Marine Corp Mud Run 2010

A few months ago my dear friend, Lea posted a message on Facebook looking for a team of four girls to compete in the Marine Corp Mud Run in Columbia, SC. I thought this sounded pretty interesting and immediately jumped at the chance to among the foursome. I didn't really know much about this "so called" mud run other than that it was a four mile course, you got muddy and there were a couple obstacles along the way. As the time drew nearer for the day of the race I talked to my friend, Caitlin who was also on Team Awesome...yes, this really was our team name, and yes we're pretty gosh darn awesome. Well, Caitlin informed that this Mud Run wasn't just filled with oh a couple little obstacles, but more like thirty two!!! The notion of what did I get myself into certainly crossed my mind. So...let's just I was a little worried as I drove to Columbia that Saturday morning on the day of the race. We didn't start until 4:00 pm and the whole course took about an hour and a half. When we arrived at the starting point I saw several people who had already completed their Mud Run and they certainly go their money's worth when it came to the mud factor. People were covered from their head to their toes with thick, dark, MUD. The though of what did I get myself into passed through my head several more times before we started the race. Once we got under way and went through the first muddy obstacle all fears were alleviated. I knew we were going to have so much fun, after all we're pretty gosh darn awesome! Lea, Caitlin, Johanna and myself definitely used plenty of team work during the length of the course. We pushed and pulled and YES got very dirty, but we did finish the Mud Run!!!



It was so much fun and I defiantly encourage people to do it next year! Thanks, girls for a lot of good ol' dirty fun!

Getting a Little Antsy...

Last night Steve and I had one of our usual Skype calls. Have I mentioned how wonderful Skype has been for us while Steve has been deployed? Technology has come such a far way since the times of women sending their husbands and sons off to war and rarely receiving any form of communication from them. Thank God for the invention of a little thing called the Internet.

Steve has started to receive a possible timeline of his return home!!! It looks like it could be as early as October 9Th and shouldn't be any later than October 15Th!!! While this is all subject to change, something I've learned happens frequently in the military, we're keeping our fingers crossed that he will be home in a few weeks!!! I will keep everyone informed on any updates that we receive! Thank you for all your support and best wishes!

Last Month of Being Husbandless!!!

The excitement of knowing my husband will be home is starting to creep up! I'm allowing myself to get a little excited, but not too excited in fear that this last month will drag on. It's still hard to believe that Steve has been gone for six months, and that next month I will no longer be a party for one. I think being able to talk each other just about everyday has made this deployment for the most part fairly painless. Don't get me wrong, seeing your husband through a computer screen is not exactly the same as being able to reach out and kiss him, but I'm not complaining.

So, I'm keeping myself pretty busy in this last month of being husbandless. Over Labor Day weekend my long time best friends, Liz and Stephanie came to visit me at our townhouse in Clarksville. We saw each other back in March when Steve first deployed when we traveled to Charleston, SC to visit Liz. You know it's kinda cool when you have those friends where you can just pick right up where you left off. Well, that's the kind of friendship I have with Liz and Steph. I know that we might go for several months without talking, but no matter what we will always be a part of each other's lives. That is what you call a true friendship right there.



Last weekend my parents and myself traveled to Frederick, MD to visit Steve's parents. It's so great that our families get along so well, and that we enjoy doing things together. Steve's parents showed us a wonderful weekend. We went to Gettysburg and toured the new museum and we also ate lunch at the oldest establishment in Gettysburg, called The Dobbins House. That was pretty cool! This house was even used as a safe home for runaway slaves along the Underground Railroad.




They also took us to historical Alexandria, VA. This was a very eclectic and artistic town. Right up my alley. There we went to The Torpedo Factory Art Center where we came across floors of open studios and galleries of local artists. We also had lunch at a gorgeous restaurant right along the Potomac River. Great, great trip! What a way to spend a weekend! Thanks Dave and Sharon!





So, I'm keeping myself busy and I hope before I know it I'll have my husband back in my arms! I'm counting down the days! Yippee!!!

Oldies but Goodies

Our good ol' friends the Craven's paid my family and I a visit to TN last weekend.
The Craven's and my family have been friends for years. In fact, their daughter, Cara is considered my first friend as we were buddies when we were still wearing diapers. We met the Craven's years ago when my Mom needed a babysitter while she was at work. My Mom discovered Jeanette and Shawn Craven through a church bulletin board of recommended child care. The rest is pretty much history. As mentioned Cara and I bonded pretty quickly, but it turned out that our families were very much alike. Our parents became very good friends and over the years we've kept in touch with our sacred friends, The Cravens. We've taken trips together, visited each other's homes and have created many, many memories along the way.

My Dad and Shawn are very big Nascar fans, so every year Shawn comes to TN for the Bristol races. This year Jeanette, Cara and Cara's boyfriend, LJ came along for the ride too. Now, the women don't come for the racing of course, so the men went off to the races while the girls had a little bit of fun on our own. After the boys went on their merry way Cara, Jeanette, my Mom and myself went to Sonny's marina. Sonny's is a really cool marina that serves food and beer. It's a lot of fun to sit out over the lake and watch the boats come in. They also had a great band and plenty of dancing too!



