goals of 2010 revisited

Back in January, we posted a little blurb about some of the goals we wanted to accomplish. Some were reasonable, some weren't, yet we managed to tackle a few of them.


1. have a baby - DONE
2. pass the professional engineering exam - Still don't know
3. travel to another state for vacation - DONE (Georgia)
4. remove and replace the carpet in our house - nope
5. start a vegetable garden - nope (looked at the seeds a little too late)
6. drop and maintain a weight of 160 (currently 170-174) - close (163#)
7. complete a half-ironman triathlon - August 2011
8. increase my blog readers - anybody out there?
9. cook a minimum of five meals per week - sort of (baby slowed us down)
10. take more photographs - DONE
11. travel to another country for vacation - nope
12. process and sell more photographs (open an online shop) - nope
13. run a half marathon - DONE (Mercedes Half Marathon 2:10:41)
14. correct the weed issues we have in our yard by the spring time - DONE
15. replace the fencing around our house - nope
16. clean the garage and park at least one vehicle in it - DONE (And Bethany loves it)
17. play golf at least 5 times in 2010 - nope (only once)
18. install crown moulding in the living room of our house - nope
19. donate $500 to charities - nope
20. increase my total yearly mileage to 2300mi (swim, bike, run) - nope (1918mi; studying wrecked my training)
21. become an active participant in a church bible study - nope
22. actually become a member of the church - nope
23. purchase a macro lens for my camera - nope
24. try a new difficult recipe twice a month, and record it - nope (we tried a few, but not that frequent)
25. learn how to put away the laundry after folding it - nope (working on that one...)
26. pass on our "excess stuff" to those who need it more - DONE
27. take bethany on a romantic date at least once a month - nope (she got a couple though)
28. take bethany on a date night at every two weeks - nope
29. ride the chief ladiga trail from anniston, al to atlanta, ga in a day - nope
30. become a positive influence in the lives of the scouters that I teach - I hope I did
31. pay off a sizable amount of our debt - DONE
32. start becoming a dad that my kid would be proud of - working on it
33. expand our porch, adding an outdoor grilling area - DONE
34. entertain for our friends more - DONE
35. meet more people for weekend backpacking excursions - nope
36. live a story that someone would like to share - working on that too

Now to keep adding for 2011...

Rice Cereal must be good...

Her first try..

It must be quite good because fussing ensues when she's not chomping on the spoon. Hopefully it's a good start to solids.

Some 6 month photos

A quick little shooting session this morning yielded these. Enjoy.

6mo check up

Today's 6month checkup...

 

Measured in at 24" and just over 13lbs. Minor ear infection too, but nothing some feel good medicine can't fix.

 

 

 

 

To the zoo

Off to see the Zoolight Safari... should be fun!

sent from droid

Its cold

And now time for a morning run...

sent from droid

This morning's run

This morning I woke to temperatures in the 20s and as usual, layered up for my morning run. Nothing fancy, just a couple of simple layers. Lightweight track pants, a lightweight long sleeve shirt, and then topped it with a jacket and gloves. For the drive to the gym, I threw on a beanie, but it isn't something that stays on when running.

Myself and the two other guys who ran with me, thought nothing of it. We were dressed well enough and were ready go...so off we went. After our little 7mil run, we pulled up to the parking lot to notice that we all had ice gathering on our faces and head. I guess it really was that cold.

Surprisingly, how you don't notice that while your running, but only after you've stopped and started cooling down. Just before it all melted, one of the guys snapped a couple of pictures of the ice...

So, enjoy.

Oh, and this run was nothing short of AWESOME! (Thanks for the photos Chris!)

making fruitcake

We spent part of last weekend visiting with my grandmother, so we could learn her tricks to making her Christmas fruitcakes. As it turned out, we wound up making two different fruitcakes with two different recipes, and both were pretty awesome.

So, here's her traditional cake...
We start with her recipe that has a date from 1964. I'm guessing if it's still around after that long, it must be pretty good.

