Half Marathon Picture

As you may remember I did the half marathon last month, and they usually take several professional pictures thru out the race that the organization tries to sell you. I usually take several of my own cause theirs are kinda spendy.

Well, ya don't run a half marathon everyday... I do want to run many more in my life but just in case this is my only one- I wanted a cool picture of it... and it's my first! So they do these cool pictures with in a picture thing and I really liked it. It has my name and my time 2:29:33 and the date... and Kyle the picture of all the people running are in the corrals 1 thru 4 so you are in that picture some where... so technically I got a picture of you and I at the race lol! This is the picture I ordered...

And we got it in the mail today soooo of course I had to go get a frame for it!Still keeping up on my running. I've been running 4 miles 4 days a week for the last 3 weeks. Today I ran 5 miles woo-hoo!

But what's even more exciting than all that??? I pick up Jade at the airport tomorrow! YAHHH!

I love summer!

Been real busy, working 10 hour shifts and being out in the sun every other spare minute I have. So the next cloudy day we have I'll be able to post what's been going on around here. Until then, here's a picture of Beriah and Aurora splashing in our tiny pool. they played in that thing for a few hours! You may notice that the upper ring is deflated... a raccoon thought it would be fun to swim in MY pool and popped the upper level. But the girls still had fun in 5 inches of water LOL...

Whaling Days 2010!!

What an awesome day for a 4 mile run and a parade!!

Michelle's family was with us last night (cause Jeromy's working on tiling her kitchen and keeping the kids off the floor for the 24 hours- pictures of that later!). We also had Phillip and their exchange student from China with us last night as well. So with Aurora, we had 13 kids, plus 3 adults that we had to get up, fed and out the door by 8 AM... mission accomplished!

Michelle had prepared "Baked French Toast" the night before and baked it in the morning early, so we had a YUMMY breakfast. All the kids ate- I think- then we were out the door!

I was so excited about the run this morning. I saw my running pal Regie again! We pretty much crossed the finish line at the same time. I ran the 4 miles in 38 minutes and 58 seconds- last year I ran it in 43 minutes, but I know there was another year where I ran it just under 40 minutes. So I was happy with my time. Can you tell? Wierd-O!

Some from our group... I think I counted 32 people in our sidewalk group... Tanya, Julia, Tessa- looking fabulous in her new purple running gear, me and Hannah- Hannah also got 3rd place in her age division...

Aurora looking sooo serious! There's the man... KYLE!

Getting ready for the parade to start... it started getting really crowded... but we had a bunch of chairs and blankets along the side walk... see Laura and Jason's family in there?A close up... those are some cute kids in there!There's baby Hannah watching the action...I love the big whale... especially against the clear blue sky... it's almost like we're underwater with it... use your imagination people :O)When the motorcylces drove thru this guy drove over by our group of kids and let the kids each honk his horn... here's Shane honking!Here we are... me, Michelle and Laura...Ummm.... could we get any tackier??? Kent, if you're reading this... that red thing on Jeromy's head is for you. Remember getting a blue one like it last year and you wore it until it fell apart? Surprise... a new one! We missed Jade and Kenton this Whaling days...It was getting pretty warm... Jason had some of the kids sitting under the back door of their car for some shade... you can see the 3 Chinese exchange students on the right...All the families were getting tired... after 2 hours of the parade... it still wasn't over... but we were all done... time to go... it's awesome when everyone is ready at the same time... Aurora and Jeromy...Here's my pin! This is the 30th annual "Whale of a run"! And this is my 5 time doing it... did it in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009 and now 2010! I love running!

But now I need a nap.... peace out home dog.

Got something new...

I got my new glasses yesterday...

And new sun glasses...

Whatta ya think? (Got them at Costco Kimmy!)

This past weekend...

Let's see... yup, my kids are still gone... miss their cute little faces...
We had a BBQ at auntie Linda's house Saturday! Thanks Linda it was great! And we saw Patty's oldest boy Joey, he's so grown up and handsome! We also saw Chase and Sam, and Sam I recognized, but Chase- I would have not recognized her... she's adorable! She was an adorable little girl but she looked so different!


Sunday, we went to church, and my old classmate from high school Christy and her husband were there visiting from Sandy Valley, Nevada. Her husband, Jeremy, pastors a church up there. It was nice to see them and their 3 kids!


After church, my Jeromy and some other people from church went to the local Albertsons to sell these food cards as part of a fund raiser to go to Mexico in August. While he was doing that, I thought I'd go visit Grandma Shield! But I forgot my camera! It was nice visiting with you Grandma- I love you so much!


