The Double 10K

This weekend Jen DeMarre and I ran a 10k Saturday morning and then got up Sunday morning and did it again.

It was a great experience!

Saturday, the 10k was in Yelm. We had to be there at 7:10am to pick up our race# and then the race would start at 8:05am. Some crazy people were running double half. Not ever.

The weather, of course, was not cooperating. Pouring.

We were ready to get running and get out of the rain.

The rain did slow down when we started and then we actually even saw the sun for a bit.

Yep! That would be Jen & I in the Top 5 Women!!

That would be a 9:56 pace. Our personal best!

I was ready to puke when we finished. Literally.

I wouldn't have pushed myself this hard if Jen hadn't been right there with me.

We were 8th & 9th out of 21 people. Not bad at all.

Sunday morning we woke up to POURING rain again.

I was waiting for Jen to text me that we were good. We ran yesterday, we don't need to run today. She didn't text.

Though when I got to her house, she had been close to texting me. :-)

We were ready to go again. Well I kind of was.

I didn't really want to run again and I told Jen we were not going to push ourselves hard again today. Let's just enjoy the run.

It is amazing how just easing up 30 seconds a mile helps tremendously make it more enjoyable. By the half way point I was enjoying myself and glad that we had come. The run actually seemed easier today.

We did it! Two 10Ks in two days!

And YES, that would be Jen & I in the 4 & 5 position again!!

Our pace was 10:06, still way faster then I usually am.

And that would be me at #5 in Top 5 Overall (not just women)!

And we were 5th & 6th out of 16 people.

I'm so very proud of us!!

Hot Chocolate 5K/15K

Sunday, March 3rd @ 6:45AM

Morgan, Amalea, Kari, Kristin, Kelli, Sue, Me & Jodi

It was a SUPER COLD morning and VERY EARLY!

But we were excited to get the race started. It was most of these women's first race.

It was such a blessing to have Darin there to chauffeur us and then take pictures for us with literally everyone's camera or phone.

Thanks Honey!!

Anxious to start!

It ended up being a hillier race then I expected. Thankfully the perseverance only had to last for 3 miles. :-)

Here comes Sue to the finish line. Our Pastor's wife beat us all!!

Then Kelli!

Then Me. We were each 1 minute apart. Somehow the "trainer" came in 3rd…..sheesh!

Then Kari & Kirstin came in together. Followed by Morgan & Amalea.

The post race snack….Hot Chocolate and Chocolate Fondue!! So yummy!

Great job Ladies!!

And then Jen DeMarre finished the 15k with her friend Jen Elton.

  

Busy, busy, busy

Life is just too busy right now, but there doesn't seem to be a way to slow down.

 Which I know that we can all say this.

Our Family schedule this Winter other then school and work:

MONDAY

  Me - Work in Zach's classroom 8:30am - 12pm

  Darin - BSF in the evening

TUESDAY

  Me - Lead "One Thousand Gifts" Bible study 9:30 - 11am

         Weight lifting 12 - 1pm

  Free Evening

WEDNESDAY 

  Me - I decided not to return to BSF for the rest of this year

         Work in Elissa's classroom 8:45am - 12pm

  Church Small Group in the evening

THURSDAY

  Me - Weight lifting 12 - 1pm

  Kids gymnastics 5 - 6pm

FRIDAY

  Me - Running Group @ my house 9:30 - 10:30am

  Free Evening

SATURDAY

  Family Ski Day for 6 weeks (we leave by 7am and come home around 4pm)

   - I go half the time. The other half I'm boxing up the house, going to our church women's event and attending the Tacoma Home Show

SUNDAY

  Church

My "free" time is filled with getting our house ready to sell (All rooms have been decluttered, sorted and boxed except for our bedroom). It is so much easier to keep the house clean when you only have half your stuff out! We have already started making decisions on the materials for the remodel of our new house. It takes A LOT OF TIME to research designs and materials. Then I find out items I have decided on our the most expensive and I need to re-look and make a more cost effective decision. I'll be headed to the Tacoma Home Show on Saturday to get completely overwhelmed. :-)

