Triple Crown...

I am so proud of Chad...

At the end of last year, he set a personal goal to run a half marathon. As he researched when and where he could run one, he set his sights on a Triple Crown of Half Marathons. He started training and on January 20 he ran the Carlsbad Half- Marathon.

He finished with a time of 1:54:30, 8:45 per mile
Overall he placed 1620 of 6334.
Men - 1085 of 2632
Age Division 35-39 - 188 of 429

In April, he ran in the La Jolla Half-Marathon. The course was harder. The weather was hotter.

Time 2:00:18, 9:16 per mile
Overall place - 980 of 4815
Men - 716 of 2250
Age Division - 131 of 402


This past Sunday, August 17, he ran in his third race to complete the Triple Crown.

We all drove down to San Diego on Saturday and stayed the night in a hotel. Chad needed to pick up his racing packet at the Fitness Expo on Saturday so we decided that it would be fun to make it into a weekend.

The girls love staying in a hotel. We were able to get a room at a hotel that was right along the race route.

We checked in to our room and went out to see the race route and have dinner. After dinner we went back to the hotel to swim.


Everytime we left the room, the girls all tried to be the first one to push the elevator buttons.

We went to the store to get some water to hand off to Chad during the race. (Abbey practiced her break-dancing while we waited in line.)

Ice cream at Cold Stone...

And back to the room for bed.

In the morning, Chad left early for the starting line. The race was starting at 7am so around 7:15am the girls and I went out in front of our hotel to wait for Chad to run by!


Once he ran by, we went back inside for breakfast. We were thinking of him while we ate waffles and pancakes.

He finished the race with a new personal best!

Overall - 1061 out of 6461
Men - 795 out of 3129
Age Division - 128 out of 515
1:51:05 - 8:29 per mile pace

This is Chad once we got home...


Good Job, Babe!!

Back to School!

This morning I awoke to another beautiful sunrise. It's a new day...the first day...OF SCHOOL!!! AGAIN! ALREADY!

I crept into the girls rooms to peek at them sleeping peacefully so that I would remember the day didn't start in total chaos.





After I got ready for the day, I checked to see how the girls were coming along...

Em...hair and make-up...

Meg...hair and teeth...

Abbey...making bed...

After breakfast we went out front for our yearly pictures at the front door.

Megan Jill - 6th Grade (First year at middle school)


Abigail Larue - 3rd Grade - Mr. McCandless (the first man teacher for our family)


Emily Nicole - 8th Grader - Yikes!



The girls had requested "breakfast burritos with potatoes, bacon, sausage and eggs" for breakfast. The each also had one small bowl of Captain Crunch Crunch Berries left from their trip to Gram and Grandfather's house.

At 8:00 am Megan and Emily left for school with our neighbor Ashley.

Normally, I drive the morning carpool, but today I wanted to stay with Abbey to see her off to her classroom.

I can't wait until they get home so I can hear all about their day!

14 Years!

Last week Chad and I celebrated our 14th anniversary.



Emily had an out-of-town friend here for the week and so we had decided ahead of time to put off going out on an "Anniversary Date" until we didn't have so much going on. Chad had to be in Newport Beach for work. I had 4 teenage girls (Em and 3 friends) and 2 more girls (Meg and Abbey) and a trip to the mall.



We decided to meet in our room at 8:00 pm for some time alone. Sometimes it's hard to remember that we are not just mom and dad, housekeeper and electrician, cook and accountant, nurse and playmate, taxi driver and financier, but that we are also husband and wife.



By the time the day was done, and we finally did get to our room together it was 9:30 pm. We were tired and out of gas. We laughed a little about how it had been "just another" day around our house.

C: "I'm sure there are a lot of couples who don't make a big
deal on their anniversary sometimes."
S: "I'm sure that there are plenty of couples who make sure that they make their anniversaries a big deal every year."

But then he said something else.

He said that there were a lot of couples who never make it to 14 years.



He is right of course. How sad. I can't imagine the havoc and pain and chaos that some families endure because of divorce.

It was nice to realize that just because we didn't make a big deal on the day of our anniversary doesn't mean that we aren't committed to each other. It doesn't mean that our relationship isn't a priority. Both of us would rather give ourselves the benefit of being flexible in a sometimes hectic life.



So we talked about some of the highlights (and lowlights) of the last 14 years. Obviously there were the births of our children, but how about things like buying our first home, and now our second. We went on some great vacations, we were able to send our kids to Christian school for many more years that we'd even hoped. We moved back to Southern California to be near our family. And we talked about how even our lowlights aren't really that low and there have only been a couple.



We decided that we're a good team. We work well together and our strengths and weaknesses balance each other out.



I am so thankful to the Lord for the husband and father that Chad is to me and the girls. He is a blessing in our lives and he gives so much of himself to and for us.

Here's to the next 14 years...

(Oh, and by the way, we did get to go on that date...)

Emily & Elizabeth

Emily's friend Elizabeth was able to fly down from Modesto for a visit this week. They have had so much fun! We've been keeping busy with mall, movies, beach and sleepovers. Oh, to be 13!

Summer Camp

Some of my very best memories of growing up were my yearly trips to Quaker Meadow. I would look forward to that week every year. The night before I couldn't sleep. I was so excited.

Today, we sent Megan off to her first camp experience. She was excited about the fun she knew she would have, but nervous because she didn't know anyone. She told me she would journal about each day so she could tell me all about it. I can't believe she is at camp...I want to go...

the beach

One of our favorite things about living in Southern California is living close enough to go to the beach on a regular basis. We especially like to go in the late afternoon when the crowds are leaving and then we stay until the sun sets. Abbey stays in the water until you drag her out.

More Cousins!

Today we spent a couple of hours playing with our Lennertz cousins. These are my cousin Wesley's kids, William (4), Joshua (3) and Kathryn (17 mo.). Emily loved keeping an eye on Kathryn. Megan showed the two boys how to do some tricks on the trampoline. Everyone had fun, fun, fun!