4th of July

We had a fun and eventful 4th of July! The morning of the 4th, Jonathan and I woke up super early (like earlier than a work day!) to go run a race in downtown. It was a 10K which is longer than my usual races, which I was a bit worried about. I wasn't thrilled to wake up early and run it, but I'm glad I did it. Our neighbor owns a business and pays our entry fee to run some of the races downtown as long as we wear his company shirts as advertising. So we got to run the race for free. It was PERFECT weather for a July race and there were tons of people along the course cheering us on. There was even an old rag time band at the turnaround. It was so patriotic! And yes, I was passed by 4 firefighters in full gear with training tanks on! When the firefighters would run past the crowd everyone would erupt with cheers for them. It was awesome!

Jonathan finished in 41:02 which is a 6:37 pace (amazing!) and I finished in 1:03. I was hoping for under an hour, but 1:03 is still about a 10:00 pace so it was ok. Would you believe that it was such a huge race that Jonathan's finish time didn't get him any medals? He's not used to walking away from races without a medal. Ha! He was 118 out of 2,842 and 15th in his age group. I was 1,799 and 126th out of 225 in my age group. 

 Team pictures!

 I didn't have enough time to get to the meeting spot before the race to meet up with my running group, but my one of the girls in my group happened to walk past us as we were doing team pictures so we had to get a picture together. She was very patriotic:)

After the race, we went back to the house, got some lunch and put the kids down for a nap. After naptime, we were off to Louisville to celebrate the 4th with Jonathan's extended family. His aunt and uncle always host an awesome party, rent water slide inflatables, smoke some yummy meat and shoot off some serious fireworks for our own personal show! One of Jonathan's cousin's friends came and she was into photography and took a bunch of candid pictures so I had to download them all from facebook:) Of course this mama totally forgot my camera at home, so all of my pictures were from my phone.

 Face plant! Whoops. Good thing he got back up and wanted to get right back on the slide:)

 Getting ready for the fireworks show!

Sparkler fun! 

 J and his tacky hat:)

 The kids would jump with each of the firework "bangs" but they seemed to like the show. Cayden was talking with me and saying oooh and aaah. At one point I realized that he wasn't talking anymore and sure enough he was sound asleep with his hand on his face. Ha! (My kids were asking for their pjs and beds before it was even dark out.) I guess the busy day caught up to him!

It was so nice to have an extended weekend to celebrate the 4th and the freedom that we enjoy living in America.

5K on the Runway

Two weekends ago Jonathan and I ran in the United Way 5K on the Runway race. We have never run this race before but I was excited to do it this year! The first mile of the race is on the back access road to the runway (and there was a bit of a surprise hill) and the last two miles are literally looping the back runway at the airport. FLAT! That must be what it's like to run a race in the north!

I was so looking forward to running a flat race. The morning of the race we had a thick fog where we could barely see in front of our car on our way to the race. The nice part was that there wasn't any sun beating down on us, but the humidity was absolutely insane! They actually delayed the start of the race due to the fog with cars still trying to get in the parking lot. All of the planes at the airport had been delayed also and when they were cleared for takeoff it was fun because we got to watch one after another plane taxi and take off just a runway away! So cool for the kids to watch. Because the fog was still so thick, once the front wheels of the plane were off the ground we weren't able to see the rest of the plane take off. CRAZY!

They had some small planes for us to see and touch so of course we had to get pictures near them!

 Some of the girls from the Moms Run This Town running group!

Jonathan was hoping for a PR because we heard that this is a favorite race for PR's. Unfortunately he woke up Thursday morning sick to his stomach and was still sick on Saturday. He pushed through it and ran a good race and finished in 20:11. He said he about puked running across the finish line but he held it together! He wasn't thrilled with his time, but seriously if I had a 20 minute finish time I'd be having a party for myself. So I'd say he did well:)

 You can tell by his face how bad he felt.

I hadn't been able to train the week leading up to the race because of the heat/humidity and our schedule so I wasn't sure how I'd do. I ended up finishing in 28:44. Not a PR. Bummer. I wasn't able to take advantage of the flat terrain as I had hoped. Honestly when I was talking with the other girls that ran the race, we all said we were faked out since there wasn't sun, we kind of expected it to be less hot but the humidity was absolutely out of control and almost made things worse.

 Looking a bit like a crazy lady! I thought I was smiling for the camera. HA!

The kids love the chick-fil-a cow so we tried to get a picture with it, but Cayden wouldn't take his eyes off of the cow to turn around and take a picture. And my eyes are closed. Real life, people.

I love running together and exposing the kids to it. Next up is a 10k tomorrow morning!

Last Weekend

Last weekend my parents came in to town for the first time since Easter! The kids were pretty excited to spend time with them. Jonathan and my dad worked on breaking in his new Father's Day tools (working on building new pantry shelves!) and my mom and I enjoyed the kids playing outside in water (after she and I had an awesome clothes shopping trip.)

