Happy 4th of July!

So I woke up this morning at 3am to get ready for the half marathon and had to be down in Minneapolis at 4am. Got the course set up, and back to my vehicle to get ready for the start of the race. It started to rain so hard it looked like a monsoon!

Finished up and loaded MORE water into the truck again! These boxes have 4 gallon jugs of water, so they're each 32 pounds, and we had 120 boxes to move. Thats over 3,200 pounds I moved!!! So my arms are JUST about dead.

Got home all sweaty and made a taco dip and then we headed off to Uncle Joes to go swimming and water-skiing. It was so much fun. I took off - off the dock,and then dropped a ski and LOVED IT! Kirra even jumped off into the middle of the lake, but wasn't really digging the deep lake swimming!

After a wonderful pot-luck dinner we went over to Frank and Theo's to watch a few back-yard fireworks and see everyone. All in all it was a great 4th. I've got to work tomorrow though so I should head to bed right now!

Hot Hot Hot!

Today is HOT HOT HOT!!! Woke up about 9am, and got so much done! Got my oil changed.. antifreeze in my car, and fixed my air conditioning. Then Jason, Kirra and I went to Target for a few groceries and new fans.

This afternoon I went down to the Start/Finish area of the half marathon to help set up. I got the mile markers ready, and helped load up the Aid Station trucks. Tonight I have to go pick up Heidi's Durango, because she is THE BEST and letting me borrow it for one of the official race vehicles.

Tonight we're grilling pork chops on the grill and getting caught up with some of me and Jason's favorite shows. I have to go to bed super early because tomorrow morning I'll be up at 3:00am to be on the course by 4AM setting up the mile markers, marking direction arrows,  and making sure everything is in place!

God gave me you!

Its been so hard with Jason gone so much lately! Thursday I was having an awful day. Work was insanely busy, then I thought I had an awful virus, and at the end of it all, I ended up hitting a concrete pole with Jason's truck and gave it a boo-boo. I called Jason crying on a voicemail, and when he came home with him, he had a bottle of wine, and a frappuccino maker for being a great mom! This song reminds me so much that Jason is so awesome. I'm so lucky to have him in my life!

Family Photos

We went and did family photos today! Here are some of them to share...

No more diapers!

So Kirra informed me this evening that she's no longer going to wear diapers! I tried to change her diaper and she said, NOOO I want to wear a pull up (we had some to experiment with). All night I tried to get her to wear a diaper,but she wouldn't budge...  So... I thought, fine,if you're done with diapers...so am I. 

So we went out and bought more pull-ups...underwear and training underwear. God help me!

Manitou Days Parade

Tonight was the Manitou Days parade. Kirra had SO MUCH FUN! I got off work at 4:00pm, didn't make it home until 5:00pm, had to let Tyler out, and then floor it to White Bear Lake! Of course traffic was bad again, so when I finally arrived in White Bear Lake, I sprinted over to where my family was so that we could get settled in. Kirra LOVED the candy part!!! It was like Trick-Or-Treating without all of the walking!

Chicken Farm

Since Jason was out of town this week, I packed up Kirra and we went on a field trip to Elk River to see Pam & Phil. They raise chickens and turkeys at their home, so we went out to go see them, and have dinner with them.
It was such a lovely visit. Those two are truly kindred spirits! Pam made a divine dinner of chicken, stuffing, vegetables and had wine too! Then we went out and showed Kirra all of the animals and she could hardly contain her excitement!  We ended up staying until 9:45pm. Here are some photos from our trip to the Bergstrom's!

Trying to pick one up

Kirra, naming the chickens

Gold Fish pond

Phil giving Kirra a push'

Farmers Market

Went to the farmers market today with Pam. It was such a blessing to take her with since she knows FAR MORE about gardening than I do. I picked up some Zucchini, Basil, Cilantro, Tomato, Peppers, and other herbs for my mini garden. She really helped me out though choosing which ones to plant!

Here is a picture of my garden. (This was taken actually a few weeks later than this post)

Memorial Day 2010

What a great weekend we had! We had planned to leave at 6:30am on Friday morning, but didn't even wake up until 7:30am. I was up until 1:30 packing, and was just way too tired to wake up early. Jason had a long week at work as well, and wanted to sleep in too. We finally left the house about 9:15am,and got up to Lake Lydick around 1pm. It was so fun, and Kirra had a blast. We went fishing with Kirra, and caught lots of fish. 

