Lips Get Ready to Battle!!

It was time for our 3rd annual friends 
LIP SYNC BATTLE!!

I was a little ambitious and scheduled it the same night as our half marathon.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?
My muscles hated me that day!

The theme this year was: songs from the movies!

I was excited to see what everyone had in store.

I even had a hard time narrowing down our preformance.

Sooo many good choices out there!

From the finish line, Casey and I started a different marathon of getting things

prepped and ready.

No rest for the weary, or nearly dead. LOL!

I love the lip balloons I found on amazon.

I even had a banner professionally made!

I designed it, then found a company to print it large on durable paper.

Another year of hours spent on a crappy backdrop was not happening.

Now I can reuse it year after year!

(Hopefully we still have friends that want to participate year after year. ha!)

We switched it up and ordered Carolinas this time around.

A good choice!

Let's get this party started!!
All the couples knew there would be a first and second place prize.
I love that they bring it each time.

I drew names out of a bowl to make it fair.

Cotters and Nesbits were up first!
They dazzled us with Mamma Mia, from the movie Mamma Mia!
I secretly was so glad they went first because they can sure get the crowd going!

The body suits, nuff said.

Aaron and Michelle rocked,
Everything is Awesome, from the Lego Movie.

I have never seen a better choreographed performance.
It was legit and they did the WHOLE song!

Is it bad that I still can't stop chuckling looking at our picture?
Can you guess what we performed?

Yes, yes we did.
I Will Follow Him, from Sister Act.
It was the finale version.
 The climax from soft to jazzy was a nice touch:)

It only gets better from a Whoopi Casey.

Jacksons and Sumerea in tighty whites?
Yes, please!!

Oh my goodness, we were all rolling when they came sliding in
with, Old Time Rock & Roll from Risky Business.

Dan and Sarah did a country song that I cannot remember!
Ugh. It will come to me in my sleep.

I have to give the Lloyds props for even coming to this party!
They had moved in weeks prior and did not know any of us that well.
What a way to meet the neighborhood, haha!

They killed it with Circle of Our Love, from Saturday's Warrior.

And then they woke up and gave talks in church at 9 the next morning.
I felt terrible that I had kept them up so late!

The Blau's (ok more Dave) have big personalities!
I really thought I was in the dance seen Twist and Shout from
Ferris Buellers Day Off!

I think the Rudd's should win best props and use of spandex pants every year.
They up it each time!
Bethany doesn't mind because she is inside the prop.
And Tait must really like his figure, bahah.

Baby It's Cold Outside, from Elf

Look, it's Mary Poppins!
I said that in my best English accent:)

They claimed they rehearsed for 5 minutes.
Either Ryan has a photographic memory, or he needs to hit up Broadway.
He knew every word without skipping a beat of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. 
It was UNREAL!

 A Whole New World!
 Jasmine and Aladdin, aka: Miche and Darl!

 

I'm telling you, the voting was so hard this year!
Nobody won by a landslide.

First place was Amber and Ryan! 
Their prize was that they got to sing
 Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious again for us!
Just kidding.

They got to pick between a monetary prize or a mystery envelope.
They choose monetary.

Second place was the Rudd's with Baby it's Cold Outside.
They got the mystery envelope which revealed concert tickets
to see Journey at Ak-chin  Pavilion!

I can't wait for next year!

Half Marathon!

Yep.

Call me crazy!
Or stupid. Or insane.

At the ripe old age of 35, I signed myself up for a half marathon.

The girl who had never ran more than 3 consecutive miles without stopping.

And it taking 2 hours to boot.

And losing a lung and hip behind on the street.

I don't know what got in me.

It was never a bucket list item.
The thought had crossed my mind briefly prior.
Maybe it was because I was in a fitness slump..

The moment of clarity was on a jog on the canal.

I was DYING and hadn't been going very long.

As I was lugging my lifeless body along,

what looked to be an 80 year old man ran briskly passed me.

Done.

I came home and signed myself right up for the Phoenix Half.

Then text Stephanie and pleaded with her to do it with me!

 I needed a support and accountability partner. 

She was reluctant, but in the end did her sister a favor!

And somewhere along the line, I roped Casey into running, too. Ha!

We didn't get too serious into training until a month out.

Some how between busy schedules and sports games for the kids,
Stephanie and I would meet on Saturdays to put
 some miles on our feet.
We started out little with a 5 mile run.

Then the next week bumped it to 8.

I think the most we did was 10 or 11 miles.

Then we were out of time!

Race day was here!

We got up at the crack of dawn and drove

to Riverview to get on the buses to take us to the start line.

I was doing pretty good on nerves.

The whole drive I was noticing how long it seemed to take.

Which meant I would be running this distance back, yikes!

We got off the buses to blaring music and masses of people!

We squeezed our way into some heaters.

