5k Mud Run

September was a busy month....with very little time for blogging.  I'll give a fast re-run of the month, but more importantly, talk about a mud run I did (yes, the run even trumps our vacation).  As everyone already knows, we moved into our house at the beginning of September.  I would just like to add that we've only been here for a month now and I've already locked myself out of the house twice....TWICE, I tell you.  The last time I did it, I waited outside for three hours until Josh came home. I had a lot of thinking time in those three house (most of which I spent deciding where I was going to hide our extra key).

Josh and I traveled to Naples, Florida and the Florida Keys for our one year anniversary.  We were accompanied by some friends who also were celebrating their one year anniversary.  Between swamp tours, alligators, manatees, and sunburns, we had a great time. I think our friends finally realized how old (lame) Josh and I really are.  Even on vacation, we still managed to be in bed by 10 p.m. most nights.  I snagged some alone time with Josh one morning when we ran 2 miles to the beach and picked up a cup of coffee on our run home.  I'm not going to lie, I crave these times with Josh especially now that deployment is creeping up on us.

On a more melancholy note, my grandmother passed away the day before we left for vacation.  I was blessed to have seen her only a few months earlier.  I am also so grateful that I left with such happy memories of her.  We didn't do much together - just talked a little and played some games - but I'm thankful that she was so bright and cheery for the little time that I was there.  She will be missed, but I'm happy knowing that she is in eternity with God.  One of my favorite verses is Rev 21:4. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

At the end of September I ran a 5k mud run.  I was on a team with a few other army wives.  I'm only writing about this so that I can post pictures, more than anything.  I'm proud of my army crawl through the mud leaving me dirty from head to toe.  The course was a pretty easy run (some uphill) with about 10 obstacle courses.  These courses ranged from wall climbs to mud pits.  Why did I pay $65 to get dirty?  I'm not really sure, but it was worth it!

Pictures from the Mud Run:

Josh and I on the pier in Naples:

Downtown Living

We moved into our new rental last weekend.  Thankfully, with all the help, we were able to move everything from the apartment to the house in three hours!  Josh and I spent the four day weekend moving, painting, and making our house a home.  It was tiring but nice to get things completed efficiently.  Zoey is thrilled to have a backyard and spends a lot of time running from one end of the fence to the other or carrying sticks around (we have a cute dog).  I'm enjoying having skylights in my office so that I can work in natural lighting instead of using electricity.  I'm not done decorating, but have added some pictures of the current state our house is in. It's frustrating trying to decorate on a budget.  This is why I watch "Design on a Dime" every Saturday morning.  Plus it's fun to drink coffee, snuggle on the couch with the hubby, and watch home decorating shows.

This is our storage room/Zoey's room.  We don't have any kids so of course she gets her own room.  Duh!  Zoey's bed cover is currently being washed.

 This is one view of the kitchen...

 And this is the other view.

 Living Room

 Living Room (I intentionally left out the TV view.  Not the prettiest view, in my opinion.  Josh would argue this).  Don't forget to check out the cute dog in this picture :).

 Stairs and small bathroom underneath the stairs.

 Master bedroom (a little bland at the moment).

 Guest Room.

 My office.

Zoey's 8 month update

Zoey is officially eight months tomorrow and I'm feeling somewhat guilty for not writing updates about her since we first brought her home.  If it was up to Josh, we'd be writing daily Zoey updates.  He thinks she's his daughter and I often find him cuddling in bed with her instead of me (no joke).  We've now come to the agreement that Zoey can sleep in the bed on weekends, which obviously only confuses her more.  Poor dog.

Quite often, I find myself wondering why I chose such a hyper breed.  Zoey NEVER slows down.  She loves people, which is only adorable until she starts jumping all over them (we're still trying to figure out how to train her not to do this).

She's on the smaller side for her age and her ribs still jut from her small frame (I swear, we feed her)!  Our monthly Wag N' Wash bill will attest to that.  It's amazing how strong she is though.  This definitely comes in handy when I'm running her and only have to exert about half the energy I normally would exercising.

