Our first 5k-The Biggest Loser Finale

This morning before our wonderful Thanksgiving feast my coworkers, family members included, and I ran a 5k. We thought this would be a great in to our Biggest Loser weight loss challenge that started in September. Since Mark is working and Drew was too little, Peyton and I were up in our freezing cold desert weather ready to go. The race started at 8:00 and we started out walking. Then I began to feel quite claustrophobic being stuck between so many people that I told Peyton and Whitnee we need to run at the next opening to get out of the crowd. That made things much better and actually got us motivated to keep running and get the race finished. It felt so great crossing that finish line and I can't wait to try and beat our times next year. I don't run, I dislike working out, so for me to hobble out of bed this morning and pull of a 5k off felt like quite an accomplishment. My legs are sore. I'm so tired, but it was a great feeling.

And to top all this off, my team, TEAM BLACK, for the biggest loser challenge won by a 1/2 percent weight loss over team Pink. I'm thankful for that because it was a huge challenge. I lost my goal of 7 pounds and am thinking I'll gain it all back today with the amount of green bean casserole I'm hoping to eat.

The Pendleton Foundation

The Pendleton Foundation is a Coachella Valley charity that helps cancer patients with different types of financial needs. It was started by a woman named Karen Pendleton who was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2005. They don't necessary help with direct medical bills but they'll give gas cards, show up with groceries or grocery cards, pay for hotel expenses for people going through treatment or even help with personal utility bills especially during the summer months. The list goes on and on. Each year the foundation hosts a Chef Auction. Chefs from around the valley come up with a package that can be auctioned off. The money they raise goes to the charity. Mark had been asked before to participate but his schedule always conflicted. This year he was able to do it and what an experience it was. His package was 2 rounds of golf, dinner for 8 and 4 VIP tickets to the Kraft Nabisco Tournament in April. He sold for 3,000.00. The evening was memorable as they not only auctioned off chefs but also had an emotional slide show of past recipients of the foundation. It was truly touching to know you're helping out.... in a very round about way.... and he can't wait to be auctioned off next year.

http://thependletonfoundation.org/stories.htm

Halloween

This was the first year in a long time Halloween wasn't at our house and it was great. We went to the Hershbergers Block Party. Ton's of kids, games, food and a costume contest all before trick or treating. The kids loved eating the donut from the string but I think they liked getting their purple ribbon's even better. Peyton for the funniest and Drew for the prettiest costume. After we left we stopped by our old neighborhood to say hi. Mark was able to meet us there after work before we headed to my moms house all before 8:00. Whew. Long day but super fun.

Office Halloween

For the first time in years our manager wanted everyone to dress up for Halloween. I hemmed and hawed. I couldn't think of anything so I took the easy road, got ears and went as a black cat. But, some people were very creative. We had Marge Simpson, Sara Palin, Dwight from the office and even a Double Dare contestant. Not to mention we covered the sports jersey department and also Tony Hawk. It turned out to be a fun day with an office lunch and adorable kids trick or treating there way through.