An awesome fall date

Autumn has fallen upon us, it's one of my most favorite seasons of the year. The crisp green leaves transforming in to magnificent shades of gold, red, orange and brown always catch my eye. I especially enjoy when the air becomes slightly brisk, enough to wear a light jacket, and the way the wind whirls around the fallen leaves makes me feel that there is some magic drifting in the air. This is the time where I break out my light fall jackets and my fall/halloween decorations. Decorating my house with pumpkins, leaf garland, cornstalks, scarecrow men, and candles that smell like fresh pumpkin pie and toasted almonds with cinnamon is one of my favorite traditions. I love the warm inviting feeling it brings to my home.
The only sad thing about this season is that it only lasts 1-2 months in Colorado if we're lucky. And because it is so brief, it's important to get in every fall-like activity you can! So, James and I decided to embrace the season with a little fun last weekend.
We went up to Thornton, Denver to go to a Corn Maze. The Corn maze was about 20 acres in size. It was one of the biggest corn mazes we could find within reasonable driving distance. While driving, James was talking about how he will just jump up to look over the corn stalks to see where we are going. I laughed, he's obviously never been to a corn maze before. When we got to the corn maze, he realized why I had laughed. The corn stalks are definitely over 15 feet tall. So you'd have to be pretty tall in the first place on top of excellent vertical jumping skills.

And of course we had to go to the pumpkin patch and get ourselves pumpkins to carve! There were quite a few large pumpkins. A lot of odd shaped ones as well. Example A: "The Butt" pumpkin.

And to finish off our evening we decided to stop off at Tocabe American Indian Eatery. This restaurant joint was featured on Triple D (Diners, Drive-Ins and Drives) with Guy Fieri. I highly recommend this restaurant. It was so delicious and very unique. It's like a chipotle...but American Indian style. There is stuffed fry bread which is what James got. It's fry bread stuffed with beans, chickpeas if you desire, meat, special sauces and other veggies. Or you can get the Indian Tacos which is Fry bread topped with beans, mean, sauces etc. They were both very different, but both very delicious. Next time you are in Denver, Check it out! It's off of I-70 on Lowell blvd and 44th ave.

It was so nice to have a fun date enjoying the fall season!

Let's go Halvesies

Over the past few months I've been training for the biggest run of my life. I had decided (ignorantly and arbitrarily) to sign up for a Half Marathon. My first half marathon. What was I thinking? The longest race I ran was a 10K! That's only 6 miles, I have to run twice that?

Despite the better half of my judgement, I developed a training program for myself and was determined to finish my first half marathon.

My training schedule was as followed:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
P90X	Run 2 mi. 2 min. run/ 1 min walk	P90X	Run 2 mi. 2 min. run/ 1 min walk	P90X	Run 2 mi. 2 min. run/ 1 min walk	Rest

Each week I increased each run day by a mile for the first month. I got up to mile 7 for my long run on Saturdays. The second month, the first two weeks I stayed at the amount of miles I had done at the end of the first month, but instead of a 2 min. run/1 min. walk, I increased it to a 3 min run and 1 min walk. My last month I made it a goal to get up to Mile 11 1 week before the race, without doing a walking pace the whole time.

This training schedule worked well for me because I was able to increase my running mileage, do some cross training for strengthening my other muscles while allowing my legs to rest, and was able to be consistent.

So how did I do? Well October 9th I stood at the start line in my corral. I was cold, nervous and excited. Moving around to keep myself warm, the shot gun went off and off I went. It was a really neat race. The Rock and Roll marathon in Denver was quite scenic. It took us through downtown Denver, and gave us a beautiful view of the sunrise in the beautiful city of Denver. I finished my race in 2 and 1/2 miles. This was a fantastic experience and I felt very accomplished.

I'm also very thankful for my wonderful husband who supported me through all of my training and at my race.

This experience has taught me a few things about myself: as I continue to follow the word of wisdom and eat healthy, I have no limits to my health; I can do anything I put my mind to; I know the power of mind over body; I look forward to many more races, and hopefully with my family with James; and most of all I can overcome any obstacle, I just gotta keep pushing and keep running. :-)

My goal is to run a full marathon (26.2 miles) within the next 3 years! For now, I think I'll stick with the halvesies.

Ohhh Kansas?

OooooKansas, where the wind comes rushin' down the plains? Yup, that's about it. There is just the plains. Completely flat. Nothing to look at. Boring. That's exactly how I describe our drive to Kansas.

I pretty much begged James to go to Kansas so I could see my, best friends Mallory and Jon Hummer. James was nice enough to let us go to Kansas. I was so excited! I did not anticipate how boring the drive was going to be.

