Mixing a family and a bunch of tangents (including a race this weekend)!!!

Happy Wednesday!  I hope you are having an awesome day so far.  I’ve got some tangents and things to talk to you about today.

*Our current addiction.  I’m going to go ahead and blame Andrew for this one though;)

*Is it possible that it feels like Brooke grew 5 inches taller while she was away for the weekend?  It always feels like she grows up crazy fast while she is away!

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*Remember how I have been complaining for the last little while about running… turns out I went to the Dr. and I had an infection.  Started taking an antibiotic a few days ago and running is feeling a lot better already.

Monday: 10 miles @ 7:30 average pace.

Tuesday: 8 miles @ 8:00 average pace.

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*This quote gave me goosebumps—>  “I am a discomfort master.  I thrive in all conditions.  Everything I need to succeed is already within me.  It is here to stay.”

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*Just a beautiful salad eaten on the floor in between coats of paint.

Fun fact:  painting takes forever.  I was a little bit too optimistic about this whole painting Andrew’s entire house project going into it ha.  The painting part really is kind of fun but the prep and all of the primer… not so much.

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*Brooke is still loving it though.  PS last night Andrew sent Brooke and I out on a date while he finished up most of it… he is a real good one.

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*On Monday we stopped by my good friend’s parents’ house (Sarah… the one I visited in Thailand) before she leaves the country again.  I met Sarah in 9th grade English and it is one of those life-long friendship things.

The kids swam and ate donuts.

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*Just Brooke’s daily dog kisses from the lovely Beretta.

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*Andrew sent this to me yesterday.  He already gets it.

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*Turns out that distance runners probably make the best Pokémon players.  While I don’t really understand the game at all, if it gets people walking/running/active… awesome!!  I’m pretty sure if I attempted to play this while running then I would be falling every few minutes.

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*Kristina sent me this picture in her ‘Sorry for what I said at mile 20’ shirt in front of her home in Malawi, Africa!  It made my day to see this:)  Good luck with everything Kristina!

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*I have a race THIS weekend!!! Josse and I are going to run the Timpanogos Half together!  This course is stunning and it is by far one of my favorites (my PR race was on this course last year).  Josse rode her bike for a little bit with me last year (she was injured) and I’m stoked we get to run it together this year!  The half is almost full but there is also a 5k you can do.  See you there:)

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Let’s take a second and talk about blending a family.  I’ve done it for all of 2 seconds at this point and so I have no idea what I am talking about but like usual, I’ll just share some of my thoughts (that are all over the place) about this whole thing real quick:

*Whenever people ask me if the two kiddos are twins, I just respond we’ve got a Brady Bunch family.  Brooke and Knox are a month and 12 days apart and so they easily get mistaken for twins.  The two of them play together like crazy.  After a day or two apart they miss each other big time and ask about the other one often.  But they most definitely fight too… just like normal siblings (oh, my brother that lives in Arizona now and I used to get into some pretty crazy fights when we were young).  There are some major adjustments for them to get used to for sure.  As far as Brooke goes, she was used to my full attention for her entire life so far.  FULL attention (probably too much… you live, you learn?).  Even during different dating relationships in the past she was never around them very much and so this is a whole new world to her.  Sharing my attention is just going to take a little time and patience and we’ll get it all figured out.  Andrew and I joke that most of the time they have forgotten about US now because they are so busy playing together.  I’m beyond grateful she’s got a built-in best friend (and fighting companion;) for the rest of her life.  Knox adds so much fun to our days/nights, I couldn’t ask for anything better.

*I think the most important things with ex’s is to make sure everyone knows and feels that there is no competition.  Zero.  I am not Knox’s mom and no one will ever take that place in his life other than his mom.  I’m just a woman that loves him completely, wants the best for him, will do anything/everything I can to help and be there for him.  I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again—> over the years I’ve learned (with Brooke’s situation) that the more people that love a kiddo, the better.  BUT it isn’t a competition, no one will ever take another person’s place and the more smiling and kindness there is amongst all of the different parents/step-parents= the best thing possible for the children.  I just want to be the best step-mom I can be and Andrew the best step-dad he can be.  Brooke calls Andrew Shu Shu (yeah, we don’t know where that came from) and Knox either calls me Step-mom or Nae.  I talked to a therapist about the name stuff and she told me to have the kiddo call the step-parent whatever they choose:)  Marrying Andrew and getting the HUGE bonus of being a part of Knox’s life is the best thing ever and having Andrew around Brooke so much is a dream come true.

