The day should have more than 24 hours in it...

Ever have one of those days where when it ends, you can just sit on the couch, turn the lights down low and relax. The laundry is done and put away, you've somehow managed to vacuum and clean the house, dinner was a success and the dishes are done and put away too (how amazing!), you're little one even went through bed-time routine well and fell asleep in what seemed like no time. You get to the end of the day and think, wow, what a successful/productive day! I accomplished everything on my list.

Well...today is not that day.

I'm here, at the end of today, sitting on my couch, but am anything but relaxed. I just polished off my third (yes THIRD) protein bar of the day and still have not showered (it's 10:18PM). My little guy is snoozing on the couch in only his diaper since bedtime tonight meant clawing and crying at me until he was too exhausted to fight it anymore. I don't have the heart to move him...or more, I'm afraid he'll wake up! haha.

Today was productive however, just not exactly what was on my list. Which is fine, if it weren't for the nagging feeling I have now. I want to keep going, but my body has quit. It has said, I am tired, I will not do more today. Ugh.

So for what I've accomplished, in no particular order since my brain won't function that way right now (skip this list if you aren't into these details, I'm hoping to lift my spirits by writing all this out) While the laundry is anything BUT done I have made progress and Keller does have clean diapers once again. The floors did get vacuumed but now they are cluttered with a multitude of toys, shoes, a breast-pump?, clothes, and other random stuff. I mowed the lawn and watered the garden. I spent some money (haha) but on things we needed...like gas in the car, shoe glue for Broghan's sandals, new swim goggles (we both have broken/old ones), and what I thought was "good" sunscreen but will be returning tomorrow. I helped Broghan take out the boat this afternoon too. He needed to test it out before his big fishing trip to Canada tomorrow. Add to that list of helping him vacuuming out the jeep! AND cleaning the windows! I also did what I do every weekday which is pick up Chris & Spencer (kids I nanny) from school and manage to help Chris get his homework done. Top all of this off with taking care of Keller and I suppose anyone would be tired by this time in the day.

The only things left I think I'm going to do now is to shower (I can smell me!) and read my "history of how we are born" book.

Night night~

Keller & Spencer

Some may know but some may not, but I spend each afternoon with some cool kids named Nicole (16), Spencer (13) and Chris (12). Most of the time I'm trying to get Chris to work on his homework, but usually when we get back to their house after school we spend time hanging out on the floor with Keller (and finding snacks).

Here are a few snapshots from today of Keller and Spencer.

Grow little plant..GROW!

A while back I posted a blog asking about what plants people thought were growing in our yard...well I know at least we have hostas! They are ALL over and getting HUGE! Take a look at some updated pictures I took today. Also, here are some pictures of our first ever vegetable garden. I'm pretty excited to see how much the tomatoes and broccoli have grown in just a week!

These two are of the front of the house. The dark red tree to the left is Broghan's favorite plant in our whole yard. It blooms pretty pink flowers and smells like "cherries".

This is the side of the house...still not 100% sure what these are but my guess is day-lilies. From what I've read, they don't bloom until late June to mid-July though..

Our yard is ridiculously NOT ideal...we have sand, dirt patches, holes from marvin and just random dead spots. So we've been trying to grow grass...here are some of our little tiny sprouts!

BEANS!!!!!!!

(Left to Right) broccoli, peppers & tomatoes)

The overall picture :)

Katie's visit

One of my very best friends, Katie, was able to come out and spend the weekend with us (May 21st thru the 23rd). I've known Katie for more years than I like to count...only because it makes me realize how old we are now. But we met in 7th grade...possibly in Mr. Thompson's Government class...or was it that crazy English teacher ladies??! haha, can't remember.

Anyways, here are some cool photos of her visit. We did what we should do more often living so close, that is, we went to the Leinenkugel's brewery and got some free beer! :) Interestingly enough..this is NOT Keller's first tour...we did it when I was pregnant with him.

