Love + Two

Molly was great at taking these "us" pics Well, I have to say this weekend was fun filled and my bubble was burst a tad this morning.  In the grand scheme of things, personally I'm incredibly blessed each and every day, furlough or no furlough.  At this current hour of 10pm, we don't have a resolve or Continued Resolution Authority (CRA) to fund our government employees.  I'm worried about employees with a sole income.  I'm worried about the single parents.  I'm worried about all the "missed" items in the event of a furlough. I consider myself blessed to support the warfighter everyday.  All the people I work with are passionate and honored to be a Civil Servant.  As government employees, we all raised our right hand and accepted the oath to serve the President of the United States and his appointees.  With that said, my family and I will just keep praying for those in need and decision makers during this time of fiscal uncertainty. L...

What did I so with my time before after school activities?  Flag football, ballet, & tap practice make afternoons all the more fun. I'm pretty sure the only time we sit down is to eat dinner & sleep. I have to say, seeing Avery tap her way across the room or doing a ballet twirl...right after watching Tyler catch a football in the crisp cool sunshine, makes fall feel like, well...fall!

What happens when your mommy and daddy are training for a tri??? You get lots of pool & bike time and you invent your own races.  After watching the Warrior Dash in Mechanicsville, MD, she invented her own duathlon with mud. In all honesty, with the recent explosion of mud/obstacle courses, she has a great idea that would bring in new followers (the duathlon/triathlon crowd). Here's Dads new tri outfit.  Here's Tyler and Avery Paige kicking off fall with a little swimming practice. These kiddos make my world sunny. 

A million reasons why I love this picture... to name a few; lunch with my sweetie, her fashion sense, she steals my salad, and she makes up words like "meatballdeetdoll!"

Gorgeous weather, fantastic friends, amazingly beautiful course, and great cause = fantastic Saturday half marathon. My marathon training actually had me run 16 miles, so I added a few miles at the end of the course (keep reading).  Usually I do a mile by mile recap, but this race wasn't like any others, for several reasons (again, keep reading).  First, I ran without headphones. This allowed me to stay in touch with my surroundings and chat with other people. I pushed myself to keep a pace between 8:30 and 9:30. It was a peaceful and well supported course.  At mile 9, I met a gal (Jennifer) who needed help finishing. She was running her first half marathon. Her motivation was a crappy ex boyfriend who told her she couldn't do it. This year alone, she ran her first 4 miler, hiked Mt Kilamajaro, and was running her first half. She's also training for the Marine Corp Marathon (MCM).  I told her the ex was wrong and good guys exist that will support every dream she has ...