A Day to Remember...

Wow! I did it! This was a day long in the making. Let me start from the beginning...

Two years ago the Maile Sisters-in-law ran the Freedom Festival Run together and my brothers and I sat at the finish line with all our kids and watched in anticipation for our wives to finish. One by one they finished and I have to admit it was very inspiring to see them do something that I viewed as something I would NEVER do in my life. Why would I do something that has always been viewed as a form of punishment for fun? That didn't even make sense, but I could appreciate people who found pleasure in doing something hard...after all that's what life is about right? Learning to do hard things?

Well anyone who knows me knows that I talk junk just to be funny. So Abby and I were doing a little "playful banter" after that run and I told her I wasn't scared and would run it with her next year! Luckily for me she was pregnant last year (surprise! surprise!) so we couldn't run it. So I thought I was off the hook. But she didn't forget. This year was my year. I still had another SHOCK when I found out the 5K was actually a little more than 3 miles when I had been thinking all along that a 5K was a little more then 2 miles...WHICH WAS MY PREVIOUS LONGEST RUN in my life (2 miles)! And that was when I was in better shape playing football! I started panicking and set my mind to start training. At the end of April I started running 3.1 miles (5K) about 4-5 times a week on an eliptical machine at the gym! I've been able to get my butt in gear and feel good about my progress so far. I still have my goal ahead of me where I feel I will be my healthiest but I'm at a good place. I hadn't run the actual distance on actaul pavement til our Family Reunion/ Family Wedding last week. That was a very peaceful run. It was quiet, private, no spectators... just me and Abby. It was perfect!

This run was the complete OPPOSITE of our run in Idaho!! All hype... about 5000+ runners, the route was on the parade route, everyone was there waiting for the parade and cheering runners on...I hated it! I've played in many football games in front of 10's of thousands of people no problem, but doing something that is one of my biggest fears/ weaknesses was not something I wanted to share with everyone in Utah County! I told Abby if I was a woman I would want to go off in the woods and have my baby the old fashion way...away from everyone and come back when all the pain was over!

Me and Ane Boo with my body paint t-shirt from the run! I really do like the shirt...but it was tight...literally! LOL!
So to have to experience something like that in public was tough. I told Abby I forgot to wear my glasses. I wanted them on because I don't like people to see pain in my eyes...but I had to keep reminding myself that this was for me, and me wanting to be an example to my kids. Anyone who knows me and what I like knows that I like to be an example of someone who is willing to do hard things! I also wanted to be an example for my girls to see that if you set goals and work hard you can accomplish them. It was personal for me to say that I can do it! And after it was all done to be able to say "I did it" and to celebrate my personal independence on Independence Day was symbolic for me too! It was funny because people think I was joking when I say I only had three goals for this run: 1. finish the race 2. don't walk and 3. Don't die! I'm proud to say that I accomplished all three of my goals! No lie... those were my goals.

This is who this run was for! To see my girls at the finish line I almost got a little emotional because I almost quit a few times thinking "You already just did this in Idaho, you don't have anything to prove" but I did! I wanted to stop and walk so bad but I didn't want to let anyone down, especially myself. I had to prove to myself, my wife, my girls, and my family that I could do this. And I did!
Big Thanks to the best wife EVER for running with me the entire time even when I told her "JUST GO!" because I was tired! She stuck by my side...she's a great woman!

Wordless Wednesday

Our Davis Fam

We feel super excited about the new and improved Davis Family. We have gained some really sweet cousins and a beautiful, capable, and generous sister/auntie. Here are some of the pictures of them from our trip to Idaho.

Matt always seemed to catch Ane at the end of the day when she was a bit on the grouchy side. So I had him feed her a bottle. She's always cheerful when someone will feed her.


I'm pretty sure Uncle Russell was behind this one. Personally, I'm not a sand fan and the idea of being completely surrounded by it is a little disconcerting. But these guys all seemed to love it. They were in the sand almost 90% of our trip.


Yes, that's a fish in their hands. A DEAD fish that they found. Eeeew. After they finished showing everyone their prize they went somewhere and buried it. They swore to me that afterwards they washed their hands...but I'm not sure I'm buying that story. Don't they look so proud of themselves? (That's Kaden and Sheldon.)

