The Places I've Been: KS

Chris and I returned from our Nebraska trip on Sun. 8/28. The Wednesday morning that we returned Chris got a phone call from his mom with news of his great-grandmother's passing. She was a 103. With that the weekend plans were canceled and were back on our way to Nebraska.
Thursday afternoon we picked up Chris' uncle John at the airport to join us on our drive to Kearney. That Friday we drove with his dad and sister 3 hours south to Ellsworth, KS. His mom drove down with two of her brother's.
This is my trip to Ellsworth, KS.

driving into NE...again

The drive down to Kansas is all country, and a lot of the area is where Marty grew up. So we took a couple of behind the scene's drive of farming and lots of corn and lots of dirt roads.
Once we arrived in Ellsworth we went to Chris' grandmother's farm house. Included are a donkey and some chickens.




The trip was a good one, given the circumstances. I got to meet majority of Chris' mom's extended family.... I got in some good bonding moment's with Alice and got to see small town USA. I've never seen this part of the country, and to see these town's that don't have more than 1,000 people...it's just so interesting. Small town, literally.
Most of you mentioned that being on a road trip with someone makes for a situation of getting to know someone real fast. And to be honest Chris and I have gotten to know each other super fast. If you think back when we went camping back in June at that time we had only been dating 3 weeks, and were on a 3 hour car ride to Wyoming. We've had many a good conversation on our long car trips.
I feel so fortunate that the trip to KS happened. Although no planned, I got to spend more time with his parents, and create more of a comfort with his whole family.

jog/walk 35min

The Places I've Been: NE

when i came back from albuquerque in july chris and i sat down and talked about our trips for the rest of the year(mainly when we would go "home"). we decided we would go to his home town for thanksgiving and my home town for christmas. we both had hopes to meet the respective families sooner, but time just wasn't on our side.
well come the beginning of august i get a call at work from chris "i spoke to my dad this morning, and he really wants us to go to nebraska sooner than thanksgiving." now i knew that marty (chris' dad) was anxious for me to meet the rest of the immediate family: chris' mom and sister, but we had plans and agreed that it would happen in november for thanksgiving. but realizing that importance to marty chris and i decided we would drive to kearney, nebraska on thursday 8/25 which was the weekend we were set to go camping. (and now we are set to go to NM on 9/30)
chris and i started the 5 - 5 and 1/2 hour drive thursday afternoon and got into town around 8:30pm. his dad was sleeping (he works early early morning) so we were greeted by his mom (mary) and his sister (alice).
we relaxed and enjoyed the humid air out on their patio.
Kearney, Nebraska

on the drive: eastbound I-80

the trip was a good one. very relaxing with his parents taking turns showing me pictures of chris' childhood and driving around kearney.

his parents are hilarious. so funny and quick with a comeback. we get along great, and i am really looking forward to introducing them to my mom, as she'll fit right in!

on friday night we went with his sister miniature golfing.

alice, chris, and iduring the day friday we took his mom lunch. his mom is a deaf interpreter at the local middle school. i had me some runza for the first time. unfortunately this food didn't sit too well with me and gave me an upset stomach in the middle of the afternoon while we were walking around menards. if you like ground beef, cheese, and onion this would be your thing.

having a runza for the first timesaturday night we put on our sunday best for a fancy dinner.

me, marty, chris, and mary
saturday during the day we went this archway that goes over I-80. it was very interesting. it's a museum that talks about the history of the interstate, as it was the first one to go coast to coast east to west.



the trip was great and the drive was boring...little did we know that we would be making that same exact drive again in another 4 days...

it was great to meet chris' family. it makes this whole relationship that much bigger...that isn't really the right word, but hopefully you know what i mean. i now know so much more about chris. where he came from and how it created who he is today. his family is awesome and we got along great.

treadmill 15min/core 30min

new (not so good) record

had you asked me earlier today when the last time was i worked out i would have told you about 2 and half weeks ago. well, while getting ready to write this blog, i looked. the last time i worked out was august 25th...THREE and a half weeks go. holy cow. not good, not good at all.
have i had the chance to work out?, yes. i'm not going to beat myself up about it. i'm living life, doing a lot.
but what i learned today when i did go to the gym is that i miss it. i miss my friends. walking into the gym i immediately saw annabelle and her family, then greeted by liz who works at the front desk, she immediately commented on my lack of attendance at the gym, since it has been so long since she had seen me. while waiting for one of the studio's to open for master step i then saw diane, justine, tina, and stacie.
lately when there was a chance to go to the gym i think i was more focused on the actual workout, then the social aspect and seeing my friends. going today was a great reminder of the life i almost forgot that i created and all of my gym friends.
chris and i are officially now living together. and i have so much to update. that was our project last weekend, was going to his apartment meeting movers, and cleaning. right now it is all about trying to get organized. this coming weekend we have some of chris' friends visiting from NE. so i spent today cleaning and getting ready for our visitor's.
right now i'm trying to wrap around my head the fact that i'm no longer making it to the gym 5 days a week. a huge part of me feels really disappointed that i've let this part of my life take second stage to what used to be such a huge priority.
but then i look back and think about all of the hard work i've done, and what i was hoping to truly get out of this experience once everything is said and done.
and that's love.
and that's exactly what i have.
so i can't beat myself up too bad. although i think i do have to spend more time in the gym that what i have been. going almost one month without a workout just isn't acceptable. i've also learned how going to the gym effects my mood. i'm all over place and up and down. it isn't pretty, and i feel bad because it is chris who gets those repercussions. i'm so lucky that he's patient with me and understanding.
i realize i still have so much more to update, but i just wanted to get this off of my chest so that i can do some regular updates.
more to come!

master step 60min

i've turned into a non-blogger

well not really(turned into a non-blogger), or at least i hope not. right now i just like to think i'm super busy, establishing a new life, a new love, a new beginning. and somewhere along the lines my blog along with working out got put on the back burner. but i've been requested that i write something, so here ya go. i did actually workout at one point in time a couple of weeks ago and never had the chance to blog, so this blog will go with that workout even though at this point in time i don't remember the workout or when it was, i just know i'm a post behind, and that is what matters, right?!
i'm home for the next three weekends and during that time i plan to organize and get settled. stop.breathe.workout.blog.
but truthfully i'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that working out and blogging are no longer at the top of my priority list. now i realize things change, but i've had moments when i've felt that those two things (working out and blogging) were pretty much what my life would be about. i remember almost two years ago when my friend emily announced her 3rd pregnancy and i thought to myself (oh here we go, she's going to be too busy to blog.) shortly (i think) after she went from 2 kids to 3 kids she officially announced on her blog that she would no longer be posting as much. even though i had a feeling such a post was coming when i read the words in black and white i was a little bit heartbroken. almost betrayed, because i was thinking "um hello....doesn't she know that she has faithful followers who look forward to her everyday funny posts?! ...what in the world am i going to read now?!"
now look at me. that's me. well but not that extreme. i'm definitely not has funny as emily, and i definitely don't have quite the following as emily, but still. and i haven't gone from 2 kids to 3 (nobody freak out!). but, we all love to feel that we are loved, and i'm thankful for my friend sarah who wrote me on facebook today to let me know that my lack of posting was killing her (albeit not really.), her words, not mine.
in the mean time here's a teaser of what's to come and a little hint of what has been going on in my life.

• driving to kearney, NE twice in a two week period


• driving from kearney to ellsworth, KS


• seeing the small town way of life


• wanting everything right away

hopefully updates will come quicker than what they have been, because i do miss my time at the gym, but right now i'm embracing my changing life and spending time with my boyfriend (awww...).