Fermented with Sarah

For a belated birthday dinner, a dear friend of mine here in Kingsport took me to this place called Fermented in town. The food was gourmet and fresh and so amazing. The company was even better! I just love this girl and so grateful for our friendship! We always have the best times together and she takes care of me more than I realize! It was especially amazing to escape for a night without our kiddos to interrupt us! Such a fun girl date. :) Love you Sarah! Thank you for being such a great friend.

Hands on Museum, then ice cream family date

Ivy's preschool went down to Johnson City's Hands-On Children's Museum for a day and they let me and Marshall tag along to chaperone! This was such a fun museum with LOTS to see and do, even for Marshall! It's safe to say his favorite thing was the car that you could climb in. I would say Ivy's favorite thing was the giant bubble maker. They also had a fun slide that went from the top level down to the bottom basement for more fun stuff! Definitely a fun morning! 

We finished off our day with a trip to Freddy's for some custard ice cream sundaes with Dad. Happy kids! Fun day! Love this little family of mine.

Birthday visit from Allison and fam

After my race, we headed home to hang out, eat some cake, and be there for one of my best friends, Allison to stop in for the night with her adorable family. They were passing through on their way home to NY state and we had invited them to stay the night! I got to snuggle her new CUTE squish and see her sweet boy.  Kids thought it was so fun to have a new friend! It was SO amazing to see Allison and catch up. I miss this girl and our fun times! It always ends up being way too long between our visits just with life getting in the way. So so so glad you guys stopped by! It was the perfect way to end my birthday! Missing you already, girl!

Birthday Half Marathon in Knoxville

A few months ago, I had this idea in my brain to sign up for a race of some sort. I had been running pretty regularly and when we were looking online at different races in the area, the Knoxville Half Marathon popped up and the date for it was ON my birthday! I felt like I couldn't pass up an opportunity to actually do a race ON my birthday so I signed up! Wasn't planning on getting a good time or anything, was just going for completion. Started training in February and by the time the race came around, I was ready! We stayed the night in Knoxville with Ryan and Marcy, (a good friend of Sam's from med school) and went out to dinner while their kids babysat our kids. We had so much fun! Thank you so much Ryan and Marcy!!

The next morning, Sam, the kids and I, headed downtown for the big day! It was a chilly 34 Degrees when the race first started at the World's Fair Park (the gold ball in the pic) and was in the mid 60's when I finished! It was such an awesome experience! There were SO many runners and the course was SO well supported! Tons people came out to watch and many neighborhoods had made signs all along the road for us! There were even a number of live bands playing in certain spots. Lots of aid stations and there were always people around me. I felt great and only walked on a couple of the harder uphills. But training in the country hills out east made me feel so prepared! The Knoxville hills didnt feel nearly as tough as the ones I trained on. The finish line was IN the Neyland Football stadium on UT campus! I had expected to try for a 10:45 pace but ended up with a 10:19 pace overall for a 2 hour 15 min finish time! Woo! I'd say that was pretty good for my first one! After the race, we headed to Market Street in downtown for a delicious breakfast together. It was a great way to celebrate my birthday! Thanks to my awesome husband for watching the kiddos and being SO supportive of all my training and the race day itself! Felt so good to know you were there cheering me on! 

End of Spring Break

Just a few more photos from the rest of our Spring break spent at home after the Easter weekend.. We were able to get out a few times and go swimming with friends, and a park that had a super cool swing with dad. Also, dandelion season is in full swing and the kids think it's the funnest thing to pick all of them and try to blow them. My allergies suggest otherwise. Ha! 'Tis the season. Also featured on this post somewhere is building block towers with Miss Ivy, blowing bubbles outside, and attempting to "sled" down the grass. Silly kids!