Thursday, September 24, 2009

Student of the Month!



Caiden was named "Student of the Month" in the Kindergarten for the month of September! We are so excited and so proud of him. This morning, Chris and I were both able to attend the presentation where they surprise the kids with their achievement. He received a shirt that says "Student of the Month" on it and his last name on the back of it. His picture will even be in the local paper! :) I'm not really sure he understood it all, but he knew it was for being good in school. :) Hopefully it stays that way too! Yay Caiden!








Chloe just had to have a picture with me too! :)

YellowJacket 5K


Sunday was the 2nd Annual YellowJacket 5K/10K. Last year I ran the 10K and ran my PR(59:59) at that race, but last month, I beat that PR(58:31) so I decided to run the 5K this year. That, and the fact that since my marathon, my training hasn't been the greatest. :) I could say that I wanted to beat my 5K PR, but I really knew that was not going to happen at this race. My New Years Resolution was to run a Race each month, but I never said I had to run the farthest distance each race offered! This was my 15th race of the year so I thought slacking off just a little was okay. My friend Amy also ran this race pushing her 2 year old daughter, Avryl so like my children, Avryl is another child that spends a lot of weekends at races. We started at the football field and then race on the bike path to the city park where we found the turnaround and headed back to the football field. The route was relatively flat with a few up and downs, but no real hills to speak of. My kind of race! I was hoping that I could run it in under 30 minutes as that my general goal for all 5Ks, but I really didn't know what was in store for this race. The Garmin wouldn't turn on right before the race so I had no idea how fast I was going at all. Amy runs 27-28 minute 5Ks so I just tried to keep her in my sights for as long as I could because then I knew I would be under 30. The whole thing went by really fast and before I knew it, I was back at the football field with the scoreboard reading 29 minutes something....I still had to go around part of the track so I wasn't done yet. I booked it at the end to make sure I ended up with the clock saying 29 something and not 30 something and I finished in 29:49 - an average mile pace of 9:36. Not too shabby for me at all. I was very happy with that. After the race, Caiden wanted to race me around the track and I must say after running 3 miles, I was a little tired and he was speeding around that thing. Chloe was right behind us though and never gave up. She is getting really fast too! I even won an Olive Garden gift card at the door prize giveaway! After the race, me and Amy headed to the Spearifsh Chophouse with the kids for their famous breakfast buffet. We hadn't been there since last year after the race, but it was just as good. Caiden said that pancake was the best pancake he had EVER had and Chloe ate her plate clean. It was a great way to relax after the race. I KNOW I ate way more calories than I burned in that 5K, but each calorie was well worth it! :)





Go Broncs!

If you know us at all, you know that we love football - any football...from JV to NFL; we will watch it all. And we love our home team, the Belle Fourche Broncs! The Broncs had a great season last year and we are hoping this year is just as good or even better. The 2nd game of the year was against Hot Springs, which means it was our first conference game of the year. We took a very early lead, but then lost some of it, but it ended in a win for us, 31-28. It was a really fun game and the weather was semi nice, with a little drizzle, but the kids just loved that. My friend Desiree came to the game with us too as her girls got to dance at halftime with the Dance Team. That was really cute to watch. Here are some pictures of our fun night of football!







Time for Fall Soccer!

Both Caiden and Chloe are playing soccer this year and they get to be on the same team, which was the only way Chloe agreed to play. :) Caiden started off where he left off last year and is having a great time. Chloe is enjoying it, but would prefer not to kick the ball if she doesn't have to. She does like to chase after the other kids though. Here are some pictures of their first game - it had rained all night so it was nice and slippery and very cold!






Labor Day Weekend

We had an awesome Labor Day weekend! Caiden had 4 days off of school and we took advantage of that and the beautiful weather we had the whole weekend. On Friday night, we headed to the first Belle Fourche Broncs home game of the season. They lost, but they played a good game against the defending Wyoming state champions. On Saturday, we practiced some soccer in the yard and watched the Montana Grizzlies win their first game (very thankful for the Internet so we can watch these games!). On Sunday, we headed to the Spearfish WaterPark for one last day of swimming for the summer and we brought along our friends Amy, Avryl, Jackie, and Semele to enjoy the day with us. It was 95 degrees so we picked the perfect day to go. On Monday, we went out to lunch at Pizza Hut and then headed out for a hike on the Iron Creek Trail. It was a great hike (except for Chloe tripping a few times!) and we had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of our fun-filled weekend!
















Chloe's First Day of Preschool

Chloe started her 2nd year of Preschool on Sept. 1st and she goes 3 days a week now and she loves it. She is gone from 8am-11am and has 7 people in her class. Her teacher has said she has talked more in the first week than she talked all last year. So, she is really opening up this year and I am so excited about that. She loves doing show and tell now, which she wouldn't even attempt last year and she is making new friends too! She loves to go and doesn't understand why she can't go all of the days that Caiden goes to school! :) Here are a few pictures of her first day!
Such a big girl!

Chloe and her awesome teacher, Mrs. Rebecca


The kids waving good-bye!








Caiden's First Day of Kindergarten!

Caiden started Kindergarten on August 24th and he LOVES it.He goes all day from 8:10-3:10, mostly 4 days a week with no school on most Fridays. He is excited to go everyday and when it's not a school day, he wants to know how many days there are until he gets to go back! The only thing he isn't too sure about is the school lunches and he prefers to bring his lunch on most days. :) Here are some pictures of his first day!

Caiden at his desk

Caiden and his awesome teacher, Mrs. O'dea


Getting ready to go!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Lean Horse 50 Miler

Chris started and finished his first 50 mile race on August 22nd and it ONLY took him 9 hours and 30 minutes! Believe me, if I had gone 50 miles, I would still be on the course! He did a great job and we are very proud of him! And yes, now that he has done that, he is planning a 100 miler next summer! He's crazy! If you would like to read the gory details of his 50 miler, you can read all about it on his blog:
http://runaholic-chris.blogspot.com/

But here's the short version of it!

Final Time: 9:32:18 - Overall Place: 8th - AG Place: 2nd

Way to go Chris! We are so proud of you!