Weekend with my Mom and Alan

My mom and stepdad Alan came to visit me and Jeff a few weekends ago. They flew into San Francisco and we took that opportunity to see a little bit more of San Fran and see the Blue Angels perform on the bay. We also went to Sequoia again and saw a few more sites we hadn't seen yet. We also got to see the Hornets which was my first time too since we got here. Here's a few pics!

Komen Results

The race went really well and I had a time of 35:30 (11:26 mile pace). My goal was to run the whole thing with no walking and to try to get under/at 35 min, but I'll take 30sec over! My goal for the 5k in Paso Robles is 34 min or an 11min mile pace. I know that I can run a mile in 11min, but it's keeping it up on the 2nd and 3rd mile that's the problem. Here's some pictures Jeff got of me running the end of the race.

Running

After running in the 4th of July 5k here in Lemoore, I stopped running. However after witnessing Jen and Kim run a 1/2 marathon, I felt very inspired  by them and decided to get back into it. There are 2 5k runs coming up, one in Fresno and one in Paso Robles.

The first is the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on Oct 24th and this one also gives me the opportunity to help raise money to find a cure for breast cancer. No one in our family has been diagnosed with breast cancer, but everyone one my grandparents who have passed have died from some form of cancer. My grandpa died of bone cancer before I was born; my grandma, Mema, died of brain cancer; and just recently my grandpa, Papa, died from rectal cancer. So this race is more than just a race. It's a chance to raise some money to help fight cancer. If you'd like to donate/sponsor me in the run, follow this link: http://race.komencentralvalley.org/goto/siobhanburch.

The second is the Wine Vine Run in Paso Robles (http://www.winevinerun.com/). Jeff won't be running this one with me since he'll be on det in El Centro. This 5k is just for fun and I get a chance to visit a winery in Paso Robles!

My goal for next spring is to run a 10k - don't know when or where yet!

If you'd like to run with me in either of these 5k runs, just let me know! And when I mean run with me - I don't mind if you are faster or slower - you don't have to run side by side with me! :)

A long time overdue...

Sorry for not updating this in a while! So let's see, my last post was in June and we've done a lot of stuff since then.

We went to Sequoia National Park to break in our new hiking boots and saw the giant sequoia General Sherman along with other giants.

We also went to Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, CA but I don't have any pictures of that.
In honor of Jeff's 26th birthday, we visited Monterrey. We did all the tourist attractions there including Cannery Row, the aquarium, 17 mile drive, Carmel, and Pebble Beach. We are going to go back in October to watch the Le Mans race at Laguna Seca.

Although it seems like every weekend we go somewhere, there are a few that we don't and I enjoy those just as much. We have enjoyed having people over to use the pool, going to movies and Jeff even took me to the driving range for the 2nd time in my life. We've made it over to Fresno a few times for dinner and shopping. I'm so glad I live near a big city again with all the restaurants and stores I love!

We went to Sequoia again, but this time in the Mineral King part of the park. Tim wanted to hike Sawtooth trail and we camped out Saturday night and then made the big trek up 5 miles and about 3,000ft up. The trail started at about 7,500ft and we got up above 10,000ft. It took us 4 hours to get up - mostly because of me (I'm sure Jeff and Tim could have gotten up faster) - and 2.5 hours to get down. It was the craziest hike I've ever done and it felt like we'd never get to the top of the trail. However, the views from the hike were amazing and I don't think my camera does it justice! There are a lot of pictures, so here's the facebook album link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2737346&id=7908900&l=89762e8fdb

Well, we finally got our furniture we ordered (Jeff's new recliner for the TV room and the new couch and chairs for the living room). I ordered the coffee table from Target and it came damaged so I have to exchange that and wait for it's replacement still.

Last but not least, we spent Labor Day weekend in San Diego! We saw Jeff's Aunt & Uncle and cousins that live in Escondido, went to La Jolla beach to hang out with friends from Mississippi that are now stationed in Miramar, toured the USS Midway, and went to the San Diego Zoo. Our hotel was awesome and in walking distance to downtown so we went out Saturday and Sunday night and went to dinner with another couple we met in Mississippi. San Diego is beautiful and is so nice to just walk around. I think we'll be making a few more trips while we are living in California. Plus we still need to go to Sea World! Here's the facebook album again (I took too many pictures!): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2741519&id=7908900&l=28f981b6de

I think that's all we've done! I've got to start updating this more often so I don't have such a huge post of recaps!

Livin in Cali

So we are here in Lemoore, CA! The drive went well - almost as planned. We got to see the things we wanted and got some ideas of things to do while we are out west. I need to make a post of the drive over and pics of the house we are renting but I'll do that later after all of our stuff gets here today so I can post it with pictures! We are loving it here so far!

We got orders to move to Cali!

Jeff gets to go to SERE school in Maine May 25-June 5 and then we pack up (when I say we, I mean the Navy) June 8-10, check out the 11th and head towards Cali June 12th! Since my sister is getting married on June 13th we'll have to make a slight detour in Austin.

So here are the travel plans(click on the maps to see a bigger picture):

Day 1 - June 12th - Meridian, MS to Austin, TX

694 mi – about 10 hours 36 mins

Day 2 - June 13th -Austin, TX to El Paso, TX (or as far as we can)
leave at 3/4 pm after my sister's wedding

576 mi – about 8 hours 23 mins

Day 3 - June 14th - El Paso (or wherever we made it to) - Flagstaff, AZ

574 mi – about 8 hours 9 mins

Day 4 - June 15th - Flagstaff, AZ - Grand Canyon - Las Vegas, NV

390 mi – about 6 hours 49 mins

Day 5 - June 16th - Las Vegas, NV - Lancaster, CA - Lemoore, CA
(I have to go drive on the Honda Musical Road)

443 mi – about 7 hours 14 mins

So with some detours in Austin, TX, the Grand Canyon, and Lancaster, CA, it'll take us 5 days for our journey across 7 states! Road Trip!

Wings of Gold

Well, we finally have made it to Winging Day! Jeff is officially winged and is a Naval Aviator! Here's just a few pictures from the day, there are a lot more and you can click on the photo on the right to see all of them on our Picasa page. The local ABC news from Meridian was also there to commemorate the occasion and you can view that broadcast when you click on the video on the right.



(Just in case you don't know, every aviator gets a callsign which is what is on the back of the shirts. )