blog makeover

I have moved this blog to a new location! I was worried about losing all of the information here, so I have just moved it here: http://larockfamilyhappenings.blogspot.com

Please make this link your current link for us as I won't be updating this one anymore.

Thanks!

Julie

Samster the Hamster at 15 months

Here are some pictures of our goofy boy! He's learning to try to smile for the camera.

Quick trip to Assateague Beach!

On Thursday night Pete, Sam and I, and several of the LaRock crew, headed to Assateague Beach. We planned to camp for the night and then spend the day at the beach on Friday. We made it to the campsite right around 10PM. My memories from that night include...three random horses outside of the bath house-the horses run wild on this island; Liz and Peter's fitful nights, (one feared bug bites, Peter, and one got a nasty bug bite, Liz.) She finished her night in the van, poor girl! John being frightened by a sand crab that he came across in the dark, Sam sleeping as he should-like a baby, and falling asleep to the sound of the ocean just feet away.

Sam got us up bright and early on Friday morning. He was excited to be at the ocean! Here he is in the camper ready for the day!



We packed our stuff up after breakfast and then headed to the beach. Here we are packing.



Laura and Rachel packing up their tent. I wish I had a picture of what this looked like set up. We didn't have the right frame, so the tent was eh, saggy!





Liz, hard at work!


John, being a ham.

Here we are at the beach!


Handsome Peter getting Sam some rocks and water to play with.


Love this picture of John and Abby:-)




Samster loving the big sandbox!


silly kiddo!


Makin' stuff with Grandpa LaRock.

plants and sunshine; it's the simple things...

I did mention that I'd be posting about the front yard next, but I need to take some pictures first. This morning when Sam and I headed out, I took some pictures of my little garden in my back yard and on my back deck. It's really doing so well this year. I love to just go out and look at it. Strange? A little perhaps, but for me being able to observe God's creation in this way, and seeing the fruit of my labor is very special to me somehow. My garden was terrible last year, so this year I'm enjoying it!


Sam with his new toy, (thrift store find!)


Sage.


Parsley and Cilantro, (don't ask me which one is which!)


Yummy basil.


Spinach, lettuce and beets.


Tomatoes, peppers and beans. The rose in the center was here when we moved here. It has nasty thorns, but it is lovely!


Green beans, mmmm!


Tomatoes and peppers.


A red rose in bloom! I planted this one.


A tiny tomato. I LOVE tomatoes fresh from the garden. I can't wait for these to plump up and turn red!



My little man working on that walking. Such a little boy these days for sure.

Wow, that's two posts in 3 days! Must be because mom is here:-) She's such a blessing!

Summertime

We've been having a lovely summer so far this year. Little Sam (who has figured out how to walk) and I love getting outside to take in the warm weather, sun, and fun. We've had fun visiting with Jeremy and Jessica and their 3 little ladies.

Here are two of the cuties hanging at my house.



We've also enjoyed seeing, Aunt Joanna, Dad, Judy, Jed, Jeff and Mom! We've done a lot of fun things, but alas, I was often so occupied tending my busy boy, that very few pictures were taken. We went with Dad and the kids to D.C. for the day where we took in the zoo, and made a quick dash to see a few monuments on the mall. We also spent a lot of time playing frisbee, volleyball, and took some time to swim over at the LaRock's. We also had a lovely cookout and used our old bushes for firewood. (More on that project in my next post.) We also took a hike to Raven's Rock, and I did manage to take some pictures!!






Joanna and I had some time together before everyone got here, and we had fun doing some shopping, running to photo shoots, and just hanging out.

Mom headed down the NC with J and J Cole, and then came back up here to see me, Sam and Peter. I picked her up in Alexandria at the train station, and then we went and took in Mount Vernon. Sadly, I forgot my camera! We did have fun looking around the lovely estate, and Sam managed to be a good boy...mostly.

This morning, after a rough night with our kiddo, I walked downstairs, (after not hearing Sam noises for awhile) to find this. Poor kid needs to learn the value of a good night's sleep. Pete and I would love him to learn this lesson sooner rather than later!:-)



The following pictures are just some fun ones of Samster. Enjoy!





And, the lovely flowers my hubby brought me!

My precious family, Mother's Day 2010

half-marathon!

I did it!! I ran 13.1 miles!

My friend Jessica, my sister-in-law, Laura and I ran a half-maraton together this last Sunday. Jess and I started training for it in January. I have always disliked running, but amazingly found it growing on me as we would add another mile each week.

About 3 weeks ago my left knee started giving my a lot of trouble. I had experienced no knee pain up to this point, and I was running 5 days per week. I had it looked at by my chiropractor and he seemed to think that it was an alignment issue, (because the pain would also shoot to my hip and my ankle.) I had tried for my long run several times, but each time the pain would stop me. Before race day I had only made it 8.5 miles. I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be able to run the whole race because of the pain, and I was considering not doing it at all, but the Lord saw fit to allow me this small victory! I borrowed a strong knee brace from a friend on race day, and prayed that my knee would hang in there.

This race is a huge festival in Frederick, MD. There were I think between 5000 and 6000 runners. We had a hard time parking and barely had time to potty let alone stretch before it was time to go at 6:30am. We were toward the back of the mass of runners, and so didn't cross the start line for about 7 minutes after the race started.

The first 4 or 5 miles were so fun:-) The three of us slowly moved our way forward in the crowd. Folks were cheering, some had their hoses out and sprayed anybody who wanted some water. It was muggy hot! When we started into mile 6 I started to worry because my knee typically started to get bad in mile 7, and by mile 8 I would have to stop. But, mile 8 came and went, and I still felt pretty good, so I just kept going. I did get water and powerade at every stop I could because it was so hot and the powerade gave me a much-needed energy boost. The last three miles were really hard. There were several rough hills, and then we ran along this lonely country road with nobody but stinky farm animals to cheer us!:-)
I finally rounded the corner for the final leg, and saw Peter and Sam cheering up this nasty hill at the end. It was sooo cool! The best part for me was running across the finish line while the crowd in the stadium cheered us all on. Such an amazing feeling!

Here are some pictures of us after the race!