The Diva Dash!!

Happy Saturday!  How was yours?  I spent today running the Diva Dash with two of my good friends, Lindsey and Melissa!  The Diva Dash is a girls only, obstacle filled 5K put on by Shape magazine.  We ran the Washington DC one which was actually located in Frederick, MD.  We finished it in 43 minutes and ran most of the way!

We prepared for the dash by making neon rainbow tutus and shirts!  The pictures are a little out of order but the shirts are a few pictures down :)

Happy haybales greeted us!

Ready to run!!!

Here are the shirts we made!

We got many looks and complements on our tutus.

At the starting line, waiting for our wave.

Here we go!

For one of the obstacles we had to run through tires while pushing aside giant balls.

Here's another obstacle!  Climbing over wooden structures.

Aren't our tutus gorgeous?  I'm trying to figure out how I can wear it to school!

This little guy was cheering us on as we ran by...

So of course we stopped to take a picture!

The last obstacle was a balancing see-saw that was really fun!

We had a great time with the Diva Dash and would love to do it again!

Our Newest Furry Family Member!

So call us crazy, but Ben and I adopted a puppy!  Riley is a "big sister" to a half Australian, half German Shepherd named Penny!  We had been toying with the idea of getting a second dog for awhile now and a few weeks ago, Ben saw an ad posted on his work site about puppies that needed a home.  We talked about it and Ben emailed the guy saying we were interested.  But by the time we had emailed, all the puppies had been spoken for so we figured it wasn't meant to be at that time.  Fast forward 5 days and the owners emailed us saying that one of the puppies was up for grabs again and were we interested!  That was a Tuesday and on Wednesday, we went to meet Penny (then called Reese) and fell in love!  We brought her home that evening and Riley loved her from the start.  They love to play together and Riley has already taught Penny some things!

Penny was 8 1/2 weeks old when we got her so she is 11 weeks old now.  She's started getting her puppy shots and didn't cry once!  Her favorite things to do right now are rough house with Riley, lay on the vents when the AC is on, and stay hydrated!  She LOVES to drink water, so we try to monitor her intake so she's not constantly peeing!  If she's thirsty, she will camp out by the water bowl and give us puppy eyes until we fill it up.  She also insists on planting one or both paws in the bowl as she drinks.  Riley has taught her that if the bowl is empty, paw at it like she's digging in the dirt, and it will make a lot of noise!

We are currently working house training and crate training.  House training is coming along, still makes some mistakes every now and then.  We are teaching her to ring some bells by the door when she goes out and she is starting to get the hang of it.  Crate training is a WHOLE 'nother ball game!  Penny does not like the crate!  In fact, she has broken out twice now!  We are working on it though, through lots of positive reinforcement and peanut butter Kongs!  She's a smart girl so I have no doubt she will get the hang of it soon.

Make sure to check back to see many more pictures of Riley and Penny on their doggie adventures!

Vacation & Family

Three weeks ago, Ben and I tagged along on vacation with my parents to Myrtle Beach, SC.  We spent 5 days there enjoying the beach and each other's company.  If you haven't been to Myrtle Beach, you should definitely go!  The beaches aren't as crowded, the water is warmer, and it's so relaxing there.  It was HOT while we were there and the water felt great but there were a lot of jellyfish so we didn't get in the water too much.  Just enough to cool off and return to our chairs.  Here are some pictures of our vacation!

Beautiful beach

Even South Caroliners know how awesome crabs and Old Bay is!

Made from home

I love my parents

At Broadway on the Beach, they have these GIGANTIC fish that you can feed.  They really are huge and live in a lake in the middle of the shops.

Mom and I found these t-shirts in a store at Broadway on the Beach.  Aren't they perfect?

One of the restaurants we went to had these beautiful stained glass lights of different sea animals.

Shark week!

Another picture of the gigantic fish.

One night we went to the Carolina Opry and saw the show, Good Vibrations.  It was a show of music from the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Tap group All That

Latoya London from American Idol

Singing "I've Had the Time of my Life" from Dirty Dancing

James Bond music

Cheech and Chong paid us a visit

This guy was amazing on guitar!  I liked him a lot because he had played with Rascal Flatts before :)

After our vacation in Myrtle Beach, we came home to get ready for Ben's extended family to visit.  His aunt & uncle and cousins were in town from Texas.  We had all of them over for dinner along with Ben's parents and siblings the Sunday after we got back.  It was great to see them and we ate a ton of good food.  Now we will have to try to get to Texas sometime soon!