*Andrew and I kind of skipped that whole dating stage (we introduced our kiddos into the mix quick:) and so we really focus on taking our alone time seriously.  That means= mini trips together when we don’t have both kids, phones are put away at night and a weekly date night is beyond important.  Making sure our relationship is strong and healthy is beyond important even when life is crazy with toddlers.

*I’ve had a few custody questions—>  We have Knox 50% of the time and Brooke see’s her dad for a weekend each month.

*We definitely want more kid(s) BUT I’m barely hanging on during the days we have both of them (MOM’S OF MULTIPLE CHILDREN… HOW DO YOU DO IT… but seriously!?!?!) so we are waiting a year or two or three and loving this stage right now.  But yes, we most definitely want more kids too.

Lunch date after my run on my treadmill and Andrew’s lunch run before he went back to work:

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Who else has a blended family!?  What are your thoughts, tips, things that help everything run smoothly?

If you are wanting more kids—>  how many do you want?

Tried out Pokemon Go yet?  What are your thoughts?

What is your next race and when is it?

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58 comments

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Girl just try Pokemon seriously!
Signed: Pokemon addict 4 life no shame, don’t cur

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Lol! I was a Pokemon master at a young age… this new game totally takes me back.

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of all the addictions to have, jamba juice isn’t a bad one haha! and I am on again off again with Pokemon Go. Sometimes I’m super into it and love walking arounding catchin’ em all, and other days I’m just like “meh” and don’t even open the app. But I totally agree, what a cool way to get people up and moving around! I’m all for anything that gets people more active.

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I’m not into Pokemon Go at all! I actually had meetings dedicated to it at work since I work in digital technology- we talk about any kind of new technology/trends/etc and see how my company can possibly leverage it! SO it was fun to talk about, but I’m not a fan in general.

Good luck finishing painting! I’ve been doing it a ton..we just bought a house and my parents renovated their house so between us two it’s been paint crazy! Good thing that I love it :)

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I want kids! If by kids you mean cats and dogs :D I will leave the actual parenting up to you because I would be terrible at it! I have raised a pretty great cat though. He is nice to everyone and only talks back every once in a while ;).

I keep my Pokemon Go app open when I run so I can hatch eggs, haha! To hatch an egg that contains a Pokemon you have to complete 2K, 5K and 10K distances so being a runner in the middle of marathon training definitely helps! I’m hatching eggs left and right over here!

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I don’t have kids (or even a relationship) yet, but to me it sounds like things are going really well in your situation. I love hearing that Brooke and Knox have become best buds–that’s truly a special bond that I hope continues to grow as they get older.

I haven’t tried the Pokemon thing, but some of my coworkers are pretty obsessed with it. It’s funny to me, but I do think it’s good it’s gotten some more people active!

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Loved all of this. I think you guys are doing a fabulous job of blending families and making sure everybody gets plenty of love and attention. We share custody (50/50) of my stepson, and we have an awesome relationship with his mama and her family (she is currently expecting their FOURTH child, I don’t know where the woman finds her energy but she’s handling it all!). My stepson called me “Jilly” forEVER (okay, no, when we met, he was only 15 months, so he called me “gnnnnk” because he couldn’t manage Jilly), and now he refers to me as “mama” when he’s around our 3.5 year old (because otherwise 3.5 starts calling me Jilly too – monkey see, monkey do!). You can literally hear the quotations around it, it’s adorable. We have worked for YEARS to get the relationship that we now have with my husband’s ex, and we only live about 20 minutes from each other, so all of our kids love hanging out. Pretty sure my youngest thinks that we are all actually one big family.

I don’t have another race planned until October! Spending the summer enjoying my training, and supporting the husband as he trains for a 15k ocean swim (insert terrified face here…)

Have a great day! :)

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Ohh I love Jamba Juice! It has been too long since I’ve had one!

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I love this! You have such a healthy attitude about your blended family and I think the names the kiddos have picked out are cute and sweet!

Don’t have a blended family here, but I have two kids now..4 yo and 6 week old. I’ve found going from one kid to two pretty easy but there are of course times I wish there was three of me and I have just accepted that some things won’t get done. I bet having two 3 yo is crazy and fun!

Would love to have more kids but there are too many risks. I suffer from preterm labor so we’re done after two ?

