Fighter Jett

A while ago I may have mentioned that we had received some sad news related to some friends of ours, but I didn't go into much (or any) detail.  Normally I keep things like that pretty close to my heart and don't share them on the blog.  However, our friends have recently created a blog solely for the intent of sharing their son's message with the world.  I can't help but share it today.

Our friends Cody and Tennille who've shared many adventures with us over the years recently became parents in December.  Their son, Jett, was born with PontoCerebellar Hypoplasia type 2 (PCH).  It's a pretty hard diagnosis to swallow as a parent as it basically means that he will never sit, crawl, walk, talk, or interact socially.  Worst of all, the life expectancy for a child diagnosed with this rare disease is usually no more than 2 years.  To say it's heart breaking is an understatement.

However, Cody and Tennille have been amazing and strong throughout this entire journey.  They've adapted and are truly the best parents Jett could ever have been blessed with.  Cody's sister recently hijacked their blog to share with friends and family a special Jett t-shirt to help with the mounting costs of Jett's ER visits (sometimes 2-3 times weekly).

Cody and Tennille after being surprised by a family's gift

They also shared this message to go along with the shirts:

"Let's help Jett travel the world and do as many amazing things as he can in his limited lifetime. If he can't do it himself, he can do it "on your heart". Email pictures of you wearing the t-shirt to Cody or Tennille, and they will be able to cross those places off Jett's "Flight Plan"!"

If you have a second, please click over to Jett's blog and read his story.  He is such a fighter and I've been so blessed to get to know him over the past few months.  His life has truly made me reflect on the many blessings I have and he reminds me what is really important in this world (hint: it's not weight loss).  Anyway, thank you for taking a second to read this post.  All of you are so awesome.

Oh, and did I mention that Cody and Tennille are pretty much a twin couple to Hubster and me?  Check it out:

Redheads unite!

Scooter Style!

Twins

Dorks just like us!

We've been blessed to travel with them several times over the course of our lives, and while they won't be able to travel with us for a long time they will definitely be in our thoughts wherever life takes us.  I know that my Jett t-shirt will definitely be joining me on every trip I take!

3 Miles Under 30 Minutes

That was my goal this morning, and that's the goal I met this morning.  Booyah!  I'm starting to buckle down on this training thing and just be consistent.  I ran 3 miles on Wednesday last week, then 5 miles on Saturday.  Today called for 3 miles and I decided to get it done with around a 10 minute mile pace.  Unfortunately, my first mile was done at a 10:22 pace so I had to pick up speed on the last two miles, but I finished strong with an overall pace of 9:50.  YES!  It felt good to achieve a small goal.

Regression and Depression

I haven't posted since I got back from my epic road trip.  I just haven't wanted to post.  I've found myself back in this depressed spot and words feel fake, promises seem empty, and I just didn't want to come back her and pretend everything was okay when it wasn't.  I'm struggling and rather than hiding behind a fake optimistic post, I opted to just go radio silent for a week or two.  I'll admit that my desire to come back here and write it out wasn't very strong and I nearly scrapped this blog entirely.  After some self-reflection, I realized that's probably all the more reason to come back here and just say how it is and move forward.  This blog (and the people I've met because of it) have really made an impact on my life and I'm not ready to throw that away.

So first off, I'm sorry that I haven't been commenting on any of your blogs.  I've been reading, but I just haven't had it in me to comment.  I'm so proud of all of you all, and I love reading your triumphs and challenges. I have to give a shout-out to three people who have really impressed me over the last little while.

First, Rachelle ran the Boston Marathon, aka Race of Hot Death, and not only survived it, she freakin' PR'd by nearly 10 minutes!  That's just incredible.  She finished with a time of 3:22:00.  I'm absolutely blown away by her performance.

Second, Ann just ran her second half-marathon and also set a new PR!  She beat her last half-marathon by around 14 minutes!  Reading her race recap made me feel like I was running the race myself, and I can totally relate to the mental struggles that pop up when running long distances.  She pushed through and finished well ahead of last year's time.  I'm proud of her!

Finally, Miss Julia just committed to running a FIFTY mile race this year.  I can't even fathom running that distance.  She is such an inspiration and she always encourages the people she comes in contact with.  I know that she is capable of running 50 miles and I cannot wait to see her accomplish this insane and awesome goal.

