Summer Daze

As much as we complain about the hot days of summer, I'm always a little sad when the nights start to cool off. It's a tell-tale sign that fall is nearing and the beautiful colors that filled the flower beds won't be with us much longer. Enjoy it while it lasts. As my kids say, the trees will soon be "naked" again and we'll be wishing for those hot days! So today, I'm thankful for these:

Knockout Shrub Roses

Regrowth on Salvia Cardonna

Red and White Verbena

Purple Cone Flowers

Black Eyed Susans

Silky Gold Asclepias

Purple Morning Glories

Have a great day and don't forget to stop and admire your flowers!!!

It's ALMOST over!

Some of you are probably wondering what happened to the "big" remodel we were doing. Well... we are STILL doing it! Slowly but surely, we are plugging away. It was a year ago this month that we were so excited to see the first concrete poured for the foundation of the addition. Now we are so excited to see them finally go away! It seems like they are getting down to the final details, but it is still agonzingly slow. I thought I might share the exterior before and after. It is 99% done and we can't be happier with the results! It won't be long and you will be coming over for a BBQ on that new porch of ours... unless of course it's snowing by the time we get it all done!

Before the addition and landscape...

The new addition to the west of the original structure...

Notice the old little windows in the front of the house before...

And the gorgeous new window that took their place! The views are beautiful (inside and out!)

Goodbye pine tree and more little windows...

Say hello to a room with a view!

Now you just have to come see it in person... so come on over!

Where is everybody?

I just noticed it's been nearly 2 months since my last post. Like you, I find myself wondering what I've been doing or where I've been lately that has kept me away. As I scanned my recent photo files for potential blog material, I discovered why I've been away. So here's a snapshot of our life the past two months...

Going Fishing...

Road Trip to Indiana / Swimming at the lake...

Playing with Cousins...

Playing Softball for Six Weeks...

Wheat Harvest...

Riding Horses with Friends...

Taking Roping Lessons...

Checking the Cows...

Nate's Birthday...

Swimming Lessons...

The 4-H Fair - cookies, posters, and showing a rabbit...

Quick trip to the Salina Zoo & Museum...

Meeting our cousin's first baby...

So what have you been you been up to?!?!

Warrior Dash Race Recap

What do you get when you drive 2,030 miles round trip and pay a $50 registration fee? The "craziest freakin' day of your life"! Or at least that's what the race website claims. I don't know if it will go down as the craziest because I've had a few crazy trips in my past, but it will certainly be a most memorable one. It seemed like a good idea when we registered in December last year, but it didn't occur to me on that cold day that it would be REALLY hot and REALLY humid in Chicago in June, not to mention at a 1:30 start time. Lesson learned. It certainly could have been worse though so I guess we were lucky.

This is not your average race by any stretch of the imagination. It involves a 5k run, along with 12 obstacles you must tackle, and boasts free beer and turkey legs for recovery. The waves of 500 runners started every 30 minutes all day long for two days straight and the rain that came just added to the already crazy course. The best part was hands down getting to run with my grad school buddy, Mindy, and some of her friends and family. Being the one who inspired me to start running in the first place, as well as the one who might have been responsible for a few of my other "craziest days" in life, it seemed rather fitting. As we plugged along the course, I couldn't help but think back to a time when the two of us traveled to Africa with some other friends. We had to hike out of a HUGE gorge (something like a mile pretty much straight up) along the banks of the Zambezie River and both of us were so out of shape that we could hardly make it out. I distinctly remember huffing and puffing up that hill wondering if we would ever get to the top. We even talked about that climb before the race and how we could probably run up it now. It just goes to show you anyone can get into shape, and anyone can be a runner if they have the will.

So back to this race of mine... It is definitely not a place to shoot for a PR, but it is a great race to just go out and have fun and be a kid again. Think climbing, crawling, jumping, running, etc.... and then throw in some mud. LOTS of MUD! It's ironic that as parents we spend much of our days yelling at the kids to get out of the mud or stop playing in the water, but on this day, there were 12,ooo+ perfectly grown adults having the time of their life doing just that. I learned that maybe a little mud is good for the soul. And I also learned that it washes off. Eventually!

Here are just a few of the obstacles we incurred.

The mud trench...

The tire crawl...
The cargo net climb...

The hay bale stack...

The fire pit jump...
The army crawl through mud and under barbed wire...

And our muddy victory celebration...



The shower afterward consisted of a tanker truck and a big dude with a fire hose who seemed to be taking great pleasure is spraying everyone down with ice cold water while we all screamed. At least it got the worst of it off. We saved the rest for the hotel. Kind of surprised they let us in the doors! Stay tuned for more after party pics.

Shake your booty!

It's time for the 4th and final week of Imperspire's virtual boot camp. In Karma's words, "It has been suggested that since June’s theme of the month is “Bring It On!” that our final challenge this week might be called “Booty Camp”! So, in the spirit of booty camp we will work our behinds especially hard this weekend." Gee... thanks Karma. Here's the run down on this weekend's requirements:

50 jumping jacks

20 hop & pops

50 seal jacks

300 jump ropes

100 side-to-side lateral jumps

50 squats

50 plie squats

50 curtsy lunges

100 push ups

25 planks with leg lifts

100 crunches

50 heel touchers

50 rope climbers

This is perfect training for my rapidly approaching "Warrior Dash". Stay tuned for an exciting recap of next weekend's race that will hopefully be fun and injury free. The race tag line is "The craziest freakin' day of your life" if that tells you anything. We'll see how that pans out!