Not sure about this new Pokemon go thing either.

Good luck on your race!

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Racing an iron girl sprint in less than 2 weeks!!! Ahhh.

My dad got remarried last year afterm almost 4 years of my mom being gone. I’m already marrived and away from home so the internal home thing doesn’t affect me quite as much, but I have felt a bit more pushed out or left out from my family and like I’m not really needed anymore. Not all the time but it happens. It’s hard for my younger brother who is 13 because he’s right in between the 2 step siblings. There’s a lot that goes on but everybody takes things as they come and I do think that it was a good thing in the long run even though it was painful for a while to see my dad with someone other than my mom.

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I love the last picture of the 4 of you and Knox and Brooke look like they are having a great time together! I’m sure having a blended family is a big adjustment but it looks like you guys are handling it really well! That’s so cool that they are so close in age too!

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THANK YOU for sharing such wonderful tips & topics with us readers! <3 I love hearing about all this because I'm hopeful someday I will get married again !

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You have such a healthy attitude on family!
My next race is a small half marathon in Vermont. I was supposed to run a marathon this weekend, but after I sprained my foot I decided to DNS. But I start training for the California International Marathon on Monday so it’s all good!

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Our next race is next weekend! It is a 36 hour race around a 1.5 mile course in Bristol, TN. Holston River Endurance Challenge and the RD is awesome. We cannot wait!

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I’m a long time reader of your blog though I don’t post often. I enjoy reading about your daily runs, race training, race recaps… but when you share more about your personal life, it makes me love reading your blog even more :-) I guess it just makes me remember that you have a lot of things going on in your life (aside from running!) and you are striving to find the right balance that works for you. I’m a mom of a toddler too (he’ll be 2 in September!) and reading about your personal life as a mom/wife makes me feel like I can relate to you more (if that makes sense?!). Your perspective on a blended family/raising a step-child is so open and loving – you are doing a great job and it shows!

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My next race is a relay in Dallas. It’s a combination of nervous and excited. And Pokemon Go! Has been a ton of fun with my kids!!

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That’s so cool how Brooke and Knox have each other! I come from a blended family and I never took it the easiest but now I can’t imagine life any other way. It sure does make holidays a million times more busy though! Haha

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That’s great that your blended family is working so well. I’m glad everything is smooth.

I’ve tried Pokemon go but honestly it’s not for me. I can barely walk in a straight line let alone run and play Pokemon go.

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I’ve been dating my boyfriend for 2+ years. He has two girls (11&13 now). He is divorced. I am so lucky that we formed such a great relationship. They just call me Sally and since I don’t live with my boyfriend the sharing isn’t too much of an issue but when we travel for a weekend together I am super sensitive to their needs and always make sure they have access to their dads lap ;) I totally agree. I’m not their mom but I love that they get to have someone else in their life to love them and support them. I actually feel guilty sometimes for enjoying them as much as I do. I don’t have my own kids. And my boyfriend and I are 40+ and don’t plan on having any kids together.

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I’m running the Timpanogos Half too. I haven’t ran this one before so I’m really excited to see what I can do on a new (and beautiful) course! Good luck to you and Josse!

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I don’t have any experience in the blending families part here (no kids, single) – but that day of swimming and donuts you mentioned? Sounds like the perfect day to me :-)

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I am not in a blended family but my dad was not my biological dad. He adopted my sister and I when I was really young and I never met my biological dad. Blood doesn’t make a family, love does! I have a friend that refers to herself as a Bonus Mom to her step children. I love that, this world and our children need more love! My next race is a Half Marathon in November. I am looking for a 10k to do before then. We are done having kids biologically but open to adoption.

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I love the end product of painting, but the prep does suck. But I also know that the more time I spend on prep, the better the outcome is. The 1st time I painted my townhouse was before I was replacing all the flooring, so it was so much easier because I didn’t have to care about get stuff on the floors. But I painted several times after that and it took so much more work and I had to be so much more careful while painting. For the 1st time I am hiring painters because our house has never had any other paint except the original paint and I don’t want to mess it up (and the ceilings in our new house are crazy tall so our little step ladder wouldn’t work)

I don’t have a blended family, but I could imagine something that could be hard would be how Knox feels when he is away from you guys, knowing that Brook is with you. But it is great Andrew has him 50% of the time – a far cry from Wednesdays and every other weekend that my friends have. My good friends have a blended family and it was nice because they set it up so that they had 0 kids every other weekend and both kids every other weekend. But then they did have a kid together and it definitely did change the dynamic when there were 2 kids leaving for the weekend and 1 staying.

