ROC- Ridiculous Obstacle Challenge

 

This past weekend we participated in the Ridiculous Obstacle Course Challenge at the Del Mar fair grounds. This was a 5k race with 18 different obstacles throughout the course. We participated with a large group of people (43 to be exact) that were all wearing similar outfits. Our team was called, "The Victorious Secret." Of course our outfits were pink. The ladies wore pink tank tops with our team names on them and wings on the back, with pink tutus. The men wore lighter pink tops with the team name on them as well. My dad and Marci came with us and hung out with all the grand kids while we ran. We stayed in Chula Vista with them the night before so the drive wasn't as long, and because we love to spend time with Abuelita and Grandpa. :-) As you can see above Kellen was not a very happy camper before the race. But he perked up later.

 Our team mates Crystal and Amber waiting to start the race... and waiting for John and Cassie to show up! :-) Ha ha, as Melinda George says, "That's how we do it." We were so excited to get started!

 Unfortunately Colin and I did not get an "after" photo. I forgot. :-( But they hosed us down before the big finale so I wasn't as "colorful" as I was during the race. Some how we still managed to have green powder stuck under our arms.

 Shelley joined us for the festivities, what a cool chick! I am glad that she is hanging out with us. Maybe next year her beau James will come with us? :-P

Crystal and Russell posing for the pic. Russell signed up last minute so that we could have the largest team! Thanks for doing that by the way, the $30 return (courtesy of Amber donating her return to the Gilliland family) will be put toward the $110 dentist appointment our son has tomorrow to get his molars sealed so he won't get cavities and can keep those baby teeth until they fall out in 9 years.

 

 The girls, wish I would have known Shelley was behind us because I would have grabbed her into the picture. Random shirtless dude, apparently "Photo Bombed" our picture! Ha ha!

At the start of the race they sent us through the horse race starting boxes and then blasted us with some sort of soap cream, I was slightly blinded for a moment. My tutu was covered in soap pretty much the entire race. Once we passed the foam/cream, we were attacked by gorillas and climbed across the monkey bars. For a complete list of the obstacles check out this link: http://www.rocrace.com/sandiego/course.html. My favorite was the GIANT slide towards the end. I am most proud of the tight rope traverse. I made it all the way across, even with the crazy dudes shaking the heck out of it. However, we should have went across the other one behind us because it was shorter. Poor Amber could barely reach, which eventually led to her falling in the mud. The ONLY reason she fell might I add. She's one tough cookie!

 

 

And then you have this cutie waiting after the race with us to check in on her mama and pops. SHE IS SO FREAKIN' CUTE!

Here is my sister finishing up the final rope swing, OWNING it!! All the way across and then a skip through the finish line holding hands with John and Crystal. I am hoping that there are some pictures of that later. :-)

 The aftermath, we don't look too destroyed. They did a number hosing us down so all the colored powder is gone. Our shirts are now tucked in because they hang down to our ankles, but we look pretty good! Thank you Crystal and Cassie for inviting Colin and I to be a part of this! We had a blast! OK Russell, now you have to start thinking of next years theme... ROC 2013 here we come!

Days 3 and 4

So yesterday I was sorta not home at all to write about what I am thankful for... so I am playing catch up again. Which is kind of cool, because I am thankful for so many things that I can write about more than one on the same day!

Numbers Three & Four

I am thankful for my boys... since there are two of them they count for Thursday and Friday.

My amazing husband is first of all... HAWTTTTT!!!!!! But he is selfless, kind, funny, loving and truly the spiritual leader of our home.

Kellen our little man, mini Colin, is fun, cute, and, well.. my big boy! I am amazed that God would give us such a treasure to love, care for and train up in Him.
I am so blessed by my boys, they are whitty, charming, and they are just the best thing a girl could ask for!

Thank you Jesus for my Family.

Kellen's Gift

Kellen has a really cool new toy. We were on our way to church and we had not picked up the mail in a few days so we decided to get it on our way out. Inside was a gift from Great Grandma & Grandpa McDonough. It is a sing along worship book. There are 10 children's Bible songs that have the words written down on the page and the option for music to play while you sing along with a little microphone!

At first Kellen wasn't sure what to do with it, but thankfully he didn't give up. A few days later he grabbed it before bed time and started pushing the buttons on his own. I held the book and sang with him (sorry, I'm a horrible singer, but I'll do anything if it means spending quality time with my kiddo and teaching him more about Jesus). So, now we have worship before bed time, and that particular night he read his Bible too. I would like to get him, "The Jesus Bible," soon. In the mean time, he won't really let us read to him yet, he did when he was little. Right now he likes to look at all the pages, and point out Jesus and he really likes John the Baptist too, I think it is because John the Baptist is so big and burly, (I mean come on, what kid doesn't think it's cool to wear camels hair as a jacket??) It was such a fun night. We were in his bed room for at least a half hour singing, and "reading." I pray he will never get tired of singing and learning about Jesus and what He did for us. So our new night time routine seems to be Worship, Bible Study, and prayer. :-) What a great way to end the day. Here is a short video, and some photos.

 

Singing along together...

 

Getting ready to pick the next song...

You Cannot Escape... The Shopping Cart Monster!!!

So my husband is a pretty funny guy and he is always entertaining our little man. They LOVE to play together and Daddy is so creative that you never know what he is going to come up with next. Including this video below. Kellen has a small shopping cart that he likes to push around the house. When Colin put it on his head the other day he became, "The Shopping Cart Monster." As soon as the cart comes off his head, he goes back to normal. Hope you enjoy the video!

Suprise Date!

Colin and I have been attending a class called "Dynamic Marriage" at church the last few weeks. It has really helped our communication of emotional needs within our marriage and we have really enjoyed it. Early in the week Colin set up a date day for us and left me clues about what the date entailed. Yesterday he (after arranging earlier in the week with his mom) dropped Kellen off to hang out with Grandma for the afternoon and he took me to an Angels Baseball game! We like watching baseball (live) together and it was really fun! He even bought me my first Angel's T-shirt! I've always just worn a red one to the game.

The day was beautiful! It was a little warm... that is why we are a sweaty! Irvin Santana pitched a great game and I got to learn the names of some of the new players. We had not watched/been to a game together since Kellen was born. The Angels won, and then we celebrated with free Baskin Robin's ice cream (free coupon from donating blood at church last weekend.)

The night completed with pizza, wine and good company over at Grandma's house. It was a great day!

Janurary and stuff...

After all the craziness of 2010, I am starting to see the blessings in disguise. God has been preparing my heart for some amazing things in 2011. Including an Elizabeth George Bible study, church membership class, and much more. Everything from losing our home to learning new budgets in Financial Peace University (and all the other stuff in between) taught us a lot about trusting God in the big and small and has brought me closer to Christ and deeper into his Word daily. I am finding pure joy in my time with God every morning, and sharing it throughout my day with my son and husband has made me blessed. I have also found a new love for scripture memory! "Behold, I make all things new..." (Rev. 21:5) has been a reminder for January and 2011 that each day can be new and better (in Him). As you check out our pictures, I hope that God brings you blessings and joy this year.

We had to move in November, and we now live in a nice little house at the top of a hill overlooking Lake Elsinore. I wasn't real excited when we first had to move, but it is starting to become home. Here is a picture of our back yard view on a foggy morning. (Where the clouds are is usually where you can see the water, but it's hiding).

January was a speedy month. We took our first trip to the Wild Animal Park, (Safari Zoo) and we went to visit Nana, Papa and Uncle Bobby. We also cheered on daddy at some of his soccer matches. Here are some photos to wrap up the month. (Even though February has already begun.)

So, Grandpa decided Kellen needed a Nerf gun for Christmas. (oh geeze) and it didn't take him long to figure out how to shoot us with it!! Thankfully we are already starting to loose the bullets in the house (ha ha). Here are a few pictures of Colin and Kellen "playing."

Uncle Tymon and Aunt Brittani bought Kellen his very own Cars couch bed for his  birthday, he LOVES it and watches his new Veggie Tales movies in it all the time. He constantly "rolls" around and tries to get comfy (or silly) here are some fun pics. The blanket was made by Nana and matches perfectly, when they are not being used they are folded up together and sit nicely next to the other couches.

