Melissa, Matt, and Eric

So a couple weeks ago Melissa called to see if she could get some sibling pics with her two brothers, Matt and Eric. She wanted to give her parents some shots of all three of them before she moved off to ATL to finish school. We squeezed the shoot in on a Tuesday evening two days before she moved, and of course were faced with torrential downpours and gale-force winds. With no real chance to reschedule, I headed to the park in the pouring rain and so did they.

As I pulled into the parking lot, the rain slowed to a sprinkle and then stopped. I saw a patch of blue sky. A park-shaped hole opened in the storm clouds and floated above us for about an hour as we frantically ran around and took pictures, constantly looking over our shoulders at the black clouds not too far away. Then God decided our photoshoot was over and BOOM, the storm was back. Not lying, it was really the only dry part of 24 hours. But we got some great shots in the midst of it all!

The three of them were a lot of fun and were up for anything. There were a lot of kung-fu shots and jumping pictures, but I there are just too many to choose from for the blog! Here are a few of my other favorites:

This is Melissa.

And here are her brothers

Love this one

Those brothers are going to miss their big sister!

Thanks for being troopers with all the stepping in mud and sitting on wet benches and steps. I had a great time!

A Dam Good Run

Me, spell something wrong or use bad language? I think not. But I can't help it because I really DID have a good run! This morning Wes, Sara and I did the Lake Murray Dam Run to Irmo (part of the annual Irmo Okra Strut- don't ask). 

I finished in 55:55, my best 10k time since 2004. That might not be super for some people but that was great for me! Besides the marathon I really haven't run any races recently, so it was fun to get out there.

The first two miles of the course are across the Lake Murray dam. It was a dreary morning, but still pretty to run with a lake view. Sara took off and had a great run herself, finishing four minutes before Wes and me.

Wes can now officially call himself a "runner"- this was his first event. He trained for a whopping one day (Thursday), but did great! He got his very own race number and finishers' medal. We are so proud of our little Wes.

This was right after the race with my handy point-and-shoot. My parents came out to watch us and my dad grabbed a couple action shots. If you're lucky, I'll post some.

And the rule is that you have to wear your medal for the rest of the day. I mean, really, you will never put it on again, so why not get as much use out of it as possible. 

After taking a nice nap, I've been working on editing photos all afternoon, so more posts are soon to come. Side note, hope the Gamecocks do well tonight. Wish it wasn't pay-per-view...

The Dirty Henrys

Take a lot of mud, four friends hyped up on Red Bull, and a soldier we love, and this is what you get:


Saturday morning Wes, Sara, Mary and Ryan sloshed their way through the US Marine Corps Mud Run. Besides being fun, it was a small way to honor our good friend Kirk Henry who's in the Air Force and currently serving in Afghanistan.

Dylan, Katherine and I headed over after our morning run to cheer them on. They looked so clean and happy in the beginning...

...and then this happened.

The 4.2 mile course has over 30 obstacles. Not your typical roadrace, but they still finished in under an hour!

Thank goodness they had each other to hug, cause we really were not interested.

We're really proud of you guys! (High-five to Mary for breaking her thumb- hardcore.)

And we're even more proud of Kirk for serving our country. We are praying for you and can't wait till you get home in November!

Meet the Kiawah Team

I think the best part about our pre-run photo shoot Wednesday night is the fact that a large running club meets at the same river we do. So the whole time Dylan took pictures while we tried to do a fun jumping pose in the parking lot and I laid on the ground to photograph Katherine's shoes, we had quite the audience. You kind of got the feeling as they stretched in their spandex and eyed us with slight disdain that they might have had their shoes tied a little too tight for their own good. Like, "Wow, clearly those girls are not serious runners. There is no fun in running. Hey, let me tie my shoes some more." 

Anyway, let me introduce you to Katherine, who begins every training run with the words, "I hate you" and ends it with, "Hey, you know I don't really hate you, right?" I like to call this picture I Am Too Hot For My New All-Black Running Clothes.

And this would be MaryO. This picture is titled Seriously Are You Really Taking My Picture Right Now.

On the left is our other friend Mary, the fourth member of the Kiawah team. She is way speedy and has done a half-marathon, a sprint triathlon, and several other runs. She's doing most of her training on her own cause she's out to compete. We're just in it to finish.

Anyway, Wednesdays have become interval/speed training days, which neither Katherine or MaryO like. But other than Katherine threatening to push me in the river a few times, I think it went well.

