point and shoot...

I finally broke down and bought a point and shoot camera. We've had several in the past but before Spencer was born I purchased a Cannon Digital Rebel SLR - a big camera with a couple of funky lenses and other bulky accessories. The pictures come out great (sometimes, I'm still quite the amateur) and I love playing with all the features but with two kids lugging that camera around - particularly on vacations - has become slightly annoying. So along came the Sony Cyber Shot last night. I charged it up and here is my first picture (Barkley is the only crazy one in the family that wakes up before 5am with me...I'm off to a crossfit gym workout).



My parents made it into Denver Saturday afternoon. They could not get over how much the kids changed since our last visit (the marathon, Oct 31). We just hung around with them and Jon and I got to sneak off and get a couples massage yesterday afternoon and then run a couple of fun errands (like getting the camera!).


Before mom and dad got in I got to run with my group Saturday morning. This week's run was a beautiful and hilly one - 14 miles that gained just under 1,000 feet of elevation. I felt strong and had a great time. I came home, showered, hung with the kids, folded some laundry and then headed to the airport. We went out to dinner that night (to Houston's, one of our new faves) and had sushi, a burger and a glass of wine, and then I fell asleep by 8:30!


Jon and I (and the new point and shoot) are off to Vail for a night while my parents hang with the kids. Happy Monday!

Happy valentine's day...

Friday...hooray. The weeks just fly by. I'm off to a meeting today in Colorado Springs and then a much needed long weekend. My parents are flying in tomorrow morning and we're so excited to see them. They get in late morning which gives me just enough time to do my group run which tomorrow is out in the mountain foothills. I think I will only have time for 10 miles before I get them but I may be tempted to squeeze in 12. We'll see.

As I prepared for my meeting early this morning before the kids woke I downloaded these pics of their valentine's day party outfits (Shoshi's is from grandpa Lewie and grandma Linda...thanks guys!). Aren't these the cutest kids ever!

Despite Shoshi double fisting the pacifiers (pacis, as we refer to them) she is starting to wean off. They show some tough love in the toddler one room and she's more into cute stuffed animals. This is good for us...she only liked the kind you can't clip to her shirt and they dropped and rolled everywhere.

One other big update...Shoshi took her first steps (followed by her first big brother knockdown!) Can life get any more exciting than that!!!

Is it really only 9am...

...not anymore (it's lunchtime and as I write this I'm eating a leftover salad and preparing for a 2pm meeting) but I found myself chuckling around 9am today as to how it felt the day should be almost over.

It started with dumping a load of laundry in the washer just before 5am, then coffee while balancing my checkbook, then a 6am CrossFit workout (you can see the day's workout at http://www.crossfitbroadway.com/) that - combined with speedwork yesterday at 6am leaves me barely able to walk and looking forward to my Thursday chiropractor visit! Today is a "cross-train" day on my running schedule which means to do something besides run. After the gym we all had breakfast, got dressed, I finished laundry, walked the dog and we got the kids out the door (always an adventure).

I drove them to daycare with all of us singing to my & Spency's new favorite Mumford & Sons song (if you saw the grammys you should know the tune). It was a nice change to the usual singing of the teddy bear picnic song. Then Spencer got a haircut (no joke...they have a salon at the club where he and Shoshi go to daycare), we dropped Shoshi in the toddler one room (see picture below), loaded up Spency's flopsy (stuffed dog) and goggles (he likes bringing multiple items to school), dropped him off in preschool one, changed his shoes (Mr. Rogers?), hugged good-bye and off to the office I went for the day to begin.

I snapped a few daycare shots with my iPhone. Spencer wouldn't stand still to show off his new haircut.

Washington DC part 2

I bet you thought you would never see Washington DC part 2 (part one was about three months ago!). Several things motivated me to finally post - 1. I finally had the motivation to go through the many pictures from our trip; 2. A renewed excitement about blogging made me realize I had a DC part 1 with no follow-up (I know that kept many up at night); 3. We are headed on another family vacation to Mexico shortly and I needed to clear out my camera; 4. Jon is skiing today and me and Spencer are hanging before the baby wakes up (it's nice one of our kids is a good sleeper....if only Spencer learned the joy he would bring parents if he awoke after sunrise!).

What an amazing trip we had. After running the marathon on Sunday we spent Monday through Wednesday touring DC. It was Jon's first visit there ever which made it extra special for me. We also got to spend time with my friend Pam and her daughter Camilla - Pam and I worked together at my first job in the city manager's office in Des Moines, Iowa. We had a really fun dinner with my cousin Mitch and his wife Gretchen, made extra enjoyable by both kids sleeping through the entire dinner. Gretchen is a professor spending a year in DC and Mitch is a recovering professor who does intellectual and witty things like sitting in front of the Lincoln Memorial for 24 hours and blogging! We also met up with a friend from graduate school, Matt.

