reasons to be happy

My cat fell off the third story balcony on Monday. He didn't die.
A handsome, beardless husband.
A job I like.
A new queen sized bed (so long, full)
A horse and riding arena in our backyard.
My trusty 10 year old car that I love.
My cute 12 year old puppy who acts exasperated every time he lays down.
A big bedroom (and closet) that we so lovingly cleaned, painted and tiled.
A bathtub. And a smart phone. So that I can blog while bathing.
An able body that can carry me 13 miles.
In laws who feed us and our dogs and do it without complaint.
Old friends who text out of the blue asking how I am.


I'm having a tough time over here in San Antone, hence the lack in blogging. I'm looking into doing something drastic that'll pull me out of this weird funk and bring back the old happy-go-lucky A.J. I'm not sure what it is yet, but hopefully I figure it out soon. Sad is not a good look for me.

san antonio rock 'n' roll half marathon

 we ran our first half marathon today!!! yesterday we went to the expo center and shopped 'til we nearly dropped/until i had to go to work.

 i impulse purchased these tattoos that help you monitor your pace and i loveeddddd mine even though i continued to be off another minute each passing mile, haha. my expectations for my time were a teeeeeny bit unrealistic. jon put his on upside down and i got a good laugh but he definitely didn't. it actually didn't matter because we tried going to bed last night and jon said "it feels like there are 1,000 ants on my tattoo". turns out he was having an allergic reaction!:

we signed up for the race in april and started training pretty seriously in july. the first few months of training, we ran first thing in the morning. we signed up for a second half marathon on dec. 7th that is a night run so we decided that we should probably try to run in the afternoons and that ended up working better for our schedule anyway. i think that hurt me during the half today. i have been so used to eating and hydrating all day before the run that while i was running today i was soooo thirsty and starving even though i thought i had planned pretty well the days leading up to it.

jon and i parted ways about .01 miles into the race and it started out okay for me even though i knew i had picked the wrong tattoo very early on.

my first layer of KT tape wore off at mile 2 and my right leg KT tape wore off at mile 6. When i got halfway, i was already pep-talking myself. i couldn't believe how much more difficult this was compared to our 9, 10, and 11 mile runs that we did at home in the afternoon. i was soooo thirsty but the more i drank, the weirder it felt on my stomach. luckily i packed four power bar energy blasts (with no caffeine) and they helped a lot. the longest i've ever run is 11 miles so when i passed that mile marker i was pretty proud of myself! i was definitely counting down the minutes and miles at this point and was really trying not to walk. at 12 miles i started taking walking breaks. my breaths were so shallow that i got a painful side ache and starting walking soon before the finish line. an angel sent straight from heaven pushed on my shoulder and said "c'mon baby girl." i groaned but started running and crossed the finish line at a run. i don't think i could have pushed myself, she's just what i needed and i made sure to thank her afterwards.

jon was waiting for me at the finish line looking wayyyy better than i felt! he finished in 2:22! I am so proud of him! my legs and feet actually held up pretty well. my biggest problem was my lower back (which started hurting pretty bad at mile 11) and my hunger/thirst. i couldn't stand up for very long after i finished and had to lay down for quite awhile before i got the courage to make the trek to the shuttles to take us 15 minutes back to the car and then drive 35 minutes home, ughhh. the drive home was unpleasant and i truly thought i was going to throw up. i felt better as soon as i showered and took a bath. i've been a bit queazy today but i'm not as sore as i expected (tomorrow should be fun).

i finished in 2:46 and am pretty proud! we have another half in three weeks and we are both excited and not excited. my goal is to finish that one in 2:45 and jon's goal is 2:20. the best part about our upcoming race is that it is at the brand new JW Marriott just up the street from us. they're nightly rates are usually $250 and up, but they offered us a ridiculous deal the night of the race! it is a night run through their property decorated with christmas lights and after the race we can go straight up into our luxury hotel room. 

we are so proud of ourselves for finishing today! it took a lotttt of time and dedication to get us to this point that we never thought we would be at. it was awesome to be among 25,000 people who were all making themselves proud and succeeding in such a difficult thing (especially the full marathoners). 

it's a late afternoon, on a hot texas day.

my outfit includes: a shirt i got a couple years ago from F21, Kate Spade pants i got on our first trip to the outlets here for $23, jon's church socks and my new cowboy boots. jon got me my michael kors watch when he got his associates degree. isn't that backwards? he got money for 'graduation' and went straight to the store to buy this for me. he said he wanted it to remind me of all the 'time' i spent encouraging and supporting him. very best husband. my pave´ link bracelet was given to me by my cousin bev when jon and i hung out with her and scott in february, and i love it. jon gave me my kate spade bangles when i graduated in may. when amanda came to visit i got us both arrow necklaces and we each got one of those adorable phone cases. i will never go back to using a phone case that doesn't look like a clutch and doesn't have a handle on it.

