Lofty Goals

So D decided that he doesn't want to look 9 months pregnant when I am, so he wants to train for and run a 1/2 marathon. I think its a great idea and I told him that I have been thinking about training for one and running it after the baby is born. We are researching the races and training schedules now.

Some of the races we are considering are:

1. The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in Virginia Beach, VA (September 5, 2010)
2. The Chicago 1/2 Marathon and 5k in Chicago, IL (September 12, 2010)
3. The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in San Jose, CA (October 3(?), 2010)
4. The Great Turtle 1/2 Marathon in Mackinac Island, MI (October 23(?), 2010)
5. The Miami Beach Halloween 1/2 Marathon in Miami Beach, FL (October 30, 2010)
6. The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in San Antonio, TX (November 14(?), 2010)
7. The Seattle Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in Seattle, WA (November 28, 2010)
8. The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in Las Vegas, NV (December 5(?), 2010)
9. The Walt Disney World 1/2 Marathon in Orlando, FL (January 9(?), 2011)
10. The Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in Phoenix, AZ (January 16(?), 2011)

We obviously will most likely only do one of the races. We could hypothetically do one of the first ones in Virginia Beach or Chicago, and then one of the last ones in Las Vegas, Orlando, or Phoenix. I think we are pretty sure we will be doing the 1/2 marathon and not the full one.

I am personally excited to start running and training after the baby is born. I have done some research and am planning to take at least 6 weeks off, but more likely 8 weeks after the baby is born. With a 16 week training plan, we would be ready at the end of August towards the early part of September. I think my parents would be excited to come to wherever we decided to run and watch the baby (or run) with us. Since we are planning on training with the jogging stroller, running the race with the stroller shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

So Exciting It Needed It's Own Post!

The new season of The Biggest Loser starts tonight!

Hooray! I am so excited I can't even think of adequate words!

Another Update

So its been a while since I posted an update and I wanted to make sure that I got back on here and stay in the habit of blogging. Not a whole lot has happened over the past week, but there were several little things, so here goes!

This past weekend we went to the Poison and Def Leppard concert at White River Amphitheatre in Auburn, WA. It was a good show, even though I don't know very many of either band's songs. We enjoyed sitting the in the grass and watching Bret Michaels through binoculars.

Today I went to AT&T and ordered my new iPhone (the 16G 3G-S), and it should be here in about a week. They were totally sold out of them, so ordering it was my only option. I am way excited to get it and even more excited to get a case and start using it!

I talked to my Mom yesterday and she told me that this weekend while she was in Columbus, OH with my Dad they went tailgating for the Ohio State game with my cousin Jeff and his wife, Rachel. My mom and Rachel got to talking and they have my baby shower all planned out! They decided that a Chicago Sports theme would be perfect and we could serve Portillo's as the food! I added that they should also include 312 beer as part of the Chicago theme and that way the boys would be tempted to come too! We are hoping to have D there as well as my Dad, brother and D's dad and brother too! It sounds perfect to me!

This afternoon I am heading on post to sign-up for the Ft. Lewis Officers' Spouses Club. They are having a big sign-up event from 12-6 today and since we are going out to dinner tonight I told D that I would go later and then meet him at work to head to dinner. It is one of his co-worker's birthday's and a bunch are headed out apparently. This time I am ordering the pizza! Yum!

I'll update more as more things happen over the next few days!

Labor Day Weekend in Review

Labor Day weekend is coming to a close and we had a really good weekend, although it was uneventful. We didn't really have many plans, so we enjoyed relaxing most of the weekend. D had to go to work for some things on Friday, but for the most part we watched movies and Law & Order marathons on TV.

Sunday we had a going away party to attend for D's outgoing Company Commander. It was at a house near us that was amazing! It was situated right on a lake and they had a wonderful covered porch in the backyard, which was nice since it was raining!

Today we took the dog to the dog park for a walk on the trails and then we were wandering in the dog park when it started to rain fairly hard, so cut our trip short. We came home and have been hanging out since then. Dinner is in the oven and I have started creating a baby registry on Babies' R Us.

Most boring blog update ever. Probably because we have no life. Hopefully things will get more exciting in the future.

Dinner Out Last Night...

Yesterday was D's 1SG's birthday so a bunch of people from the office went out to eat to celebrate, and obviously I tagged along because there really is not much that I like more than eating out. :) Well, needless to say, we had a GREAT time!

There ended up being 6 of us that went and we went to a place that serves mostly pizza and calzones. Farrelli's is in DuPont, which is right off post and is actually very, very nice. We had heard about DuPont when we moved here and I continue to hear that it is expensive, but I am sure it is worth it if you live that close to post in that nice of an area!

Today I decided to start looking into someplace we can take a little mini vacation this fall (a "baby"moon if you will). Well, we had originally talked about heading East towards the mountains, or maybe down to Portland, but today I found a website that has vacation rentals and most of them are reasonably priced. There were a few up North of us (Whidbey Island) that are right on the beach and look AWESOME! I am going to show them to D tonight when he gets home!

Congratulations, D!

Yesterday was the Change of Command Ceremony for D's company and he took command! It was a cool ceremony, and my first (of many I'm sure). The weather didn't quite turn out the way I had hoped it would, but the ceremony went on, despite the 57 degree temperature and rain.

As the incoming commander's wife, I was presented with a bouquet of yellow roses to symbolize the friendship I will have with the unit and the soldiers of the unit in the months to come. D gave his "acceptance" speech and it was short and sweet, unlike the outgoing commander's speech. LOL.

I got a chance before the ceremony to talk one on one with D's Battallion Commander and he already told me that he wants D to take some leave because he knows that D hasn't in a while. He also said that I am welcome to blame the long hours that D will inevitably work on him. He really likes D and wants to keep him in both this position and the XO position until we leave, instead of finding a replacement to take command like he should. It is definitely a compliment to D that the BC has such confidence in him, but I don't think he really wants to do twice the work.

Afterwards, as tradition dictates, we hosted a luncheon for the men of the unit, as well as "friends of the unit." This was my job as D says. I slaved over Subway sandwich platters and cookies all morning. Needless to say, everything was gone by the time the luncheon was over and I got several compliments on my excellent cooking skills! ;)

Visit From Trick and Mel

The Space Needle.

D and my parents at the top of the Needle.

My parents came out to visit us this past weekend and we were able to do the fun touristy things in Seattle that we haven't had a chance to do yet. We went to the original REI store in Seattle and followed that up by hitting the top of the Space Needle!

We stayed in a cool hotel downtown and went out to P.F. Changs for dinner, which was exactly what I had been craving! Yum! On Saturday there was the Seattle Urban Race (not sure of the exact name) and it looked super fun. My dad talked to the race organizers and they were telling him some of the things the teams had to do. The first stop was one of a few bars and they had to taste several different beers and choose the one that matched what they were looking for. Then they had to ride public transportation and complete a Sudoku puzzle. Throughout the course of the day we saw a lot of different teams running around the city and eventually we somehow ended up at the finish line when the final team was finishing!

Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning we hit up Pike Place Market and the original Starbucks store. Sunday morning we went there for breakfast and between the 4 of us, we polished off 3 dozen of the freshly-made mini donuts. They were to die for! Some of them were plain (and piping hot) while others had powdered sugar, chocolate and sprinkles, and cinnamon sugar all over them. Yum!