Saturday was GORGEOUS!!! I went off in the Kayak and layed out in the middle of the lake for hours. Then I came back to shore and then sat out on chairs in the water with the gang,and ended up getting super sunburned. Well more like sun fried.....actually just about everyone got a sunburn although my shins are in actual pain. It actually hurts to stand up in the morning after the fluid has shifted!!! Kirra only got slightly pink in the cheeks but nothing too bad at all. We kept her slathered in sun screen.

Last night got super cold, i'm so glad to be sleeping in the house tonight! Our ride home was rougher than the ride up. Kirra was cranky,and wouldn't fall asleep. We came home and after being cranky we layed her down at 5pm. Tried to wake her up for dinner,but she wanted to sleep. She finally woke up at 7:30 for a quick bath,and went back to bed at 8:30pm!

Jason made beer battered bass and grilled some steaks on the grill, and they were super nummy! I had some Sauvion Blanc to go with it, and it was just the ticket!

Enjoy the pictures on our home page.

Perfect Race

What a super great weekend! Friday Jason, Kirra, Frank,Theo & myself went out to Joe's Crab Shack which sure was a TON of fun!!! I got the big daddy crab bowl, and next time i'll get just the king crab which was absolutely my favorite! It was all good though. Kirra had tons of fun as well.

Saturday I woke up really early and went out to Lake Minnetonka to pick up my stuff for the race, and then Kirra and I went to the Farmers Market and stocked up. Kirra just LOVES the market. Its kind of becoming our little tradition,that I hope that we can continue thru her childhood as something -we- do.

Then I went to Diane's wedding shower. It was so great to see all of the aunties,and cousins. Last night we had Diane's bachelorette party. We went to Sara's to have spaghetti dinner which was super nummy. She also had this really good slushie deal from Tastefully Simple. I'll have to get some.

I set about 15 alarms so I could make sure I would wake up for the half marathon today. We all got out of the house ok, and I had an ice cream cone before the race. My tummy was very nervous,so I could barely eat anything.

Got a parking spot, and met up with John & Judy. Amazingly I found my parents, and my auntie too! We got going, and found our comfortable pace. We just kept at that pace the whole time. Judy was helping me pass people left and right. She would go around someone (who I was content to just stay behind) and she would just pass them, so we picked them off one by one, and I think only 2 people passed us the whole race. It felt AWESOME to pass people! I saw my auntie at Mile 4.5, and handed off my arms (these arm warmers I wore so I didn't have to wear a long sleeve shirt or jacket) Then I got to mile 7.5 and saw my mom and dad, so that was super great too! My mom wasn't expecting me so fast, but she got her picture in. I can't wait to see them. I'll add them.

Oh how I wanted to drop the pace and run slower, but Judy kept me going strong! Pretty soon 8 became 9 and 9-10, and before I knew it we were at mile 12 with one mile to go. We ran up a HUGE hill at the end, which had an equally big downhill which made me run fast, and look really awesome at the end! It was rad!

So we finished officially in 2:21:29. My PR!!! So I was super happy about that. I couldn't have done it without Judy. Took a long nap today and stretched a lot. Will be stretching a lot this week. Thanks to everyone for the good luck wishes,they worked!!!

My sweet darling girl

My darling Kirra. She just cracks me up every day. Today she went back to Tally's, and she seemed to have a GREAT day! She got to see all of her old friends again. When I picked her up and we were on our way home, she was just a little parrot, repeating everything I said, so we went thru the usual, and then I went, "Ello Governa", and she responded, "Ello Governa", and I laughed hysterically, and so did she, so then I went, "Ello Miss" and she went "Ello Miss". I laughed SO HARD that I was hitting my knee, and my steering wheel, and so I look in the rear view mirror, and Kirra is laughing hysterically hitting her knee.