screamin' straight through texas [happy halloween!]

we had a fun time celebrating one of jon's favorite holiday's!! I think the best thing we did this month was get season passes to Six Flags!!! 

 six flags is right by our school, about 30 minutes from the house. 

we had such a fun time, there were hardly any people there so the lines were really short!

there was a target 5 minutes from our house in san diego. we would go there a lot if we were feeling blue, if we wanted to go out and not spend money, or if we wanted to buy decorations for holiday's. we don't go here as often because its further away now, but we still like to go walk around, it reminds us of home.

we had a pumpkin carving party with our roommates/homeowners/parents. it was very fun! kathy dressed up as a minion with all the other nurses at work! she is wearing grandpa's overalls. 

we moved into our new room this month!!!! it is three times bigger than the baby room we lived in for the first four months we were here. we get more privacy, more room and amazing views. we refer to it as 'the penthouse' and it gets a laugh like a quarter of the time. i'll write an entire post about the transformation of the room. it took a full 4 months. 

guess what, we hung out with our favorite people!!! lindsay and wes were our most favorite couple in san diego and we always have so much fun with them. we have the tradition of celebrating holiday's together and being a thousand miles away from each other did not change that. we bought the same treats, snacks and drinks so it was like we were hanging out in person and we just talked and laughed for hours. they even got their own virtual tour of our penthouse suite and you can too for a small fee. it was a lot of fun with them and we are already looking forward to our thanksgiving FaceTime extravaganza! we lovee them!

ewww we went to six flags again the last night it was open for halloween and it was so creepy! we went to this haunted house which was through a zombie infested high school. they did such a good job, the decorations were blowing my mind! it was just scary enough that i only had to plug one of my ears, but they did get me good a few times...

pumpkins in san diego did not last long, but pumpkins in san antonio only last a good 24 hours. 

enjoy this halloween SNL skit.

"bones!"

happy halloween!

p.s. my nephew is a sly little devil...

come back to texas, it's just not the same since you went away.

amanda came to texas and it was the best vacation ever!!!! i never wanted it to end.

 logan is such a lunatic.

our first day included whataburger, riding the horse, going downtown to see the alamo, gelato, cane sugar coke, and a river cruise down the river walk.

on saturday morning jon and i woke up and ran 8 miles. you read that right, 8 miles. then we drove up to Fredericksburg for chocolates, shopping, cowboy booting and all around texas-ing.

people could not take their eyes off of us. i don't think they could grasp the idea of twins in cowboy boots with adorable pants.

this shop has millions of peanut butter, salsa, honey, and jam flavors and they let you taste them all!! best place ever!

we drove back to san antone and got ready for country dancing!!!

ashton and her girlfriends definitely helped us feel at home there. they taught us the texas two step! it was so strange to be in texas in a country bar wearing cow boy boots surrounded by cow boys and girls. everyone knew the dances and they were all happy to be there. after a song ended I saw a girl put both hands up and yell "texas!" 

these are our 4 and 5 year old church babies! i am so glad amanda took these pictures because i never want to forget those little faces. and yeah, maybe we do allow our kids to sit on the floor if it is more comfortable. or maybe we just let hunter do it because of his big eyes and dimples, who knows.

if "muddin'" means driving a four wheeler through the mud, then i think we went muddin'.

we debated going boating because the forecast called for rain. we pulled up to the dock and it was pouring and cold. we decided to go for it anyway and the clouds cleared and the sun came out for the perfect boating weather. amanda and i tubed for awhile and i didn't breathe the entire time because we were laughing so hard. not an exaggeration, i honestly could not breathe because amanda and i were laughing at absolutely nothing.

we ended the weekend exactly the way we should have, with Rudy's BBQ. cream corn, beans, potato salad, brisket and Bluebell ice cream. my ice cream cone was good but didn't do much to ease my oncoming separation anxiety attack. i tweeted that dropping amanda off was like waking up from a complicated surgery getting my siamese twin's head removed from my shoulder and yeah. it was exactly like that.
it was the best weekend ever! amanda slept in our new room with us on the futon and we just chatted until we fell asleep. we shared clothes and laughed and laughed and laughed. if i could be surrounded 24/7 by any two people i would definitely choose jon and amanda and i'm confident they would both choose me and each other as well.

