What a fun age.

Anisten is almost 15 months. We are having a BLAST at this stage!! This doesn't mean that I am not super super super busy, but I'm taking it all in, and enjoying every second of it!

She is of course walking now. And practically talking! She is a little parrot at this stage. She can say appox. 20+ words, and is increasing by the day! She has learned to say Yes and No verbally and with her head. So it's funny to ask her questions like " are you a monkey?" and she will nod and say yes..

She has learned to shake her fist.
She loves to do summer saults.

She enjoys "helping" with house hold duties. Like putting the clothes in the washer and dryer. Wiping things up. Helping me unload the dishwasher.

She is quite the water bug.

She's becoming very interested in "girly" things like, putting on her make up, carrying a purse, clothes. It's cute to watch her put on her clothes. I bought her a Dora pajama set the other day and she found it in the bag, and brought it to me and made me put it on her. She still doesn't mind running around in her skivvy's though!

Well, all that talk about "helping" with house hold chores..... PAH! She makes more of them than she does helping!

Oopsy, someone left the door open. And Grammie got her toilet paper all rolled out!!

She enjoys being outside no matter what she is doing. Swinging is still one of her faves!

 

She has started going to day care regularly now and is doing WONDERFUL!!

 She doesn't cry when I leave her. She is napping with all the other kids. Playing well, and has adjusted so great. She's only going about 15 hours a week right now.

She doesn't have a shy bone in her body! I think that day care just helps to foster that, and allows her to be more out going and social. She has increased her vocabulary and began to walk after only a few days at daycare.

Just thought I'd give you a little update on my baby! She is growing and developing nicely. (Still a small little thing!) Eating great and Sleeping like a champ STILL!

I promise when summer flees us, I will keep things more updated!

Holy Corn Fields

Went to visit Mom and Dad in Prairie City, Iowa this past week. Culture shock. In a great way of course. It was such a small little town!

This is it.

The whole town right here!

THere really isn't much there. It's like a 2 mile long  town! There is a little ice cream shop, barber shop, convenient store, and industrial businesses. Oh yeah LOTS of corn!

These are FILLED with corn!!!

Anyways. To say the least, it's a great place to relax!

We had such a great time. We went in to Des Moines one evening, which was cool. It's like a mini Dallas. Not nearly as busy.

Got in some great runs. The weather was beautiful. We had to circle the town a few times and then found a trail  and a dirt road that led us in to the corn fields. That was fun!

Mama made us some sea food gumbo that was out of this world! There is nothing like going "home" and eating! 

They followed us home. We left Thursday and drove through the night to get home, mom and dad left Friday morning to come to Oklahoma for my birthday! (Tomorrow.)

Just thought I'd share a little about my vacay and time away in the beautiful (and cool) state of Iowa!

Baby update.

This summer has been the busiest summer ever! And summer officially started yesterday. Hm.

I've spent more time, chasing, picking up, laughing, video taping than ever! I know I haven't been great about keeping updated pics up of this one cute girl, so I'll do a little run down of the last  5 or 6 weeks.

Most of these pics, she will be in her skivvies, or her swim suit. She's a water bug!

piggy tails. 

re-arranging mom's shoe collection at 10:30 at night while waiting for a tornado.

Dancing with the kids on TV.

Wait, where did the water go. This seems like a good idea..

At the lake.

Chips and dip for this baby?

"No mom, I didn't spill or EAT any m&m's"

See?

 Feeling a little bright out.

Workin on the tan.

mmmmm spinach!

On the dance floor at a wedding. Couldn't get the kid off of it.

Hanging out with Dad.

Who needs to swim, when you have rocks?

Some kids carrie small babies. Mine carries this huge catepillar!

The do everything together.

Even mow.

May EVENTS!

Let's see... Middle of May, Everything started getting C-R-A-ZZZZZZ-Y!

I did several cakes in the month of May, and I'll post them all here so that they are all in one post in the case that anyone just wants to view any of them.

Weddings, Graduations, Babies... When you're the Jack of All trades, you stay busy when other peoples lives are in the midst of HUGE change!

So let's start out with Haylee's Graduation.

My little cousin (when I say little I mean very little All of 4'11) graduated from Bixby High School! We had a graduation party for her. I wanted to do a little something special for her. I made a cake that went along with the theme and colors of the party, but I added a little special-ness to it!

