Latest happenings that make me feel so incredibly blessed inside...

my hubby got to go antelope hunting and even though he came without one, he still had fun!

my son scored 2 touchdowns in his football game and got to have the awesome celebration in the end zone!

my daughter got to ride in the homecoming parade because she was voted to the 5th grade student council and so proud of her recent choices

my other daughter made me laugh so hard when the confused look came across her face when grandpa asked her about arithmetic...she had no idea what that was!

so lucky to be running road races with people and for people.

can't believe after all these years of running and training, finally getting the opportunity to follow my dream of completing a marathon!

clients keep calling, keep emailing and keep scheduling appointments for pictures, even though i'm not the best.

thankful for the wonderful people i've met from taking their photos.

thankful for the door that opened for me with the school system...love the job and love the people who have become like a family away from my own.

love staying up late eating pizza with my kiddos!

love how close my mom and dad and i are. i don't know what i would do without them.

so many wonderful friends!

my heavenly Father who hears all my thousands of prayers and answers them, even though i am so undeserving.

so blessed...so incredibly blessed.

Last Sunday was the Sioux Falls Half Marathon and Brody and I couldn't have asked for a better day...it was absolutely beautiful outside! A perfect day for a run! I ran the half marathon and my Brody ran the 5K. We had such a wonderful weekend. This was my 5th time doing this particular half and for the first time in 5 years, everything was different...the route, the finish line, the people along the way...it was amazing. I loved every minute of it. The route was more along residential streets and not so much on the bike trail which meant LOTS more spectators along the route. The finish line was the best yet. Instead of turning into Sertoma Park, it was a straight line shot down Oxbow. You could see the finish from 3/4 mile out which really was exciting. There were twice as many people lined up along the street waiting for their loved ones crossing the finish line. It was such an adreline rush. I totally loved it. My dad and Brody were there waiting and cheering. Brody ran his race in 25:20 and I finished in 1:43:16, about a minute off of my personal best. And that minute was due to the shoe lace incident at mile 9...my shoe came untied! I had to pull over and tie em up and after 9 miles of running, suddenly stopping like that made my leg muscles instantly tighten up. So it took a couple of minutes to get back into a rhythm again. There was my minute I couldn't make up for. Still happy with my time and totally giddy with sharing it with my son. He is so cool. I love him to pieces.

But there was something else that made this race even more special. I was running it for my friend at my school who is suffering from both Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkins cancer. After months of chemo, Susan found out there are more cells in her chest. She is now undergoing more intensive rounds of chemo and then will have to have a stem cell transplant. It's a long road ahead. She is not even 30 yrs old with 2 small girls at home. We are rallying around her and showing our colors for her. The official Hodgkins cancer colors are lime green and purple. I told Susan I would be running for her on Sunday...so I found my green and purple and ran my heart out for her. She got me thru to the end. She told me she felt my strength within her that day and because of that, it was totally worth it. I'll keep wearing these colors until the day she is cancer-free!

GO TEAM WHITETAIL!! Triple VVV Triathlon was yesterday morning. Perfect morning for a race! Seth and I were a team and did pretty good! We decided to choose the name Team Whitetail over Seth's first choice, Team 911. HA! He definitely had the hard parts...swimming 1/4 mile and biking 14 miles. I took the last leg with a 5K. There were 25 teams this year and about 200 individuals. We finished in 1:17:00, 8th place out of the 25. Not bad considering this was only our 2nd year doing this. Seth really trained for this race. My stomach was in knots when he was in the water...a few life jackets were being thrown out from the lifeguards on jet skis. It's a tough swim no matter how much you've trained. He thinks he may want to do the whole thing himself next year...which leaves me to either do it myself too...or find another team...and considering the swimming part freaks me out...I may be on a team again! Either way, we had fun doing this together, competing together and finishing together!