Happy Earth Day! (Belated)

We celebrated Earth Day the best way - enjoying the great outdoors! Well, kinda. We participated in the Earth Day 5k Walk/Run. We just did the Walk part. And didn't even walk the whole thing. Kyle & I walked with our friend Tyler and his son, Brayden. Tyler's wife, Krista, did the 5k run. We were going to walk the whole thing, but got a late start and wanted to see Krista finish, so we only walked about 1/2 of it. Less than that, actually. But, it was a nice evening and we had a good time celebrating Earth Day. The chili & cookies afterwards helped too!

The best part - we got our picture in the paper! Yes, local celebrities yet again! (It still counts if we're just in the background, right?)

Back... with no guarantees!

Finally, I've decided it's time to blog again. Sorry for the abrupt quit, I was just getting sick of the pressure to blog! :) So, today, while I'm sitting at home, sick, I'm reading all the old blogs I used to and catching up on peoples' lives. Fun. We've had a hectic, but fun year and have lots of big changes coming up in the next few months...and beyond. First off - we're trying to sell the townhouse! Biggest stress ever. The house has to be spotless at all times. ALL times. A realtor could call at any time to bring someone over. That means no waiting to do dishes, put away laundry or even leaving the mail out. Kyle and I have very different ideas about what is acceptable. He sees no problem in leaving a stray dish or a full coffee press on the counter. I'm practically putting the iron away while it is still hot. He's supposed to be the anal one, not me!

Quick Catch Up

1. Went back to Mitchell for my cousin Trevis's wedding reception. While I don't have any pictures of him, I have a couple other cute ones:

Tera, Dylan, and Me

Tyson, Macy, and Maddy

2. We also went to Tera's house to hang out. I found Macy some cute pink cowboy boots at a garage sale:

Seriously, I need this girl to live with me, if only to clean.

She loves her Uncle Kyle.

Poser.

Is there anything cuter than this?

3. Dylan got a new bike:

Dork.

4. I wore the same shirt as a girl I work with:

How embarrassing! Ok, so we were the only ones that noticed...

5. I took Dylan mountain biking:

Hot. And by hot, I mean the sweaty kind, not the cute kind.

Hot. The cute kind.

Safety first.

6. The postal service finally comes through (or not):

Strange.

I called Tera to make sure she got the b-day card I sent Mike. She had, and asked if we had gotten ours. Strangely, we hadn't. (Tera is not known for sending cards.) Her reply: "The Postal Service just hasn't been the same since 9/11." and "Well, I was baking you guys some goodies for your birthday and spilled some powdered sugar on them. That probably didn't help... you know, with all the anthrax scares." So, while at her house, I noticed two envelopes in the garage, covered in powdered sugar. The photo explains the rest. I was laughing so hard I was crying. What a dork. It's a good thing our postal service just returns mail that has been identified as having anthrax, and doesn't arrest the sender. Or that for whatever reason, Tera doesn't need postage OR a complete address OR a correct zip code to send mail. Hilarious.

7. 4th of July:

Team America.
Firecracker 5-Mile. I got 2nd in my age division.

Kyle chillin' at the Winter's 4th of July Party & Badminton Tourney.
The funnest party we've been too all summer.


Watching the fireworks.

Another Run...

Gillette has this thing called the Feet Don't Fail Me Now Road Race Series. There are 5 road races this summer and if you complete all 5, you get a prize. On Thursday, I finished #3. Two more to go. This one was the White Davis Chevy 4 Mile. I finished it in 35:36. It was fun. I like to run.

Stephanie, Terra, Me, Betty, & Barb.

YIKES!

Big storm in Gillette Wednesday night. Huge. Multiple tornados, lots of hail, craziness all around. Don't worry - no one was hurt. I'll let the pics do the talking:

It's Beginning...


Holy Crap!


I think this is the 1st tornado I've ever seen! SCARY!
(p.s. This picture was taken from the parking lot at work.)


Our driveway. Not snow. Hail.


More of the same.


