Indy 500

It was hard to believe it is that time of year- man how time fly's. The Indy 500 is one of our 'Railing' family traditions that I hope to carry on for a long time to come. We are not huge 'racing' fans however, this is one race  that we LOVE and really look forward to each year. This year was full of wonderful memories for the 'Indy 500 record books'. We invited our good friends Mike and Bridgette to join in on the fun too!
   Things were a little different this year because we were able to spend the night in Indy with mom which meant no 5:00 am wake-up call(big smiles). But everything else was normal as usual: Mom was up early chomping at the bit to get going, our coolers were overflowing with the traditional fried chicken, turkey sandwiches, chips, cookies, veggies and beer- lots of beer, Gavin and his buddy Jay were giving us plenty of morning entertainment, Nathan and Mike were running out to get the ice and newspaper, Bridgette and I were looking for the tickets that mom 'lost' :) all while thinking that we were crazy! After we found the tickets we loaded up and headed for the track.
 We parked at the same house as mom and dad had for 25 years, loaded the boys up with the coolers, then made the walk to to track. Always fun to see all of the 500 crazies out there!
 Once we got to the track it was time to relax and take it all in. It is always fun taking friends that have never been, I love seeing them take it all in and the look on their faces when things get started. Here are a few pictures from the fun day.

the winner and his crew celebrating!!

Although the day is wonderful, it is definitely missing my dad. He was a HUGE fan and we missed him so. I looked up during the race and saw this beautiful sky and knew that he was enjoying it with us.

All in all, it was a great day full of fun and lots of memories...until next year- God Speed!

Field Day

Being an elementary PE teacher only means 1 thing when it comes to the end of the year...FIELD DAY!

I was actually really looking forward to it this year- I love seeing the kids excitment, all of their smiles and watching them have so much fun. The hugs at the end are pretty sweet too. :)

A little idea of how our day went:
 There were 24 stations full of fun stuff like a leaking water bucket challenge, teamwork tug-of-war, an obstical course, beach volleyball, wet sponge races, hurdle races and hula hoop contests- just to name a few. I was blessed to have 60 parent volunteers to come and help. They were awesome and such a help. Funny story:  one of the mom's who I have seen at our church and teacher her two (great)boys- came up to me and said 'I did not realize you were the PE teacher...I thought she was an old fuddy duddy lady!! I just laughed and laughed and said well I am sorry to dissappoint you! haha.  She came up to me at the end and thanked me for not being one and for the great day for the kids. It was great!!
 All of the students (654 to be exact) were outside visiting each of the stations for 10 minutes getting as wet and sweaty as they possibaly could. Since it was a beautiful, HOT, sunny day we treated them to a Popsicle at the end of the day. Everyone got wet(ok, soaked)...included me! I got dumped on at the end...the students LOVED it and so did I. Overall, the day was great and I was even a little sad to see it come to an end. I really have blessed with such a wonderful school.

One of best parts of the day was that my wonderful husband came out to help! It was so sweet of him and made my day. I was so glad to have him there. I think he had fun too! He is the best.

After everything was cleaned up(not put away...that will have to wait) we headed home and both just chilled on the couch. We finally got up to get some dinner a little bit ago and we have found ourselves back on the couch again- I think its all catching up to us. Needless to say I think it will be a pretty early night for us.

I will try and get some pictures from the day and post them later. Hopefully someone got the bucket being dumped on my head! :) 

before/after picture

Now that I have a little time on my hands I thought it would be fun to join into a before/after photo blog hop.

Here is my SOOC(straight out of camera) shot from the other day... we were driving home and I saw this semi loaded with brand new John Deers and they caught my eye. Poor Nathan had to slwo down so I could grab my camera and get a shot.

I thought the colors were a little dull so I brighted them up and added a little more color to the sky!

Then for a little different look I made it a little 'old school'.

Two very different looks but thought both were pretty cool. any thoughts?
Have I mentioned that I love photography...well, if I haven't... I LOVE IT!!! :)


o yeah- I use a Canon 7D and edit with photoshop cs4.

pictures

yesterday was the post...today are the pictures!! enjoy...

before the outing the carts are loaded and ready to roll.

the 'crew' before they head out to show off their skills.

look @ that swing...nice job Nathan aka BO(bail-out)

sara found herself in a slight mess...its ok because the team with the highest score on this hole won! thanks for takin one for the team!! :) 

a little something for the winners after the round...