8 Mile Tempo

Well I was going to do another 10 mile run today, but I asked Coach John, and he said to do an 8 mile tempo run instead, where you run an easy 1-2 miles, and then from there pick up the speed little by little, and keep maintaining that pace. (the faster one). It felt really great! I'm planning to do two more 5 mile tempo runs, and then its race day in 8 days!!! I actually trained for a race, and had fun doing it! My next race is Lumberjack Days 10 Mile, and i'm excited for that one too.

A year ago I would have backed down, and tried to do the 10K, or the 5K, but i'm back, and it feels so good!

I taught pre-schoolers at church tonight, and that was actually SUPER fun. I'm so glad I made the switch. Its fun to do different things, and these kids make me laugh!

Jason did Tattoo today for one of his good friends Lisa. She got the Tree of Life (Celtic) on her back in the same place as my cross. I think it looks great! We're trying to get Jason's business moving a little bit, so hopefully he can even do 1 per month!

The Pond

Jason and I were doing some spring cleaning, and I found this piece of writing I did back in high school,and I absolutely love it! Enjoy.


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The sound of metal driving its way into the ice like a piece of celery breaking is the sound of a figure skater softly and gracefully gliding across the ice.

I love this sound, and I love the frozen pond. The fantasy fairy tale land that give me the chance to express myself both fully, and freely, like an eagle who gets all the space he/she wants to express themselves.

I love to listen to a song,and do whatever comes natural to me,whatever I do is okay ,because I am usually all by myself when I skate,so I don't have to feel embarrassed or stupid.

The most exhilarating thing that I have ever done was to go out on to the bond on a cold Friday night when the moon was full and skate all by myself with no light but the moon.

The feeling you get is like there is nobody else in the world, but you and the pond. Nothing else seems to matter because you are by yourself, and nobody is around. You really get to find out whom you are inside,because you get to spend quality time by your self.

The moon is my flashlight shimmering brightly like a candle in a dark musk like cave,or like something else that i can not explain. Everything is so still at this time of night, and if you listen close enough you can hear the little snores of the beavers or the sneezes of muskrats.

Sometimes... I like to imagine that I cam out in the middle of a competition, and that there are millions of people coming to watch me as I do my greatest routine ever seen by anyone. When I get done with the routine I stand around and imagine that the crowd is going wild,like people at a rock concert or a super bowl football game when everyone finds out that the team they were rooting for has won!

Then I listen to another song as I go out once more for an encore,for all of my screaming fans which just happen to be the frozen reeds and cattails in the pond.

When I go out and skate all of my fears, my worries, my dreams, my hopes are expressed... solved or forgotten out there. I go out there to think about life and how they relate or interweave into my skating routine.

Sometimes I just skate for fun out on the pond too. I practice my jumps, spins, and other fundamentals that are a major part of skating, and just relax as I enjoy the elements of skating.

I love to let the wind and emotions take over me like a ghost trying to enter my soul whether or not it will be a good ghost or not. I feel like something is there because i just go with the flow and forget about all of my problems with family,friends, school, work, etc.....

Sometimes i like to just lay down on the ice and stare at the stars like the wise men when they were looking for baby Jesus, or when Moses was looking for his way home.

Although I love to skate at night,sometimes I forget where the cracks and divots are in the ice and i end up tripping or falling on a jump, or getting messed up in a spin.

Every once and a while I get kind of lonely and sad thinking of how the world is turning into something like a trash dumpster. Everything is messed up, dirty, and not nice looking or friendly looking. People and stories on the news are hopeless...

Sometimes I think that maybe this is how the world is going to be in the future. But then I think of the pond, and how it makes me feel so safe and then I forget all about the world again, and concentrate on the effervescent feeling that I get when I do something cool out on the ice.

I love to imagine that i am an olympian out on the ice competing an artistic impression routine for all of the people (reeds) in the stands (snow banks) and do some showing off!

Often I go on to the pond without the intent to skate at all. Believe it or not I really just love to lay on the pond and stare at the sky and talk to God without using words. I just lay there and open my soul, and God knows what i need, and what I want. Usually I do this at night. I think about the world, or every once and a while think about absolutely nothing at all.

When finally it is time to leave the pond I feel refreshed and new and had long forgotten about all of my problems that I may have had in the past.

I know that someday soon I will be returning to the place of enchantment... the fairy tale land and the fantasy that I endure every time I go out on to the frozen pond in the woods.

