Trekkin' across the country - part 1

We spent the whole day cleaning and stayed in a hotel the Thursday before Memorial Day.  We thought about leaving town Thursday, or even Friday morning, but the kids did NOT want to miss the last day of school.  And I couldn't blame them.  They wanted to be able to say good bye to their friends.  We picked them up when school ended that afternoon and started on our journey to Utah.  Yeah, totally the wrong direction of where we were moving.  

We figured this was the best time to take a family vacation to Utah because once Jerry started working it would be harder to get enough time to drive there and back, plus enjoy a good amount of time there.  

We got to Iowa the first night, then to Denver the next night.  We were able to stay the night with my brother, Dave and his family.  It was a good stop.  Then the next day we made it up to Utah!  Yay!  We had a big family party at the park on Memorial day.  It was so fun.  That is one wonderful thing about living away from my family.  As hard as it is to be away - whenever I come to town they all throw a family party.  What a great way to feel loved! :) I hardly saw the kids at all at the park.  They play, play, played in the sand.

More Graduations

Sydney graduated from preschool.  (Well, only the first year of preschool)  She loved her teachers, Ms. Maria and Ms. Lori.  They were excellent teachers.  She learned so much in preschool.  

They had a fun end of school picnic at the school.  We even got to go on ride on the Purdue train.  

And Rebecca graduated from Kindergarten.  They had a cute little program and snacks for the families.  She really excelled in Kindergarten.  She grew up so much this year.  I'm so proud of my kids.

Poor Hayden, no graduation ceremonies and parties for graduating 2nd grade. 

Graduation - Krannert School of Management class of 2013

YAY!!!  The day finally arrived!  Jerry graduated from Krannert School of Management at Purdue University on May 11, 2013!

His parents and brother, Barry flew in on Thursday evening.  We got together on Friday morning and took them on a tour around campus.  Then we ate lunch at Potbelly's.  

This is Rawls Hall.  Jerry lived in that building for the last two years.  

We came back to our house once Hayden and Rebecca got home from school.  They were so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa, and Uncle Barry.

Barry has secured his place in their hearts by giving horsie rides all night long.  

Saturday morning started the big day!  We headed up to campus and got really great seats.  It was almost surreal being there.  I'm sure it was even more for Jerry.  It was just an awesome day.  Jerry worked so hard for this degree.  The decision to go back to school was not an easy decision to make, but I'm glad he did it, and I am so extremely proud of him!!

As all the graduates were filing into the hall.

Jerry's good friend, Matt at the Krannert graduation party

We had a big graduation lunch at our house.  I was able to try out some fun graduation treats I'd seen on Pinterest.

Future Grad

It was great being able to have Jerry's parents and brother there with us.  We appreciate their efforts to be there, so much.  We had to say goodbye to them Saturday night because they flew home Sunday morning.
Sunday after church, when there weren't so many graduates lining up for pictures we went up to campus to take a few more pictures.

Indianapolis 500 Mini Marathon - aka patting myself on the back

In May of 2012 I was running at the gym. I was flipping channels on my tv and saw THE big Mini Marathon on tv.  I'd heard some talk about THE Mini, but didn't really pay much attention, till I saw it on tv and realized it was a pretty big deal.  I watched it during my run and started wondering if I could do it.  I still had a lot of baby weight to lose, and at that point the most I was running was 3 1/2 ish miles.  Plus, I hadn't run a half marathon since before I got pregnant with Luke.  It was obviously something I couldn't have done that year, but I tucked it away in my little brain as something that might be really cool to do the next year.

I slacked off my running through the summer because we were homeless :) and just traveling most of the summer.  Once I got back in the fall I started upping my miles.  I got up to 6 mile runs when I got a hip injury.  I wasn't able to run for about 3 months.  I could bike and do the eliptical for some reason, but I couldn't even walk without a limp for a long time.  Being poor students we didn't have insurance for me and Jerry so I just prayed and prayed that I hadn't done permanent damage and researched lots of stretches and exercises online. So at this point the race was out of my mind.

Luckily by February I was able to start running a little bit. As I was able to add more miles I started thinking more about the race.  The one in 500 Mini Marathon is the largest Mini Marathon (half marathon) in the country.  There are 34,000 participants - yes, thirty four THOUSAND!!  And people come from all over the WORLD just for this race, and it was in my backyard.  It is in Indianapolis and the racing course includes a lap around the Indy 500 speedway.  How cool is that? The race is the first weekend in May.  The sappy, sentimental side of me thought it would be a very fitting good-bye to Indiana.  To be able to run this race in Indiana, then the very next weekend Jerry would graduate, then we'd move a few weeks later.

Every other race I've run had my support team with me.  I was able to train with my friends and I've always had others running with me in the race - even if we separate during the race, it's still fun having someone else there running with you.  This race would be all on my own.  I was nervous, but finally bit the bullet, registered, and started training.  I'm so glad I did it!
It was such a fun race.  There was such a party atmosphere with live bands playing on the sidelines of the whole course.  I couldn't believe the huge mass of people.  CRAZY!  According to my GPS I actually ran a total of 13.29 miles.  That was because of all the weaving around people.  That's a lot of weaving, but I guess that's what you have to do with that many people.  It was probably the only frustrating thing about the race.  To be in my stride and come upon a wall of runners at least 4 wide that just stop to walk.  So you have to dart to the side till you find a hole to go ahead of them.  It wasn't my personal best time, but at least I did it in the time goal I had set for myself.  The last few miles were very hard, but I did it!  I don't know how people can do a full marathon.  Half is good enough for me.  I saw a great sign along the way that said, "I run half marathons because I'm only half crazy."  haha.
I'm glad I had the opportunity to do my own "Indiana" thing before we moved.

At the starting line.  I was no where near the start of the line.

Can't even see the starting line from where I started.  Imagine this many people behind me as well.

Heading into the speedway.

Running around the Indy 500 Speedway

That is my "I'm trying to multi-task too much to do a real smile" smile at around the 8th mile.

I DID IT!!

And this is my ultimate support crew!!  

School Days

 I was able to go as a chapperone on Rebecca's kindergarten field trip to Columbian Park Zoo.  I'm so glad I was able to go.  It is very fun to see your child in a setting that I haven't seen her in very much.  She has some very sweet friends.  It is very funny though because this group of 3 girls spent the most time in the zoo gift shop - even though they didn't have any money to buy anything- just raving over how "cute" everything was.  Oh, girls....

 A few days later I went back to the school for Hayden's class Mother's Day presentation.  It was so cute.  They had the desks set up all cute for us moms.  They did a class play and the kids served us cookies and punch.  He is such a sweet boy.  I'm so glad I was able to go.