Mommy, help!

Lily was gone and I was in the kitchen and I hear, "Mommy, Mommy!  Help!  Mommy!"  He was half laughing half yelling.  I walked out and saw that he was almost to the top of the kennel door and hanging!  ha ha.  I of course had time to snap a quick picture before I rescued him.  

He has seen Lily climb Oasis's kennel and thought he could do it too.  He just didn't think about what he would do when he got up there. ha ha!  I am sure this is the first of many times he will get himself in a predicament.  

Hayley and Mitch's wedding reception

My good friend Hayley had her wedding reception in Omaha on April 11th.  We were so excited to celebrate with her since we didn't go to her destination wedding. :(  My lovely college friends were there!  It was so nice to be together and see each others kids. :)

Hudson and Gavin (Shannon's son)

Niki, Jodi, Karen, Becky, Hayley, Shannon, Micaela, Beth, and myself

I wish I could be with these girls more often.  So much fun!

We were able to get a hotel with a pool close by.  We love to have a mini vacation whenever we go to Omaha! :)

She is doing so well swimming.

He liked throwing the diving sticks for her.

They probably could have swam all day!

Lunch at Chipotle (one of our favorites!!) and shopping at Scheel's!  

Another great Spring weekend :)

Race for Grace ~10K~

Race for Grace

2015

On April 11th, I ran my first 10K (6.2 miles)!!!  I signed up months ago and had been excited for it.  It was good for me to have a goal.  Before the race, I had only ran 6 miles twice.  I was also nervous because a couple days beforehand I hurt my knee when running.  Could that be a sign that I am getting older?  I do like running now and what better way to run than to help raise money to help cancer patients in our area.  I was able to buy 'butterflies' with Grandpa, Grandma, and Mullen's names on them.  They had butterflies staked into the ground along the route.

The race started downtown GI by the Grand Theater.  I was amazed at all the people.  So many were dressed alike and supporting a friend or family member that has had cancer.  I hadn't slept well and in the morning, I was nervous.  I knew I could run it all, I just wanted to make sure my knee was okay. :)  It was time for the 10K runners to get in the chute.  They tell you to line up based on what you feel your run your miles in.  I found a spot by the 10 mins. :)  ha ha.  I know that is slow, but come on...I'm not in it to win! :)  Cari Cobler gave the opening speech which was very moving.  Prayers go to her and her family during her cancer battle.

Here is the course

I love when I can run and see new things.  I HATE when I have to repeat parts of the run or run it twice.  But, as I look at it I was like geez, it would take a little while to drive this let alone RUN!  Woah!  

Matt did take a few pictures while I ran. :)  What a guy!

Stretching my bum knee.  It actually was fine, but I did by a sleeve for it.

Can't really see me, but I am making sure my headphones are in.  MUSIC!!  I have to have my playlist on when running.  I look forward to running to listen to my music. :)

Blowing kisses to my fans. :)

This was a little after mile 3.

I am close....

Done!!!  I actually had a kick at the end.  I normally am same speed Sally.  I was able to pass a few people at the end. :)

Phew!  I am done and I ran it all under 1 hour.  That was my goal.

I found the Butterflies around the water station at mile 4.  What a great feeling to finish a race.  There was definitely a time during the race that I thought, "I am never doing this again!  Why did I sign up for this??"  ha ha

Love my family

Winnie (Grandma) ...lung cancer

Jim (Grandpa) ...lung cancer

Mullen (nephew) ...brain cancer

Cancer stinks!

My fans!!!!

The atmosphere was AMAZING!!!  They had wonderful items for the runners: bananas, gatorade, water, donut holes, granola bars, and bagels.  Everyone was happy and proud of one another, just a great vibe!

So, overall I was 203rd out of 580.

That is a lot of runners!!!

I am so glad I ran it under 1 hour.  I am proud that I ran it almost 4 minutes under.  My pace was better than 10 min/mile.  :)  I was 19th out of women in my age group.  Not bad for my first 10K.  I will most likely run it again next year!

Snow!

It was a little hard to teach on April 9th!!!!!

