Halloween 2011

We had a fun Halloween this year and the kids came home with more candy than I know what to do with...lucky us! So here are a few pics of the fun evening of costumes and trick-or-treating. And yes, Madelyn insisted on wearing the same butterfly costume for the third year in a row. And yes, Zach is wearing his same dragon costume from last year. Kali came up with her own costume after I bought the hat at the Target dollar spot. Gotta love hand-me-downs and kids who don't care about having the latest and greatest and coolest costume...Or maybe I just never took them down the Halloween isle so really they had no idea what was out there. haha!! Happy Halloween!!!!!!

Mark's 50 miler!

He's amazing. I can't believe he actually did it but he did and I couldn't be more proud of my amazingly awesome hot husband! On October 15th Mark ran in the Rockin River 50 mile race from Auburn to Sacramento CA and he did awesome! We were able to meet him at mile 41.5 and cheer him on, give him some fresh socks, ice cold Gatorade and a clean shirt. The Shouse family joined us in the fun and Scott was kind enough to run with Mark the last 8.5 miles to the finish. That was seriously a huge lifesaver and I know Mark appreciated the company and support to get his tired legs to the finish! April and I took the kids and waited for them at the finish so we could cheer them in. Thanks so much Shouse family for all your support! Mark finished in 10 hours 49 minutes and qualified for the Western States 100 miler which was his main goal...although pretty sure he wasn't feeling like running 50 more miles after that! Who does that?! Way to go Mark! I am so proud of you!! Here are some pics of the big event :)

31 years!

Last week on the 28th we celebrated my 31st birthday. Amazing how fast time flies and how I am finally starting to feel old! I had a great day celebrating by going to lunch with my awesome hubby and then he stayed home for the afternoon so that I could go get pampered with a mani/pedi and then an amazing much needed massage! I came home fully rejuvenated and in time to see my sweet kiddos and blow out all 31 candles that they insisted on putting on the awesome chocolate "volcano" cake that Mark made! It really tasted SO good and I am so proud of my sweet husband for even making me a cake (even if it was collapsing!!). The kids LOVED putting the candles on and watching me blow out my bonfire. I then got to leave and enjoy the evening with the ladies at Enrichment night at the church and afterward celebrated with MORE dessert at the Cheesecake Factory! I really feel so blessed to have such amazing friends and the BEST husband who knows how to make me happy! 31 years and I have so much to be proud of and grateful for! I love my sweet family so much!!
The video was taken by Kali...for your enjoyment :)

Madelyn's first Preschool Field Trip!

In September, Madelyn's preschool took their first field trip to the Old Town Pizza Factory right here in our little town of Lincoln and it was so fun! They first took the kids on a tour back in the kitchen and showed them where the pizza was made and then they had the table all set up for them to make their own little personal pizzas. The kids LOVED this part and were so proud of their pizzas. While their pizzas were cooking they had a fun coloring page and then we had a pizza party and the kids all got to eat their very own pizza. Madelyn loved this part and wasn't quite sure what to do with the cooked pineapple that she put on her pizza. haha! She did take it off and ate just the plain cheese pizza. Miss Jane does such a great job with these kids and Madelyn LOVES going to school (especially with her little friend Taya)...she would go everyday if she could!! We are looking forward to more fun field trips in the future!

7 months and sitting!

Our sweet Lillian is 7 months old now! How time flies!! She is finally sitting up on her own and loving it!! She still isn't quite crawling but VERY close...it's only days now I'm sure until she will be full on mobile. For now though, I am enjoying every minute of this sweet little girl and what a fun age this is! She brings a smile to my face even on the tough days and I am so grateful for this sweet little blessing in our home. We just love her to pieces!!

RUN, drive, sleep?...repeat!!

