derby festival mini-marathon

I have spent the last 20-21 weeks training for my first mini-marathon.  I started off with a goal of finishing.  I can remember my first run on the treadmill and feeling like I was going to die when I finished.  I couldn't run for more than one-two minutes at a time.  As I continued training, my goals changed.  I decided that I wanted to give it my all.  I sacrificed so much to train for this race.  There were many mornings I would get up at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning so that I could train and not miss out on time with Kaylea.  When we moved back to New Albany, it became a little more difficult.  I had to give up some family time on the weekend because I did not have the luxury of having the treadmill at my house.  I was nervous Saturday morning - the emotions from Boston, the thrill of the race, adrenaline pumping!  My new goal was to do 10:30 miles or better for a finish time of 2:18:00.  The race started and I really felt great.  I have actually never felt so good during a run.  I keep my times as I run and I was doing 9:45, 9:30, 9:50 miles.  I loved the course and seeing the people cheering you on as you race.  It almost brought tears to my eyes as we turned and headed down 4th street.  As good as I was feeling, I hit a wall at the 10 mile mark.  I think I mentally psyched myself out.  I had never ran a race more than 10 miles and I was tired.  This is when I wish I would have been running with a friend.  I stopped and walked.  I'm guessing I walked about 3-4 minutes of the race.  I finished in 2:14:20 with a 10:15 pace.  I was so excited and felt great.  My mom and Jordy met me at the finish line, which made me very happy!  It was an amazing feeling of accomplishment.  

fest-a-ville on the river

We talked about taking Kaylea to the circus on Sunday, but decided we would wait to buy tickets because we knew it was going to be an extremely busy weekend.  We remembered that the Fest-a-Ville on the waterfront was going on and thought she would have more fun riding rides.  She had a blast!  She rode most of the rides twice and we were lucky that the rain held for us to enjoy a great family day on the waterfront.

happy 4th birthday owen

After t-ball practice, we raced to the car to head to Indy.  Owen celebrated his 4th birthday at theIndianapolis Children's Museum.  We were very late, but we did make it in time to sing Happy Birthday.  Kaylea had a great time.  I wasn't sure how it would go, because she is very much into the interactive stuff, but there was plenty to do.  I guess we missed the Science Works section last time we were there, because there was a lot to do in there!  It was great to see some of our Lafayette friends, and especially great to see Jen, Matt, and Owen.  I'm still hopeful that I can find him a job in Louisville (guess I better stop looking).

This picture makes me laugh because Kaylea won't let anyone push her in the stroller.  She hopped in an Owen asked if he could push her and she said, "sure."  Matt told Owen to get used to it.

t-ball: first practice

Well, I'm glad we have a photographer mom on our t-ball team because I am not too hot :)  Erin took some great picture, which I will post later.  We were able to catch our first t-ball practice this weekend.  Kaylea was not all that interested.  She was the first to pick flowers.  She was somewhat interested when a ball was hit to her and she can actually throw the ball straight, but she was not too excited about being there.  It is certainly going to be an interesting season.

t-ball

I decided to sign Kaylea up for t-ball this year at Graceland.  She missed the age cut off by 2 months, but they said she could play.  I am a little concerned about how it will go.  When I told her we were going to play, she started talking about her tea party stuff and how she would bring tea and snacks for all of her friends.  Last week, we had our first meeting where we met her coach and teammates.  She got her uniform.  Her team is the Angles.  We missed the first practice because we were in Texas, but we are looking forward to the season and praying it goes well.  We are lucky to have some good friends with children on the team, so it should be fun either way.       

                    

vacation - part 2 (texas)

Sunday, we slept in (well, by our time).  I went for a run and my foot hurt the entire time, so I only got in 3.5 miles.  We cleaned up the condo and headed back to Uncle Bob's.  We got lost - never trust your GPS :)

We went to a cook out at Julie's brother's house.  He had a pool and hot tub.  While the hot tub wasn't hot, Kaylea didn't seem to mind.  I forgot to pack her bathing suit, but I thought she needed a new one anyway, so we stopped by Target and picked one up.  She had a blast!

As vacation winds down, this homebodies are ready to be back home, but we are so thankful that we were able to come visit.

wedding day

Saturday morning we actually slept in.  I think Kaylea was exhausted.  We went to the facility to help decorate.  I helped, while my mom took Kaylea to the park (I joined them later).  The cermony was beautiful.  It was on Lake Conroe.  Kaylea danced and danced and we all had a great time.  I couldn't believe it when she told me her legs were tired and she was ready to leave.  That was around 9pm Texas time.  I was shocked!  I thought we would be shutting the place down!  We headed back to the condo and craashed!  Such a great time.

