31 Fundraiser

A very kind friend from our neighborhood has offered to do an online fundraiser for you. It is so humbling to have some many people reach out and help to get you home. Below are the details to the fundraiser, she is giving us her WHOLE commission!

RESCUING VICTORIA FUNDRAISER

Let’s kick off Spring with some great new Thirty-One products and help bring sweet little Victoria home to her forever family at the same time!

Dates: April 1st thru April 14th

Time:Anytime Where: Online at www.31bagchick.com

**25% of all sales will be donated to the Bonner family to aid in the costs associated with adopting this precious little girl. Let’s help bring Victoria home soon!

For every $31 you spend your name will be entered into a drawing for a half price item.

To place an order go to www.31bagchick.com, click on My Events and chose the Rescuing Victoria Fundraiser. And don’t worry, you’ll still get tickets into the drawing for online orders as well.

Go ahead and make your wish list now by viewing the online catalog but please refrain from placing any orders until April 1st or they will not count towards the fundraiser.

And don’t forget to take advantage of this month’s customer special! For every $31 you spend you can get any purse ½ price! This includes the ever popular Retro Metro bag, Fifth Avenue Purse and the brand new Casual Cargo Purse plus many others.

Mom & Marathons

So I've been reading some cool blogs thanks to Pinterest tonight just about everyday sort of stuff. Thats one thing that I love about blogging, it gives me a sneak peak into REAL peoples everyday life. A glimpse at what people are up to and how they manage/enjoy life. So I thought, what do I have to offer the eighty something people that secretly read my blog and seldom leave comments..hint hint. Ha ha. I thought I would illustrate how a mother of two small children can train for and run a marathon.

Way back when, in 2007 I believe, I set a personal goal to run a marathon. Along with that initial goal I also set a goal to run a full-marathon after each baby I had. Mainly as a way to get back into shape, but running is also an amazing stress reliever for me. So the year after Kaelyn was born I trained for and ran the Odgen Marathon in May 2010 with my bestie Jamie and other super friend Nicole. Then I figured I was already in shape and training mode so why not keep it up and run another marathon at the end of the summer. So that I did and ran the Park City marathon in August of the same year.

Well I'm at it again, training with my friend Shannon for the Bear Lake marathon in June. We just completed week 4 of 18 today with an 11 mile run. Shannon lives about 1/2 mile from me so we just run to our little spot in the middle of our houses and set out from there for our long runs. So far we have just been doing our weekly runs on our own via the treadmill, but when it warms up we can do more of those together in the morning before our husbands leave for work.

Here are my tips for Mom's Training for a Marathon without it taking over your life :)

1. Get a training schedule. This time around I decided to tryout a Hal Higdon schedule. I went with the Novice 2, since it looks a little harder than the ones I've done before. I want to improve my time so we will see if this helps with that.

2. Get a training buddy. Having someone counting on you to run the long runs with makes all the difference in the world. For one it gets you out the door on Saturday when you would rather sit on the couch and eat ice cream. Second, it gets you to run your weekly runs because you know they are doing theirs and you have to keep up with them come Saturday. Last and most importantly, it makes running 20 miles seem like a social event rather than pure torture. Its amazing how quicker long runs go when you have someone to shoot the breeze with. Before you know it your are a mile from home and wondering where the time went and how your legs are still going. It also builds friendships like no other. Once you've run a marathon together you are tight, no way around it :)

Jamie and I warming by the fire before Odgen.

3. Purchase a treadmill. Or at least have one you can get to easily. I didn't buy the most expensive one out there and I have totally been pleased with it. Buying a treadmill was the best thing I've done for my marathon training. Before kids I wasn't too fond of running on the treadmill, but it is so convenient. I can put the girls down for their naps and then go run 6 miles in the next room. Kaelyn loves to watch me run on the treadmill. Its something that we can do together. I set her up a with a plethora of toys to play with and she is set.

