Portland, Oregon

Last week I got the opportunity to travel to Portland, OR for the first time. Monday & Friday were my travels days but I conducted training Tues. & Thursday so I go to do something each afternoon/evening and Wednesday took a half day to do some sight seeing as well. I very much missed Mitch and little miss Adrian but they got to spend some good quality time with just the two of them together.

Multnomah Falls, Portland OR

I was quite impressed with the job my crappy Kodak camera did. It looks like it took pretty good scenic pics, however moving pics of Adrian are a whole different story.

These were stairs that lead up to a bride close to the falls. Yes, it is the rainy season in Oregon.
This could be a post card!!!

You can see the bridge we hiked to which was very wet. There was a lot of mist coming off the falls. I was afraid all of my pics would have water spots.

Bryan Slauson & I on the bridge. Bryan is another trainer in the NSS Portland location. He took me to all the sight seeing spots, which was great.

Hug Pointe, OR...The Pacific Coast!!

Mommy missing her little girl!

If anyone loves the movie "The Goonies" this was taken at Cannon Beach which is were the rocks are in the movie.

Trick or Treat

Here are some pics from Halloween weekend. We had perfect weather for a night of trick or treating. Adrian enjoyed it more this year, she is a collector so she likes getting her candy and putting it in her bag. She said thank-you at every house and Trick or Treat at about half.

We got a hungry Bee on the loose!

Aunt Jamie and Trice came with us so Adrian had some company. Trice was a shark for Halloween. Next year we will have to cordinate their costumes. Maybe Trice can be a horse and Adrian a little cow girl :)

The Big Two!!!

Last Friday, Oct. 22nd Adrian turned officially two at 7:01pm. She has changed so much from her 1 yr birthday.

This was taken back in Rockford at Grandpa & Grandma Harden's House.

Someone is excited to watch the Hawks play.

The family on pins and needles watching the Iowa game.


Adrian's Big Bird & Elmo cake, which she loved. Adrian even got a little finger poke into the frosting before the party :)

Enjoying those birthday cards!

The birthday girl decided to use one of her gifts as a chair as she opened her next card :)

Daddy giving Adrian's new baby girl a big ole kiss!

Adrian's 2 year stats from her Monday appt.

Height: 36 inches 90%

Weight: 30 lbs. 85%

Head: 18.75 inches 55%

Mommy the Marathoner!

26.3 Would be Crazy!!

26.2 miles that's ok, but 26.3 that would be crazy to run :) Well I am officially a marathoner now that I have completed my 1st marathon. I competed in the IMT Des Moines Marathon on Oct. 17th. I could not of asked for better weather it was absolutely gorgeous! Thanks for all the support it was great seeing Daddy, Adrian, and Grandma Harden in Drake Stadium as I ran around the blue track. Also Amanda & Scott Eichmeier were there to cheer me on.

It felt really good to physically be able to run close to 4 hours straight, it is a feeling I don't want to lose, so I think that means I am officially hooked :)

Below is a mixture of professional pics from the race and snap shots from Kate Fischer

(She took pics while holding signs, cheering, and ringing a bell, thank u for multi-tasking!)

A big thanks to the best sister ever and a great friend Kate Fischer who traveled to a total of 3 different stops to give me water, food, cheers, and the occasional Ibuprofen.

This was the 1st spot Jamie and Kate were waiting, mile 4. Only 22 more miles to go! It is weird how consistent everyone is. The man ahead of me in the yellow and the man behind me in the batman shirt we all ran close to each other and in that order through the whole race.

Mile marker 24 out at Gray's Lake. I was hurting at this point.

There were water stations every 2 miles, but the bottled water was nice to have with just 2 miles left.

If anyone is considering doing a marathon Des Moines put on a very organized, efficient, beautiful run. I would do it again next year!

Finished in 3 hours 53 minutes!

Home Sweet Home

Sorry for the lack of blogging, last week was our first full week back in the house with most the repairs actually done. Some of you may not know in addition to our water damage claim to our basement in August we also had a small electrical fire nine days later. Yes, we have had a string of bad luck. Also had to pay 1k for a new water heater, but things can only go up from here :)

On top of all of the home issues we have been dealing with I am in the midst of training for my 1st marathon on Oct. 17th in Des Moines. It is something I wanted to accomplish before I turn 30 and with my 29th birthday fast approaching I thought I better go for it this year. Training hasn't been easy, I have calluses, a black toe nail, sore legs & sore hips, but hopefully it will all be worth it come Oct. 17th. I ran my longest run ever on Sunday, took me 3 hours in the rain/mist to run 20 miles. I can barley walk today but it gives me hope I can add on another 6.2 miles and deal with hills on the actual marathon route. If anyone wants to come out and watch the run let me know, I would love the cheers and support. I will need it :)

This is a pic of our living room which is where the firefighters cut 2 holes in our ceiling to take out the hot wire and insulation is all over everything. We stayed in a hotel for a couple of weeks, which sounds fun but not with a toddler that wants a whole house to run around in. It is nice being back in the house and able to use the main floor, next we need to get working on getting drywall up on all the walls in the basement and carpet ordered so we can start utilizing the basement space again.

