What did I get myself into????

Do you ever have one of those mornings when you wake up and wonder, what the heck did I get myself into?  I had one of those on Saturday as I prepared to run in the Inaugural Monument 1/2 Marathon.

The morning regret was actually the culmination of second guessing my sanity. I started to question it when I received these lovely gifts: 

Were they trying to butter me up to make sure they were in my will?

Second-guessing and all I made it out the door.

My speedy sisters-in-law

Yes, that is our hair blowing in the wind...to the tune of 30 mph gusts.  Welcome to Western Nebraska!!!

My awesome co-workers.  Go Team ESU 13.1

As someone pointed out to me...good thing we aren't ESU 26!!

And the race started.  Honestly, at this point, I can't tell you if it was a bang, someone waving a flag or some other creative way of getting 300 people to move.  I just remember following the crowd. 

The view from about 1 minute into the run and about 15 minutes from  the start of  the first rain storm.

 I can honestly say that I was NOT excited about having people I know cheering us on.  I really didn't want them to see me looking like a sweaty mess who was close to death.  However, once I was actually running and they were there to cheer us on, I was wishing they lined the whole race!!  Thanks to all who came out in the "beautiful" weather!

Love my ESU 13 friends!

Mason's sign

My cute cheering section having a donut break...if I would have known, I would have made them bring me one!!

The beautiful view along the canal roads

Water, please!!!! A MUCH needed aid station.

Headed to the finish line after the ????th rain storm.  We had an escort.

We survived!!  Rachel was wisely staying warm in the car with the kids at this point.

I've been told that if all it took to get it to rain was to have the marathon, then we should have one every weekend.  So, I guess all of us running yesterday deserve a little pat on the back or even a small commission for helping end the drought in Western Nebraska.  OK, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but who knows!?!?! It might be the beginning of a good thing.  

When I told people that I was going to do this, I wasn't even sure that I was going to be able to do it.  I got lots of "I didn't know you were a runner" (I wasn't one and I'm not sure I can be qualified as that.)  I also got several "You??"s.  Yup.  I'm a sucker for punishment!!  Now that I have done it, the next question is will I do another?  Hmm....not sure.  It was a great accomplishment and I'm glad I did it.  We will see what the future holds.  

Have a great day!

Elsie's 125th

We loaded up and headed Southeast for some fun in a little town you might have heard of...Elsie, NE.  I'm sure those of you reading this know where Elsie is, because this isn't really a blog that makes it to the masses, but for those of you who don't know, google it.  It is worth knowing where it is, after all, some of the greatest people I know have been a part of the community.  My family has been around for a long time-6 generations to be exact. My brother and his family live in the house where my grandfather was born.  Enough of a history lesson.  Here are some highlights from the day:

5k run/walk/1mi walk

My sister-in-law Rachel is making sure everyone knows what to do

We did the 1 mile walk

The starting line...those white dots are some of the really fast kids. :)

Kiddie Parade 

Rachel's super cute idea for the kids

The Hanson Cousins 

Our little railroad guy

 The Big Parade

Appropriately, the shirts say "It Runs in the Family" 

Grandma Lorraine, Grandpa Max and Nick 

Our Float

The Big Guys!

Happy Birthday Elsie!!!

 Kid games and races

The sprinkler was a BIG hit with the little ones

Trying to get Uncle Nick 

Max got him!

Historical Presentations

Grandpa John and Grandma Joan Osler performing after he talked about some of the history of Perkins County.

Street Dance

Great end to the night

The blazing heat and HOT temperatures didn't deter anyone from having fun. It was a great time.

Celebrating 40 years

No, we aren't 40 years old.

However, this August, my parents will celebrate their 40th Anniversary.  To celebrate, we all went to their home in Cave Creek, AZ for some fun in the sun. Despite the cool temperatures to start the week (it was 20 degrees warmer in Elsie the first day we were there!) we had an awesome time swimming and spending time together.  Here are some highlights:


This is how you wear out kids before a 9:00 pm flight.  OK, it actually didn't work all that well, but it kept everyone waiting for the plane quite entertained.  

See, don't they look tired????

 Mason slept a little bit, but Sam thought it was more entertaining to talk to everyone on the plane.  Oh well!!
 We spent most of our time enjoying the pool:

Sam LOVED to float and play in the water 

Mason couldn't get enough of jumping into the pool and making the "biggest" splash

Fun in the sun

There also several trips around town:

Fun at Cracker Jax:

A little Putt-Putt

Go-carts

Sticking close to Nick

While the guys golfed, the girls took the kids to the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium.  We had gone there on our honeymoon 8 years ago, and it was just beginning. It has turned into quite a cool place. If you plan to ever go there, I recommend that you use as many coupons as possible, as it is a bit pricey for my cares.

Hands on exhibit

Sam attempting to swim with the crocodiles...

Since we were in a new area, there were lots of new experiences. We got to try out some new restaurants-many that we will plan to go back to including: Old Town Tortilla Factory, Harold's Corral, Big Earl's Greasy Eats, and Barro's Pizza.

Bryan and I often emphasize that we are not what you would call "role model" parents.  This is one of those examples.  Yes, the boys are eating hot dogs for breakfast.  Yes, they loved them.  And, no, I don't have any regrets about giving them hot dogs for breakfast!

       

It was a wonderful trip and we are trying to find other reasons to get back down to Phoenix as soon as possible. 

The happy couple

Adventures in Homelessness...

It has been a while since there was a post on this blog.  It isn't that we haven't had anything going on, quite the opposite, actually.  In the past three months, there has been moving, becoming homeless, moving again, changing roles at work, finishing grad school, and wrapping up a year of Kindergarten.  More on all of those topics at a later date.  Today is about our adventure in being homeless.  Now that we have been in our house for a month, it is about time I wrote this post I have been meaning to write since we got moved in.

I think I last left off when we were going to be in our temporary home.  Many had doubts as to how it would go...I mean really, can two families live under the same roof without wanting to strangle each other?????  We decided to prove the doubters wrong.  After all, we had vacationed together and spent plenty of time together on a normal basis.  It couldn't be that bad, right????

So, we arrived and were welcomed by this sign:

And it was legendary.

We:

Cooked together

Cleaned (a little)

learned how to jump rope

grew facial hair???

found out that mohawk + scraped up nose = tough guy

Found new places to rest

played (just a few) video games

hunted Easter Eggs

tried out new hairstyles

We also: played four square, watched movies, took walks, played cards, had interesting dinner conversations, and enjoyed each other's company.  We just don't have pictures of any of that because we were having too much fun.  It was 5 weeks of our lives that we will remember forever.  I am happy to report that we all survived and still speak to each other.

Things I will miss about being homeless:

• Living with built-in babysitters-seriously, everyone should have a 14 and 12-year old to entertain your 5 & 1 yr olds!!!
• Splitting the grocery bill with someone
• Dinner conversations
• Another female living under the same roof!

Things I won't miss:

• Wearing the same 5 work outfits for 5 weeks-I even threw one pair of pants away because I was sooooo tired of them!
• Sleeping with Sam in our room-ugh!
• All my "stuff"  All of our packing happened so fast, I had a few things (camera, iPod, credit card) that were packed away.  It was like Christmas when we opened boxes.
• Answering questions about "how's it going living with family for that long" (asked in that pitying voice.) I don't know how many times I had to say that it was going just fine.  I don't think many believed me!!

Even though we are all happy to have our own spaces again, we couldn't have asked for more out of our adventure in homelessness.  Thanks to Craig, Carrie, Kurstin and Chance for putting up with us and keeping it entertaining!!!