Lake Minnetonka Preview

Well today I went out and previewed the race course,and ran the first 5 miles of the race and turned around and came back to my car. It was hilly, but mostly rolling hills which I find to actually be somewhat entertaining on the run. Makes things interesting and fun. I was getting pretty pooped out,so I am glad I got in another "hilly run" before the race in two weeks.
Afterwards I treated myself to Starbucks :)

New Family Member

Meet our newest family member... Breeana. She is a Tortishell Manx cat mix, although our vet thinks she did have a full tail at one point.

Last Saturday I went for my run with Sara around White Bear Lake, and I made it the whole way without walking,so I was pretty proud of myself. Once I got home, Jason asked what I wanted to do for the rest of the day, and I said, "I don't know, what do you want to do". And he said, lets go look at dogs and cats...

So off we went. There were so many nice kitties at the Humane Society, and nice dogs as well. We wanted to check Petco out as well to see what they had on their adoption day, but in the end we went back to the AHS. We "visited" 3 or 4 cats, and settled on Breeana.

We came up with her name by going off some of the names we were going to name Kirra, and what she could pronounce. Plus she just looks like a Breeana to us!

We even found a new vet, and we're really happy with them thus far. I think we'll be bringing all the pets to Dr. Dan. We actually had to put Breeana on antibiotics already because she is sneezing! So we called the vet, and she has an upper respiratory infection. Poor kitty.

We've been keeping Breeana in our room and locking out Tyler and Kip, because they're not all fully aquainted, and we didn't want Breeana to get scared and hide in the basement ceiling, so for now, we're housing the new kitty in our room. It seems like Tyler is kind of sad, but he's been dealing with it pretty well. Breeana actually really likes Tyler, but she isn't too sure about Kip yet. Kip would like to get to know Breeana, but she just hisses at him....

I'll tell you what tho... since we've closed our bedroom door at night, I sleep a heck of a lot better!!!

Here are some photos to take a peak at Miss Bree. (Breeana)

Look, no tail~

Rawwrrr

Chilaxin

Almost looks like she is smiling...

Runner Girl...

I've really been working hard at making sure i'm getting in my training runs on the weekend. So far i'm up to logging 8 miles as a long run just this past Sunday. I have been seriously slacking however during the week, but today my co-worker challenged me to running even just two miles... its better than nothing, and it will help my body remember what I need to be doing. 

My half marathon is in a very very short 4 weeks. Watching The Biggest Loser definitely helps to motivate me, and I'm glad I did get my run in today. I'm still running pretty darn slow. About a 12 minute-mile pace... but maybe if I can keep up on this easy-peasy two mile run(s) during the week, then it will slowly get faster! 

This Saturday I'm running around White Bear Lake with my cousin who's also doing the Half, and we're going to call it 10 miles, even though its actually a 15K. Maybe we'll some how squeeze in the 10 some where... :-).... Hopefully I can get some additional 2 mile runs in as well!

New Life

Jason's cousin Annie had a beautiful baby today. Her name is Evie... or more formally Evelyn. She is absolutely beautiful! I got off work today around noon to close on the house, but first I took a quick pit-stop over to the hospital to give my Annie girl a high five and see Evie & Bryan too. You can't forget about the dads! She had a planned c-section like I did, so no hugs, they hurt.

We were also supposed to close on our house [again]. What a bunch of who-whos! Closing got canceled at the last minute because their missing some piece of paper! Totally ridiculous. So... i took a half day of for nothing... although I did get to see Annie & Evie.... They've rescheduled for tomorrow at 5pm, so I don't even have to get off work early,which is good,because its our staff retreat tomorrow so I wouldn't be able to leave early anyways.... This is going to be officially the 3rd time we've gone to closing on our house. The first two times were for when we originally bought the house, and this last time is because we have re-financed the house to save a few hundred dollars each month, and pay off our bills and get on top again!

So. New life. A new baby, and a new financial beginning. --Kirra is doing amazing. I love coming home each day from work, and having her press her smooshed up face against the glass window to greet me, and then being so funny and hilarious in the evenings. She repeats virtually any thing you say...so our new phrase is "oh cool" or "oh awesome!", and the best part is that she actually uses it in the right context!

