One of Brandon’s favorite books right now is the Berenstain Bears’ New Baby.

Can you guess why?

Yep. The story is just about perfect for him. Happy little family of three, his own room, his own bed, and suddenly he doesn’t quite fit in Mama Bear’s lap. He has all kinds of things to do and see…and seems very independent at doing so.

Then right about the time he’s outgrowing his own bed, Mama Bear is also changing and Brother Bear doesn’t quite fit in her lap. Hmmm. Curious indeed.

In the story, Brother Bear and Papa Bear head off into the woods to build a new bed. One that’s just right for him. And just in time. His old bed will be used soon enough.

We’ve been talking to Brandon quite a bit during Mandy’s pregnancy. Explaining to him that he will be a big brother…babies are fun…sometimes babies are loud. A big brother is a big responsibility, and he will do great. And also…just like in the story…it’s time to let his little sister use his bed which means he gets to upgrade to a nice big boy big brother bed.

Here’s where the story is slightly different. We didn’t go out into the woods, chop down a tree, hand saw, carve, sand, assemble, and polish a bed. Nope. I went to Pottery Barn Kids. Muuuch easier. And they were selling the floor models at a pretty hefty discount. Yes please.

We did still have to assemble it though. He thought this was just about the greatest thing ever.

It helped the transition too. He was so ready to sleep in his new bed once it was ready. He’s been in his new bed in his new room for a couple of weeks now and hasn’t looked back. It took a whole day for him to start referring to his old room as the baby’s room. Can you tell he’s excited?…

And in case you’re wondering…yes that’s a baby doll in the picture that he got from his Sweetie (Grandma). He’s way into this whole mommy’s gonna have a baby thing. He’s even helped with getting his new sister’s room ready. But we’ll have to save that for another post (and by that I mean–it’s because we aren’t done with it yet).

Some time ago (think years), I mentioned that our blogs would be merging. That day has come. When you think of it, this is bigger than the Royal Wedding. The queen was, like, just here a minute ago talking about it.

You missed it? It was awesome.

Anywho, before we get into the true sappiness of couples blogs, let’s dive into how well you already know us. The other day I cleaned out our cars. As I rummaged through the bits and pieces of our lives I began to see how our personalities emerged out of the elements. So, I present to you, reader, a challenge. Can you determine the owner and subsequent hoarder of car materials based on the random objects below?

These items were pulled from each vehicle. One for him. One for her. Leave your selection in the comments, and we’ll announce the answer soon. Good Luck!

These are some of my favorite pictures of my son from the past few years.

And a few things he has learned along the way…

Happy Birthday, buddy.

A few things that I probably haven’t mentioned…

I have an Etsy store.
I’ve mentioned before that my wife has an Etsy store. Well, actually she has her own business…and uses Etsy as the primary tool to sell stuff. I figured, why not start one too! I love graphic design, and I’m always up for some extra cash…so viola–I have one too now.

It’s a great creative outlet. I’m an architect which allows me to expend plenty of creative energy, but sometimes I just want to do simple stuff. Stuff that is more my style. This lets me.

And…I made my first sale! I kind of didn’t want to mention the store because I wanted the first sale to be a complete stranger. I don’t know…I guess it gives it a little more street cred. Also, the other day, I found this site where someone linked back to my store…how cool is that!? That’s almost more exciting than actually selling something. (key word–almost).

I’m 30.
Yep. I turned 30 this year. The saving grace in all of this is that all of my friends are turning 30 and they don’t look so bad. Well, most of them. And in a way, I almost like it. I felt a bit stuck for awhile in that post-college, trying to get established as an architect place. I see now why firms don’t like to hire people right out of college. There is so much to learn after you graduate. There’s really no way you can figure it out without working on real projects. I still don’t know everything now…but at least more than I did 7 years ago. And the Lord is gracious and merciful.

We started couponing.
You know…the show where the people are insane about using coupons and stockpile stuff they get for cheap or free? Yeah, we’re doing that. It’s really a lot of work with not much of a reward. But then again, hey, free pasta.

I didn’t run or workout the entire month of May.
I’m not gonna lie…it was kind of nice to have a month off. I watched a lot of tv, and played a lot of xbox. I started running again last month. The first run back was great. Just a mile, but my legs weren’t sore like they usually are.