lastly, it is amanda's 27th birthday today. i wanted to post this picture because it is a very accurate description of our relationship. we've lived far from each other (1.5 hours in CA...i'd take that back anytime) for about 8 years now. i am so grateful for technology including computers, cell phones, cameras, facetime and airplanes and cars. we have distance between us but we are always in contact. we send each other pictures of our outfits all the time and feed off of each others style. in this photo i am very obviously feeding off of her style because she has the superior outfit. nevertheless, i'm grateful for her friendship and her great example of sticking to your beliefs, showing compassion on others, and fostering friendship with your girlfriends. i love her so much and wish her a happy 27th!!!!!!
read about the weekend from amanda's perspective here.

three years.

three years ago, on September 14th, 2010, Jon left for 7 months to serve in Operation Enduring Freedom in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan.

this day, and the months following rocked our world. 

i'm grateful every. single. day. to have him home safe and pray so hard for the men and women still over there and the families left behind and especially for those whose loved ones haven't and won't come home.

ashton+aaron

we made friends, ya'll.

jon googled a salon to get his haircut at and met a nice girl whose fiancé was also a former marine! he got me a coupon for $15 off, so i went in and got my haircut from ashton as well. turns out she's as cute and funny as jon described and we hit it off right away. we exchanged numbers and almost immediately planned to go to Main Event to bowl and laser tag, our favorite!!!!!

the four of us all get along really well and it already seems like we've been friends forever.

on august 25th, i went up to this tiny town about 3 hours away with ashton and her two friends amanda and kelsey for her bridal photos!!! it blewwww myyyy mind. there are actually little towns like this, you guys. i was taking pictures to show jon because i was so surprised. we didn't even have cell phone service.

i knowwww the trailer, but look how pretty she is!

the pictures turned out perfect, ashton is so beautiful. there are so many sentimental details about the photos/her dress/her wedding that make it so special. also this was the day i realized that i had to come to terms with the fact that i didn't want cowboy boots, i needed them.

we left the little ranch at like 10 pm and were all starving. my new friends taught me that DQ is "texas' stop sign" because you just have to stop and eat there. ashton was looking beautiful with her make up and hair done so when she got to the drive up window she said to us "they probably think we're in a country band because i look so fancy" and from the backseat i hear kelsey (the sassy one) say "yeah ashton. in a honda." soo funny. 

this was a few weeks later when we tried and failed to go to the fair. 

amanda, ashton and i. 

(i'm borrowing amanda's boots)

ashton and aaron's wedding was on september 7th. 

a perfectly beautiful day at a perfectly beautiful golf club. 

aaron and his mom.

ashton's mother passed away when ashton was in high school. this is her step dad escorting her mom's mom down the aisle. 

the whole wedding party arrived and stood behind the audience until two by two they walked down the aisle. as the flower girl and ring bearer were walking down the aisle, a golf cart pulled up with ashton facing the back. she stepped off the golf cart and didn't turn around until it was her time to have her dad escort her down the aisle. i didn't even see the flower girl because i was so busy watching aaron see ashton for the first time. his eyes were fixed on her and he was trying to hold back tears. he later told me that "she looked more beautiful than i could have ever imagined."

it was the most romantic little wedding ever, i loved every second of it. 

i did it. i bought myself a pair of brand spankin new cowboy boots. i'm not going to lie, i've always wanted a pair. but when it really came down to it and i was picking the ones i wanted, it was the weirdest thing in the world. this new little life of ours is a far cry from the life that we had in san diego. i told myself i'd jump in with both feet (ha) and we are doing just that and are learning to love san antonio and the texas culture more and more.

see what i mean about a far cry? have you ever seen these before!! long horns! i saw them on our drive to take ashton's pictures and pointed them out to the girls and they said "yeah, we're in texas. you'll see those a lot." for some reason i thought it was uncommon to see longhorns, but i guess it isn't.

cows are my favorite animals or at least tied for favorite with cats, horses, and puppies. but don't make the same mistake we did at the wedding-touching, prodding and pulling on the horns. jon was squatting in between the two horns when the cow turned his head to walk away and got jon's arm with one of his horns. luckily it didn't rip his suit but the next day he had a bruise right there. amateurs...

here are the newlyweds during their first dance! it was such a special night, i'm so glad we've met these two and were able to celebrate the day with them. during ashton's speech she let her true colors come out when she thanked her salon sisters for making her look like a princess and then said "yeah, that's right ya'll, i look like a princess!" but the best part was when she said that she and aaron met through tragedy, and that he was the one to "bring my smile back." they are the best together, jon and i love them so much and are so happy that they are married.