JANUARY
I penned my "New Year's Resolutions Goals" for 2015 in January and am happy to report that I did pretty well with them. In my "Goodbye, 2014" post, I included the following:
Goals for 2015
1-Run a sub 21:00 5k
2-Run a sub 1:40 half marathon
3-place in my age group at Tri-Shark (local sprint triathlon in June)
4-Complete a sub 6 hour 70.3
5-Run my 11th marathon sometime next fall in any amount of time
6-Get married
7-log all of my training miles so I can report back on yearly totals at this time next year :-)
*if goals 1-5 interfere with goal 6, they shall be discarded ;-)*
Results:
1- CHECK
2- CHECK
3- CHECK
4- Nope :) (I didn't do any 70.3-distance events this year)
5-CHECK
6-CHECK!!!!!
7-CHECK (I think)
86% is a B, right?! I think that's pretty good :).
January included my first PR of the year...at the 5k distance set at the Frosty 5k in Peoria with a time of 21:09. Not quite able to check #1 off of my list of goals yet, but darn close. This race was a great confidence-booster and a good way to start off 2015. I had fun with soon-to-be-teammates (and already-friends) Andy and Paul at this race and at this point was pretty certain a sub-21:00 5k was well-within my reach this year.
FEBRUARY
February didn't see much action, race-wise. I concentrated on building my base, sights set on my big spring goal: a sub 1:40 half marathon at the U of I in April. I think it was sometime during February that I mustered up the courage to have a chat with Mitch about being on the Often Running Racing Team.
MARCH
March was my first official month on the Often Running Racing Team! My first race in the team uniform was the St. Patrick's Day 5k in Bloomington. Let me tell you...I was a nervous WRECK leading up to this race. Visions of tripping in my new race kit danced in my head. In spite of my nerves, I pulled off a 21:31...not a PR but a respectable time and good enough for second in my age group and earning me a pair of socks (that Clint ended up wearing since they were too big for me ;)).
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| 2nd in AG in my first race as an ORRT member! |
Fun fact: in one of the pictures on my blog post (link in the paragraph above) you can see our now-friend AP running past me on our final push toward the finish line. We didn't know each other yet...but would meet shortly after this race when he starting coming out to our Often Running Thursday Night Running Groups!
After Metcalf's spring break, I started my first season as a track coach! Apparently many (??) years ago, Metcalf had a track team but this had fallen to the wayside in more recent years. A group of parents and administration wanted to get a team up and running (ha!) again and so we've been chatting about the possibility of a team for the past couple of years. In March...we held the very first practice with our new Metcalf Wildcats Track Team! I fumbled my way through guiding a great group of kids...and was so thankful to have support from assistant coaches Molly, Kris, Maddy and Tara as well as from our Athletic Director Mr. Paxson!
March also featured the Starved Rock Marathon Relay. I ran with a group of Metcalf friends...as well as a loop of the relay with teammate Joe.
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| My "relay" team: Ginnell, Marilyn, Laurel and myself! We opted to run one loop all together so we could chat as opposed to running the loops one at a time as a true relay :). We had a great time! |
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| Teammates Carol, Gary, Mike, Paul, Clint and myself before the start of this cold-but-fun adventure. |
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| I was very excited for my first month on the team with these fast guys! |
APRIL
April brought my first BIG PRs of the year. First, I broke 21:00 in the 5k distance at the Easter Seals Run, Walk and Roll event in Peoria (and I got to hang out with random-stranger-turned-pal Jennifer Blackorby :)). I clocked in at 20:54, a PR of 15 seconds below my previous PR set in January! I refer to this as an "accidental PR" because I truly didn't mean to run as hard as I did...I just felt great so I went for it! Clint had advised me (like a good coach!) to be reasonable with my pace since what I was REALLY gunning for was a sub-1:40 (and a PR) at the U of I half marathon the following weekend.
Thankfully, my efforts in the 5k didn't ruin my half marathon that next weekend. I pulled off a 1:35:43 at the U of I Half Marathon event. To date, this continues to be one of my favorite running memories. I ran this race entirely with Clint. Crossing the finish line with him was pretty great...and the emotion of the moment may have brought a few tears to my eyes that I artfully hid at the time :).
