Over 2 miles!

Okay, I know this doesn't sound like a lot to most people, but for me it's a lot.  Dan and I ran 2.23 miles tonight.  The longest we have ran straight at once!  It was a great night time run.  The moon was out, the wind was blowing.  It was the best night we could have picked for our first 2.23 miler :) ... sigh...

And the Rhotwins keep growing...

I recently got on Facebook and saw some new pictures that Matt and Heather had uploaded of the twins and Hannah!  They are soooo adorable I just had to share :)

Blakely

Blakely

Max

Max

Max and Blakely

Blakely and Max

Big Sister... Hannah

Big sister... Hannah... once again sporting her awesome shirt that Aunt Kay and Uncle Dan got for her!

Blakely, Hannah, Max

Yeah, I'm not a proud Aunt or anything.....

Remington's Sunday Guest

So every weekend I always tidy up the house a bit and sweep the floors.  However, for the first time ever... I didn't do it this weekend!  Why you ask??  Because Remington had company!!!  Buddy, our friend Mike's parent's goldendoodle came over on Sunday because Mike's parents were moving his sister into college!  I figured, why tidy up now when two dogs in the house together are going to make a much bigger mess than usual.  Might as well wait until sweet Buddy leaves.

The dog sitting went okay.  It was a challenge, but we made it through.  I realized that I really take for granted what a well trained dog I have.  Not saying that Buddy won't someday be as well trained as Remington, but right now he is still in his learning phase.  It is so nice to tell a dog "DOWN" and he does it right away or "STAY" and you don't have to worry about them going anywhere, but when they don't know those commands it is a whole different ball game.

When Buddy arrived it took him and Remington probably four hours to get all their excitement out, but once things settled down a bit they were good friends :)  By the time Buddy was getting ready to leave, I think Remington had accepted his presence....

 

"Hi guys!"

"I just woke up from a nap!"

The boys getting to know each other.

Playing...

Finally... two calm dogs!!

Cuddling :)

All that I know is that those were two tired dogs by the end of the day :)

Early Birthday Celebration

Well, its been a little while since I last blogged.  Probably because nothing has really happened and I have been crazy busy.  I have been busting my butt at work so that I'm prepared for Phonathon to begin.  I feel right now as if I'm on top of things, but I'm sure that something unexpected will happen that will throw me for a loop :)  I have also been doing a good job of keeping up with my running schedule.  I have been running at night time since the temperatures are much cooler.  I also find it peaceful.  I have been running almost 2 miles every other evening and my pace right now is around a 10 minute mile... which isn't great, but it's better than it has been.  So I feel like I'm still on track with my pre-wedding tone up plan :)

Anyways, after a rough week at work I have definitely been looking forward to the weekend.  Since Dan is leaving for Washington DC next weekend we decided to celebrate my 26th Birthday this weekend.  Dan planned a very nice Saturday for me.  One of the things that I love to do is go down to the canal.  I just love walking down there and seeing all the people and dogs.  I am always begging Dan to go with me, but he usually doesn't like to go.  However, this weekend we went!  YAY!  Of course Remington Bear came along for the trip.

Remington and I in front of the mammoth!

And here's the close up :)

After walking half of the canal, we stopped to take a little water break.

Then Remington wanted to stop and take a picture with his Dad in front of these pretty flowers :)

When we were almost finished with our walk we saw these little teenage ducks all cuddled up together... of course I couldn't stop myself from taking their picture!!

This was at the very end of our walk.  Poor Remington was pooped at this point, but he let us take one last picture of him.  The things he puts up with :)

Later in the evening on Saturday, Dan took me to the Melting Pot for dinner.  Neither of us had ever been and Dan had gotten a gift card from a friend at work so we thought this would be the perfect place to go.  It was really nice.  It is like this four course dining experience of fondue.  First you get a cheese appetizer, then a salad, then you get your main course of meats, and lastly the dessert!  Dan and I ended up getting the Pacific Island Feast, which was the easiest way to try a lot of different things and get the full experience of the restaurant.  It was a very nice dinner and we really enjoyed ourselves the whole 2 1/2 hours we were there!  Haha... you cook your own food so it takes a while.