While there I got to see Linda, Sharon and Susan- all busy crafting. Kimmy was also there, and she had a ton of lavender. She was making little lavender things. And she showed me how to make one... see? It smells so good...

Then Jeromy and I met back up and we headed to Tukwilla... you know what's there right? The best Japanese Steak House! Mizu- as it is called. There are a few of these restaurants a little closer to home that are pretty good, but Mizu is my favorite.

After that we came home and then headed back out to Barnes and Noble, I need something new to read...

I also found this yummy cereal at Costco several months ago... it's my new favorite (a plug for Kimmy's store). It's called oatmeal squares. It tastes so hearty, and it doesn't get soggy in milk. And just yesterday, I was reading one of the yahoo stories on the number one breakfast foods, and under the cereal category was my oatmeal squares!

Today, Jeromy is in Tacoma picking up Aurora. We have her for another week. Jeromy's pretty happy about that! They are going to every store trying to find white pants- not Capri's not shorts but PANTS! She has to wear all white for her goat showing in the fair. But they are not having any luck so far.

I just finished running my 4 miles today. I did "interval" training today. I don't really like to do those, but it's good for the heart. I run my regular rate of 5.0 miles an hour and then every 5 minutes I run at 6.5 miles an hour for 45 seconds and then I just keep repeating that every 5 minutes untill my 4 miles is up. It shaves off only 2 minutes of my over all time, which doesn't sound like very much but my heart definitely feels it and that's the whole idea!

Looking forward to this Saturday: "Whaling Days weekend"! I'm running the 4 miles just before the parade. Fun stuff.

Have a great week people!

Still missing them...

Few more weeks until they come home....

LOVE you Jade and Kent!

Sunny daze....

Another glorious day of sun shine!

God is good!

I ran 4 miles today, then got to bask in the sun... the perfect day.

Miss my kids...

Jade flys home August 1st....Kenton flys home August 8th...

"3 2 4"... what?

Or "three to four"... does that make better sense?

My base running that I like to stay at is 3 miles, between training for different runs. But this morning I decided to change that to 4 miles. 4 is better than 3 and will make it that much easier to transition into what ever training I start, along with burning more calories in the interim.

That is all.

Just the 3 of us...

Jeromy, Aurora and I.

My kids are still in California (till August), and Jeromy has Aurora this weekend. So that makes 3 of us. We had fun pretty much all day.

My day started with running 4 miles outside in the glorious sunshine!

Then I took a quick shower then we all went to the movies and watched "Despicable Me"... the minions were adorable!

After that we headed over to my mom's where Jeromy was helping my dad with some outside stuff, and they also made a late lunch for us of pork chops with gravy, salad fresh from their garden, rice and apple sauce. She also had cut up fruit with whip cream for dessert. It was great mom and dad- THANKS!!!

After that we did some major shopping! First we stopped at Dairy Queen- don't judge me!

We went to Costco to see what kind of pools they had, and of course they sold out! But I did get new glasses and sunglasses picked out! The last glasses I got are over 10 years old, and I really needed an updated pair! I had a prescription that was done thru the shipyard so that saved me $$ on the eye exam, so I just picked out some frames for regular and sunglasses, I can't wait, they'll be ready in 2 weeks!

Then we went to Kitsap Tractor and Equipment cause Jeromy wanted a really good weedwacker. He is happy, this has an extra long shaft so he doesn't have to bend over, he also got the free hat...

Then we went clothes shopping... we went a few different places... Jeromy got a new pair of shorts... see how they look just like the shorts he's wearing? I wanted to get him some fun plaid shorts or something with stripes or color or SOMETHING, and he just wanted something similar to what he already has and likes... Einstein did something like that didn't he? Wore the same clothes so all he had to think about was science?Aurora picked out some colorful shorts and a shirt...I got a comfy black sun dress and some new sports bras that are great for... *warning*-this may be too much info but keep reading if you're a female runner!!... great for avoiding chafing. I noticed that on my longer runs that some sports bras cause some serious chafing- not fun! But these ones are FABULOUS! And they had some really amazing colors!I also got some shoes, you can't tell in this picture but these shoes shimmer...We got some movies...Then we stopped at "Blenders" formerly known as "Emerald city smoothies", where they make great fruit smoothies... so good on a hot day!

Then we finally found a little pool. I want a big one but we're going to wait till we move a few years from now. So this little one will have to do. I really want it when I'm laying out on my lawn chair and I get too hot I can just dip into the little pool and cool off and then lay back out on my chair. Jeromy says I should get a floaty and float in the pool.... if I do that I'll take a picture cause that would be hysterical! Until then here's the pool!

