Grand Rapids Marathon 2009

Cheri & I after the race

The morning of the marathon, I woke early.  I drank some coffee and continued deliberating in my mind what pace team I was going to try to stick with.  The pace teams are separated by celebrities marathon race times.  If you’re only doing the half marathon, you can divide it in half to see your ending time.  I was stuck between Will Ferrel’s time and P. Diddy. 

Call me the breeze

The core of me is filled with fear… well, correct that… it used to be filled with fear.  It seems like my whole life, I’ve battled with being afraid of things.  Some are rational fears (like heights) and some have been ridiculous fears(lawn mowers).  I’ve tried to work on both the big and little ones over time.  They say the best way to overcome a fear is to just do it.  I can officially add riding a motorcycle to the list of fears overcome.  Here’s some pictures of

Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone

It’s just too damn cold around here.  I’m used to saying that 6 months of the year.  Winter is way too long.  The cold sucks your soul dry and the clouds will drive you to depression. 

But the reward for sticking out yet another miserable Michigan winter is the promise of a warm and sunny summer.  The heat and humidity of June, July and August is about the last thread I cling to when February’s melancholy refuses to abate.  It’s that contract with Mother Nature that keeps me sustained.  I cleave to it and count the months until my promise is fulfilled.

This year, Mother Nature

And you still want to marry each other?

Last Wednesday was Dan’s & my anniversary.  9 years officially married but 14years together.  It seems like a lot until I look at his parents… married 41 years.  What a tremendous accomplishment!

While driving up to Ludington, we talked about our journey.  How far we’ve grown and recognizing all the evolutions we’ve had along the way.  We’ve changed a lot in the last 14 years but we’ve managed to change together.  That’s important to us. 

Since we were in Ludington, Dan had asked his mom if we could leave the kids that night to have dinner together.  I requested that we go to the beach to watch the sunset and

Sledding fun

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The Return of the Mighty B

Saturday was the Michigan State Cheerleading competition in Kalamazoo.  Emma’s competition started at 8am and she had to be to her coach by 7:30am.  Having lived in Michigan long enough to know

My new toys

This year, the kids & Dan surprised me with a new camera & a new video camera!  Since I was expecting a sweater or shirt from Target, this was a shock.  Our camera/video camera before was an all in one deal and that meant that it did everything sub par.  It’s nice to actually take pictures that turn out!  A new camera is a great reason to just go nuts with snapshots and that’s what I’ve been doing.  These were taken yesterday 

Dance Party

A couple weeks ago, Emma & Gerrit had their friends Savannah & Makayla spend the night.  Emma requested that I put the “I Like To Move It” video from Madagascar on so they could dance.  This is what ensued.

Apparently, they do like to move it