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I am not from a blended family but my boyfriend is and is sooo incredibly close to his step brothers. He may even be closer to them than his biological brother, lol.

My bf is 34 and I am 26 – we have been together for 3 years & live together but don’t want kids anytime soon!! Maybe in 5 years?! I guess he will be an ‘older’ dad hah

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Landon and I would love a big family, but right now we are preparing mentally and everything for our first! I’m so excited to have a little one and I’m sure in a year or two, I’ll be ready to add another one to the bunch ;)

Next race? I haven’t signed up for one yet, but I want to do a half marathon post baby! (I’m hoping to race late October or early November…) I’ve keep a solid running base through my pregnancy, so I’m hoping/planning on the training to go pretty quickly! :)

Love hearing about all your adventures in blending a family! So happy for you!

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When my kids were 3 years old and had play dates it was so hard because they are still in that egocentric stage where they think the world revolves around them and they don’t want to share lol…As they get older it gets easier in that aspect. But now my oldest 11 year old rides his bike with his friends in the neighborhood and it’s a whole other worry:)
Hoping and praying my foot doesn’t bother me and I can race in October for a half.

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I have Pokemon Go downloaded on my phone but I haven’t played it much. I live in the suburbs of a major Canadian city, and unfortunately there aren’t many pokestops within walking distance of where I live. When I checked while I was at my boyfriend’s place downtown though there were a ton of them.

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I have 3 kids and we think we could maybe do one more and stay sane. Honestly, after you get into some kind of routine, things get really easy, especially with older kids because they play together. You find what works for you and soon enough it’s normal to have another. You’ll get there!

I don’t get the whole Pokemon thing, but I just keep thinking at least they are out moving around instead of playing it on thier computers.

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No blended family, but pregnant with my sixth and I can tell you that things will get a lot easier once the kids are a little older! :-) once they hit 8 it’s like a dream of helpfulness, haha! I have a 3-yr-old who is a constant ball of energy so I can imagine how busy you are with 2, especially with a varying schedule!

Looking forward to my postpartum races in October; I’m almost 32 weeks right now and running is sooo hard these days! Trying to just get 30 mpw with at least one 10 in hopes that I can run my local half three weeks postpartum…we will see how that plan goes! My body is definitely telling me I’m crazy every time I run right now and it’s super hard finding the time to fit in runs every day with all the kids home for the summer, but it has to happen for my sanity.

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HELLO! I am in the midst of blending a family! My husband’s late wife passed away, so now the 5 year old is mostly just ours. It is HARD at times, but it is so worth it. Things we are doing – we actually are getting our son into seeing a therapist just to talk about stuff, but mostly, LOVE them. Easiest thing to do for our kiddos – which you do for Brooke and Knox so well! We also are involved with the late wife’s family, because you have to keep that door open. Like you said, the more people to love our kids, the better!

We are possibly wanting 1 more child – so that will round us out to 3…but right now a 5 year old and 10 month old are enough to keep up with!

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Painting an entire house is a lot of work! I once tackled the outside of my house when I was living in Tucson. Thought because it was small it would be no big deal, but oh my goodness was it ever a ton of work! Not to mention it was hot!

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I love you and Andrew together and your kiddos are adorbs. I don’t have kids, but I love your viewpoints on mixing a family. From what I can see it looks like you guys are doing great. Congrats again!

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I haven’t tried the Pokemon game… I don’t think I ever will just because I barely have enough time as it is already.
We don’t have a blended family but we have two girls two years apart :) and they are a handful!! Haha! So having two kids and both of them being three must be a hard task! Good luck and I think you’re doing an amazing job.
The next race is the Boca Hawaii 15k in town!

