One year.

One year ago today my little sister, Julie, got married.  I loved how I looked that day - my hair, my dress, my makeup.  I felt pretty.  And even now, I think I looked pretty.  But looking at these pictures on the computer after the wedding was one of those "I didn't realize I was that big" moments.  Here's me and Brian at Julie and Mike's reception:

Tonight, my dad and stepmom were so kind to ask us out on a triple date to celebrate our anniversaries.  Our anniversary is in three days and Julie and Mike's is, well, today.  Dad and Susan got married in August - but they can always celebrate.  Here's a pic from tonight:

Whew.  I'm so grateful for the grace that has gotten me a little smaller and a lot healthier in the past year.  I'm also grateful for a husband who loves me regardless, but I'll gush a little more about that in our anniversary post.

Snow Week

Last week it snowed a few different times.  Cumulatively, it was enough to let school out for most of the week.  Monday, I braved the treacherous roads and worked.  Tuesday, we took a little snow walk:

 Brian is an expert bundler - our kids will be warm.  He over bundled himself for this little walk and was steaming by the time we got home.

Wednesday, I picked up my niece and nephew so my sister could get in a few hours at work.  Chick-fil-a is always a hit:

Thursday was a day off - my third in a row!  Since I've been doing counseling at the church I haven't seen that many days off in a row unless I was on vacation.  I kind of couldn't believe it.  I had coffee with Jen Pence, swam, did grocery shopping, and spent some time with Jen Loveday.

Friday night after work, we got to play with the Sweet kids!  Our friends, Leslie and Nathan went on a date and we got to wrestle with these guys:

There was no actual wrestling involved, but there was a creepy baby doll, transformers, and a lot of dvr'd kids shows.

I love borrowing children.  Can't believe that soon enough we'll have a little one for others to borrow :)

Brian is a grown up.

Brian turned 30 on January 9, 2011.  Since it was a milestone birthday, we wanted to do more than just the typical go-out-to-eat birthday celebration.  In our planning talks, I came up with many wonderful ideas - all of them go vetoed.  This celebration needed to be manly. 

We had the party on Saturday, the eighth.  Friends were invited to meet Brian at his friends outdoor shooting range and bring their own guns and ammo.  Shooting party = manly.  I was at work, so I missed this half of the party (don't feel too bad for me).  Here are some action shots:

The high that day was 35, so the standing around in the cold had to be painful.  I was told that a couple of guys resorted to sitting in the car with the heat on.

Afterwards, everyone headed to our house for dinner.  The menu theme was "Brian's favorite things."  We had pizza, cheesesteaks, and cheese dip.  His cake was deep chocolate with raspberry filling and a chocolate ganache icing - this was for his love of raspberry truffles.  Here he is blowing out his candles.

 And here's Kate helping me take the candles off the cake.  Including Kate, there were only three girls at the party.  Marta, how did we not get a picture of you?

Evan and Andrew:

 Stacy and Brian:

 Samantha and Chris Murphy:

 Jeff and Me (mising Becca):

 James and Chris Ladd having an unstaged good time:

We are blessed with good friends who are willing to share life with us. 

Vicky!

Last Thursday (1/6/11), we took a little trip to Cookeville to meet up with my friend, Vicky.  Vicky was a recently graduated senior during my (very) brief foray into youth ministry.  She and I did a Bible study together and would take walks or eat Dairy Queen together.

After the hurricane, I moved to Atlanta and Vicky moved to Eerie, PA.  Her mom moved to Nashville.  That's who she was visiting last week.  So we met in the middle to have a late lunch and do some catching up. 

Did you notice our coats?  Yep, same cute little JCPenney number.  What can I say?  We have good taste - in coats and in people.

Big Girl Pants

Soaked
Originally uploaded by teaganrozmus

Some time in mid-December I was looking around on Active.com (it was a slow day at work) and saw the New Year's Day 5k. Our friend, Chris, had told me it was his first 5k. I texted Brian and asked if he was working on New Years. He was.

He later called me and I sort of whined to him that I was thinking about the run, but had no one to do it with. Brian said "Just sign up for it. You know you want to do it." So encouraging, my man. I signed up, knowing that I was going to have to put on my big girl pants and do it alone.

This past week, the race day forecast was warmer, but rainy. I kept hoping that it would say something like "showers late in the day" but it just said rain. Again, with the big girl pants.

When I woke up race day, it was to thunder and lightning. Brian was concerned. On his way to work, he called to ask me not to run if it was storming. I knew they wouldn't hold the race if it was storming and it was still a couple of hours out. The thunder and lightning passed, but the rain did not.

Luckily, the packet pick-up and registration was indoor. I waited until the majority of people were heading over to the start and headed out. The worst part was the 10 minutes of standing in the rain I did before the gun went off. After that, I just ran (jogged). About halfway through, I realized that I could ring out my sleeves they were so full of water. It didn't make much difference at that point.

Alone, in the rain, I finished the New Year's Day 5k. After I got my chip removed, I was walking to my car (for a towel and a dry shirt) and a man behind me said, "I kept trying to catch up to you. You were slow and steady. You were my goal the whole way." I said to him and want to say again here "That is the biggest compliment anyone has ever given me" I'm still a little teary about what he said. I know that I wouldn't have gotten to hear it if I hadn't put on my big girl pants and gotten out on this rainy New Year's day.

Race stats:

Time: 40:06

Average pace: 12:55/mile

Place: 405/458

I'm putting these here to note progress over the next year. Also, I want to note that I had a fantastic race and it had nothing to do with my time.

So proud of myself!
Happy 2011!!