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and now to the pig show! 

 the prize pig...Miss Maggie Magoo

love the smiles :) Morgan, Marek and Jessica

Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law Mark and my stud nephew Marek! lots of love to both of you.

back to reality

Well, lets try this again. Maybe, just maybe,  I can start doing a better job blogging again. I have missed so many fun things that we have been doing however, I have had to learn to prioritize a little and unfortunately blogging was not on the top, so it had to go for a while. But now....its back!! :)

Track season finished up last Thursday and we ended the season undefeated and with a Conference victory! It was really exciting and I actually enjoyed this season. I even kind-of miss some of the girls(shhhhh). A few pictures of the meet last week. Notice the last picture...Nathan was the master-mind behind the victories all season long!

   Friday I had my heart dr. apt- however, it was canceled at the last minute but since I had already called for a sub I stayed home and finished getting this house and the laundry back in order before we headed out for the weekend.
  The weekend was full of everything you can imagine. Nathan's best friend Shane is getting married to a wonderful girl who is from Batesville and their wedding is in Hawaii this summer(YES WE ARE GOING!!!!), the bride is a huge golfer(another reason to love her) and they decided to have a golf outing this weekend so everyone to meet before the big trip. Not only did we get to go golfing at a private course in Batesville, have dinner at the Country Club, and enjoy a late night bon fire, but we also got a tour of the Batesville Casket Company(crazy!!) and Nathan went fishing.
 After all that excitement the weekend wasn't over yet... since Nathan went fishing I got to go shopping AND we stopping and saw a pig show where M&M&M&M's pig won!

Mini Marathon

My rain dance worked today!! Although it ended up not raining :) we still didn't have our track meet! It was wonderful coming home at 3:30...I didn't hardly know what to do with myself.

Here is late post #1...the Mini Marathon!

As I said in the last post we didn't get to Indy as early as we wanted so it was getting pretty late once we arrived at moms. Unfortunately I had forgotten my watch that Nathan was going to wear so we had to make a late night trip to Wally World...let me tell you that had quite the selection...Micky Mouse, Love Potion, the 1962 edition of what we now call a stop watch, and lots that didn't work. However, after a long process of elimination(if you know my wonderful husband at all you know what I am talking about!) we found a steller green one that would do the trick. After our watch adventure it was off to get some shut-eye.
 The 5:30 alarm came pretty early in the morning and Nathan was up and getting ready for the run. After a filling breakfast that consisted of water, bagel and a banana, mom and I were all bundled up ready for the cold while Nathan was in his shorts and T ready for the run. It took us a little longer then we had hoped to get there so we were running 'Taulman' time(aka...about 10 min. late). We jogged up to the pack of 36,000 people, Nathan jumped over the gate just as the gun sounded and they were off and running. Mom and I on the other hand were off to find a warm place to sit(it was about 45 and VERY windy) @ mile 13 to wait. I was pretty bummed I wasn't running so I was really thankful to have mom there to keep me company. We hung out in an art piece that looked like an igloo to try and stay warm and watched the clock waiting for the stud to run by!!
 After about an hour we came out of hibernation and made our way to the street just in time to see the leaders run by...man that was crazy. I really don't think I could run as fast as they were and they had just ran 13 miles!
It wasn't too much longer and we saw my amazing husband run by!! It was soo cool. I was so proud of him, he really is amazing. He ran the race in 1 hour and 28 minutes... yes that does figure out to be about 6.55 mile FOR 13 MILES!!!  for anyone interested he will be signing autographs this weekend :) haha
Here are a few pics from the chilly day.

the start of the race.

this was the top of the art piece that mom and I sat in!!

here come the leaders along with the pace car for the 500.

this guy drank way too much Gatorade through the race!!

