Off to the Races!!

Ok...so I know I have been VERY slack with updating my blog and I am sorry! My hubby and I have been very busy with training for races and his field time and I started making dresses so it has taken up every minute of my days.

After we completed!

After I did the 1/2 marathon for my birthday we did the worlds fast 10K, it is called the World’s Fastest 10K because it is all down the side of a mountain here in El Paso and last year the guy who did it the fastest did it in like 26 min!!! Crazy I know :)

My amazing husband did the Bataan Death March Memorial, the day after coming out of the field for 2 weeks and having no sleep! The march is very close to us here in El Paso. Him and his team entered in the Military Heavy section of the march 26.2 miles through White Sands. He was in uniform with 50+ lb ruck on his back.

Right after he finished :)

And Yes that is SNOW ont he top of those mountains and it was like 70 out!

The Bataan Death March was 60 miles and occurred after the 3 month battle of Bataan, part of the battle of Philippines during 1941-42. The March included 75,000 Americans and Filipino POW's that had been captured by the Japanese in the Philippines from the Bataan peninsula to prison camps. The physical results ranged from abuse to murder. The death toll during the sad event was somewhere in between 6-11 thousand people. Many more passed shortly after reaching the camp.

It was very humbling to watch the men and women on this day cross the finish line. During the march the survivors were at random checkpoints to cheer on the soldiers.

They were WORE out to say the least after they finished!

Today after a full day of work I am off to do the Relay for Life, it starts at 7 pm tonight and goes until 7 am tomorrow morning. After doing this I am taking part in some Cavalry tradition and doing the Spur Ride to earn my spurs! Some things that will be happening on the Spur ride is a history test on the 1-13 Cavalry, taking apart and putting back together weapons, going to the simulation shooting range and doing the obstacle course to include repelling of the tower, so wish me luck!

More to come...not so long this time before I post!

Birthday weekend and week!

As I told you on Friday my Mom came to El Paso this weekend for the race and my Birthday weekend! Friday night we went to the Beer/Stable call, it was a great time...but my husband kept rushing me to finish my drink because he was hungry and wanted to go home to change out of uniform and go to dinner. Well little did I know I was being rushed because he and my Mom had planned a little surprise for me :) He told me he wanted BJ's (which I love) so I was like ok! We get in the car and almost out the gate and here is our convo...


F: I forgot my wallet

J: You don't need it I got mine

F: Well I need my ID for drinks

J: No worries babe...you look old enough you don't need it!

F: Just turn around I need my wallet!

J: ugh...fine!
Well this was also because of the surprise....he needed to waste some time because the table at BJ's was not ready yet! We pull in and he is like running in the door, grabs my hand and pulling me through the restaurant as I am saying "we need to put our name in at the desk"...nope because there sits the Leon Family, Danny and Cheryl :)

Thanks Hubby and Mom for my surprise birthday dinner and cake!

yummm birthday cake and margaritas :)

Aiden..our friends the Leon's son

Opening presents from my Mom on Sunday after the run & big bowl of Marble Slab Ice Cream!!

Now today...my real birthday my office took me to lunch at Chili's and got hot pink daisies and cute pj's from Victoria Secret!

Ready or not I am 26!! Yikes :)

I did it!

I did it!!! I completed the 1/2 marathon on Sunday, I really did not know what to expect because I have never ran 13.1 miles straight before but now I have


"A (1/2) marathon is like life with its ups and downs, but once you've done it you feel that you can do anything!"

It was a VERY hilly course but a beautiful day to run. Two of my hubby’s co-workers ran also, and because this was my first time running in a race and something my Husband and I wanted to do together he stayed with me the WHOLE time!! When we hit about the last mile (up hill) both LT. Towle and SSG. Ruiz were waiting for us and cheered me on the rest of the way in. It was great motivation to have all the support of some many people (including my MOM). My goal was to complete it in 3hrs....I did it in 2 hours and 33 min!! I finished 84 out of 111 for the 25-29 yr. old women. Now I am ready to do it again and be more competitive this time :)

Waiting.....to start!

and we are off with SMILES :)

about mile 6ish

crossing the finish line!!

We did it! Seems how it was the Michelob Ultra 1/2 marathon we finished with an ICE COLD BEER!

Big Weekend

It is a big weekend for My hubby and I for a few reasons:

 

1. My mom is coming in town for the weekend (I am not very patiently waiting at work to leave to go get her right now!)
2. We have our first Beer/Stable Call tonight for hubby's work now that he is the Platoon Sergeant we have more fun functions to attend
3. We are running in our 1st 1/2 Marathon Sunday morning so wish me luck!
4. It's my BIRTHDAY weekend(yikes i am going to be 26!!) :) In my house (parents) we get a whole Birthday week and mine is starting this weekend seems how my Mom will be here! I might even do a little something later too but we shall see...hubby is leaving for the field on Wednesday March 10-19th!

 

Well I am off to do some work and make the time pass before I leave for the airport to get my Momma!!!

 

  

Getting to Know Us

I have not yet done any of these little surveys on my blog and was reading a long time friends Learning as We go and thought it is about to time to get into this fun blogging stuff with things like Ten on Tuesday, I want it Wednesday so here is my first one!

30 questions and answers to learn about my amazing Husband and myself.

1. What are your middle names? Karissa and William

2. How long have you been together? We met and started dating the end of the summer 2008

3. How long did you know each other before you started dating? Well we meet on a Saturday and went on our first "real" date on Monday and have been together ever since!!

