Wednesday, July 6, 2011

A Wonderful 4th of July

The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday! It's hot, usually muggy and loads of fun with friends. It also means it is only 8 days until my birthday!!

Lauren, Jared and Lindsey admiring Jared's wrapping skills
in the Christmas paper!

Tillie loves to play hostess for parties. She also loves to get dirty and needs a bath every time we have people over.

Nikki and Ryan enjoying some great appetizers!

Josh and Kirsten kicking back and relaxing!

The master, Todd, cutting up his creation!

Willie says, "I want some yummy smoked pork too!"

The lovely ladies enjoying their baby shower!
I used to live for the White Cloud Rodeo near my hometown. My friends and I went each year for every night just so we could pretend we were rough and tough cowgirls and maybe get a glance at one of the cowboys. Ha, I learned to steer clear from that a few years ago...

Now a days, my Fourth of July is either at the lake or having a cookout with friends/family. This year we hosted a baby shower for two new little blessings who will be here before we know it. Our friends, Lauren and Lindsey, who grew up together and then married two of Todd's friends from Dearborn, are having a little girl and a little boy, respectively. I love to entertain and throw parties so of course I thought we should host the baby shower. Sometimes I feel bad because Todd gets thrown into the mix of preparing for the party, but then I don't because it seems he gets just as in to preparing as me. He just prefers to stand around the grill or the smoker all day with his lawn chair and cooler of beer. Fine by me. Our friends Kirsten and Josh also helped host the party for the girls. In all there were about 14 of us who gathered on Saturday, the 2nd. We had the most scrumptious smoked brisket, pork and chicken courtesy of Todd and all the sides brought by every one else. Each of the girls got a small dent in the much needed supplies/clothes for their babies, and Kirsten truly outdid herself on the most adorable diaper cakes. Lots of fun! I can't wait for more of our friends to have little ones!



I spent the rest of the weekend doing homework and mentally preparing for the Troy 5K on Monday.
Here's my silver medal for my age division in the Troy 5K. It was fun yet totally hard at the same time.

It. Was. Hard. There were not flat spots, period. It is either up hill or down hill, which I think is worse since you have to slow yourself down. But it was a great time to see and run with friends, John and Heather Cluck. John finished in a great time, and Heather and I finished very close to each other. I was TOTALLY surprised to learn I won 2nd place in my age division considering it was the worst time I've had so far, but I was still humbled and happy. It was a small 5K, but I will take a medal since it was probably the only one I'll ever get! Running has been my solace to take away stress this spring and summer. I have learned to enjoy it and look forward to my 30-45 minutes each day. It is my relaxation. I just wish I was faster at it or had more stamina. I suppose that will come, someday. Maybe...but if not, I'll just keep trucking along and cross the finish line as the slowpoke, but I will still cross it. Until next time, love ya'll and have a great week!

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