Playing Catch-Up

Antigua, Guatemala

Wow! Well, I have been inspired to get back to blogging a bit about our crazy little family. As I read through the last blogs, I realized that it has been almost THREE YEARS since I last posted to this blog. Gracie, who now goes by Anna (but that's a whole other story) was just entering kindergarten. I was emotional at the thought of her starting school. Now, my "baby" has started school!

In a nutshell, this past year (I can't play catch-up for THREE YEARS!) brought the passing of my Grandma Nadine, my brother's marriage, and my kids starting 2nd grade (Anna) and GASP! kindergarten (Grant). Our kids received the first stamp in their passports as we traveled to Guatemala over spring break to go to Spanish school, sight-see, volunteer with the God's Child Project, and basically show our kids how the majority of the world lives. I'll be sharing more about all of these experiences, but that pretty much sums up the most important events.

Grant in His Wedding Tux

It just occurred to me that the last time I blogged was right before Matt was given the news that changed the course of his life. In November of 2009 he was given an ultimatum by his doctor, "You have six weeks to lose a few pounds, eat right, and get your blood pressure down. If that doesn't work, you are going on blood pressure medication." In typical Matt fashion, he proceeded to lose 40 pounds (in more than six weeks- no quick-fix, gimmicky diets allowed in the Bowler home). The man doesn't do anything halfway. I'm still deciding how I feel about this. :)

Sooooooo... in the course of running to lose weight he discovered that he is fast. Really fast. As in, he ran a marathon fast enough to qualify to run the Boston Marathon next year. He's also completed a half-Ironman (70.3 insane miles of swimming, biking, and running), and will most likely be completing a full Ironman in the near future. He has also poured himself into the creation of a "tri-team" with matching kits. Kits are the "outfits" that triathletes wear. It just makes me think of a baby fox. They hate it when we call them "outfits." To sum it up, we have created a monster. A very fit monster. One that convinced me to run a marathon with two amazing friends last January. But that's another story for another time.

Matt's First Marathon, My First Half

November 2010

Hopefully I'll make time to write again before 2015...