We learned some tips from the pros to buy cheap sweaters and blankets

from Goodwill to keep warm in until the start. 

Then as you start running, you  shed layers onto the street

and volunteers come around and pick up the thrown jackets and re-donate to thrift stores.

We waited in LONG lines for port a potties.
Stretched. Then it was go time!!

The first half I was feeling pretty good.

I really paced myself so I wouldn't poop out too quickly.

I had never done the full 13 miles, so I didn't know exactly how
 I would feel and didn't want to rock the boat.
Plus, I didn't have a specific time in mind to run it in.

I was just there for the experience.

Stephanie and I stayed together for the first few miles, then

she took off. Casey was in front of me as well.

I didn't realize how my emotions were so ramped up!

I was loving the energy of the runners and the by -standers.
At the drink stations they had music blaring and each person handing

out cups were so great to keep you pumped up.

Running is really a mental thing, so I was grateful for the positive 

atmosphere!

They had an app that friends and family could follow runners on.

It was awesome for them to be able to track you so could map

out different cheering spots along the trail.

I was SO grateful to know I had some cheerleaders to look for.

At first I told them not to come because it was early and cold.

But deep down I know I couldn't have done it with out them.

Cheesy, I know. 
Just knowing they were there supporting  and rooting us on was huge!

Once again, it kept your mind of the pain.

Big shout out to our cheering section!!!

Another big shout out to Offerpad.

They had signs all along the route the were HILARIOUS!

I was surprising myself with my stamina.
I was fist pumping that I only stopped a few seconds to drink
some Gatorade or water so it wouldn't splash all over me.
If I stopped too long, I knew I would never get my groove again.

Then my self esteem came crashing down when the motorcycle brigade came with lights and
 horns beeping for us peons to move out of the way.
  The lead marathoner (who started the
same time as the halfers) came running by like a gazelle.,
leaving us in the dust.
It was amazing.

Mile 12 was finally here and I was feeling gased.

I turned to my left and low and behold, I saw my cousin Molly!
She hopped in the last couple of miles to run with her daughter
who was also running her first half marathon. 
Only, her daughter wanted to concentrate and not talk.
So I took her place:)

She was a blessing in disguise because without her to talk to,
I would have for sure stopped to walk for a bit.
She kept my pace up, if not faster than I would have
been able to go on my own.

In the meantime, Casey had finished his race!!
He ran it in 2:21:03
Not bad for no training! 

Stephanie finished as well.

Then the slow poke came in!
I couldn't believe how long that last leg felt.

But I did it!!

2:31:35 was my time.

What a rush!

Jeanette.
One of my very best friends.
She came and cheered us on the whole time.

They found us at the finish line!
And were more excited about our free loot than seeing us.

An up close picture of Jeanette's hilarious sign.

Then we hobbled ourselves in line for the free massage!

 

Would I do it again?
I signed up for 2021 the very next day. LOL!

It might be in my blood now.

Things in between

I think the highlight of Lanes 7th grade

year was being on the flag football team!

And sadly, this was the only picture on mine and Casey's phone.

I was naughty and snuck a picture in the chapel
of a sweet friend reunion!
The Newtons came back for a visit.

Pretty comical how these twins showed up to the dunes all matchy, matchy!

When dad is working down the street, you go visit and help him work!

I was on a long run for my half marathon training along the canal.
I passed by Trey's house, where Rusty was playing, and heard little 
voices. I yelled their names and all of a sudden, 2 heads popped up
 wondering who in the heck was over the fence, lol!

This girl has some plumber problems!

Rusty was first up to dunk his teacher Mrs. Griner at the school carnival.

We babysat Tanner and Olive for a few days while the rest of their
family went to Universal Studios!

I took them to the zoo.
Coincidentally, Olive happened to be going the same day on a field
trip with her class!
We never did see her, but it was a fun day with good weather 
and lots of animals to look at.

The best kind of drive home:)

I went to gather the kids for prayers so we could go to bed.
I walked into the room to see that they had put every single toy
we own in the pack and play!

Little stinkers.

This.
I'm still laughing at this one.

Our neighbors down the street finally got the city
to come pour a new sidewalk in front of their house
that had been causing water build up.

After the pour was done, they cautioned taped off the area
to make sure nobody walked on it as it was drying.

I was pulling out of my garage to get the kids from the bus
when I noticed some neighbor kids huddled over there.
STANDING on the concrete.
And oh, wait.
Are they writing on it?

YEP!!

I hope they learned to be more discreet next time and not use first
or last names, lol!

Love their matching rompers

Poor Casey fell of this 12 ft high ledge into an empty swimming pool
at work. Luckily he has cat like reflexes and
 landed on his feet and not his head!

The result?
A busted up foot.

Poor guy had wear a boot for a few weeks.

That did not stop him from working!
One of the contractors must have been feeling his pain
and made a special chair for him at the job site!