Family Vacation - St. George Island

It's time to get caught up on the month of July!  Over the week of 4th of July my family and the Sauer's, some of our good friends, headed to St. George Island, Florida.  The parents rented a house on the beach and we all got to spend the week together.  It was a great time to get away.  We sat on the beach, the guys went on a fishing trip, we played lots of games of Nerts, watched the crabs come out of the sand at dark, and basically just relaxed.  Thank you mom and dad for such a great vacation - it was a blast!

Sunrises from our deck.

Welch girls.

 The guys...and their beer and cigars.

 The girls went to brunch while the guys fished.

Donelle, Angela, Deborah, Rebekah, Valerie, me.

 Welch girls.

 The parents - Eddy, Tina, mom & dad

 We really enjoyed our quality time...

 My dad rekindled his tennis skills.

 Tina & Mom

Group picture - love these people!

Mountain Fun Time

A couple of weeks ago, me and five girls from my community group took off to Red River to my family's condo for a long weekend out of the heat and full of mountain fun.  We went white water rafting, hiking, enjoyed fires every morning (because it was below 40 degrees outside!!!!), spent time with the Lord in His creation, and relaxed in the hot tub.  It really was a great weekend.  I always love time with these girls, and I loved escaping the Dallas heat for the weekend!

 Our home for the weekend!

 Quiet times in the park.

 We're ready to raft...I have no idea what I'm doing in this picture.

 Hiking fun!

Yes, we crossed this stream with our shoes off...it was COLD!!! 

29/30: I love books!

I love to read.  I'm not highly discriminatory in my book choices either.  I just love transporting myself to another world and getting lost in a good book.  When I would come home on Christmas break during college I would read constantly...maybe even 10 books.  I've been thinking lately that I need to read more and watch TV less.  I mean, I'm not cutting out any of my favorite shows, but maybe some of the ones that have gotten really bad lately (can anyone say, THE OFFICE?!?) and not watching TV just to have noise. 

Over Thanksgiving I read two and a half books.  And it was wonderful.  I finished up my book club book from last month, the one for this month, and I'm about 90% through Hunger Games.  And oh my gosh - if you haven't picked that last one up, you should.  I've had it on my Kindle for a few months now, and I just haven't been doing much reading.  It's the first in a trilogy. I started it last night, and read it on the plane this morning, and on my lunch break.  I will most definitely finish it tonight. 

And today's outfit.  Yes, the red sweater was worn Saturday.  With totally different people.  And as I was trying to get my suitcase zipped at 4:45 this morning, it was imperative that I wear the things that would take up the most room...aka the sweater and the boots.  The the aforementioned hour at which I woke up to catch a flight this morning can explain my overall appearance this evening.

24/30: Amarillo by Morning.

Or really, Amarillo by evening.  But I'll take what I can get.  After work today, I will be hopping on a plane and headed to Amarillo to spend the rest of the week and weekend with my family.  And I am SO, beyond ready. Ready to eat, and rest, and just hang out with the fam!

For my traveling outfit, we have this.  Trying to not have to pack the boots in the suitcase and deal with the fact that it is almost 80 degrees in Dallas, but will quickly be approaching the 30's when I get to Amarillo tonight.  Yikes!

Nike Women's Half Marathon

We did it!  A couple of weekends ago, my sister Rebekah and I finished the Nike Women's Half Marathon.  The trip to San Francisco was most definitely a fun one.  The parents came along and Deborah was working the race for Team in Training, so it was really a full family affair.  We had a great couple of days in the city before the race.  It was fun to shop, do a little sight seeing, eat great food and take in a new city. 

Family pic after dinner Friday night.

Deborah and her friend Natalie in the giant chair in our hotel lobby.

Saturday morning at the Embarcadero.

Foggy view of the Golden Gate bridge.