4. Find a fun show/series to watch while your are running on the treadmill and ONLY watch it when you run. It makes it exciting to go do your runs because you want to see what happens next. My thing these days is watching the Voice. It takes about 2 1/2 runs to get through the whole show. When I start running more miles during the week I'll have to find another show to watch. The iPad has come in extra handy for this. There is always something on Netflix to watch.

5. If your kids are small enough buy a jogging stroller and go out once or twice a week and run with them. I can't wait for it to warm up and tryout my "new" (used) Bob double jogging stroller. Kaelyn and I put in a lot of miles back in 2010 and she loved it. I started her as soon as I could so she would be used to it. It was just fun to be out enjoying nature and watching her enjoy it too. Can't wait for Bryn to join us on our runs around the lake near our home.

6. Sign up for your marathon right away. Once you have paid your hard earned cash for that thing, you have got to do it. At least that is how I look at it. More motivation to do all your training runs so you are ready for the big day. Marathons aren't cheap, but if it gets you moving its worth it!

7. Buy nice socks (I'm talking $10 a pair socks). Yes I know it sounds crazy, but it is sooo worth it. They last a really long time though. I have a couple pairs from 2007 that I'm just now retiring, probably after running over 800 miles in them. Trust me, one big nasty blister and you will be on the way to the running store for new socks. By the way, thanks to my husband I learned that if you do have a blister you can tape it with duct tape and run your little heart out. Four of my toes are covered in nasty blisters from playing 3 basketball games in 24 hours, so I taped them up for my run today and I didn't even know they were there.

Balega is my favorite brand. Wayne just gave me a couple pairs for Christmas and I use them for my long runs. I use my older ones for the shorter ones.

8. Go to a running specialty store to buy your shoes. They will watch you run and help you pick out the best style of shoes for your gait. Once again good shoes are very expensive, but if you don't take care of your feet, you won't be running long. I still remember when I first starting running in high school. Back when I though a mile was a LONG run. I used to lace up my old worn out basketball shoes and head out. I'd come back with blisters, aches and pains. No wonder I thought running was torture. Just something coaches used to punish us. Once you figure out the style and brand of shoes you like stick with them. I keep an eye out online and once they come out with a new model I can find the older model for about $30-$40 cheaper. So I stock up, even if my current shoes have more miles left to run. I have a nice squeaky clean pair in my closet that are waiting for their turn to hit the pavement. Shoes last anywhere from 300-500 miles. I can usually tell when mine are ready to be retired because my ankles and hips are sure to tell me.

I'm a Saucony Omni girl. They are a stability shoe that I need because I over-pronate when I run. They are also a wider shoe that works well with my wide feet. You won't catch me wearing stilettos, for many reasons, but my wide foot is one of them. (Nothing against stilettos, I just don't wear heels, they don't go well with my accident prone gene) Can't wait till they come out with a new model so I can add these sweet puppies to my regimen. If you can't tell by my blog, I kinda like that blue on the sole. Just kinda...

Well its getting late so I'll stop there for tonight. I'll keep you all posted on how the training is coming and any new "tips" I have to share. Seriously, if I can run a marathon, anyone can. Before my first marathon the farthest I'd run at one time was about 5 miles.

Questions anyone??

Beautiful Baby Contest

I entered both the girls into a Beautiful Baby Contest to help a couple families raise money for their Reece's Rainbow adoptions. Go here to vote for them. http://www.facebook.com/questions/235687086515807/

**Be sure to pick Kaelyn with "Y" or Bonner for Bryn. The winner gets a Target gift card. We could use it to buy some matching clothes for the girls and Victoria :)

Miracles in the Making

Wow, January has been quite the month for our little family. Something is in the works here at the Bonner home, something BIG. I don't really know where to begin, I guess I'll just start where it all began, 2 1/2 years ago.

