2015 Crossfit Central Regionals

For Ryan and I, the most exciting part of last weekend by far was attending the 

Crossfit Central Regionals at the Minneapolis Convention Center!

The reigning champ as Fittest Man on Earth 4 years in a row, Rich Froning, was

there competing on team Mayhem Freedom, so we got to see him live in action!

It was pretty awesome for us fitness geeks!!

The whole arena was filled with athletes and supporters, a crowd of folks with positive

attitudes, encouraging each other on, pushing each other to be their best... truly, it was 

so damn cool!

Ryan and I managed to get at least a few hours in each day, although we could have easily

spent a full 3 days watching if we would have had the time!

We saw some Athletes we've been following for years, watched some newcomers rock it

and make their mark, we saw injury and heartbreak, we saw triumph... What a great event!!

I, of course, had camera in hand!  Here's a smattering of the hundreds I took over the weekend!

~Ry and I were excited to be a part of the action!~

Yes Dear... I'm looking at you!

Rich and Elly doing Partner Deadlifts (410 lbs)

He's seriously SMILING during chest-to-bar pull-ups ... Who does that?!

Hi Rich... I'm looking at you too!!  :) :) :)
(Ryan disagrees that he's looking at me... what does he know anyway?)

~This shirt was at one of the Vendors... I thought it was awesome! Haha~

~Rope climbs in 1 pull.  Seriously?  Yep. Seriously!~

~Day 2 we got to watch the Teams compete again, as well as some of the Womens Individual Competition.  Two big names we have followed were there and we were cheering them on!! Julie Foucher and Stacie Tovar! You want to see some motivated, inspirational women... check them out!

Sadly, while Julie was KILLING the competition in the Event 3 chipper, she tore her achilles doing box jumps.  She continued to compete in a boot the rest of the weekend and had a smile on her face through the whole thing! She is a med student and will start her residency next year, so had announced this would have been her last trip to the Games.  Heartbreaking way to end her Crossfit career, but she did a great job and did it with grace!!

Rich Froning easily did a 275lb Snatch seconds prior to this.. This is 300lbs!!!

~On Day 3 the girls were excited to go with us and watch the people we watch on TV!  We cheered on Team Mayhem as they crushed it and managed to take 1st place in Central AND get an event time record!! Way to Go!~

"I Got These Guns From My Daddy" 

Muscle ups!

~FOR THE WIN AND EVENT RECORD!!~

 ~One of the many great things about Crossfit is the support everyone gives each other!
The last person/team on the floor often has the LOUDEST cheering as everyone is telling them they 

CAN do it!~

It was pretty great! Such a fun experience for Ryan and I!

Can't wait to watch the Elite battle it out in July at the Games!

Graduation, Recital, and some other stuff

Last weekend was, to say the least, a whirlwind.  

Between Thursday and Monday so many things happened! I wrote previously about Grandma Virginia's passing and funeral... I'd like to touch on the other events that occurred!

~My grandpa is a tough old bird! Seriously.

This is him and his surgeon before going in to the OR to have part of his bowel

removed, as he was recently diagnosed with colon cancer.  I love that man and am

happy to report he is home and seems to be doing well!  My grandma is getting very weak

and my heart is soothed knowing he is able to be near her and spend time with her.~

~Ryan and I had 3 day Event tickets to the 2015 Crossfit Central Regionals held at the Minneapolis

Convention Center!  We were there all three days and I can't begin to tell you how amazing it was for

us to be surrounded by lovers of health and fitness and to watch our favorite athletes compete up close!! I will go into this more later!~

~Bubbles are fun~

~Elaina is now a pro on her two wheel bike!  Skidding to a stop like a champ and cruising around with her sister!  It's crazy how quick she figured it out!~

~Fudgecicles can be messy business~

~Lila had her Kindergarten graduation!  I can't believe how fast the year went!  I'm sure that sounds terribly cliche, but seriously...  How the hell does that happen?!?!  She's grown so much this year and we were very lucky to have her in a great class with a great teacher!! I'm proud to say that I didn't cry once and was able to enjoy their little show and snap some quick photos before rushing home to get ready for the nights next event....~

Mrs Moorse's Pinewood Kindergarten Class of 2027!

I thought this was adorable... it's Lila and her friend Jack :)

~RECITAL!  Dance recital. The girls first!  I was honestly worried our little Elaina wouldn't have the nerve to get out and do her dance onstage... well, I was wildly mistaken and she lit up the stage with her personality! What a ham!!  Lila did a great job too, but during both numbers had to make an attempt to look for us in the audience! Haha! Silly girl!  The night got really long and late, but they did great and enjoyed themselves!  They still both say they don't want to do it again next year, but we'll see what happens when summer wraps up!~

Three Little Fishies - This was also my very first dance!

All For One

One Fine Face

Coast to Coast

~And... just because, my lilacs were pretty~

Grandma Ginny

The past four or five days have been a mix of extreme emotions.  Its hard to get a grip

on what has happened since Thursday, it's been so busy and so much of a whirlwind.