I've been lucky enough to spend some time with all of these girls in person, and they are all incredible.  Without this little blog of mine I never would've been blessed to know these wonderful and strong women.

So...I'm in a funk and it's been going on for a while.  I'm bitter.  I'm sad.  I'm unmotivated.  I'm sick of committing to things and then not following through.  I'm just trying to work through my issues and get back on track.  Hopefully this beautiful sunny weather will help spark the fire in me and I can find the joy in being healthy again.

Hubster is helping me with my diet.  He is doing the Zone and has started preparing meals for me.  I've got to admit that it has been very nice to not have to worry about what food I'm going to eat and just have it ready for me and know that it's good for me.  I've actually been really impressed so far.  I thought I would hate it (it seemed really complicated and strict), but since I don't have to do any of the work (thanks hubby!) I've been able to just enjoy good, clean food.  I've been so full each day and it was making me nervous.  Finally, I had Hubby add up the calories so my sanity could rest and it turns out that I'm eating under 1500 calories every day which is exactly where I need to be.  To say I"m happy about that is an understatement.

I've found that I really struggle trying to balance clean eating with strength training and running.  I try to do it all at once and then just burn out.  Having Hubster take care of the diet portion (which is the hardest part for me) is freeing me up to think about the active portion which is where I do better.  I think this could be a good thing.  I have some races that have sparked my interest, and I'm thinking of getting back into long distance running again.

Speaking of races, I ran the Color Me Rad 5k last weekend!  It was such a casual race.  There were so many people there that you could tell had never ran a 5k in their life, but it didn't matter because everyone was there to just have a good time.  If you do want to run a Color Me Rad race, just go into it knowing that you will be doing more walking than you expect to.  Our first mile was ran at a 20:00 min/mile pace because there was such a log jam of walkers!  I honestly think this is a perfect 5k for new runners because it is super low key and just allows you to enjoy the beauty of running/walking with similar minded people.  They don't even have winners and it isn't a timed event.

I was SO excited to be running one of these races!

Finish Line!

Hubster avoided color.  I did not...

Ash is another incredible and strong woman I've met through this blog.  It was great to see her!

I've never looked better!

Anyway, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for my recent absences.  Bear with me while I get my feet on stable ground again.  I'll get there, but it may take me a bit.  Thank you for all your kind words over the years!

Epic road trip...

I haven't had a chance to post much this week, but I have a good reason--I've been preparing for an epic road trip with my dad! We are going from Idaho through Oregon to see the Redwood National Forest in California. I've wanted to see that part of the country forever, and I'm so excited that I finally get to.  The journey begins tomorrow.  I'll keep you updated on what we are up to!

Washington DC - Days 4 & 5

Happy Monday!  How was everyone's Easter weekend?  Hopefully it was as good as mine.  I do love holidays that revolve around family time.

It's time to wrap up the remaining Washington DC posts!  I'm combining the last two days together so this will be the last post on my DC trip.  It's been fun to look through these photos and reminisce!

Jess and I decided to spend our Sunday visiting Mount Vernon and Arlington Cemetery.  It was a pretty dreary day outside, which was a big change from the heat we'd been experiencing the days before.  We started out at Mount Vernon which is the estate on which George Washington lived and died.

Mount Vernon

I really liked Mount Vernon.  The rooms inside were all so colorful and unique.  They also have done a remarkable job of preserving the artifacts on site, and most are originals including the bed George Washington died on.

George Washington just might be my favorite founding father.  I think that most men would've let the power go to their head, but he always kept complete power at bay and because of that we don't have a monarchy currently ruling America.  Thank you, Mr. Washington!

And you thought you were done with blossom photos...NOPE!

The estate is large and has some incredible views of the river.  While down at the wharf I was lucky enough to catch a bird making a nest.  Pretty awesome!

Being a farmer's daughter, I was also really impressed with the 16-sided barn that Washington designed to help process the wheat.  Basically, they lined the floor of the barn with grain and then the horses walked on it to open up the wheat and let the seeds drop through the floor where they could be scooped up and cleaned.  Pretty ingenious.

Also, it looks cool.

George Washington's tomb is also on site at Mount Vernon.  Grave sites never stop being a bit eerie and surreal.

George Washington's Tomb

Overall, it was worth the trip out there to see where the father of the US lived and walked.

The petals look like pink snow on the ground!

