Labor Day Weekend

Madelyn and I spent a majority of labor day weekend in Council Grove. Friday night we went to see my sister's new house and Madelyn and Aubrey enjoyed some time in the hot tub. Saturday morning Madelyn and I went to watch my best friend's son play football. Hadyn dominated on the field. He made 3 touch downs and a two point conversion. He obviously gets his athletic ability from his mama. That afternoon we spent most of the day in Manhattan with my parents. They took us to Longhorns for a delicious lunch and then we went to Menards where Madelyn and I enjoyed sitting in the BIG chair. Then we passed time while waiting to go see the movie Spy Kids. Madelyn loved the movie and I paid for a nice nap. Sunday we went to the Z Bar ranch in Chase County with my parents and walked a trail and then visited the house and barn. After arriving back in CG we had lunch at Pizza Hut then Madelyn went to spend time with Ryan at her Nana & Papa Muhlig's house. Mom & dad made yummy homemade ice cream and after over stuffing myself I headed to White City to hang out with my BFFs for a bit before heading home. Sunday night Madelyn and I "camped" on the trampoline. We made it until around 1:00am when I had enough of the trains and dogs barking every 30 minutes.
It was a great weekend and I was so happy to have much cooler temperatures to enjoy some time outside.

Madelyn and Aub enjoying the hot tub (sorry for the pic quality..darn iphone).

 Menard's big chair was pretty cool! It can hold a 6 pack of beer! :)

 You think she is relaxed?

 Room for two....or probably even three.

 Madelyn thought it was hysterical to pretend to cut me with a sword.

 PawPaw Sill helping Madelyn pick flowers on the trail.

 Preparing for our camp out.

Sleeping time

Sorry for the scary pic, no make-up. YIKES!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday (Orange Leaf Style)

Third Grade

Yesterday was Madelyn's first day of 3rd grade in the brand new Lincoln Elementary! She was super excited to be starting in a new school. The night before she had a specific request that I curl her hair before school. Since I had not used a curling iron since the 90s I was a bit concerned how that would go, but it turned out suprisingly cute (although you can't tell in the above pic). Once we arrived at the school I requested the annual back to school pic in front of the school which she did with only a bit of grumbling. Then as we walked in I noticed that she didn't hold my hand. :( I'm not digging this growing up stuff one bit.

I'm hoping she has a fantastic year and I'm looking forward to watching her learn and discover new things.

Fifteen

Happy 15th Birthday to my beautiful niece, Kaitlyn Elizabeth!

I can't believe this precious baby is now 15.

I Survived.....

And have a t-shirt to prove it!

Last Saturday I completed the Warrior Dash in Kansas City, MO. It was a 5k (3.1 mile) race with 12 obstacles. I was excited about this race and was mostly looking forward to crawling through the mud at the very end. However I knew starting a race at 2:30pm in the afternoon in July would be a challenge because of the heat. The course was very hilly through pastures and wooded areas. The hills in the wooded areas were muddy and slick so to prevent a face plant in the mud I walked a few of the downhills. If you know me, you know how very uncoordinated I am so of course the obstacles were quite the challenge for me. The very first one I basically fell over. That was pretty comical for all to see I'm sure. I just laughed, got up, dusted myself off and went on my way. Each obstacle was more challenging than I had expected and the ones that required climbing up fairly high made me nervous. I'm obviously not a fan of heights. Running through the creeks was a nice relief from the heat. I did however see some fellow that had not faired well on the course and was being held in the creek to be cooled off. He ended up being carted off the course because of over heating. As I neared the end I felt like I had completed a 10 mile race and was looking forward to seeing the mud puddle at the end. I crawled through the mud and as I crawled out and tried to get my footing fell flat on my back. I had someone ask if I needed help and I just laughed at how stupid I must have looked and got up and crossed the finish line. As I meandered through the mud soaked people a guy came up to me and told me it was quicker to clean off in the creek than the trucks that were spraying water so I went to the creek and washed off what I could.

It was a great time, great race, and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year. But next year I will try to sign up at an earlier time so I don't have to deal with the summer heat.

And this was me right after the race before I jumped in the creek. It took me a while to get all the mud off. :)

Sorry this picture is sideways no matter what I did I couldn't get it to stay up right. 

The Big 4-O!!!

Happy Birthday to my OLDER sister!! Hope it is a fantastic 40th! Sorry I couldn't be with you to celebrate.
Love you!