Gigi's Cupcakes

Bride & Daddy

vacation - part 1 (texas)

My cousin, Sarah, got married in Texas this past weekend.  When we found out about the wedding, my mom and I decided we should attend.  Her brother, Bobby, has lived in Texas for about 30 years and she has never been there to see him.  He always comes home!!!  We booked the flights some time ago.  Bottom line - it was a beautiful wedding, Kaylea had the time of her life, and this mama is worn out! 

I worked a 1/2 day on Thursday before picking Kaylea up from school and heading to the airport. Daddy wasn't able to come with us, so it was just us ladies.  We had to drive to Indy (we booked the flights when we lived in Lafayette), took a shuttle bus to the airport, and then rented a car.  Kaylea was excited about all of the forms of transportation! 

Our flight got in late in the evening and it was about an hour drive to the house, so we got in pretty late.  However, that didn't keep Kaylea from staying up late playing with her cousin, Juliet.  Juliet is a year younger than Kaylea, so they had a great time. 

We had Friday morning to hang out at the house.  My aunt Julie did the flowers for the wedding and they arrived by mail, so I took Kaylea & Juliet to the park to kill some time. 

We attended the rehearsal on Friday night.  It was on Lake Conroe - such a beautiful setting for a wedding.  The highlight of the evening was the rehearsal dinner, held at Fajita Jack's.  There was a DJ and karaoke and a man making balloons.  My mom suggested that I take Kaylea up to sing karaoke.  I honestly didn't think she would want to do it, but when I asked her, she was ALL about it!  I signed us up and before I knew it we were on stage singing Call Me Maybe!  She was a champ.  I thought she might run off stage, but she didn't.  She knows the chorus pretty well, but I was stuck singing the verses.

Needless to say, Kaylea had an amazing night and it didn't take her long to crash for the night!

weekend at the park (with no park pictures)

It has been a beautiful weekend in Southern Indiana.  We have had temperatures in the 70s.  Jordy had the day off with Kaylea.  They had breakfast with Pop.  He works a new shift now, so there are only certain times we get to see him.  After breakfast, they went to bounce time at SIGS.  Our friends, Erin & Kristi were there with their kids.  Kaylea got to play with Mimi while Jordy had lunch with Art.  She was tired.  Friday night, we tried the Italian restaurant in downtown New Albany.  It was ok, but we weren't all that impressed.  After dinner we drove up to the neighborhood we are considering building a house in and headed to Berry Twist for a cone.  It's pretty funny to watch Kaylea eat her cone!

Saturday morning I ran the Papa John's 10 miler.  I wanted to do it in under 1:45:00.  It took me 1:42:40.  I had signed Kaylea up for the kid's run, but she decided she didn't want to run.  When I got home, we went to lunch at Chick Fil A before heading to Bob Hedge Park in Jeff to play.  We must have worn the girl out because she ended up falling asleep around 4:45.  We only let her a sleep for a bit.  My mom and Trina played with Kaylea while we watched the Cardinals win a game to advance to the Final Four!

Sunday we spent plenty of time playing, too.  We played outside, played at Community Park, danced, and played in the rain.  Kaylea and I played beauty shop for about and hour this morning.  I fixed her hair 3 different times.  She really only liked it the first time, but I liked it curled!  Kaylea put on a puppet show for e at Mimi's house tonight.  It's a little long, but I captured it on video, so I'm going to post it.  We ended up having dinner with Mimi & Nana tonight.  It was a pretty perfect weekend!

lady cards - first UL game

The Cards took on Purdue in the NCAA tournament a couple of weeks ago.  Jordy and I decided it would be a great opportunity to take Kaylea to her first Cardinal game.  We knew the seats would be better than at a men's game, and they were cheaper.  It pretty much went as we expected.  Kaylea really wasn't all that interested in the game.  She did like the dancer, Boiler Pete, and the Cardinal Bird.  We made it through a little more than half time.  Kaylea prefered dancing in the aisles and climbing the stairs to actually watching the game.  If you ask her, she does say she had a great time!

easter sunday

We celebrated Easter with our family.  The bunny brought Kaylea a basket of goodies (she isn't a huge fan of candy).  We had an egg hunt at Nana's after eating lunch.  Jordy and I made a last minute decision to head to Indy to watch the Cards play in the Elite 8 game.