We've always called her "Haylee Bug" So when I knew I was making her cake I knew that I some how wanted to put that in there! I also used one of her Senior Pics for some what of a cake topper! Added lady bugs to the cake.

(p.s. please excuse my messy kitchen when doing 2 larger cakes in one day, it's bound to be a little messy right??)

Some how, I ended up double booking myself for this day. Thankfully, both parties wanted the same colors!! So besides the fact that, I had no room in my fridge for actual food, it all worked out perfectly!

The 2nd cake I made that day was for a bachelorette party! Same colors. Pink and Black. 

 

I had a lot of fun with the bride cake. Both of the cakes were made of buttercream, which I am finding a little harder to smooth out and it is not as durable as a fondant cake. On the flip side, it taste tons better!

A week after these 2 cakes, I had a wedding cake that had to be done. It was a small wedding cake. I decided to use fondant for this one, since it is a more formal occasion.... I went with a white cake with pink( hard to see in this pic) ribbon, and Ivory flowers..... This cake has a horror story with it! To be told at a later time- But lets just say I thought i'd get some better pics of this cake at the wedding.......

And lastly, I was asked to do a cake for a baby shower. I gladly accepted! I found out that she was doing lady bug theme for the baby. So I decided to go with a plain white buttercream (which ended up being not so durable and as smooth as I wanted) and lined the bottom with red ribbon and the top with polka dots!
I found some cute lady bug accessories, and some sweet little letters and whipped up a cake right quick! After 2 cakes in one day 2 weekends in a row, this seems like "cake work" ((pun intended!))

 Oh and might I add that the flower on top, I also added a little clip to it, so she can clip it to her babies head band!



Scott and I did the aquarium run, and the full moon run in this month... We are continuing to condition and still plan to train for the Half Marathon in November!

I also did some hair and make up for some weddings which was fun! Anyways, I'll continue to update a little more often now!

Adventures of a one year old baby.

Well, since turning ONE Anisten has had quite the adventurous life! .. she's learned to walk! She is now a very independent women! She goes to daycare once a week. ( fixing to be 2 more days a week) She is still too little to sit facing front wards in the car seat, but we did have to use it once when Dad took our other one. She met chuck E cheese! She had her first ride on a carousel! She's become quite the mechanic. She loves to "help" Daddy fix things around the house!  And the adventures are not slowing down! Summer is about to come..

This child LOVES to be outside any chance she can get. She doensn't really enjoy wearing shoes anymore. :-/ But what can ya do?

Aquarium Run

This past weekend, ( on top of the massive amount of other events I had going on) I ran the aquarium run. The weather was muggy, dark, and borderline rainy. It was at 7:45 am on a Saturday morning. My knee was a little bit in pain. I had 2 cakes to finish before 4 and 7 that night. Work. And I just down right didn't want to go! I had every excuse in the book not to go. But. I did. And I raced.

The FULL MOON run was the weekend before this one. I  was much more motivated, and pumped up about that one than the Aquarium Run!

Anyways, I'm glad I went. I had a good time running it. I think it was a pretty hard run for everyone. The humidity level was 94%. That makes it hard to breathe standing, let alone running! I finished the race in 33:17.  Which is still faster than most of my 5k's that I run during the week. But I wasn't happy with my time at all.
Scott on the other hand had a HUGE PR!!! He finished in 28:52!!! That shaved of f 2 minutes and 14 seconds from this prior race. That's AWESOME!! I was so proud of him!

The course was fun, it took us across the riverwalk and in to the neighborhoods. It was fun to see all the people sitting on their porches watching us and cheering us on. (while drinking their coffee!)

We also hung around to see some of our friends come in from the HALF marathon. (13.1 miles). If you have never been inspired or touched by anything. Go stand at a finish line for something like that. There were people in their late 60's and even in the 70's running this half marathon. Some who ran it for the 1st time, run across the finish line and just become overwhelmed with emotion. That self satisfaction takes over them.... they would just lay down and cry. Some were ran in on the last stretch with their kids, or friends and family members...
My favorite thing in the world, was seeing my baby girl there after the race was over! I was so happy that she was able to come see me!! She enjoyed some chocolate milk and apples as well.

This girl started out in front of us.. Yes she's wearing a bumble bee costume...

This is how Glynna felt about the bumble bee... We quickly passed her..

Jeanean finishing the HALF!! -- wearing a princess tiara none-the-less!

My dear friend JESS. Soooo proud of her!