Sprinkler Fun! It's so hot out that the only way to spend time outside is to play in water!

Cayden loves hats and this bucket filled the bill.

Adalyn had to try out the bucket hat too.

What's better than one bucket-hat? TWO bucket hats!

Of course we had to do a photo-op before church on Sunday.

I love how much my parents love my kids and how much my kids love my parents! We are so blessed. I just wish we lived closer so they could spend time together more than once every 5 or 6 weeks.

Family picture.

We also had a race last weekend that my parents were able to watch the kids for so Jonathan could race sans stroller. That will have to be another post!  We had a great weekend with my parents and were sad to see them go. As always.

My First Vox Box!

So for a couple years, I've seen Jonathan receive random boxes of products to review. They were always men's products like shaving gel, deodorant, face wash, etc. so I never thought to ask if they had female products. I was reading Abby's blog a few months ago and she had gotten her first Vox Box and it looked so cool that I went and signed up for an Influenster account. I came home and told Jonathan about it and he told me that's what he's been receiving for years and asked why didn't I use his link to sign up so he'd get credit. Ha!

There's lots more to Influenster than their free product boxes so I clicked around and gave some product reviews until I was finally selected to receive my first Vox Box full of (free) products to try out and review! I was selected the TLC Vox Box for Mom's. I was pretty excited to open my box and see what was in it!

The thing I was most excited about was the coupon for FREE Breyers Gelato Indulgences ($4.49-$5.99). I had just told Jonathan (after watching one of the many commercials for it) how much I wanted to try the Gelato. I got the Caramel flavor and oh my. It is quite delicious! The container is super small but it's so rich that you don't eat much per serving. Ok, now I want to go eat a few spoonfuls of it:)

Neosporin Neo To Go ($4.97-$7.50). Of course in the couple weeks before receiving this box, Adalyn had a few pretty serious scrapes/cuts and had between one and three band-aids each day. We were using Neosporin on her cuts but when we got this box she had just healed up and thankfully we haven't had a need for the Neo to Go since then! I'm excited to try the spray since we usually use the regular ointment. I have it waiting on the kitchen counter because I figure we'll need it soon with how much the kids are playing outdoors.

Ivory Bar Soap ($3.99 for a 10 pack). I grew up using Ivory Bar Soap so I am a fan. I'm happy to have this to keep in our guest bathroom shower! Ivory smells so fresh!

Puffs to Go ($.49). I have horrible seasonal allergies. I am so over it! You can pretty much always find a Puffs to Go pack in my purse thanks to my allergies. There are certain things that I have to have specific brands and one of those things is Puffs. Don't go buying me Kleenex brand tissues. They are worthless. I only can use Puffs with Lotion!

AVON Anew Reversalist Express Wrinkle Smoother ($30). I was excited to try this since I am self-conscious of the lines that are showing up around my eyes. (Thanks to my 30's and 2 kids!) Honestly I've only used this one day. The day I used it, every single time I looked in the mirror at work, it looked like I had raccoon eyes and like my eye make-up had melted down my face. I don't know if it's the creamy texture of the product or what the problem is. I plan to give it one more chance in case I was just having a bad make-up day that day. (Although I use all Mac products and never have issues with my eye make-up running.) I've been afraid to give it a second try just because I don't want to look like Alice Cooper at work again.

Shell Fuel Rewards Card. Can I be honest? I opened my box and saw this card and I got so super excited that it was a free gas card. (Even $5 would have made my day!) But Jonathan looked closer at it and told me it was a rewards card. BOO! What a let down. I know using it allows you to earn free gas (like $.25/gallon off on your first fill up.) But we use Kroger gas with our Kroger points and the last time Jonathan filled up, he had $.50/gallon off. So we're not interested in using Shell when we're happy with Kroger.

All in all, it was a fun box and I hope I get selected for future Vox Boxes!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to my amazing husband and my sweet daddy! Our day on Sunday was a bit busy but we made time for Jonathan to open gifts! I tried to get a picture of my family in their coordinating clothes before church but I couldn't get a picture of everyone looking and smiling. They are cute anyway though:)

After church and lunch at Noodles & Co Jonathan opened his gift. (He opened a card and book from the kids before church.) Cayden wasn't feeling sitting still for a picture.

 Sweet girl is looking so old!

 Cayden was having fun running around being crazy.

 Sweet boy. I can eat him up! I just love that one tiny little freckle on his cheek.

 Helping daddy open his present.

 What dad doesn't love power tools?

It wasn't a relaxing Father's Day for Jonathan but that's the season of life we're in. We got to enjoy each other and the kids this weekend and that's what matters. I really appreciate what an amazing daddy Jonathan is to my babies.