Our evenings are filled with homework and more homework and then reading and more reading. We have added some family time to talk about our day, read a devotional and journal what we are thankful for that day. I'm trying to cultivate a heart of thanksgiving in myself and my family. To realize every day, hour, minute is a gift from God no matter what is going on. A challenge from the book "One Thousand Gifts", to write down 1000 gifts by the end of the year; which is only about 3 a day. I'm excited to keep this up and then look back at the end of the year. Zach is writing his own journal, as well as Elissa, so that will be a treasure.

I'm also getting us all ready and packed for our trip to Hawaii!

We leave February 8th for 14 glorious days!!

I just wanted to spend a few minutes to document what is going on right now and add a few Instagrams from this month.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Gifts of Love

Monday, 2.27.12

My Mom came out yesterday and brought me this beautiful quilt she made.
 Lots of love (time) go into planning and making these beautiful works of art.

Thank you so much Mom! I love you!

I also got a surprise bouquet of flowers that came to my door.

Thank you Dennis & Myrna! It was such a nice surprise!

The Big Four-O!

I can't believe that is me.

I'm 40 today.

Is it just me or does that sound old? Like I'm supposed to be a real adult now. Eeek!

You know you are old when you now understand what your parents meant when they said "I don't feel that old." :-)

But really I have to say 40 is great! I'm more physically, mentally and spiritually healthy then I have ever been. I have an awesome husband and wonderful kids. And great friends. What more could a girl want?!

I certainly couldn't ask for a better 40th birthday party!

Friday morning I dropped the kids off at Nana's house for the day so I could go get pampered before my birthday party that evening. :-)

I met Kirstin at University Village where we had appointments at SWINK Style Bar. 

Before

After

Thank you Dennis & Myrna for the gift card to SWINK!

We had a fun time!

While we were there, I got a call from Elissa & Nana to tell me that Zach had thrown up. Poor guy! He said his tummy wasn't feeling good. I think it is the antibiotics we are on. Elissa was just worried that she wasn't going to be able to come to the party. She wanted to make sure that I would still pick her up. :-)

After our hair appointment we did a little shopping and then had lunch at Piatti Restaurant. Such yummy Italian food! When we came out of the restaurant it was drizzling, so we grabbed a UVillage umbrella to keep our new do's looking good.

I headed back to Auburn to see my little boy for a little bit while Nana ran a couple of errands. He was in good spirits, but was asleep when I left again. He definitely wasn't feeling so good.

Then I went and had an express mani/pedi - courtesy of Nana - Thank you!

I got home just before Darin to get changed and primped.

I'm all ready to go!

We picked up Elissa and headed to ACME Bowl in Tukwila. A bowling party may sound a little cheesy, but it turned out to be the most amazing birthday party! Courtesy of my fabulous husband who planned it all himself. You did really great Honey! I loved every minute of it!

Thank you to my family and friends that came to help me celebrate! I had such a fun time with you!

And an extra special Thank You to Holly for being my photographer for the evening! I really appreciate you taking the time to capture my special evening.

Here are a few pictures that I took that night.

My fav....Costco white cake w/cream cheese filling and buttercream frosting.

A Mexican fiesta. It was SO yummy!

 

My sparkly girl!

Do you see a theme??

Here is a little snippet of Elissa & Symantha dancing. They were entertaining us all night. Elissa felt like such a cool big girl! :-)

I really suck at bowling, but I did get a strike on my last turn. :-)

It really was such a fun, fun evening!

Sunday evening my kiddos gave me this for my birthday.

It is their birthstones....amethyst & emerald with a diamond in the middle for forever.

Darin made an observation that my two favorite colors are green & purple. Funny.

Thank you Honey for making me feel celebrated and loved and spoiled!

I love you!