Jewels of a Child

Thursday, August 23, 2012

A Graduate...Me...Really!!!

I can hardly believe I have a graduate but I do!!!

I couldn't be prouder of the young man he has become.

Congratulations Christian!!!!

{I had to have a picture of Travis too}

I am sitting quietly in my living room when these 2 explode through my front door exclaiming that I need to be ready for a fashion show. Apparently the went to salvo(salvation army) and went hunting for 70's wear and beach bum apparel and this is what they came up with....

Not only is this so funny, they did it with the intention of wearing it to their

Track Award Night and they did!!!

26.2

If you read this post you would know Christian qualified for states and you would also know he injured himself at regionals...these 2 meets are 2 weeks apart from each other and so for good measure why don't you run a marathon in between the 2.

I still am shaking my head about the whole thing.

When his injury happend we tried to change it to a 10K but the rules are clear you can't change which race you will run. We thought the morning of maybe we would be able to change it in person and if it couldn't be changed he just wouldn't run. Imagine my surprise when David returned with no Christian and I was so excited that they let him change his race and again imagine my surprise when they didn't and he was running the marathon.

He had never to this point ran more than 6 miles and most of his current running training had been running all out for 800 meters. He is in fabulous shape but running 26.2 miles with no training is craziness and he is just the crazy to do it.

He finished ... not only did he finish he came in 4th in his age group with the time of 3:16 which is amazing so amazing in fact we learned later he was 6 minutes shy of qualifying for the Boston Marathon...6 minutes. When he found this out he said, "If I would of know the time to beat I would have done it" and as I have looked at the first half time and last half time I believe he would have!

We Have an Eagle Scout

Boys will be boys I beleive is the saying...love these boys they are the best and I am so proud of each one of them for accomplishing this huge achievement!!!

David on a Bug Hunt

David had a field trip to the Chippewa Nature Center.

He absolutely fell in love with this place and we will definately need to visit again and again!!!

Julianna's Birthday Party Photoshoot - the after shots

WE LOVE THIS GIRL!!!!!

*to see more of her birthday party fun you will need to go here

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

And Let the Race Begin

As much as Christian loves soccer he absolutely LOVES running.

This season was full of hope for him and his relay team they had been looking forward to this for 4 years. they had states in their sights and they were determined to win. Over the last 3 years they have had their bumps in the road along the way but nothing could have prepared Christian for the phone call he received the day he returned home from California. One of his teammates Justin broke his back on Spring Break and would not be able to run for at least this season if ever again. It was heartbreaking to watch Christian talking to his friend on the phone and him trying to console him. I can imagine the same way Justin did with Christian when he broke his ankle. I remember Christian telling me about his brutal physical therapy and how Justin would be there holding him up as he was taking his first steps again so he would be ready to run track. This was something that was going to need more time and that was one thing they didn't have.

They found a replacement but he was a short distance sprinter and when you run the 800 it is a sprint the whole way and not something a short distance sprinter usually has the endurance for. They did really well in matter of fact well enough to qualify for states at the regional track meet. Later on in that same meet came Christian's individual race the 800 and as he was taking the last turn on pace to make a new persoanl best time and just as he was ready to turn it up a notch he got a crippling charlie horse in his hamstring and fell to the ground screaming(my heart broke for him). His last individual High School race was done..but there was a some gleaming hope for him becasue they did qualify for states earlier....so off to States we went....and this didn't turn out well either but they really did have a fabulous season and these won't be his last races becasue he is running in college!!!