After 8 1/2 - 9 hours in the car, I was h

After our first night there, Mallory and Jon took us to Wichita's Botanical Gardens. It was pretty cool considering we were in Kansas, Land of Boring.
appy to finally arrive at the Hummer's home. It was so great to finally see Mallory. The last time we saw each other was our wedding, and even then it was brief because of all the craziness of the wedding.

It was neat to see all the different types of flowers and plants.

They also had these

gigantic lily pads. I've never seen them so

large! It was pretty incredible. I told Jon he should hop on what to see how much weight they would hold, but he was a sour sport and refused. :-(

And James decided to feed these gigantic cat fish. Their heads were easily the size of half of James' head. It was ridiculous. They were pretty ugly looking if you ask me.

Then we also wen to the little butterfly Pavilion. It was really neat to see all of the butterflies.

We had a lot of fun on our trip to Kansas. I really miss Mal and Jon. I miss how it was so easy for me to just walk over to their house in Fort Collins any time I wanted. Or being able to have my work out buddy and someone to go hang out with and talk to all of the time.

Sometimes change is hard. But through out all of these changes, I know I'll always still have a great relationship with the Hummers.

Walking for more than a memory

Starting off your Saturday for something purposeful is always a good thing. James and I usually wake up around 5:00am or 6:00am to work out. I'll usually go on a run and James will do his P90X. This morning, we woke up around 6:30am to go on a walk; a walk for a purpose.

As the Social Worker for an Alzheimer's facility, I automatically become involved in the National Memory Walk. James, being married to me, was also required to be involved in this event (lucky him). The Memory Walk is hosted by the Alzheimer's Association. They are a National organization that fight for a cure to prevent and stop Alzheimer's disease and other forms of Dementia. There were several vendors and companies that work with patients, residents and families who are dealing with this disease that are involved in this event.

We arrived at the park where the event was being held. To my surprise, there were hundreds of people who attended! It really amazed me that so many people were involved in some way with someone with this disease. I feel like it helped open my eyes to what a big deal this event was, the importance of it and how this affects so many people.

At the registration booth we received a colored flower representing our relationship to this race. I received a yellow flower as I am a caregiver for individuals with Alzheimer's disease. James received an orange flower, as a supporter for this fight against the disease. Other flowers given: Purple flowers were for those who have lost someone to the disease, and blue flowers for those who have the disease. Before the start of the walk, each group of people held up their flowers.

And again, it was surprising to see how many people are affected by this

disease.

The race started, and hand in hand, James and I began the 3.1 mile walk together. During the walk James asked me what the point of the walk was if everyone just donates money. I thought about that for a while. Why does there have to be the walking part if the donation is really what makes the difference? The money is what goes towards the research and cares. Why walk? As we were walking, I noticed how many groups of people were here and the flowers ran through my mind. It came to me. Yes, the donation is extremely important, it makes the most difference. However, it's not the only thing that's important. The walk brings all of the families, residents/patients, caregivers, and vendors who work with Alzheimers and Dementia together. The opportunity to bring everyone together to show their support for one another is what makes a difference on a personal level. The emotional support was an amazing and moving component to see in the race.

We're walking for more than a memory here, we're walking for our fellow man. When I'm really thinking about it, it makes me feel like I'm walking for Christ. I'm walking for a purpose. It's these opportunities we get to be a support to our fellow man that really makes the difference and is why we are here on this Earth. I'm so grateful!

Life after marriage

We spent many months, days and hours planning our wedding. We were so busy working on the plans, it felt like we were never going to de-stress until after we got married. Two weeks prior to our special day, we got to the point where we just wanted the day to be over with so we could relax.

Well, the wedding day came and went. Our honeymoon came and went. The beginning of our more relaxed life began and ended within a week. When we finally came home to the real world, settling in became our next project. Before we knew it, we were busier than before our wedding!

I'm not sure how it happened, I'm not sure why it feels so much busier.

A couple of ideas I have are: 1) My job has recently become more demanding 2) James' job has become more demanding 3) We are waking up early to work out together, so we also go to bed earlier

Those are really the only things I could come up with. I feel like I have to go back to my college days when I had to figure out how to balance everything. But now, instead of balancing classes, church, 2 jobs and a social life; I'm now balancing work, church and my marriage. I feel like I have less to balance, but its more difficult.

Many people have told us that marriage will be quite the journey with ups and downs, pot holes and smooth roads. I took it lightly, but now that the journey has actually started, I am finding that it may be rougher road that I had thought.....