So, the real reason I didn’t run…

I had surgery.
Oh yeah…did I mention I had surgery. It was nuts.

I’m currently on Day 11 of my 40 day fast food fast. Two days ago I saw this less than a half mile from my house.

This is either a test of my resolve or a reward for my efforts.

At the end of last year I made a list of goals to keep track of over the year. This list was similar to one I made in 2009 with the exception that this list is a bit less glamorous. A lot of reading, a lot of working out, and doing things that I should be doing anyway.

After 2 months, some items are right on track and moving along. Others have proven to be quite difficult. Here’s my quick(ish) summary:

I completed two challenges last weekend. No caffeine and floss for 40 days are checked off my list. Woohoo!

P90X – Takes.So.Much.Fre.Acking.Time. An hour and a half (at least) every day is brutal. I have attempted to do the workouts while my 2.5 year old plays in the room with me. It’s quite entertaining to watch him do push ups or bust out some yoga moves (he’s way better than me by the way), but it makes it hard to get a quality workout in. It’s better to wait until he goes to bed–which means I have to stay up pretty late to get it done.

Weigh 185 Pounds – Ha! Let’s just move on, shall we?

Pray/Read Bible with wife for 40 Days – Wow, I did not anticipate that this would be so difficult. Reading and Praying together isn’t so bad…but every day is quite a challenge. It’s one thing to carve out time for yourself to read and pray. Much less coordinating it with someone else.

Read 12 books/New Testament/Wayne Grudem – I shall refer back to how much time P90X takes. I’ve read a bit, but as of right now, I’m not on track to finish by the end of the year. Hopefully when P90X is finished, I can use that time to just read.

Pay off Debt and Give – These two goals are on track. For these it’s really just a matter of planning it and doing it. Lord willing, I’ll be able to just keep on progressing.

Half Marathon and Push ups – Ok this one makes me sad. Running has drastically fallen by the way side. Last November I ran 40.5 miles. In Feb I ran 11.6. Did I mention I was ready for P90X to be done?

Interestingly enough, I’m reading a book right now by Matthew Syed called Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success. It piggybacks off of Outliers by Malcom Gladwell and the concept that it takes 10,000 hours of dedicated practice to achieve an elite level of skill and expertise. It also tries to dispell the myth that talent is something you can only be born in to. It’s very motivating to make you want to get up and do something instead of making excuses of why you can’t. It’s a good book to be reading while trying to accomplish goals. It reminds you of how hard and unglamorous 10,000 hours really are.

Bonus – Ok, not on the list but I’ve really wanted to get outside more. I love places like Enchanted Rock where I can roam around, climb, and breath fresh air. Last weekend my little family and I went to Lake Mineral Wells State Park. Absolutely loved it!

Lake Mineral Wells State Park with the fam

Who says you can't go trail running in a jogging stroller?

I hope everyone else’s yearly goals are still going and haven’t been dropped. And if they have…pick them back up!

The Beginning:
In 2009 I started blogging by saying that I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. I then proceeded to make a list of achievements to attempt to complete over the next year. And here was my thought–instead of setting a “thing” to strive for, I would strive for achievement itself. The feeling of accomplishment. Of getting something done.

And so I did. And so it worked.

The Result:
I lost 20 pounds (40 total from my starting weight), ran a marathon, paid off my car, became a project manager at work, memorized a chapter of scripture, etc, etc. Even though I didn’t accomplish everything on my list, I did more than I would have without one.

The Aftermath:
At the beginning of 2010 I thought I had officially changed and that I could coast. But really…I was just tired. Keeping up with my list was exhausting. Making daily choices to eat a certain way, spend a certain way, to get up and go running…they all took a toll and I was worn out. So in 2010, I relaxed. And relaxed.

The Realization:
Now, I don’t want to say I didn’t do anything. I still worked, still sought the Lord, still loved my wife and my family, still ran a couple of races. But what I’ve found is that when we start to coast we all have a few areas that tend to slip. We all have little idols that when we “have nothing else to do”, suddenly become the center of our attention. My goal is to not look up and see that these distractions have wasted my life.

