July 4th Freedom Run with Ed

We've done quite a few races this year, but this one was different! It was pretty much awesome! And not because I ran it in record time either.

Lamon has a friend from work named Ed. Ed is so cool and funny, but he is also pretty inspiring. About a year ago Ed had Gastric Bypass surgery. Since his surgery he has lost 180 pounds. Lamon and I have often had conversations in which we talk about how it doesn't matter what kind of procedure someone has done, or special diet that someone goes on . . . if they don't change their lifestyle . . . it will eventually come back. Well Ed has totally changed his lifestyle and he is amazing. Earlier in the year he told people at work that he was going to train for and run the Freedom Run 5k. It didn't take long for a bunch of people from the PACU to jump on board and say that they wanted to run it with him. Everyone loves Ed!!

So co-workers and families met the morning of the race dressed in PACU t-shirts and lined up for the race. One of Lamon's friends from work, Cami, said, "Let's go stand in between the 9 min mile marker and the 10. I was thinking, "I run faster than that." The thought of my paying for the race, and not doing my best was disconcerting for about half a second . . . until I realized how retarded I was for thinking like that. So who cares if on the 2010 Freedom Run stats it doesn't have me as running an 8 minute mile. That wasn't why I was there! So I ran with the PACU pack and it was one of the funnest races I have ever ran. Those guys are awesome. And Ed is the bomb. What a cool guy. He has caught the runner addiction and has done more races since. I have a feeling those 180 pounds are gone for good! We all finished the race together, and that was pretty sweet!

Family Reunion in St. Louis

Another fun trip we took this summer was our Family Reunion to St. Louis. Our brother-in-law Broc is going to medical school there. It was so much fun.

I had to spill the beans on my being pregnant because I was sooooooo sick. The long trip in the car with morning sickness was not my favorite thing I'm not going to lie. The kids did pretty good though. We were armed with a DVD player and lots of movies and that saved us for sure.

I think that St. Louis is such a pretty place. I loved all of the old homes with wrap around porches and the GREEN. It was very green . . . lots of trees and vegetation. Of course with that there comes a price. It was as humid as I'll get out. Our clothes were all wet most of the time. Lamon whined the most I think about the humidity! He didn't like it one bit. I guess we won't be moving there anytime soon. But it really is a cool city. It has so many FREE things to do. Some of the things we did were:
1.Go to a super fun splash park in the middle of the city
2.We went to the zoo (which was totally free)
3.We went to the Science Center (also free and totally awesome)
4. We went exploring in the Meramac caves. And seriously . . . when are caves not fun? It was great.
5. We went to this really interesting Sculpture Park. And you heard that right. It was this huge beautiful Park that had all sorts of modern art like sculptures throughout it. There were little nature walks that led to different sculptures, and it was pretty cool. I can honestly say that I have never been to a park quite like that one!
6. We went to the top of the St. Louis Arch. Of course we had to do that!

Catch up-- Surprise . . . sort of

Actually . . . it wasn't too much of a surprise. We had been trying for months! But at the end of May I found out that I was indeed pregnant with our fourth child! Wahoo!

It is a good thing too, because I don't know if we could have afforded too many more pregnancy tests! I have a bit of an addiction with taking pregnancy tests, and I probably went through about 3 or 4 a month. But towards the end of May while I was out for a run I was soooooo tired. I only went about three miles and I stopped like 4 times during the run. One of the times I stopped to walk Lamon's Dad came upon me while on his morning bike ride. I told him, "I am so tired! Maybe I am pregnant!"

So I went home and even though it was about 6 days before I was supposed to have a period, I thought, "Hey . . . I am going to get a pregnancy test!" So I got an early pregnancy test, and . . . there it was. There was a faint second line. I was so happy I started crying right there in the bathroom!!

Now I am 14 weeks, and am so very excited to make an addition to our little family! And I am already looking quite pregnant. It happened way too fast, but it's exciting. I love having a pregnant belly! I think it is fun.

Catch up--Tour de Cure

Another event that happened this summer that was quite significant was the Tour de Cure. It was a big 100 mile bike ride up in Logan that Lamon and some friends from work did together. They each had to get $250.oo in donations to enter the race, and in turn they got some sweet biking clothes the day of the race.

Lamon said it was pretty hard, but they had such a blast! The wind was in their faces the entire time.

Memorial Day

Basically I have neglected to blog about any of our trips/adventures etc. this summer, so. . . I am going to do it.Many of the trips we take are spontaneous or spur of the moment, and that is definitely the case with our trip on Memorial Day. Days before we went Sue mentioned that she was thinking that it would be fun to take a quick one night/two day trip to Colorado to visit Grandma and Grandpa Barksdale and Grandma Crandall's graves and also to visit a National Park and a National Monument as well. Lamon didn't have to work until Wednesday, so we decided, "Hey, that sounds like fun!!" So we came too.

Colorado Monument

The last place we hit before we headed home was the Colorado Monument. As we were driving through it we were absolutely amazed at how spectacular it was. We were all wondering why in the world it wasn't a National Park. We asked someone at the visitor's center, and they said it had a lot to do with politics. It isn't quite big enough to be a National Park and extending the borders would make certain people quite irate. Anyhow it was awesome!

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

On Memorial Day we headed to The Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It just became a National Park in 1999. It was breathtaking! They call it the little brother to the Grand Canyon. We went to a bunch of outlooks, and we drove down this really steep road to the bottom of the canyon and spent some time at the river. While we were there taking pictures some people came up to us and said, "Just so you know . . . there is a bear right over there." It didn't take us long to usher the children to the car. But then of course being unsmart like we are, we took turns getting out of the car and taking a look. It was a baby bear, and it was up in a tree. We are quite lucky that the Mother bear didn't decide to make her presence known while we were observing the cub!
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