After we finished up at Mount Vernon, we headed to Arlington cemetery.  We had quite a rough time finding parking that was affordable.  We went on quite a random goose chase trying to get there in as cheap a manner as possible.  Luckily, our adventure placed us right at the footsteps of this lovely monument:

Iwo Jima Memorial - Huge and Breath-taking

I think this might have been my favorite memorial of all the ones I saw in DC.  It was just HUGE.  Pictures don't do it justice.  Also, it's such an iconic image and they did a fantastic job of capturing it.  The gold lettering around the base is a list of all the American wars fought to date.  There are so many wars on there for a country so young.  I hope they never fill it up, but we all know that one day it will happen.

Arlington is definitely worth visiting, just to try to grasp the sheer enormity of the place.  There are so so many graves.  They have 100 funerals per week there, on average.  It was very humbling.

Arlington

Of course we also watched the Changing of the Guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  I think Jess and I could have stayed and watched the ceremonies all day if given the opportunity.  There is just something about the reverence of these men that guard this tomb day in and day out.  We were lucky enough to see not only the changing of the guards, but also a Wreath Ceremony.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

We stayed at Arlington until the sunset and then headed back to Jill and Dave's place where they had a birthday cake made for me!  So very cute (and delicious)!  It was such an unexpected surprise.  I am so glad that we got to stay out there and spend some time with their family.  Being so far away from them is not fun!

On our last day there, we decided to hit up the famous DC Cupcakes.  There was quite the line at 10 am when they opened!  We got half a dozen to sample.

DC Cupcakes

They were delicious.  My favorite was the Mint Chocolate.  We snacked on them throughout the day.  

Jess had an earlier flight out than I did, so I dropped her off at the airport and then headed back to the White House to try to get a better view of it since it had been closed off the day we had first visited it.  I lucked out!

The White House

They were having some sort of picnic on the front lawn.  I tried looking it up, but I never found out what was going on.  In either case, it was good to get closer and see it in person.

Next, I hurried to the Metro so that I could go see the Supreme Court.  We had walked past the Supreme Court a few days prior and I hadn't even realized it.  I took pictures of it without even realizing what I was snapping a photo of.  Total fail.  Anyway, I wanted to see it one more time before leaving for my flight.

US Supreme Court

I'm really glad I went back!  I happened to time it perfectly with the start of the debate on the constitutionality of Obamacare.  There were news crews and protesters all over the place.  It was quite a different scene from when we walked past earlier in the week.  It will be interesting to hear the decision from the Supreme Court on the case in a few months.

Anyway, that's my DC trip!  I hope to go back one day and spend more time in the museums.  There is just so much stuff to do in that region, and the vast majority of it is free.  Love it!

Washington DC - Day 3!

By the third day of DC, my feet were toast. There was no hope of doing anything major because my feet just couldn't take it anymore. I think I might be dabbling with a little bit of plantar fasciitis on my left foot and let's just say that it was super pissed. Jess and I decided to just take it somewhat easy and rest so that we could be refreshed for the next day. Good plan.

So how did we spend day three? We went to the The Dulles Air and Space Museum, officially named the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, right by the Dulles Airport.  It is HUGE!  It is made to house all the big planes that the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum at the National Mall can't hold.  It does a good job, but they certainly have the place packed!

Dulles Air and Space Museum

We picked a good day to go--it was nice and rainy so we couldn't be outside much anyway.

This particular museum has a bigger focus on the "air" part rather than the space.  They definitely had an excellent pick of airplanes to view.  I wish I knew just how many they had hanging out there, but it was definitely in the hundreds!  I was a particular fan of the SR71.  Sexy, sexy plane.  I didn't know planes could be sexy, but this one proved they could.

X-men, anyone?

Turns out that bad boy finished setting an air speed record by flying from California to DC in something ridiculous like an hour and 30 minutes.  Coincidentally, that was the last flight it made. It was on its way to this museum to be retired.  Talk about going out with a bang!

I know I said that the museum focused more on the "air" portion, but it definitely did have some pretty awesome "space" parts as well.  My favorite?  The Enterprise space shuttle.  Even though this thing never actually went out to space (it only flew test missions), it led to the awesome space program that we know and love.

Enterprise

In a few months, it will actually be replaced with the Space Shuttle Discovery which has been on MANY missions.  That's super cool.

