2011 is now officially 1/3 over!!!

Time is going by so fast.

So today... well, I signed us all up for the Viking Fest Road Race on May 21st, including Aurora since we have her that weekend!!! I'm going to be doing the 5 miles, and the rest of the fam is doing the one mile! This is one of my favorite races cause it's all along the water mostly with gentle hills, so peaceful!

Also, just finished my 4th week of training, the little black star to the far right means I did all 6 days of training for that week. It's funny how a little star can make a difference. I know last year I missed some of the cardio workouts- never the runs tho- but I don't want to have a missing star so it's motivating me to do ALL my training, what ever works right??

So today, it being nice, I wanted to take advantage and go to a park. We all headed to Scenic Beach State Park.

Such cute kids... they look like twins! Note to self: I think it's time to cut Kent's hair again!!

Jade didn't mind posing for the camera when ever I asked her to...

Kent.... not so much... still soooo cute tho...

There was alot of places roped off tho, that we couldn't go. Like this bridge, just past where Jade is standing there was some yellow caution tape, I made sure it was behind that tree to the left so it wouldn't ruin the picture. It said something about trees falling, so they must need to do a deep cleaning of the wooded area... well they better hurry up cause there were alot of families there wanting to explore... even Kent said he had a nice time just walking around taking in the sights, when I wasn't bugging him for a picture that is...

There's my cheesy girl, she's always ready with a smile.... she's a nature girl, too...

We finally found a trail down to the water that wasn't roped off! Ahhhhh, the ridiculously happy couple... 99.99% of the time!

Some video of the weirdos in my family. Jeromy wanted me to tell you that this was his 3rd time making the shell talk cause I couldn't get my camera to work right, and he just wasn't feeling as spontaneous as the first try....

Cool... mom likes the drift wood! Quick kids, go sit on it so I can take a picture. Kent was really getting tired of me posing him. Oh well, it's the price you pay if you want Dairy Queen after!

Hey, there's a cool looking tree to climb, doesn't Kent look natural like he just climbed it cause he wanted to? NO? Well, you'd be right, sorry Kent!

Jeromy had fun climbing and running. He and Jade kept racing each other to the next object of interest, or would run just to run- who does that??? LOL-- ME! Jeromy climbed the tree, then jumped on this stump, I had Kent casually stand in the picture, then Jeromy jumped off, careful with those knees Mister!!

This was actually one BIG tree, with a hole in the middle at the base of it. That's Jade's little face peaking thru- so cute!This picture of Jeromy and I was really dark cause it was so bright behind us, so I played with the color contrast features and tinting stuff... fun...Yeah, finally ICE-CREAM!!! Love those kids, Jeromy thinks they are spoiled, but as my cousin Kristi says... they are just well cared for!So Jeromy and I had planned on having a "date night" tomorrow night. We have been wanting to go to the Out back ever since it wasn't opened when we went their for Jeromy's birthday right after church and they weren't open yet. Well, I couldn't wait till tomorrow night. That bloomin' onion was calling my name people- you understand right? Well, Jeromy understood, so off we went! It was soooo yummy and I am sooooo full now. And not too much guilt since I ran my 5 miles this morning!

Now we are all relaxing and we are about to watch a movie we got at Costco last week...

Good night!

Stuff.

I wanted to wish my sister Misty and her husband, Dennis, a Happy Anniversary yesterday, can you believe they have been married 12 years??? Time just flys by!

My job has this health plan thing were if you want to document the hours you work out, and when you get to 100 hours you get an 8 hour time off award- basically a day off with pay! It's to encourage a healthy lifestyle. I like anything that gives me paid time off, and this was just for me. These are my 3 pages tracking all my workout hours over the last several months. It taken me longer to reach 100 hours than I had thought, but I kinda took the months of Nov-Dec off, but I have my 100 hours and ready to take 8 hours off as soon as they transfer it to me. The other great thing about this program is that it's not a one time deal, you can do it as many times as you want. I'll be started my new count down of 100 hours tomorrow...

Other news, Kent made it on the Dean's List last quarter! Yay! Jade made it the quarter before- smart little cookies!

Did my 5 miles yesterday, and just finished my 4 miles today. Almost done with week 4 of the 12 weeks of training for the half marathon, it goes by so fast...

Now I really gotta go shower. Have a great day!

I just LOVE these white flowered trees!

Aren't they beautiful?!?!?!

HE IS RISEN!!!

HE IS RISEN INDEED!! Jesus Christ that is!

We started our Sunday morning getting up at 4:45 AM!! Nope, that is not a typo! Our church was having a "Son rise" service at 6 AM. It was out doors, under a covered tent with a huge heat lamp to keep us warm. And the message was beautiful. Joel, who was giving the sermon, was explaining how incomprehensible heaven will be for those who put their trust in Jesus. We all get little glimpses of what we think heaven will be like, but to know that my brain cannot comprehend the awesomeness of God and what He has waiting for us.... I just can't wrap my brain around it!!!