I will later touch a little on each event in more detail, but for now, the biggest and most important.

Ryan's grandma Virginia passed away and was laid to rest yesterday next to her love on what

would have been their 66th wedding anniversary.

She was surrounded by family when she left us and knew how much she was loved.

It was a rough day yesterday, as you would expect.  Our girls have never attended a funeral

before, and I tried my best to answer their millions of questions on the drive over to Wisconsin.

I wasn't sure how to best prepare them.  They seemed to understand it as well as a 6 and 5 year old can, and were calm and behaved when we entered the church.  

Ryan took them to see her and when I joined them in the pew before the service, was sad to see both my little girls weepy and upset.  I expected Lila, my forever tenderheart, to cry and be sad, but it was Elaina who surprised me and broke my heart.  She sobbed through almost the whole service and a few times needed calming because she couldn't catch her breath.  I managed to hold myself together moderately well, but my heart ached for my sad little girls, my teary husband, and for the grief of those surrounding me.  But when we were at the cemetery, all I could think of was how the birds were singing while the priest was speaking.  The sun was shining and it was quite peaceful.  

I know she is now happy and peaceful.  Virginia, we love you.

Recently

It's been a pretty good 2 weeks!  Lots of little stuff to do and I didn't pick up

one single extra shift! Decent weather, time with my loves, activities... it's been good.

Mostly.  A few bits of heartache have touched our family, but as is life.

Ups and downs and you just have to keep moving forward, knowing there will be more

"ups" coming around again to get you through the downs.  

I'm going to do bad news first.  A childhood friend of mine (and longtime friend of my familys')

ended his life recently.  It came as a total shock and has been a little hard to process that he is really gone.
I haven't seen him in years, but know and care deeply for his family and can't begin to imagine

what they are going through.  Visitation is today and I'm trying to prepare myself for that. 

Utterly heartbreaking.

http://www.whitefuneralhomes.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=3113332&fh_id=11395

Also, we made a 6hr to and from trek to WI to visit Ryan's grandma in the hospital, as she isn't

doing well at all.  She fell recently after being home independently just a few days and crushed a few

vertebrae in her back, so she's back in ICU.  It was difficult to see her uncomfortable and she didn't talk much to anyone.  She recognized Ryan and seemed to focus a bit when the girls were there.  The girls did well, and I was glad they were so well behaved after such a long trip and spending a few hours at the hospital. 

Lastly, both my grandparents have been hospitalized recently as well.  My grandma has been ill for some time and is very weak.  My grandpa is a tough old mule and I think forgets sometimes he's not a spry young chicken and does things that he probably shouldn't!  He landed himself a little stay in the hospital as well over the last few days and I know it's been tough on my mom and her siblings as they try to coordinate care helping out both of their parents!  Hopefully Grandpa will be home soon and back to his old shenanigans (maybe just not as many of them!)

OK... So, moving on to the good stuff!

Ellie is doing great riding her bike, which is so fun!  I'm excited knowing the girls will both be cruising around on their bikes this summer together!  Maybe I'll have to get myself a bike, and then the whole family can go for rides some summer evenings!

Lila had her Track and Field day at school and really lucked out with some gorgeous weather! I took Ellie with me and we had a great time cheering her on (especially in the tug of war!)

Ryan and I went to our first St. Paul Saints game together!  Our neighbor Bryan had a Birthday, and it gave us reason to gather our "hood" and go out!  The Saints won 9-2 (although I will be honest and say I spent most of the game gabbing).  I loved the Fireworks at the end and it was overall, a great night! Happy Birthday Bryan!  

The new Saints stadium is pretty cool!

Drinks at the Bulldog pre-game! 

The girls send me love texts sometimes while I'm at work!

I got some new ink that I've been wanting for a long time!  Needs a tiny bit of touch ups, but I'm really happy with how it turned out!!

(this is immediately after my 3.5 HOUR session, so it looks a little raw)

Porch season is a good season!

My kids are weird.  Good thing I'm weird too.  We kinda work out! ;)

We celebrated a special lady's Birthday a little early, since next weekend is packed solid.  Happy Early Birthday Mom!  We love you so much!  

(Dinner at Osaka was delicious and lots of fun, as usual!)

We have chicken in our neighborhood!  The girls think they are just delightful, and our neighbor sent us this pic!  Guess the girls were having a little play time with the hens while they were over visiting! Haha

The girls have gotten very good at climbing our tree in the front and I snapped a few pics yesterday before I went for a run!  Goofy kiddos!

They also spent some time playing together on our swingset and swinging their bats around!
Makes my heart so happy!!!

Yesterday was also Memorial Day and it wasn't lost on us!  

I'm grateful for all those who have served and especially those who have given their lives

protecting the country we live in.  We are forever thankful and appreciative of your sacrifice.

Now, I'm going to sit quietly in my chair for a little bit until the girls wake up.  I've got a nasty sore throat and an extremely busy week ahead, so I plan to rest every bit that I can!  Don't have time to get knocked down with a cold!