Sierra's Walk

A couple of weeks ago, some of the family got together for a 5K walk supporting the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America. As you can tell by the pictures below, it was freaking hot outside! But, it was for a good cause so we gladly participated. Enjoy the pics!

Sierra and Me - post walk.

Sierra and Kris

Sierra, her dad, and our other team members.

Cameron, Sierra and Danielle - dancing.

Danielle and Cameron mid-walk. They were some troopers - they walked entire walk!

Jen, Cameron and Abby crossing the finish line. Whew, I bet Abby was tired!

I have witnesses this time!

I watched the boys for a couple of hours last night because Kris and Dwane had some work party-thing at Kris's work. Barbie and Larry came over to Kris's house and we went for a walk and Jackson and Colin rode their bikes. They would ride about 50 yards ahead of us, stop and get off their bikes and run around like the crazy kids they are, then hop back on when we reached them and ride off again.

At one point, we were in kind of a wooded area and Jackson is hopping around because he has to pee. He's a boy so we said "Find a tree." After running around to different trees and some "EW, huge spider" and "It's not private enough", Jackson decided he didn't have to go that bad. So, they get back on their bikes and take off. After a minute, we hear Jackson yelling, "I found a tree!"

We walk out of the nice wooded area and we see Jackson and Colin. There is Colin, with his pants and underwear around his knees and yelling "Look Nenny, I'm killing ants with my pee!!"

Larry and Barbie got quite the preview for their future arrival. For those that know them and haven't heard...they are having a BOY! I'm thinking Barbie will want to spends lots of time with Jackson and Colin to see what she's getting. I'm sure Kris wouldn't mind!

What a letdown!

Some peeps at work at I were discussing walking to school when we were younger. I told my story about walking to school when I was in junior high and living in Michigan. I remembered that it was so freaking cold in the winter that we'd stop at friends' houses along the way to warm up (or to eat breakfast/afternoon snack). In my head, it was miles and miles.

So, I decided to look it up and see how far it really was.....here is the letdown. From our house to the junior high = one mile. AND google wouldn't let me put the route that I took because the roads have changed and those roads don't exist so it took me a longer route for that one mile...which means that it really was less than one mile. What? I thought I was awesome for walking all that way for years and now to find out it was less than a mile? Darn.

Which is more embarrassing?

While in high school, falling down the stairs in church right before the service starts?

OR

Busting ass in the grocery store?

I have now done both.

During high school, my best friend and I were in the balcony of the church catching up with friends (i.e. gossiping). We normally sat in the middle section towards the front with all the high school peeps. We weren't paying attention until the music started playing telling the crowd that the service was about to begin. We hustled over to the stairs to get to our seats. The sanctuary has two set of stairs on each side so you are in the same room the entire time. Well, my feet got to moving faster than the rest of me and down I went. I didn't just hit and stop...no, I continued bumping down eight or nine more stairs. Luckily, I stopped before hitting bottom so nobody could actually see me. However, my friend was laughing so hard that everyone in the sanctuary looked at her. We were attached at the hip so they all knew it was me that had fallen. I had to gather my dress and pull it back down, hop up and went right out the side door. We eventually made it back to our seats, but, the damage was done. After the sermon, about 20 people came up to ask me if I was okay.

Now, to yesterday. We were grilling steaks and making baked potatoes for dinner. I forgot to pick up cheese at the store and didn't realize we only had a little tablespoon of sour cream left so I had to make a quick dash to the store. After I paid for my goodies, I was walking quickly and didn't see the liquid all over the floor. One leg went one way...the other crumbled beneath me. Down I went. Luckily my bag didn't go flying too. The checker rushed over to me and was like, "Oh, my goodness. Are you okay?" I was so embarrassed that I just said, "There is water all over the floor here, people. I'm fine." I proceeded to get up off the floor and walk even faster out of the store. Tom, of course, laughed when I told him the story. I now hate him.

So, which one is more embarrassing?

Wildflower Festival

We headed to the Wildflower Festival on Saturday evening for some bad/delicious food and music. Vince Neil of Motley Crue and Bowling for Soup were both playing that night. It was great people watching, too! Vince sang tons of the favs: Kickstart My Heart, Girls, Girls, Girls, and Dr. Feelgood, to name a few. I didn't get a lot of pictures, due to the jamming and singing with Vince that I just HAD to do, but, here are a few. Sorry for the blurriness...my camera wouldn't take a clear picture of the stage.

Kris - happy as a lark...

Vince and his lead guitarist jamming.



The crowd behind us. TONS of peeps there!

Me and my sister...self portrait.

Bowling for Soup - awesome and hilarious. They stopped mid-song so they could pose for picture taking. Great band!

