A Little Update

Hi from Michigan! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! We are really enjoying spending time with my family (minus Lindsay, Ross and Colton...boo)!

I want to keep the update short and sweet, but I can't resist posting a few pictures that I have taken over the past couple days...enjoy!

A First in Our Marriage

I am somewhat embarrassed to admit this, but this year will mark a first in our marriage. It will be the first time we have ever done anything really special to celebrate our anniversary (our 3 year wedding anniversary) to be exact!

Normally, we acknowledge the day, but since our anniversary is on December 29th, we are usually with our friends or families celebrating the Christmas holiday! Now, nothing is wrong with that and we love spending time with our families, but we are excited to intentionally get away this year to celebrate our marriage!

Since we will already be in Michigan with my family, we decided to go to...

...Chicago!

We found a pretty sweet deal online that we couldn't pass up! Also, I think we are going to take the train there and back (so we don't have to drive...just in case there's bad weather).

We are only going for 2 nights, but we are really looking forward to it. I think we might go to a museum and/or just hang out. We are also thankful that we will have some lovely dog sitters (a.k.a. my parents) to watch our "children" while we are gone! ;-) We love Chicago! What is your favorite thing to do there?

On a side note, I cannot believe we have almost been married for 3 years. It honestly feels like it was just yesterday. Okay, maybe not yesterday, but you know what I mean! ;-)

Go Elf Yourself! ;-)

Merry Christmas Ya'll! Check out the videos below!

A Hip Hop Christmas...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

A Nashville Christmas...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year

(hint: if the font on the card is to little for you to read, click the image and it will enlarge)

93 Years

Nate and Grandma Miller (Nate - 3 months old)

Me, Grandma Miller and Nate on our Wedding day - 12.29.06

Nate's Grandma, Lorraine Miller, passed away this past Friday (December 11, 2009). She was 93 years old and even though we are sad that she has left us we rejoice because we know that she is with the Lord now.

It was important to both Nate and me to be at her funeral on December 15, 2009, in Colorado Springs, CO. We flew to Colorado on Monday afternoon and returned Wednesday afternoon.

We were sad to see Nate's parents, brother and his wife, due to the circumstances, but were also happy to see them since we won't be making it to Colorado this Christmas.

As we celebrate Christmas (almost a week from today) may we remember the one, true reason for this season...Jesus Christ. We also pray that we and you don't take our families and friends for granted. We love you and are thankful for each and every one of you.

Have You Heard

Have You Heard is the name of my brother's band. Check out their myspace page and listen to some of their music!

If you have a few minutes, check out the video below...my brother is singing one of his new songs acoustic! He sounds really great...check it out....NOW!! ;-)

Christmas came early...

...in the Miller household! Nate and I bought a (yes, only one) Garmin Forerunner 305. What is that? You make be asking. Well, it is only the coolest thing ever when it comes to running accessories! It is a watch...a super duper cool watch. Some of its features include a GPS, calorie counter, heart rate monitor, and it tells you your pace per mile. Don't worry...it also does much much more. We got it for the smoking hot price of $139 on Amazon but I have heard the price has gone up since we purchased it! Crazy!

We decided to share it because, well...we didn't want to spend $300 and we typically do all of our training runs together. Now...it does have to be set to only one person (weight, age, gender) I assume mostly for the counting calories reason...so that does throw a little wrench in it. Nate was hoping to wear it to the gym too, but if he does he will just have to change the settings I guess. Oh well, it saves us $139 - so in our eyes it is well worth any "inconvenience" it may cause us.

We are aiming for a faster time when we run our 2nd half...so that is one of the reasons we wanted the Garmin. You can set it to beep at you if you fall below a certain pace and you can see just how far you are running. This will help us, as we are going to be incorporating more speed workouts and tempo runs in this plan. Now we will know if we are hitting our training pace! Our goal for our 1st Half was just to get through it, so we didn't really focus on doing any speed work. I am exciting/dreading this. It is going to be tough...and sometimes I have a really hard time pushing myself, but if I want to race faster...I actually have to practice running faster. Profound, huh? ;-)

Anyways, yesterday we started Day 1 of our 16 week training plan (for our 2nd Half Marathon). It was a nice, easy 8 mile run. Don't worry, those are the words that are used to describe the run in our training plans...those aren't straight from my mouth! Ha!
(Side Note: Since, we ran our first 1/2 (almost 6 weeks ago) we have definitely been slacking off on the running. It was a miracle if Nate was getting in 1 run a week and I was lucky to get in 2 maybe 3. I think we both just felt a little "burnt out." Yeah, we ran a race here and there (and actually did pretty stinking good) but we haven't been putting a lot of time and effort into our training).

With all that said, the run was pretty good. 8 miles is the longest both of us have run since the race, so it felt pretty good to get back out there. It was cold though! Don't get me wrong, I never have really considered myself a cold weather wimp (and I would take the cold over the heat any day), but man...I was freezing, I mean it was 27 degrees when we started! More than anything, my hands were ice cold (no thanks to my Under Armour gloves). They were so cold they literally hurt at the end of the run. I am going to have to invest in some running pants (not just tights, which I have) and maybe a vest for running. I have seen some pretty cool ones at my local running store.

I am excited to get back on a training plan. I have a hard time when I just run to run. I am not one of those people who just run for fun or because it is a good stress reliever. I need a goal that I am working towards. Hopefully, I will have an easier time running in the cold the more I do it. I figure, it is probably like running in the heat...the more you do it...the easier it is. At least I hope that is what will happen...

Hope you all are having a Happy Monday!

Christmas Card Designs

Hey y'all! I just ordered my Christmas cards and wanted to share the website with those of you who may not have ordered yours yet! Check out April M Henrichs and see all of her beautiful designs. If you have already ordered your cards...keep her in mind for other things. I know for sure that she also does birth announcements. She is great to work with and super speedy!

I used April last year and the cards turned out beautiful and I was thrilled with the quality of them. I can guarantee you will be happy with the end result! Check her out!

(Oh, and I am not getting any 'deal' to write about her cards...just wanted to let you know! Ha!)