Chris's first 5K

Chris completed his first 5K this past Saturday!!  I'm so proud of how hard he has been working for this.  I know when he first finished he was disappointed in himself for not finishing quicker that he thought he should.  But now he knows that a few weeks ago that he wouldn't have been able to do one at all!  He already has his next one planned for August 11th.  I'm so proud of you babe!!  Here is his blog entry:

This past Saturday I tackled what I’ve been training for since Easter. I ran my first 5K. It was harder than I thought it would be, we’ve been running 2 miles with ease. I thought I would be able to just knock the last mile out. I was wrong. I got through mile 1 no problems, then I saw the mile 2 sign, it hit me, the big mental wall. My body told me that it was time to stop because 2 miles is where we stop. I tried fighting through it, but I was just stopped. If Vaden hadn’t been there to push me the last mile I wouldn’t have made it. My entire life I’ve played team sports, if you failed somebody else was always there to pick you up. In running it’s all you against the clock. I’m struggling with that, I’ve never had to break through the mental wall. I learned valuable lessons for my next 5K. I had set a goal of 36 minutes, but I finished in 39. I was really disappointed in myself at first, but I shouldn’t be. On Good Friday I couldn’t jog to the end of our street without wanting to die. Today I ran 3.1 miles.

After the race I started thinking about why I’m tackling this whole process. I don’t want to go be the fastest person out there. I don’t want to have the perfect runners body. I want to be able to, in 15 years, play with my kids and nephews, Camden and Jakob. I want to be the uncle that is able to still run with them at 45 years old. My Uncle Ugly died at 45 years old, when I think about that being only 14 years from now it hits me that everything I’m doing today will pay off in the future. I may never win a 5K, I may never finish in the top 10, I will do everything I can to make sure I see Jakob, Camden and my kids graduate, get married, and have kids. I’ll run another 5K soon, a 10K in the spring, and tough mudder next winter. I’ll run them for my family not for myself!

College World Series

When we found out that the Razorbacks were going to be playing in the College World Series we decided we needed to go Omaha and support them!  We debated it for awhile and I'm so glad that we finally decided to go because we had an absolute blast.  I wish that we had more time to spend there but everyone to go back to work today.  We left Saturday morning at 4 in the morning and we got to Omaha around 10:00.  When we made it there it started raining and we weren't able to go see the old College World Series Stadium, Rosenblatt.  They wouldn't let anyone in since it was storming and we didn't have time to wait around for it to stop.  We got some pictures from the outside but I'm a little sad we didn't get to go in.  I've always wanted to go to Rosenblatt stadium and it's really sad that they are going to be demolishing it in a few days.

Beautiful sunrise on our way to Omahog

Bridge right outside of Kansas City

Rosenblatt Stadium

After we got done viewing Rosenblatt we headed over to the new stadium and found some parking underneath an overpass.  Since it was still raining we went to a local sports bar and got some really good food.  By the time we were finished with lunch it had thankfully stopped raining and we were able to go to the fan zone and then to the game.  The new stadium is really nice and our seats were awesome.  We paid more to have seats in the shade but I'm so thankful that we did.  I walked around a little bit during the game and it was so hot in the sun.

Bases loaded!

The view from our seats.

There were close to 24,000 people in attendance and the majority of them were Razorback fans.

The two Greg's who we went with.

I'm so glad that the Razorbacks won their first game and we play again tonight against South Carolina.  I'm hoping that we can pull out another win!  I can now say that I've been to the College World Series before!  After the game we went to a local Italian steakhouse and eat some really yummy food and then drove back to our hotel room which was two hours away.  We made one last stop at Rosenblatt to say goodbye to Omaha and the College World Series. WPS!

Rosenblatt Stadium at sunset.

I think this is how we all felt on the way home!

Fat Kid 2 months

It’s been 2 months since I began eating better and laying around less. It’s been a success so far, I’m down 28 lbs, and clothes I bought 6 years ago and never wore are now fitting. I ran 2 miles yesterday and only stopped 1 time. I would have stopped 3 times but Vaden made me keep going. I’m going to be doing a 5K on June 23rd, I’ve set a goal to complete it in under 40 minutes. For those who are 5K veterans that may be slow, however, for me that will be the most length and time I’ve ever run. I still have a goal in mind of losing 45 more lbs, and completing Tough Mudder next October. What is Tough Mudder read this. I want to be where she is. I’m not in this to be a health nut, or quit eating what I like to eat. I’m doing this so I can be around to see my kids and nephews grow up. I want them to look at me and see that it is possible to do it, but also not want to be in the position I was in to have to lose 80 lbs to get there. Hopefully I am able to keep the lbs coming off, complete my 5K, and be writing a post in 16 months about finishing Tough Mudder, wearing my orange headband, getting my tattoo, and drinking an ice cold beer.

Shareholders Concert

Last week was Walmart's annual shareholders week where all the vendors come out and people from all across the country come in.  Chris was there most all last week and he's glad that it's over!  I think most of the people in this area are too because traffic in Fayetteville is a cluster! Kathleen got tickets to see one of the concerts and it was for Chris Young and Carrie Underwood.  We knew that Carrie Underwood was performing but it just said with special guest.  I've always liked Chris Young so I was pretty excited to see him!  Carrie Underwood is amazing live.  I think that she actually sings better during a live performance.

Our seats were really good.

Waiting for the concert to start.

Chris Young was so energetic!

Anniversary Fun

Chris and I decided to go out to a really nice restaurant to celebrate our wedding anniversary.  We decided to go back to Vetro 1925.  We had gone a few months ago and the food was amazing.  The food and service were even better this time around.  They even took off our dessert since it was our anniversary.  I didn't get a photo of our dessert because it was so good we ate it all!

After dinner we walked around the square in Fayetteville.  It was such a beautiful night for a walk and thankfully some really nice people stopped and took some photos of us.

10 years ago

10 years ago today I married my best friend Chris!  I can't believe how quickly 10 years has gone by.  I am so blessed to call him my husband.  He knows me so well.  He says that I always have a different look for when I'm hungry, upset, tired and so on.  He can read me like a book!  The last 10 years have been the best and I'm looking forward to spending many many many more years together with him making new memories together.  Happy anniversary Chris I love you more each day.  Thank you for being a wonderful husband and for always being there for me.  God has truly blessed me with you! 

Here are some photos from our wedding.  We didn't get that many photos from our wedding and back then digital photography really wasn't around.  Many people don't know this but we would really like to renew our vows when we're in Europe.  Maybe then we'll get some really good photos and some video since our wedding video/DVD are missing.

The day of our wedding it was really windy and during our unity candle lighting my veil blew off! It also took us a really long time to get the candle lit but eventually we got it to stay.

Our parents

Our wedding party

Naturals Baseball

Since there haven't been any home Razorback baseball games we all decided to go watch the minor league baseball team.  We thought that Chris was going to get to help throw out the first pitch but they moved the date.  So we all decided to go anyways plus it was dollar drinks and dollar foods.  We all had a lot of fun and ate a lot of food!

Chris's company is one of the sponsors at Arvest Ballpark.

This is the new mascot Sinker.  I think he's a little creepy!

It was dollar cheese sticks and we ate a lot of them!

Strike was making all kinds of noise while we posed for pictures.

Greg will do anything for a free t-shirt! Even trying to leap across seats to get one.