This Birthday Brought To You By Instagram and The Number 33

 You can't see the clock, but it says 6:42. 

That would be A.M.

On spring break. 

He had actually woke me up at 6:15 with a hug and told me his tummy was rumbly. 

That's cute, but still way too early.

 I've never received breakfast in bed and I didn't think it would start today,

so I made my family pancakes.

Bonus is my pancake looks like Pac-man!

 It's a happier happy birthday when time is spent at Target

.

My favorites!  We had a lovely lunch at Bread Co.

Got a free cookie because it's my birthday!

Me and T.  If we were 12 we would sit around making friendship bracelets
and watching Animaniacs.

                                          .

My birthday drink of choice: A cranberry lime-ade with vanilla.

Birthday mail!

What was in the birthday mail.

Sometimes you get a celebrity to visit you on your birthday.

I got three! Batman, Superman and the Lone Ranger.

Dinner.  BEST pizza in Orange County!

My theme song.  We sang it loud today!

My most awesome husband surprised me with this gift.

It's way better than the Foreman Grill he gifted me a few years back.

I have so enjoyed reading all my Facebook birthday greetings!

Thank you all!

Thirty-three has already started out being a fabulous year!

( I kinda felt like an American Idol-er doing the whole number

finger bit)

I Won't Lie To You

I don’t believe people who tell me they LOVE! running.  I’m not going to call them liars, but their pants might be on fire.  Last year, I let my runner of a husband convince me that running a half marathon would be “fun.”  His pants were smoking.  So I practiced.  I even ran a 5k in July.  Did you read that?  I said, I ran IN JULY!  It’s hot then.  I did pretty good for my first time.  There was a sense of accomplishment that does not come with cleaning the house or fixing dinner.  Plus you get a t-shirt.  However, I still did not love running

My first 5k.  I look like I loved it.  Don't let that smile fool you.

Along came October.  Half-marathon time.  I was feeling pretty good.  My dad was running this half with me.  Miles 1-5 we were doing great.  Miles 6-13.1 I got very, very sick.  (That’s another story that someday I’ll blog about.)  I persevered through the sickness and we finished in 2:50!  After I came out of the fog of illness, I looked at my awesome new shirt I got for running and thought well that wasn’t too bad.  I can tolerate running, but I still do not love it.

Me and my Dad after the ING half marathon.

A few months ago I read about a local 5k and I texted my friend Tamara and said, hey this might be fun.  Oh, boy!  My britches were burning!  A few days after we agreed to do this 5k, I thought, what am I thinking?  I don’t love running.  Tamara and I continued to encourage each other through the not fun training.  Last weekend, on a very cold and very wet Saturday morning, Tamara and I ran up hill both ways.  You would think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not.  We finished and with a pretty good time.  We also got  awesome shirts.

This was the Finish. Our time was actually better than this.

Me and Tamara

So why put yourself through all the not-fun of running you ask.

I run because of this cutie, my nephew, Brock

 and others with Muscular Dystrophy.  You can read more about Duchane Muscular Dystrophy here.

There are several of us who joined up and formed a team of runners and we call ourselves The Brock-tober Runners.  You will see more about Brock-tober in the up-coming months.  So while the weather is beautiful and before it gets too hot to complain, strap on some running or walking shoes.  Don’t do this for you, do it for someone else.  Do it for someone who would love to run or walk in a race, but may not be able to.  Start looking for races in October and join team Brock-tober Runners.  I’m not going to lie to you, it may not be fun, but it sure is worth it.

Keep up with team Brocktober here

Oh The Place You'll Go

My mom used to read the Dr. Seuss book Oh The Places You’ll Go when I was little.  Now, many years after those readings, Steven and I could rewrite it and call it Oh, The Places the Army Will Send You.  So, you ask me where is the Army sending you next?  Well, I’ll give you a few hints:  Speed limits are 75 mph, Blue Bell ice cream is sold at every grocery store, and we’ve been stationed there twice before.  Have you guessed?  If you said Fort Hood, Texas, you are exactly right!!  The Millers will be returning to Texas for a little while. 

While Fort Hood was not at the top of choice list since we’ve been there twice before – we were hoping to go out west this time – there are far worse place to be stationed.  Like, Fort Polk, LA (The Army’s armpit), Fort Bliss, TX (a suburb of Mexico and they be killing folks down there) or Korea (not to found of having nukes pointed at me).  Did I mention that those were our other choices?  You can see why we are quite happy with Fort Hood.

There are other reasons to be happy with Fort Hood.  Blue Bell ice cream!  Need I say more?  Killeen has a Chik-Fil-A! Once again, need I say more?  It’s also the home of Dr. Pepper.  That makes Steven very happy.  We probably won’t get 6 feet of snow like we had here in NY.  Also, we will be living near family.  Steven’s brother and his family are also stationed at Fort Hood.  Madelynn is beyond thrilled to live so close to her only girl cousin.  Not to mention all of our friends that live in Killeen, Harker Heights and Copperas Cove and other parts of Texas.

While this wasn’t where we thought we would be again, we realize God’s ways are bigger and better than ours.  Even though the Army thinks this is what they gave us, we know this is all God’s doing.  While we don’t see that what His plan is yet, we trust Him fully

So follow our blog and roam along with us on this next adventure in our lives.