A Van Awesome Journey

Hi thanks for finding my blog! I am a wife of an awesome husband and proud mother to two amazing boys. I just quit my job to stay at home with our children and now have all the time in the world to play play play!!! Play with my children and play some games of my own...hence this blog. I entered a contest to be part of an Adventure Race something I have never done before. So I am required to blog weekly on my journey...so here goes..thanks for sharing it with me :).................So what has started out as a blog for reasons mentioned above has now continued into an on going journey that I have been asked to continue to share...and you with me! So thanks for coming along for the ride :)

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The whole 1k!!!!!



So Good Friday kicked off the racing session for the Van Egmond family!! WOOOO HOOOOOO!!!. I'm not sure who was MORE excited me or my 4yr old LOL!!!
We signed up for the kids 1k 'Bunny Hop' and I did the 5k afterwards.

We showed up with 'bunny' kit ready to go, ears, tail and bow tie! LOL! we put on our numbers and bunny ears and headed to the start line.



While waiting for the horn to start the race I could feel my 4yr shaking, as I was holding his hand. I asked him if he was cold and he replied, "I'm just EXCITED!!"
So the horn went off and we all started running. At first my son was holding my hand, something he did the whole way in his first 1k race last June. But after a while he let go of my hand and zoomed ahead....I had to really run to keep up! My son was breathing hard as he was running and I asked him if he wanted to walk for a min to take a break. He just shook his head and zoomed ahead. A few times he would slow down cause he was getting tired, but he would just reach up and hold my hand and keep running!!! We crossed the finish line not holding hands which was bitter sweet for me, cause he didn't need me and he was good on his own.........my boy is growing up!!! sniff! sniff!.....so proud with a little sad mixed in.


I scooped him up at the finish line and threw him up in the air as I was SO impressed that he ran the WHOLE 1k!!!! I told him he did AWESOME and asked if he was proud of himself. He nodded yes and still breathing hard replied, "That was hard"


By 10:30am all was said and done and we were at Tim Horton's for a morning post-race snack. He has worn his medal ALL weekend and brought it to each of our Easter dinners showing it off to his Grandparents and cousins. In fact he has gone off to school today with it in his backpack so that he can Show and Tell it at school :)....so in the end it WAS a Good Friday!!!

How did your family stay Hoppy and Healthy this Easter?




'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
******

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Thankful Thurs~ Being strong!


So last night I went out to one of my fav stores...the Nike outlet...I know I'm a workout geek and I'm ok with that! LOL!

I saw this shirt there which was SO fitting for me. Not only was it my fav colour but it said, " Strong is the new beautiful"...it took my breath away for a min when I saw it.

I of course am wearing it today and will probable wear it for the next week LOL! But I was thinking about it this morning about what being 'strong' meant. And that's when I realized what my Thankful Thurs was.....

....I am thankful to not only be strong physically but to be a strong woman on the inside now too. At the ripe old age of 32 I have learned to stand up for myself and for what is right. I didn't do that when I was younger. I was too scared about what people would think, if they would like me after and I didn't even know at one point in my life that I COULD stand up for myself.

So I am thankful that I am a whole person today and I LOVE it! I feel I have found a happy balance of standing up for myself and not being aggressive or rude about it. I have learned that sometime courage doesn't roar, sometimes courage is that voice at the end of the day that whispers, "I will try again tomorrow"






'Live in YOUR Awesome!'


*ive
*ove
*augh
******

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

It's all in the journey.....

So I did it for the third time...climbed all 1776 stairs of the CN tower this Sat. This year I was on my own but I was still excited. I was up at 5am cause registration starts at 6am and I didn't want to be standing in lines all morning. So by the time I got there and everything was said and done I started the climb at 7:07am. My goal for the climb was to do it in under 30min...last year I did it in 41min. I also had already surpassed my fundraising goal of $300....I raised $315!! Due to 7 totally wicked people sponsoring me :)....so I was hoping that my luck would continue.

So if there's one thing I learned while climbing the tower, it's to not look up at the number of flights as you go up until after I have at least hit 100, so I kept my eyes on the stairs and kept moving. I ran into problems when my throat started to burn due to breathing SO hard. I had to stop for a break and I thought that was strange...it's not until after that I realized that I was getting sick, as the kids have been coughing all week and I woke up coughing that morning....and I'm now full out sick :(. So I just took it as I could and I thought that I wasn't going to make my goal time.