After the service we went to the Pancake House for breakfast, left the camera home at this point so this is a picture of Jade's camera phone picture! I'm a little cut off on the left and Kent is almost all the way cut off on the right! Oh well, Aurora, Jeromy and Jade are front and center looking cute!!!

Then we went back to our church for the regular Sunday morning service at 10 AM. This one was indoors :o) It was really good. Our pastor did this really great outline of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Alot of people will say they can't trust the Bible because of the contradictions. That's an easy cop out. When you actually study the scriptures, and with this outline our pastor wrote up with the parallel passages it's so clear. It was a great service.

Afterwards we headed over to my parents house for a great Easter dinner at 1pm.We got Kelsey a little present because... well just because she's Kelsey!! What is it? What is it?

It's a soft gray bunny and a book about the life of Jesus and what Easter is really all about! Kelsey liked it!

Here's Kelsey finding the eggs. She had no other competition for finding the eggs, so she was able to get them all! YAY!!! It really was like the paparazzi with my mom, Misty and myself snapping pictures right and left. And Kelsey was so good she almost posed for a picture every time she found an egg! First a little video...

Here's Misty and I... super cute! You're such a munchkin Misty!!

Aurora and Jade...

Aurora and Kelsey...

This was the first Easter Jeromy got to have his daughter- ever! So this was pretty exciting!!! Aurora is such a little angel! She loves her daddy! And he definitely loves her!!

After a great dinner- thanks mom and dad!- it was time to take Aurora home waaahhhhh!!

Then, just when you thought it was safe to put your pajamas on! We were invited to Kyle's baptism at 6PM. So we headed over to Laura and Jason's church. It was really nice. Kyle is such a great awesome kid with such a hilarious sense of humor "Hellooo!", it was great to hear him talk about his faith in Jesus! And then to watch him get totally submerged in the water!!!

Here's Kyle and of course JULIA- we LOVE you Julia! and all the rest of you Trig kids: Austin, Tessa, Tae', Nadia, Beriah, Alex, Iana, Aiden and Ashton- just before he was about to be dunked! (Again thanks to our cool camera phones you get a picture of a picture- I know-lame).

Here's Kyle in the tank of water giving his testimony...

So after all the fun we were finally headed home. And what does God do to round out our day?? Show us a beautiful rainbow!!! A double rainbow even!!

And lastly, I thought you'd enjoy a picture of 2 teenagers doing their own laundry... and the kicker??? I didn't have to remind them or tell them or anything!! God is amazing!!!

He is risen! He is risen indeed! God bless!

Another 5 miles...

Another 5 miles bites the dust... so does 800 calories... just sayin'...

Looking forward to Resurrection Sunday (Easter) tomorrow! The day Jesus rose from the dead!!

Critters!!

Early this morning Jeromy heard the chickens making alot of "chicken" noises. So he went out there to investigate and there was a dang raccoon INSIDE the chicken coup. Unfortunately it killed 3 of our 8 chickens. What a bummer. It killed one of our older ones and then 2 of the 3 new little ones.

Well, Jeromy locked the remaining 5 inside their little house till he could figure out what to do.

Later this morning... Kent saw one of the 3 little chickens wandering out in the yard. All we can figure is when the raccoon got in, that little one some how escaped while the other ones were getting attacked. So the raccoon got only 2 of our 8 chickens. But it killed the one that made the pretty pale green eggs. I guess that's the circle of life.

Also did my 4 miles today.

First long run.

5 MILES

60 MINUTES STRAIGHT RUNNING

800 CALORIES BURNED

250 FAT CALORIES BURNED

But no weight loss at weight watchers this week... curious!

But "maintaining" is still good... must have been too much tortellini last weekend :o)

YUMMY!

Can you tell I like this dinner? I added black beans to it this time...

YUM!!! YUM!!! YUM!!! YUM!!!

Happy Birthday Jeromy!!!

Today Jeromy turns 33 years old!!!

Happy Birthday Jeromy!!!

Also, today Jeromy is in paid status at his new job Sunrise Pest Control. He had more paper work to fill out today. He got his new jacket...

And a new shirt. He will also be getting a total of 11 shirts and pants for the uniform. And they provide washing/drying of the employees clothes once a week so they aren't washing their clothes with their families clothes at home since the work clothes will have pesticides in them. I thought that was pretty cool for the company to provide that service.

Did my 4 miles today also.

Saturday & Sunday!!

OK, seriously get a cup of coffee or tea for this blog.

Here we go... early Saturday morning I got up. I got up at 6am and did my 4 mile run. (I had gotten off work 2 hours early the night before cause I knew we were having an early long day Saturday!)

Kent was having one of his "People to People" meetings today in Lacey, WA- so far away! These meetings are for his upcoming trip to Europe in July! We are getting so excited for him. The meetings are kinda long cause there is so much information to go over. The meeting started at 10am and was to last 4 hours. All the kids had to bring a dish from the country they were going to visit to share with the group for lunch. Kent chose a Greek fish dish with coriander seeds. Here's Kent, with Jade's help early Saturday morning getting the fish ready to cook...

