Easter Egg Hunt

John and I kicked off Sunday with the first of hopefully many Easter egg hunts in our backyard this year.  Sloane loved it.  Of course we had to stop and eat the "treats" inside each egg before looking for others so it took awhile but I think you can see from the pictures below how much fun she had.  Hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter!

New Home Preview

 On Thursday we officially became the new owners of this home!

 Thanks to help from Grandmas and friends John and I have been able to spend quite a few hours putting our "touch" on the house.  This is the "before" picture of the kitchen.  Other then the paint color it's in great shape just not what we wanted.  Finally, my hours of reading DIY home design blogs during nap time have paid off!

 It's not totally done yet but I'm impatient so I have to give you a little preview of what we've been working on.   I'll be sure to post final pictures as soon as we're done! 

Happy Easter everyone! 

Elkhart Time Trials Race

Tonight I (Annie) raced in my first ever bike race- the Elkhart Time Trial.  It's a relatively flat, out and back, 12k course.  I decided that I need to post about this before the official times came out and change how I feel about the race.

While I don't know my time exactly, I know that thanks to the TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, could barely stand up at times wind it wasn't near as good as I'd like it to be. (Which is why I'm sharing this now as opposed to waiting to see what I placed) However, it's amazing to think that less then six months ago I was nervous to even attend an indoor training session with the DMOS race team and now I'm racing right along with them!  Well, some of them are passing me but I'm still out there! 

I've been really lucky to have a more than supportive husband who lets me train and compete whenever necessary as well as made a few new great teammates/friends who have taught me a ton of valuable lessons about bikes, racing and how to handle races that are less then ideal.  I've even been so inspired by my teammates that I'm planning on becoming certified to teach group spinning classes at the YMCA!

I never in a million years thought that John and I would be competing in triathlons or that I would be on a cycling race team but I'm so happy we've been able to find something to give us that competitive feeling once in awhile.  (Instead of trying to make monopoly a competitive, full contact sport)

Gracie turns TWO!

For me, the silver lining of the horrific events that have taken place in Japan is that it has brought my great friend from high school, Kylan and her family home to Ames (for at least a bit anyways).  On Sunday her daughter Gracie turned two!  It has to be one of the best hand-made birthday parties we've been to.  (Check out the elmo and cookie monster cupcakes and elmo decor below!)

You couldn't have wished for better weather.  And, although we couldn't stay long Sloane and I had so much fun and we're so happy to be able to celebrate Gracie's birthday!

 

Gotta have a picture of the mammas :)