Kaelyn's birth/life has changed hearts, two of the biggest changes happened in the hearts of her mommy and daddy. When we first found out about Kaelyn's situation we were scared, we didn't feel like we were equipped to raise a child with special needs. Neither Wayne nor I had very much experience at all with anyone with any kind of special need. After 2 1/2 years with our little miracle, we feel very different about our abilities as parents. She has shown us the way all along, and taught us that we can do anything with faith in and the help of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Not long after bringing Kaelyn home from the NICU we learned about Reeces Rainbow, a non-profit organization that advocates and helps raise funds for children with Down syndrome and other special needs in parts of the world that are living in orphanages and eventually sent to mental institutions where they sit in cribs/beds all day, with very little interaction with other people. A blog friend of ours was working to adopt a little girl from Russia. From the very beginning I knew in my heart that we would bring one of those dear children home to be a part of our family. I just had faith that I would know when the time was right.

Just after Christmas I saw this special on the ABC World News tonight with Diane Sawyer. I highly recommend you watch the beautiful videos. The minute I watched these videos, my heart started to tell me something, something I didn't think I was ready to hear. Over the next week I would wake up each day wondering if I would feel the same way, if it was really time to find our other little girl. Each day it was re-affirmed through promptings of the Spirit, that yes it is time. Every question I could come up with, every reason that "logically" it doesn't quite make sense was answered with a way it would work out, or why it was right.

I was afraid to talk to Wayne about it, what if said no, what if he didn't agree? Yes, at first he was a little shocked that when I mentioned it to him a few days earlier, that I meant right now, not sometime in the distant future. But he listened, and he opened his heart, and not long after he was on board.

So yes there is a lot more to this story, and there is time to tell, but the short of it is, we are adopting a little girl from Eastern Europe with Down syndrome. We need to be really careful about how much information we put on the blog about her, so until we figure all that out we will be as discrete as possible.

Meet VICTORIA

(That is the name she was listed as on Reece's Rainbow, we don't know her real name)

We would like to invite you to follow along on this exciting journey at her blog, rescuingvictoria.blogspot.com

We will undoubtably need the prayers and encouragement of you, our friends, to help this all happen. It is not an easy task, but we feel we are up to it. We truly believe she is our little girl, meant to be a part of our family forever, and we are going to do everything in our power to get her here.

All by myself

So a few weeks ago I was telling Wayne about a movie that I wanted to see, "The Mighty Macs". Its about a women's college basketball team, and I thought it looked like it could be pretty good, and I gotta support a women's sport film. So he told me I should go. I have never gone to a movie by myself, and wasn't too excited about the idea, but with 2 kids its a little harder to get to a movie and I didn't think it would be Wayne's style of movie so I thought, what the heck. Needless to say I didn't have to be too embarrassed to be by myself, because I was LITERALLY the only one in the theater. I had to document it to send to Wayne and yes I texted all I wanted during the movie and even called him. Good times.

I'm slowing getting back into running, 4 miles is my max right now. The other night I went out for a quick run around the lake after Wayne got home from work and this is what greeted me about halfway through my run. Thank goodness for my new phone so I could get a few decent pictures of it. Can't remember the last time I saw a sunset...ha ha, don't get out much.

Crafty Time

I was trying to figure out what I wanted to put on top of the wardrobe in Bryn's room and then my friend Liz introduced me to the Wood Connection in Salt Lake and I got an idea. They sell pre-cut letters in a couple of different fonts, so I chose the one I wanted, went to Hobby Lobby and got scrapbook paper, paint, spray glue and accessories. I was pretty happy of how they turned out, just don't look too close (what I have to say about all my craft projects).

8 Week Challenge - Holiday Edition

I just wanted to let you "all" know, if there is really anyone out there that reads this blog :), that they are starting another 8 week challenge on October 30th through December 24th, if you would like to participate. I can't wait!! It will get me through the holidays with eating myself sick and help me get a start on losing my baby weight. I am happy to report that I finished the last challenge with a perfect score and ended up winning $41 (minus the $15 I put in), so really $26, which I used to buy some new running shorts. Can't wait to put those to good use, but for now I walk, ride the stationary bike and elliptical it up.

Check out the blog to see if you are interested in joining in!! I HIGHLY recommend it. Let me know if you think you will do it.

http://8weekstoabetteryou.blogspot.com/