The run itself was awesome.  Hard, but awesome.  You can read Rebekah's race recap here.  She totally rocked it.  A great time and I know she felt good about it.  My time wasn't anything to be impressed with (never is, I'm slow and proud of it), but I finished, and that's what I set out to do.  I felt great for the first 6 miles (from Union Square, down to the water, through Fishermans Wharf and toward the Golden Gate bridge).  There were a few small hills, but it was mostly flat.  When you hit mile 6, it was like a whole different race course.  A solid mile of steep up hill, then a significant downhill (which was awesome), and it pretty much went on in the same up and down fashion until close to mile 10, where it levelled out for the most part.  I saw Deborah at mile 10.5.  I was feeling rough (some lovely stomach cramps), and I'm quite sure I looked it as well.  Apparently the sister has a picture from this time, but I haven't seen it yet.  Another mile and I started feeling a little better and finished the race strong after passing through the Ghirardelli mile at the 12 mile marker.  It really was a great race.  It was super scenic and there was always something going on all through the course.  I would definitely do it again if given the chance.

Rough morning before the race pictures.

The massive amount of people lined up that morning.  It took me 30 minutes to actually get to cross the starting line after the race started.

Me & Dad at the finish.

Me & Rebekah at the finish...I was cold...it was raining.

After the race I wasn't feeling so hot, but once I got some food in me I was MUCH better.  We walked around a good bit in the afternoon, and then had a wonderful dinner at a Greek restaurant.  It was a wonderful celebratory dinner!  We spent a couple of hours at the top of the Marriott soaking up our last views of San Francisco. (Deborah has pictures of that night as well, I believe.)  After a great breakfast, we headed back to the airport. (By the way...all the restaurants we went to while we were there...awesome...I highly recommend them all!)

I am so thankful for a fun family to travel with and parents who cheered us on. (Although, I think my dad will be running next time...he wasn't as much of a fan of the cheering as he is the running).Thanks Beks for wanting to do a half marathon...so glad to have number two under my belt.  Here comes White Rock in about a month for the third.  Yikes...I better get to running!

Ten Years...

A few weeks ago I flew home for my high school reunion. If you don't know, I grew up in Fritch, TX.  A tiny town close to Amarillo.  Sometimes I have a hard time believing that it is where I came from.  It is so different from my life now.  This weekend made me so thankful for my childhood and my upbringing.  There are so many things about growing up in a small town that I am grateful for now, but I certainly didn't understand the beauty of whenever I was there. I graduated with 67 people, and I think over the course of the weekend I got to see and talk to about half of them.  We went to the football game on Friday night, the Howdy Neighbor Day parade on Saturday morning, and then had a dinner in Amarillo on Saturday night. 

Now, on to the pictures...

 The drive from the parents house to Fritch. 

 Two of my good friends from high school - Margaret & Lesley.

 Lesley was the mascot in high school.  They got a new uniform for the Eagle...and it has teeth...she didn't like that very much!

 Our float in the Howdy Neighbor Day parade...it certainly looks like we went to an all girls school!

 

 

 Alicia made an awesome cake for our dinner Saturday night.

 Jeremy & Hannah with Dave & Margaret.  I went to church and school with all of them except Hannah.

And the whole group on Saturday night...I know, it's rather amusing!

Charleston

I spent an extended Labor Day weekend in Charleston, SC with my family.  It was part of our Christmas from our parents, and it was definitely worth the wait.  We shopped, we walked, we ate, we walked some more, we took a carriage tour, we ate some more, we went to a plantation, went and walked along the beach, oh, and did I mention, we ate?! 

It really was a great trip. We stayed in a cute little condo up above the shopping area of town.  We went for good runs every morning.  And truly, we ate more good food, and far more calories than I have consumed in a while.  And every single bite was worth it.  Some of my favorites were Hank's seafood and brunch at High Cotton.

First stop: food!

And then, of course, some walking

Wonderful grouper from Hanks.

Views from the carriage tour...gorgeous city...really. And such fun history too.

I'm slightly obsessed with these "piazzas" on the sides of all the houses.  Do you think I can add one to mine?

The family out at the plantation.

The house was used in The Notebook.

Slave quarters.

Super cute parents.

Walking to the beach

We finished out the weekend with a drink on a rooftop...it was fantastic.  And a gorgeous view of the sunset.

Thanks Mom & Dad for a great trip!

For more pictures, a lot of them, go here.