Raleigh's New Job

Raleigh finally settled on a decision a few weeks ago and has taken over as Supervisor of the Nickelodeon department at the Marriott here in our area! His technical title is Recreations Supervisor but it's really just over the Nick. crew. He's really, really liking it so far and it seems to be a good fit. They asked us for a 6-month commitment...so we are here in the desert for at least another 6 months. This means another summer......HELP ME!!! I was really counting on being gone from here before the summer but sometimes, the Lord just has different plans! The good thing is that we don't have to move somewhere random, like Albuquerque. :) We'll take our blessings as they come and count any trials as future blessings once we learn to grow through them. In the meantime, it's great to have Raleigh work a 40-hr. week job that advances him in the company!

Half-Marathon Training

Rals and I decided to do a half-marathon this Spring! It was kind of our New Year's resolution. Mostly just a goal in life. And this, we figure, is the perfect time to do this and here's why:

-We live in a place where January-April is the perfect time of year as far as weather
-We have no kids
-We have very few commitments in the evenings/weekends that would make training difficult
-SINCE we have very few commitments...having a goal that is challenging is good for us


So we are currently at the end of week 5 of training, and I officially registered us this week. We're really doing it! It's hard to believe. I have NEVER been a runner so this has really been challenging for me. But it's really amazing how much your body improves. It's been fun so far, and something we can do together. The half-marathon is May 2nd in Orange County (Newport Beach actually...my FAVORITE area over there). I'll be sure to be posting about it after we accomplish it (providing that we do) and post some pictures!

Surprise Weekend

This last weekend was SO much fun! Raleigh's parents, Terry and Karen, are celebrating their30th Anniversary today! A few months ago they planned to go to San Francisco to celebrate, which is the area that Adam and Laura (Raleigh's brother and his wife) live. So we knew that the 4 of them were going to be in the same area this weekend and Raleigh and I decided that we'd buy tickets to meet them up there..but as a surprise. Adam and Laura picked us up Friday night and we stayed with them. Then Saturday morning was when we surprised them. We were dropped off at the hotel they were going to check into while A&L went to the airport to pick them up. When they all got to the hotel to check in, we were waiting there for them in the lobby. They were SOOOO surprised!! It was very exciting. We had such a fun weekend walking everywhere you could imagine in San Fran, riding the ferry, the cable car, eating at fun places, and just spending some quality time together. We also surprised them with a book that the 4 of us kids did for them. It contained letters from friends and family congratulating them on 30 years, and a lot of pictures from the past. It was a lot of fun to get it all together. Here are some pictures to show our weekend: