Running, running...I think he's CRAZY!

Every year, I think Aaron and my uncle Bill are cah-razy for running 13.3 miles in a half marathon. Seriously? What possesses (that's a lot of s's!) people to go out and just run and run??? Maybe the same thing that possesses people to go out and take picture after picture? ;)

We got to the race and found a great spot to watch for them. Anna was in a mood. Yikes.

Waiting for Daddy and Uncle Bill. Jacob is just trying to figure a way OUT of the stroller!

Mile 13. They're only smiling because they see us. Before they saw us, they looked like someone was slowly and mercilessly causing great bodily harm to them.

But look at him...even after running 13.3 miles, he can still hold his precious kids! What a man :)

Uncle Bill taught Jacob "busted knuckles". He loves it!

So precious.

Here Daddy...let me help you stretch!

He'll even let Aunt Sandy play! :)

Hmmm...I wonder how far I can run before Mama will catch me?

Shoot! Not very far!

Goin' for a walk with Aunt Sandy and Uncle Bill.

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After taking long naps (except me and Anna! :P), we headed down to Great Grandma J's house. The kids had all kinds of fun playing and Grandma J had all kinds of fun being entertained by their antics!!

He would open the puppets mouth and say "Aaaahhhhhh!"

He really wasn't forlorn...I guess I just caught an "in between" expression. He was pretending to be a puppy and was playing fetch with the little pillow. It was pretty funny.

Oh my goodness. Saturday night, it HAILED like crazy and stormed. It was so loud. I couldn't believe it when we got up in the morning...it looked like it had snowed, there was so much hail! All that white above the sidewalk...is hail! I meant to take a picture at Grandma's house before we left, but I forgot. It was crazy.

Evidently we had crazy weather at home, too. A GIANT tree limb had fallen onto our carport and garden while we were gone. Lovely site to come home to, isn't it??

It destroyed one of my tomato plants :( There had to be at least 60 tomatoes on there. But I might be able to save. We'll see! Finally got all the limbs hauled off today. It took 2 pickup loads! We also had a big one down in the front yard.

Okay, I think I'm all caught up now! :)

Drum roll, please...

I finally got the pictures downloaded! Stop laughing at me Dad!! And well, Ange is just an awesome photographer, so there are a lot of pictures (and I still have more for another post...just on Jacob and Cubie!!) :)

Almost there! The last .1 mile....holy cow! They just ran 13 miles!!!

Uncle Bill and Aaron. I certainly wouldn't be standing, let alone smiling, after that. They're awesome.
"Yeah wight Daddy! You want me to dwink someting called Joint Juice?!? Gwoss!!!"
So that's where he gets the double chin! I've been wondering.....
I'm surprised he wasn't eating the grass...seriously.



Uncle Bill, Ange, Nate, Jacob (he's not so sure about Bill!) and Anna

The fam. A little awkward (trying to hold both kids) and it's nearly impossible to get both kids to look at the camera at once. But it's a picture of all of us! :)
Trying to keep up with big sister! He really takes off when he wants to and you have to run to keep up! :)


He decided to start walking only holding one hand that day. He did really good! Anna decided he still needed help, though.

I told you the tongue thing is genetic!

How cute is she?!

Such an innocent face. Don't believe it for a SECOND!!!

"What?! There's dessert too?!?!?!?!!?"

"Hehehehe. Just teasin' ya Jacob!"

Well, suffice it to say we had a great time! I'll post some pictures of Jacob and Cubie (Ange's HUGE black lab) later. Ange, thanks again for taking all these great pics and for sending me the CD! You got some awesome shots!

We're back and we're still alive

We're back from Colorado. Please don't fall out of your chairs and hurt yourselves, but I don't have any pictures to post yet! I know, I know. What's wrong with me?! I'll tell you what's wrong. It's those stupid batteries! I think I got 2 pictures taken (the first day we were gone, of course) and then the batteries died. Did I take extras or the charger? NO. But hey, I remembered my pillow. Gravy. Anyway, my wonderful cousin (who has an AWESOME camera) is mailing me a CD with the hundreds of wonderful pics she took (maybe not hundreds, but close!). So now you'll just have to read my boring words with no pictures...for now.
We had a great time, even if it was fast and we were on the move! We spent Thursday night and most of the day Friday with the Swiharts in western Kansas. FUN TIMES! :) And they took us to the county fair!!! Anna has a blast...well okay, we all had a blast! It's been a very long time since I've been to a county fair. And the coolest thing was that all the rides were run by the local people...no scary carnies (no offense, but come on!). AND the tickets were a quarter a piece! A QUARTER!!! So thanks for the wonderful time, Swiharts! We loved it.
Friday found us driving to Denver to stay with my cousin and prepare for the big race :) Which consisted of grilling and playing one measly round of cards (I'm not telling who won!) and sending the racers off to bed fairly early (by Stinemetz standards, anyway). They were up before dawn (that should be illegal) and the rest of us left a lot later. We made good time and no kids threw up this time! (Last time we went up Anna got really sick, we think from the quickly changing altitude?). We found a good spot close to the finish line and waited for Uncle Bill and Daddy to round to corner. They finished! :) My hat's off to them...everyone knows (they should anyway!) that I'd never come close to running 13.1 miles!!!!! After cooling down, we headed out to eat with everyone (some college friends came to watch--Thanks guys!) and then back to Ange's for Aaron's famous year-long nap. Jacob enjoyed using their giant lab (a gentle giant) as an obstacle course and Anna had fun playing with Isabel (so sweet of her to play with Anna!) After supper we headed to Grandma J's for the night. It was wonderful to spend time with her (wish it could have been longer!!)--I think the kids did a sufficient job of entertaining her! They were in top form with their silliness. We took her to church Sunday morning and then headed home after lunch. I have to say I didn't enjoy driving the whole way back in one day! It was really nice to break the trip up on our way out (even if it is only 8 hrs all together!)
Okay, that's enough. I'm so tired it's not even funny. So WHY AM I NOT IN BED AT 1AM?!?!?!?!? B/c I am my father's daughter! :) Here's to an uninterrupted sleep and late risers come morning.....HA!