Montana pictures

Here are some pictures from Montana. They are in random order, we took over 500 pictures! I tried to pick some of the best ones. Anyone want to move to Montana with me???

MONTANA!!!!

Sorry for the short post. Today marks the last day of Trimester 2. Thank God. I am taking my 8th and last final of the week in an hour and a half. Why am I writing a post and not studying? I don't know??? Trisha and I are headed to Montana for a nice 10 day vacation in the Mountains. Some of our really good friends are meeting us up there. Charlie (my best man), and Josh and Russ who were pledge brothers from Harding are all getting there late tonight. Should be a good time. We will make sure and take lots pictures. Thanks to everyone who has me on their prayer list, this trimester was an extremely hard one (64 exams in 16 weeks), and I could not have persevered if it weren't for you. Thank you.

P.S. My running buddies and I ran a 5-mile race last night. Official Time: 48min. 17 sec. Took second place in my weight division. Longer detailed post with pictures when we get back from Montana. Hope you guys have a great weekend.

Bear

For the past year or so Trisha has been talking about wanting to add a small dog to our family. She spent most of the year going back and forth between different breeds and after long thought she decided on a Yorkie. Me being the incredible husband that I am, realized that our 3 year wedding anniversary was coming up soon, and this would be the perfect time for a surprise puppy. My aunt owns a Petland in Montana and knows some really good breeders, so I made the phone call and got the process rolling. She found us a good dog, and since my Mom and sister were in Montana on vacation we put him on the plane home with them. Trisha called on her way home from work and I told her I had a surprise when she came home, put the puppy in her lap, and sure enough I am the front runner for husband of the year award.

Here are some pictures of Bear. He is a toy Yorkshire Terrier 13 weeks old, 2.4 pounds




Here is a video of Bear at David and Daina's house. First encounter with a Mirror. Dont make fun of my amateur Movie Making abilities. I think I might leave the movie making to Caleb.



Here are some videos of Maddie and Bear playing together. We were a little nervous about how Maddie would react to having a new puppy in the house but she has done great. She has been really patient with him and I actually think she likes having someone to play tug of war with.

Liberty 5K

For the past month I have been training with some friends from class for the Liberty Annual 5k Race. Yes its true Carl and running same sentence!! Running was something that I never enjoyed in high school or college. Usually it involved some sort of discipline for having a bad game, making too many errors, etc. Well now that athletics are over I have found that I really enjoy getting out and going for a run with some friends after a long day of class. I believe it is the best stress relieving workout ever.

Anyways, today was the big day. I went to bed last night with butterflies in my stomach just thinking about this morning. Trish thought it was funny that I have played in all these big state championship games and I never got nervous before them but here I was at 5a.m. this morning absolutely FREAKING OUT about this race. I think it was because this was something new for me, I have never competed in any kind of race before, and I had no Idea what to expect.

We showed up and there were over 800 people registered in this race. I was put in the Clydesdale Under 30 group (Clydesdale is the group they put males over 195 lbs. in). I was excited I didnt have to try and beat the 140 lb. 21 yr old from Kenya. Thank God! I was still worried because some of the guys in Clydesdale were just over 200 lbs. and here I am weighing in at 228. Back to the story...Butterflies going like crazy, trying to stretch thinking I am gonna throw up. Ready to get the race over with, but excited about the opportunity to compete. Horn goes off, everybody takes off running, AC/DC blaring in my iPod, first two miles go by fast, third mile, fatigue starts setting in, still pushing hard...last turn, probably about 3/10 of a mile from the finish line. Freak of nature soccer mom pushing her 2 year old in a "racing stroller" starts to move like she is gonna pass me, competitive nature steps in and the adrenaline overpowers the fatigue and I take off. Dead sprint for the last quarter mile, a lot of friends from class come out to cheer us on, I see them running with me to the finish line. 24 min. 11 sec. Finished. Best feeling ever! Ended up taking first place in Clydesdale under 30! Couldn't believe it. My goal was to try and break 25 minutes, goal completed. Belinda, a girl from class that we have been running with, won first place in her age group females 20-24 with a time of 21:59. Incredible day! Next race July 19th, I will let you know how it goes. Here are some pictures from the race.

Before the Race.


Post-Race.


Belinda and I with our first place trophies!


"Da Eagle"