{july 3...}

I started off my birthday morning with a quick 5k around my favorite little park.  We have been lucky to have had some beautiful weather this past week (of course it is 95 degrees now) so I felt obligated to get out to the park and away from the dread treadmill.   After my run, I booked it to the gym to squeeze in an hour long strength session.  One of my goals for the next year is to strength train consistently.  Body pump, 2 times a week will help accomplish that.  Plus… I am seeing noticeable results from just a month of classes twice a week.  Score.

After my sweat session, I went on a little shopping trip where I tried on everything, but bought pretty much nothing… enjoyed the sun for a bit, and then started prepping for our 4^th of july/birthday bbq on thursday.

  

Hubby made me a fantastic bday dinner of baked potatoes and filet mignon for dinner, followed up by a fantastic crème brule from Whole Foods.

{thanks again shaun...it was yummy!} 

After dinner, we headed out to the o’fallon heritage andfreedom fest for some carnival rides and fireworks.  Brody had a great time.  He rode on a few rides, won a stuffed fish (actually it was a joint effort by grandma & daddy), ate cotton candy, kettle corn and lemonade.  

we finished the night off with a great fireworks display.  

Overall, it was a pretty lovely birthday.  Of course, I wasn’t done celebrating yet.  I stretch my celebration over the entire holiday weekend whenever possible.  Do you blame me?!

{firecracker 10k}

i bit the bullet last week and signed up for the o'fallon firecracker 10k.  we had been having such wonderful weather, i couldn't hardly pass it up.

race morning, it was a beautiful 65 degrees.  its not too often you end up needing a jacket on the 4th of july.  

before the race, i met up with a few of the girls from my runners club.  jenn and alicia are both super speedy, so right after the race started, i bid them farewell and watched them speed away.  

as i started out on the course, my legs felt pretty heavy, but the weather was beautiful and i decided to just see what kind of pace i naturally settled in to.  when my garmin beeped at mile 1, i was shocked to see an 8:58 mile.  my second mile was a little slower at 9:20 pace.  after that little bit of recovery, i decided to stick with a pace where i felt comfortable, but surprised myself with sub 9 min miles for the remainder of the race.  

this my friends, was a personal record for me.  both for the 5K and 10K distances.

i am pretty proud of these results.  

here are some of the wentzville runner's club post race

{me, chrissi, alicia and jenn}

i am definitely learning i am capable of pushing myself faster than i typically do during training runs.  maybe this sub 2 hour half marathon goal isn't as far out of reach as i thought.

hmmm...

i'm linking up to Ashley at The Domestic Wannabe for her move it monday series!

easter egg hunt

today we attended brody's second easter egg hunt at rotary park.

 last year he wasn't quite old enough to understand what was going on.  this year... well, he thought he was a pro.  

we asked b how many eggs he was going to get... his answer?  

"all of 'em". 

he's a funny boy

b and his egg haul.  he did pretty well.

"look momma, i won a prize".  

and all the other eggs were full of tootsie rolls.  b said "mmm, candy momma".  

overall, the egg hunt was alot of fun.  we sure wish we didn't have to be so bundled up this morning, but since we are going to be getting a snowstorm tomorrow, we are okay with that.  come on spring, don't you know we are ready for you?!

all photos are iphone photos.  please excuse my terrible photogoraphy skills :)

The magic house

Yesterday we attended a birthday party for B's friend Kenzie. The kiddos all had so much fun. It was a princess theme, but the boys had a great time using car and truck stickers to decorate a crown and make swords (magic wands?). They decorated cupcakes and then ran all over the magic house for a few hours. We just love visiting there. Of course, next time I want to go on a weekday morning so it is a little less crowded!

New Years Eve 2012

we rocked new years eve this year.  

well, if you count being on the couch in our pjs as rocking.

***

i started my day out with a body pump workout

brody did some serious sit & spin-ing.

there was lots of time spent on the couch, and some napping.

there was shrimp eating, and mimosas drinking.

some practicing with new headphones for our airplane trip

and best of all, b stayed up until midnight.

we bundled up to go outside and watch the neighbors fireworks.

then promptly whisked everyone off to bed to start the new year!

***

we hope you all had a fun new years eve, and wish you the best of everything for your 2013!

our christmas in {a lot of} photos

i worked night shift on christmas eve this year, so i took the easy way out and decided on hosting a pajama style christmas brunch.  we had a great time.  prepare yourself for photo overload!

 

 drink station

hot chocolate bar

he liked eating my marshmallows.  he calls them cheese.  

(don't ask me why!)

most of our pajama gang

i have a feeling we are going to be here awhile!

a fire is a necessity for appropriate present opening scene setting.

 who needs toys when there are bows

 i think uncle pat is still sleeping!

quit with the camera, momma. 

she must have gotten something good, but i can't remember what she was opening... 

 what?! its a tradition.

the two big hits from santa. 

skiing. of course. 

the only picture of the three of us.  

*************************

the aftermath...

 b and i played in the paper...

grammy and papa danced...

and uncle shaun took a nap...

 overall, a great time was had by all. {i hope}

we hope you all had a wonderful christmas.

love to you all!