Ten (10) ...

... the number of miles I ran on Saturday

... the number of days until my race


I am nervous. I am excited. I can hardly believe that I have come this far. I am going to run a half marathon and now I am thinking that someday I could maybe run a full marathon. Sometimes I have to stare at myself in the mirror just to remember that I am not that same chubby awkward teenager that I once was. I am a runner. I am an athlete. I am the type of person I always wanted to be, but never tried hard enough to become. I am living proof that anything can be done if enough effort is put forth. I am living proof that you can be anyone you want to be no matter how busy you are, how much homework you have, how much money you have or where you live. I don't pay for a gym pass and I have lost about 30 lbs since I started working out and eating right. It is pretty amazing what a little bit of discipline can do for your body, mind and spirit. I feel like a new person. Take for example the photo below.



The photo on the left is me in high school. I looked happy on the outside, but I was very insecure and self conscious. The photo on the right is me last Saturday... I am happy, fit and loving life.

Sure I could lose a few more pounds if I wanted to be cut and maybe I will get there someday. But today I am in my healthy weight range for my height and age and I am stoked about it.

I will be running a half marathon in the OC Marathon on Sunday May 2nd. Finish line is at the OC Fair Grounds for anyone who wants to be there. The starting line is near fashion island and the race starts at 6:30 AM. I will be meeting my fans at the finish line with a big huge smile on my face about two and a half hours later. I can't wait.

Happy April Fools Birthday Grandma Beth!

My dear Grandma Beth Stout is in town from Arizona for the easter holiday so all of us Stout girls decided to go out to lunch at Cheesecake Factory to celebrate her birthday! It was really fun to see everyone and since I had spring break I didn't have to worry about any school work... it was really nice! It was a fun day out and it was great to spend some extra time with Grandma. I love that lady so much. She is such a strong example to me of service, kindness and love. I cannot imagine what my life will be like when she is no longer here with me, but I am so blessed to have her here now and I will cherish the times that I get to spend with her as she gets older. She gives the best hugs and kisses and she has such a sweet heart. I hope that I can always remember the love she makes me feel and share it with others.
My Grandma Sue, my dad's mom, passed away when I was 15 and I didn't get to know her as much as I would have liked. Sometimes I lay in bed at night and think of her and cry because I wish I had been given more time to have known her as well as I know my Grandma Beth. But I know that she loves me and I can often feel of her love as I think of the memories I have of her. She was a very giving lady who served those who were less fortunate and she loved her family and her Heavenly Father and Savior. I am grateful that Grandma Beth was there with Grandma Sue when she passed away and I will always be grateful for the friendship that they shared. What a blessing Grandmothers can be in our lives. I am grateful for Heavenly Father's plan and for the wonderful women that I have been blessed to know and love.

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

Happy Birthday Jessica Jane!

Tyler's sister Jessica had her 35th birthday on March 28th and to celebrate she invited all of the family over for amazing desserts. She even went big and got out the chocolate fountain and two ice cream makers. Owen ate WAY too much cake, but everyone loved watching him walk around with chocolate all over his sweet little face. It was a beautiful afternoon and evening. We spent the day visiting with family members and friends from far and near... some even came from Seattle. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people who love us and share time with us. Thanks for inviting us to your birthday party Jessica! We love you for so many reasons. Here are some of my reasons... Jessica is: kind, funny, giving, a master seamstress, creative, hard working, she likes home improvement projects, she likes to get her nails done with me, she and I can joke about how crazy our family is, she has really cute kids, she likes to eat, she is a GREAT friend and sister.....to name a few.

Here are some photos that I took of the day...

Wonderful

This song is amazing. I am loving it right now. It is a great pick me up song. Take a listen.


The video isn't anything super special, but the song is currently on repeat in my head! I LOVE a good song that can lift me up when I need a boost. Hope you like it!

7 miles

Hooray! I ran 7 miles last saturday! I did it again this past weekend and Tyler decided to do it with me! He did really well. My foot was a little sore, but it wasn't too bad. Next Saturday I will move up to 8 miles. Wish me luck!

P.S. As for the last bummer post... I am feeling much better. I am trying to have a better attitude and be excited about what a great life I have because I really don't have anything to complain about. Summer is coming and the weather is more cheery. I think the sunshine makes it easier for me to feel smiley and happy.

