. Along with cookie making we have a list of scary movies we watch each year. I definitely pay for allowing my kids to watch some of these movies. They love to scare each other, and of course they also love to tattle on each other J. We have lived in military housing every year for the past 10 years. It is a very safe environment for lots of trick or treater's. My girls usually cash in with about two pillowcases full of candy! Of course mom has to go through it and pick out the ones they won’t like and the ones I should keep for myself J. Isn’t that what Halloween is all about, right? Candy! Halloween is the beginning of the holiday season. It is so much fun to see all the stores and home decorated. Pretty soon it will be Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and before we know it, it will be the New Year! Time passes so fast when you are having fun!! I hope everyone has a very Happy Halloween!

Life Changing Opinion

I was never a huge fan of running, in fact I despised it! It wasn’t until I was at my last straw in dieting that I decided to force myself to give it a solid try. My dad was a big runner and had been trying to get me into it for years. I made a promise to my self that I would stick it out for a month and just see what happens. My first couple of times running were horrible. I thought that there was no way that this would ever become part of my life. I still had another three weeks before I would give it up so I pushed myself to get through each run faster.

I had seen a flyer for a five-kilometer race that was on the same weekend that I planned to quit. I thought “what a great way to end this new found misery”, so I singed up. Each day I ran before the race I kept pushing myself harder so I wouldn’t make a fool of myself and at least finish the damn thing.

The race day finally came. When I got there, the environment was electric. People were warming up in various ways and everyone was very friendly. I felt nervous but excited at the same time. We all got set at the starting line and the thought of “what the hell am I doing” was going through my mind. The starter gun went off and I took off. My legs moved like they were possessed. By the time I got to the halfway point, I had passed a lot of people and I still felt great. As the finish line came closer, my heart took over and I started sprinting. I could hear someone behind me and I knew there was no way they were going to pass me. I pushed to the final end and crossed ahead of them. I realized right there, that running would be part of me for the rest of my life. It has also affected my family’s life in several ways. I am a much happier person and I’m sure they all enjoy being around me much more now!

Family

When I think about family, all the old television shows come to mind. Rosanne, as a lower income family, struggles to get by with three kids. I still watch that show and relate each character to my family as I grew up. Then there is “All in the Family” with Archie Bunker. His relationship and actions with his family remind me of my grandfather on my mother’s side. Everything from how he centered the family, to the ridiculous things he would do. I’m sure I view my husband and kids the same way as I portrayed my family growing up as if we were the Conner family. If you asked my husband he would probably say we relate more to the Bundies or Major Dad. Whatever family we relate to, there is one common thing we all agree on. That our family comes first.

My father comes from a family were there is two brothers and five sisters. My mother comes from a family with two sisters and two brothers. I am one of two sisters and one brother and my husband is the youngest of six brothers. Each of us, on both my side and my husband’s side all have three children on average. Now if you take just the first cousins from both my family and my husband’s family, from aunts and uncles to grandchildren, there are roughly 83 people in our immediate family. Yes our family is large, but there is over 3,000 miles in between some of us and on average, we never get more than a third of them together at a time. When we do get together there is nothing but laughter. We all have a bunch of new things to fill each other in with. We love to tell jokes and laugh at each other’s expense. We have always said, if you don’t have a good sense of humor, you are in the wrong family.

I cherish my family more and more everyday and know that every moment spent with them is a blessing. I try not to take any time with them for granted.  We all live far apart, but always know we are only a phone call away. We will be getting together this year for Thanksgiving in Arizona. I can not wait, I’m sure we will all have a blast and all the kids will have fun making new memories with each other. In my opinion, there is nothing better then being with family for the holidays!