I went in search of a dragonfly this morning, but instead ended up snapping this cute critter, on my hubby’s arm.

Life has been moving a bit fast around here and I’m afraid I’ve been doing a lousy job at documenting it.  The holiday weekend and some vacation time are providing a bit of a break, so I thought I’d fill in some of the gaps.

Since the beginning of February, I’ve been working out at CrossFit Hillsboro, 3-4 times a week.  It’s challenging.  It’s fun.  The people are great.  It’s totally different than any other type of gym experience.  CrossFit often names particular workouts after fallen soldiers.  To commemorate this Memorial Day at the gym, we listened to the national anthem and then we did a WOD (Workout of the Day) called “Murph,” in remembrance of Lt. Michael Murphy.  It goes like this:

• 1 mile run
• 100 pull-ups
• 200 push-ups
• 300 air-squats
• 1 mile run

Sounds a little nuts, right?  You can break it up into segments that work for you, and you can modify movements where necessary.  My “pull-ups” are called jumping pull-ups.  I stand on a box, reach up to grab the bar, jump and pull myself up so my chin goes above the bar and land back on the box.  My push-ups are girl ones, from the knees.  Air-squats are squats without added weight.  You try and get your rear as low as you can while keeping your chest up, then you stand all the way up.

I broke it down to look like this:

• 1/2 mile run (about 5 min each time)
• (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air-squats) x 5 (about 7 min for each set of 5)
• 1/2 mile run
• (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air-squats) x 5
• 1/2 mile run
• (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air-squats) x 5
• 1/2 mile run
• (5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 air-squats) x 5

I finished in 48:46.  Woohoo!!!

Thank you to Lt. Murphy and ALL the armed forces for your work and sacrifices.

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Seth, his parents, one sister and I recently completed the Whole30 Challenge.  To sum it up, it’s no diary, no sugar, no grains, no legumes…for 30 days.  It’s a clean-out-your-system kinda deal.  In conjunction with CrossFit, I lost 13 pounds.  Seth lost 17.  It wasn’t as difficult as I expected it to be.  I never counted calories;  I just ate decent food.  Also in conjunction with CrossFit, since early Feb I’ve lost nearly 3″ off my waist, an inch off my arms and a dress size or two.  I’ve gained strength and access to parts of my wardrobe I haven’t seen in a while.  Yahoo!

*****

May 28 was our 17th anniversary!  Wowee!!

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We are in the middle of baseball season, which makes for a crazy schedule when combined with swimming season (which is year ’round).  Between now and mid-Aug, we have 2 weekends free.  Whew!  While some of this is a bit wild, it’s also fun.

*****

We’ve finally updated our CRT television with a flat screen version, and now we’re canceling cable!  With a digital antenna, we’re able to see most of the major networks, and we’re enjoying our free trial month of Netflix, which we’ll probably subscribe to.  Hulu may prove useful as well.  There will be things we’ll miss, but we like the idea of not paying for SO many things that we will never watch when we can find less expensive ways of watching a lot of what we would want to watch…especially now that summer is upon us and there are better things to do.  Like yard work!  Yippee!!

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
~Joyce Kilmer, “Trees,” 1914

Yesterday morning…one of our lovely trees.

These past few days, one wouldn’t know it to be November, but for all the colorful trees!

A friend shared this on her blog recently. I decided it needed to be shared again!

I accidentally stumbled upon this last night, and now I know where I want to go on vacation…someday.

Heasley House Hotel

To me, this is like finding a rare name on a mug, or a pencil, or a keychain.  (I know…pretty monumental, right?)  I was once a Smith, which can be found on anything, but Heasley?  Not so much.  And now to find it on a sweet little hotel in the hamlet of Heasley Mill in England…how cool is that?

This video from Advent Conspiracy has been shown at our church the last couple of weeks. Awesome!