Now at the meeting. Here the kids are divided up into groups doing activities given by the teachers to help build relationships among the delegates, and also learn team building skills. Kent and one other student also got a prize for completing all their online quizzes they are required to take before they go, quizzes that have to do with stuff dealing with the places they are going to help familiarize them...

The kids will also be having to wash their own clothes in Europe. And the teachers are telling the kids they do not want to bring jeans cause they are heavy and take a long time to dry. To illustrate this for the kids visually they all had to bring a pair of jeans to the meeting, soak them in this tub and then throw them around to see how heavy they were, then hang them on this rack out side to see how long it would take them to dry... they did not dry in the 4 hours of the meeting. I think the kids understand to not bring jeans on the trip!

All the different foods the kids brought, Kent's fish is on the bottom left- and it was really yummy!After the meeting, we drove the kids home... Kent was exhausted!He's so cute when he's sleeping...

After leaving Lacey, we drove the kids all the way home, then headed all the way back out to Redmond. Why, do you ask? Well, we were in on a surprise for our friend Maranda's 31st birthday party! There was 10 of us including Maranda and her husband that met at a fancy little Italian restaurant in Redmond for dinner. Maranda didn't know we were all going to be there except for one other couple! Here's Maranda and her husband- isn't she a cutie?

Not so cute eating that squid tho Maranda! LOL! Gross! Some of the group...Jeromy and my dinners! They were really good I tell you what!So you may be thinking, that's a long way to go for just a dinner, and you'd be right! There was more to Maranda's birthday surprise! We were all going to the Chris Tomlin Concert that was in Redmond!!! Maranda had no idea until the end of dinner that we- all 10- were going! That was tough to keep quiet for the last few weeks, I'm not very good at secrets or surprises! Chris Tomlin is one of my favorite Christian musicians/bands. I have been wanting to see him in concert for a while, just never worked out time-wise, but this was perfect! Here's our tickets...Here's us in the traffic jam trying to get to the concert...Here's Jeromy and I keeping our cool, doesn't matter what Maranda's pictures show of me looking angry as they drove by us taking our picture LOL!!!We were a little late, and missed the opening band, but I didn't really care about that. We got there at the intermission about 5 minutes before Chris Tomlin got on stage- perfect timing I'd say. And I was getting tired people. Remember my day started at 6am, and now it was after 7pm.... but still having fun...Live action baby!Thanks for letting us celebrate your big day with you Maranda! Happy 31st!! Half way thru the concert, an amazing speaker Louie Giglio (hope I spelled that right) spoke for a while. He describes himself as an astronomy geek. He spoke of the awesomeness of our God who breathes out stars so big that our minds can't even comprehend the size. Did you read that right? He BREATHES OUT STARS into existence. Yet He loves us so much. We are so small- in this gigantic universe, yet He sent His son Jesus to die on the cross for us, if we would repent of our sins, because He loves us so much...it's just so hard to comprehend. It was a great message...The concert ended at 10pm and we got home about 11:40pm and went straight to bed.

We got up for church Sunday morning. Another amazing sermon by our Pastor Kevin talking about Heaven and Hell and end times- fascinating people- and it's all straight out of the Bible! After service there was a Sunday school meeting for all teachers and assistants. Jeromy, Jade and I all fall into that category so we stayed after. They provided lasagna, french bread and salad for lunch for everybody and it was great. Kent got to eat, too, just cause he's part of our group!!

After church we went home dropped off the kids again, then Jeromy and I headed back out to run some more errands. Off to Costco, Albertsons and then to the video store. Jeromy wanted to watch the new Narnia movie. Also got Jade some new socks she needed. She was happy- can you tell??

Kids were also asking for some Nutella (it's a hazelnut spread with chocolate in it) and whip cream that you roll inside of a tortilla. Again the kids were happy....Here's a close up of Jade's new bands on her braces. Kinda hard to see but they are pastels in yellow, purple, pink & blue. They remind me of the pastel colored M&M's for Easter. Cute little face...Jeromy and I's original plan was after everything was settled, we were going to go out to the Out Back for dinner, just he and I to celebrate his B-day since we didn't get Out Back last week cause they weren't open when we went. Well, Jeromy and I were pretty tired after the last couple of days, and Jeromy just wanted to stay home and have steak at home for dinner. I didn't argue too much cause I was pretty tired... was looking forward to that bloomin' onion but my pajamas sounded pretty cool, too! And just look at the flank steak! I'm not a big meat eater, but this thing was DELICIOUS!!!!!Jeromy also made asparagus (Nasty- I had corn!) and both kids like it!So we ate our yummy dinner watching the new Narnia movie. I don't really care for them all that much. I mean, they are good, just not my type of movie, but the special effects were pretty awesome!

OK, onto week #3's training for the Half Marathon starting tomorrow...

Monday: 4 Miles

Tuesday: Cardio

Wednesday: 5 Miles- yikes!

Thursday: 4 Miles

Friday: Cardio

Saturday: 5 Miles- yikes again!

Sunday: REST!!!

Over and out!!!!