Indy Monumental 5k!

I decided to run another race!  They are so fun!  I know I'm only doing short ones but not for long, folks!  Right after I finished the 5k, I went home and registered for the derby mini marathon in Louisville.  It will be my very first 13.1.  And I'm already nervous.  I'm trying to imagine what the night before the race will be like....and I can't come up with anything!  Medication may be needed! ;)

Anyway, the race Saturday was my first time running in cold weather.  I couldn't breathe because my nose felt like it was on fire.  I'm not sure if that's normal but whatever!  I kept going.  I finished at my normal 10 min/mile pace (slow, I know).  I came in 28th out of 107 in my age group.  And I got a medal.  Not much can be cooler than that!  Except for the wicked nasty (again....I'm still in Mr. Deeds mode and have to use the word 'wicked' all I can) cold I got right after the race ended.  Weird.

I didn't get any photos of my friend and I.  But Billy took one of me before I left (why yes, I do look ridiculously swollen and puffy...as I always do at 6:30 in the morning).  And I took one of June before the race began!  She did an awesome job and had to leave me behind at the end!  Which is fine.  She's a faster runner than I am and I hate holding people back!  We had a blast and I'm looking forward to the next race!

Random Smileys!

When things are super crazy, I try to remember to smile over the small things!  Life around here is often very stressful and occasionally I feel like I'm going to lose it.  Like REALLY lose it.  But if you read my blog, you already know this!  I apologize.  I try to avoid complaining.  So I'm going to post some random photos that make me happy!

The first one is a note someone left on my car while I was shopping at Wal-Mart (shudder.....how I loathe Wal-Mart).  But the note made me chuckle.  I love fellow U of L fans!  GO CARDS!  The second photo is of Lola eating her first ring pop.  It was awesome!  The last two photos are of the kiddos playing at the park before Blake's football party (trophy presentation)!  Life is good, people.  Life is good!

FIVE years!

I'm a few days late but I have to let the world know Billy and I celebrated five glorious years of marriage on Nov. 4th!  Honestly?  It seems like it's been a lot longer.  Is that bad?  I don't think so.  I think it mainly has to do with the fact that out of those five years, we've spent almost TWO of them living apart!  We're SOOOOO over our living situation!  If anyone has any job suggestions for Billy in the Indy area, PLEASE let me know! :) 

Anyway, in honor of being married for five years, I will list five random memories I have over the course of our union!  And I should note this will be a challenge since I can't remember what I did five minutes (SECONDS) ago!

1.  Billy delivering a secret treat around Halloween several years ago.  We were new to Georgetown and didn't really know a ton of people.  So we picked some of our friends and randomly dropped off goodies.  It was dark.  There was a random hammock in the yard.  Yeah.  Dark+hammock=disaster for Billy.  But many good laughs imagining him falling over it and still trying to quietly deliver the cookies!  BAH HA HA HA!

2.  Walking to McDonald's several blocks from our hotel on our honeymoon night.  We got hungry and it was the only thing open.  Downtown Seattle needs more options for late night (cheap) food!

3.  Watching Blake score his first goal in his first soccer game!  We were both thrilled!  Little did we know it was only the beginning!!!  Blake is now our soccer STAR (and our retirement plan)!  :)

4.  How nervous he was and how he wanted to drive SUPER fast to the hospital when I went into labor with Lola.  He had "seen it in the movies."  I assured him, I would be fine and I wouldn't deliver the baby in the car!  Side note---he is such a GREAT daddy!

5.  The first night in our first house (Georgetown, Ky).  We stayed up REALLY late painting the whole house.  Background info:  we were the first ones to move into the neighborhood.  We had no window treatments.  We were scared because we were sleeping on a mattress in the middle of the living room.  I guess you had to be there but it was kinda spooky!

Happy anniversary, Billy!  You're a pretty fantastic guy and I'm glad you're mine!  Here's to forever (you can't see me but I'm lifting a can of Diet Coke)!  CHEERS! :)

Trickin' AND Treatin'!

Awwww the joyous holiday of Halloween!  I love it so!  I really loved it this year because I didn't spend much money AT ALL on costumes!  THANK HEAVENS!  Blake wanted to be a zombie.  That was easy enough.  Billy just shredded some of his old clothes and then put food coloring all over them.  I had some paint for his face from his soccer camp over the summer.  So I seriously didn't have to buy a thing!  Not even a bag to put candy in?  Nope.  He used a pillowcase!