 Grandmother and I getting started with the cooking...

 There's mixing of the candied fruits, the nuts, and the dates...

 There's mixing of the actual cake mix...

 And then the combination of the two...

 Then of course we pack it tightly in the bundt pan...

 And bake that bad boy. It took us almost 3hrs to bake this one, but it was quite worth the wait...

 Afterwards, we found the secret ingredient - bourbon. The cake hadn't been out of the oven more than a couple of minutes before she started pouring the bourbon on it. She then informs me that when it cools, it'll get a little more added to it too.

The second fruitcake was just a simple no-bake cake. She mixed everything together and added it all into a glass pan. After a couple days in the fridge, it's good to serve. Oh, and of course, there was bourbon in that one too...

It was definitely a good day!

Another training run

Great run. Based on this a sub 2hour half marathon should be in the cards.

sent from droid

Baby Boil

Add water, salt, pepper, and other seasoning. Boil on low until done. Serve with sides of potatoes and veggies.

Enjoy. :)

(No babies were harmed in the making of this photo)

sent from droid

SPROUTS by Heather

A quick thank you to SPROUTS by Heather - a Birmingham area family photographer.

A good friend of ours, Heather, agreed to help us with some photos of the family, by putting on a little photo shoot of the three of us. We met at Linn Park, in downtown Birmingham, where she did her magic, shot tons of photos, and helped keep the little one entertained long enough too.

It was fun.

A preview of what she did for us can be found here: Harris Family.

So, if you're in the area, looking for some photos, and want to get some great shots, check out SPROUTS by Heather.

Thanks Heather!

Red nose trial

A little red nose run time trial. Not too bad.

33* at 0600, shorts and it felt great.

sent from droid

Unhappy face

This is the "I'm sick and don't feel good" look.

sent from droid

Roll tide

Lets go bama

sent from droid

yummy goodness

Inside is nothing but yummy goodness. Two peach cobblers, and I'd have to say, they were pretty great! Just a little desert to go with our pre-thanksgiving Thanksgiving.

sent from droid

Iron bowl week

Who's it going to be?

I don't think she's really sure just yet...

sent from droid

somebody's tired

She fell asleep swinging. This lasted maybe 15-20minutes before she decided she'd be more comfortable on the couch.

Coming soon... Team RWB

It'll be coming soon, hopefully by year end.



Once the final work is done, it looks like there may be some support heading toward Team Red, White & Blue (Team RWB). If you haven't heard of them, you should check them out.

Just to give you a little insight:

Team Red, White & Blue is a non-profit organization that brings athletes together. We are a veteran support organization whose mission is to enrich the lives of wounded veterans and their families. Ultimately, we aim to transform the way wounded veterans are reintegrated into society when they return from combat and exit their position in the Active Duty force or National Guard.

...
That’s why we at Team Red, White & Blue (Team RWB) feel it’s our time – our turn – to give back. We propose a different kind of veteran support, one that is rooted in a deep understanding and willingness to listen to veterans and their families, and aid in their reintegration into the society they fought so honorably to defend and protect. Our special community of athletes, advocates and concerned citizens (corporate, non-profit and individual) are all committed to serving those who have served our great nation. Together with wounded veterans and their families and friends, we will develop meaningful, one-on-one relationships that transcend traditional short-term fundraising efforts.


I've been in some communication with them, and it looks like the racing 2011 may have a different perspective put on it.

Stay tuned and don't forget to check out Team RWB.

Morning

Good morning everyone...

sent from droid

Halloween 2010

I remember Halloween being a fun holiday when I was little, but I think it is soo much more fun now that we have our own little one to dress up. We started out our Halloween evening by going to our church's fall festival. Annalise was the cutest little duck.

While we were there, she was fascinated with my cup, so I figured I'd let her have a little taste of my water. She got so excited every time she saw the cup :) She's still not quite ready to drink out of it though...she kept trying to suck the water in.

Then we came home to a ton of trick or treaters...we ran out of candy in about 2 1/2 hours and we had a TON of candy. Annalise managed to hang out for a little while before she'd had enough.

