The Best Doughnut Place in the World....

No joke, the best doughnut place in the world is in Bay Village, Ohio. It is called Fragapane bakery. They have other things like pastries, cupcakes, etc., but we only really go there for the doughnuts. Our kids cannot get enough of the chocholate covered doughnuts with sprinkles. Andy always loves to surprise the kids and take them for some alone time with him, and on this day, it was girl time.


I think she likes it....

 
Learning to smile for mommy.

Has to be my most recent favorite picture of this girl!

Tessa checking to see if Marin had any left over doughnut.

Sealing the deal with a kiss.

Love Memorial Day and Parades....

I love Memorial Day in Ohio, it is a big deal.  I find myself getting emotional every year when I see the veterans walking down lake road, holding the flag and waving at the children.  It is just nice to live somewhere where we really celebrate memorial day, not just use the day to have no school or have a BBQ.  We had a wonderful day and had tons of fun at the parade with the kids and friends.

Andy pulled Marin and her best bud Grant in the bike trailer on the way to the parade.

Can't get in enough time together with these best buds.

Chilln'

Andy and Tessa, this girl loves her daddy.

Carlee and her Daisy troop. She was so excited to be in the parade!!

She is doing her famous wave here.

Kids 1 mile fun run 2012....

The kids have been so excited about the one mile fun run at Bay High.  I am always so impressed on their willingness to try something new, even when it may be hard.  Of course it probably helps that their best friends JP and Wes did it with them, they are all so cute and love each other so much!

Can you see Carlee and Wes??

Can you see Porter and JP??


Love this picture of JP getting ready to race, he looks so pumped.

Porter is ready, number 548.


Carlee is so happy....always!

Porter's finish

Carlee's finish

Group shot, love Carlee's hat.

All the sweaty boys.

One last lake visit....

Not much new happening, just a lot of packing and getting ready to move.  The weather has been nicer so we took the kids to the lake one night to play.  I don't know why I assumed they wouldn't get that dirty, I guess sometimes, I forget they are kids.



Peek a boo!

 
Marin was having so much fun bringing Andy sand.

I love what a sweet big brother Porter can be, Marin loves to go to Porter when she needs something.

Diggin'

Love me some Tessa May.....such a happy girl.

The second longest run of my life....

I did it, I ran my second half marathon! I cannot believe that it has already come and gone. There was so much debate for me back in November if I even wanted to do another one or not, then there was the time commitment to do all of the training, and the planning, and everything else that goes into a big race.....but I did it. What started out as 5 ladies doing it, quickly went down to just two, Hillary and myself. The training runs this time around were a lot harder because I did the majority of them alone, so I really had to push myself to go running, and then to actually run. Hillary and I always made sure to do our long runs together which was great. The day before our run we headed down to Columbus just after lunch, we had a full two and a half hour drive ahead of us. We went straight to the packet pick up and health expo. It was not too crazy and very well put together. After we walked around and got our shirts we were starving and we asked some random people in the elevator where to eat dinner. So we walked around downtown a finally found where we were going (thanks Sara for your help)and I am so glad we went where we did. We went to Marcella's and it was amazing. They had the best bruschetta I have ever had, undescribable. I wanted to get something fancy for dinner, but decided to stick with the recommened spaghetti dinner. It was cracking me up that on the men it said spaghetti and meatball, and that really is what we got...one meatball! After dinner, we walked back to ur car and then drove to our hotel. Hillary and I had a fun surprise when we got to our room. It only had one king bed instead of two queens. It was no big deal, but we had a nice little laugh imaginig what our husbands would do in that situation. For some reason the thought of them sharing a king bed is crazy and super funny, but no big deal for us. Anyay, we got everything together for the race, watched a little Shark Tank, and then went to bed. Lucky for me I slept really well, Hillary, not so much, she is pregnant and super sick:( We woke up at 6 a.m. to get ready for the race and to get some food before the long run. It was no problem at all to find somewhere to park and it was really quick to walk to the start. The start's were set up in a corral system which was great, with 13,000 people, it has to be that way. I definetly thought we put ourselves too far back, we had to pass so many slower people before we found a comfortable pace, but there was no way to move any closer with that many people. So the race began and away we went. It was so so fun with so many people and there were live bands and DJ's along the way. Unfortunetly I lost Hillary at mile two, she had to pee and there was a huge line at the port-a-potty, and she had to throw up at mile 5. poor pregnant girl. It was hard to run alone and I was grateful that I brought my headphones. I started to get worried about Hill and that I couldn't see her, so I walked through every water station and tried to slow my pace to find her, and at about mile 8 she found me!! I was so relieved to know that she was okay and not hooked up to an IV like so many other people I passed. We ran the rest of the run together, if not for her I probably would have walked more than i did at the end. My feet were killing me, and there were so many hills!!! So we did it, it's over, and I know I will do another one. I am still waiting for that perfect race. My first half was so cold and I was not prepared, this half was super hilly and I was not prepared for that. I hear a lot from people how they could never run/jog, or do anything like this, and I just wish that they knew they could. I love running and doing the races because of the people I meet along the way that inspire me. EVERY single person there had a story and a reason to run. I met two of them at our hotel when we were getting ready to leave. This woman, who was a larger woman, came walking out of the hotel and saw me stretching before getting into the car and said something like "we are staying over night after that race." I realized that she had done the race too! I asked her if she had done the half marathon and she said yes. Here are pics from our adventure:



Pretending to be excited to run the next morning.

My pre-race spaghetti dinner

All done with our rockn' meals!

I rule!

Our trip to find a home....

Carlee and I had a fun "mother-daughter" trip to Montana to look for a place for our family to live when we get there in June. It was so fun to get there and know that Helena is going to be the place that we call home for a VERY long time. We did not arrive in Helena until midnight our first night, so we went straight to bed as soon as we got back to my units house. The next morning, I had a few appointments before meeting with the realtor which left my dad in charge of Carlee for the day while Nana was at work. I think they had a fun day running errands, buying cowgirl boots, and Carlee loved driving around in a car that she was able to watch a movie in. I was super busy with the realtor driving around all day looking at rental and buy options.

It was very hard to be there going through this process alone without Andy, but any house that I liked I took video of so that I could show him when I got home. Any time I told him that I just couldn't do this without him, he just reminded me that I HAD to do it, we HAD to have a place to live. I can't even begin to say how nice it was to be there and have family with me. Carlee was in heaven the whole time with her Grandpa and Nana, and I was in heaven too, to have someone to look at options with me and to talk it through with.  We had a wonderful time together!  (thanks for everything!)

The process is finally over and we are so lucky to have found a house, but the whole thing seems so surreal to me. I have so much to do here in Ohio that being settled in a new house is something I cannot wrap my mind around. This whole thing is about a one million step process and I feel like I am still on step 1, but I cannot wait to get further in the process and make it to the final step. This is a very hard and stressful time for all of us, there is so much to do, but I know it is for a good reason and we can do it! I am just so ready to move on!!

  My Dad and Carlee getting ready to head out on the 4-wheeler. She loved this!!


Carlee and Nana looking at Nana's fly's that she tied.

  Carlee was so excited to get to go in the big tub, she could not get over all of the bubbles.

Happy girl.