rOaD cOnDiTiOnS

Taking mom and dad to the airport was an adventure in itself! We figured once we got off of the back roads we wouldn't have any problems getting to the airport. Boy, were we wrong! Highway 109 and Interstate 40 were HORRIBLE! What should have been an hour and a half trip to and from the airport took us two and a half hours!
















The first picture is I-40 headed east and the second picture is Hwy 109 headed north. We were literally making up our own lanes because you could not see lines on the roads.

Of course our road wasn't much better, but we expected that because it is a back road!

Anyhow, after our trek to the airport and numerous checks to make sure the flights were on time, mom and dad returned home that evening because of weather in Philly! They did get out safely the following day and have made it back to Ireland without any problems.

In case anyone is wondering, we are out of school again, waiting for the ice to melt and make driving safe for everyone! : )

Winter Update 2010

So as you all know, there were some unexpected events that occured earlier this year encouraging us to give up the contract on the house. Since two houses have now fallen through, we have decided to give up on finding a house and concentrate on other things at this point. With that being said, Moon and I are in the final stages of foster parenting with DCS. Hopefully we will hear something within the next couple of weeks. I will definitely keep everyone posted on that!

Mom and Dad were able to make a journey in town for a week, which was nice. While they were home, we received 3 inches of snow and about an inch of ice! Moon and I had a ball in the pasture with the 4 wheeler and an old truck hood! I think mom and dad enjoyed watching as much as I enjoyed riding!

nEw HoUsE?

Moon and I have been looking at A LOT of houses. We found one we like, so we put an offer on the table. After some negotiating, the seller accepted the price we offered. It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, brick house in Castalian Springs. And yes, it has a garage for Moon. It is an attached 3 car garage that is finished! This is a great location for us because now we are in the middle of both of our parents!

View from Back Patio

Kitchen

Dining Room

No house, but new furniture.

So, the whole house deal fell through. It is what it is. It wasn't meant to be and we accept that. We have moved on. We looked at several other houses today and have it narrowed down. I want to go look again just to be sure.

Although we don't have a house, we do have new furniture. We had purchased it when we thought we would be moving in, so we had to pick it up. We are enjoying it (as is Boo). It's very comfortable and will be ready to move when we find a house. (We also have a wedge piece and another sofa in the garage. There's too much to put in the house!) The "M" on the couch is the one I made to go in our living room.

FaLl CoLoRs

Since Ireland doesn't get a whole lot of color change, I thought I would walk around campus and take pictures of the beautiful colors of Fall cropping up all over. Enjoy!

Our New House

We went to the new house today to do an inspection. I took a few pictures but I was uncomfortable taking pictures of the house while the current owners were home. I didn't take any inside, just outside. I also got a picture of Moon's new truck so you could see that too.

Our well

Marine 5K Mud Run

So my friend Debbie asked me if I liked to run. I started laughing and said, "No, I don't like running, but I do it anyway." Then she asked me if I liked to get dirty. "Heck, yeah!" I said. Hence...the Mud Run.

Our team name was the Balled and the Beautiful. 6 girls, 2 guys. Front row: Michel, Hunter, Stephanie, Pace, Chad. Back row: Brad, Debbie, Me. And we were there to get muddy.

The mud run is a 3.2 mile obstacle course put together by the Marine Reserves in Knoxville, TN. The run starts out up a small paved hill then turns onto a grassy field marked off into lanes. The obstacles seem innocent at first with a few log hurdles you have to climb over, a little more running, a dry sand pit you have to army crawl through, more running, a slightly muddy zigzag, more running, thigh deep water you have to wade through (see left). But even at this point we were not that muddy. Then as soon as you left the water we were faced with an unbelievable incline probably only 50 feet long... but it was all mud. Not get your feet stuck mud, this was "lets make this a mudslide" mud. So this herd of 100 people or so are trying to get up this thing all at the same time. Some brave souls go at it at a run, smarter people walk and try to find safe footholds. I walked, yet my luck ran out. The girl in front of me landed on her knees and started sliding my way. I stopped her with my legs, but my legs didn't stay under me. So I was down...and kept sliding down. (First one of our group down, too.) The girl behind me wasn't nice and didn't try to help me up, so when she went to step over me, I tripped her (j/k she tripped over her own foot.) Finally, I was able to regain my footing thanks to a nice guy you lent me a hand. Not 2 seconds later, I was down again and sliding faster. Digging my toes in wasn't helping, so I dug my fingers in and I'm still looking for my right index finger's nail. (Kidding again) FINALLY, I got to the top with help from Brad, and the others were waiting on me with evil little grins. I think I made someone money, because I am sure they took bets on who was gonna fall first.

Well, the trail continued on a flatter note but was still slick after the rain the night before and the 300-400 pairs of feet that had trampled across it earlier. Then we came to Over Under. 6 telephone poles over a "Ima gonna steal yo' shoes" mud pit. First two you had to climb over. No biggie. (Though I do feel sorry for the girl who got a mud full of face/face full of mud when I kicked my leg over, but she shouldn't have been so close.) The last 4 poles were getting progressively closer to the mud, and you had to crawl under or the marines yelled at you.

By the time you got out of the mud pit, you had gained ten pounds on your feet, and you were still expected to run. So trot I did, for a little while. Then I walked, then jogged, then walked and complained, then jogged and walked. We came to the High Knees Tires, and surprisingly I didn't fall. Walked/Jogged some more, jogged up a hill to 3 giant PVC pipes with a thin layer of mud on the bottom to help slide through. Also, they had tiny jagged rocks that imbedded themselves in arms, palms, knees, or any other flesh they had the misfortune of meeting. I truly believe marines are sadists (though they didn't put those rocks in on purpose... I think). Another quick run downhill to another part of the lake we had to wade through, across a parking lot, into grass, to a shoulder high wall. I got over it first try. It wasn't pretty. It was spastic, but somehow I landed on my feet. More infernal running. Another mud pit to crawl through. Another big ass hill with less people on it (I didn't fall!). More walk/jogging. Army Crawl through mud with marines telling us to keep our butts down, and two girls (Me and Pace) telling them if they had butts, they would be having the same problem we were. A quick jog, under a one wire, to the last stretch. A quick wait for everyone to catch up so we could finish together. An older drill sargent yelling at us to "Pick it up! You had better not be slowing to crawl, there!" Me attempting to give said clean drill sargent a hug (he was very agile and only got his hands dirty). Me sprinting to catch up with the group and us finishing at 59 minutes and 10 seconds on the clock which translates to 55 minutes and ?? seconds from our start time. Not too shabby! We had a blast, got some pictures (Left: Debbie, Me, Pace), then all jumped in the lake to clean off as best we could. I would love to do it again next year, and that is the plan if our clinicals are in the area. Hope you guys enjoyed the play by play and the pictures! Love, Em

The Balled & the Beautiful

1st row: Michel

2nd row: Chad, Hunter, Pace, Stephanie

3rd row: Brad, Debbie, Me