12 Miles!!

This morning I ran 12 miles in the rain! It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. This past week, I got some new songs for my MP3 player from my sister. I think the new music helped a lot. The half marathon is a week from today (June 13). I am a little nervous, but I feel pretty prepared. Physically I feel that I am ready. As far as my knee goes, I'm not so sure. I found out that I have runner's knee, which is basically shin splints in the knee. They could have been caused from running around a short track, sprinting, running up and down hills, and/or my shoes. The best solution is to rest it, which I really can't do at this point! So, I am just going to endure the pain and rest after the half marathon. We'll see how it goes. It hurts pretty much whenever I run, but it hurts a lot worse when I go up or down hills. Which is not good because the Teton Dam Half Marathon is all hills (I've heard that it is the hardest half marathon in Idaho because of this). But, I just have a week more of the pain. After the half marathon I plan on continuing to run, just not those dang hills! :)

Memorial Day

Monday, we went to my parent's cabin in Island Park. It is always fun to go there and just relax. Mckenna went on her first 4-wheeling ride and she loved it!

Devin had both Monday and Tuesday off of school and work so we went 4-wheeling and stuff on Monday. Tuesday we worked more on Devin's application to Physician Assistant schools and finished the main application and submitted it. We are applying to 8 schools including schools in Idaho, Illinois, Florida, two in Texas, Virginia, Georgia, and Arkansas. We probably won't hear back for a while because the application just opened for the year and it is rolling admission. We are hoping that by getting the application in early, we will have a better chance of being accepted. We are applying now, but he wouldn't start PA school for about a year.

6 Months Already!

Mckenna turned 6 months old this week. We went to the doctor and got her shots, which she didn't like obviously. She has acted totally normal since then and hasn't been fussy, tired, or anything like that from the shots. Here are her stats:

Length- 25 1/2 inches (40%ile)

Head- 17 inches (75%ile)

Weight- 13 lbs 6 oz (5%ile)

So, as you can see, we are really working on the weight part now! :) Sometimes she will go for like 4-5 hours until I realize that she hasn't eaten. But the weird thing is that she doesn't act hungry and is happy. So, I am now feeding her every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. I am also feeding her more rice cereal and solids. We are going to weigh her again in 2 weeks to make sure that she gains weight. I have been doing this for the last two days and it seems like I am feeding her all of the time!! I encourage her to eat as long as she will (I shoot for 30 minutes). 2 1/2 hours comes around awfully fast when she eats for 30 minutes. As far as the solids go, she loves baby food. Weird enough, she likes carrots the best so far. But, with all of this eating, she really should gain weight. Other than that, she is doing really well.

6 months old

5 months old

4 months old

3 months old

2 months old

1 month old

2 weeks old

1 day old

It's crazy how much babies change! I have learned a lot the last 6 months...

• There is never a baby that is quite as cute as yours :)
• You won't be able to pay attention in church like you used to
• When you get a full nights rest, you are grateful
• Enjoy each developmental age they are in instead of looking forward to the next
• You can never have enough pictures of your baby
• Moms (grandmas) are the best people to go to with any parenting question (Thanks Mom!)
• No matter how long it takes them to go to sleep and how much you have to get done while they are asleep, you still check on them often to make sure they are ok.
• Now I know why all that moms talk about are their own children
• Their is immense unconditional love for your own children
• Even when you look back fondly of your life without children, you would never go back

I love being a mom! Some days it seems like I could be accomplishing much more, but I know that staying home and raising Mckenna and our future children is exactly what I need to be doing at this time in my life and that I am accomplishing much more by staying home with her than I realize. It is so great to be home with Mckenna and to learn from her and teach her. I am sure there will be many great memories to come too!

Sorry it has been so long since I posted. We have been pretty busy! Things are pretty much the same though. Devin is really busy with school, his church calling, and work. So Mckenna and I have had lots of bonding time :) Here are more pictures... of course!

Devin and Mckenna "studying"

Mckenna enjoying new foods

Waking up from a nap

Mckenna's favorite thing to suck on

5 Months Old

So last night, we started Mckenna on some rice cereal. Just like every baby, she didn't like it at all. Here is a video of her funny faces! :)



In the middle she started choking/gagging. For some reason the sound didn't load up with the video...but you get the picture.

Mckenna often falls asleep holding her pacifier...can't live without it!

Easter

Our Easter wasn't all that exciting, but I thought I would post pictures anyway. I hid some eggs, but obviously Mckenna didn't care but Devin sure had fun! We went to my parents house for dinner and found a few Easter eggs there too.









And a few other picures...nothing to do with Easter. :)






Devin and Mckenna watching basketball on TV.

Self Reliance

The last couple of weeks, I have tried to become more self-reliant and work on our food storage. I have been making pretty much all of our bread. It has been a lot of fun and it really hasn't taken much time.

One day I was went running while the bread was rising. I guess my run was a little too long that day because I came home and this is what I found (I usually let it rise in the oven because it is warmer in there and rises better). It worked out fine though because I just put it all back in the pan, let it rise again, and then baked it.

I got a recipe for home made laundry detergent from a friend. It actually works really good. We do about 2 loads of laundry per week, so I figured out that this would cost about $20 for a years supply. It involves grating a Fels Naptha bar, which takes some time, but other than that it is really easy to make.

We also found a good deal on strawberries, so we made strawberry freezer jam.

So, we have a little more food storage than we used to have, but we still have quite a bit to get. The hard part is just figuring out how much of what you use in a year. But when we go to the grocery store, we just buy a few extra things, which has helped a lot. I also spent a few days grinding some wheat, so we are getting there...slowly, but surely.