And They're Off!

Well... I have about two jillion errands to run today... and two (slightly HUGE) suitcases to fill up... and then we're off to Vegas! 16+ hours on the road with my sweetie-- I can't wait! Don't worry-- I'll take plenty of pictures :)

$50 Dessert??

...Heck yeah, if you're in my family! Mom and Aunt Sherry Belle are famous for what we have previously called "Chocolate Pudding Stuff"-- a name which definitely does NOT do this yummy dessert justice! In fact, after one Thanksgiving at Mom's house, when the whole big family was loading into cars and starting to leave, mom realized we'd forgotten the Pudding Stuff and shouted outside to everyone, "HEY!! We have PUDDING STUFF!" I was giggling to myself-- I mean, come on, who's going to get back out of their car for a dessert when they're all already stuffed? Then, to my surprise, in walks Uncle Doug... Aunt Kass... Ali and Dustin... Mimi... Aunt Sharon.. and everyone else! Ha-- no on was going to miss out!

Anyhow, Mom made this dessert for the church bake sale in Archer City, and Lewis-- being the great husband AND sweet connoisseur that he is-- whipped out a fifty dollar bill for it! So, at last, we have a new and worthy name for the "Chocolate Pudding Stuff"-- Fifty Dollar Dessert!! I got to enjoy some last night :)

Yes, They're OPEN!

Although they've been up and running for a couple of months now, Ryan and Jared's shop had its official Grand Opening in North Richland Hills a couple of weekends ago. It was a blast! And a big success. They finally got to celebrate some of the hard work they've been doing! Plus, good friends like Kimmie & Brad and Adam & Kaylee got to be there for the occassion, so it was even more fun! Here are a few pics from that day...

Traxxas makes these ridiculously fun (ridiculously expensive!!) remote control cars... they gave one away at the opening!

Awwww the man himself :)

We posed for a few pics. Stripper heels + climbing on trucks = no good!!

Kaylee and I had so much fun!

The guys with all their friends there to support! What a good looking crew.

On the Road Again!

It's hard to believe it's only been two months - to the day - since Ryan's move to Fort Worth! It's definitely been tough on me, and maybe, just maybe on him... but looking on the bright side, we now have a whole new world to experience during the times we do get to get together! For example...

Trip... after trip... after trip to Joe T. Garcia's in downtown Fort Worth! One of our favorite places to go... actually, it's the first place we went out of town together! Good thing calories consumed out of town don't really count... right?

Some new surroundings to play pool in-- this is at Flip's with Adam and Kaylee and a few more friends.

Ryan has even taken me to the Fort Worth Zoo-- surprisingly inexpensive! I liked the kitties best :)

Just keep running, just keep running...

Well, I decided a few weeks ago to finally start using this blog account I've had set up forever (as if I'm not already dorky enough)... Now it'll be a few days of catch-up to get everything posted!


To start out: my most recent little accomplishment. As pretty much everyone I've encountered over the last few weeks knows, I finally ran my first "official" half marathon! A half marathon is 13.1 miles, and while I've gone that far in training runs before, I've never had it officially timed-- or, more importantly, gotten the t-shirt and medal that come with most races! Anything for a free t-shirt, right?? So when I asked Jen and Frank's friend Shad about what runs he'd be doing over the weekend, and he told me about a race in the Wichita Mountains, I was more than game!

The race was the "Spirit of Survival" marathon and half marathon and was held in Oklahoma in Medicine Park. All the proceeds benefitted cancer research-- definitely a cause worth running for! My very amazing sister woke up at the butt-crack of dawn so that we could leave by 5:30 am... the drive wasn't very far, but I was worried that if I injured myself I wouldn't be able to get home! Plus, Jen, being the awesome sister she is, wanted to see me cross the finish line :)

Anyhow, here are a few pics from that cold, rainy morning. My goal was to finish in under 2 hours-- I hit it at 2 hours, 1 minute! DANG! Not going to lie though-- I'm still pretty proud. It was more of a mental battle than anything, and the last mile was a torturous uphill climb! (But hey, anything for a t-shirt, remember?)

Pinning on my number! We'd had to stop on the way to buy a "throw away" hat since it was raining... it was pretty fun to throw off a perfectly good piece of clothing, never to see it again, just because I was tired of wearing it!

I'm to the right of the freakishly tall man. Yep, that's a mini fanny pack! Had to keep my inhaler handy :)

Crossing the finish line! .... finally.

And last, with my finisher's medal and "space jacket," as Ryan called it-- they give you metallic capes at the end of most races to keep your body heat in while you cool down.

And here is the link to the official race pictures-- not very flattering, but I'd been running in the rain for two hours, so cut me a break here :) And notice the grin on my face-- dang, I was happy to be done!

http://www.backprint.com/go.asp?60853224