Mud Run 5.0/3.0

The Mud Run has become a bit of a family tradition. Doug completed his 5th in a row this year (not counting the preview we did back in August) and I did my 3rd run! This was the first time I did it when I wasn't the only girl on the team so it was fun to run with my sisters in law and be able to help each other through the obstacles.

Here's the before and after pictures for the two teams!


The mud run is 4.5 miles and consists of 32 obstacles. Some of them are done on your own - but many of them require total teamwork!

The 10 foot wall seemed insurmountable in my mind - but my team of 3 girls and a guy got us all up over it! We all 4 worked to get each person up! It was the best feeling to have accomplished this one because we were convinced beforehand that we would just skip it. (This is the article where I pretty much sound like a wimp)


The new course had lots of 5 foot tall beams/walls to climb over and since most of my team was barely 5' to begin with - we had to help each other through.

This tar pit had everyone sinking! People either loved it or hated it! Once Melissa got one leg in and was pretty much stuck - we helped get her out and then opted to go around - although I face planted into the mud while going around so I don't know if it was worth it!

The arm walk and tire flip were two more new obstacles this year - and both required team work - which we rocked out at!


Last was the litter carry - a staple for the Mud Run course. This has typically in my mind been one of the more difficult obstacles. I say "in my mind" because I have always been on the stretcher and the guys' faces always looked really strained. It wasn't too bad - Maybe Melissa is just light and I was just heavy - or maybe it was NOTHING compared to some of the other obstacles we'd already gone through or maybe it was the sweet aroma of the finish line that awaited us at the end of this final obstacle.

New course, new location, new people running it - but our family managed to have the same old dirty fun!

(Thanks to Melissa and Denny for all the great photos! Essentially we ran the course twice trying to capture all these moments for each team!)

The Difference Between Men & Boys

Clearly - the price of their toys! This Little Tykes Cozy Coupe may only set you back less than $100 dollars.

 

But take your husband to the BMW track in Greer for the day, and you're likely to spend a lot more in the near future!

 

Doug and I went to the Relay for Life @ the BMW plant in Greer. We bought some tickets for him to be able to race a few BMWs around some different tracks to support the Relay for Life! The first track was called the rat race - where two cars started at different points on the track and you were supposed to catch each other. If you won - you got to go again. We had two tickets for this course and they told us I could ride with him if I wanted. If you know me well, you know I get insanely car sick so I didn't jump at the chance. But after the first race, I thought I'd like to do it. So I hopped in the passenger seat and we took off leaving the other car in the dust! I was feverishly trying to take pictures but also trying to not throw up. Doug won the race so we got to go again and this time I just tried to enjoy the ride.

 

The next track was a wet track - where you were supposed to really slip and slide around the turns but the guy Doug was racing spun out at every turn so Doug had to be much more mindful of not slamming into him!

 

There are no BMWs in our future, to be sure. In fact, I'm more in support of Doug's impractical little convertible than ever because it's paid for and a new car obviously isn't! We had a lot of fun...Maybe someday we will go back and get to do a little more racing! The best part was getting to spend the day together and listening to Carolina beat Georgia while we were driving!

Twenty-two Months

My little girl with the crooked grin turns 22 months old today. In just two short months, she will be 2! For some reason, words are failing me today - maybe it's because I have to work late tonight and I know I won't see her at all today or maybe I'm just tired from all the fun we've been having over the last few weeks together.

 

But I can't let the milestone pass without some pictures and I thought her smiling face would do the trick to brighten everyone's day! There's a saying that every smile is started by another smile so this is my way of paying it forward today! Plus some song lyrics to get stuck in your head!

 

Just to see you smile, I'd do anything that you wanted me to. When all is said and done, I'd never count the cost. It's worth all that's lost - just to see you smile.

When I see you smile, I can face the world. You know I can do anything when I see you smile.

You make me smile like the sun, fall out of bed, sing like a bird, dizzy in my head. Oh you make me smile.

Whenever I see your smiling face I have to smile myself because I love you

 

With a smile and a song, life is just a bright sunny day. Your cares fade away and your heart is young

 

Wednesday, School Day

When I was growing up, my mom used to wake us up each morning with a rundown of what the day held. It would go something like, "Thursday. School day. Soccer practice after school day. Breakfast for supper day." It became sort of a joke in our family and of course we exaggerated it over the years.

Wednesday was Katie's 2nd first day of school. She started the Weekday program at Shandon last year when she about 10 months old and she's going back for year 2! My good friend Elizabeth made her little shirt and I was so excited to get her up and ready on Wednesday morning. I got her up and gave her a bath and dressed her in her new shirt and told her it said KATIE. So most of the morning, she pointed at it and said "Datie" over and over. We headed outside after breakfast to take a few "first day of school" pictures.

 

Then we headed on over to Shandon and met up with Maddie to take some more pictures before heading on into class. They have been working hard this summer learning to sit still for story time and they are doing a great job learning to sit still for pictures too!