Here's Little Miss Hollywood, she loves wearing her sunglasses everywhere and playing with Mitch's old cell phone.

Adrian was invited to her friend Gracin's 2 yr Birthday party on Sunday. Little girls love their babies!

Adrian***Gracin***Claire

Hectic couple of weeks!

Things have been kind busy/crazy around here with work, training for my marathon, flooding of the basement, trips to the zoo & fair, and just the normal everyday activities. I have been behind on my posts so I have some pics from a few weeks ago also.

Yes, these are "Mr. Potato Head's" glasses, but you can't convince Adrian of that! She loves putting his glasses on and wearing them around the house, very funny and cute :)

I had to put this butt crack picture up. This is Adrian standing too close to the tv watching "Wipe Out" which has no educational value what so ever but does get a few laughs out of us.

Adrian & Preston's playdate from a couple weeks ago. We went to Altoona to spend the day with Amanda & Preston and see the parade. They had a good time as always and we got way too much candy from the parade. MMM...snack time!!

Tots waiting in anticipation!

So last Wed. I was awoken at 2:30am by Mitch saying our basement is flooding. Up until this point in the over 3 years we have been in our home we have never has any water come in anywhere. Well, I never thought of the city having water back-up into their system and then into our home. So, we had tons of water rushing in through our toilet in the basement, we had about 2-3 inches in the bathroom and staircase landing and then saturated carpet and padding everywhere else. Luckily Mitch woke up when he did so we were able to save a lot of stuff before all of the carpet was wet.

This is after the city got pumps going and the water stopped and had receded. Looks pretty gross!

This is my antique vanity from my grandma...thank goodness no damage. As you can see the blocks of wood we put under all of the furniture. Mitch was out sawing wood at 3am on wed.

Here is the bar and random stuff we were trying to get off of the ground

Yuck...lots of wet carpet. We had to remove all of the carpet and padding in the entire basement (Thanks Adam & Eric for all of your help :) and some damage personal property (x-mas tree, down comforter, luggage, car seat, etc) Since it is considered "dark" water which means untreated sewage water pretty much any fabric item has to go, since that can't be properly disinfected. We will get 5k for coverage since it was back-up of water through the drains, so I am thankful for that. I know there are a lot of people that have water damage but it is considered flood, my sister being one of those.

Sat. Grandma Harden came down for a visit which was nice we just kind of hung out since we were going to be busy the next couple of days. Sunday morning I got my longest run in so far in preparation for the marathon in Oct. I ran to Ankeny and back for a total of 14 miles....still need to add on another 12 more miles, yikes!

By 10am Grandma, Adrian, and I were at the Des Moines zoo enjoying the DRY, gorgeous weather.

Adrian & Grandma feeding the ducks and fish. I would have to say the giraffes were her favorite, she was squealing and giggling up a storm looking at them:)

Monday was a full day at the fair, with Grandpa, Niece Olivia, and Nephew Chris. Sorry no pics , we were just enjoying and I didn't want to be worried about snapping a bunch of photos. Adrian got to see all sorts of horses, pigs, cows, sheep, and eat a Iowa State Fair corndog.

Can't beat that!!!

Before I forget...Adrian has now gone on the potty twice, which we haven't really been working on potty training so hopefully she will pick it up fast. Our plan is to for sure get working on the potty training by her 2 year b-day in Oct. so it is fast approaching. Adrian has already transitioned into her toddler bed, which is just her crib with the railing off and a toddler rail put on. She has done great only 2 of the 4 nights have been any tears when putting her to bed and those were the 1st 2. She wasn't quite sure if she liked the new change :)

Trip back home to Rockford

We made the 2 hour trip back home this past weekend for a couple of events, Mitch & I had our 10 class reunion as well as the town's Fun Days. We went to the parade which was pretty short but for a toddler with a short attention span that works out just fine. The parade didn't start until noon though and Adrian never slept on the drive up North so she was starting to get tired.

Adrian enjoyed collecting all of the candy and putting it in her bag but didn't like the fire truck sirens. Little too loud for her sensitive ears, heck she is even scared of the vacuum let alone 6 trucks with the sirens blaring.

Izzy is the newest addition to the Harden household, Grandma & Grandpa recently adopted her from the local shelter. Adrian is a little scared of her since she is a pretty active puppy, but she sure loves saying "Issy" which sounds so cute :)

Grandma trying to swing higher then little Miss Adrian :)

All smiles here...Adrian would be happy if she got to spend most of her day swinging.

Sat. night Mitch and I headed out to the Rockford Country Club for the class reunion. Grandpa was called to duty as Grandma was on call at the hospital over night. Thank You Grandpa for babysitting :)

It was good to get to see about half of our graduating class and to catch up with everyone! I can't believe it has been 10 years since Mitch and I graduated, seems like not that long ago we were living back in Rockford. Or to think back to all of the changes since our 5 year reunion, there have been so many. From moving to Polk City, starting a job with Nationwide Insurance, Mitch started working from home, buying a house, & the biggest change....having Adrian.

Jennifer & Steph

Steph, Kate, Kim, & Jessi

The Girls!

Don't we look great, I think we could pass for 21 or 22 :)

Heading back to Polk City Adrian got to catch a good hour nap with her paci, favorite blanket and pillow.