The true test will be this Saturday. We're running five miles, and since I am back in town there will be no room for Katherine to trick MaryO and say, "Hey, let's run one mile and then walk the other four- Karin won't be mad, I promise." Wish us luck.

Coming attractions

Get ready for some good blogging in the not-too-distant future.

I did an awesome brothers/sister shoot last week. They were so fun despite the torrential downpour and thunderstorms! I've also got plenty of precious pictures from the weekend in Hilton Head.

AND we've got friends doing the Mud Run at Ft. Jackson this weekend. You know I'm going to blog their muddy faces.

On a side note, the gloomy weather makes this the PERFECT day to stay in bed. Boo on jobs.

Can't wait

... till Friday! We are heading down to Hilton Head to see my FAVORITE little girls. (Ok, and their parents.)

The weekend was originally planned as a soccer weekend in Hilton Head, with visits with our friends and playing with the kiddos mixed in between Dylan coaching games, but his tournament just got canceled. So now we get to spend the whole weekend playing!

I love these pictures I got of the girls last time I was there. Get ready for lots more after the weekend!

Five Guys and pretty skies

Sometimes I forget that not everyone lives in their capital city. While we might not be the most exciting city in the Southeast, I do really love having the state capital five minutes from my house. After eating my weight in french fries last night with Katherine and Dylan, we walked up the street and wandered around the statehouse grounds for a little while.

The sky was beautiful just after the sun set! I wish I'd had my "real" camera- the point-and-shoot didn't handle the low light so great, or capture the pink and blue sky as vivid as it was. But I am posting a picture nonetheless, and you can just imagine how much better it REALLY was.

When she says "hate," she really means "love"

I was greeted this morning by the words, "When I woke up, I hated you a lot in my heart." 

She then continued, "After a few minutes of getting dressed and brushing my teeth, it subsided a little. But I just thought you should know." 

Well, good morning to you, too, Katherine. We met at the river for a four-miler at 8am (really, not that early when it comes to running.) Anyone that knows me knows I am not a morning person, but I didn't hit her or anything. I just smiled and told her how happy she was going to be for the rest of the day after she ran this with me. 

I was worried earlier in the week that Hurricane Hanna might affect our Saturday run, but the sun was out and the birds were chirping. 

We've finished Week 2 of our 1/2 marathon training plan, and I have to say I am impressed. MaryO is a better runner than I ever realized, and Katherine has been more committed than I ever expected! All in all we are having a lot of fun and I am way excited for the mini "racing season" we have lined up with all the girls in the group.

Now, after a full day of cleaning the house, it is time for a nice Saturday football-nap before dinner at Five Guys! And can I just say that I love the "runners can eat anything" rule. Ok maybe that is not technically a rule, but it really should be. 

Labor Day Resolutions

1. I will blog better.

2. I will stop promising to blog better.

Hey looky! I have pictures. And two posts in one night, no less!

I like long weekends. Dylan didn't have any soccer, so we decided to pack in as much fun as possible. We spent the two days with my brother in Greenville, stopping in Clemson on the way to grab my sister.

We had a great time cracking each other up (as usual). Dylan and I were stuck watching the Clemson game with an entire house of Clemson fans, but the outcome wasn't too bad.  : )

Today we celebrated Labor Day with a cookout at the lake. Ryan's brother and sister-in-law and nephews were there, which means I had an adorable baby to photograph! Here is six-month-old Noah:

Noah and mom

Noah and dad

Kisses from Uncle Ryan

And here is one of Trey. He spent most of his time in the water (obviously), so I didn't get as many of him as I'd hoped.

Can I just say once again how much I LOVE taking pictures of kids. And I mean really, they don't get much cuter than these two.

Ok, off to bed. Sadly, we all have to go back to work tomorrow.

We are pretty fun

Three weeks ago we spent a fun-filled afternoon celebrating Lake Day '08. What? You haven't heard of Lake Day '08? Oh. Maybe it's only MY friends that do that- take your average afternoon and turn it into a small holiday, complete with an official name and year designation and often t-shirts.

With our good friend Courtney in town and two birthdays to celebrate, we went to Mary's almost-completed lake house for an afternoon of rice krispie treats, tubing, chex mix, skiing, sunshine, burgers, thunderstorms, and more rice krispie treats.

My favorite girls- seven of the nine:

Our excellent boat driver

Dylan and Ryan goofing off on the tube

Ryan, mid-barrel roll. (Just as soon as they add tubing to the X-Games...)

Dylan decided he'd had enough of tubing and bailed on Wes

Aren't Kira and Luke and their nephews so cute??

So there you have it. Love my friends- we always have a great time.