I should have know that Nathan would be running along with white line on the side...he was so close it was hard to get a good picture 

After the race...one amazing runner and one proud wife!

way behind

 As you can tell by the lack of blog posts and title of this one I am way way way behind in the blogging world. I have so many wonderful fun things to blog about but just have not had the time to sit down and write. Here is a short re-cap and the big post with lots of pictures will hopefully come sometime soon.
 Last week was packed full of more track meets combined with a wonderful dinner and massage on Thursday for Nathans Birthday( I know I am a terrible wife and didn't even get a post in wishin him a Happy Birthday, I am sorry babe), then Friday night Nathan had to work later then we hoped and we were a little late getting down to Indy for the mini- marathon so our plans changed and we didn't get to Indy till around 10. But were up bright and early on Saturday so Nathan could run in the mini and he did an AMAZING, WONDERFUL, OUTSTANDING job despite the freeezing cold day. After the race we drove back home, made a stop at the grocery(why am I blogging that you might ask...well, it hadn't happened in a LOOONG time- so it was kind-of a big deal haha), and crashed soon after we got home.
 Sunday was my wonderful husbands birthday and Mother Day. We were blessed enough to have his parents, my mom and brother and our Aunt Mary and Uncle Jim join us for the day. After dinner we headed to the golf course and played nine holes.
  Yesterday was another track meet- Nathan came along with my mom who stayed and watched(Thanks MOM!!) and we finally got home around 8. I have two more meets this week and one is Conference. We are hoping for another repeat title and we will have an undefeated season!! yippeee. I must say that track has been more enjoyable then basketball however, I am sure ready to get our lives back to 'normal'.
 Ok so thats I all have time for now...off to small group. Happy Tuesday Everyone.

o yeah and to top it all of I have laringitis...always good for a PE teacher and Coach!
Its just another day in Paradise!

HAPPY monday

It has been a HAPPY monday!!

Reason 1: I got to school today and found 200 FLOWERS, yes I typed that correctly, 200 FLOWERS in my office!!!! It was teacher appreciation day and the students could purchase a flower for their favorite teachers!! I GOT 200!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not only were there 200 flowers, there were also 200 signed notes!!! I can't not even explain how wonderful that made me feel! I just love those little ones!

 


Reason 2: I got mail!!! Not just junk mail. I got a present in the mail from a very wonderful friend. The note said... Big E- I saw this and thought of you, so I wanted you to have it.
It was a beautiful guardian angel charm that has wings on it. Absolutely beautiful. It might be the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a really long time. Thank You Jessie- you have no idea how much that meant to me!! You are awesome!!I can't wait to make my wish! :)

change of plans

Well- life is always an adventure to say the least! I guess it keeps it exciting. Friday night we had plans pick up Nathan's dad and head the rest of the way south, he was going to help us plant a garden!!! We had to stop and pick up his rototiller before making the rest of the trip down and as we pulled into their house we heard a TERRIBLE noise coming from Nathan's car. We coasted into the drive-way and Nathan(aka Mr. Fix It) checked everything out-the verdict=No oil. Not good. He had his oil changed earlier in the day and we think they forgot to put something back together correctly.
 After a few hrs. on the phone with Enterprise and AAA(I must say they were AWESOME and we will totally be singin up for the them when we don't have a company car someday) they promised someone would be out in the morning to pick us up and bring us back here to get a new car. sweet! So much for heading south. We couldn't drive the car at all!
side note. I have to mention that through this whole thing I was so proud of my husband...he never got mad nor did he call and say not- so nice things to the place that the oil changed. Not that it surprised me that he didn't get mad, however, it just made me so very thankful that I have an easy going, calm husband. :)

 We got enjoy a 'camp-out' at his parents house instead! They are moving and had taken the guest bed over to the new house so we pulled out the sleeping bags and enjoyed a 'camp-out' in the sunroom so we could heard the rain! It was really fun.
 We were up this morning and the tow truck picked us up to drive us back here to get a new car. The big question is 'What kind-of car did you get?' I know you are dying to know but you will have to wait till I get a picture in the morning.... I will just tell you its sweeeeet! :)
 Needless to say today was much different that what we had thought- however, it was really enjoyable. We got to stay home(two weekends in a row!!), relax,watch the Derby and cookout. Such a fun Saturday. Tomorrow the plan is to head to church, get totally caught-up on all my pictures,get ready for our track meet on Monday and hopefully get in a run, oh AND post a picture of our new sweet ride!