Rachel and Donnie - acting silly. They were up from Austin for Donnie's graduation. Congrats Donnie!!

Mother's Day Work!

On Saturday, Kris, Colin and I got our Mother's Day grub on and went plantin'. Stephanie had the great idea of planting bushes and flowers in our mom's front yard for Mother's Day. She started the planting before heading up to see family up north and we finished it up. Kris and I are morons when it comes to picking out bushes and flowers so I'm sure we'll have to re-do all this next year....sounds like a great Mother's Day present again. :)

Me - hard at work.

Kris & Colin

See Colin wiping his brow? He said, "This is back-breaking work!" about five times.

Admiring our finished work?

All Colin really wanted to do was water. He kept asking if we were ready for him to water over and over and over and over again.

He may have drowned all the plants in here....

Cincinnati Rain....

The dreaded half marathon. Oh, the rain. I'm not sure if it ever stopped raining the entire time we were in Cincinnati for the half marathon/marathon. My feet were never dry. This did not make for a pleasant run.

Race morning: rain is coming down. We all brought raincoats with us and definitely needed them (actually Tom and I bought them at Academy and brought them for everyone). We get to the start line and wonder if they are going to call the race. We all see the lightening and hear the thunder. But, the organizers are yelling over the storm that "the big storm is south of us and the race is still going on". Not two minutes after that announcement, the electricity is knocked out around us due to huge strike of lightening/thunder. So, they get on the bullhorn..."We are still a go!". Surprisingly, they were right. The lightening/thunder combo stopped as the race began.

I completed it!! Yay me! That's always my goal...a completion. Due to injuries, Senor and Teresa didn't get to the finish line. Tom had injured his knee the week prior at a triathlon and Teresa has had a bad knee since an alleged "ski injury" (she says Kris and I made her injure herself on her one and only ski trip in 1993....). Tom made it about 5 miles in before calling it quits and Teresa made it to mile 20.4. Good thing he stopped before going up into the hills. Dang you, hills!! Horrific! They sucked. We didn't enjoy them at all. Kris says that this was the hardest marathon she had ever done because of the weather and the hills. So, don't plan on The Flying Pigs marathon to be your first.

After the half, my poor feet had four blisters because of the moisture and rubbing with my socks and shoes. That did not make for pleasant walking. It took me awhile to find my way back to the our hotel and the one person that I found myself chatting with....was from Rockwall. Seriously? How do I go all the way to Ohio and find someone from Dallas? Small World! After a quick shower, we meet up with Dwane and he and I head back down to the finish line to watch Teresa, Dad, and Kris cross. We had great timing because Kris crossed about 5 minutes after we got there. Shortly after that, Teresa calls us from the medical tent where she was dropped off after she couldn't make it any further. So, we found her a chair and waited for Dad. He crossed a little while later and we were all done!

After a quick bite to eat, Tom and I headed to the airport. We had decided to come home that night because we wanted to sleep in our own bed and sleep in the next day and not have to worry about traveling home. What an exhausting trip home! Our plane was delayed in Cincinnati so we almost missed the last flight out of Chicago back to DFW. We had to sprint to another terminal in O'Hare airport in under three minutes. After we get to the gate, the agents yelled at us. HELLO...like it was our fault the plane was late. We also got some dirty looks from the other passengers. Again, this was not our fault...nor the other six people who were on our same flight and had to sprint. Speaking of sprinting...didn't I just discuss 13.1 miles and four blisters? My feet were seriously pissed by this point. And, I had to check my bag at the ramp because all the overhead compartments were full. So, we had to wait at baggage claim at DFW, take a shuttle from Terminal C back to Terminal B where we parked. AND, the guy drops us off at the wrong end and we had to walk like a mile to our car (not really, but 4 blisters, People!). Taco Bueno never tasted so good as it did that night. Party burritos....yum.

Overall...glad it is DONE. I will be a great spectator for Tomas when he decides to complete his first half marathon next!

Our self portrait. We take one of these wherever we go. It's a tradition now.


Dad, Teresa and Kris at the pasta dinner. Teresa is showing us the dessert. Bleh-tasting cookies.

We came across a random picture-taking spot and HAD to partake.

Dwane refused to put his face in the hole so this is Kris's new husband.

I think my dad was scared to put his head in there....

Tom carbing up pre-race

The only time I was dry that day.

Kris - about to cross the finish line.

Poor T. Flipping off the pig with her gimpy knee iced up.

Dad about to cross. Huge downpour right as he was crossing the finish.

The plane that we had to wait on and made us almost miss our connecting flight in Chicago. I curse you, AA!