In the meantime, I am thankful for:

1) The kids wanting to go spend some quality time at Grandma's house today (and for Grandma being so willing to take them!)

2) A dinner date at our friends house to celebrate a 50th b-day with their family!

3) An opportunity to mow, garden, landscape, catch up on laundry, and possibly get more closets cleaned!

4) Surviving one more week in a partially deconstructed kitchen and getting a few more decisions made on the new plans!

5) No storm damage from last night's wind and rain!

I'm off to Boot Camp!

Inperspire Challenge – Week 1 & 2:

I came across a blog a few weeks ago that is quickly moving to the top of my list of favorite reads. It’s inspiring, motivating, interesting, and interactive all in one. Karma over at Inperspire has recently started a Fitness Challenge Boot Camp. I love her attitude and new slogan borrowed from 24 hour fitness… Challenge yourself a little more. Every day. In her own words… “They are just saying, push yourself a little more each day. Just a little. One more minute on the stairmill, or increase your speed and incline on the treadmill and go for 30 seconds more, or if you always stop at a certain place on your run/walk, go just a few steps farther…you can do it.”

I like that attitude and her Virtual Bootcamp Challenge concept. Each week she comes up with a list of challenges and you have from Friday to Sunday to complete the task. You can even break it up over the three days to meet your time schedule and/or fitness abilities. It doesn’t seem like much if you only have to do 25 or 50 situps at a time but when you say you did 200 situps & 100 pushups over the weekend, it sounds pretty darned impressive (and I have the sore muscles to prove it!). Note: Click the links to read more about the challenge or to join in!

Week 1 Challenge
300 jumping jacks
300 jump ropes (with or without a rope)
100 push-ups
200 sit-ups

Week 2 Challenge
200 jumping jacks
300 jump ropes (with or without a rope)
100 push-ups
200 sit-ups
300 squats
10 – 20 count wall squats
10 – 10 count planks

I’ve had to break it up over a few days but I’m getting it done. Those wall squats they did on Biggest Loser looked so easy back then. Let me tell you…. NOT SO MUCH! Guess they don’t call it Boot Camp for nothing! Here are my badges of honor!!! It will be interesting to see what she comes up with the next couple of weeks!

What will you do to challenge yourself this week?!?

7 things about me...

A few days ago, Amanda over at 5 miles 2 empty tagged me in the “7 things about you” blog. I’ve thought about it off and on the past few days trying to come up with seven interesting, little known facts about myself. It’s harder than I thought! Not sure if I hit the mark, but this is what I came up with…

1. I have travelled internationally quite a bit over the past 13 years. Places I’ve visited include South Africa/Zimbabwe/Zambia, Singapore/Thailand/Malaysia, Italy/Germany/Belgium, England/France, and Australia. It was a combination of work, play, leadership studies, etc… that took me to all of these places. I am blessed to say I have white water rafted the amazing Zambezi River, snow skied the Swiss Alps, rode an elephant in Thailand, ate Belgium chocolate right in the candy maker’s shop, and chased wild bulls in the Australian outback. These are just a few of the cherished memories that I will always have of my traveling days!
   
2. Related to #1, I worked on an Australian ranch for nine months right after grad school. While there, I was thrown from a horse which resulted in a broken leg/shattered ankle and an hour ride to a small town so I could be flown out to a bigger city for the first of three eventual surgeries. Not many tourists get that experience but I made the most of it and continued to travel in a cast for the rest of my stay.
   
3. I have a Master of Science degree in Reproductive Physiology of Beef Cattle. That means I know a lot about the birds and the bees in livestock and my kids are way too well versed on the subject. They will tell ANYBODY about artificially inseminating a cow or semen testing a bull so don’t ask unless you are prepared to listen with a straight face.
   
4. I was born and raised in Indiana. I miss the basketball/Hoosier Hysteria, the trees and the “easy to grow” beautiful landscape, the sledding in winter, and my family and friends. I left right after college graduation and have been living out west ever since.
   
5. In high school, I lettered in basketball and softball. The only time I ran track was in junior high and was part of a school record setting relay team. I didn’t really even like to run so I have no idea why my recent love of running came to be. The thought of running even a mile 20 years ago was dreadful. Not it’s dreadful to NOT be able to run more than a mile!
   
6. I love to bake! Everything from cookies and brownies to breads and pies… this is possibly because my mom and Grandma L are the best bakers in the whole entire world. Unfortunately, I also love to eat it. I like to experiment with healthier versions of things but sometimes a good old fashioned recipe with sticks of butter and cups of cream is just too hard to pass!
   
7. I hate cancer. Not sure why or how this has affected my so deeply but I am passionate about raising money, supporting survivors, and serving on the Relay for Life Committee in our area. I think it is from seeing all the sadness, suffering, and broken lives left behind in its path of destruction. I’ve seen friends lose their mom, young children lose their dad, wives lose husbands, parents lose a child… and it breaks my heart every time. There isn’t a week that goes by at church that there isn’t a new name on the prayer list for a cancer diagnosis. I hope and pray that we see a cure for cancer in my lifetime!!!

So there you have it… 7 things about me you may or may not have already known. If you haven’t already done this, consider yourself tagged. It is a thought provoking exercise that encourages a little down time for reflection (which is always a plus in my book!)