I Wish...

I was taking a nap on a hammock instead of sitting here at my desk at work.

I was done with school.

I could afford to quit my job and take photography classes.

I wish I had enough money to buy a house.

I could open all the windows in my nonexistent house to feel the breeze as I rock my nonexistent baby to sleep...

All very good wishes, but all in the future. I do not particularly enjoy feeling discontent and lately I have been dreaming of better days instead of these days. I have been praying a lot for a better attitude because I know I have some more climbing to do before I reach the top of this mountain that I am on. I'm sure I am not the only one who feels this way, but it sure stinks.

Love Is In The Air

This summer Tyler and I both have sisters that are getting married in the Newport Beach Temple! We are so excited for Danielle and Julia who will be getting married one week apart! Danielle and Greg have set their date for July 2, 2010 and Julia and Aaron will be getting hitched on June 26, 2010. We may go a little crazy, but were are so excited for the fun parties, friends, family and of course the happy couples! We love both of our soon to be brother in laws and can't wait for the big days! Congrats you love birds! We love you!


Aaron Smith & Julia Rex (Tyler's big sister) were engaged on March 13th

I made them a "Love" cake for an engagment celebration/family dinner last weekend. It was yummy! It was my first attempt at home made butter cream frosting! Everyone really liked it... or they were just being really nice even though it didn't taste good because they know I worked so hard on it! :)


Greg Irwin & Danielle Pitts (my baby sister) were engaged on February 27th

Vision

This is my new screen saver at work. I am hoping that it will keep me pumped up until race day. I had some pretty bad pain in my right foot on tuesday night after my 6.1 mile run and off and on all day wednesday. Thursday and today have been pain free so I am going to move up to 7 miles tomorrow. I am going to try to walk for one minute intervals every 10 minutes or so in hopes that I can spare my ankles for a bit. I was feeling really sad when I was in pain. I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to reach my goal. But I have tried to get some more information on how I can be pain free and I have prayed a lot and I really feel like I can still do this, I just need to be careful. While I was reading the ensign yesterday a certain sentence stuck out at me "If I put Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ at the center of my life then I will be able to accomplish all of my goals" and so I am going to try harder to do that. I am so thankful for eye opening moments like that. I know that faith can change the impossible to possible.

P.S. If any of you amazing runners have any advice for me that would be awesome!

It's Official

I am running the OC Half Marathon on Sunday, May 2, 2010. I am excited. I am nervous. My hands even got a little clammy while I was registering online this morning. But I am totally ready for this. I want to do this so bad. I have dreams about crossing the finish line and I am going to do it. In the words of the late great MJ "This is It"...

Good Times

So earlier in the year I posted the following as my goals for the year and I am pleased to let you know of my progress!

-train for a half marathon
I am almost half way into my training for a half marathon. I can hardly believe it! I ran 6.1 miles yesterday and I am ecstatic! I have amped up my running mix and I bought some new running shoes with custom insoles to help my lame "flexible" arches. I have a little bit of soreness in my right foot, but that is normal for me and I am hoping and praying that I will not suffer any injuries so that I can continue my training.


This is a picture of me after my first 10k! Since my training schedule didn't line up with any real 10k races, Tyler let me wear his metal so that we could remember this as a momentous occasion. :)

-run a half marathon

Since my training is going so well and I am on track... I am pretty much set on running the OC Half Marathon on May 2nd. I still need to sign up, but I am planning on it.

-graduate college with honors

So far I am doing well in my classes this semester and I have only 5 classes left after this semester. I applied to graduate in December 2010 and just got a letter in the mail on monday saying that I made it onto the Dean's Honor Roll for last semester! So let's just hope that senioritis doesn't wreck my plans!

-save money

We saved enough money to pay off the Tahoe! We are now a car payment free family!

-lose 20 more lbs

So far I have lost 8 pounds!

-build my photography portfolio (let me know if you need a photo sesh!)

I have some pending photo sessions and when the weather clears up I will be setting dates for those. My sister announced her engagment and I will be taking their engagement photos and her bridals! Also, I applied for my business name... Amy Rex Photography and was approved! P.S. My email is amymrex@gmail.com if you want to set something up!

Thanks so much to everyone who keeps me going and encourages me to be better!!! I couldn't do all of this without my cheerleaders! I have had so many good examples of hard work paying off and hopefully my progress will motivate someone else the way others have motivated me.