The men got home from the races after midnight and typically we would have said our good nights and gone to bed, but nothing is typical when the Barnett's and Craven's get together. We were in store for a busy night of partying, which included beer pong, flip cup and flip pong. Flip pong was a new drinking game introduced by LJ and is pretty much a combination of beer pong and flip pong. What a better combination? The "old" people came to party and they certainly had their game faces on as they whipped butt when it came time to play a few games of flip cup, "old" people versus "young" people. Yes, I'm not ashamed to say that they did some major butt kicking on us youngsters. After a long night of drinking we finally went to bed around 5:00...did I mentioned we like to have a good time?

The next day was a day for recovering. I don't think I heard any movement in the house until after 10:00 am, which is pretty much unheard of if you've ever met my Dad, the king of getting up early. Starting around 10:00 am a few people wander out of bed, but by the time those still sleeping ventured out of bed the few that were up were already back in bed napping. This was a viscous cycle on Saturday that continued till around 6:00 pm. Once everyone ate dinner it was pretty much time to party again. I remember thinking to myself, are we really going to do this all over again, and the answer was yes! Yes we did it all over again. We managed to steer away from some of the drinking games to fit in other games such as corn hole and spoons. If you've never played spoons before please look it up! It's loads of fun!

The Craven's left Sunday to their homes in Louisville. Thanks guys for the great weekend. I will never forget the bourbon slush, flip pong or spoons! You guys are great! Can we please do it all over again???

"It takes a long time to grow an old friend."

- by John Leonard

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Fayetteville Bound

Last weekend I traveled to Fayetteville, NC to see a wonderful group of women. While Steve and I were living in Fayetteville for the duration of his Special Forces training I met some pretty awesome ladies! I haven't seen them since we left in February to move to Clarksville, so I was very excited to say the least. We have such a great group of friends. It's like one of those friendships where you may not talk for months and months, but when you do it's like you picked up right where you left off. Pretty amazing! Our friend Kendra is expecting her first baby in a few weeks, which made the visit that more special! Great, great trip! Love you girls!

Country Livin, Movin Out & Cat Up a Tree

A couple weeks ago I went with my Mom to Pennsylvania to visit my Grandmother for her 80th Birthday. My Uncle Bill flew in from Tampa, Florida too. We got a chance to spend the weekend at a family relative's house that was built in 1871. The McGravey Ridge Homestead has been in my family since the time it was built and has had it's share of houseguests. We were lucky enough to spend the weekend in this gorgeous farm house. My Mom and I are were definetly doing some country livin as we didn't have air conditon, cell phone or Internet service. It was great! My favorite part of the trip was enjoying eachother's company on the covered porch. The moment the sun started to go down and the temperatures began to drop we knew this was our invitation to sit back and relax. We saw plenty of lighting bugs buzzing around and were even lucky enough to watch the deer venture out from the secret hiding places. It was fun watching those little guys enjoy the freedom of the evening.




This past weekend was a pretty eventfull one. Colleen and Shannon moved out of the old Barnett Homestead and into their new apartment! The movers got here on Saturday morning at 8:00am and were done moving C & S by 11:00 am. We got the girls all set up in their new place and it looks great! They have such a beautiful new home and I know they're going to really enjoy it! Congrats girls on your new place. Steve and I are already looking forward to having a big party there when he gets home! Do you think we could crash at your place???




Along with their new apartment C & S also adopted a kitten they named Oliver. Little Oliver is as cute as he can be, all three pounds of him. Well, yesterday Shannon decided to bring the little guy over to meet the rest of his animal family, aka Charlie, Cosmo, Rocky and lil Miss Bella. Before we could even get inside we were greeted by Rocky. Oliver took one look at Rocky and dove out of Shannon's arms and ran up the closest tree he could find. I never saw a cat hike up a tree so fast. Oliver just forgot one thing in his quest for safety, how to get down? Mom took this picture of us figuring a way to get him down. I guess she just couldn't resist. This story has a good ending though. After spending about three hours stuck up in that tree little Oliver managed to shimmy his way down.

Gettin Crazy Bout Runnin

Last weekend I decided to run my first 8k. I've been training pretty hard and knew five miles would be pretty easy, but I still get the jitters right before the race starts. It reminds me when I use to run hurdles. No matter how confident I was I always felt like puking right before the race. I guess some things never change!

Every year in my hometown we have a big festival called Fun Fest. It normally lasts about ten days and during those ten days there is plenty of activities to participate in. Every year I've wanted to run in the 8k, but just never managed to get around to it. I guess that's life, something is always popping up. This year though nothing popped up and I actually got to run in the race! It was so much fun too. The race is a night race and the course is loaded with spectators, live music and plenty of encouragement. Little kids were lined up along the track just waiting for a high five from a runner.

I think I'm starting to get a little addicted to this whole running thing. I decided my next goal will be a half marathon this October. Steve is already working on a running timeline that should have me ready for the big race! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he will be home in time to run the race with me. Having him along for the run will be loads of fun and he's always an expert on positive encouragement. Hopefully in a few months I will be typing of my half marathon accomplishment. I guess there isn't any turning back now!