The Resolution:
Thus, I need a new list. A new set of motivators to get me going. My list this year is a bit shorter, but is much heavier. I think it will take more time, require more attention, and a lot more discipline. The underlying factor here is to seek the Lord more. “He must increase, I must decrease.” There is a great temptation with a list of goals that we might become proud or that they themselves might become idols. My hope is that this list may help to steer my course while my security rests in Christ alone.

The Commitment:
I will keep the list updated throughout this year through the handy dandy tab at the top of the page. I’ll also post updates as to how it’s going. The best part about all of this is accountability and keeping one another going. What are your goals for this year? And more importantly, why?

Last night Ryan and Sara Hall were in town for a social run and a meet and greet here in Dallas. Now for starters, when I told most people this news, their response was, “Who?”

Ok, fair enough. Generally speaking athletes aren’t as universally known as say celebrities, and runners are even more obscure. Not to mention that there are different types of runners. Are they sprinters, distance runners, ultramarathoners?? So out of all the runners/athletes/celebrities why do I follow Ryan Hall?

Aside from the surface features (runner, about my age, olympic marathoner, american record holder), he has a spiritual side and story to go along with life that drives him. He proudly admits that he is running for Christ and at the same time has no shame in confessing when he is weak.

The actual event started with a social run…which isn’t ideal for me and my sometimes anti-social tendancies. Nonetheless, when I saw him arrive and start to hang out with some of the other runners, I decided to be brave and join in. And by that I mean that I finally got out of my car and actually stood next to people.

After the folks at Luke’s Locker introduced the Halls to the crowd we were off. Now, for the run, I didn’t entirely plan this, but it just so happened that I ended up right behind him. Yep, running right behind, step-in-step with American record holder, Olympic marathoner, Ryan Hall. Once I got passed the “is this really happening” moment I snapped a couple of pictures with my phone and enjoyed the run.

A fairly tense moment occurred when I was stepped off of a curb and lost my balance. I stumbled, and sputtered, and thankfully caught myself before plowing into Ryan. Now THAT would have been awesome. American record holder, Olympic marathoner, Ryan Hall…injured by novice runner on social run. Sigh.

A few moments later we came to a stop light to wait to cross. He turned and talked with a couple of us. So what do you chat about with a guy like this when you finally get to meet him? Why the weather of course! I’m not sure how it came to that…or why most conversations with strangers usually start or end that way…but that’s what we talked about. And in case you’re wondering, he was relieved with the cool weather because he only packed warm clothes.

After that I backed off a bit to let other runners get their time in with Ryan. Oh yeah, and I may have backed off because his casual/easy/jogging pace was my tempo pace and after a couple of miles I was whipped. Oh yeah, and I may or may not have gotten lost on the way back because the entire pack left me in the dust and I didn’t remember the route. Oh yeah, and I may or may not have stopped on the side of the road to nearly yack after racing to make it through a stop light on the way back.

All of that–so worth it! I got to run with freakin’ Ryan Hall!

Afterwords Ryan and Sara spent some time talking about the Hall Steps Foundation they started to help fight poverty. They also did a Q&A and a meet and greet that got pretty hectic. I took off after picking up a couple of Steps Foundation shirts and getting an autograph.

I honestly haven’t been that giddy in awhile to meet someone. I definitely felt like super-dork all night long. It was totally worth it though…I left very much inspired to run. Speaking of…I for real real real need to sign up for a race.

A couple of weeks ago Mandy and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. Woohoo!

Five years is a big one. Don’t get me wrong, two, three, and four were awesome…but FIVE! That’s a whole hand! So, I was faced with the dilemma of what anniversary gift to get. According to tradition, the five year anniversary gift is wood. And since I don’t think she’s ever been into bird houses, I was pretty stumped (haha).

Not to mention the whole idea of getting something meaningful versus just spending a lot of cash…a task many a man has faced. I was pleasantly surprised though to discover my step sister’s etsy store. She sells a multitude of things including personalized family tree prints that resemble the trunk of a tree. Done!

The center of the trunk is Mandy and me, and Brandon is (so far) our only little leaf. I added a frame and gave it to Mandy on our trip to Fredericksburg. It was perfect!

We hung it in our house next to Brandon’s room, which is also right in between the two rooms that will be for any kiddos we have. We love our little family and the tree gives us a quick picture to remember to be grateful and celebrate.