New Year, new goals

It's been a while since this blog has been updated.  A lot has happened since we last wrote on this.  I'll let Cassie do those updates when she has time... I'm not much of a writer.

Anyway, I thought I would write my new year's resolutions on here.  As most of you know I am training to run the St. George Marathon to qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2014.  My goal towards that is to run a marathon this year.  Not sure which one yet though.

I am also on a Ragnar team for this year's Wasatch Back.  I have three goals for this.  My first one is have a mile pace of 7 minutes and 30 seconds or better.  Second, be down to 150 pounds by June.  My last goal is to run, not walk, the "Ragnar Hill."  A little about the last goal, everyone I've talked to about this hill say they can't run the whole distance.  It's 3.2 miles, a little over a 5K, but you gain about 1500 feet in elevation. If you want to see the actual distance and elevation change click here.  I want to be able to run the entire distance.  I love running hills and it just motivates me more when people say I won't be able to do it.

My last goal is to have completely get off pop.  I've been doing well with quitting Dr. Pepper, I haven't had one in 2 years.  Now I'm hoping to get off pop completely. 

Happy New Year to everyone.  This is going to be a fun year for us here.

Logan

I think my baby is an apple.

My sis-in-law did a post like this recently and I loved it!!

So I had to go look through all the pictures at my parents
to see if, indeed, the "apple" fell near the "tree."

 Cute little me.

Even cuter baby Bridget.

So, what do you think?  

I can't wait to look through more pictures!! :)

D.C.!! Then and Now

Well we are back out in good 'ole Maryland
again.

This time Logan got to come along with us. :)

I loved being able to come out here almost a year
after we came last year and see how different
things are for baby Bridget.

Then - tons of stuff to look at, no idea what anything was.

 

Now - still tons of stuff to look at, but she knew a few things she was seeing.

Then - chilled in the stroller the whole time.

 

Now - could hardly be contained in the stroller, unless she was snoozing.

Then - super tiny little thing who would sit still and not blur the picture.

 

Now - super tiny little thing that can't hold still and barely has any good pictures.

Then - loved looking at the camera and was not very easy to distract.

 Now - can not keep her eyes on the same thing for more than a second or two.

And must touch everything she sees.

 Then - Loved to look at the trees more than the animals.

Now - really liked watching the animals move around.

Then - slept a ton and missed out on all the fun.

 

 Now - Stayed awake a lot longer and didn't miss a thing.

Then - had tons and tons of awesome cousins to play with.

 

Now - no fun cousins traveled out with us this time :(

 

Then - had Alesa to set an awesome example for her.

Now - STILL HAS ALESA!! YAY!!

 

I can't believe how fast this little baby of mine

is growing up.

Cousins

I love cousins.  They are almost as great as siblings.

Bridget has a TON of awesome cousins.  (19 to be exact.)

She just adores each and every one of them.  She loves to play
with them all and get dragged around from one fun thing to the
next.

The cousin just older than Bridget is Alesa.

They are 15 months and 2000+ miles apart.

They don't really get to see each other very often but
each time they do they become better friends.

I can't wait until B can draw pictures and write letters
so these two little girls can be best friend pen pals.

The cousin just younger than Bridget is Kayson.

Kayson is 20 days younger than B and it is so fun
to watch them interact and play.

I am glad B has a tough little cousin to take care
of bullies for her.  Even though she is usually the one
doing the bullying...

I am so thankful Bridget has so many awesome examples to look
up to and to learn from.  Thanks for teaching her all
she needs to know guys!!

Boston anyone?

So I guess it's time I posted something on this blog.  Sorry it's been a while since Cassie's posted anything but she's been busy with the Merkley's Biggest Loser blog, working, and taking care of Bridget (and breaking the camera).  I thought I would let everyone know my goal I have with John Gillman for 2014.  It's a little ways off but I gotta get started if I want to make it.

Here's my goal:  I want to qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2014.  To do so I need to run a marathon in under 3 hours.  That's 26.2 miles in under 3 hours! Nuts I know but I figured it would get me back into shape and give me a goal that I can look forward to. 

This year John put together a team to run the Ragnar Relay race in Las Vegas which is Oct. 21-22.  If you want to check it out click here- Ragnar Relay.  It's going to be big step forward for my bigger goal.  Right now I'm not sure what legs I'm going to be doing but you can check out all the legs and the course map if you're curious.

The other reason I'm doing this is I thought if I let everyone know, I couldn't back out or chicken out.  Well I guess that's all I wanted to do.  Have a great day everyone!

Logan

Photo shoot with Uncle Parker

I like to have my camera with me at all
times in case the baby does something
super cute.

When I leave for work I just leave the camera
in the diaper bag.

This is what I usually find when ever B
goes to Grandmas and Uncle Parker is home..

Hanging out for a bit on the big girl chair.

She always has all her toys every where when she goes to Grandmas.

Lucky girl gets to chew on Uncle Park's phone.

 This must be why it takes him so long to change B's diaper.

 More phone chewing. Yum.

She sure loves him.

Pound for Pound Challenge

So I don't know if you guys know this or not,
but I am a huge fan of The Biggest Loser. 

Some of you may have watched BL before 
and some of you have probably not. 
If you have watched you may or may not have heard
about the Pound for Pound Challenge they are doing.

Here are the details:

1 in 6 Americans struggle with hunger.  
For every pound you pledge to lose through 
May 31, 2011, the Pound For Pound Challenge 
will donate 11¢ to Feeding America — enough to 
secure one pound of groceries on behalf of local food banks.

Everyone these days is focusing more an being
healthy and getting to their ideal weight.  Why not help
others at the same time?

I have set up a team for everyone to join.
Go to the Pound for Pound Challenge website and
click Pledge Now.  Then just search for our group
"Merkley Clan" and join! 

Get everyone you know to join our team so
we can lose our way to the top!!  Even if you have
no weight to lose you can pledge to maintain your weight
and Feeding America will donate 55¢ in your honor.

What are you waiting for?!  Get pledging!!