She was a little pistol today however. When I got home she hadn't napped yet, so she was pretty crabby and feisty. She just moaned and whined...so I told Jason, to straighten up the house,and i'll take Kirra on a car ride... so... that's what we did. I drove 54 miles and she took a nap the entire time! I also got to tour my county.

Food is still a battle sometimes. Jason has much better luck than I do. Usually for me, I think she gets so distracted that she wants to play with me, because she doesn't see me all day, and sometimes all night, so when she DOES get to see me, she doesn't want to waste the time eating. Our girl wants to PLAY! Tonight was an exception though. When we got back from our Tour de Nap I made Sesame Chicken Stir Fry and she gobbled it up and loved it and even called it nummy! YAY! The rest of the night we just played and looked at squirrels out the windows....

I just bought this great book yesterday and already i'm on page 60. Its about Asperger's syndrome, which Alex my nephew has. So far its an amazing book, and provides great insight into the mind of someone with Asperger's.. Jodi Picoult is famous for having a twist at the end of her stories, so i am interested to see what she will do at the end of this book, but also slightly nervous as well....

Well i'm off to read this book, and some bible, and go to bed. Ta-ta everyone.

Oh happy days

I'm so glad its finally spring out! Kirra has been absolutely LOVING playing outside, and it makes my training for my half marathon more enjoyable when I don't have to be cold when I run! Here are some pictures of our trip to the zoo yesterday,and some others as well that I thought you might enjoy!

Check out all the photos here: 

Swimming Graduation

Well Kirra graduated from First Splash 1! She had and wonderful time in her class. We've signed her up again but class doesn't start for another few weeks. Sleeping in her "Big Girl Bed" is going pretty good although she does try to get out a few times a night. Its not terrible though. We put a gate in her room so she can't leave her room and that seems to work pretty good.

Here are some pictures from one of her classes :)

Night Photography

Wen't down to the Stone Arch bridge last night to shoot some photos.

If you'd like to see the whole collection you can view them here: they are passcode protected, so if you don't remember the code, email me.

Enjoy.

Big Girl Bed!

Here she is in her "Big Girl Bed". I was very nervous when Jason called me at work, and told me he took the front off the bed. She really loves it though. It took a little coaxing to lay down,but within 15 minutes she stayed put. I'm holding my breath that this is just "beginners luck" but hopefully this works out. 

We had swimming tonight, and we had to wait for about 10-15 minutes before we could swim because a child had a diapering accident, meaning they weren't wearing one when they should have... so class got started late, but that also meant that we were able to stay later too. Kirra had fun swimming around, and is sort of in a round-about way learning to doggie paddle.  The session ends next Monday, and we're strongly considering putting her in the level 2 class. She seems to really enjoy it.

Here's one more photo for your enjoyment :)

Food Wars

We have entered into a new and exciting stage of the toddler years.... Food wars. Its not that Kirra is a picky eater at all.... its just that she is two, and needs to control something, because she has no control in the world otherwise. What we do,where we go, what she wears (except the time [below] that she dressed herself). And i learned you can't make kids eat. If they don't want to eat, they're not going to.

Tonight we made Pizza, and everyone that knows Kirra knows that Pizza is her FAVORITE, but she didn't want even a bite. I posted a "ready-set-advice" statement on Facebook so that I could gather up some amunition in this war, and my friends came thru for me.

Usually when Kirra doesn't want to eat she wants to get down right away.... and then she wants to sit on my lap even though I'm still eating.... i tell her no, and then she proceeds to throwing a HUGE old temper tantrum. She'll even throw herself on the floor if you let her. We usually end up throwing her food away, and it never occured to me to just put her plate in the refridgerator and see if she wants some later.... DUH. Normally I'll ask her later if she wants something to eat, and give her a healthy snack, or make her a sammie. How genious is this? (Thanks Nicole).

So... i'm going to try this the next time she wants to play war at the dinner table.

On a bright note, she had fun at AWANA tonight, and learned about happy and sad, and that God loves us when we're happy or sad. So I said to her, you were sad at dinner tonight, but God loves you anyway. She was happy for the rest of the night. :-)