8K for H20

A quick cross-post update!

Jon and I went to visit Jenny in Charleston, SC where she is working on her masters at the College of Charleston. She is involved in a student group that puts on an 8K race each year to benefit a local environmental/water conservation group. Jon and I went down to visit her and participate in the race. So we ran in the annual 8K for H20. This year's race benefactor was LEEP – the Lowcountry Environmental Education Program.



8K is the furthest I've ever run in my life!! It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. There were 200 participants in the race and it was good practice for our big run coming up in May. I wasn't quite ready for the distance, so didn't do great, but I'm just so happy that I finished. I was originally going to only run the 5K, but I'm glad I bit the bullet and went for the full 8. I was second to last (literally – 199/200) at 1:11:12, and Jon did great at 51:28.

Woo hoo!!

Family

Spent some time with the family this weekend.

Played some peek-a-boo with 4.5 5.5 month old Ashton!


GIMME!!


Hanging out with uncle Jon.


So sad! Oh no!


Big brother Shea joins in the fun.


Love those boys!

Goofy Dog

Wink!






Peek!

Washington DC 2010

I spent the last few days in Washington DC at a conference. Despite coming down with a cold, I had a really great time and learned a lot.


My great co-workers.


Health reform now!


Who is the monkey??


The Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian.


Me and Yadi!


Capitol Building.

Happy 2010!

I'm going to try to do some more blogging this year, but I have to start somewhere. So let's begin with something stupid.

I got a Snuggie for Christmas!





Good times.

Mexico

I've been posting a lot of pictures from South Dakota the last month, so I thought I'd change it up a bit and put some photos up from the other trip I took... Mexico! My Mom took my three sisters and I down to the Cancun area for a long weekend over the 4th of July holiday. I had a really great time, and we stayed at a SUPER nice resort - Iberostar Paraiso del Mar. I've never stayed at an all inclusive hotel before, and it was crazy beautiful!

Beautiful lobby.


Flamingos just haning out.


Hammocks at the beach.


Beautiful swimming pool.


Different dining areas of the hotel.

Prairie Dogs

One of the cutest part of South Dakota was all the prairie dogs everywhere! They used to be endangered at one point, but now they're doing better. Yay doggies!

Badlands, SD

One of the most beautiful places we visited in South Dakota was the Badlands. The soil around the rock formations is being constantly eroded, leaving behind the exposed buttes, gullies, and ridges that we see. There are many fossils found throughout the Badlands. It was really, really hot the day we went, and there are no trees for shade. But the sky was clear, and that makes for beautiful photograph!

It is so hard to get a sense of depth in these photos, but these rocks stretch on for MILES.





I love these next two pictures because they were taken from a moving car. So they're a bit funky, but still show off the beautiful scenery!




The color of the rocks is so amazing!






Just beautiful.


You are allowed to climb on the rocks, so of course, we did! Here are my cousins Jordan and Cory hanging out.

Devils Tower

Some more South Dakota pictures here... although the Devils Tower is actually in Wyoming.

Beautiful sky that day!






Close up of the rock formations.


My Dad and I being hardcore. Forgive the blury photo... it was taken by a 6 year old!

South Dakota

Jon and I just got back from a week long camping trip to South Dakota with some family, and we had a great time! I have so many pictures to share, so I'll start out with one of the most awesome things about the trip - the buffalo! Specifically, these pictures show that buffalo kinda just go wherever THEY feel like! More to come later.

Buffalo cross the road whenever they please!


South Dakota traffic jam.


Bumper to horns.

And the road is finally clear!

Twins.

Garden harvest

This is only my second summer owning a house, therefore only my second summer having a garden. But already I've learned SO much after just one year, and I think this year will be even better. I have a very shady yard, so I'm learning what grows best. Last year we had an adorable little fence, but it let the bunnies right in to munch away – so now we have a heavy duty fence that is keeping all the critters out! Don't worry... they still have the compost pile to dig through and find treats! The rain has done a great job of watering the garden this year, with only a little help from the water in my rain barrel. My goal is to grow enough produce that would equal the cost of the garden, although I'm still a few years out from that.

Tonight my sister and I made the first harvest from the garden – lettuce and mixed greens! I should have taken a picture of the garden and how much there is, because there is SO MUCH! Last year no lettuce survived the bunnies.



Although it didn't look like we picked that much, we had enough for three salads and some leftovers.





Tasty! Here's hoping to much more garden success this year!

Oh yeah!

Awesome grafitti I saw on the side of a passing train...