Hy-Vee Triathlon and meeting Baby Claire!

This past weekend, Jason and I headed down to Des Moines for him to participate in the Hy-Vee Triathlon!  This is a very popular traithlon for the "Pros" who come from all over the world to race.  The prize for the top male and female finisher is $150,000!  Jason is not considered a "pro"--he is just an age group amateur, but finished the race 16 out of 57 in his age group! 

Here he is after swimming...running to his bike!

Running after getting off his bike...just a quick 6 miles...no big deal!

GO Jason!

The Hy-Vee Finish line!  It's pretty fancy!

So proud!  And look at that great backdrop!  Iowa is the place to be! 

The Herrick girls! I love my sister-in-laws and my mother-in-law!

Titus and Dick pose for a funny picture!

We got to meet Claire, my cousin Sabrina's baby this weekend too!  Baby Claire has LOTS of hair...I love her so much! 

She was a little squirmer, but a cuddler too! 

Greta turns 10 & four wheeling!

This picture sums up my husband and his love for ATVs....its quite intense! 

Scott popping a wheelie!  Notice we are ALL wearing helmets-safety first!

I think Andy looks like a little kid in this picture the way he is smiling!

Watch out!

Show off! ;)

Getting mud whipped at me as I try to get a cool shot!

Dad's beans-they are up to the boys' chests-can you even see Greta??

Happy birthday little girl-you were a total suprise, and continue to amaze me with how smart you are.  I am so blessed to have a little sister.  I love you!

Happy wishes are sure to come-shes 10! :)

Bachelorette Party FUN!

Bridget's Bachelorette Party!!!

We set sail on Clear Lake last Saturday with a great group of girls! :)

-Pictured above are my sister-in-law, Holly, and soon-to-be sis in laws Danna and Bridget!

Here is the BRIDE-TO BE! :)

I must say-the slide off the top deck of the pontoon was quite fun-this is me going down...notice the life jacket-safety first!

Danna the daredevil going in HEAD FIRST!

Enjoying a drink after boating... from here we went back to Bridget's aunt's home and had massages and did our toenails.  Then we went out to the bar in town called The Island and practiced our dancing for the wedding! :)

Back to reality-here is Jason and I!

Papa Herrick and little Winny-he rocked her to sleep!

4th of July, 2011!!

On Sunday, Jason and I headed out to the 1st annual Red, White, & Blues...& BBQ too festival in Charles City!  We got to try some BBQ ribs from 16 some different grill masters.  Some were sweet, others more salty, but all were very good!  Adam and Andy were helping a fellow BBQ'ing friend.  The picture on the bottom right is of two guys that I graduated with!  Go Pat and Brendan!

On the 4th, Jason, Danna, and Justin participated in the Firecracker 5 mile race!  Bridget and I ran the water station, while Adam manned the traffic control. 

Jason got 2nd in his age group and was very happy with his run!  Danna was the overall female first place finisher in the 5 mile run!

Frank-the cat-entertained us at the Herrick house on the 4th!

Titus celebrated his birthday a day early on Monday and it was great to see him and Winny and Cici! 

We hope you had a safe and fantastic 4th! 

Saturday in the Park & 4th of July

This weekend Jason and I headed to Sioux City with some friends to see a few people up on this stage!

Saturday in the Park was the name of this thing we went to...

There was lots of people...this was in the morning...it was probably 5x as many by the time the main acts were on stage.

Here are the two people we went with...Jessi and Todd.  Jason works with Todd...and they are so much alike!  I KNOW that Jason and him were brothers in a different life.

Jason and I enjoying the music...

Here is the first main act-Grace Potter.  She has an amazing voice!

And next was Cee Lo Green....

The main act was Ben Harper...he was amazing!  This was Jessi & Todd's 14th time seeing them!  WOW!  We were probably 20 feet from the stage-it was great!

The flooding in Sioux City was pretty significant...

While on our way home, we stopped at a Casey's in Sac City and noticed this little red shed across from it.  Turns out it was the World's Largest Popcorn Ball!  Yea-it was awesome!

Around the "popcorn ball shed" we found a small "old time" village!  Their was a little church and we got a picture by it. 

It was a great weekend....stay tuned for tomorrow's post about the rest of our 4th of July weekend!

What's the plan....stan?

Here is our plan for this weekend...

&

Cee Lo Green

&

Ben Harper

&

FIREWORKS!

BIG plans this weekend people!  BIG PLANS!

Speaking of plans...

Are YOU a planner?

I am.

My lovely husband, Jason, not so much.

When i first started dating Jason, he would tell me he would be at my house to hang out or pick me up at a certain time. 

It was rarely ever that time.

It usually was AT LEAST an hour late, but I do recall being upwards of 2 hours at one point.

Anyway-he realized that being late all the time to pick me up might make me a little crabby.

And don't get me wrong, I am NOT a down to the minute planner.  Nope-not me.

But punctuality is quite important to me.  I hate being late to church, parties, my parents' house.  It just drives me nuts!

Take this weekend for instance-I am trying to firgure out what I need to pack/bring/make for camping, and also find out when I need to take off work, be ready, and when we are meeting, etc. 

Jason was very little help to me on this. 

And I was getting nervous!  What if we were late?  What if we don't bring something?  Are we driving? 

This list can go on and on and on and on...

In the end I had to find out from the other party that we are attending this weekend of fun with to get the jist of what was going on.  -By NO means is this a bad thing!  I just had to do it for my sanity!

Jason keeps me on my toes-but I am grateful that he has a laid back personality too.  He doesn't get worked up about being late, forgetting something, being in the wrong place.  He keeps a level head and is calm.

He makes me remember that no matter how much I want to be on time, with all the right crap....not everything will go just as planned.  It's taken me a long to time to come to that conclusion. 

So-here's to being a few minutes late, forgetting to pack the ketchup, and spending time making memories that will last!  Because really, that last one is all that matters!

Hopefully I will have some pics close to the ones I pulled off the internet above of the performers--->That would be pretty sweet!

When boating doesn't work...make chinese food!

On Sunday, Jason, I, Bridget, and Adam had made plans to go boating! 

All week the weatherman kept saying that in our area, Sunday was going to be beautiful. 

He was a liar.

It was kind of chilly, and it rained a little too.

We were sad [insert sad face here].

So what do you do when you can't go boating....?

Well of course you make chinese food!

That, my friends, is homemade sesame chicken.  Yep. 

My personal favorites....crab ragoons.  Baked!

Adam's specialty...fried rice! 

Maybe next time we will get to take the boat out!  I have my fingers crossed!

Sub City & Disc Golf

 Jason and I headed down to Waverly last night to eat some Sub City, and do some disc golfing!  Sub City is EASILY my favorite sandwich place...no one can come close to how they make them!

Here is our collection of discs...long range, mid range, and putter.

Jason trying to make it to the basket...

So close!

This was one of my shots...I believe it was on hole 7...I was so close to losing my disc in the river!

This is a great disc golf course, and also a really nice park.  We will be back soon!