Spring has Sprung

Last Sunday was warm enough for Evie to wear a sundress to church! Oh, I love her in little dresses...
Notice that she's wearing the same dress in both pictures. (19 months and 9 months)



Rehearsing with Daddy

Saturdays prior to playing with the church band on Sunday, Judd always takes time to run through the music one more time. Evie loves watching him rehearse, and she always has to get her hands on guitar strings or his phone.

10 Miles

This is a longwinded post about me. I warned you!

Yesterday marked a great achievement for me, I ran 10 miles for the first time. Here's a little background on why I decided to tackle this.

Growing up I was very goal oriented and self motivated. I wanted the best grades, to graduate in the top 10 of my class, to be in all the honor clubs, and to be in the top chairs in orchestra. (I did accomplish all of those things.) In college, I needed good grades again and graduated with straight A's. Never once did I consider myself an athlete or interested in sports. I did go to the gym to fit into my wedding dress, though. I was more of a geeky bookworm, just ask Judd!!

At the end of this school year I will have completed my eighth year of teaching and a couple months later celebrate my 9 year wedding anniversary! As I look back over the years, so many great things have happened to Judd and I. We bought our first house at quite a young age, we moved to Texas (for an adventure), we have good jobs, we have the best of friends, we have a great church family, and BEST of all we have beautiful EVIE! Even with all these great things I would say that in the past two years I have become lost in the daily routine of being a mother and a wife, doing chores, and working (without any family around- but some good friends to lend a hand). After a rough start to this school year, I decided to work towards a personal goal. For some reason I picked running. Maybe I picked it because it was uncharted territory in my life. I needed something new to accomplish. Since making that decision in September, I haven't stopped running.  After meeting my goals of 3 miles and 6 miles, I decided to tackle the ultimate: a half marathon! That leads up to yesterday...

Friday night I psyched myself to run 10 miles the next morning. I ate a carbo-liscious meal of beef and rice noodles. I drank lots of water. I mapped my route on MapMyRun. I set my alarm clock for 5:40am. I laid out my clothes and shoes. I packed my running belt with water and a snack. Everything was ready to go! When my alarm went off at 5:40am I rolled out of bed, ate a Power Bar, stretched, and got dressed. I set out for my run at 6:15. It was a great morning with cool air and a slight breeze. During my two hours of running I passed MANY runners and saw many places in my town (like the Duck Pond park) that I have never noticed before. It was a version of very slow motion sightseeing. At six miles I took a break at Andy Brown Park where I went to the bathroom, refilled my water bottles, and ate a snack -this weird energy gel/ goo. With only four miles ahead (45 minutes), I knew I could make it. With about a half mile left Judd texted me a picture of Evie eating breakfast- waffles topped with Nutella. That was the perfect motivation to finish the last 5 minutes. Within in 2 hours, 1 hour 58 minutes, burning 884 calories, I ran my first 10 miler! With a couple weeks left, I will be ready for 13.1 miles on May 1!

Random Fun

Helping with laundry...

Pretending to be a baby and then playing with baby,



Fun with a balloon on a hot day.

A Trip to Atlanta

Day 1, Tuesday: The Cousins Meet Again

Over Spring Break we visited Grandma Deb, Grandpa Chip, Aunt Charlie, Uncle Gio, Luca, Uncle Ross, and Aunt Francine. The last time we were there, Luca and Evie were just 4 and 6 months. Watching them play and interact was much more interesting this time around. Luca learned what it's like to share with another toddler. It was funny watching them steal toys from each other and listen to Evie screech, "mine" while Luca calmly walked away to hide a toy from her! Other times they would run to the nearest adult for "protection".

Their first breakfast together

Evie walking in Aunt Charlie's Heels

So proud!

The best part of cooking is licking the spoon!

Heavy!

Day 2, Wednesday: Zoo Atlanta and Ribs

After the zoo, Deb took me to the very hilly Peachtree Battle, a historic road where the Civil War was fought. Deb was super excited to get me to run up and down the hills. As I ran, Deb drove past me every 5 minutes or so to check on me and to see if I was tired yet. I lasted three miles. Along the way, I was determined to admire the gorgeous neighborhood lined with beautiful estates. While I was running through the neighborhood, I actually ran across a four lane overpass above an 8 lane interstate! (There was plenty of room on the sidewalk). Crazy!

This is a house I google imaged on Peachtree Battle

I didn't bring my camera, but you get the idea of where I was.

Dinner that evening

Giovanni's famous ribs

Day 3, Thursday: A Very Unlucky Saint Patrick's Day

Early Thursday morning around 4:30am we heard a loud crash followed by shattering. All of us shot out of bed to find that the bathroom mirror had fallen off the wall and shattered everywhere. Can you believe that there weren't any mirror clips holding it in place? Some genius thought it was a good idea to just glue the mirror to the wall. We're so thankful that no one was in the room when it happened and especially that a baby wasn't in there! Since we started our morning very early that day, we mostly took it easy. Judd and I explored IKEA for the first time (yes, I know) while Deb watched the kids. That evening we all met at Charlie and Giovanni's house to have pizza and cupcakes with Aunt Lisa. It was a fun evening. We went home early to get some rest which leads to the next drama of our trip....

Day 4, Friday: Tummy Boo Boo

Judd woke up at 2am with a terrible stomach bug. Because of it, we decided that there was no way he would survive the drive to the airport, so we decided to stay a day longer. Luckily, we found some affordable plane tickets that would take us home on Saturday. Poor Judd was stuck at home all day. Evie kept sneaking into the room saying, "hi daddy" wanting to climb in bed with him. Judd kept telling her my tummy has a boo boo. Deb, Chip, and I decided to make the best of the day and took the kids to Piedmont Park. It was a great place in the middle of it all. I decided to take a run around the park while the grandparents played with the kids. I noticed a couple things on my run that I am not used to: 1) tall buildings around a park 2) homeless people sleeping on park benches. I definitely got an urban feel.

on the roof of the parking garage

Piedmont Park was a great way to wrap up our visit.