10 Years and counting...

It’s hard to believe that almost 10 years have passed since Nathan and I were first married in the Arizona Temple. Here are some brief highlights of our last 10 years together.

Nathan, I look forward to spending several more decades with you. Happy 10th Anniversary!

Las Vegas, visiting Kim

We spent our Honeymoon in Sedona

Visited Hawaii while Nathan worked for America West Airlines...

We both graduated from Arizona State University while working fulltime and taking a full load of classes...
Visited Chicago & Nauvoo, Ill.

San Diego after Nathan completed Basic Training for the US Air Force

Visited Aaron, Tamra, Jacob & Dwight in Ketchikan, Alaska

Nathan was commissioned into the US Air Force
Shortly after, Ammon Nathan King was born in Wichita, Kansas

Travelled to Mississippi for training
Endured Hurricane Katrina with a 9 week old baby

Ran a Home Day Care in Kansas while Nathan was active duty Air Force and went school in the evenings for his Master's Degree in Business Administration...

MBA from Webster University

Nathan accepted a position with the Rhode Island Air National Guard, so we moved to Connecticut and are enjoying life in New England... Madelyn Susan King was born in Putnam, CT
Nathan was promoted to Captain

Nathan ran his first marathon... and completed his second months later

SOS Training in Alabama

We've worked hard, overcome a lot, made priceless memories and created a beautiful family together. I love you more and more with each passing day!

Are you being nice?

Maddie Sue

Maddie Sue had her 18 month check-up today. She weighed 22 lbs (was in the 12th percentile) and was 29 1/2" tall (3rd percentile). What a shrimp!

She's uses a few new words now, climbs anything & everything she can prop your little body onto, and even slides the kitchen chairs to her desired destination to help her reach new heigths. She always keeping us hopping.

Our little Dare Devil

First taste of cotton candy...

National Guard Marathon

I was fortunate enough to have the National Guard fund a trip to the Lincoln Marathon earlier this month. The National Guard uses this marathon as a recruiting tool and teams from all 50 states took turns manning the recruiting booth at the marathon expo.

This was my second marathon and I was expecting to get around the same time since I did not train as much and missed a full week of training due to strep throat a few weeks before. However, I learned a lot from my previous marathon, which helped me tremendously. First, I ate a lot more for breakfast to provide me more energy. Second, I started nice and slow with my first four miles averaging 8 minutes a mile. My first marathon, I started out too fast and was constantly being passed on the last half of the marathon. This time I followed what my body was telling me and instead of being passed in the last half, I was doing the passing. My last 10K ended up being faster than my first 10K. I was surprised at how good I felt. I did not start hurting until the last couple of miles. I finished with a time of 3:18:21, which was 23 minutes faster than my first marathon. It was an average pace of 7:35 a mile.

Thank you Lona for the support and for being without her husband for the weekend. I know it wasn't easy.

Finishing at the 50 yard line of the Nebraska Cornhusker stadium was a real treat. They had our finish up on the jumbotron so you could watch yourself as you were finishing.

Last Day of Vacation

Today was the last day of my vacation at home with the kids before I go back to work tomorrow. We went to the commissary at New London Naval base and then to the Mystic Aquarium. The kids were great and we enjoyed seeing some new exhibits at the aquarium.