And to conclude, I've added some pictures of our adorable, crazy, sweet, overly-friendly puppy.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

As much as I cringe at spontaneity, Saturday actually ended up being surprisingly fun.  We really had no plans which was kind of nice!  Josh and I got up and went to Monument Park for a four mile run.  We then went to American Furniture Warehouse and bought couches (ouch!).  I'm not sure we needed to spend as much on them as we did (Dave Ramsey probably wouldn't be too happy about the purchase).  As we were driving home, Josh decided that we should go to the zoo.  We figured after living in the springs for a year, we should go check it out.

It's in a beautiful area snuggled in the side of a mountain (thus the name).  I quickly forgot about the beautiful area when we arrived to pay for our tickets.  $17.00/person??  Really?  Thankfully, our military discount helped but not by much!  While I lived in St. Louis, the zoo was free and in Albuquerque it's on a few bucks.  I've never been to a zoo that cost so much for admission.  Anyway, I digress.

Besides the cost, it was probably the nicest zoo I've ever been to.  There were lots of opportunities to pet animals.  The giraffe exhibit was probably my favorite.  Apparently it's the largest giraffe exhibit in the U.S.  Check out the picture below of me petting one.

 Josh checking out the giraffes

 Do you see the little animal on my shoulder (photography by my clever husband)

Army Life

Oh the joys of being an army wife...

If it isn't your husband being gone for weeks or months on end, it's "management" deciding to switch up plans last minute. I have a list of complaints but I won't go there (for now).  Army life can definitely be frustrating at times, but I'm very proud of my husband for being an amazing soldier who loves his job.

Part of the "fun" of army life is always having huge quantities of army gear everywhere.  We have a closet and a storage room filled.  I hear it only gets worse the longer you've been in the service. Good thing we don't have kids.  We would have NO room for them. :)

Currently, this is how our house looks:

I figured I should throw in a picture of my adorable puppy, Zoey. 

New House

I'm so excited to announce that Josh and I are FINALLY moving out of our apartments.  I really don't have a lot to complain about, but the combination of no privacy and pot smoking neighbors was getting a little annoying.

We found a cute victorian house downtown with lots of character (and by character, I mean it's old) :).  I'm thrilled to be in the downtown area mainly because there are lots of areas to go running and adorable coffee shops.  I'll be posting pictures once we've moved in and I've completed my decorating.  For now, here's a picture of the outside.

Running

I like to call myself a runner....although I'm not sure I can truly claim that title.  Maybe my expectations are too high.

I hated running in highschool.  I'd do it here and there, but I really wasn't a fan.  I envied people like my dad and sisters who were able to whip out miles of running so effortlessly.  I wanted to be that person.

Fast forward a few years.  I was in my early twenties and decided that I would make myself enjoy running.  I signed up for a few 5ks which were always fun, but I was SLOW.  My motto was always "slow and steady wins the race".  Come to think of it, that is still my motto.

I ran my first half marathon in 2009.  I was by no means the fastest person there, but there was such a huge sense of accomplishment after completing the run.  It was after that, that I decided that I wanted that "high" more often.  Thankfully, something switched inside of me and I can truly say that I enjoy running now.

Two months ago, I hurt my foot playing volleyball.  I never should have been out there in the first place; my hand-eye coordination is bad....no horrible!  I left the game hobbling on a swollen foot.  I stayed off my foot for two month, per the doctor's orders, hoping that I could begin running again.  Ok, I lied.  I didn't stay off my foot like I should have.  Two months later, and my foot is still not completely healed.  As most runners know, this is torture!  My impatience has gotten the best of me and I've begun running again.

I know.....bad!

Here's to hoping my foot heals soon so that I can accomplish a 5k dirty girl mud run in September.  I'll post pictures of this amazing event when the time comes!