May Celebrations

The past few months have been crazy busy. This month we have been busy celebrating. We have celebrated Sarah graduating college with a Master's degree in School Counseling.

In the same weekend, we also celebrated with friends of ours who had their second kid, a little boy to add to the Hampton family. Little Colton Hampton

Sam sitting with big sister, Taylor.

The next weekend, we celebrated Sam's birthday, Mrs. Terri's birthday, and Mother's Day. It was a pretty busy weekend to say the least. We got together with the Shrewsbury clan to have a picnic at the lake. It was so relaxing and nice to just get to hang out with each other.

The next day we had lunch with my momma at Chili's, her second favorite restaurant. The first favorite was full of reservations, so we had to settle for second favorite! :) Finally, I am celebrating school being out!!! This has been the most challenging year ever. I am a firm believer that it can only get better. A year harder than this one can't exist. I just don't think it's possible. :) Watch me be wrong..but OH WELL! For now, I am celebrating the fact that I survived. In honor of the occasion, I went and colored my hair that is only okay for the summer. I also kicked off the summer vacation by the pool. I will continue to celebrate all summer long! :)

Goal Accomplished

In January, Amanda and I set out with the goal of running the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville on April 28th. She was running to try to raise money for the mission trip that she and Steve are going on in June, but I was just running to be a partner..and hey what else should I do since I had already met my last year goal of losing 20 lbs. We trained as best as we could with some crazy schedules between the two of us. We spent this past week so stinking nervous, but we weren't going to let our heads get the best of us. Sam and Steve also ran the half too! We got up before the sun on Saturday morning and headed to Nashville. We learned a very valuable lesson of always try to be somewhere early and to check gear before leaving the house. We got to Nashville when Sam realized his race number was at home. We went back home, but made it back to Nashville with plenty of time load the bus and head over to the starting line. It was definitely a day of firsts. It was the first time I had ever been on public transportation, used a porta-potty more than one time in a day, and completed the half marathon! Let it be known that I have met my limit of porta-potties for awhile. :) We all started together, but soon the boys carried on ahead while we kept our pace. We had fun along the way even though our bodies were wearing down the closer we got to the finish. We finished under our goal, but next year we want to beat our time! I cannot describe the feeling of crossing that finish line knowing that I was accomplishing a goal that I had been working toward since January! Sam and Steve waited for us at the finish and met us as we crossed! We hugged it out and congratulated each other and then made our way through the crazy crowd of snacks, water, pictures, and everything else! They really just need to make a spot where people can crash! My parents came to support us at mile 6 which was AWESOME! Amanda's sister, Candy, and the girls were also cheering us on at mile 12. It was great to have people there cheering specifically for us! Such a great feeling! On the bus heading over to the starting line!

This is the starting line. There were SO many people!

The dynamic foursome at the start!

Over halfway there...still smiling!

Adding to the Family

How many people thought this was a baby announcement? HAHAHA Oh I have way to much fun with this cause that was totally my intent! :) Well it's not what you think. Sam and I are not the ones that have added to the family. This weekend the TN Shrewsbury's along with the McGuire's made our way to West Virginia to see a Shrewsbury be added to the family. That's right. There is another Shrewsbury walking around. Sam's cousin Alex got married to a very sweet girl named Kayla this weekend. This was the first time that many of the TN folk had met her.
It was a small wedding with close family and friends, but it was great getting to see and spend time with everyone. We went to the rehearsal dinner to munch on some good Italian food. Sam went on to the rehearsal, while I took an adventure with Gina and the girls to Walmart. It was definitely an adventure! :) Those two girls crack me up!
The next day we went to the wedding, followed by a lunch for the reception. Living up to what I have learned about West Virginia family, there was tons of food to eat!





After sending Kayla and Alex on their merry way complete with bubbles,

the family left behind met up at a local park to hang out with each other and of course eat more food! The leftovers were fed to the ducks by Samantha and Calyn.