Here's Dan and I at the beginning of dinner :)

This was our first course.  We got the spinach and artichoke cheese.  Then we had chips, assorted breads, veggies, etc. to dip in it.  DELICIOUS!

Here's our main course.  Chicken, pork, steak, tuna, shrimp, and veggie wraps.  These are all raw to begin with and then you cook them in the boiling water they give you.  SOOOO GOOD!

Here were all our sauces.

Oh yes, we also got broccoli, potatoes, and mushrooms.

Dan taking his first bite :)

And here's our last course... dessert!  My FAV!

This is what we dipped our dessert in... chocolate, marshmellow swirl, and Oreo cookies!  HEAVENLY!

Honestly, it doesn't get much better than this :)  

Even though it wasn't officially my birthday... I had a great time!  It makes up for Dan being gone during my actual birthday weekend.  However, Mom and Dad are coming up so I'm looking forward to that :)

There's got to be more to life...

For the past few days I have been kind of down in the dumps.  I just keep thinking to myself that there has to be more to life than this.  What can I say... it just seems to me like all Dan and I's lives consist of is work, school and our daily routine... nothing more, nothing less.  It just isn't what life is all about in my eyes.  Yet, how can we make life about something more when we have to work, have to go to school, have to do all the other things that life demands of us?  It's puzzling to me... but maybe one day I'll have the answer.

Office Photo Board :)

Among all the papers, pens, pencils, etc. that I have laying around my office at work, I also have a push pin board that holds important information.  The things that are on it include the academic calendar, phone numbers for all my co-workers, license plate info, student payroll schedule, pledge reminder schedule, as well as numerous other things.  However, in the right hand corner of the board I have my most precious items.  Those being pictures of my nieces and nephews.  This weekend Dan and I received some pictures of the twins in the mail so I was able to complete my board :)  Their pictures made all the difference :)

The board includes pictures of my best friend, Elliott, Mallory, Dan and I's parents, Hannah, and the twins.  What could be better to look at almost every day :)

Indiana State Fair

Well, the most exciting thing that we did this weekend was attend the Indiana State Fair (thanks Jim for the tickets and Debbie for drawing them out of a hat).  I haven't been to the fair since I was in High School.  We would go every year to compete in the cheerleading contest that was held there, but I haven't been back since really.  Dan has never been to the State Fair, so this was quite a treat for him.

When we first got to the Fair we hurried to the Dock Dogs competition site.  This was the one thing that we really wanted to see.  We got there in time to watch the Speed Retrieve Contest.  This is a picture of one of the dogs doing it's thing :)  The goal of the contest is to have your dog retrieve a disc the fastest!

These three pictures were of our favorite dock dog contestant... Charlie the Goldendoodle (hmmm, I wonder why he was our favorite :)

After the Speed Retrieve Contest was over with, we decided to go explore the rest of the Fair.  We came across the DNR building and I had to take this picture for my niece Hannah.  When we were in Arizona she loved going to the Bass Pro Shop to look at the fish, so this guy reminded me of our time with her.

Then we found this little petting zoo for kids.  I fell in love with this baby cow.  It had the longest eye lashes I have ever seen :)

We then came across a bunch of John Deere tractors, so we took a picture of this for my Dad and our nephew Elliott, since they both love John Deere stuff :)

It was around noon and we were both starving!  Dan has been DYING for a Ribeye Steak Sandwich so we stopped to get one.

Then then went to the Swine Barn to see the largest pigs.  This is first and second place.  Talk about disgusting.  I don't even know if these poor things could walk!

These were the championship piglets :)  Talk about cute!!!

This little goat was pretty cute too :)  I wish I could have taken him home with me :)

In the Horse Barn we found these beautiful guys!  Talk about huge!  They were very well taken care of!!

This cow was dying to have his picture taken :)

Right before we were getting ready to leave Dan saw these smoked turkey legs and had to have one of course!  I didn't think it looked that good...

All together the trip was pretty fun.  It wasn't too horribly hot on Saturday so we enjoyed ourselves much more because of that.  Dan's highlight was the horses that we saw.  But mine of course was the Dock Dogs competition.  I'll leave you with some videos we took of the contest!

This was the fastest dog...

And this was Sweet Charlie the Goldendoodle. He was the slowest... go figure :) HAHA!