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I haven’t tried Pokemon Go because I’m afraid I’ll become addicted :/

With regards to kids – I’m currently 5+ months pregnant and everyone keeps asking me how many more kids I want. I’m pregnant on my first so I think I have to try out baby #1 before I can go ahead and decide that I want 2,3 or 10! We’ll see I guess :)

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I love this. I especially love the part about things not being a competition. I think you guys have a great attitude around blending your families and you look so so happy! I hope one day I can find something like that. :)

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Love the attitude on blended families. I don’t have one, but I have a step parent, and, while she is wonderful, it’s always been hard. I’m essentially the middle man for my family. And there’s lots of competition.
I can’t do Pokemon Go. I just can’t. I got so into candy crush and it was such a huge time suck! I don’t even care that I’m old and uncool now. ;-)
I think I would have 20 kids if that were possible. I want one more of my own, bu my husband just wants to adopt one more, I also want to adopt, so I don’t know. We’ll probably end up with about 5. :)!
Your family is seriously the cutest.

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I don’t know if you knew this, but I’m a kid from a blended family. My father passed away and when my mom married my dad now, he became my dad. The transition wasn’t easy. I had a super hard time with it. My parents made a huge point growing up of spending lots of family time together and I think that ended up being a big deal in forming this new family. And I now have a great relationship with both parents. But don’t get discouraged if it’s tough at times. I think the fact that they’re so going will be helpful. They’ll really only be able to remember your family as it is now.

I saw your tweet yesterday about the race and it made me seriously consider just signing up for the 5k. I haven’t raced in 2 years!! Tempting…

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I am SO glad you wrote this. In fact, I just quoted it and shared on FB. I am a mom of two boys in the process of blending with the love of my life and his little little one, the same age as my oldest. We have been merging for about two years now (long story) and i needed to read this. Some days it seems so challenging as we are faced with a lot of issues because of the mother of my love’s child. It is so sad as she is hurting him. I feel the exact way as you- the MORE people who love my child = the better! thank you.

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So this is totally random but I had to triple-take at your page today. The pic of Kristina is another girls blog I look at because I went to high school with her. Such a small world, this internet is! Two girls from CT see each other on your blog. Just thought it was cool to share!

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Wow! So funny how things like this happen ? Thanks for sharing and for reading lol.

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So I had to chuckle a bit about how nice Andrew was to let you and Brooke have a date night while he finished painting. I am sure he was being nice but at the same time i was thinking “if she paints anything like me, she was in his way”. heee :)

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My next race is the Portland Triathlon, sprint distacnce, September 18th!!!!

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I wish I had jamba juice where I lived. SO SO bad!! They used to sell the frozen packets at the grocery store but I can’t find them anymore  As always, Brooke is the cutest!

Good luck in your race this weekend! I wish I had one on the calendar……. now I’m going to go try to find one!

Not going to lie, I want to try out pokemon go but I have no room on my phone to download it!!

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We have a blended family too — my husband has a 6 year old daughter from his previous marriage, and we have two toddler boys together. The biggest struggle for us is that the boys have a hard time whenever Kinsey isn’t here, so we’ve been working on putting up pictures or having other reminders around so they don’t feel as lonely. It can be tricky with the parents, and we certainly have our disagreements (especially because Kinsey’s mom is very anti-LDS and we’re active LDS) but we try to just remember that if we all love her and try not to fight, God will sort everything out eventually. Baptisms, endowments, and missions are something Kinsey’s mom would prefer to keep out of her life, so we just try to let Kinsey know that we believe different things and hope that she makes good decisions as she gets older. I think religious differences are probably the hardest thing to handle, but we’re trying to get better at it.
And I totally want another baby — Kinsey needs a sister! — but my hubby is DONE. We’ll see who wins that fight over the next few years lol :P

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Janae, you GET IT! You guys are gonna be just fine! I’m in a blended family right now (we have 2 teenagers a year apart), & the KEY is that you both have the same parenting style (it also helps tremendously if the kiddos have the same rules at the other parents’ homes). It absolutely does not work to have different rules/discipline for each kid (of course you know this). It also definitely takes time for everyone to adjust to each other & get used to their new normal. Your kids are young so that will probably be a much quicker transition. Your attitude about the exes is going to be so beneficial, too. I welcomed my daughter’s stepmom w/ open arms. I have always been of the mindset that your child can never have too many people love them. I am confident in my status as her mom & will never feel threatened by her affection toward another role model (whether it be step-parent, counselor, teacher, babysitter, etc.) My daughter has a wonderful relationship w/ her stepmom (who happens to be a fabulous person), & I couldn’t be happier about it! Good luck to all of you. I’m rooting for you!

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I have one kiddo and I’ve gradually gone from accepting to embracing to appreciating that this is the family size God meant for me to have.
I let her get Pokemon Go on her phone. We had a great time taking our dog for a walk and hunting Pokemon! We’ve also let her go around the neighborhood with a neighbor friend and a lot of limits. They did great!

