Half Marathon

One of my goals before I turned 25 (yikes!) was to run a half marathon. Well since my birthday is in August I figured I had better get a move on. Hey, if people on the Biggest Loser can do it...I can too, right? I started training in January and then of course got sick (multiple times) and was really concerned since I had scheduled the half for the end of April. I had been talking to a friend from high school who was also interested in running it with me. I think I told Jeff about a million times that I was just freaking out and didn't want to do it, luckily he was sticking with it, so I felt like I had to!
As of race day I had only run around 7 miles consecutively so I was pretty concerned that I would almost be doubling that. Fortunately your body just kind of kicks in and knows what to do.
When we got there that morning it was freezing! I really wasn't sure whether I wanted to wear my sweater running or not because I was worried that once it got hot I wouldn't want it tied around my waist. I am really glad that I wore it, because it was really cold! I wore it until around mile 5 until it just got too warm.
I had my ipod to run with just in case, but Jeff forgot his and so we both ended up running without music...which actually turned out great! I usually run with music but could go either way. We talked the whole time. He is in the Air Force and we haven't really talked too much since high school so we had a lot to catch up on. The chatting made the time go by really quickly and before we knew it we had reached the end...ok not quite THAT quickly. I think around miles 9 and 10 we just wanted to be done! It didn't help that he had his Runkeeper on and it said that we had already run 12 miles. So by the time we got done with the half it said we had run 15.5 miles. Who knows? We didn't finish with a great time but the feeling of accomplishment was great! I am so glad that Shawn was able to be there. He thought he was going to have to work that day but was sick so he ended up coming to the race. He was so sweet and drove around to each area to yell and wave us on. Jeff's girlfriend was there at the finish line and it was just a really great feeling to be done!! We talked and he has to do another tour in Afghanistan but should be back by April next year and I think we are going to do it again!

Before the race in our matching outfits..not planned at all!

Can you tell how happy I am?!?!

The finish line. It's amazing how fast you go when you see the finish line. I was tired but man I sure moved when I saw the finish line! On-line it said that Jeff's time was better then mine but I think the picture shows otherwise! =)
Can't wait until next year!

Kings vs Lakers

There was a lot of talk in Sac last year about whether the Kings were going to be around this season. Shawn and I were talking one day and realized that we had never been to a game together...well we decided that we needed to fix that immediately!! Since we weren't sure whether they were going to be here we decided that we should go to a game that had some high profile players in it....hello Lakers!! I watch Keeping up with the Kardashians (only sometimes!) so of course I know who Lamar Odom is and who doesn't know who Kobe Bryant is? I hate to admit it but I really don't keep up with the Kings like I used to...back when they were really good and everyone loved them. It was a fun game and we had really good seats! It just so happened that my parents had a friend who had some extra tickets so they tagged along. We weren't anywhere near them....but I think they had fun too!!




Excuse the terrible picture quality....they were from my cellphone!

Shooting

While Luke and Alyssa were here we decided that we had to go shooting at my grandparents house and we had to make sure we did it before Conrad left on his mission! The times we had gone before he wasn't able to go so we wanted to make sure he got to experience it before he left for Argentina! I am so glad that my grandparents live on property that we can go up and enjoy. I especially love it in the fall/winter seasons when everything is nice and green!!

Shawn explaining the "game plan" with his tactical holster that I got him for Christmas

Alyssa (the photographer) and Luke

Come on Luke...it's not that loud!

Bryon and Christina...they weren't even married yet...he can't be sick of her already!

Byron....I wish I had been quicker with the camera...he did a dance before this and I caught the very end on video =(

Me killing the criminal...saving the hostage!

What?!?!

The beautiful view from my grandparent's porch (Courtesy of Alyssa)

Green Party

Sometimes you just have to mix it up, life can get boring and you just have to do something different. I decided that it would be fun to have a "Green Party" for St. Patrick's Day. I found some hats on sale at Michaels and just kind of went with it. I have to admit that I didn't make any of the food, Teresa and Cat (Shawn's aunts) provided all of that, I just come up with the ideas and they do the rest!! I thought it was kind of entertaining and luckily everyone went along with it. We had corn beef and cabbage, green salad and I did provide the Sprite!! Even Grandma stopped by and wore a Leprechaun hat. It was a lot of fun and I think we might make it a St. Patrick's Day tradition!

