Mission Accomplished

I apologize for the lack of new posts in the last couple days. It was a busy busy weekend.

As I mentioned in the previous post, we headed to Birmingham for the Mercedes Marathon and Samford Step Sing. It was a fun-filled, crazy weekend that flew by way too quickly. Following are some of the highlights:

Friday night we were welcomed with an O'Carr's Chicken Salad & Fruit Plate. I know it sounds a little "lady-like"... Don't hate it till you try it!!

Saturday morning Ashley and I met some great friends for breakfast. Ashley really enjoyed catching up with her dear friend, Courtney Murphy. And I was privileged to break bread with my good buddy Bee Frederick.

Saturday afternoon we spent some great time with Jim & Dina and Kari & Mike. There is no lack of laughter when you get the Reese family together :-)

Finally, after multiple Facebook postings, text messages, and old fashioned phone calls we tracked down a pair of tickets to Step Sing. After much thought, Ashley decided she'd be better off staying home due to the exhaustion she been experiencing during her pregnancy. Soooooo, Mr. Bee Frederick and I reunited once more to partake in the spectacle that is STEP SING!!

The brothers of Pi Kappa Phi brought their A-game to the stage! Unfortunately, they were robbed by the independent male group, Dudes-A-Plenty. Nevertheless, I felt great pride watching my boys rock the Step Sing stage!

Bright and early Sunday morning (5AM) we awoke to prepare for the much anticipated Mercedes Marathon Relay. We arrived in plenty of time to get to our various exchange positions. And to everyone's surprise, each of us ran our legs of the relay faster than we'd anticipated! Woohoo!! Despite all of my pre-race anxieties, I successfully ran the 10K. Now I am definitely feeling it!! Let's just say I am a moving a bit more slowly today.

Here's some pics from the race:

We all decided to cross the Finish Line together:

 

Post race photo op:

Until next time, we're just the Joneses trying to keep up...

BIG WEEKEND!!

Finally, the work week is over!! And what a week it's been. Fortunately we have a fun-filled weekend to look forward to!

That being said... here is a picture from last night:

That's right -- that is Ashley running on snow/ice covered streets!! We have been dedicated to training for the Mercedes Marathon-Relay we are participating in this weekend.

And if you recall, I mentioned that I might have to run a 10K instead of the 5K I was originally planning to run. Well the moment has come and I am as ready as I can be!! I don't expect to set any world records, but I do hope to avoid walking during my piece of the race... we'll see.

So we're headed to Birmingham, AL to see our family and friends. It's gonna be a crazy weekend. Not only is the race on Sunday, but there is also a major event at Samford University (our alma mater).

STEP SING!!!!

It's the greatest event EVER!! I am proud to say that my Pi Kappa Phi brothers and I brought home the Sweepstakes Trophy with this performance: http://vimeo.com/3295317.

Check it out! You will be AMAZED!!

Unfortunately, Ashley and I dropped the ball big-time this year and didn't get tickets. Major bummer! Nevertheless, we are thrilled to get to see friends from college who we have not seen since last year's "Step Sing Reunion."

Hopefully in my next post, I will be able to share that the brothers of Pi Kapp have brought the trophy home again!! And perhaps even that our relay team brought home the gold... keep your fingers crossed!

Until then... we're just the Joneses trying to keep up :)

Happy "Hump" Day

So this morning I woke up feeling great (which is pretty rare). Normally I feel a deep sense of sadness at the sound of my alarm - regardless of how happy sounding the tune is. But for some reason, today I felt magnificant! Not in a sense of, "Wow! I really am excited to get out of bed and tackle the day!" More in a sense of, "Man, I slept great! And I really feel like I can sleep a bit longer. Or at least cuddle for a while with Ash!" And to top it all off -- I was convinced that it was the weekend!!

But to my utter dismay, today is Wednesday...

And I learned a new term for Wednesday when I started my current job -- Hump Day. I was greeted one Wednesday morning with a "Happy Hump Day." Initially I was a bit creeped out by this remark, but then I realized that the "hump" referred to the fact that Wednesday is like the peak of the work week mountain. And that on Thursday I'd be making my descent to the weekend!!

It didn't mean this kind of "hump".

But in bigger news today -- Ashley is 12 weeks pregnant!! That means our little Tinker is about the size of a lime. Ashley is starting to "show," but not quite enough to make photographing her belly worthwhile just yet. She has graduated to the Belly Band. For those who don't know, the Belly Band is this magical elastic band that allows Ashley to leave her pants unbuttoned and/or unzipped without worrying about getting busted for indecent exposure :) At this point she's mostly wearing it for comfort, rather than necessity. But we know that day will come.