Jeromy using his air compressor to fill it up...Aurora filling it up with water...We are all exhausted now. That was alot of shopping. We started watching the Neverending Story, but we are all so tired we had to stop half way thru it to go to bed.

But I had to make sure the people got to read this blog... man I am tired!

Good night!

T.M.I.?????????

This is how Jeromy beats the heat!

... you might be a redneck if... to keep cool during the summer you put your feet in different sized tupperwares full of cold water...

LOVING THIS WEATHER PEOPLE!!!

Did I ever mention before how much I love summer???? Well, in case you were wondering... I DO!!!

These clear blue sky days just put me in a great mood!

I had to get up early this morning for a dentist appointment and have a little filling put in.

Then I replenished my GU stash...

Then I restocked on my sunblock, I was using up the little bit from last year, and the say you're supposed to replace it each year... see mom... I got 30 spf for my face, and 8 spf for every where else...

I ran out side this morning after running my errands and before it got too hot outside. It was wonderful... there's this stretch of road that has blackberry bushes that smell wonderful, then there's a section of about 400 feet of wild lilacs growing that smell fabulous as I run by. I really like running outside for the variety of sites and smells. But running on concrete is not so good for the joints so love the treadmil so I can give 'em a break.

Now I'm just cooling off and getting ready to soak up a little more sun before getting ready to go into work.

I am grateful to God for the rainy days (especially when I stay dry), but I am so thankful for these beautiful sunny hot days. Get out there and soak up some vitamin D people!!

Don't forget to eat some foods of the RAINBOW....

NO TIME

SOAKING UP THE SUN!!!
(But in moderation mom, and with sunscreen!)

WOO-HOO SUMMER IS FINALLY HEEERRREEEEEEEEEEE!!!

4th of July

4th of July was just another busy day around here...

First we went to my aunt Mary's house who was putting on a huge BBQ! Here we all are (some of us anyway) gathered around the table enjoying some yummy food...

Josh is in town again for the 4th, he had the kids earlier in the day and brought them over... Here we got 4 generations- you know I LOVE these kind of pictures: Great-grandma Shield, Mom- me, Jade and Grandma Cindy...

Thanks Mary for the yummy BBQ lunch! After that, the kids and I headed over to port orchard. Jeromy was already there. Our church has a trailer that they set up along the board walk along the water in down town port orchard. Jeromy was helping out with manning the trailer. They were handing out free hot dogs and coffee and water to people coming to watch the fireworks. There was also live bands thru out the day and other food vendors.

They also had a free bouncy house for the kids to play in...This picture cracks my up, when did Kent become one of the big kids? I couldn't even fit his whole body in this picture... that kid loves to bounce tho...

Everyone took turns holding up signs saying "free coffee", "free hot dogs", and "honk if you love Jesus!"- it was nice to hear alot of honks!Some adorable kids: Tae' and Nadia...Kent, Jade and Ashton...Jade, Julia, Tae' and Stephanie...Jade and Kent at the waterfront...The four of us!While Jeromy was working at the trailer, the kids and I walked down to the other end of the waterfront where the live bands were playing and got some ice-cream-- Kent got a root beer float!Uh oh... watch out... there's an adorable baby here with chubby cheeks just waiting to be kissed... it's baby Natalie! (J2 and Maranda's daughter!) Jade holding Natalie, even Kent wanted to hold her. Kent thought it was cool that Natalie kept smiling at him, must be those shiny braces!Do I look happy holding this little baby or what? Again Jeromy is lucky I am "fixed" cause those hormones are raging when I hold little babies! She is the cutest little girl and so happy! I think I held her for a few hours!Finally it got dark, the trailer was getting packed up at about 10pm so we all could watch the fireworks, and then down comes the rain--LAME! It poured! The teenagers didn't mind, they were out dancing in it... ahhh to be young.... I remember playing in the rain as a teenager feeling invincible... now... I can't stand wet soggy feet, chills, nope don't like it one bit. Just call me middle aged... is 35 considered middle aged? If not I'm knocking at the door... and that's ok, as long as I don't get wet! Here's Stephanie, Jade, Danny and Simone... see the firework going off behind them?So that was last night... today the kids are flying back to California with their dad... for a month... it's ok you can feel sorry for me :o( I'm feeling sorry for myself, I know they're going to have a great time with their dad, I'm just going to miss them like crazy!

Here they are just before leaving...

Here they are realizing they aren't going to see their mom for a month... yeah, they posed for this one just to make me feel better... The kids made it safely to California, Jade already text me to say they made it. Jeromy and I went out to lunch then a movie. Then we did some shopping at Costco, he got a cool new Ipod.

We have just been relaxing most of the day. Hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend!