baby pigs...

Saturday, 4/21/12

About a week ago Lydia said, "I hold baby pigs Mommy!"  I asked her if she meant baby chickens... and she said it again, "No Wydia hold baby pigs Mommy," as she held out her little hands in a cradle.

So I text Sean Baragary and told him that L3 was requesting to see baby pigs... and viola ~ an invite to Merley's Sow Unit to see baby pigs. :D

She was really excited as you can see...

So were the big girls.  And funny thing, they said they had never been to see baby pigs before!

I had to show them these pictures to prove them wrong ;)  This is March 2009, Lauren is almost almost 4 & Lindsay is 2-8months.

 Slight size difference against the pens!

Not sure Lauren could fit in there like that now!

How time flies!

Lindsay is so small!! (tear) Just a little bit older than Lydia is right now.

I see similarities :)

And Sean never misses an opportunity to surround himself with kiddos... and everyone was invited! With friend, Parker Kress...

She was so serious about holding the pigs and did not want the baby to squeal at all... she listened intently just like with the baby chicks & eventually held very gently.  She kept saying, "shhh" to the pigs :)

'Uncle Sean' in his prime :D

with friends Rylee Short & Kreighton Peck

Here he is 3-years ago doing the same thing!

 My mom & dad were also on this visit which is why I have this picture... I was preggo w/Lydia and didn't know it!

 And a sow unit doesn't make a great back-drop for pictures... but you gotta snap when you can get the smiles! Isn't Mr. Kael  the cutest?!?  With beautiful Momma too!

Tate Youngblut & Owen Kress... I just love this picture of the two of them :D

We'll have to keep the tradition going - thanks again Sean!

Shamrock Shuffle 5K

Saturday morning, 4/14/2012! 

Shamrock Shuffle at St. Patrick's Catholic School in Cedar Falls, IA... 

My first 5K & the girls' first Kids Fun Run. :D  Here they are with Kelly Lange's little girls...

And Kreighton Peck!

Like our  matching sequin headbands? ;) Gift from the Easter Bunny and I have on Lydia's. Let me tell you, getting out of the house w/her headband (for me to wear) was a feat in itself! Lauren & I had fun hiding it from her... all so we could match of course!

Was super cute, this lady was leading all the kids in what I think was a 'Zumba' dance...
Just love the girls' sweatshirts... it was Lauren's idea to put Beyer on the back :)

Here is after the race... shiny faces & all.  I thought I'd look worse than that since I literally thought I was going to get sick the last 1/2 mile ;) I'm going to try a different tactic next time I try one of these :D

Love this picture... looks like a great start to a set of 'comparison pictures' in the years to come! (B/c I hope there are many more of these to come!)

After the 5K was over 4-6 yr-olds went first, a race around the block!  Lindsay took it pretty seriously :)  Here she is stretching ;)

Lauren almost 7 & Lindsay 5-8months

like Lauren's stretch?

Waiting on instructions...

Group led stretching... very cute, and happy they emphasized it!

On your marks...

Get set...

GO!

Like Lauren taking a short-cut? ;)

One block around...

into the homestretch...

and Lindsay lost her headband.

off again!

finishing!

happy w/their medals :)

Thanks to Maggie's Mom, Grandma Sharon for watching them while we ran!

And as far as my 1st 5K experience?  It wasn't that great :) thought to myself... "I paid to do this?!?"  Lots of hills and never found a groove.  So... Maggie insists that I not base my '5K-experience' on this sole run alone :) I suppose we'll give another one a try at some point... and it will have to include a kids run, b/c after Lindsay was finished she said, "I want to do that again!" :D

What you don't know won't kill you, it will only make you stronger

"I see a 1/2 marathon in your future, Jayme."  

"Maggie, shut it! You are NUTS if you think I'll ever run farther than 3-miles!"  

"We'll see, we'll see..." she keeps saying.

I'm still not agreeing that I will train for a 1/2 marathon, but I have to admit... Maggie has been right through this ENTIRE adventure. The adventure which started by me surprising myself by running 1-mile after being chased by dogs. :) 

Fast-forward 7-months & see below. This is my first race... ever. Which I thought was going to be a 5K, but, "Run for the fair" just sort-of popped up, and Maggie said, "Jayme, 10K's don't come around that often... do it! You'll be fine!" Maggie (friend/personal trainer/life motivator) & Maria (friend/personal motivator) have been confidants & inspirations to me this entire time. Even when all I could do was 1.5-miles at a time... they asked how I was doing, how my runs went (even though I didn't feel like a 'runner' at all), all the time encouraging, all the time inspiring me.  All I ever wanted to do was to be able to run 3-miles, and be able to run with them.  And that, I have done. :)  My first group run with both of them was 5-miles (which I had never done before) outside of Winthrop in 25mph winds!  

So back to the pictures (which Maria HATES & would be appalled if she knew they were on here :). This is Saturday, 4/7/12 about 8:00am (race started at 7am!) 6.2 miles, and the longest I had done previous to this was 5.5 the Saturday before with Maria.  Which was awesome. We ran just over 9-minute/miles, talked the whole time... it was awesome. And that's what I thought THIS 6.2 miles was going to be like.  

And... I was wrong. :)

As it ended up, I ran 6.2 miles in 51-minutes, which equals 8min-15sec/mile!  Which I have ran that pace... for 3, but never dreamed I could keep it up for 6.  And this all due to Maria... I decided at the beginning when she refused to talk to me ;) that I would just keep up with her the best I could for as long as I could.  We ran together the entire time up until the last 1/2 mile where she turned on her burners and took off :) Again, another inspiration that I hope to be able to to do someday. :)

"What you don't know won't kill you, it will only make you stronger."  I like that quote, and describes this run perfectly for me. :) Not even sure I really want to do that again... but I'm really proud that we did.

So not only was this race a huge accomplishment/surprise/shock for me... it is so extra-special to me to have pictures of it!  And these are compliments of Rachel Hurley (friend/co-worker) who is also a runner, but who happens to be pregnant with her 6th child(?!?) "Better her than me!" I joked with her. ;)
We had been running together after school prior to the pregnancy (and hope to again post :) and who is my #1 fan right at the moment. :) So much so, that she drove herself to this spot and waited for me, just to take these pictures... of me.  Who am I to have such great/special/devoted friends?!?

Then drove herself to the finish line and waited on me again.  I still am without words as to how thankful I am to her.  She, also like me, loves pictures, and knows how much they mean to me.

And now I am excited to try my luck at my first 5K tomorrow, Saturday, 4/14 with Maggie this time!  Unfortunately, Maggie was injured for the 10K (though she was their to cheer us on), and now Maria has taken her spot :(  Maria will be walking due to injury and I will be tagging along, trying to keep up w/Maggie :)  Winner of most 5K's she enters... even when she was 8-months pregnant! :D  All kinds of motivators for me.  Wish us luck!

Easter Sunday

We had a lovely Easter Sunday that started off by the girls' waking up to an Easter egg hunt & baskets compliments of the Easter Bunny. :) Off to Sunday School with the big girls where we had another egg hunt, more candy & watched, "Twas the Night before Easter."  Church service was beautiful, amazing music & singing... but the little girls' had other interests and they were NOT on church.  ;) After we survived,  we decided against trying to get a family photo, and Chris promised he'd help me try and get a picture of the girls together... so here's our attempts.  And not to be fooled! It was crazy windy, but we took these right behind our garage/shed & avoided most of it. :)

So here we are, Easter 2012 - Lauren almost 7, Lindsay 5-8mo, Lydia 2-5mo & LeaAnn 13mo

And... little girls' still have their own agenda, so I turn to easy subjects :)

2 big girls who LOVE to have their picture taken :)  Show 'em how it's done 1&2!

Adore this one...

And the following series is just too precious to reject any, so I included them all.

"Let me kiss you, Lindsay!"

true Lindsay face :)

'Lauren & Lindsay' captured on camera :) (Mom was proud of herself this time ;)

And NOW Small-sy decides it might be OK to join in...

love her tongue out here...

that's Shamus in the background (neighbors sweet dog who I wish we could keep!)

kept this one to show off their hair...

3 out of the 4...

will the 4th cooperate?  Shena will ;)

Good as it gets for the Beyer girls' Easter 2012... but we tried :)

"All done!" LeaAnn says, after Lydia runs off.

Dad says, "here you go..."

And we're off again :) Love Lauren's face here.

Lydia's escape plan; to be like Wiam!

"hey! where'd she go?"

Love her curl in the back...

"I'm done! How many times do I have to tell you people?!"

"Oh smile, Wiam!!"

"Get away from me!" :)

Chris attempting to coral the troops...

Big girls' posing again...

Down & out!

just for the record ;)

I just love this picture. It reminded me of another favorite...

Can you guess who's cute butt this is?!?  Lindsay Rae at 23months, July 2008. I'm going to have to find the original photo and see what editing will do :)

Think I really like it in sepia...

This was Chris' idea, and it worked out great! Except for my 'off' camera settings, but b/w looks good too.

LeaAnn is 1/2 way smiling ;)

And look who is now smiling for the camera on Que?!?

Cutie-pie

Was fun to play around with the sky... play around with all the pictures actually. It was a glorious day all around.  Chris & I continue to count our blessings and thank God everyday for our health, children, family & friends. Hope everyone had a Happy Easter too!