A Pleasant Saturday

It feels like we always have things going for all of our weekends-whether its birthday parties, sports games, get togethers with friends, church activities, yard work, house chores, etc-so it is always pleasant when we have a day with nothing planned and we can just enjoy family time. Its always helpful when we have good weather as well. A couple of weeks ago, we went downtown and went to a new pizza by the slice place for lunch, a new cupcake store for dessert, and then over to priest point park to play and hike. I sure do treasure those days...

Fourth of July 2011

The Fourth of July was beautiful this year (it usually rains!). We spent the weekend before in Portland with Grandma and Grandpa having a great time. We went to a great outdoor pool (something we are missing in Olympia) and had some good family time together. Ryan and I even got to sneak out for a couple of dates. On the 4th, we had the Beardsley's over for dinner, and then headed out to the Tumwater celebration to meet some more friends and see some fireworks. It was a very happy Independence Day.

Cotton Candy and Fireworks!!!

Eliza LOVED the fireworks.

I love this little girl.

My cute kiddos.

Eliza's future husband-Charlie

Sisters

The 4th is Cooper's least favorite day of the year-Eliza was trying to comfort a really nervous dog. He HATES fireworks.

Ryan hooking Eliza up with some ice cream.

Boy's Night Out- Mariner's vs Braves

For Father's day, we got Ryan some great seats to the Mariner's vs Braves game. Connor cheered for the M's while Ryan has always been a die hard Braves fan. He and Connor loved every minute of it. They had a lot of junk food, came back with a T-shirt, and lots of good stories to tell. I am so glad that they got to go together-although Ryan said that he is now very spoiled and not sure that he can go back to the "cheap seats."

Seattle Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon

At the end of June, I participated in the Seattle Rock and Roll Half Marathon. I was a little nervous before the run because I had recently slacked a lot in my training. I seemed to peak and feel really good when running about a month before the race and ever since, just felt like my legs were slow and heavy. I was excited, however, to have a great weekend with wonderful girlfriends Gina, Danika, and Christine. Ryan took the Friday before off from work which allowed us to "play" in Seattle almost the whole day. We had fun at the expo, had a yummy pasta dinner, and even yummier frozen yogurt. Gina's brother was generous enough to let us stay at his apartment in Seattle. We headed there pretty early and tried to get some sleep since we had to wake up at 4am to catch the shuttle to the start line. We got there in time to visit the "honey buckets" a couple of times and get to the start. I had such an great run!!! It was a beautiful course with such a fun atmosphere. There were lots of bands, tons of cheer squads, and a whole bunch of spectators that made the whole 13.1 miles such fun. I think I was so pleasantly surprised because I was skeptical about how a race with 26, 000 people could actually go smoothly...but it did. I was able to finish in 1 hour 48 minutes which was faster than I expected-but as I was running and realized I was going pretty quick-my goal then became to beat Ryan's time from last year of 1 hour 45 minutes. I pushed it too hard from mile 10-12 and really lost it that last mile. Oh well! Hopefully next year we can race together and I can beat him then. :)

CopTtiyrkaight

Copytienalksndalsright

Spenser, Barrett, Autumn, Christine, Gina, Danika, Me

We are such tough chicks :)

Autumn and Barrett

5am on the school bus to the start line :)