Easter Weekend 2014

This year was our first time hosting Easter at our house. Clarke's family came down and we all had a great time celebrating and enjoying some finally Spring weather. Although the egg hunt at church was canceled Saturday due to bad weather, after that it was beautiful! 

I tried to get some cute pictures of Chloe in her bunny ears but most of the time she would just rip them off.

Best family photo we could get that day.

I was excited to give Chloe her Easter basket that morning, but she really just wanted her breakfast! I guess she's used to that routine and food was more important. After eating she enjoyed her basket a lot more. We went to church that morning, and it was such a good service. Such a sweet reminder of the real reason for Easter, that our God is not dead, He's conquered death, risen and is alive.

Clarke got that Monday after Easter off, so we all decided to go to the NC Zoo in Asheboro.

Here's the best family photo we could get that day, ha.

The zoo was fun. It was a perfect day, sunny and warm. It was our first time at this zoo and I will say it was really spread out. We took a tram to the other side of the zoo, then the tram back. I think Chloe enjoyed seeing the polar bear the best this time.

I'll end with this. Us last year and this year. She has grown soooo much! Such a toddler now.

Hope y'all had a fun Easter as well!!

Raleigh Rock N Roll Half

This past Sunday I ran in Raleigh. It was hot and hilly, like really hilly. By far the hardest half I've done.

I think this race was different than past ones because honestly I wasn't well prepared. Between the cold weather and being out of town I didn't train as well as I normally do. I think since I knew that mentally I didn't push myself as much as I normally do on race day.

But, I was comparing this half time to my first half ever, and I still came in a little under my original time. So I am becoming a stronger runner I guess.

I ran the first part with Rebecca, she kept pushing me up all those hills!

Other teammates afterwards. Thankful for a great running community here in Winston.

Took this one from my race photos, only decent one. I totally forgot not to look at my garmin as I crossed the finish line, so my head is down in all those pictures, oops! 

I'm glad I did this race, but I'm not sure how excited I am to do another spring half. Looking forward to doing some local 10ks this spring/summer. :) 

Anniversary in Asheville

A week ago today we left Chloe with my mom and headed to Asheville. It was such a great trip, a much needed break. We started our trip with lunch at Tupelo Honey. So many people recommended this place to us. It was right in the middle of downtown and was really good. Their biscuits were amazing, so were the goat cheese grits!

Then we checked into the hotel and took a nap. You know you are parents of a toddler when taking a nap is a treat. We got dinner at an Italian place, Travinia by our hotel. It was good, nothing special but it was nice to be able to walk to it. 

We spent Saturday at the Biltmore Estate. They don't let you take pictures inside but it was amazing. 

The gardens were in full bloom and just beautiful. I think this was my favorite part.

The food at the Biltmore was probably my other favorite part. Everything we ate was so good. The vanilla ice cream was probably my favorite.

We ate dinner Saturday at Early Girl back downtown. This was my favorite place (Clarke's was lunch at the Biltmore) . 

We went back early and watched Netflix in bed, the perfect ending, haha. I didn't get any pictures of our breakfast either morning but it was a buffet at the Hilton where we stayed. It was so good! Sunday we came back pretty much right away, I missed Chloe so much!

This was such a great trip. It was nice just to sleep in, eat a nice relaxing meal and spend time together as a couple instead of mom and dad. I'm glad we got to see what all the hype about Asheville and the Biltmore is too, we loved it. 

First Steps

I was going to post about our trip to Asheville (which I will still get around to doing) but this is more fun:

I'm so proud! This milestone has definitely been the biggest deal. Yes, Chloe was quite the late walker so it's extra special that she is doing it now.



 This makes me happy. Such a sweet girl, and I'm so lucky to be her mom. My mommy heart is so full. :)

5 Years

Today we are celebrating 5 years of marriage! It almost seems surreal to me, that I've been married for 5 years already. We are headed to Asheville for a long weekend away, my mom came down to watch Chloe, I am so excited.  

Our first anniversary in OBX.

We have this tradition of going away every year on our anniversary. We don't do gifts, we spend time together and this year it's exactly what we need. Last year we didn't get to go away on a trip, it was right as we were trying to figure out about moving, and having a 5 month old, it just didn't happen. I think that's why I'm so excited for this trip. As life goes on and things become more complicated I've become more aware that intentional time together is precious and with a baby it's even harder to come by.

Second anniversary at the Homestead.

Third anniversary on the Oregon coast. 

Fourth anniversary at The Melting Pot in Richmond.

I am truly thankful for Clarke in my life. There is nobody else that I would want to do life with. Can't wait to celebrate this weekend!!!

Happy Anniversary Clarke, I love you!!

Last Weekend

Happy April!! I'm super excited about all the fun things going on this month, and lots of visitors coming too! This past weekend was our last weekend without something planned until after the first weekend in May, so we didn't do much. 

I did run!! It was such a good run too. I'm running the Raleigh Rock n Roll Half Marathon on April 13th and I totally haven't been training well. Between the awful weather, Chloe being sick, and being gone a week for Florida and a week in Virginia I just haven't been motivated. I knew I needed one long run before and it was suppose to be this past Saturday. They were calling for rain. I went anyways and the rain held off, it drizzled some but it was warmer and actually really nice. My training team ran from Salem Lake and it turned out to be great. 

So my 12 miler is done and I'm excited about the race now. If I hadn't already paid for it I probably would have quit but I'm glad I stuck with it. 

Sunday we went to church and volunteered in the nursery. The Winston Salem dash came to church before service. Chloe was very curious. 

Of course Chloe was really into the car again. Thankful for a fun weekend with the family.