So it's been awhile...

...since I last posted anything. I was a bit busy with middle school cross country, but now it is over for me and I have a bit more time to do things like cook food for my family, clean up the house, and blog. The middle school kids had such a great season - the girls team was state champion! There were PR's all over the place on both boys and girls side at the state meet. So much fun! High school cross country is still going for a couple more weeks. This week is the state qualifying meet. Both of our boys and girls team will hopefully make it. David ran a great season and vastly improved from the beginning of the year, but missed out on varsity the last meet of the season. He is the team alternate, so he gets to keep training and go along with the team to the qualifying meet and state. I'm proud of all he accomplished this year and his positive attitude to keep on going.

We found some new to us carpet for free! Someone was getting rid of their perfectly good carpet after moving into a house they just bought and they were going to throw it away. We found out about it and snagged it up. As you can see, our old carpet was in need of replacing. That big stain was not the fault of a kid. Just me and my clumsiness with a large cup of coffee. 

The brand new to us free carpet complete with vacuum marks right after it was installed! I love it and it makes me happy. We spent the first evening lying about as a family on the carpet because it was so soft and lovely. It even makes good carpet angels.

Keilah's Great-grandpa Jim made her this high chair. She adores it. She calls it her "special chair". I'm pretty fond of it too. I will be keeping it long after she outgrows it. 

Keilah and her bff Gloria. They are only a week apart in age.  

Gloria's mom babysat Keilah for me during the cross country season. Anytime we pass their house, Keilah has to point out "Gloria's house". 

Aaron and I had a late anniversary getaway in September. We went to Dubuque - one of our favorite getaway places. We stopped at a park to do a bit of hiking. The unfortunate part was these steps. I had just finished a nine mile run a few hours before, so my quads were tired and didn't want to climb these steps. I told Aaron he had to push me up. He just laughed and took my picture instead. 

Finding a hole in the fence at the scenic overlook of the Mississippi River and climbing through. 

Pondering the beauty of Iowa 

Eating the local foilage. 

Two lovebirds. 

Bob the cat is still alive and well. He and Keilah have a love/hate relationship. It's like having two toddlers with the two of them together. They terrorize each other and I'm separating them all day long and banishing Bob to the bathroom for attacking Keilah, or saving him from Keilah's strangle hold on his neck. They never leave each other alone. It will be nice when they are both grown up a little more. Bob likes crawl into little things, like this plastic bag. 

Where's Ana? She and her friend TJ were at the very tip of this tree. This picture doesn't do it justice of just how high up they were. I tried not to think about it too much as I had memories of doing similar things at that age. 

Keilah in her "adorable" hat. When she sees it, she calls out for "adorable". She likes to go to sleep with it on. It certainly is adorable. 

My goal achieved. Some friend and I ran "Iowa's Longest Marathon" this year. We ran a half marathon in May and just completed the second half on Sunday. Truthfully, these medals are why we did it. 

I'm a sucker for cute little trinkets. We didn't train properly for either one. I was fighting an injury for the May one and walked about 2-3 miles of it by plan. On Sunday's half, I felt great during the race despite not feeling super well prepared for it. I had only done a 10 mile run as my longest run, and then took a few weeks off of major training since my IT band was feeling pretty tight and sore. I just did the bare minimum of running to keep me in a bit of shape. But I felt great on race day and ended up only 12 seconds off my previous best. Had I known I was that close, I would have pushed it more and taken less time during the water stations. The last six miles my friend Julie and I picked up the pace and were running 9:15-9:25 miles. So considering how unprepared I felt for this one, I am super pleased with my overall effort and time. Now, I want to do another one soon so I can smash my previous PR! 

And that catches you up on our lives. Maybe I won't wait a month between posts...