35th Birthday

I'm 35 years old!  Wahoo!  One year older and one year bolder.  

I definitely have had a lot of personal growth these past couple of years.  I've explored a lot about being myself and who I really want to be verses societal expectations.  I've been questioning many of my own decisions and wonder if I'm making them because I truly want to and think it is best or am I doing it because it is what is expected of me.  I think it is good to periodically take a look at your life and see how things are aligning with your values.  One of those things is bleaching my hair.  Not that I'm expected to do it, but I'm getting a little tired of it.  So I thought I would go bold for a couple months before I go to my natural color.

My birthday was fun.  It was Saturday so I got to sleep in.  Then I went on a jog in some extremely hot and humid weather.  It then started down-pouring.  It so rarely ever rains on my birthday, so that was a change.  That afternoon it cleared up and we met some friends and played kickball and then ate dinner at the food court on base.  It was honestly too hot to play but they were so sweet to come out and try anyway.  We had a good time.

After that we headed home and I opened presents and had cake with the kids.  The stop motion video from Penelope and Tucker was my favorite.  Leon also make me one that was really cute but he doesn't want me to post it.  I attached Penelope's video below.  Tucker did the ending part, he got a bit off track and I'm not sure where Spiderman comes into play but I love the effort they made.  Scarlett painted a picture for me.  I really do love their homemade gifts.

That night we watched Nacho Libre and I almost died laughing.  That movie is hilarious!

1,064 Miles

O had a goal this year to run over 1,000 miles and I did it!  I ended up with 1,064 miles.

I spend a ton of time outside running.  It basically broke down to 4 miles a day five days a week.  It is pretty doable.  But the hardest thing was being consistent for an entire year.  I'm a pretty consistent person, but some weeks between rain, travel, or covid it would have been easy to fall behind.  I also had foot pain from my shoes and being on my feet at Chili's.  There were many mornings when I wanted to sleep in.  Lots of nights I'd get to bed after midnight but need to getup at 6:15 for school bus/jog the next morning.  But for the most part it wasn't too bad.

I really like running and I have the perfect spot.  Just across the street from my house is a beautiful boardwalk along the water with great views.  I don't have to worry about stoplights or getting hit by cars or being attacked.  I'm so glad I made the most of it while I could.

I recorded things old school on a piece of paper.

I'm not really into timing my runs or trying to go fast.  It is much more enjoyable for me to just jog and not worry about it.  I usually focus on my audio books or chat with friends.  But I did time it toward the end and this is what I got.  I should say that I was trying to go fast and I don't normally do that. 

Alita came jogging with me a couple times a week the entire year. I'm going to miss our jogs after we move.

It is hard to see in the picture, but Mt. Fuji was clear as day.  I figure I saw it about half the days if not more.  

I love what can happen when we set goals.  I'm not exactly sure about what I'll do this year.  But I never regret making goals, even when they don't turn out.

I'm a Chilihead!!

Check out my new shirt!  

Back in the spring I started working as a server at Chili's here in Japan on base.  It was about 13 years since I had a job and it has been amazing.

On the one hand its not about the money, but it is also totally about the money.  I didn't get the job to make a bunch of money because we are living fine off of bob's income.  But I love to have my work valued in the form of $$$.  It is nice to have other people telling me thank you and nice things while I am working for them instead of getting whined and complained at when I tell the kids things.  Plus it is totally exciting when I get a big tip.  I'd say on a normal night I make about $150-200 in tips.  But we have been busy and just over the past two weeks one night I made $300, once $400, and even $500 one night.  What are we going to do with the money?  I have no idea.  I want it to be something special instead of going into our regular savings account and just getting lost with our retirement/house fund.  I'm thinking about having it be for vacations, or for me to get my doctorate.  