**And after a nice big dinner, I'm kinda jealous of her pant's elasticity... so I just unbutton my jeans too (although I look less pregnant and much more redneck/white trash).**

So as I sit here typing, snow is falling outside wreaking HAVOC amongst those on the roads. I am dreading my drive home from work, but know that it is inevitable. Plus, I'd much rather be home with my beautiful bride and our baby than sitting here in my dimly lit cubicle stalling my drive home in an effort to let traffic subside. So... off I go!!

Adios! And HAPPY HUMP DAY!!

Just Another Case of the Mondays

The weekend is over. The Super Bowl has come and gone. The Black Eyed Peas' performance was less than memorable. Christina Aguilera botched the National Anthem. The commercials were hit or miss (more on this later). And we all ate and drank WAY too much!!

Now our bosses expect us to get to work all bright eyed and bushy-tailed. On a Monday morning no less!!

But in the spirit of "Office Space," it's just another case of the Mondays! And to combat that "funk" you're in, I thought what better way to get someone excited on a dreary day in the office, than with amazingly  hilarious Super Bowl commercials!!

So below are my favorites. I hope you enjoy. And perhaps find yourself chuckling a bit at your desk (or wherever you work/study/etc).

#3) Volkswagon - Baby Darth Vader

#2) Bridgestone - Reply All

#1) Doritos - Finger Licker

So what commercials were your favorites??

Eatin' Dirt

Ashley and I are training to run the Mercedes Marathon next weekend!!

Okay, so maybe not the whole marathon... but we are training for the marathon relay. Our team consists of Ashley's dad (12k), sister (10k), sister's friend (5k), Ashley (10k) and me (5k). We've known about the race since Christmas and have been training ever since -- NOT!! (at least not me)

Now that this race is right around the corner, I am starting to realize I am in no shape to take on even a 5k.... whoops! So this past week Ashley and I have been running together.

I have been eating her dirt!

For some reason I think that I can go from months of inactivity to running a 5k with little effort -- I could barely run 1 mile. Not good for someone who has to run 3 (possibly 6 - depending on Kari's knee injury) in little over a week...

Here's Ashley finishing the 2010 San Antonio MARATHON!!

Ashley is a runner!

Oliver is someone who occasionally likes to think he's a runner... So for now, I will remain in Ashley's shadow, eatin her dirt.

At least the view is great!! :)

Preggo Froyo

So Ashley recently made the greatest discovery EVER!! Well, okay... so maybe not "EVER". But it certainly comes in a close 2nd to discovering we were pregnant! (Okay, so still maybe I'm a little too excited about this). Just wait! I have a feeling you will be too (at least if you're expecting). Who knows -- perhaps this could be motivation enough to get that family of yours started too. But I digress.

Back to the AMAZING discovery. Drum roll please......

Sweet Cece's is offering FREE frozen yogurt to pregnant women!!!!! Check out the offer here. And if you haven't tried Sweet Cece's before, you are missing out on life. Find the one nearest you and try it immediately! We'll even let you take Ashley along with you if you're short on cash and need a little extra discount. (Okay, so maybe not. I haven't asked Ashley if she'd be cool with that -- and I'm guessing the answer is no). But seriously, Sweet Cece's is amazing! And even though it's freezing outside and frozen yogurt may sound like a terrible idea -- GO FOR IT!

I mean how can you say NO to this???

Or this???

Or THIS???

The Blessing of Life

So we've fallen into the trap that we most hoped to avoid this time around with blogging -- not blogging!!

This is a problem I (Oliver) have had in the past. I get excited. All sorts of ideas start flowing in my brain. I start thinking of witty one-liners and blog titles. I envision a blog that tons of people will read. And the next thing you know, I've posted two entries and forgotten all about it. I've run out of ideas. This whole writing/blogging thing starts to become way less glamorous than I envisioned.

But this time around, we are going to stick with it and stay on top of our blog. Starting now!

This weekend we were blessed by a family friend who works at the Hope Center. She invited us to come for an ultrasound!! We were so excited! Normally we'd only get one ultrasound of our little bundle of joy, but so far we've had one with a study at Vanderbilt, one at the Hope Center, and we'll get one more at 20 weeks with our midwife!! Three times we'll get to see our baby!!

Here's a little preview :)

And one more :)

The most amazing part of the whole experience this past weekend was that our little "tinker," at only 11 weeks started moving around in the womb! We were able to view it on the screen and it was such a vivid reminder that even at the size of a lime, our baby is an active little person with a heart beat, arms, legs, fingers, toes, eyes, nose,  and more!!

We feel so blessed and cannot wait to see what's in store!