Hood and Kadlec Wedding in St. Louis!

Ed and I went to Debbie and Terence's wedding this past weekend in St. Louis and had a blast! The actual location was St. Charles and it was such a cute town. There are a lot of very cool things about this area that we never knew about! First, for those of you that run or bike, there are TONS of trails all over the place. The longest one is the Katy Trail which is an old railroad that turned into a trail - is 183 miles long from St. Charles to Kansas City! Ed and I ran 6 miles of it and it was really beautiful. Most of it runs along the Missouri River, so there are some great views! Ed and I have been brainstorming on making an April vacation here - maybe a running/wine trip? Here's the trail's link: http://www.mostateparks.com/katytrail/index.html

After our 6 mile run we got ready for the big event! It was absolutely gorgeous! The wedding was great - not a traditional catholic wedding - so we stayed entertained! The Priest was pretty funny and added a personality to the ceremony. Debbie was absolutely gorgeous and Terence couldn't stop smiling. Below are some of our favorite pics from the event.

Getting ready!

Here comes the bride!

During the ceremony

Mr. and Mrs. Kadlec!

Cheryl happy that all the stress is gone!

The reception was so much fun and really showed how much effort the couple put into making sure the guest had a great time. There was dancing, a great dinner, ice cream from a local ice cream shop and of course a wonderful cake. Being there with so many of my sisters made it even better. We had such a good time and really exhausted ourselves on the dance floor!

On Sunday, we kidnapped Laura and drove out to the wine country and then the Arch before heading to the airport. The wine country was a well-kept secret! We knew there was a winery or two in the area, but then we got to Defiance (the entrance to the MO wine country) and saw winery after winery - ALL ALONG THE KATY TRAIL!!! This really sets up well for a biking/winery or running/winery trip!! The wineries were beautiful with rolling hills and orange and red leaves. The temps were perfect too at highs in the upper 50s. It was a wonderful break from our 90 deg Houston temps! Oh - and the wine was awesome! Our favorite was the Norton - which we had at 2 different wineries. All and all, a GREAT trip!

Ed and I enjoying the cool temps at the Balducci Winery

Laura at the Balducci Winery

This is my favorite pic that Ed took of the Arch

Laura's amazing photography skills - awesome pic!

Christy's Baby!

This past month, friends Christy and Rohit welcomed their new baby boy to the world! His name is Eshaan (pronounced ee-Shawn) and he is adorable! The delivery was a little scary, but everyone is doing well now and mom and dad are adjusting to their new family addition!

Rohit After Delivery

Eshaan!

Christy and I after the delivery - she looks great!

Mom and Baby!

Weekend with Nikki!

This last weekend, the 22nd, we visited Nikki in Austin! She was there for work for 2 weeks - so we went to say hello on Sat/Sun. Nikki's co-workers told her to check out Hamilton Pool (a sunken grotto), so we headed out there, then Reimers Ranch (a park right next door) and then dinner at the Tree House Grill with Kira - what a perfect night!! Kira was ironically in town for a conference that was at Nikki's hotel! And of course, we had to show Nikki Magnolia Cafe for breakfast before we left!

10K Trail Run!

August 15th, we ran our first 10K Trail Run with Paul and Christina at Pedernales Falls State Park! It was a blast and WAY harder than a road 10K! I even got an injury!!! The trail was very pretty though - lots of hills and rocks! Before we got to camp Friday night, we stopped at a restaurant in Austin for a pasta dinner - what a gem! This place - the Treehouse Grill - was amazing! Great food, live music and $3 beers! We got some carbs and even had desert! After the race Saturday morning, we headed to New Braunfels and went tubing to soak our tired bodies! We had a blast down the Comal and then had a fantastic Mexican dinner before heading home Sat night.

Ed and Paul enjoying our Italian Dinner!

Christina and I post-run!

My knee injury! (had to take pics before I could clean it!)

Christina and Paul post run - enjoying a drink!

The Pedernales

Summer Part 2

We left off at July 4th in the last post...so what happened next?

Ed and I were planning to attend the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City, UT in mid-July, so this year, we decided to go a few days early and enjoy a little bit of the area. A few thoughts about Salt Lake City: beautiful, breathtaking, outdoorsy, adventurous and MORMON! The Mormon religion is a definite way of life in this area. Here in Houston, we have drug stores on every corner...there they have CHURCHES on every corner - no lie. I think we heard the average was 1 church every 0.25 square miles. Insane! Regardless, they have so many trails and outdoor activities - we did a hike up an 11,000 ft mountain - although the altitude hit us harder than we imagined and we didn't have enough time or water to make it to the top. Here are a couple UT photos:

This was not snow - but rather fuzz from a plant that was all over!

You can see Salt Lake in the background

The summit still had snow! In July!

The Outdoor Retailer show was a ton of fun! We got to see so many new products that will be coming out in January 2009! We even got a TON of samples - some were totally free and some were at a severe discount:

Sadly, while we were in SLC, Harmony headed back to VA. I (Kristin) did get one last picture with her before she left:

After getting back from SLC, I was busy busy getting ready for Christy's babyshower! The baby is due any moment now! Christy's mom is trying to open her own cake business, so she made the cake - how awesome!! It's all sugar!

After the shower, which was quite exhausting for both the Mom-to-be AND me!

The next weekend, we headed to New Orleans for some great food and Jazz music with Brett and Lisa! The Jazz festival - Satchmo - was happening downtown along with tons of other things! We got to visit Missy while we were there (no pics though) and really have some fun. Ed and I even got to visit the insectarium!

So New Orleans was fun...and very hot! But the next weekend (I told you we were busy!) we headed to Dallas for Terri's wedding reception (a joint reception with her new Sister-In-Law). The reception was a blast! It was great to see Terri and Josh and Terri's family - it had been at least 10 years since I had seen them!

So pretty!

Throwing the boquet!

Jeff had "a little Captain in him!"

First Dance!

Ok - Whew! It's exhausting just typing about our busy summer! Next came our 10K trail run at Pedernales Falls State Park - but I'm doing a new post for that one!

We've Been Busy!

I know it's been a while since we updated this blog...but what can I say? We've been BUSY! We last updated with some gardening pics in Mid-May - so what have we been up to since then?

Big Bend - end of May (The Weekend Harmony and Corey moved in!)

Then we build a pantry in early June....

Then we took a canoeing trip in eastern Texas...

Then Galveston with Christina and Harmony...

Then there was a 4 mile trail run/camping trip at Brazos Bend State Park with Christina/Paul and Hamony...but sadly we were too exhausted to take photos!

Then in July!

We started our very long runs on Saturday morning (6 miles +) and rock climbing regularly!

In celebration for the 4th of July Ed and I went tubing down the Comal River (no pics though cause didn't want to lose the camera!) then we headed out and spent the evening in Austin at a cabin that Christina and Paul rented for Christina's dad's visit - awesome place and awesome birds!

The rest of the summer to come in the next post!