4. Who asked who out? I don't think either of us asked we just were inseparable from day one

5. How old are each of you? He is now 28 and I will turn 26 next Tuesday!

6. Did you go to the same school? Nope

7. Are you from the same home town? Nope, we meat in Columbia, SC but he is from Reed, KY

8. Who is the smartest? We are both smart in our own ways :) that why we work so great together

9. Who majored in what? I majored in Graphic Design and well he is in the Army!

10. Who is the most sensitive? That would be ME, for sure! He can be every now and then though.

11. Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? El Paso, TX our first duty station together and our home.

12. Who has the worst temper? I think we both have a temper but I would say his is probably worse than mine.

13. How many children do you want? ummm....1 maybe 2, not so sure.

14. Who does the cooking? We both cook but most of the time it is me only because I was not work up until January and now I get home before him most days.

15. Who is more social? Well that would be me for sure :) I love to go out, entertain and be social. He enjoys it as well when I break him out of his norm shell.

16. Who is the neat freak? I am a neat freak about everything except my room/clothes but he is a neat freak about that so it works...sometimes!

17. Who is the most stubborn? I can't choose on this one. We're both pretty stubborn.

18. Who wakes up earlier? That would be my hubby but I do try and get up and make his lunch for the day before he leaves at 4:30 AM!!

19. Where was your first date? Olive Garden

20. Who has the bigger family? Me...And we are very close :)

21. Do you get flowers often? Yes :)

22. How do you spend the holidays? It all depends; we live the Army life so we do what works best of that time.

23. Who is more jealous? I think we both have a little in us but I think he is more than I am.

24. How long did it take to get serious? Honestly, just a few days!

25. Who eats more? He wins this one with flying colors!!

26. What do you do for a living? Well I work at Texas Tech School of Medicine in the Office of Curriculum, Evaluation and Accreditation for the 3rd and 4th year Medical students; well he is in the Army :)

27. Who does the laundry? We both do it.

28. Who's better with the computer? Definitely me.

29. Who drives when you are together? Most of the time, him.

30. What is your song? We have a few :)

Military Wives Prayer

I am a very proud Army Wife and Marine Daughter and today I found this little prayer that I would like to share with my many other Military friends :)

Dear Lord,

Give me the greatness of heart to see the difference between duty and his love for me. Give me understanding that I may know; when duty calls him he must go. Give me a task to do each day, to fill the time when he's away. And Lord, when he's in a foreign land, keep him safe in your loving hand. And Lord, when duty is in the field, please protect him and be his shield. And Lord, when deployment is so long, please stay with me and keep me strong.
Amen.

I am surrounded by and was raised by an amazingly STRONG military women, my Mother and I want to say THANK YOU for all of your support and guidance.

Since I got married in September and moved to El Paso, TX,  I realized very fast that the only way to be happy when you move away from ALL of your friends and family is to make new ones! But...the only way I have found to do this is to get involved and step outside of my comfort box/zone. I have become very involved in our FRG (Family Readiness Group) and I LOVE it. Without these people, I would really be having a very hard time right now living in El Paso, so Thank you! So if you are a new military wife or even been a military wife for years, try finding out about your local FRG or Military Wives Group and give it a try, you might just find out that it is a lot more fun than you expected and there are MANY people in the same boat as you!

I want to give a special wish to a few of my friends, stay strong and you can do it! The McKenna Family, The Russell Family, The Venable Family, The Blanchard Family, The Calloway Family and The A'etonus Family along with all of the rest that are currently or in the process of being separated from your loved ones for countless hours, days, weeks and months for a deployment, duty, or training and we know the list goes on!

Race for the Cure & Fight against Breast Cancer

As I wrote in my last post 'Training'; we did the Race for the Cure on Sunday and it was amazing to see all of the supporters and survivors participating. Saturday morning I went to our mall: Cielo Vista to volunteer with a new group I am now working with called; Volunteers with Energy. They are partnered with Texas Gas which helps out our FRG. Myself and 3 other wives went to help sign people up to do the Race for the Cure on Sunday; it was a very exciting and emotional day. Many of the other women helping sign people up for the walk were Survivors. It is a great feeling to be around women who have truly fought for their life and made it!

Friday night was very windy (as in 65 MPH winds) and Saturday ended up being very chilly and windy as well (but only about 20 MPH). This was very disappointing seens how Friday was about 75 degrees and I had pulled out some spring clothes. There were about 16,000 people at the walk, it took us 30 minutes to get from where we were in the starting line after the gun was shot! But we had a fabulous team of 13 people from Apache Troop (Hubby's work). Here are a few pictures.

Our team name "Taking the GIRLS for a Walk"

My supporter & I 

All of the awesome Hubby's

All of the wives :)

TONS of supporters!!

We all know I LOVE my ZTA's

After the walk on Sunday we came home and took a little nap before going out for our 99 min run seems how the big event is just around the corner! But this is nothing compared to my Mom and Sisters who took part in The National Fight against Breast Cancer Marathon in Jacksonville, Florida.

 

My Mom after 26.2

 

Emily after 13.1

 

Laruen after 6.2

Just a few facts:

1. 
   
   Every 13 minutes a woman dies of breast cancer
2. 
   
   You are NEVER too YOUNG to develop breast cancer
3. 
   
   One in eight women or 12.6% of all women will get breast cancer in her lifetime
4. 
   
   Diet and exercise make a difference
5. 
   
   For more information go to Susan G. Komen website