Funny story here, Katie wanted to purchase these...up until she saw the price tag. Those pretty wooden chairs are only about $350 a piece...yikes!! They were pretty nice to sit in though..

We also visited a place called Big Falls (obviously a water fall). This was our first time going here even though I'm sure Broghan has asked me before. He loves to do this little adventure hikes and even though I enjoy them once we get there, I'm usually reluctant. It always seems like so much WORK! but once you're there you wonder why you don't go there every day. So beautiful!

The Eau Claire Half Marathon!

Alright, finally this post is getting done! Broghan, myself and our good friend Austin Aho completed the Eau Claire Half Marathon on Sunday May 2nd. It was such an amazing day! Coming off a pretty stressful two weeks prior, this is something I had been looking forward to accomplishing for some time. While I will very openly admit my training lacked, I was happy with my overall race and finish. It's hard to remember exactly, but I'm fairly certain this is how the results for us three went:

Austin: 1hr 57mins

Broghan: 2 hrs 5 mins

Abby 2 hrs 12 mins

Not too shabby?! Here are some photos of us courtesy of my parents who were awesome and came out to stay the night before in order to watch Keller the morning of the race (they even cleaned my kitchen while we were running!)

Broghan and Austin running at about mile 3. They stayed together throughout most of the course but ended up getting 'split up' at about mile 10 when Broghan stopped for a bathroom break.

Oh that's right, I'm not putting the ones of me on here! Haha, while my mom did capture me running, I'm not so impressed with the overall visuals...anyways, when I did run past (about mile 3) I was probably 15 minutes behind the boys. I was one of the last people to START the race because I used the restrooms BEFORE I ran...and it was at this point that my father pointed out "Abs, your pretty far behind them ya know" or something along those lines..

Here we are post-race with our fancy-schmancy medals!

Me, my parents & Keller post-race. Thanks again for coming out!!!!

Oh and to add in, about 5 hours after the race I could no longer walk...so maybe the next time I try one of these I'll focus more on the training portion... :)

Enjoying the outdoors

It's been so nice out we've finally been able to do some yard work. Here is Keller being his smiley self, enjoying the outdoors while we work in the front yard.

As Tyra Banks would say, he's "smizing". ;)

Back from the West Coast & a visit to MN

Once back in MN the adventure wasn't quite over. Broghan was attending a seminar in the Twin Cities and that is why he wasn't able to come with to the wedding. He and Marvin had stayed at my parents' house since the seminar was close by. So, when we landed, my sister picked us up and we headed to my parents' home to hang out for a short while and enjoy the traditional Sunday family meal they have each week.

My aunt Cindy, Keller and my mom posing out in the driveway.

Me, Keller and Grandpa Keller! (This is who Keller got his name from...duh)

The Kellers!

the 21 hour adventure!

Okay, so I'll explain. Broghan's cousin Cassidy's wedding was set for 2PM Saturday April 24th. Keller & I had a flight at 9PMish Friday and a return flight 8AMish Sunday. We knew it was going to be a quick weekend, however, when we missed our flight on Friday night things got way more interesting. The ticket lady was super nice and changed our ticket to 9AMish Saturday, landing in San Diego at 11AMish, giving us time to get ready for the wedding. After the little snafu of missing the flight, all went extremely smoothly and according to plan.

Me, Keller and my Mom outside of the MSP airport as we head off towards the west coast.

I couldn't help it! I had to document Keller being on the plane...so I waited until everyone else got off and snapped some pics!

Keller in the Mustang in San Diego, rocking Uncle Logan's camo hat!

Uncle Logan, Uncle Cullan, Keller & Grandpa Reilly outside of the chapel on the University of San Diego campus. Such a gorgeous day and a gorgeous wedding!

Yes, I realize these look photo-shopped...I don't know why! but it was REAL I swear! haha, we really went to California :)!

Uncle Logan using the age-old trick of holding a cute baby in hopes of getting girls' attention...apparently it was working! Keller did a good job of being the 'wing-man'!