And what would Halloween be without carved pumpkins?!

4 Month Stats and Dress Up Week

Annalise had her 4 month appointment last week and she is still growing right on schedule :)

   Weight: 11 lbs 14.8 oz  25%
   Head: 16 inches  25%
   Height: 25 inches 50%

Last week was dress up week at daycare and we had fun playing right along :). Annalise didn't protest too much about it either and all of her teachers wondered what she'd be in everyday...

  Day 1: Silly day.....we weren't quite sure what to do for this, so she just wore two different colored socks and a hairbow that didn't match.

  Day 2: Camo day

  Day 3: Country Western Day

Day 4: Character Day--Little Red Riding Hood

 Day 5: Team Spirit Day--Annalise wore her Auburn onesie (Robert was at his test, so I got to dress her in what I wanted. She did wear Alabama socks though :) )

And that's been our week in a nutshell..

From the pumpkin patch

How's about a few quick photos from the pumpkin patch? We had a great time at Old Baker Farm again this year--and Annalise thought it was pretty neat too. Next year I think we'll go when there isn't a festival weekend.....the lines to get on the hay ride were pretty long :)

it's not perfect

..but you've gotta do what you've gotta do.

It's not my favorite or the best scenario, but I've seen several quick 30min rides over lunch, or after dinner since I've been here. The picture doesn't show everything, but it's mounted up on the trainer so that I can grind away here in the hotel room while working, studying, or watching tv.

While I'm traveling, I migh as well do what I can while jumping from hotel to hotel.

Calloway Gardens Relay Triathlon

It's a little late geting this up, but I definitely thought I'd share it with everyone...

Over the Labor Day weekend, we (our family + Bethany's family) made a trip over to Calloway Gardens, GA for a Olympic Triathlon Relay race, and a weekend of relaxing. The idea was to get out, see the gardens, check out some of the butterfly exhibits, and race.

The race was setup as a 1k swim, a 30k bike, and a 8k run. The three of us, Ben, myself, and Dave all signed up to tackle this thing as a 3-man relay team. Shortly after signing up, we learned that our swimmer, Ben, may be out do some illness and lack of training. I started training for both, the swim and the bike at that point, while Dave was more than ready for the run.

The day before the race, while enjoying the gardens, I did a little easy ride to get a feel for the bike course and then followed it up with an easy swim too. For the swim, Ben joined me, just for fun. It was then, on the spur of the moment that he realized he could knock out the 1k and wanted to race. He signed up, so might as well, right?

SWIM HE DID. Ben absolutely crushed the swim course! The team relay group started in the 4th wave of the swim. When he came out of the water, he was amongst some of the competitors from the second wave. For someone who hadn't swam in a while, he found it inside himself to help us with a huge lead

Time: 12:10. #11/440 out of the water.

 Ben coming out of the water amongst the competition.

I took on the bike course as part of the team. Knowing it was a relay course, I was able to go hard and go all out for the course. And that I did. I rented a pair of race wheels from the local bike shop, just because it was my last race, and I wanted to try them out. In my head, they worked, even if it was just a bit. I took it as a mission to pass everyone and give it all I had.

Time: 56:16. #76/440 - 19.8mph 

Hammering along on the bike course.

We saved the run for Dave. He's always been the runner so it seemed it would suite him fine. The race director made sure to note that the race course was fast and flat, but after listening to Dave, it wasn't. He ran it hard and fast hoping to hold on to the lead we had built from the beginning. Of course, he didn't let us down! He put the throttle down and held it for the 8k race.

Time: 38:47. #120/440 - 7:46/mi

 Dave closing the final stretch of the run.

When it was all said and done, we waited around to see how we did and to see where we stood amongst the competiton. Turns out TEAM BRD took 1st place in the relay division with a final time of 1:48:44. The second place team was a solid 16minutes behind us. Go Team BRD!

 Receiving the award for 1st place!

Go Team BRD!

Final Race Results