April

The weather started warming a bit and the sun finally started shining!!! All of us do much better when the sun is shining and we can get outside!

My friend, Mary, and I participated in a triathlon on April 4th. This is the triathlon that I did last year. It is organized by ADPi and is a sprint triathlon. This was the first triathlon for Mary and she placed 3rd in her age group! That girl is a natural athlete!

Like I said, this family does much better when the sun shines, and we can be outside. This is the Greenway. It is a paved path that runs along the Stones River. We love to ride our bikes or take the dogs walking. There is even a dog park called the Bark Park. Our dogs love it there!

Speaking of dogs...we had to put our sweet Paty Dog down on April 23rd. She was 14 1/2 and had cancer. We had been struggling with this decision for over 6 months. She was an awesome dog and will be greatly missed! We had her cremated and are going to have a memorial and spread her ashes at the lake. That was her favorite place to go! RIP Paty Dog!

We ended the month with the Country Music Half Marathon. Mo and I both participated. This is a very well organized race but the hills will kick your bootay!

Mo realized how wonderful the ice packs are at the medical tent! (I had already had my knees wrapped up...and it felt awesome!) Neither of us had a PR but we finished!!!

March

Once again, I am trying to get caught up on our blog. Maybe doing it a month at a time, instead of event at a time, will work best.

We ran the Springer Mountain Farms Chicken Healthy 5K Run & Walk. This run is organized by a local AM station WSM 650. It only costs $6.50...and you get a shirt and lots of swag! That's pretty cool.

The girls liked the booths set up...especially this one!

Lauren didn't like her picture because she said that she "didn't look like that in real life!" LOL!

Mo and Lauren ran the race. I think that both of them got PR's! Lexie and I walked it. She was too busy trying to find photo ops to worry about running!

I was walking backwards in this picture but Lexie wanted to get my picture...so there it is!

Anywho...the race took place at Opryland Hotel and was very well organized. We enjoyed participating in this one and will probably do it again next year.

This is an important plate in our house! Guess who had a birthday?

Mo! He turned 48 this year. Of course, the girls demanded that we eat at the fancy table! Fun times!!!

A Disney Princess?

Ok, so this is my selfish post...because it's just about ME!

On February 27th, I ran in the Disney Princess Half Marathon. My friends Patty and Donna flew down with me to FL for this. Donna ran it also. It was so much fun! This is the race that I had actually been training for. Although my chip timing got messed up because the sensor did not pick up me crossing the starting line, I was pleased with my time. However, next year, I will do it much differently.

I feel that the Disney Princess Half should be experienced...not just ran! At each mile marker, there are Disney characters that you can get your picture with.

There were so many groups of ladies in their tutus having a blast...stopping at each mile marker to get pics! That's what I plan to do next year...just get a group of girls and EXPERIENCE the race. I wore my tutu and crown this year...but there were definitely some "interesting" looking characters, like this guy:

We stayed at one of the Disney All-Star Hotels. If you have never stayed at a Disney resort (which I hadn't before now), it's quite an experience. All of the employees were very kind and helpful. These hotels take a theme and run with it...on a grandiose scale! Our hotel was the All- Star Sports Resort. As you can see, GRANDIOSE...

(That's a football helmet)

(These are large tic-tac-toe pieces)
We went to the expo the day before the race to pick up our packets and race bib.

It says "Princess Tamara". (We began to wonder what the race bibs for the guys said..."Princess John"?..."Prince John"?...NOPE...just "John".)

How cool is this? It's a glass running shoe!

This is after the race...these Princess toes were tired! We lounged by the pool and ate LOTS of food! It was a nice time. The race was well-organized, and I definitely plan to do it again. The ONE moment that I had been anticipating from the day I signed up?

Running through the castle at mile 6!!!

And...yes...it was worth the training and the wait!!! See ya next year, Mickey!!!

The BEST Valentine's Day Ever!

Doesn't this look romantic? Well...in a way it was! This is how Mo and I celebrated Valentine's Day this year. We sat at the fancy table, used the fancy plates and the fancy glasses, wore fancy clothes, and...so did the girls! Yup, we ALL celebrated Valentine's together.

This idea evolved from one of the girls asking why we never ate at the "fancy table". From there, we developed a menu, then the "required attire". I was amazed at the excitement in our house that morning. The girls kept asking "We are having the fancy dinner tonight, right?" THEY are also the ones that decided that we needed to dress up. I came up with the idea to decorate the table and light the candles. It was such a wonderful evening for all of us!

The girls didn't want the evening to end. We just ate and talked and laughed! Honestly, I don't think that any of us wanted it to end! While the girls had their desert...

