Happy Birthday Jeff

We celebrated Jeff's birthday with dinner and cake....

 and back yard soccer fun!

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

NCAA XC Championships

We are so lucky to have the NCAA XC Championship race right here in our back yard! They have this awesome race at EP every year and this year it worked out that we could go! It was awesome to see these awesome runners from all over the country!

 We had a ball with our friends and cheering on the runners!

 What a beautiful, fall day to be a lover of cross country!

spirit wear

With the first XC meet upon us the boys were so excited to rock out their new Goshen XC! spirit wear!

It made my heart so happy to walk into school and see the kids....every runner on the team in their shirts! In a sea of hundreds and hundreds of kids...they stood out as a team...and they were so proud!

We celebrated the day and carbed up at Fazoli's with Coach Jeff!

We are looking forward to a great race tomorrow in Shelby County!

Double birthdays

The Hardys gathered to celebrate Grandpa's 60th and Jeff's 42nd birthday!

 It was just what I needed today.....time with family...after a week of mourning Mrs. P's loss.....When you spend a week with someone wanting one more minute with some one who is gone...you appreciate the minutes you have with the ones you love even more....
I drank this traditional birthday celebration up...the gathering around the table...the singing....the wishes made....

 the opening of presents.....

 the presence of family.......

 and time with the ones you love....

 I smiled at the tradition of Bumpa's cake....she has been making this birthday cake for 42 years....it was just a great afternoon......full of love and family....

and thanks to our day Rollins totally ace his weekend home work from sweet Mrs. Noon......

Coach Jeff for Christmas dinner

We had been wanting to have Coach Jeff over for dinner for the longest time.....to thank him for all the support he has given the boys and Jeremy and me too. As you can see Lila is also a fan!

 So tonight we had him over and we all had the best time! He is just like part of the family! The advent gift tonight was monogrammed Chapstick and there was even a J tube for Jeff!

 It has been a long year for Jeff....but the best is yet to come in 2012....new years bring new beginnings and we are so excited to be a part of his journey! Emily Adrian posted this on my Facebook wall this week and it just seemed fitting to add it to this post!

So here is to the distance runner in us all! It truly is always worth it in the end!

Coach Jeff get the boys ready for State

We met with Coach Jeff today.....one last time before State. Can I just say how amazing he is? He really has a gift for reaching kids...in just the right way. My boys listened intently to every world he said. He began with a story about an apple and an orange...that my boys can now repeat back to you by heart. That's how much they listen to him...how much they love him.

The moral of the story is that an orange leaks under pressure...an apple does not...he encouraged them to be an apple!

 He gave each boy their own apple to take to State as a reminder of this lesson...

He then gave them each a bag and instruction with their "Ingredients for Success" at State!

 
The bag included....magic shoe laces in Goshen colors....

 a muscle sandwich....

 new running socks with a sharpie to write their goals on and wear the day of the state race....

 Gu chomps for energy....

 and a map of the course for each boy and  tips for the race based on their own strengths and weaknesses

 

Lastly, he left them with this quote and a lot of love!

They are ready for State now...and they feel prepared! We are so excited to see how they do! We can't thank Jeff enough for his role this year in the boys' seasons! 

Trimble County Meet

We loaded up on this beautiful Saturday morning for the Trimble County Cross Country Meet! It is always nice to go home....and home will always be Trimble County.  This morning and this meet meant a lot to us. We were not running to win.....we were not running for a better time....we had something else on our hearts.....

We boys ran this morning for Coach Jeff...in his honor...with him in their hearts...

and on their shoes......

 Today Riggs ran with a clear mind ...focused...and sure...on this beautiful course that means so much to a man who means so much to him...

and yes...Brandt beat him today...he took back his place as the first on the team...but that mattered so little today.....so very little....today Riggs ran for Coach Jeff.

I hope that when the Hardy boys crossed that finish line that Jeff felt an extra beat in his heart because they were sending him an enormous amount of love in their own way.

bomp-bomp....can you feel it?

 It was a great meet!  Truly it was! Both boys received medals....Rollins came in 5th!

Riggs came in second.....

The boys and girls won first place! The only thing missing was Jeff.....

I am so proud of my boys...for being good runners but more so for being boys with big hearts...who see and find meaning....who make it count. 

I am so inspired by my children. I love them intensly and passionately....I try with all my heart to teach them about life...the big things and the little....but so often I find my self the student.  If everything we did.... we did so with passion and purpose....with goodness in our hearts.... I know we would feel more fulfilled...more invigorated....more content...more full of love..... at the end of the day.  

Trinity Meet

The traffic was so bad and we were so late getting to this meet. We pulled into the street and Jeremy got out with the boys and literally ran them to the start line. I parked in a crazy spot as soon as I could and ran like hell myself...we were stressed beyond belief but somehow it all worked out and everyone got where they needed to be on time. This is a big meet full of great competition and a full field for sure!

I was so nervous for Riggs. He is a guy of routine and focus and he got none of that with our crazy arrival to the meet. 

But he ran..... and ran well...

He got to the finish line in 6th place! Not too bad out of 330 runners and many of them 6th graders.

Rollins did great too! He came in 80th...but still not bad out of that many runners and he is only in second grade.

Coach Jeff came tonight to support Riggs! Riggs was so proud and happy to have him there! He just loves Jeff so much!

The Timmerings were there too...and Rollins was so happy to share XC with his BFF!

Lila Ray had a ball with Renee and Brooke! They were so sweet with her!

The awards were fun! Riggs got a trophy for his 6th place finish!

The Goshen boys and Girls both took second place!

It started out so stressful but ended so happy! We truly are a XC family!

We were starving and headed to Wicks for pizza to celebrate with Grandpa, Bumpa and Gran-Gran. Riggs was so excited to pour over the results and the times at the table.

He loves this sport...and I am pretty sure this sport loves him.

After our long day...Pizza never tasted so good!

They had a live band and we danced in the booth....

and then we danced out of the booth as well! It was a fun way to end our crazy, but good Trinity meet!