Lola cost a little bit more.  She wanted to be a pink butterfly (pink butterpie according to her).  We got her a set of wings and a matching pink skirt at the lovely establishment called Wal-Mart.  It was ten dollars total!  YAY for my kids! :)

We were lucky enough to be able to get our trick or treat on with some dear friends!  We went around their neighborhood with Blake and his friends.  Lola was just as into it as they were and made me run to keep up (I missed having Billy's help)!  Yeah.  I'm pretty sure I got a Biggest Loser style workout (which is good since I ate about twenty pounds of candy today....not on Halloween but TODAY....sheesh)! 

It got a bit chilly toward the end and Lola ended up in her stroller with a blanket on.  I was jealous.  But we kept on truckin'.  Those who know me, know I take trick or treating very seriously!  I mean business!  If I'm gonna be walking for three hours, my kids are gonna be scoring some good treats.  And that they did!  Blake counted over THREE hundred pieces of candy.  He will eat it for a couple days and then forget all about it.  That's bad news for me.  I can either throw it away.....or sneak some pieces myself!  Of course it will be the latter.  I'm a slight (HUGE) candy addict!  Anyway, here are the photos!  Hope everyone had a spooktacular Halloween!

*I should mention that Lola pitched a HUGE fit when I first put her wings on.  That's what the first photo is showing!  She got over it when she started getting candy in mass quantities! :)

 This is the favorite house of the night.  They got a full-size candy bar!  That's what I'm talkin' about....

 And the scariest costume goes to this guy.  YIKES!!!!

 Blake and all his loot!  HOLY CANDY!!!

Party Pirates!

As I mentioned in my last post, we went to Louisville after dropping Blake at the airport in Indy!  We decided since we were in town, we would hit up an AWESOME Halloween party!  Dear friends of mine who throw the party every year were totally cool with us joining in on the fun! :)  Billy was able to secure us some pretty sweet pirate costumes!  And Mom and Dad were kind enough to watch Lola for the evening!  So we pirate suited up and off we went!

The main source of entertainment at the party is the crazy scavenger hunts!  We had to group up in teams of 6 and then had to complete all the objectives.  We had THREE different hunts.  Yes THREE!  We had an information scavenger hunt.  One funny thing from that?  We had to find out how many toilets were in KFC. Since we were short on time, Billy decided it would be okay to call them to get the info.  Yeah.  The employee laughed (but then went and counted the comodes).  I wish I could have heard!  We also had to do a photo hunt.  Those are documented below!  It was pretty darn hilarious!  And we also had to actually get ten objects on a list that included things like a Burger King crown, a matchbook, a striped straw, etc!!  In addition to these tasks, we also had to complete 5 of the HARDEST puzzles I've ever seen!  Those puzzles would give us clues to pick up!  The clues ended up spelling the word GHOST!  Yeah.  We solved them all and WON the scavenger hunt!  We are WINNERS!

So that's how it went.  I should also mention that the driver of the vehicle has to have mad SKILLZ!  They have to drive fast, over curbs, and all kinds of things!  Our driver rocked.  And I was WAY nauseous.  So nauseous that I got out for the last photo (close to the house) and walked back.  And I was also so nauseous that I couldn't partake of the delicious donuts that were awaiting!  And I.  Love.  Donuts.  I tried to take a bit but it almost came back up.  TMI?  Sorry!  But even through the motion sickness from riding around and solving puzzles at the same time, we had a GREAT time!  Thank you Jeff and Christine for hosting the best party ever (even if we didn't win the best costume contest)!!!

The photos are as follows (I have to do it this way because if I put captions under them, it  messes up my blog book at the end of the year....lame, i know)!!!

1.  Me on the way to the party! Aarrrgggghhh!  2 and 3 (because Billy looks funny in the second one...I posted both).  We had to take a photo at the police station.  Notice the camera on the building.  I hope they don't check their footage from Friday night!!!  4.  We had to hula in front of the Cornerstone church.  5.  We had to lift our leg on a RED fire hydrant (and yes...I totally almost fell over)!  6.  Cheering in a dugout.  7.  Posing at a waterfall (which we found at the library)!  8.  Zombies at a dead end sign.  9.  Decorating a cart at Kroger with our Halloween decals (it was supposed to be a CAR but Billy heard the instructions incorrectly)!  10.  Posing with a Jack-O-Lantern pizza which we found at Papa Murphy's.  11.  Acting like crooks (except for smiling me who didn't know what we were supposed to do....and didn't much care because I was about to vomit at that point) at a neighborhood watch sign!  12.  Chatting after the scavenger hunt (yes...I'm still trying hard NOT to be sick).  13.  The fabulous party hosts in their super rad Marge and Homer Simpson costumes.  14.  The photo taken as we arrived at the party.  15-18.  Photos taken at my mom and dad's before we left for the party!