Tis the Season

If my yard is any indication, it is planting season here in West Michigan.  It has been a little too wet to get in the fields but my husband has been busy getting ready for when things dry out enough.

Stay tuned, I have a couple new posts planned for later this week.

Time Flies

Like the saying goes, time flies when you are having fun.  This seems to describe my life right now.  I have been enjoying life and this past few weeks have gone by really quickly.  So, what have I been up to?

Several weekends ago I helped judge cheerleading tryouts.  Haven't really talked about cheerleading on my blog, but I cheered in high school and then I also cheered all 4 years while I attended Hope College.  I even coached a high school team for a couple years after graduating from Hope.  Cheerleading was a big part of my life for 10 years and I welcome the chance to get involved again whenever the opportunity arises.

When my coach requested help, I jumped on the chance to help out.  It was great to go watch/judge many current and future Hope cheerleaders.  But, boy do I feel old when I think about how graduated from college 11 years ago!!  My skills might be a little rusty but I think I could jump back in pretty quickly.

Two weekends ago a good friend had a birthday and his wife bought him a new gun. To celebrate, 6 of us went to the gun range to do some shooting.  This was the first time I had ever shot a handgun.  It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to doing it again sometime.  My husband would love to own a handgun of his own and I would like to get him one sometime, but boy they aren't cheap.  Something else to save up for I guess.

My husband loading the gun.

Looks like I kind of know what I'm doing.

This past weekend I worked so I wasn't able to enjoy the warm West Michigan weather but the rest of this week is looking pretty good.  Plus, it's Tulip Time here in Holland.  If you haven't heard about this festival, Google it sometime.  It's a fun celebration of the area's Dutch heritage.  I'm a Dutch Dancer and enjoy the chance to dance (in wooden shoes) several times over the week.  I've been dancing since I was a sophomore in high school and can't imagine not dancing each May.

Dutch Dancing

I'm in the mostly black costume
on the far right.

I'm a member of the education committee at my church and we had our annual appreciation dinner for all the volunteers on Sunday.  I was at work but I was in charge of the table decorations.  I helped set up for that this past week.  Decorations are simple, but it was still fun to plan.

Other than that it's been mostly normal everyday activities. What have you been up to lately?  Any fun plans coming up?  I am just really excited for warmer weather so I can get outside more.

Never Have I Ever...

NEVER HAVE I EVER....

• Smoked.  I haven't even tried a cigarette.  I have no desire to either.

• Ridden on a motorcycle.  I know a few people who have bikes so maybe someday I will have a chance to tag along on a ride.  I'm sure it would be fun, as long as done safely. 

• Gotten drunk or had a hangover.  Typically I am okay with never having experienced these things, but every once in a while it would be nice to be able to relate to people when they talk about their experiences.  Most people just assume I know what they are talking about and I usually just go along with it.  But, I am not much of a drinker and I tend to be a rule follower and don't like to get too out of control, so drinking too much isn't generally that appealing to me.  

• Been to an all-inclusive resort.  I am really hoping to be able to take this off the list in the next year though.  Rob and I are hoping to go on vacation to Mexico or the Caribbean in early 2016.  Any recommendations of where to go?

• Tried sushi.  It just doesn't sound  appealing and I'm a picky eater.  Maybe if under the right circumstance I would be willing to try it. 

What are some things that you have never done?  Anything you wonder if I have done that is not on my list but think I should try, or maybe not try?

Mountaineer Pi Run

On Saturday I ran my second 5K of the year.  Couldn't have asked for better weather for this time of year!  Upper 50's and sunny.

Bad picture of me from after the race.
I've got to have someone else take one sometime.

I improved my time to 26:41 and managed to again place 1st in my age group!  I'll call that a success. I took almost 45 seconds off my previous time.  Would still love to get my average mile down to closer to 8 minutes though.

The Mountaineer Pi Run was held at an area Christian school  and they had one of my favorite restaurant's provide pie for the runners.  If nothing else, the butterscotch pie made the run worthwhile (although I was happy with how the race went also).

Fun medal I received for placing 1st in my age group.

The course was rather hilly which I still need to work on training for.  All the roads near me are flat so I have to think of some other locations to run at that include elevation changes so that I can be prepared for future hilly courses.

There currently aren't any other runs I'm signed up for but I am hoping to have my summer schedule finalized in the next week or so.  I've got a list going of runs I'm interested in so hopefully soon I'll be able to add more to my calendar.  Looking at doing my first 10K ever in early May.  Super excited but definitely nervous.

What is your favorite 5K if you are a runner?  Any tips for my first 10K?

Lately

• I had to work this past Saturday and Sunday so I didn't really get to enjoy the great weekend weather.  Every third weekend comes way too quickly.  

• This week the forecast shows the highs hopefully reaching the low 60's.  Now if it can only be dry for a few days as well.  It has been raining a fair amount recently which has greened things up nicely.  But it's hard to enjoy the warmer temps when everything is wet.     

• On Saturday I am running the Mountaineer Pi 5K.  Looking forward to running another 5K and also getting free pie from a local restaurant at the finish.  Hoping they have my favorite butterscotch pie.

• I'm trying to line up a few more 5K's for the next couple months and also hoping to try out a 10K or two as well.  Love the runner's high I feel when the race is finished!

• Rob and I camp every year with some of my good friends from high school and their families and I can't wait!  Still trying to find a couple other times to go camping this summer as well.  I'm behind on getting reservations and most of the state parks fill up on the weekends throughout the summer so we'll see what I can find.  I love camping.  Are any of you campers?  If so, where do you like to camp?

Ladybugs

Generally I think of ladybugs as cute little insects.  Pretty harmless in the grand scheme of things so I typically leave them alone.  Well, no more!  At least when they are in my house.

We have ladybugs everywhere in our house and I can't get rid of them.  ANNOYING!  I don't know if this is just a Midwest thing or if it is a problem all over the US.  They have been around for the last couple months but seem to be getting worse the last few weeks.

A couple here and there are tolerable but we have quite a few in our kitchen and a ridiculous amount in one of our upstairs bedrooms.

This is a picture of one of the windows in the bedroom.  The picture doesn't do the amount of ladybugs justice.  Fortunately we don't use the bedroom upstairs for much or I don't know what I would do.  

I vacuum the ladybugs up in the house at least once a day, but it just doesn't last for long.  This afternoon I vacuumed 177 ladybugs up from just the one bedroom!  Unbelievable!

I think I'm going to have to buy some insect spray that is safe for use inside the house because this has to stop.  Do you have ladybugs or some other insect in your house?  How do you get rid of them or prevent them all together?

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  We're heading to church in the morning and then having 

my family over for lunch.  Hoping you are all able to spend some 

time today with loved ones as well.  

Christ has died, Christ has risen, and 

Christ will come again.

He is not here; he has risen!  Remember how he told you, 

while he was still with you in Galilee: 

"The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of 

sinful men, be crucified and on the 

third day raised again"

Luke 24: 6-7