Visting my nephewS

Yes, that "S" in the title is supposed to be capitalized...'cause I now have TWO nephews. And they are both adorable. And my sister is an awesome mom.

John Michael, me, and Carter


Getting ready to hit the town


Making faces in the car


My lovely sister and her boys

Houston Half-Marathon

After being thwarted from last year's half-marathon by a stress fracture, I was able to finally run in the Chevron Houston Half-Marathon! My running buddy, Lisa, completed her first marathon!

Post race- 39.3 miles combined :)
Stats:
Chip time: 2:13:21
Place within age division: 279/985
Place within gender: 1441/5732
I placed in just about the top quarter! So excited about that!

This is my new toy...I call it my Superwoman watch. It's a Garmin 310 XT- first GPS watch that can go underwater...great for my triathlons.

Random pics from my visit so far

Just a hodgepodge of pictures:

Chad, Lynn, little Roman, and me after a concert at their church

This is my parents' dog, Cinnamon, she is awesome (she was kinda annoyed that I was interrupting her nap here...I think). She's a lab/heeler mix.

Christmas toy!

My bro, really excited about his new snowboarding hat :)

Decorating Christmas Cookies

Since a large snowstorm has prevented me from going to Flagstaff to visit my aunt and uncle :(, I headed down to Tucson a couple of days early.

Grandma and I decorated the yummy sugar cookies Mom made before she headed up to Boise to visit Monica and family.

Finished!


Yummy cookies!

Tamale Day 2009

Once again, I headed to Florence, AZ for Tamale Day with Tima and her family (sans Mom, since she is in Boise visiting the new grandson). They broke a record this year- 103 dozen tamales made!

Tima and Phyllis loaded the tamales to be steamed


Me, Andrew, and Dylan- stuffing tamales



Love this picture of these ladies- Dylan, Mary, and Lee


Terry spreading masa on the ojas


Tima and Mark, hard at work, and counting down until the game (Cowboys vs the Saints...)

Christmas Cards

Last year, I was too busy with my flight to make Christmas cards. I honestly think I am even busier this year, but thanks to my Cricut machine that I bought during the Black Friday sale, I about halved the time it usually takes to design and make them. Here you go:

Ankle status

It's getting better! I'm seeing this chiropractor that my friend Jessica recommended. She uses Active Release Technique (ART) therapy and the Graston technique.

Turns out, I have really weak hip muscles and my ankle just got tired of compensating and starting protesting. I've had 4 treatments (the above therapies plus lots of good hip strengthening exercises- bonus, these exercise also TONE. Woot!) and the ankle is feeling much better. In fact, I ran 4 miles yesterday and it didn't hurt at all! The trick, now, is getting the rest of me to learn this "new" (ie correct) ankle position. So my knees are twinging and so is my lower back...all very minor, just my body getting used to being able to move my ankle. Seriously, learning how your muscles work together is fascinating. God designed our bodies so intricately- it's mind blowing really.

It's also been very humbling to have it so blatantly pointed out by my limited range of motion how much more "in shaping" I have yet to do. The perfectionist in me wants it to happen NOW...but I know that in time, I will improve and hopefully, this added flexibility will mean fewer injuries. Yay!

So Houston Half Marathon, here I come!