Packed Up and Headed Out

Well, we are off for what we fondly refer to as our "family tour". We are going to celebrate Thanksgiving with family in Illinois, and then are going to Pennsylvania to spend time with more family and nature (hunting). : ) We are super excited and have been looking forward to these couple of weeks for quite some time. As you can see, we are all packed up and ready to head out (minus one dog in the picture--she's scared of the suitcases). : ) We are very thankful for the ability to go spend time with our family, as well as for having each other and all the wonderful friends God has blessed us with (including all of you), among many other blessings. Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays and we can't wait to eat some great food with family! I hope your Thanksgiving is a joyous occasion, as well!

Holiday Traditions

Carl and I have been talking lately about starting traditions during the holidays. Since we are usually not at our house for the actual holidays, I guess we do have some traditions with family, but want to come up with a few of our own. Nothing big or costly, just simple things like homemade hot chocolate at Christmas and reading the Christmas story on Christmas day before the Christmas meal, or a certain homemade pie always at Thanksgiving. It's so fun to have such traditions, because even though they are simple, they are yours and make the holiday time special and specifically yours. Thinking of this made me wonder, what are your traditions, if you don't mind sharing?

'Tis Almost the Season!

It's almost Christmas! I can't believe it's almost that time of year again, can you? I know, I know, we have Thanksgiving yet (my other favorite holiday), but yesterday I went out and did 90% of my Christmas shopping, and now have 80% of the gifts wrapped! You may notice that none of the gifts have bows, but that is because they still have to travel. I am no longer working for a bit now, and am trying to get ahead of things before it's too late. Time always starts to fly once Thanksgiving is over. Just wanted to share my excitement! : )

A Day to be Thankful

As you know, today is Veteran's Day, so I wanted to put up a post to thank the Veteran's we know. It is so terribly easy to just take for granted all that we have living in the greatest country on earth (no matter it's current state). The freedoms that we enjoy daily were not easy to attain and to even keep. Did you know that the men who wrote the constitution did so knowing that they were willingly risking their lives, the lives of their families, and all that they had and owned, and some of them lost it all. I think it's only right that we remember and thank the men and women who have served to keep these freedoms, as well as their families. Also, remember those who have lost their lives and their families to preserve our freedoms.

Here are just a few of the veteran's we know and love and want to thank today:

Ken Swedberg (Grandpa)

William Bosch (Grandpa)

Dave Hoffschneider (Grandpa)

Ken Bodin (Father)

Bruce Bodin

Jay Abbott

Gene Abbott

Jack Abbott

Nathan Speer

Jake Hughes

"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it."---George Bernard Shaw

Thank God for those who are and were not afraid to take responsibility.

There are many more we know and those who we remember. So, just remember all it costs for us to simply write freely on our blogs, to raise your children the way you want to, and to live where you choose. Also, please continue to pray for our country, and for those who defend and lead it.

My Bag

So lately I have had the urge to create, and after a few botched attempts at a decent piece of clothing, I decided to try something more on my level...a bag. I have been wanting a new purse anyhow, so in order to help boost my confidence back to the level where I can again attempt something more complicated, I decided to make one! Here is the end result. : )

Sorry the picture is kind of dark.

This shows a more true image of the fabric.

I thought it was gorgeous and it was a remnant that was on super sale.

My inside fabric (also on sale) and my large middle inside pocket.

Some of you great seamstresses are laughing I am sure, but this is an accomplishment for this novice. : ) Next I think I'll knit for a bit on a project I started last winter. It's almost the scarf time of year again!

(Sorry about the spacing of this paragraph---I can't seem to figure that out, with this post and the last.)

We did it!!

First a little background---since August, Carl and I have been training to run a half-marathon (13.1 miles). Well, early this past Sunday morning we put all of our training into use. We did it! We rolled out of bed, jumped into our running gear, drove to the site, and ran our 13.1 mile race, all in time to still get to Sunday school! : )

We both have wanted to run a full marathon for a long time (before we met each other), and this was our first hurdle on our way to someday running that, though I will admit, around mile 11 or so, I started to think a half-marathon was far enough! As I said, we have been training for quite some time, and it paid off, as we both ran a much faster race than anticipated. No way would we have gone into it without such training. Carl finished the race in 1 hour 51 min, placing 10th out of 22 in his age group, and 107 out of 359 runners total! I finished in 2 hours 5 min, placing 7 out of 18 in my age group, and 203 out of 359 runners total! We are proud to officially be able to call ourselves runners now. : ) Okay, enough of that, I just wanted to share our victory with you.

Below are a few pictures from the race photographer.

Let the race begin!

Carl on the run checking his time. He's the one checking time in the center with a white long-sleeved shirt (in case you couldn't tell). : )

Me concentrating on passing that guy in front of me. : ) I'm the second one in the photo, in the long blue shorts, gray t-shirt, and black long-sleeve shirt underneath. : )

A view of the race route. The funny think about the route is that it was the road to the Navy base, and the road we drive to work every day. So, we had plenty of time to scope it out over and over and over again. Now every time we drive to work we area amazed at how quickly you really can cover ground in a car! : )