My First HaLf MaRAthOn....

I have always loved running. One goal I always knew I wanted to accomplish was to do a half marathon at some point. My sister Steph talked me into running the Hunstville Half with her. Her husband Cory also ran the half with us. It was such a fun experience and I am glad I did it. For anyone who has been to Hunstville, Texas you know how hilly it is. The hills were killer for me and I was not as ready for them as I thought. Before the race I told myself "I didn't want to walk at all and just wanted to finish"....as I was about half way in the race I changed those goals to "I just want to finish". WELL I DID IT...I FINISHED and that's what I am proud of. I think I have found a new love...after the race, I was already thinking about the next one. The next one I do will be for time. Jared came to watch me...he stood at the half way point and at the finish line. When I saw him at the halfway point, I got teary eyed because he is so supportive. The day before the race there was a cute running shirt and a note on the counter from Jared when I got home from work. He's the best!

Cory, Stephanie, and I before the race!

Jared and I before the race...this was the cute top he got me!

Half way there...

This was right before I crossed the finish line! I put on a good song and I used all that I had left in me and ran as fast as I could at the end. It was such a great feeling!

Crossing the Finish line!

A Very Special Weekend...

Im so glad we were able to make it for Taylor's sealing and blessing day. It was such a special weekend for Michelle, Tyler, and Taylor. They are such a cute family and are great examples to me. It was such a fun weekend to spend time with family and friends.

Michelle, Taylor and Me

All the sisters together

Jared and I

The House that Built Me....

When we were in San Antonio I just had to go drive my old house. I miss this place so much. My family had some good memories in this house. We moved into this house when I was 10 years old and I grew up there. Every time I hear the song "The House that Built Me" by Miranda Lambert I always think of my house in San Antonio. It was fun to see how big those trees in the front yard have grown.

Happy One Year Anniversary...

So I know this post is well over due but I still wanted to post about it. I cant believe it has been a year already...time sure does fly when you are having fun! I love jared and cant wait for many years to come! He is the best thing that ever could have happened to me. I am so grateful for him and all that he does for me. We went to San Antonio for our 1 year anniversary. We ate at Cheesecake Factory for dinner and then stayed at the Marriot Rivercenter Hotel on the riverwalk (which was the hotel we stayed in our wedding night). When we got back to Dallas we got out the top layer of our wedding cake and ate it. Surprisingly, it was still really good...tasted almost exactly the same as our wedding day. Here are a few pics of our 1st anniversary...

CoLoRaDO 2010

Every year my family takes a trip to Colorado. My parents have a time share and they invite all of their kids to go! We stay in a town called Breckenridge, CO. I love it there, the scenery is so pretty and I love the mountains that surround the town. This year we went on a 20 mile bike ride, whitewater rafting, the alpine slide, and some went horseback riding. We also have our favorite restaurants and crepe place that we go to every year. Here are a few pics from our vacation...

The amazing crepe place.

Our hotel for the week.

This little bridge is behind our hotel. We went on a hike one day by this river.

This was before our 20 mile bike ride...I do this ride every year and it feels so good to say I finish it!

This is the view of main street. We walk up and down this street everyday just window shopping. I love the cute little shops!

One day we rode the gondola up to peak 8 and did the alpine slide. My whole family wore the shirts we had made on this day. Everyone kept asking what our shirts meant because we had a little family inside joke written on the back.Everyone thought it was so cool how our family was so close and that we would do something like this every year. Here is Jared after doing his first alpine slide ride. The next picture is me going down the slide...I am 24 and still love doing this.

The view behind our hotel. You can see the ski slopes and a little snow on the mountains. Notice our matching striped gray shirts...we did not plan to wear the same thing that day and I didnt feel like changing.

One day we stopped at the Royal Gorge. This seriously makes me nervous looking down. There is a little bungee jump thing where people fly over the gorge...it makes me want to throw up just watching them.

The Big Move to....

TEXAS

Jared and I decided to move to Texas. This was a big decision we had to make. We both had jobs in Seattle and would be moving to a place where we didn't have jobs. After many prayers and thinking it out in our minds we felt this was something we needed to do. This move was a huge leap of faith. After hearing all no's from the schools Jared had applied to for his masters program, we had to start thinking of our next plan. Many of the schools told Jared he needed experience in working in a research lab. After applying to a couple of research jobs in Seattle, nothing was happening. We figured that was our answer. Dallas has many opportunities for Jared. Some of the schools he applied to were even in Dallas. We are both in the process of looking for jobs and are trying to be as positive as we can.

Oregon Coast

We went to the Orgeon coast with Jared's family at the beginning of June. I had never been to the Oregon coast and it was absolutely gorgeous. We stayed in a beach house with his family. I didn't get a picture of the house but it had such a pretty view of the ocean. Here are a few pics from our trip...

The water was freezing in this picture but we went in anyways.