Glynna ran so hard, she sweat her hair color off!!!

After posting these pics, I came to realize, I didn't take any of us! LOL.

Race-o-holic!

I have several of my friends that are interested in running now. I know that having better weather is much more motivating!!

I am the crazy one who started in the dead middle of winter, but hey , I made it! :-)

So there are SEVERAL races coming up. I was looking at the schedule. And just off the top of my head here are a few that I am interested in. I would LOVE to have any of you do them with me!

This weekend is the Autism Run ( Ready.. Set ... Run ) on Saturday. It's a 5k. I'm also doing that night The Full Moon Run that same evening. This should be interesting... 6 miles in one day? hmm..

But in the up coming months there are some fun things that I want to attend...

•   June 26th - The Green Corn Run  Of course this is my high school home town! This just something fun I thought I would do. I like to go to Green Corn Festival every year. So, why not catch a run?? 5K

• July 3rd  The Fire Cracker Run!!!!! The girls from the Salon are all gearing up for this run! It's the day before my BIRTHDAY! And I'd love nothing more than to do this with some of my friends! 5K
• August 21st - Tulsa Mud Run. Yep you read that right.. Mud Run. This is only a 2 mile run. It's on a muddy course, with tire and other obstacles. I think it's meant to be for pure FUN! 
• September 19th- Ladies First Run This is a race where the ladies get a 3 minute head start in the race, and the men have to "chase " them... How cute?? It use to be refered to as the "Skirt Chasers" and the ladies in the race can get running skirts, instead of TEE shirts. Now that's what I'm talking about! 5K
• September 25th - Race for the CURE This is a big one. Well, it's only a 5K, but it's one that I've done before. I always look forward to it every  year. Supporting Breast Cancer Awareness! Even if you don't run, come out and support!!!
• October 30th-  Tulsa Run! Well, this is it... the ONE that I WAS training for. This is the 15K that I had set my heart on. It's 9.3 miles... That's a long way to run! But I've got my heart set on bigger and better.. .Keep reading!
• November 21st -  Route 66 Half Marathon .... This is really it.. This is where my eyes are set! This will be my new training goals! I will run the Tulsa Run in October which is 9.3 miles, and the HALF marathon is 13.1 miles. SO in the scheme of things it's only 4 more miles.. Oh how I have the burn to get one of those 13.1 stickers for my back windshield! 

• December 31st/ January 1st- Race to the NEW Year!  And that's exactly what you do. This race begins at 11:45 pm on Dec. 31st...  5K How fun???

So this is about a race a month or so. I know it seems like a log..   But as of now,  I'm doing 5K plus 3-4 times a week. So the races are just for something to do with all the training! :-)  ( finished up my couch to 5k a few weeks ago.. it really does work!!)


These are some of the ones that I want to do, and I attached links to all of them, that way some of you who have been asking can see what, when and where they are!


Also, if you are just interested in running, here is the COUCH TO 5K training program. I have promised to send to several people. So figure out a race you'd like to do ( if you start the couch to 5k now, you can do the FIRECRACKER RUN with us!!) and make that your goal.

 Also, just a little note for some of you who are doing the C to 5K, it's OKAY to repeat weeks. It should be challenging, but if you feel like it's not getting easier by your 3rd work out of the week, then repeat the week, or atleast just do the work out another time or 2... And another little side note, find the times of day that are working best for you. 
A few other little side notes...

• You may have to go later or earlier in the evening. It's starting to warm up. ANd we don't want to let the heat dis courage us.. We went for a run the other night at 9pm on the river, and it was beautiful. I went with my husband, so I don't recommend going to a place like that at night by your self, but maybe in your neighborhood or something. 

• Remember ----go at your own pace. Don't try to work for speed.
• Breathe in your nose and out of your mouth. If your getting a side stitch or muscle tiredness, it's good to take to swift breaths IN through your nose, and exhale through your mouth.. This is better than trying to take very deep breaths, your allowed more oxygen this way. 
• Relax....Keep your shoulders relaxed, and down ( not tense and up by your neck). Make sure you're hands and jaws aren't clenching, this burns more energy and can make you more tired easier.
• Listening to music can increase your endurance by up to 15% ( I think it's more for me!)

* By all means am I no expert. But I do run with some great Physical therapists, and have some great friends who are extremely seasoned and have passed down some great advice! I hope I can do the same for someone else!