Swampy

This weekend, we went to a friend of ours 4 year old son’s birthday party. The party was at Millaree Hunt Club. Since it was raining all week and that day, driving on a muddy road in a truck made for some good times. We were sliding all over the place and not to mention you should see Ben’s truck. At the party the girls got to decorate fake snakes, eat gator, and even pet a real alligator. They had a guy come and bring several different snakes, a turtle, and a little alligator. I don’t think he knew we actually had gator for lunch.

That afternoon we headed to North Augusta, for the Augusta Half Marathon in the morning. The rain and cold continued, but finally that morning it had cleared. The only thing "swampy" was my performance. The group I had been training with did Myrtle Beach the weekend before, so I based my times off of theirs. The only problem was that they were at the beach and I was in “hill” central. I knew the course was going to be tough, there are several big hills that I knew would be challenging, but I still had hopes that I would have a good time.

The race started and I had a good pace going. I was aiming for around a 6:24 minute a mile. The first mile was 6:02, and then came mile two, 6:15, and then mile 3, 6:18, and then BAM the first big hill. My splits went up and down from there. My next mile was 7:27, but then I had a huge downhill which brought my time back down to the pace I was aiming for. Just when I gotten back into rhythm, BAM another hill and then another. This was around mile 7 and 8. Again I had another downhill after to try to make some time. The hills were pretty much over at this point, well besides some much smaller hills. Around mile 10 or so, the course goes around a lake, and at this point my pace was going all over the place. I stayed near a guy who I had run with at a race in Columbia, and we kept going back and forth, passing each other. I finally got ahead of him after another hill and we were back on the last stretch home. I saw what my time was and how much further I had to go, and knew I wasn’t going to PR.

The last few minutes were the worse; I was trying to hold back how upset I was, so it would not affect my running even more. I thought about all the training I had done to prepare for the race, and knew I didn’t have any excuses. Last year I got second place with a time of 1:27:30. This year I got second place with a time of 1:27:30. 

Swampy…that was my performance…now what do I do about it.

The only thing good about the race was seeing Ben, Mr. Riddle, Kari, and the girls cheering for me. They were at the top of a huge hill, which was a perfect spot to give me the kick I needed to make it up the hill. I love hearing the girls screaming, "Go Mommy" or "Go Kenzie". I love having them hug me at the end, because whatever place/time I get they don't know the difference. They are just excited and happy for me no matter what.

Grayson's First Haircut

Last night the whole Riddle family got our haircut! ME has had a number of haircuts, but it was the first time for the G. She has gone with us and has seen ME and I get ours done, but she hasn't gotten her cut until yesterday. This time my mom and Ben came with us, so I could get my haircut. Course my mom brought snacks to keep them entertained. I went first, while the girls snacked, and then it was G's turn. We put her up on the seat and she wanted nothing to do with it. So she ended up sitting in my lap, which was fine minus me being covered with hair. ME of course sat down and asked us to take pictures of her since we were taking some of Grayson.

Both the girls did so good and looked sooo cute afterwards. Robin even took the clippers to Ben's hair! Overall a successful trip, four haircuts for the price of one!

Wine and Swine

This weekend we headed to North Augusta to visit and attend the Wine and Swine event. Some friends of our told us they were going and that there was actually a 5k before the event. All I had to hear was run, wine, and food...sign me up. The race didn't even start until 10:00, which is late for a race, but it was cold and rainy so later the better. Ben and his dad came to watch. I ended up getting first place and was a little happier with my time compared to last week. Still not the time I wanted, but it was super windy and I really didn't have any competition.

Anyways, the race gave us tickets to the annual "Wine and Swine" event. The title is exactly what it was. There was a wine tasting and a bbq cook-off. The rain finally stopped so we went down there and met two of our friends. We sampled several different bbq's and had a few glasses of wine. Around 1 each bbq group/person could pick something else to grill/cook. They had peach cobbler, tacos, jalapeno poppers, donuts, etc that had all been cooked on the grill. We actually went and made the jalapeno poppers that night.

Last night, we decided to make another one of the things we tried. It’s a crab meat and avocado quesadilla with a mango salsa!!!

First we cut up two avocado's. 

 Cut up some mango to add to the mango salsa.  

Cut up the crab meat.

Mix the avocado and crab meat together.

 We didn't do it on the grill, but we put a little bit of oil on the quesadilla to make it a little crispier.

 We put the crab meat and avocado mixture on the quesadilla and let it cook.

The final step was the top it off with mango salsa!!!



We had these for dinner; I would recommend them as an appetizer. They were super good though and something I will definitely make again.

Polka Dot Cake

Last week my mom sends me this blog of a polka dot cake using cake pops, well of course I had to give it a try.

Of course we had to try the mix out before we started. 

 We took a little of cake mix and split it up into four different bowls.

 Then we put food coloring in the each bowl. We used red, blue, yellow, and green.

 Mixed them up!

 Of course we had to check and make sure the mix was still good.

 Filled up the cake pops pans and then baked them until they were ready.

 While the cake pops were cooking, I made the second cake mix. Once the cake pops were done I put them into the baking pans and covered them with the other cake mix.

 Ignore my icing job, but we have polka dots!! Yay! I'd say not to bad for my first time.



Course this is the blog picture my mom sent me...I have some work to do!

Next time!!!

The girls had to much fun helping me, so it was totally worth it.

Random Pictures from this week!

My first baby sound asleep!

Tuesday I got to stay home with sick Baby G!

She wasn't to sick to give up eating valentine hearts. 

Randomly the other night, ME decided she needed to clean out her closet. 

ME trying to tackle Butter, course Charlie got jeaulous.

This morning I could not get Grayson up, so I sent Butter after her. 

Grayson got up just to pop Butter and then went right back to sleep.

 Buttercup finally gave up.

In a trance watching morning cartoons.

A fight for the candy hearts, guess who won?



Happy Friday!