This last month Mark and I had the fun experience of running in the Napa Valley Ragnar Relay race. We were part of a team of 6 couples, 12 runners, all running relay style from San Francisco to the Napa Valley or Calistoga to be exact. A total of 186 miles...with very little or NO sleep. Our team started at 9:30 am on Friday morning, Sept. 16 and finished around 12:30 pm on Saturday. Sounds pretty crazy! Well, it was crazy but also a total BLAST! And how fun to be doing it with my favorite person :) This was an experience I will never forget and we will most likely do again in the future... we liked it that much! And to be in the middle of such beautiful scenery and have the best weather....really we couldn't have asked for more...ok maybe a little sleep...But who needs sleep when you have to get up and run again?!! AHH!!

So here's the jist...We all have 3 different legs to run...so a total of 36 legs. The distances ranged from 3 to 9 miles and total distances for each runner were from 11.5 to 22miles. And actually I was the runner that ran 11.5 total and Mark was the runner with the longest total miles of 22 miles. Our team name was "She told me this was a couples retreat!" and we were part of van 2 with runners 7-12. Our team consisted of Van 1 - Steve and Allison Carter, Matt and Rachel Ludlow, Kevin and Shawna Robinson, and Van 2 - Mike and Aubry Tenney, Mike and Jen Mendoza and Me and Mark. We were one of 6-7 teams from just the Lincoln area. That's over 72 people just from our little small town of Lincoln CA!!! It was so much fun running into so many of our Lincoln friends at the exchanges and throughout the race. Mark and I really had so much fun with our team! I never in my life thought I could be running the distances I am running and doing a race such as this one! (Adrenaline helps!) It really is such an amazing feeling of accomplishment! There are lots and lots of pictures...I had to make sure and capture every moment I could...

Van 2

Car decorating is a must...and the guys could have cared less.

The Hubbies.

The Hotties :)

Van 2- Tenney's, Us, Mendoza's

Team Stacy :)

Team Ludlow- Matt and Rachel

Team Tenney- Mike and Aubry

Ran into team "Escape from Alcatraz, I wanna go back!" and Captain April...Love this girl!!
and other fellow Lincoln friends.

Ready to party it up with some running! Whohoo!

Exchange 6- Go Mike go!

Ready to RUN!! Off I go for my 5.5 miler up a very steep hill. I totally rocked it!

Done! Go mike Mendoza!

Go Jen!! Kill em!!

Mark totally rocked his first leg of 8.5 miles! Way to go hot stuff!

Ragnar baldies...Matt and Mike T.

Fueling up after our van finished our first legs :) Yum!

Aubry marking our kills- or the runners we pass on our legs. Definitely motivates you to run faster when you have someone to pass! I didn't take any pics of our night runs but I ran 2.5 miles at midnight at a 8:52 pace and Mark ran 8.3 miles at around a 7:30 pace at like 2 am. Whohoo!! Now the tiredness starts setting in. We did go to a hotel to shower and try to get some sleep but how much sleep can you actually get in one hour?! If we were smart we would have brought some sleeping bags.

This was at the last major exchange where van 1 finished their last legs and van 2 was just beginning our last legs at like 8:30am.

Go team "She said this was a couples retreat!!"

Notice we had a little tag-a-long in van 1. The Carter's baby Lily came along for the race and from what we heard she was a little trooper and cooperated very nicely :)

Team Carter- Steve and Allison and Lily :)

LOVE these guys!!

Me running my last leg, 2.9 miles. Luckily I put on my happy face for the picture because I was hurting by this run. I actually have been running and suffering from horrible shin splints and this last leg pretty much did me in. BUT I did it and it felt so AMAZING to finish and be done! Not my fastest but I still kept it under 10 min pace.
Crazy ladies. I think the sleep deprivation is setting in. haha!

To the finish line!! GO Aubry!!!

Crazy guys. but hilarious the whole time. Definitely kept us laughing.

Team Mendoza- Mike and Jen. Both amazing runners!! SO glad they joined our team!

Team Robinson- Kevin and Shawna. Awesome runners too!

WHohooo!!! WE are DONE!! And our team actually placed 2nd in our category out of about 20 other teams! Below is our after race celebration meal at a restaurant. And I'm pretty sure we are all ready to crash and pass out! haha!! That's what running all day and all night will do to you!!