Volleyball Season has Commenced

Volleyball season has begun and I could not be happier!  I absolutely love watching Rachel play and it's especially sweeter this year as Rachel made the team she was hoping for.  

                                 

The girls had their first tournament a few weeks ago and played awesome!  Especially considering they had only practiced twice.  They came in first in their pool and third overall.  Way to go girls!

                                 

As much as I hate sitting for hours on end and getting the "look" from the hubs to calm down, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

GO GREEN!

Bumps in the Road

Ok, so I might have a small addiction to these E-cards, but dang, there are so hilarious!  And as of right now, I need lots of laughs.  And this one is so very true of me.  Hate that stuff.

Somehow I threw my back out.  It's a sign of old age I guess, when you're not exactly sure how it happened.  I'll never forget when I was around 7 or 8 and my dad was chasing me up the stairs as it was bedtime.  I beat him to my room and was laughing and so proud that I beat him.  I think I waited 10 minutes before he came crawling in my room in pain.  I get it.  Holy cheese does this hurt.  It's that kind of pain that you randomly scream out when you move wrong.  At the chiropractor this morning I actually yelled out "oh dear God!".  I think I scared the shit out of her, poor lady.

                                       

So hopefully this will clear up by soon.  Preferably by tomorrow night.  I haven't gotten a run in since Friday and the thought of not doing anything is making me mad.  Also, I don't really like others to wait on me hand and foot, I prefer to do that.  So for now I will try my best to not do anything and make sure to keep up on my pain meds.  Shortly I will be hearing Pink Floyd's The Wall in psychedelic form.  Good times. 

Chef Rachel

Rachel made us supper last week and boy was it a good one!  She made a pea with ham pasta, cubed potatoes, spinach salad and milk biscuits.  Everything was absolutely delicious!  I had told her that she will be in charge of one meal a week, she said to not expect that kind of a meal every time!  

Cara

Ohhhh Winter....

YES!  And it will happen, although right now I could swear on just about anything that I won't say it...It's a balmy -5 with a windchill of -25.  It's so ugly out there I just want to cocoon in my room and do nothing.  Oh wait, we've been doing that since the beginning of December, *sigh*.

This winter has really been tough on everyone, and it's reeeeaalllly making me crabby.  Today was totally a Monday, anything and everything that could go wrong did.  However, I try really hard to think about how tough others have it right now.  My friend Jodi is dealing with the effects cancer is taking on her 7 year old, I drove past a terrible accident last night that took a life, and I think of all those people that are homeless this winter.  Kinda puts everything in perspective and makes you put your big girl panties on and suck it up!

So, until the weather starts to warm up, I'll put this game face on and tackle whatever comes my way...



Be gone winter crabbies, be gone!

A Runner's World

So I like to exercise, and really always have done some form of exercise.  Shortly after we got married we bought a treadmill, and 14 years later, she's still hummin!  I was never a runner though, didn't have the endurance for it.

Over the last year I have started making more of an effort to run, I LOVE the way I feel when I'm done.  Well, I love how I feel 30 minutes after I'm done running, because initially I feel like I'm dying.  But seriously, it a total body workout.  I still love to do my cardio dvd's, but nothing beats running.  

So I've made a decision that in 2014 I am going to run a half marathon.

There, I said it.  Which means that since it's out here now, I have to do it.  Holy Schnit.  My goal is to run Grandma's Half Marathon in Duluth in June.  The down side of that is that it's a lottery, so we might not get picked, which would REALLY bum me out.  I have my rooms booked, and someone to run with me, so I have to get picked, right?  If we don't, I will find another one to run.

I have started my training, I am not following anything super fancy or scientific.  I run 3 miles 4 days/week and then do a long run between 5-7 miles on the weekend.  I've lost a few pounds, but am not looking for weight loss.  I just want to tone this body up!

So there ya have it, wish me luck and pray I don't die.

Recap

Well I see it's been a few months since my last post, yowsa.  You know the drill, life is busy, stuff gets in the way, blah, blah, blah.  So here I am, January 16, 2014 making a recap of these last few months.  They've been a doozy, lemme tell ya!

First off, in November my beautiful mama turned the big SIX-O!  I know, she doesn't look it, does she?  I always think her young looks comes from having such an amazing daughter who never caused her stress...right mom??

Also in November, we treated the girls to their first sushi/hibachi restaurant.  We told them it was celebration for good conferences, but we actually couldn't find a babysitter, so we decided to bring them with.  Totally kidding.

Their favorite part was when the chef brought out the little plastic boy who "pees" water onto the grill, they couldn't get enough of that!

Alayna moustache you a question...and I'm pretty sure it will have something to do with the private parts of the plastic peeing boy.

The beginning of December found my husband sprawled onto the concrete while trying to hang Christmas lights.  Yes, he is one of "those".  We call him Clark Griswold now.  In all seriousness, we are so fortunate that he is ok, he broke his wrist and hand and got some cuts and bruises.  Considering he fell on his head, we are very thankful.  Nothing a metal plate and screws can't fix!  And the super funny part of this is that it snowed like 5 inches a couple days later.  I don't care for shoveling.  And then a couple days after that, it snowed like 6 inches.  Super funny.

My mom brought the girls and I to see the Nutcracker Ballet, Emma and I LOVED it!  Rachel thought it was "interesting" and Alayna fell asleep.  However the next day in JC Penney's Alayna found this Nutcracker and insisted we buy him.

And since I am the QUEEN of taking pictures (insert sarcasm), this is my Christmas picture of the girls.  Yes, the only one I took that turned out.  This is 6 am Christmas morning, they are patiently waiting for Brad and I to stop screwing around so they can go downstairs and open gifts.

And my favorite part of Christmas this year?  I was able to rally up *most* of my siblings and got my parents and their spouses together for an old fashioned family Christmas!  It was such an informal, but super fun evening!  My dad got our his guitar and dulcimer and played for us, and the girls played their violins too.  It made my day!

So thats been our life...crazy and busy!  As sad as I am to see the holidays gone, I'm kinda glad to have everything "back to normal".  Although normal isn't a word in our household!