Could you even imagine a more beautiful background for your head table?! Ugh, just beautiful!

Cousin Nikki and Adam! Maybe they'll have one of their own someday soon!?! This was taken at the reception out on the dance floor. Yes, my child stayed up until the dance...there was no hope of him sleeping at this event! Way too much excitement going on!

Keller and I outside the San Diego airport just 20 short hours after we arrived!! Gotta love those adventures!

Keller's second race...the PuddleJump 5K

Here are some pictures from the local 5K race I did with Keller. Broghan was at a business building conference in Arizona that day so I got to push Keller all by myself! We finished in under 30 minutes but I can't really remember the exact time anymore...I think it was something like 29:29??

This was my attempt at getting me and the starting line. There were SO many people! I wasn't really expecting such a huge turn out but it was a good experience to have to prepare me for the Eau Claire Half Marathon (that post will come later).

Keller post-race. You can just see how exhausted he is after the three mile run...haha, he actually napped the last half...such a trooper!

Not sure why I want to share THIS photo, but this is me post-race...at least the hat makes it someone forgiving! :)

Standing in crib = uh oh!

Keller has a new favorite activity...standing. He loves it! As soon as he is up, he's grinning from chubby cheek to chubby cheek. So here is where it all began though, in the crib. Which of course means the crib is no longer the appropriate place to leave him when I need to be running about the house. Now he's only in his crib if he's laying down (since he can't sit up on his own from being on his belly or back) or if I'm in the room. Here are a few snap-shops of his activities. :)

Sneaker..

All smiles for the camera!

Woah! and he's UP! Can you see how hard he's gripping the side of the crib??

This is how he was after many of his 'practice' attempts. He would end up in this position and be stuck...haha, until I moved him of course.

Again, stuck...rough time Kel-man...;)

New Diapers!!

So we've been holding off on getting these for almost 3 months now and I just couldn't take buying disposable diapers any longer. We have a mom in town that sells a multitude of brands and all of the accessories out of her house so I finally e-mailed her, set up a time, and headed on over to look at everything. We ended up getting two systems, the ones in the picture are the pocket ones that work just like disposables. They Velcro closed and are super easy and quick. The other type is what we had for when he was a little baby, the pre-fold & cover system. For me, it's kind of like my 'back-up' since I just find the pocket ones so convenient. But Broghan seems to like the pre-folds better....so who knows. Both have been working out great though and it's really nice not seeing those disposables disappearing so quickly!!

Those striped things in the bottom of the picture are one pair of his new leggings. As some might know, clothe diapers make a baby's bum quite big! so regular pants and shorts don't usually fit right. These leggings are AWESOME! they're cute and they help keep his legs warm and knees safe for when he's crawling (not that he's crawling yet...but oh so close!!)

Here is Keller showing off his new stuff, he's wearing his second pair of leggings...the ones with the trucks :)

Randoms

SO these are just some random photos I had my in "To Be Uploaded" file that I had yet to do. There aren't big stories around these but just little snippets of what we have been up to I suppose..

This is a picture of what Broghan and I ate for a week (ok we only did it for 3 and 1/2 days...close to a week!) but it was a cleanse of that orangish looking substance (it was like powder and water...that couldn't mix) and then green veggies. I was allowed almonds and chicken since I'm nursing and needed more calories than the rest. It was a good attempt at cutting out sugars, but lets be honest here...I'm STILL a work in progress at getting rid of that darn sugar addiction!

Now this picture is fun! If you look ahead of the car...you'll see Marvin, our 2 1/2 yr old chocolate lab. This is how we sometimes have to "run" him. And if you take a look at the speedometer, you'll notice we're traveling at a not so slow speed of 20 mph! He ran for over a mile and a half at that pace...if only we could be that quick!!

This was taken A LONG TIME AGO. I think Keller is only like 4 months?! I can't even remember since it was so long ago, but he's on our bed with one of Broghan's hats on...its just cute I think :)