Robbin surprised at how much hail we had.
Or maybe that it's cold.
Or maybe I just told her to "act surprised."
You decide.

It's kind of hard to see, but I made a hailman.

Running.... and running... and running...

Yesterday was the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon. I ran the 1/2 Marathon. 13.1 miles. And I finished! My goal was to do it in under 2 hours. I ran it in 1:58:41, which put me at 397 of 1139 racers. I'm pretty happy about it. It was in Deadwood, so we hung out and threw away some money the night before the race:

Kyle & I with Deadwood Main Street in the background.

Then it was race day. I had to get up at about 5am to make the trolley that took us to the buses, which took us to the race start. I was nervous, but excited and my mind was taken off the race because I kept running into people I know. I started the race near Andi, a friend from grade school and then ran the first part of the race with Kari, a friend from college that now lives in North Dakota. It was pretty exciting! I hurt my knee at about mile 10, but my running partner Jenni would not let me slow down. She was a good motivator and kept me going at the pace we needed to finish in under 2 hours. It was a really fun, really pretty race. If you're looking for a 1/2 marathon, this is a good one. And, it's mostly downhill and on a nice trail. But, it makes for really sore legs after the race. I only have one picture and it's not very good, but here it is:

I'm pretty much in the middle of the picture.
This is at mile 12, so we're almost done!

I'm so glad that it's over and I can just relax and do fun runs for the rest of the summer. I've heard that running a 1/2 sometimes makes you want to run a full marathon. That is not the case with me. I'm happy with just having run a 1/2.

Link to Race Results: http://www.allsportcentral.com/results/results.cfm?EventID=15314

ROOTIN' FOR THE ROCKIES

After the BolderBoulder, we all went to a Colorado Rockies game. We love Coors Field. And the Rockies won! It was super fun, we had club seats, which is always nice!! Oh, and even better - it was free hat day, so be sure to check out our matching Rockies hats in the pics:

Duane, Me, & Mom


Mom, Duane, Kyle & Me

BolderBOULDER!!

I ran my first 10k last weekend, the much-anticipated BolderBoulder. My mom & Duane joined Kyle & I on this trip. We had such a fun time! We stopped on the way down at the Promenade Shops @ Centerra and some dinner & the Borderita. We also "explored" Bolder a little, driving around and checking out the sites. It was super fun. We had dinner on the roof at the Lazy Dog. It was really fun!

Kyle & I (please notice the beautiful mountains in the background)

The we woke up to race day. It was literally the most fun run of my life. There is so much going on along the course that you don't even realize you are running a race. Around 50,000 people ran (or walked) the race. You finish the race in the University of Colorado stadium. It's pretty cool. I finished the 6.2 mile course in 57:29. I was happy with that. Here are some pics:

Duane, Me, Jenni, and Emily


The Finish at the Stadium


Terra & I rounding the last corner.


Me (with crazy hair) & Duane after the race


Enjoying our FREE post-race beer. Beer at 8:30 am isn't as good as it sounds.

Happy Birthday, Duane!

My step-dad turned 42 on Saturday. He doesn't really like sweets, so we improvised with something he does like:

Happy Birthday!

Please note that the mountains on the can are cold-activated. Mom & Duane came over to join us on our trip to the BolderBoulder 10k in Colorado. More on that later.

Single Track Superstars

Kyle & I got the chance to introduce Terra to our favorite mountain biking trail - Tinton Trail, just outside of Spearfish. While I only got pictures of Kyle & Terra, you can imagine how awesomely hardcore I looked. It was a really fun trail, I had one little crash, just got a few bruises.

My Mountain Man Husband

Terra kicking butt.

Spring Zinger!

I ran my 2nd road race of the year. The McDonald's Spring Zinger 5k. I had my best time yet - 26:17.4

Pretty exciting for me, we had a good time. I ran with Terra, my usual road race buddy. She always beats me at the end. She's the one wearing #35. Also in the photo are Jenny (#36) and Jenni (#44), my usual running buddies. We have put in a lot of miles training for a 1/2 marathon.

Yep, we kick butt.