Mandy's post on running with Andrea

Andrea's running partner Mandy posted this on her blog. We thought it was very sweet and wanted to post it here as well.

My Running Partner

She's the best. Andrea and I have been running together since 2008. Not only is she my running partner but lately she's also been my workout buddy too. We met a couple of years prior when I was pregnant with Jax. We met because she hired me as her personal trainer. Not long after that she became pregnant. She had Connor one month after I had Jax. We've been running together ever since. Now we both have two kids and don't let it stop us from exercising regularly. I look forward to our hour long runs together twice a week. I view it as "girl time" because we jabber the hour away while we run our 4-6 miles. It works out well.

This morning we got up to participate in the North Face 10K. We set a new PR but I know I wouldn't have finished with that time if Andrea wasn't there. Even in our weekly runs we do this; we pull energy from each other. When I don't have any energy to keep running she does and pushes me along and vice versa. This same thing happened this morning at the race. She had tons of energy during the race and I reserved a lot at the end. She kept me going throughout and I pushed her to finish strong in the end. We finished 33rd out of 500 and our official time was 53:02. That's an average of 8.33 minute mile. Our goal was to finish under 55 minutes.

I can't believe we've been running together for 3 years and this is our first race together. I'd do races and she would do races but it never seemed to match up that we would do one together. And sadly after 3 years of running together I'm preparing to say goodbye to it all. Her family is moving to a warmer state. We aren't sure of the date (it will depend on when their house sells) but when it happens I know I won't be able to replace her. We've always been the same pace, been able to do the same distance and have been able to easily fit it into our lives around children, work and husbands (they have all stayed happy as we've weaved it into our schedules). The other thing we have in common is we don't like to run early in the mornings unless we have to. Getting up at 5 or 6am isn't anything we ever do. I love that part because many runners like to get up early...we just don't!

Paige talking - Da Da and Bubba

We got a cute picture of Paige talking today. She's been saying quite a few things pretty consistently lately. Not the typical baby babble, it's got meaning behind it and she will do it if you ask her too. She is saying family member names "Ma Ma", "Da Da" and "Bubba" (We call Connor Bubba) pretty routinely.

Mommy brought Paige up to Daddy's office because Paige had been saying "Da Da'. Daddy's office was getting hot, so I'm wearing my undershirt only at this point. Ah... the advantages of working from home!

Andrea and Mandy run The Northface Endurance Challenge 10k

This morning, Andrea and Mandy ran in The Northface Endurance Challenge 10k. The race was downtown through the plaza and down all kinds of streets. The weather was perfect for it and the girls decided to try and finish under 55 minutes. They pushed each other hard and finished the 6.2 mile race in 53:02.

They were very proud of themselves and we got a quick picture at home with their medals on after the race.

House update

Our house has now been for sale for three weeks. We've had 6 showings and so far things have been going pretty well. It's not as many as we'd hoped for, however we knew that August was typically a slow month for house sales with people getting ready for school. Most houses are typically on the market for 2-3 months in our neighborhood, so we are trying to be patient about it.

One thing we wanted to remember was our funny yellow sign. It's got a smart phone barcode thing on it so people can scan the barcode and pull up the listing on their phones. We aren't sure if many people have actually done that, however the goofy yellow sign is definitely eye-catching and we've seen quite a few people slow down and read it while they drive by.


The saddest news of the week is that our dream home in Florida went under contract. We'd been watching it for months and thought it would have been perfect for us. We had even kicked around the idea of trying to find a way to put in an offer before our house sold. We tried to be patient and missed out on this one. Hopefully another one will come along at the right time for us.

Connor - Ninja Warrior!

Connor's really in to Ninjas lately and he and Daddy watched the show "American Ninja Warrior" recently. He really loved watching the guys try to get through the obstacle course and has been trying to do cool ninja moves at home. Yesterday he was doing cool jumps from the couch to the ottoman in the living room. He did a few good ones, but then tried to get too fancy and fell on his face in the carpet. Ouch!

He also tried to get dressed up like a ninja. He found some black socks in his drawer and put them on. At night time he dressed up in a long sleeve and long pant pajama. Probably a little hot. He asked me if he looked really cool and I had to admit that he did. Super cool!

At story time, Daddy came up with a great idea to use Connor's motorcycle guys as Ninjas and we put together obstacle courses with his blocks. It was Connor's favorite story of all time. He said that he only wanted to do that story from now on forever.

This morning we set up some more obstacle courses and I decided to snap a few pictures.


Connor with his motorcycle guy NINJAS!

Miss Sassy Pants

Paige has been such a different baby than Connor. It's been amazing to watch her personality develop. She is a very determined and headstrong baby. Whereas Connor would test your parenting from time to time, it seems like Paige tests everything you say. She will hardly ever stop what she's doing without a fight. She's strong willed and isn't scared of anyone. She'll stick up for herself if another child tries to take her toy and she's always trying to play with whatever other people are using. Her favorite things include Connor's lion, Mommy's phone, Daddy's food, and whatever else people have in their hands.

In this video, Paige is upset that Daddy won't let her play with his phone. It's a good example of Paige forcing out tears. At about the 35 second mark you can see her clench her fists, squeeze hard, and out pops a tear. She reaches up to touch it, to make sure it's a good one.

Paige visits Odessa

On Wednesday through Friday, Grandma Genie took Paige to Odessa for a visit. Grandma and Grandpa wanted to have her for a few days and they said she was a great girl and they had a lot of fun together.

This chair was the perfect size for her!


Biiiiig hug!


Paige loves to play house.

Paige loves her books right now, she's really in to them.

Amanda came to visit too!

Not much better than sitting on the step and playing in the rocks.

Thanks for a great visit Grandma and Grandpa!