Half Marathon

Running with friends is always the best way to run! Sometime ago my sweet friend Adrienne and I were talking about how much we enjoy half marathons. 13.1  miles is long enough that it's a good sized challenge without doing the damage to your body like a full marathon. (Let alone the crazy amount of time it takes to train for a full which neither of us has due to the raising of our little kiddos). We then decided we were going to start running half marathons together with the goal of completing one half marathon in every state in the United States. I am THRILLED with this new challenge and can't wait to start crossing off states. We recently ran our first half together in Nashville with 2 more good friends. I have to say that the week before the race I was NOT happy with my decision because that week was MOVING week! We literally moved into the new house on Wednesday and the race was Saturday. I thought about backing out of the race NUMEROUS times (Sorry Adrienne) but I knew I couldn't let Adrienne down. I went into the race with ABSOLUTELY no expectations and it was the perfect way to run a race. Andrew and I ran the first 8 miles together and had a blast. I haven't ever run that much of a race with someone and it ended up being so much more fun that I expected. Due to some knee issues and Andrew and I split up at mile 8. I can honestly say I spent the next 5 miles doing what I have NEVER done before during a race....I chatted with God. I had my worship music on during the entire race, but until I was running alone it wasn't fully sinking in. I got to have 8  miles to completely clear my head and then another 5 to just be with God. There were literally moments in the race where I wanted to raise my hands up...Being the Catholic raised girl that I am I did not do any hand raising, but who knows what will happen in the next half! It really was one of the best races I've ever run. (I would totally do another one in Nashville, but we need to start crossing off some more states!!) I was tired and sore, but I was reminded OVER AND OVER again that it is a BLESSING to be able to run a half marathon. It is a blessing to have the health that I have to be able to do this. I hate to say  it, but way too often I take that for granted. God reminded me in the best way that day. After all the craziness of our move and everything else we have been going through this was hands down the best therapy I could have ever asked for. Not very often do you get therapy AND a medal!! :-)  I finished the race in under 2 hours which I was pretty excited about and even got to beat my buddy Andrew. I will keep that little win in my back pocket just in case I ever need to use it. :-) I am SO looking forward to where this new journey will take us and all the memories that will be made!! Best friendship EVER!

Pre-race....No injuries and ready to go!

Enjoying our post race pizza and hardware! (Yes we even dressed alike by accident!! Pretty sure we looked like the Bobsie twins!)

Post-Race 3 injuries but proud of our accomplishment.

Race 1 done!! Looking forward to SO many more with such an amazing woman!! Have I mentioned Adrienne is doing all this while conquering her diabetes!! Can you say ROCK STAR!!

1 Year Difference!

I meant to put these pictures in the one year old post and realized I forgot so here they are. I LOVE being able to compare how much things change in 1 year and this is the perfect example of that. Both pictures were taken by my super talented sister-in-law Amanda.

 Here is a picture we took when I was 30 weeks pregnant and had NO IDEA the sweet little peanut I was carrying. 

And here is a picture of us 1 year later. Love it!!

New House

Finally I have pictures of our house uploaded and ready to share!!! We are truly LOVING this house more than we ever imagined. Having the extra room that the basement adds has been such a blessing. It's been so fun because we thought we would have issues with this or that and really we simply love it! I will be posting pictures of the house with us and all our stuff in it here soon and will be ready for decorating suggestions from ANYONE who is willing to help out!! Although the house seems pretty dated it's been amazing to see how much it has transformed with just a little bit of paint. Such a contrast to the work that was needed in our old house.

Here is the kitchen which is open to the living room

 

A view of the living room from the kitchen.

Our "retro" (ie OLD) oven!! No worries it DID fit our 21lb turkey in it this year!

Dining room

Play room/sitting room

Guest bedroom

Myles and Ty's room..Perfect color for them!

LOVE the view in the boys' room..

Natalie's room. Good view, but not the amazing big window like the boys have.

Kids' bathroom

Master Bedroom

"Dressing Room"

Master Bathroom

Our first meal in the new house was of course some whales for snack!!

Natalie's Birthday Pary

HELLO FRIENDS!! I am happy to report that I am back on the ball and ready to get caught back up on the blog. I really feel like if I don't document this stuff I won't remember it because time flies so fast with little one around and I am so tired with all the craziness. Hope you enjoy!

So a sad thing happened when I went to download the pictures from Natalie's birthday party....All the good ones were gone from my camera card....I thought I had downloaded them, but apparently I haven't or at least I can't find them on my computer...UGH...Here are the ones I did find but none of them were the really good ones. I guess I just need to get over it. It was a wonderful day filled with friends and family and the weather was AMAZING. We couldn't have asked for a better day to celebrate out little Bitty turning ONE!!

 

Because I just love to compare how much they have grown and changed....

Our Sweet Baby Girl!!

 Classy is how I would say this picture turned out,wouldn't you?

 It thought I would struggle finding a cake to make for her birthday, but this one was a for sure winner considering she is a tiny monkey.
Here are all of the pictures from the morning of her birthday and her first time eating a cupcake. She was a champ and obviously had been practicing it in her head! It was funny too because both Myles and Ty cried when we sang happy birthday to them on their 1st birthday, but Natalie did not. The spotlight does not bother her apparently. 

Checking out the new number.

This look is priceless! Is that for ME??

I better grab it quickly before she takes it away!

Really? You want me to touch it?

Ok....Not as bad as I thought....

Let's give this a try..

Yes this was a good choice...

Let's go big or go home people!

 This is AWESOME!!

Yeah, I'm awesome at this.