Shawn's Uncle Cody and Aunt Kat

Baby Angelina..she is so cute!

Herbie Shane

Bryon (doesn't he look excited?) and Grandma

Dylan

Me, Dylan and Shawn..don't mind me looking crazy!

Harry Potter

Last year Shawn and I went and saw a movie with some friends, it just happened to be the same night that Twilight was coming out. For the record, I am not a Twilight person...I know, I know!! I saw all of these people dressed up and decided that I wanted to go to a midnight premiere...the dilemma was deciding what movie I liked enough to go and see at midnight...Harry Potter of course! Somehow I convinced Shawn and his cousins to go with me to the midnight premiere in November. We had so much fun. It also happened to be Byron's birthday! I had class so had to meet them out at the theater. We all decided it would be funny to make homemade HP shirts and I think the boys definitely get an A+ for their creativity. It was a lot of fun and I'm so glad that we went, I don't know about the rest of them but I had a good time! There were some people that got really into it, but I'm proud to say we had a couple of people say they liked our shirts!! For the record the picture posted on the back of Byron's shirt is Shawn's dad!
Of course during the movie the boys were over the top. They cheered and started clapping, I'm suprised no one got mad, actually they were the trend setters. clapping and then other people would start too. It was definitely worth staying up until 3am!

Blogging

I'm not sure what is wrong with me but this whole blog thing has just seemed to be a pain lately. I feel guilty for not updating it, but I feel like it's just so time consuming. I know that I love looking back on what has happened but lately I just feel like facebook has been a lot easier to update with pictures. I know that I need to write down what actually happens in our lives because those are the things that I forget. I have had an amazing summer and I know that I need to get back on the bandwagon and document all of the fun things that we've been doing. Things are still the same in the Lemon household. Shawn is working (15+ hour days) and going to school (not sure how he does it all!). I am still working and going to school as well. Hurley is wonderful and we love him more and more everyday. Life is great! Hopefully I will get most of these things documented before the year is over...oh and about that...where has the year gone?? Yikes. Anywho, hope that everyone is doing well! Happy Blogging!

Skydiving

Ok this is back from September when I actually went skydiving but better late then never! Luckily I wrote this out but never got around to posting pictures or actually posting this...so here you go!
I have been majorly slacking when it comes to my blog....sorry folks. Summer has been crazy and I have been having way too much fun to sit down and write on my blog...but I know that I have to write about this or I will definitely forget! Today my dad, Shawn and I all went skydiving. It was incredible. The best way to describe it is that it is indescribable. There is just no way to describe what it feels like to fall out of an airplane. The adrenaline is amazing. My mom bought Shawn and I gift certificates to go. My dad and I have been talking about going since I was 18 and somehow we just never got around to doing it. My mom got sick of us all talking about it and so she finally just bought them. We all kept trying to find a day that worked and all of our schedules are so crazy that I told my mom we should just go on Labor Day. My dad wasn't a fan of the idea since he thought it would be packed but we decided to get there when the place opened and it wouldn't be so bad. We got to the Parachute Center around 8:30 and we were pretty much the first ones there. You sign your life away and "watch" a video on safety in skydiving. Going the first time is really nice because your instructor does everything, you don't have to worry about anything. I was actually fine pretty much the whole way through. There were probably about 20 people on the whole plane. We were crammed in kind of like sardines. The time when I really started freaking out was when they opened the doors and people started jumping out. I told my instructor that I changed my mind and we could just go back down. He said ok and turned around and then he pretty much lunged me out of the plane backwards. It was incredible. The first couple of seconds it was just so crazy. You're trying to catch your breath and figure out what the heck is going on. Once they pull the cord it's kind of crazy because you're so high up and you're just floating. I free fell for about 1 minute at about 120 mph and then once we landed I think I was just so relieved that I survived. I would definitely do it again and I am so glad that I got to experience it with Shawn and my dad. It is something that I will probably never forget.