It was a fast weekend, but it was great getting to see the West Virginia family. We look forward to going back and seeing everyone again when we can actually sit around and play Scrabble! :)

Easter

This year for Easter, we got together with the Claud family. This was the first Easter for Boone, so we all gathered at Regina and Mike's house for lunch. It was a relaxing afternoon with talking, laughing, and a little golf in the mix. Before everyone went their separate ways, we took a few pictures together. These turned out a little better than our Christmas family pictures! :)

Firsts

A couple of weeks ago Sam and I went to see Calyn's first ballet recital. She was so excited to get to show off what she had learned in the 8 week class she went to. All the little girls were so cute dancing around in their little leotards with ballet shoes. Here is a picture of the family with the first ballerina in the family! :)



This past week Sam and I had an impromptu date night. It was a rarity because we never go out during the week. This is generally because every night we are at the gym or I have to run or something is going on. Well, we decided to put off gym time and running and spend some time together. It was such a great night. We had an early dinner together and then headed over to Bridgestone Arena to watch the Nashville Predators. This was a first for us since we have been married. I haven't been to a game since I was a sophomore in high school and wore capris pants with flip flops and a quarter length shirt. I remember this vividly because I froze the entire time and felt like I had NEWBIE stamped on my forehead. I made sure this time around to wear clothing that was appropriate for sitting in a room full of ice.



We spent time trying to get on the jumbotron, but it just didn't happen. One row in front..five seats down made it on, but we didn't make the cut. I guess we will have to go back and try to make it to the big screen again.

We settled for a face shot instead. :)

This was definitely a nice change to get through the rest of the week.

MADE IT

I know that talking about weight is something that women do not like to do. I have been talking about my weight loss goal for over the past year now. My last post was about being determined to finish what I started. I am determined to run this half marathon. I was determined to lose the last few lbs. Amanda and I have been doing some serious training. By serious, I mean we got up and ran at 5 in the morning on Tuesday. If you know me, that's pretty serious because I cherish my sleep and do not get up early unless I am forced to do so because of work or something! :)

Anyway, Thursday night I was feeling good about myself and thought why not check out the weight. On January 1, 2011 I weighed a good ole 141. For my height, that is not so awesome. On March 1, 2012 I weighed a grand 120.2!!! Even better was when I got up Friday morning and was 119.2! It feels amazing to have finally accomplished my goal. As you can see, I am have been working on this awhile. I have also gained muscle mass which has been something that has kept me away from reaching my goal, but all this running is melting it off.

I can't wait to share a post after I accomplish my other goal this year. Crossing that finish line on April 28th is going to feel so amazing! Here's to more weeks of training! :)

Determined

I have always been a very strong willed person. I am extremely stubborn too! If you know me, I can hear you laughing and nodding your head because you know it is true! Last year, Sam and I decided to make a change. We were tired of feeling bad about our appearance and not taking care of ourselves. I believe I have told you this before. Well, last year my goal was to drop 20 lbs. I got really close, but ended up about 4-5 lbs short of the goal come Dec. 31st. Sam didn't necessarily have a goal to meet, but he dropped a crazy amount of weight.

This year Sam is wanting to bulk up with some muscle mass. He has been working out like crazy. I am determined to get rid of the last 4-5 lbs that I didn't get off last year, but I am adding to that list. I am currently training to run in the Country Music Half-Marathon. I am training with my friend Amanda as an accountability partner. She is running the half to try to raise money for a mission trip that she and her husband are going on in June. She knew she wouldn't be truly motivated if she tried to do it alone, so I said..hey why not!?

I am determined to do this! Training is not an easy process at all. 13.1 miles seems like a million miles as I am running 4 miles. I know that it will get better, but this is not an easy task. I am determined to put my mind over pain. I have shin splints that are trying to keep me on the couch and off the road. Come to find out all I have to do is stay off the treadmill and my shin splints cool off! Apparently I don't know how to run on the treadmill!

This past Saturday Amanda and I had our long run which was 4 miles. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but it was the longest one that we have had so far. As a motivating and uplifting factor, I decided after we completed the run to look up the results from the 5K that we ran together back in May of last year. We ran 5K (3 miles) in 42 minutes. Yesterday, we ran 4 miles in 47 minutes. I don't know about you, but I feel that that is pretty impressive compared to a year ago. Hopefully, that number will keep getting better and better as we continue to train. For having one been training for two weeks, I'd say we are off to a nice start!



This is the after photo of the 5K from May 2011. I am looking forward to being able to post an after photo in April after we finish our goal of running this half marathon. I know I am going to do it. I am determined!