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I started playing the game when my son (yes he’s an adult….) showed me it. Now it’s been fun sending pics to my son when I find a new Pokemon.

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I love your approach to life and family! You have the biggest and kindest heart! I am a lot older than you but I have learned so much from your trials/life.

This may be too late but I noticed you using paint tape. We recently repainted all of our house and didn’t use any tape at all which made it so much more enjoyable, quick, and easy! I cut in all the edges and my husband rolled the rest. I used the brush and cutting in technique from Young House Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WmxVpqjNYU Hope that helps! :)

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No blended family advice, and I’m sure it’s hard to go from one toddler to two….but don’t worry too much about adding a baby. You make it work. You learn how to juggle it all as time goes on and it’s really not that bad. Especially with your kids being 3/4 already they are mostly independent (they feed and potty themselves), they can follow your directions when out in public, etc. They’ll be your little helpers when it is time for a new baby! (This one I know because my oldest was 3 when I had my second)

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Longtime reader, but have never commented. I come from a blended family: I have 3 half siblings and one “full” sibling. My dad was married twice before my mom, so there were a lot of different people in the picture growing up. I am one of the younger siblings, so I never knew differently, but for all of the drama that could have been, I give the adults credit for not having any that was apparent to us kids. My half siblings’ moms were often invited to family events (my mom even had my dad’s ex to Christmas because otherwise she would’ve been alone), and I know they babysat for us sometimes. The adults showed each other mutual respect, and us kids benefited from having more trusted adults in our lives that cared for us.
My siblings didn’t live with us most of the time (more like weekends here and there), so we’re close, but not as close as siblings who grew up together full time (plus there are some significant age differences). I wouldn’t change a thing about how I grew up, and I think your attitude is spot on. The adults can either make the best of the situation, and make it positive for all parties, or there can be drama which inevitably affects the kids negatively. I’m sure it’s not easy dealing with an ex, but your kids will thank you later for taking the high road.

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Thank you SO SO much for writing this comment and sharing your experience. You are SO SO right about the adults making the best of the situation… I refuse to have any drama! Thank you so much and your comment helped me a lot and gave me even more motivation to keep things as positive as possible.

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I’m part of a Brady Bunch family, 8 kids within 6 years of each other. We were teens and tweens when “we” got married, so it was crazy and messy and fun and beautiful. We’re all super close now as adults and grateful we got thru those first few tricky years. I never felt like my stepmom replaced my real mom but i definitely appreciated having a female role model to seek advice from. Big believer that it takes a village and the more love to go around the better.

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Your comment gave me goosebumps, thank you Michelle for sharing! I want to be that female role model too. Loved hearing from your point of view and you are so right about it taking a village!

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Brooke really does look so much bigger and older!!

I sure hope Jamba is gunna start sponsoring you, seems like you’re in deep ;)

Your set-up seems so nice! It’s definitely not simple but you guys are so kind and thoughtful in how to work it out best for everyone.

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HAHA I told that to Andrew the other day… we spend like $18 every time we go. We need to stop. Thank you so much Krista and I hope you are having a beautiful day!

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You are so great at whatever you do, you put your heart into it! I read a quote a few weeks ago from Marjorie Hinckley that said, “we all have a responsibility- a responsibility to make a difference, to be an influence, to lift someone. We are all in this together to work out our salvation, to reach our potential, and to be our brother’s keeper- to help each other.” I know that we don’t know each other, have never met and might not ever, but thanks for being such a great example of optimism and lifting others. I respect and admire you for all that you do as a force of good in the world!

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I have a blended family!! I got an 11 year old daughter when I married my husband and he got a four year old son. We split custody with our exes pretty much 50/50. The kids are not always with us at the same time but their weekends are synched up. AND we have baby number 3 on the way!! Both my husband and I wanted more kids, even though he was 45 when we got married ( I was 36). He is a brave man ;). I love our blended family and am SO very grateful that he and I found each other. Likewise, neither of us tried to replace the other parent in our step-child’s life. That seems to work well.

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Hey Janae,

Just wanted to let you know that “shushu” means “uncle” in Chinese, that’s how you would call an older person that is a close one (and not your dad) :) how perfect is it that Brooke chose this name?! :)
Love,

Audrey

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