This crazy Nebraska weather!  The flakes came down big and fluffy.  Of course it was gone pretty quick, but it was fun for a little while.

Allergy test :(

This is the 2nd Spring that we noticed Hudson have a terrible cough like he was grasping for air.  I took him to the doctor during Spring Break and they put him on the breathing treatment and some other medicines along with a referral to get some allergy testing done.  So, a few weeks ago Matt and I took him to a Dr. that comes from Lincoln.  They poked his back.......Hudson was not a fan!  They tested for the basic outside and inside things as well as dogs, cats, and some foods.

Needless to say, hew as allergic to most of them!  The two biggest are cats and dogs.  He is also allergic to pollen, grass, mold, dust mites, other plants, and peanuts.

Poor guy will now be on more Zyrtec, daily breathing treatment, nasal spray, singular chewable, and Albuterol when he needs it.  Our new normal, but it is worth it for him to feel better.

Haircut

Hudson desperately needed a haircut!

If you would have come into our house that night you would have thought Hudson was dying.  Geez, what a task this was to cut his hair!!!!  Daddy did a great job though. :)

Brand new kid! :)

Easter weekend '15

Easter weekend was so beautiful!  We thought it was a great time to take out the camper. :)  We went to Windmill on Friday night.  It was so nice to hang out as a family again in the camper.  We love it!  We even had a few visitors that night: Grandpa, Gigi, and Mav.

Hudson's new normal this season.

Lily loves our bed and watching movies!

Hudson being ornery and sweet!  ha ha

Saturday morning in the sun.  :)  I went for a nice run and then came back to breakfast.

We then went to see the kids' cows.

Meet Lily's cow! :)

She should have her calf late April.

We got to meet a preemie calf, Tircle.  :)

So sweet!

John and Mark have a nice calving cabin :) 

Mav loves showing the kids all the cows.

Meet Hudson's cow!

Then we went to Gma and Gpa's house.  My cousins Ryan and Marci and their families were coming for Easter weekend too.  There was a house full, but so fun!

My mom had asked a neighbor if we could borrow a baby lamb for a few hours.  The kids loved holding him and playing with him.  He was only 3 days old.

So cute!

We had fun that night and even some excitement with an possum by the back door!  Thanks Dad and Mav for saving the day. :)  We enjoyed being close in the camper so we didn't have to drive home just to come back the next morning.

Hudson had been getting into the habit of joining us in our bed.  Bad habit, but so cute! :)

The Easter bunny came to the camper! :)

clock, clothes, movies, candy, legos, crocs

We got all dressed up and headed to church for breakfast and an Easter egg hunt.

Happy Easter!

Elsbury and Ferzely kids

We love Grandma!

Virgie got this picture of all the boys at church.  The two in red are Ryan's boys.  We are just missing Garrett (Marci's son).  

Widdowson great-grandkids.  Grandpa Jim and Grandma Winnie would have loved to watch these kids grow up.  What fun we would have had! :)

Wow, what a fun group!

The Easter service was great and definitely helped us appreciate what Easter means. 

We then went out to visit Mullen, Aunt Pat (Ryan and Marci's mom), and Grandpa and Grandma

Virgie caught a cute moment I had with Hudson.  He was touching Mullen's face.  He had SOOO many questions.  Very hard questions for me because he kept asking why????  Where is he?  Is he coming back?  Can I hug him?  Maybe I can hug him on Friday?  Why was he sick?  Does he love me?  

My oh my.....I wish I had the answers, but I don't understand it either. :(

We love you Mullen John!

Last years picture.  Look how much taller they have all gotten! ;)

8 Grandkids...how awesome

Then we went and had a wonderful Easter meal and then the much awaited egg hunt!

Listening to the rules.

Hudson went first.  He had little eggs.

They are off!

Taking a break!

Counting money!

What a wonderful Easter!

I ended up not feeling well and took a nap in the camper.  We went home earlier than we were wanting since I wasn't feeling well. :(  Thanks mom and dad for a great weekend!  I am glad we could all get together and even see Marci and Ryan.  Jeni and Scott Oliver and their kids came out too.  :)