In all, an amazing trip that inspired us to book our Mexico vacation (the hope with Mexico is to swim and sit by a beach for six days and not leave the compound...more relaxing than DC which had me running a marathon and then site seeing for three days with the two kids). Bring on the margaritas!

The first set of pictures is from our last day at Arlington National Cemetery (the first few at the tomb of the unknown soldier...the last at JFK's memorial).

These pictures are from day one of touring (marathon day plus one, so I was a bit slow going!). We walked from the Capitol to the White House with a stop at the Air and Space Museum.

Day number two we walked to the monuments with Pam and Camilla.

I may download a few iPhone pics from the past few months but this should make you feel relatively caught up in our lives! Spencer and I are about to figure out our day...it's so exciting to start a Sunday knowing the temperature is supposed to reach almost 70 degrees today (after a long two weeks of cold!).

In case you were wondering, yesterday's run was nothing but 10 miles of ice and snow. I was all glad to run it but all too happy to be done. Bring on the melting!

Shoshi's first birthday...

Where has the time gone? Life is fun for us and I loved capturing pieces of it on our blog but the time I used to write (early saturday mornings before the kids wake up) has a routine for me that left me a non-blogger for awhile. But after the major outcry for more updates (ha!) I'm back...and I'll try to somewhat more regularly keep you informed of our adorable children and our whereabouts.

First...a running update. I still run with a group called Runner's Edge of the Rockies every Saturday morning. (early Saturday before the kids woke up is when I used to do much of my blogging...I'll need to reinvent that routine!) I marathon trained with the group and absolutely love it. It's fun for me to sneak away Saturday mornings and have a little chatty time with the girls while getting a run in. In fact, I'm off for my run in about 20 minutes so hopefully I can type fast and get you all somewhat updated on our lives. In case you're wondering (which you're probably not unless you're a running dork like me but I'll share anyway) today's run is going to be a 10-miler on what I hope is not too icy streets and trails. We are in the start of a big warm-up (yesterday was almost 50 degrees, tomorrow almost 60) but we haven't had full melting yet. The best part of Saturday runs is that I'm home just as Jon and the kids are getting dressed and ready to start the day (unlike weekday mornings where I get back from a run before everyone is awake!).

As long as I'm on the athletic topic, my other new obsession is CrossFit. Our good friends Brooke and Link opened a CrossFit gym and I'm loving it. Jon even started going. The premise of these workouts is generally an intense strength workout (which also then lends to a burst of aerobic effort). The workouts are quick and painful which for me is a great combination. An example is Wednesday's workout - 150 push-ups, 150 sit-ups, 150 squats without stopping (done as 50 push-ups; 50 sit-ups; 50 squates; then 40 of each, 30, 20, 10) - for me that took around 17 painful minutes! It's a great way to cross-train, gain some strength and hopefully get faster and not get injured for my running. As with running, I also do that before everyone wakes up. I'm starting to find there's not enough hours in the day for all these workouts. The yoga I need to do once a week has somehow fallen off the radar...and it's nice for me to have a couple of mornings where I don't wake up before 5am but I can't seem to manage that if I want to crossfit and get my runs in.

One more tidbit of athlete news before moving onto my most favorite topic...I officially signed up for the Twin Cities Marathon this year. I'm so excited...a group of us from Runner's Edge are going and Jon and I are looking forward to seeing good friends. It's a smaller race than Marine Corps which was another appeal to me (9,000 runners compared to 35,000 or so).

The biggest recent news is that Shoshana turned one on Jan 26. So hard to believe a year has gone by. She is so amazing and coming into a very fun personality that is a combination of super sweet with a few moments of diva. She's a tough cookie - due in part to her brother that is usually sweet but sometimes a little rough with "itty" - Spencer's nickname for Shoshi (derived from itty bitty).

We had our own private celebration and then a party with Brooke, Link and their four kids - including George who turned one the same week as Shoshana. I think they're besties...and at the very least cake buddies, as you can see from the pics.

Shoshi (pronounced SHA-SHEE!) moved into the toddler room at school and finally after a week of a rough transition (not helped by all of us staying sick for a couple of weeks) she is in the groove. She's so close to walking but has not yet made the leap into full toddlerhood.

Spencer is as fun and high energy as ever. He's funny, sweet and an amazing kid to hang around. They say the 3's bring interesting (read: tough) behavior traits and Spencer sometimes fits that mold (in fact, he just woke up and is already sitting on the floor pouting since he can't have candy before breakfast). He has an independent mind and a lot of energy and now a full vocabulary to assert his wants and needs.

I promise to update more but I need to take off for my run. Hope this gives you enough of an update so you know we're alive and well!