Now on the journey up most people don't talk to each other (unless they are with someone) they just pass the people resting on the landing and don't even make eye contact. A few times I wanted to encourage people on the way up, but fell into the 'norm' of what everyone else was doing and didn't. I saw a man who was a very over weight fellow resting and catching his breath on the landing one time and I wanted to pat him on the back and say, "Way to go, your doing awesome!" at the end there was two young girls struggling and there was only three more flights of stairs left. I wanted to say to them, "Only three more flights left ladies, you can DO it!!" but I didn't and I'm a bit disappointed in myself.......I know Meredith would have, in fact I remember hearing a story at her viewing of how her Father would get frustrated while watching her race cause she would see someone struggling and run with them for a bit to encourage them....when I grow up I want to be like that!

So I made it to the top in 25min! I was happy that I made my goal for under 30min but was not happy really with the journey up.....so next years goal is all about the journey up. I'm going to say what ever I want to others on the way up and encourage those who are struggling because what I learned on Sat is that the outcome is not as joyful if the journey there wasn't useful to myself and others :-)



'Live in YOUR Awesome!'

*ive
*ove
*augh
******

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Thankful Thurs~ My fav spot!



So this Thurs I am thankful for my fav spot....my bed. But it's not just the bed per-say. It's the combination of my heating pad..ooo baby SO warm! and 'Bob' my body pillow. Plus it's the only time most days that husband and I get to talk one-on-one, when we hit the sack at night.
ALSO! We have a king size bed which we got because the were big people and needed room...but now we are not big anymore so really there's just too much room to spare!! LOL!!! I could roll over like 4 times before I hit my hubby on his side now! However this extra space seems to get filled with the 2yr, 4yr, dog & cat! LOL! The frigg'n bed is SO big that I'll wake up most mornings look to my right and see everyone in the house (people and animals) have found there way into bed with us LOL!

So it is my fav place for many reasons....what fav place do you have?

Monday, April 11, 2011

Egg McAwesome!


So I'm always on the search for yummy food that's good for you AND is fun to eat. I can only eat the same thing over and over for so long. So thought I'd share one of my fav things that I came up with...the Egg McAwesome! mmmmm mmmm :p

So what you will need is:
1 whole wheat english muffin
2 slices of turkey lunch meat
1 egg
2 thin slices of cheese


So I toast the english muffin while I cook the egg in a little Olive Oil spray (so it doesn't stick) Then when the egg is ready I throw on the turkey slices and warm them up (this takes 4sec) I then pile on, the cheese, egg, turkey slices and a squirt of ketchup mmmmmmmmm mmmmmmm.

SO yummy, SO good, SO warm and tasty and only 300 calories for the whole thing and you are getting a double dose of protein with the egg AND turkey.


LOVE it! What are some of your fav, easy, yummy, healthy meals?



'Live in YOUR Awesome!'


*ive
*ove
*augh
******

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Thankful Thurs~ Wooooo Hoooooo!!!!!


So I am starting my 'training' for my Tri in Sept....this just means making more of an effort to get out and get moving.
So yesterday I committed to a fellow Tri friend to meet and go swimming and in all my excitement I decided to run to the pool before doing the laps.......

So I wasn't sure how far it was and I didn't want to know. I was just committed to getting there.

So the run was frigg'n wicked!!! The weather was awesome and I made it in killer time AND it wasn't as far as I thought it was going to be AND I rocked the hills!! I just wanted to scream WOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!! a few times :-)

As Adena was dropping me off she said, "Happy blogging!! (she's a fellow blogger) I said, " OH it's Thankful Thurs! Give me an idea" Her reply was, "Be thankful that I dropped you off tonight! OR that you're alive!!" That's when I realized what I'm thankful for this week........

I'm thankful for those moments that make you feel ALIVE!!!!! and make you want to scream WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Let's all do it together now! WOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
aww that feels better :-)



'Live in YOUR Awesome!'


*ive
*ove
*augh
*******

Saturday, April 2, 2011

U 'like' me so I'll 'like' you ~ Contest!!!!

So I want to thank the people who share or who have shared my Fan page with others. So here is the contest.......

Share my fan page link on your wall or your friends walls. Have them 'like' the Fan page and leave the comment on the wall, "I like you because (insert your name here) said to" The person with the most comments will win a free Advanced Repair Peptide facial at, Advanced Rejuvenation Medical Spa!!!! Woooo Hooooo!

"Cold weather dries and damages your skin, making it weathered, wrinkled and discoloured.
Packed with vitamins and peptides our facials hydrate and replenish so your face is glowing and healthy"



OOOOOO come on doesn't that sound goooood! Just gives me goose bumps reading it! :)

The contest closes on Fri April 8/11 I will announce the winner on Sat April 9/11 GOOD LUCK!! and have fun sharing :)


'Live in YOUR Awesome!'


*ive
*ove
*augh
******