Clay is HOME!!!!!

Clay is finally home!!! We are soooo excited. Wade LOVES his daddy so much. It is so awesome to see them together. I am so glad to have him back. Clay was offshore installing a new rig out in the Gulf of Mexico for a month and a half, and before that he was in Corpus Christi for about 4 months getting the rig ready to sail. He has been home for a week now and we are all still adjusting to each other again. We are just glad to have everything back to normal. I have already put him to work here. Hanging things on the walls, mowing the lawn, painting the kitchen.

Here are a few pictures of Clay hard at work out there in the deep blue sea.

Here he is on the deck of the ship working with the riggers. (actually doing some manual labor)

Here he is on the bridge overseeing many operations. This is where he said he spent most of his time.

On the deck of the ship with the rig (Thunderhawk) behind him.

This is the ship he was on for the month and a half he was out there.

And this is Thunderhawk!!! INSTALLED!!! YAY! Clay has literally been working on this project since before Wade as born. Now onto the next one.

Fun Photos

Not too much to say in this post. Just a few pictures of my little guy. I know every parent says it but it is just so hard to believe how fast kids grow up. Thank God for pictures because I can hardly remember this little boy as a baby.

Look how big this little guy is getting.

He loves puzzles! Here he is just after putting this one back together.

All smiles.

I think this might be Wade's 5th haircut. He did so good. (still a little timid though)

The Trains at Zube Park!!!

Our playgroup got together this past Saturday at this super fun place to ride the trains. Wade loved it! We had so much fun and can't wait to take daddy when he gets back.

Here is Wade in line waiting to get on the train. It gets really crowed there!

Still waiting!

Look at these little trains....too cute!

Wade holding on as we ride around in the "forest".


Here we are pulling up to the train station.

Here are some of the things we saw along the way.

Fun times in Mansfield

Wade and I had to take a trip up to Mansfield to help out my sister while my mom was out of town. We had to keep ourselves busy up there too.

We went to Chuck E Cheese with my sister and her 3 kiddos on rainy day up there. Here are my two older nieces, Avery and Rylee.

On the way to Chuck E Cheese Avery and Wade got to watch Veggie Tails in aunt Chelle's car.

Fun times at Chuck E Cheese!!!

We also went and spent a little time with Clay's dad, Becky, and Melissa. We didn't get to stay long, but it was still good to see them. Here is Wade with his Poppa.

Wade LOVES to hang out on Memaw's deck. He found some of Avery's mud boots and would not take them off. He loved them.

Rodeo Day at school

When the Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo comes to town, everyone gets into the rodeo spirit. Wade's school arranged for two longhorns and a "real" cowgirl to come out for all the kids to see. This is funny that they said "real" cowgirl because Wade's Memaw (my mom) is a "real" cowgirl. She has been riding barrels, training, and taking care of horses for over 20 years now.

Anyway, Wade did get a big kick out of seeing those huge longhorns.

March Madness!!!!

The month of March has been nuts!!! Wade and I are doing the best we can to keep ourselves busy. We have lunch with our friends, visit family, and go to fun places to pass the time. Here are a few pictures of how we have been spending our time so far.

Clay made it home for a few days and spent the best quality time with us he could. Wade even took a nap with his daddy in Clay's favorite napping place. It was so cute! Wade hasn't done this since he was a baby. I think he knew daddy needed it.

Here is my handsome man on our way to lunch with the ladies.

One morning I walk into the kitchen to find Wade climbing on his high chair, which is a big "No No!!", but I just had to take a picture before I made him "Get Down!"

On our trip up to Mansfield we got to have lunch with one of my best friends, Laura. She is always taking pictures, so we can remember our fun times together.

And some not so fun times.....Wade tends to stand up on the couch, which is also a BIG no no, and just as I was telling Wade to sit down, he took a huge fall and hit his head right on the edge of the coffee table. "That is exactly why I tell you to SIT DOWN!!!"

I DID IT!!!!

I did it. It is over!!! The Austin Half Marathon is now a thing of the past. I had an absolute blast. I had so many people there supporting me and running with me. A little background on this thing. Last summer, Ami, my Stroller Strides instructor (and friend) came up with this "great idea" to train for the Austin Half Marathon. She was pregnant and I wanted to get pregnant so I thought "sure!" thinking it would never happen. Somewhere along the way I told Mel (Clay's sister in law) about this race. She has run a half and two full marathons before. She said she would run this one with me. Awesome! I started training in August with Ami and Kristy and found out how freaking HARD this was. I had so many talks with Clay telling him that I just don't think I can do this. He is such a huge supporter and told me that I set a goal, so just do it. It is that simple. Ha! Ami and Kristy would have to keep my spirits up too. They were the best running partners and supporters. So fine, I'm going to do this.

I had my 10 year high school reunion in October and I told a few of my old friends (Laura, Jessica, Anna, and Yvonne) about it and they said they would run it too. Awesome! In the beginning I had some of the worst shin splits I have ever felt. I was in tears on some of our runs. I also got bronchitis along the way and pretty much had to start my training over, but I caught back up! And here we are race day.

I had this confidence that I hadn't had all training. I just knew I could do this. I had a really good pace (for me) in the beginning. In the first 5 miles we got a little taste of some hills. I had a game I would play with myself while on those hills. As I was running up them and thinking, crap, this is hard, I would tell myself after this there will be a downhill. That helped a lot. Melissa also gave me a trick to just focus on the current mile. So after mile 4 or so I would just tell myself, "I'm looking for that mile 5 sign" then after I saw that sign I would just be looking for the mile 6 sign. That helped a lot too. Clay and is brother Brett were hanging out at mile 6 to cheer us on. It was so great to see them and I felt so good at that point. But things really started hurting during that mile. So I had to take a little walk break during mile 7. I was ok with that, I made it 7 miles without walking. So then I would run 3 minutes and walk 1. I felt awesome about it because that was what everyone around me was doing too. I had to walk up all the crazy hills, then I would run down them. Let me just tell you about these hills. Seriously, I mean at some point I would just say, you've got to be kidding me. The biggest one was at mile 10 and GOOD LORD! It was just mean. At some point I looked down at my Garmin and started doing some calculations in my head and I thought, Oh My Gosh!! I might be able to finish this thing in under 3 hours. Based on my training I really thought I would finish at 3 and a half hours. So I started to book it (as much as you can book it after 10 miles). I crossed that finish line and I was so pumped. I FINISHED A HALF MARATHON. I really thought I would cry. I didn't (at the finish line). I did cry in mile 1 and somewhere in mile 12 or so. I just couldn't believe I was actually doing this.

So anyway, I freaking did it. I still can't believe it. Here are a ton of pictures from the big day.

The basket Mel gave me before the race. She is so awesome!

Here I am with Grant (Ami's hubby), Ami (the one who started all of this), and Kristy before the race. My awesome running buddies.

Here I am with Melissa. I am so thankful for her. She helped me so much with her information and support. Love her!!

Here are my high school girls (Laura, Yvonne, Me, Jessica, and Anna). These girls blew me away. To just kind of sign up for this thing on a whim and they all came out and rocked this thing.

Start line!!

Melissa, Ami, and Kristy can be seen in this photo. Can you find them??? Grant and I are in there too just hidden.

Feeling good at mile 6.


I FINISHED!!!

I almost finished under 3 hours. Oh well, next time.

My Stroller Strides girls after the race.

Me and Mel after the race. (she had time to go back to the hotel and shower before I finished, she rocked this race)

Laura and Anna after the race.

Aaahhhh! The reward after the race!!