The most impressive part of the museum?  Definitely the Enola Gay.  For those of you that don't know, the Enola Gay is the plane what dropped the bomb on Hiroshima.  It was by far the deadliest plane in the entire exhibit.  Seeing it in real life and realizing the impact this plane had during World War II was just incredible.  I can't imagine being the pilot for that mission.  What a burden to bear.

Enola Gay

It's a really big plane

You know how I mentioned that they really had the space cram packed full of planes?  Here's proof:

Count 'em!

There is a Boeing 707 and a full-size Concorde jet in there.  This museum is HUGE.  Definitely don't miss it.

After we saw everything there was to see in the Air and Space Museum, we headed back to Jill's place.  Jess left to go drive to Harper's Ferry to be with her family who was also randomly in the area, and Jill and I just hung out.  We went and saw a model home in the area, and all I have to say is they have really really nice homes out in Virginia.  Dang!  We also had delicious Fro-Yo.  I wish I would've gotten a picture.  Yum!

Washington DC - Day 2

Day two was probably the busiest of the days in Washington, D.C..   We had to make up for the lost time from day one.  We started out at the Air & Space Smithsonian Museum at the National Mall.  It was pretty awesome!  They had a lot of really incredible planes to see, including the Spirit of St. Louis.

(this is not the Spirit of St. Louis)

They also had some cool exhibits from space, including a lunar lander.

It looks fake with all the gold foil stuff!

Jess, Jill, and I were all amused/horrified by the 1950s Flight Stewardess exhibit.  They showed the standards that stewardesses were required to meet, and suffice it to say, none of us would've been able to fly the friendly skies!

Could you be a flight stewardess?

For example, the following requirements had to be met:

• Height: Between 5'2 and 5'6
• Weight: No more than 135 lbs
• Age: Between 21 & 26
• Education: 2 years college or nursing degree
• Looks: "Just below Hollywood standards"

Wow!  It definitely wouldn't "fly" in today's world! (Ha--forgive the pun!)

Next we headed to the Holocaust Museum.  I don't have any photos of this as photography wasn't allowed inside, but it was well worth the visit.  It was absolutely horrifying, but so necessary to see and to realize how much evil humans are capable of when they get into a position of power.  The videos they played were especially sobering.

More cherry blossoms!

After that, we headed to the Library of Congress.  Most people don't visit the Library of Congress when they come to DC, but they are missing out!  It was my favorite building that we went to!  The architecture inside was gorgeous!

Library of Congress

LOVED the architecture

Reminded me a bit of Italy

They have a Gutenberg Bible on exhibit there, which was incredible to see.  It was also pretty empty, which I appreciated since I like to avoid the crowds.

Next (told you we did a lot!), we headed to the botanical gardens.  By this time, my feet were starting to kill me but I was determined to see as much as we could possibly see!

Miss Jess!

Shorts!

The gardens were well done, and they had a lovely orchid exhibit.  I'm a sucker for pretty flowers!

Purple!

After that, we headed to the White House but unfortunately the President was having a news conference regarding the Trayvon shooting so they had most of the walkways closed down to tourists.  You could see all the snipers on the room of the building which was pretty crazy!  

After the White House, we went to the National Archives to see the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution.  I was surprised to find that most of these incredibly important documents have faded into being nearly illegible.  I'm glad that we have some great methods of preservation currently in place to prevent any further destruction.  Again, no photos (one of the prevention methods!).

Finally, we headed down to get to the Lincoln Memorial.  We had tried to get there the day before, but missed it because we wanted to be by the cherry blossoms before the sun set.  It was a good decision.  On the way to the Lincoln Memorial, we passed the Vietnam Memorial.  So many names...

Too many to count

I think that all the war memorials in DC are so poignant and done really well.  It is crazy how many people have been affected by all the wars.

Eventually we made it to our last destination of the evening.

Lincoln Memorial!

It was perfect timing as the sun was nearly set and my feet were SO ready to be done walking.  We sat on the steps and read the words of Abraham Lincoln engraved on the walls.  It was a perfect spot to end the day.

Mr. Lincoln

My feet had had enough so we vowed that the next day would be much nicer to our poor feetsies!   Luckily, we had gotten most of my "must-sees" out of the way and so now we could enjoy the bonus sites of the city.

Have any of you been to DC?  What was your favorite spot?  Did you go to the Holocaust Museum?