Mo and I had a cup of coffee. (Yeah, you can tell that he was kinda done by this time)

Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate the love that we have for one another. Well, I can't think of 3 people that I love more than all of them! Truly, I could feel our love that night. It made my "mommy heart" smile!!!

We all had such a good time that we have made it a new house rule that we will eat at the "fancy table" and use the "fancy dishes" once a month. Lexie has decided that we need a different theme each month. The food and the "attire" need to correlate to the theme. She is so creative! Lauren wants to help plan the dinners. She is very creative also...and very organized.

I know that I don't have much longer until all of this will be so "uncool" to them. So I am going to enjoy EVERY second of it for as long as it lasts!

Frostbite 1/2 Marathon

I am trying to get catch up with our "adventures" so (hopefully) there will be lots of blogs in the upcoming days.

(This is one of my favorite race pictures of us)

This is Mo and I at the Cedars of Lebanon Frostbite Half Marathon on February 12th. It was the first half for both of us...ever! Originally, Mo was doing it alone because I had my "first half" coming up 2 weeks later. On Friday before the race, I decided to join him because I had a 12 mile training run planned for that day. I figured that I would just add an additional 1.1 miles to it.

Wow...if we had have only known how difficult this particular half was going to be, I'm not so sure that we would have done it. For the first 10 miles, it feels like nothing but hills! Neither of us had done any hill training. Now...add compacted snow and ice!!! It was crazy hard...and cold!

But...we did it! Our first half was "out of the way". Mo's time was 2:24 and mine was 2:06. It's nice to have a base number now to work towards a PR (personal record)

Zoo Run Run

Ok...so...I suck! This I know! It is the middle of March, and I have not blogged since January. Well...all I have is today. So that is where I will start...well, actually, I am starting today with a race from January...but you get the point!

This is the fam from the Zoo Run Run. IT. WAS. COLD!!! (Hint: see the snow!) Anywho...we ran this 5K at the Nashville Zoo. It was actually a really neat race. They closed down the zoo for the run, so you kinda felt like you were getting away with something. LOTS of people thought they were!

Mo and I did something a little different and a little scary. We RAN the race and let the girls WALK it together...without us! For those of you that know me in "real life", that is a HUGE accomplishment for me. I am ridiculously protective of my little monkeys. They did gr-8 and had a gr-8 time!

In typical Lexie fashion, she savored the moment, enjoyed the scenery, didn't rush the "ride", and took pictures. LOVE that kid! She has taught me so much about enjoying life! Here's one that she took of Lauren:

Here's another one of an animal...not sure what it is:

I had decided that I wanted to PR this race (for non-runners, I wanted to set a Personal Record). What I didn't realize was how many HILLS this course had. However, I was pleased to see that I did it!!!

Mo HATES hills! No joke...he was raised in flat areas, so these hills kill him. However, he did pretty darn well himself!

The cool part of letting the girls go at it alone...I was able to see this:

What a BEAUTIFUL site!!!

Lauren was so sweet to walk this race with her sister. I asked how it went and she replied: "Lexie talked the ENTIRE way...and I just listened and occasionally said 'Really, wow!'" Thanks, La for being such a good big sister. You make me proud...just for being you!

Vacation Withdrawals

By Tamara
We are back from vacation and are trying to get back into our routine. Problem is...our area just got 5 inches of snow! The kids have been out of school and the city practically shut down for a day or two. It would be very easy to get really bummed out about now. The high today was 27 degrees...the high in CR this day last week was 85 degrees AND the sun was shining! Big difference! But that's ok...I made my own sunshine! Yellow snow and all! LOL! (Don't worry...it's from a spray bottle filled with mustard and water!)

For the next couple of days, each of us is going to blog about our favorite part of our Costa Rican vacation. One of my favorite things was the zip lining...for numerous reasons. First, it was the day before Lauren broke her arm. So, it was the last day that she was able to enjoy the vacation "normally". Second, we all really enjoyed doing this. It was a lot of fun, and such beautiful scenery too. On this tour, we zip lined in Jaco. We would like to do it in Manuel Antonio and Arenal next time. It would be cool in Manuel Antonio because we heard that you see lots of wildlife on that tour. Arenal would be cool because there is one line that is one mile long and you zip by the volcano.
*Side note: We didn't go to Arenal because they were having unseasonable rainy weather. We were told by numerous other tourist that they couldn't even SEE the volcano..and it was cold...and it was rainy. Enough said!

This was another one of my favorite things because it is where I sat greeting the new year with my hubby while watching the fireworks and bonfires. Awesome memory!

And...of course, the monkeys are one of my favorites!

I will always remember watching this sunset with 2 of my most favorite gals in the world!

Now, this is one of my favorites! There is nothing hotter than seeing a man in the jungle doing his daily devotional! Just sayin'