These guys had so much fun together. I absolutely ADORE Kaci. I wish we had some pictures of she and I riding together behind the boat. We had a blast. I think Malia was a bit cold in this pic.


These girls were so great taking turns riding. This one is Addison, Malia, and Kaci.


Here's li'l Lincon. (On the right.) What a doll. I think that's a cousin of his on Kami's side that's sitting with him.


Eli seemed a bit unseperable from all her boy cousins. I kept finding her goofing off with all of them. This was at the wedding.


I took this next one, because it seems Eli needs a lesson on personal space. I love Lincon's face that he's giving her.


Their wedding was beautifully done. They didn't want a lot of fanfare for the whole thing, and I thought it was done so sweetly. Their whole new little family stood together during the ceremony. This pic I think Liz took with my camera, and I don't know if she knew what she caught. Check out Mason...

For those of you who have yet to meet the new cousins, from left to right...Lincon, Cameron, Mason, Sheldon, Kaden, Big Matt, Kami, and Kaci.


I LOVE this picture, just for all the boys' heads. You can't see Lincon's very well, but he's doing the same thing.

We are so blessed to have these new family members. Thank you for a great week, guys. We wish you and your family the best of times together. Have fun with each other!

Yelling Epiphany

Naki and I had quite the epiphany lately. It wasn't a pretty one. But I am so super grateful that we were in the position to receive and experience it. It suddenly became apparent to us that the tone of voice we used with the kids that you usually reserve for extreme situations, like, say, your house is on fire! or something along those lines, was the tone we used the most. Not okay and not good at all. Duh. No wonder we were struggling so much with the way the girlies were speaking to each other. They were being modeled the perfect way to NOT speak to your family that you love and adore. So we took extreme measures and taped our mouths shut. Just kidding. But sometimes it takes everything I have to speak calmly and not blow steam out of my ears when I've called the same person's name 50 times and still without a response. But already we've seen a difference. It just feels more peaceful around here. The night we got home from our Family Reunion was somewhat stressful. Just a bunch of tired kiddos and a lot of work ahead of us...not always a peaceful situation. Plus we were accidentally locked out of the house with several people about to pee their pants! But I knew that we were working succesfully towards our goal when after all was said and done and it still felt so calm and warm, that Lose came to me and asked if we could read a scripture together before we went to sleep that night. I hope that we can keep getting better and better at this because it just feels a bit more like heaven around here, even if I have to tape my mouth shut sometimes.

Are you sure all of your limbs are still attached?

We got home from our Davis Family 2009 Family Reunion last night. The first thing Naki and I did after unpacking, cleaning out the car, washing as much sand out of everyone's hair as possible, unloading all the food stuffs from the road trip, was upload this video. We were dying to see it on a screen bigger than our camera. The fun part is at the end. It is, from left to right, Naki, Line, and her Uncle Matt Brousseau. Apparently, unbeknownst to any of the inner tube riders or Grandfather Davis, the driver, the inner tube had been slowly losing air on the same side that Naki was riding on. The end result was this...


Don't worry...this didn't deter any of us from getting right back on as soon as the leaking air was fixed. It was so much fun! Truly, I didn't know what I'd find when we circled back around to pick him up. Naki told me that it's been a long time since he's felt a hit like that. Glad to have you alive and all in one piece, Babe!

Matt and Kami, here we come!

I'll be missing in action for a bit. . . we're celebrating the newest members to our extended Davis family in Idaho with a beautiful wedding ceremony on Wednesday, June 24th. Matt is marrying beautiful Kami and is gaining 4 new munchkins (whom we are dying to meet!), Kaci, Sheldon, Cameron, and Lincon. So, in the process of going to dance classes, softball games and practices, shopping trips to prepare for the trip, laundry desperately needing to get done for packing purposes, and another bazillion errands to run, we'll be out of reach for a while. Think of us fondly, relaxing in the boat on the lake, playing games with cousins, late night chats with the adults (hopefully the kiddos will accomodate by actually sleeping), and hopefully not gaining back any of the weight that we've managed to lose thus far! Till we get back...

Wordless Wednesday, sort of...Our Little Mommas