 

They held hands and ran/walked down the hall to class. It was funny to listen to some parents tell their children not to run inside and then others encourage their kids to run on to class. I let Katie go at her own pace since I wanted her to feel like a big girl!

 

Katie's class is the Sea Otters and each child had their name on a sea otter on the door. We found Katie's and again practiced saying her name.

 

Katie loved the decorations on the door and even tried to pull the eyes off of the big Ollie Otter on the door that the teachers worked so hard on. She and Maddie were well on their way to destroying the whole thing so we redirected their attention to baby dolls and puzzles. Then Jessica and I left and made our traditional Starbucks run! Not a bad way to start my actual birthday!

As usual, she came home with a super cute craft and a newsletter about the next week's activities! We are so thankful to Ms. Brenda, Kendall, and Jennifer for all of their hard work making the first day super special for all the kiddos!

Say Uncle!

Ok, say Aunt and Uncle! It was so much fun having Gabriel and Nancy here over my birthday weekend. I was more than glad that they got to be here for several days and we pretty much had them all to ourselves! On Labor Day, we all ventured over to the State House and explored the grounds of our capitol building! It was fun trying to remember what I learned on elementary school field studies and recount it to Nancy and Doug who had never been there.

 

 

But the highlight of the excursion was watching watching Katie with her Aunt Nancy and Uncle Gabriel! Katie loved having so much attention and gave them both a run for their money with her energy level that just wouldn't stop. She seriously ran all over the place with Nancy and every time Gabriel threw Katie in the air, she asked for it over and over again!

 

 

When they were more tired than she was, Gabriel put Katie inside the Confederate flag memorial gate and just let her run inside the gates. I'm pretty sure that's illegal. But what are aunts and uncles for if they don't encourage you to break the law every now and then?!

SURPRISE!

Birthday month, indeed! I seriously have been celebrating since September 1! On Sunday, under the guise of going to Sesqui to do the trails with my family (including my brother and sister-in-law who flew in from Texas), I had my first ever surprise party! There were friends, family from all sides, and kids galore all there to help me ring in my big 3-0!

I've been told Doug started planning this back in June and he did everything so perfectly and I know there were so many people who helped make everything so special! From making the food to reserving the site to helping set up to watching Katie while I mingled - nothing went undone!

My two best friends from college came from Texas and Georgia with their husbands and it was so great seeing them. It was really cool to look at all the people there and think about the impact they've had on my life. Every person represented memories from childhood, teenage years (eek), college, and now my "young" married life and motherhood. I couldn't be surrounded by more loving people and feel so stinking lucky!

And now before the music queues me to leave the stage - I do have some specific thanks to make.
Thanks to everyone who gave up their Sunday afternoon on a long weekend to come hang out. Especially those with babies so young - I know this didn't fit into your schedules very easily. And especially those family (Gabriel & Nancy) and friends (Lauren, Alex, Curtis, Kristina (with child) and Jackson) who flew in and drove hours to be here!
Thanks to my mom for reserving the shelter and the yummy baked beans.
Thanks to my dad for doing the grilling and grilling and grilling!
Thanks to my mother in law for the balloons that weren't allowed due to Canadian Geese migratory patterns and for the awesome chili for the hotdogs and the chips and drinks that will last us until our super bowl party.
Thanks to Lindsay for all the fixins for the hamburgers/hotdogs.
Thanks to Shelley for the most awesome mac and cheese since my grandmother walked the earth!
Thanks to Jessica for the pasta salad and for picking up the cake.
Thanks to Patricia who helped set up for a few hours after working all day beforehand!
Thanks to Gabriel and Nancy for being outdoorsy people and laying the perfect plan to get me to Sesqui.
Thank you most of all to my husband - Doug - for totally stepping out of his comfort zone and asking people for help. He lives in an "I can do it all by myself" world and always succeeds at what he does. He blew this one out the water but I know it was more work than I will ever really understand!

As I think about being 30, I think about who I was, who I am, and who I want to be. Who I was is now history and thankfully so. Who I am is a place where I content and who I want to be is changing every day. But without question, I want to be the best wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend that I can be. I want all of the same people at my next 30 years party and I want to be at theirs!

Thrift Store Prom Bowling

Thrift Store Prom? Yeah - the general idea was for you to go buy something "nice" from a thrift store and wear it to the bowling alley. Since most things at the thrift store are older, the theme sort of morphed into retro/80s prom bowling. I bought some dresses at our local Goodwill and actually tried them on at home to see which one fit better. There wasn't much for guys so I settled for some plaid polyester pants and a peach silky shirt for Doug. I was so bummed it wasn't more tacky since Doug actually agreed to dress up for this! But he still wore the clothes and looked halfway normal! We had a great time bowling and a great time seeing how dressed up everyone else got! We had early 90s music on the jukebox all night and I'm told there's video of me doing the MC Hammer and KidNPlay somewhere. It totally felt like high school so here's some pictures worthy of anyone's high school yearbook!

Me and my bestie - Jessica. Notice the coordinating corsage and hairbow!