Another great thing about it is that it is crazy busy.  I usually work three nights a week.  I go in at 3pm and usually end around 11.  But there have been nights when I don't leave until after midnight. Most of the time I'm there is nonstop, at least until the customers leave around 9:30.  I don't take breaks and often don't have time to go to the bathroom.  I can usually get a sip of water and once in a while I eat a few bites of messed up food in the back.  I like being so busy, because it is time when I am living completely in the present.  I do not have time to think about the future or worry about anything.  Sometimes I can get a nice flow going and the time just flys by.  

Bob has been doing a lot around the house on the nights that I'm working and I'd say it has been a nice balance shift.  He never complains about it or anything he has been really great about it.  I just feel more balance because now we are both solo parenting at times and also both working outside of the home.  The kids have been doing just fine.  At first they didn't like me being gone, but they can just deal with it.  I'm honestly a little tired of my life revolving around six little people, now I have my own schedule that needs to also be worked around.

I have no idea how long I will work there.  I wouldn't say it is my dream job or anything like that.  In fact we just got shut down last night for Covid.  Hopefully we will open back up soon.  The main things I don't like about it are that my feet hurt, and I'm really tired almost all the time.  I still have to get up at 6am to get some kids off the school, then we homeschool, put the littles down for naps and I get ready for work.  Its a busy schedule, but that only makes the days I don't work so much sweeter.

And now it totally makes sense as to why I barely ever post on here anymore.  I like blogging mainly for journaling purposes, but it will just have to happen when I have time.

11th Anniversary

For our anniversary this year we went on a painting date.  We left all the kids even Calista with my parents and went to a paint studio.  We've never left Calista before so it was pretty exciting. I like to try to do something a little different for our anniversary besides just going out to eat.  It makes things seem extra special.

We went to this place where for 2 hours they give us directions and we tried to follow along the best we could to make the painting.  It was such a blast.

It was interesting to see how differently Bob and I paint.  And all the other people really.  We were all following the same directions yet they turned out different.  And I am kind of slow.  There were a couple times when Bob was finished between directions and I was frantically trying to catch up as she said the next thing.

Here are our "finished" products.  I felt really rushed and wasn't completely happy with exactly how mine turned out so I worked on it more at home.  Bob laughed at me.  But now I'm totally happy with it.

I chose these paintings because one day we want to go to Paris.  Maybe for our 20th anniversary.

I would looooove to do this again sometime.  I already like painting so this was really the perfect kind of date for me.

This next picture is one of our engagement pics.  We look so young!

Bob has been great these past 11 years!  I couldn't have asked for a better husband.

Watch What I'm Wearing

This outfit was pretty comfy and perfect because the weather is starting to warm up.

The most clicked on link was by...

J Petite

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Mother's Day/ Family Pictures

One of the hardest pictures to take is one with our whole family in it.  I know the kids never last long when it comes to pictures so I tried to have everything set up beforehand.  We took these right after church last week so no one even had to spend time getting dressed for the pictures.  The hardest thing for me was the weather, I really wanted a lot of natural light coming in through the window but that didn't quite happen.  I'm happy with how they turned out!

With all seven of us on the bed it hardly looks king sized.

This picture of just the three of us was a breeze compared to the one with the kids.  You can't even tell that Calista was upset almost the whole time.

This mothers day the kids brought me a cinnamon roll for breakfast in bed.  It was great!  Then when I came downstairs I had an abundance of cards the kids made for me.  The best presents are the ones the kids make.  They are so sweet.

 Bob helped with the giant candy covered card.

 After church we went to over to my moms to spend time with her and my sister.  The only thing I would have changed about the day if I could was the pouring down rain.

I love my kids so much!  It was hard to believe this Mother's Day that I am the mother to five children!  Often I feel overwhelmed at the amount of work and the huge responsibility I feel to do a good job raising them.  I am honored that Heavenly Father sent them to me to be their mom.

Update

I kind of busy with taking care of a newborn so for today here are some pictures I uploaded off my phone.  If you follow me on instagram you've seen most of these.

Watch What I'm Wearing

I'm just about 36 weeks pregnant in these pictures. I've worn this a couple of times and I find that I have to adjust the belt tightness every time :)

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