Murder Mystery Dinner Party

A couple weeks ago we attended a sweet murder mystery dinner hosted by the Rummlers. It was at Amanda's granparent's home (which is super duper nice and HUGE) and it was really fun! There was a really good plot, everyone had different parts, which were hilarious, and the food was really good too! We had so much fun! Thanks Amanda and Jared for putting on such a fun night!!!

A little taste of what we do at CenSource, Inc.

For those of you who don't know, I work for my dad and our company builds and installs all kinds of signs. The things they can do out in that work shop are pretty mind blowing and it takes a lot of people and a lot of work to make the whole process run smoothly. After the signs are built there is a crew that installs them. We have been building some Ruby's signs for quite some time and now they are installed! This is an awesome video that was put together when the signs were installed recently. We have some pretty talented guys working for us.

Ruby's Five Points Drive-in from Garner Films on Vimeo.

5.3 Miles

This is an old picture, but this is what I looked like while running yesterday. I was gleaming with pride. It was a break through run. The longest I have ever done.

So I know that just the other day I blogged about my goal of running a half marathon and I said I was going to increase my mileage soon. I looked up a route on google maps before I left for my run yesterday and I figured that I would do it next week, but while I was running I just felt the urge to go for the longer run. So I tried to remember the route as best I could and I made it home and every once in a while I would start smiling because I was so happy that I was doing something that I never thought I could do. If you had told me a year ago that I would run that long I would have told you you were crazy! When I looked up the map again when I got home I realized it was 5.3 miles! I was so proud of myself. SO there ya go... another update on my training.

4.4 Miles & Insanity

So I just wanted to give you an update on my big goal for the year: to run a half marathon. I am a third of the way there!!! I am up to 4.4 miles in my running. I have been doing it consistently for about a month now so I am thinking about increasing my mileage a little bit in the next couple weeks. And I also need to sign up for a 10k. Does anyone know of a fun course that wouldn't be super difficult? Running isn't easy for me, but I love it. I think I like it so much because I can do it now, even though it isn't easy. When I was in Junior High School I was overweight and NOT cute. I had no sense of style and I was awkward. Looking back at those 2 years makes me a little bit sad because I felt like my weight and my lack of physical activity really held me back, but I never did anything to change it. There was a "Coyote Run" that we had to complete (I think every week) and I could never do it without walking. I am pretty sure it was only 3/4 of a mile, but I couldn't do it (or that is what I thought, I wasn't into pushing myself to new limits). I remember the best grade I ever got for a Coyote Run was when my soccer player friend Nikki coached me the whole way and encouraged me to jog. I think someday soon I will have to go back there and run that coyote run and prove it to the fat awkward 8th grader inside me. I think I need to finally let go of that image that I have of myself because I am a different person now. I think I still feel like that girl because I am not the person that I want to be yet and my body isn't quite what I want it to be yet. I am getting there and I will never stop trying, but it is hard to change habits that I have had my whole life and it is hard to undo the damage that has been done due to my bad habits. But the whole point of being fit and healthy is so that I can move on and live a long healthy life instead of one that is filled with awkwardness and insecurity. When I talk to Tyler about this he is always very encouraging and tells me what a good job I am doing. He doesn't understand what it is like to be the fat girl in class, but he encourages me when I get too hard on myself. I keep repeating this quote by Albert Einstein in my head: "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". It is time to start changing what I do if I want to get the results I want. I need to be more disciplined if I REALLY want to be the woman that I want to be. I will not subject myself to insanity any longer. I can't do it anymore.

BYU vs UCI

A couple weeks ago we went to the BYU vs UCI mens volleyball game and it was really fun. Shira and Devin invited us so we met up with them, got In n Out and headed to the game. It was fun to visit and we also got to see Janae and some other family and friends since Uncle Mark bought us the tickets. Thanks Uncle Mark! It was a really fun night! After the game we went back to the Dickson's place and made pizzookies and watched "This Is It" (the Michael Jackson movie). I know it might sound weird, but it made me sad that he is gone. He was such a great musician and I am sad that there will never be a new song. The whole time we were watching I realized that you could have a dance party for hours with only Michael's songs. He was amazing. But anyway... the night was fun and I am stoked that we have sweet family that lives close and likes to party with us!