Also, you may notice that Kellen got a some hairs cut... mommy cut his hair (badly) but at least it isn't in his eyes anymore. It is already growing out and it is CRAZY. He likes to wear my shoes, good choice...comfy slippers.

Kellen has a favorite stuffed animal that MUST sleep with him and his red blanket every night, his name is "Bunny." I found him sleeping one morning like the picture below and had to snap a shot! So cute!

Unfortunately Kellen is not without his boo boos. He added another one to his poor face in January. He fell in the back yard right on his face. He just didn't get his hands down in time. Thankfully, all is well and healed, but the scabs haunted him for a few days. :-(

To get his mind off his new face injuries we played with bubbles for about an hour one day. Here are some of my favorites. (The one with the light in the background is my ultimate favorite).

My Favorite Pic

Kellen has a love of farts, just like his dad, uncle, and well... any man on the planet. I had to video him playing with the machine that we have. It is dying, or broken. Regardless, each fart sounds pretty darn funny. I posted this on face book a while back, but it was just too funny to not add it to the blog too. His laugh was pretty funny too.

We had a quick visit in San Diego to say good bye to Grandma and Grandpa McDonough. They were heading to their next destination, Yuma, the next day so we went to my dad's house for one last visit. Kellen was a little sleepy (and so was Brian) so they cuddled on the couch.

We went to the Safari Zoo, a first for Kellen to check out all the animals with Aunt Jenn, and cousins Taylor and McKenzie. This was Kellen's face after he saw the elephants. :-) If there is a grandparent (or great grandparent) that wants to hook us up with an annual zoo pass, I think Kellen would accept.

 On the tram... to check out the wild.

 This lion was taking a nap, wish we could have saw the front.

 Feeding the birds... I actually had one on my shoulder too, but the picture is dorky! Kellen LOVED the petting coral, and I am pretty sure he pet every single deer that was in the area. They were so gentle. :-)

 This picture pretty much summed up the end of the day... everyone was tired and ready to go home. It was really warm that day. Kellen slept the entire way home in the car. :-)

That same week we headed to Sparks Nevada to visit Nana, Papa and Uncle Bobby. They just recently moved, so it was our first time visiting their new home. Of course you couldn't tell that they just moved because my mom is pro at getting everything super "homey."

Nolan and Kellen sharing some cheerios for breakfast.

 We stopped by Papa's work and we had to take pictures on the TRACTORS!!! They were pretty stinkin' huge.

Kellen wanted to "drive" as always with anything that has a steering wheel. He is completely content moving it back and forth without actually going anywhere.

 We went to the biggest sporting good store on the planet, Scheels, and in the entry way they have a LARGE fish tank. We were a little alarmed at first when we saw scuba divers inside the tank cleaning the glass! It was pretty cool. Kellen, Nolan and Uncle Bobby went on the Ferris wheel INSIDE the store!

Ready to ride!

 Taking a break to watch a Veggie Tales in Nana and Papa's bed.

Another first for Kellen. SNOW! The picture on the left he isn't so happy with mommy putting so many layers on him, including gloves. However, once he was ready to go and climbing up the hill he was glad he had on so many layers. They played for quite a while!

 This was a common view of the two boys. Falling down or sitting down and then struggling to get back up. The snow was not icy, it was actually nice and powder like. Which made for big footprints and falling down a lot.

I also got a pretty good video of Nolan body skiing down the hill. I didn't get him going belly first which was pretty sweet, but I was able to get him on video.

 They worked up appetites (well, at least Nolan did). Kellen just got sweaty I think. He was glad when I took off the snow gear. It was pretty warm outside.

 He looked so cute with the boots on, especially because they went up so high on his knees, I had to take a picture! By then he warmed up pretty well to my parents dog, Duke... (Chocolate Lab) seriously the best dog. If I ever had a dog, I would want him.

 After a day of fun in the snow he even took a few seconds to pose with mommy (my cutie pie!). We had a nice visit. Since coming home Kellen has said, "I want to go in the spa." Nana and Papa have a spa in their back yard, and they sat in it each day for a little while with Uncle Bobby and papa. It was really relaxing.

January came and went, fast. I'm glad I was able to capture some memories with the camera! Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Love,

Mindie