the latest

havin fun with my new camera

LaRue Violet Francis

7 lbs 14oz!! and sweeter than sweet. We are so happy and grateful for our beautiful little girl;)

my christmas present!!

For Christmas I got the best present ever! Gene got me a pretty fancy camera that I really need to learn how to work!! Thanks for the best Christmas ever geney:) Ah, I just love being on this side of the camera!!

9 months and so....impatient!

Ah! any day now! I am 38 weeks now and walking at least 1 mile everyday to get things moving- but theres nothing!! This baby seems way to comfortable in there. I can only keep waiting...

More Bday pics

Dylan's 1st bike!!

Happy Birthday Dylan!

Yay! Dylan is 3 now! wow, he's so big! For his birthday party i couldn't resist so i rented a small pony for him;) and the other kids. It turned out to be so cute and a great idea. He loved it.


His favorites lately are all the super heroes- captain America, Hulk, Spider/Super/Bat man and of course, Iron man. When he gets mad at me or anyone for that matter, he knows not to hit, but he will blast them with his iron man hand from across the room. It reminds me of when he was 18 months and he would get mad- he would swing at you from across the room. I tried to still tell him that wasnt nice with a straight face. His personality and disposition is so sweet and loving~ I am such a sucker for him! Happy Bday my Dylan!
No other updates...Still waiting on this baby- anyday now! I am 37 weeks and trying to remain patient! We just cant wait to find out what were having!! Dylan is very excited, he asks all the time about the baby. I was still running a mile everyday until a couple weeks ago, and now im just walking the mile everyday to play it safe...so- ive been kinda patient;)

"As is our confidence, so is our capacity."
-William Hazlitt

the newest member of our family

This is Abby, our new puppy! Shes a Blue Tick hound dog and we love her! we thought we were ready for a big step like a dog, and so far so good!

running shoes...

So when I bought my brooks a while ago, the shoe salesman told me they are good for about 300 miles, and then I'll need to replace them. At the store they were $90, but I found them online for $60 and they pricematched:) About 100 miles into them, I started having hip flexor pain, it was so uncomfortable it would actually wake me up in the middle of the night. I thought that was weird,I didn't get it checked out, but at the time I was running on the cross country team at my college (don't think im some ultra runner, I was prob the slowest one there, it was just fun and the races were free;) anyway they gave me a couple extra stretches to do, and I considered buying new shoes, but I just stuck it out. It only lasted about 2-3 months and then I was back to normal again. A few months went buy and I was approaching my "300 mile" marker for my shoes. It was in the back of my mind to go buy new ones, but that was right around the time we were getting married, so I was extra conservative. Long story short- I never went to get new shoes and its been amlost 2 years. My shoes feel fine, as do my ankles and knees. Before I got prego, I had gotten my times down to the fastest they have ever been- basically my old running shoes were not hindering me in the least. I also have heard of all these recent studies on the negative effects of shoes...
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/barefoot/
anyway, im not buying new running shoes. Mine are so worn in they feel perfect. Maybe running shoes are a waste of money?? Just a thought.

ahhh, oregon....

Portland, OR. It is very beautiful, clean and friendly. I would love to live there someday! ya, so it rains a lot (70% of the time we were there) and its overcast all the time, but I loved it. very cool. our last trip before the baby comes!




Jogging in Astoria, OR. Once again, AZ running will never be the same.

We were walking around Seaside, OR and Gene had to take a pic of me...well to explain...I in oregon, your jeans are ALWAYS wet from your feet to your shins at least, your shoes are soaked, everyones hair is a mess (no one does their hair in Oregon, its pointless, 3 minutes after you walk outside its ruined, even if its not raining) oh and I actually got fun of for carrying an umbrella! Anyway, i was sick of feeling wet jeans around my ankles- so i rolled them up and put on flipflops. Everyone in OR is very unique and dress pretty crazy anyway so i didnt stand out;)



A random trailhead off the highway. Hiking in AZ will never be the same...





Multanomah Falls...



Life is wasted on the living.
- Douglas Adams

yay for craigslist!

 

We found this on craigslist for $50...it might be hard to see, but its an awesome little Thomas the Train town! Dylan LOVES it, well that might be an understatement- he is obsessed with it is more like it! These new are probably around $300~we love good buys!

the latest...

 

going on 7 months now...ah! its so close!!! ;)still dont know what it is...

our baby!!

We still cannot decide on a name!! it changes every week! thats ok tho, we have a little time. We still didn't find out what were having! I think he has Gene's nose and Gene thinks she doesn't! :)





I dreamed a thousand new paths. I woke and walked my old one.
-Chinese Proverb

ready for swimin mom!

 

Trip to ShowLow

We really don't go camping as often as this seems!! We went to drop my nephew off at his home in ShowLow so we figured we would just camp there instead of get a room (were trying to save up for Oregon:) we just stayed one night, it was really pretty camping on the lake too. And of course we had to stop by DQ!!




This was our site we stayed on



"Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors.
Try to be better than yourself."
-William Faulkner