The Belle of the Bowl - Seriously - Ashley found this at the thrift store and looked totally gorgeous! Her hair and jewelry were equally pretty!
Accessories! Remember buying these high dollar items for prom? I never bought an anklet but Brenna sure rocked this one. And since we had to take our heels off and wear bowling shoes, we had to make sure our socks were worthy of the theme!

Some of the Honorable Mentions - Krimped Hair and lacy Madonna top - very awesome! Purple blazer - I have a feeling that will reappear at a Clemson game later in the season so that makes for a smart purchase. Plaid waist jacket and yellow pants - too amazingly hilarious for words!

Undisputed Prom King and Queen - Both outfits are so much better with the whole picture but the headshots are pretty good too. Wilson grew his facial hair especially for the even but the chest hair is 100% real. Brenna ruled the lanes with some enviable jewelry and earned the right to keep her self-adorned crown on!

Most Athletic - when it comes to Bowling! Doug bowled 8 strikes in a row that night and had quite a few people admiring his technique. I'm thinking the polyester pants were his lucky charm but they haven't reappeared on league night yet!

Whatever Wednesday

It's Wednesday and I should be exercising but I just plain old don't feel like it tonight. So I'm going to write whatever comes to my mind. No pictures - so grandparents can go ahead and close their browser. I have a few random things we've done lately that I just wanted to make note of.

Last Thursday, the Hilton in Columbia invited other USC Program Coordinators to lunch at Ruth's Chris. I was thrilled. And then they served ME chicken. I was no longer thrilled.

Last Friday, we babysat for the Caicedo twins - Lucas and Benjamin. They were great and followed their mommy's schedule perfectly. Katie didn't seem to mind that her daddy and I were holding other babies - she actually tried to help occasionally by tossing pacifiers in their general direction if one of them fussed at all.

On Saturday, we did a preview of the Mud Run course. It's killer. I think if I lifted weights every second from now until September 25, I wouldn't be able to do some of the obstacles. But I'm still looking forward to it.

Saturday night we went to Olive Garden where I almost went Outback (if you don't know this term as it pertains to my family - it's an awesome story). Katie was crying and I have to admit it was probably the worst she's ever cried at a restaurant. But she hadn't had a nap and the place was super crowded and loud so she was a mix of tired and scared. I overheard the woman at the table next to us say "Oh just shut up." And then, "Take. The. Child. Out." I turned and told her we were in the process of taking her out but you know there's so much more I wanted to say.

On Sunday, the young married departments at our church hosted a bowling party where you had to come dressed in prom clothes you found at a thrift store. There's a whole post coming later all about the fun evening - but Doug bowled his best game ever! He started with 8 strikes in a row and a spare in the 9th frame made the game a "what could've been." But he finished with a 277 and an announcement over the speakers!

I'm playing indoor soccer again and I was reminded Monday night why I quit before (besides being pregnant). I don't like who I become on the soccer field. Some of the women are nasty and waaaay too aggressive for rec league soccer. That used to be me but I promised Doug I would keep it in check this season now that I have a child and need to be a role model. I pulled myself out of the game after the 1st half on Monday and sat with Rebecca who was injured. And we haven't even played some of the more aggressive/psycho teams yet!

My birthday is in one week - the big 3-0! Today my email inbox was flooded with TONS of freebies from various places where I have joined their e-clubs. Burgers, appetizers, desserts, mascaras, $10 gift cards - It was awesome and keeps Doug off the hook for giving me a gift to start my birthday month!

College football starts tomorrow night! I love football season. I know lots of people say that - but I really love it. I love the trash talk conversations with friends at church. I love the strategy conversations with people at work the day before the big game. I love reading the paper Saturday morning and finding out how my old high school did. I love the part in our paper where it has the Top 25 and shows who they're all playing that day and what channel they are on. I love making things with cream cheese in them to snack on while watching the games. I love watching college game day in the mornings while working on laundry. I love how excited Doug gets into things and how every time I get on the computer, there will be a screen minimized where he's been reading scouting reports and message boards about Penn State. I love watching Sports Center on Sunday mornings to find out the score from the games I couldn't stay up to finish watching. I love that neither Doug nor I like to go to games and that we just enjoy watching the games at home and screaming at the TV like we can make a difference. Gamecocks kickoff tomorrow night!

I am trying to make a pelmet board valance for our kitchen window. I have all the materials (fabric, board, batting) but I don't know how to draw my pattern onto the board. So I'm kind of stuck.

My two best friends from college are coming into town this weekend and I can't wait to see them. We always have a blast when we're together and it makes me feel like we're back in college. Except we are all married now. But our husbands are pretty fun too!

Katie goes back to "school" next week at church. I know my mom will be glad to have the little break in the week back and I look forward to our casual Wednesday mornings where we take our time getting ready and pack our bags and then head to school to see her teachers and learn about Jesus! It's my favorite day of the week!

Doug's home so I'm signing off to go watch one episode of Dexter and then one episode of Arrested Development (so that I can get all that Dexter scariness out of my system). Guess I will exercise in the morning since it didn't happen tonight.