13.5 miles

Two weekends ago I ran a half marathon with my dear friend Marci. How did this come about you ask, well let me tell you. Marci is my workout buddy. We've been working out together since the first week we met. We'd go on runs and workout in her basement, ya know, nothing to fancy. Somewhere in the middle of my pregnancy when I had the running bug but was unable unable to run, we decided that it would be a great idea to run a half marathon once I had Connor. So our quest began to find a half marathon. During our search we decided we should do one where we have to stay in a hotel because that would be much more fun. That narrowed things down quite a bit but we still weren't quite sure which one to choose. And then we saw it. A half marathon 3.5 hours away (hotel stay check check) and it was a trail run! We both love running on trails and have run trails many many times in Utah. It didn't matter that neither of us had done anything remotely close to trail running in over two years, or that we had no close trails to train on. We'll do it!!! Had we looked a little closer we would have realized this was no wimpy Virginia trail run. Oh well!!! We paid our money and we were off. During the first 3 miles we climbed 2700 feet. Ouch! My engineering husband calculated it out to be about and 18% incline. There were more ups and downs throughout the rest of the trail but nothing compared to those first three miles. However I must admit I was really really sad to see another hill during mile 12. It was tough but we did it!!! We survived this crazy trail run and are already looking forward beating our times next year!!!!

labor day weekend and 5 month check up

labor day weekend started out not as great as i hoped. i got bit by a dog. it made the weekend much more stressful that i was wanting. the good news is, the dog was vaccinated and i don't have rabies. however, i'm quite confident jared and i are on the enemies list of the dog owner. especially when i told her she owed us $150 since i had to go to the er to get it cleaned out. what do you think the chances of us getting our money are?

monday was a good day though. we went to harpers ferry. it's a cute little town right off the potomac. it's amazing how old things are back here. it's so fun to see the old houses.

standing beside the potomac

i think this is our first family picture

looking into the town

connor just had his 5 month check up. his current weight is 11 lb 12 oz and he's 24 inches long. he's still in the 3rd percentile for height and hasn't reached the chart in anything else. his currently loves standing. he might not ever learn how to sit on his bottom. every time i put him there he holds onto my hands and tries to stand up. he is incredibly wiggly and still a very very good baby.

we spend many hours a day doing this

he's all smiles when he stands with dad

when will the day come when he figures out the crawl?

new jersey

this past weekend jared went backpacking with the scouts so connor and i headed up to new jersey to see michelle's family and meet my new niece. an added bonus to the trip was the wonderful company of jeanie (aka jean jean, grandma jean, mom, madam jean). it was such a nice trip. we love virginia but it sure is nice to be around family. we are thrilled michelle and davies are joining us on the east coast.


my new niece, sarah elizabeth walker. she's very sweet, you can already tell.


little cousins


sarah has the longest baby feet i have ever seen. connor's may be chubbier, but her's certainly aren't that much shorter.


the wisan girls and our babies (yes i realize i'm wearing a pink shirt. i've come a long way)


we had lots of fun on the slip n slide


playing with cousins


and playing with grandma jean

Victory!

Jared is amazing and that's all there is to it. He did it. He fixed his car. After hours of you tube videos and three nights of work, his car passed the safety inspection. Yahoo!!!!

Rejected!

This is what the bright red sticker on the front of Jared's car says. I took it in to gets it's annual safety inspection last week. Things did not turn out as we had hoped. I can't say we're surprised it didn't pass, but we were hopeful. Believe it or not, this same thing happened last year when I took it in, and I think the year before too. It's the car that keeps on going. Jared doesn't see this rejection sticker as a problem, just an opportunity to learn some new car mechanics (how to replace the ball joints and an arm bushing to be specific). He fixed the car last year when it failed (not the same problems of course) and we're crossing our fingers that he can do it again. If not, this may be the end of the road for the Mitsubishi and what a sad day that would be. I'm sure you're all concerned about the well being of the Mitsubishi (especially Bryce) so I'll make sure to post the final outcome. In the mean time, cross your fingers.

4 months old

We took Connor in for his 4 month check up last week. He is a whopping 11 lbs, 23 1/4 inches long. He's in the 5th percentile for his height and other than that he hasn't quite made the charts.

I'd say he's grown some, wouldn't you?

(week 1)

(4 months)

He has recently begun rolling from his back to his stomach. The tricky part is to get him to want to roll on his stomach. He's realized it's a lot harder to play with toys on your stomach that on your back. He's beginning to do it more and more though. Before you know it, he'll be crawling around.

He still likes his hands


And he's still very cute

Weekend Fun

Connor has finally learned that he doesn't have to cry the whole time he's in his stroller, just some of the time. I think after the first mile he gets bored of crying and decides to fall asleep instead. We live right by a great running and biking trail that we go on all the time. One of the perks of VA, there are paved trails going every which way.






Reading books has become a favorite activity too.






Let's not forget going to church. Isn't his church outfit cute? I love the little tie. It's one of my favorite outfits and I think this may have been his last week in it.



And, he's still really cute