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| Paul, Steve, Andy, Clint and me before the big race at the U of I. |
I had the privilege of attending my first bridal shower at my aunt's home in April! Thanks to my aunt Linda, my sister and mother and to everyone else who helped put on a fun afternoon get-together :-). It was a very special day.
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| Me with my sister (and baby Charlee...just over a month before she made her big debut!) and Jennifer and Macy Jo at my shower. |
In April, Clint and I also celebrated the first anniversary of our first "not-a-date." Seeing as we are now anticipating the due date of our son this coming April of 2016...April is a big month for the Wells family! :)
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| Up to something?! |
MAY
In May, I had the privilege (and utter surprise, frankly!) of being the first female finisher in the Lake Run 12k! I was even interviewed for the Pantagraph (our local newspaper), ooh boy...new territory for me! ;)
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| Molly (sporting one of our new Metcalf Track shirts! WOOT!), myself and Clint prior to the start of the Lake Run! |
The evening after spending the day at a big track meet (Sectionals if I recall correctly!), we also had our engagement party in Peoria with a bunch of great friends. Big thanks to Jillian for heading this up and to everyone else who helped out and attended. It was a great night!
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| Sometimes we get dressed up! Our engagement party was SO much fun! |
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| Me with 4/6 of my lovely bridesmaids (and 2 little babies in utero! :)) |
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| Clint with 4/5 groomsmen...such gentlemen ;) |
Later on in May, Clint and I traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee and did our first triathlon relay together...the Olympic distance at Challenge Knoxville. I swam+biked and Clint ran. We had an absolute blast (...though if it weren't for me, we would've had a top 3 finish :). Clint had an amazing run!) competing and spending time with friends and my Challenge Triathlon Team teammates there. Seeing as we had two families close to us expecting babies around this time...I was kind of nervous to travel so far away but it ended up working out perfectly.
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| This is one of my favorite pictures of us...teammates in every sense of the word! |
At the end of May we welcomed good friends Jillan and Lynden's new daughter Nadya and just six days after that we welcomed our new niece, Charlee Mae! We also had a fun time getting engagement photos taken on a COLD spring day out at Lake Bloomington and in Uptown Normal.
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| Visiting Jillian and Brand-new Nadya Quinn (NadyQ!) in the hospital. Little did we know we were practicing for what will be OUR turn at this very hospital just ~11 months from the time this picture was taken! |
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| Sweet Charlee Mae with Uncle Clint and Aunt Rachel at just one day old! |
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| Big thanks to Christopher Cole Photography for our fun {and beautiful!} engagement shoot! |
In professional news, May marked one year since I had begun working on my doctorate degree in special education here at ISU. One down, many more to go :).
JUNE
June 5 welcomed back one of my favorite parts of summer, the Lake Run Club Kids Run for Fun events! I started helping with these events each Friday night during the summer of 2014 and was excited to come back and help out in 2015 (even though I had to miss the last night - Trophy Night! - due to being on our honeymoon later on in August :)).
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| Me with a bunch of |
June 6 I completed the Tri-Shark sprint-distance tri. While 2012, 2013, and 2014 were triathlon-rich seasons for me, this was the only triathlon I completed (other than the relay in May with Clint) in 2015. Unfortunately, I never got around to writing up a race report for this event...but I had a really great day! I got second in my age group and had so much fun being out there with other area athletes. This race is truly one of my favorites. My splits were as follows:
Swim - 11:03:09 (1:51/100m)
T1- 1:19.1
Bike- 41:35.9 (18.8mph)
T2- 1:08.7
Run- 22:40.5 (7:19/mi pace)
Total- 1:17:48.1
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| Thanks to Kelly for the fun pic of me getting my wetsuit "stripped" in preparation for the bike! |
My swim was faster than I expected seeing as I tend to be at or slightly above 2:00/100m by default. I think the only swimming I did prior to this race was the Oly-distance swim at Knoxville. Ha! My bike was actually a bit disappointing because I had been consistently riding at faster than 19mph for that distance. Turns out one of my brakes was rubbing...which I discovered AFTER the race. My run was great...I felt strong and confident and moved up quite a bit in my final placing thanks to the run. I was happy with the 1:17:48 finishing time, which was a PR of around 3 minutes I believe. I also snagged 2nd place in my age group and it was fun to sport my Challenge Triathlon Team jacket up on the podium!
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| Podium, baby! :) Maybe someday I will get 1st in my AG at a tri?! :) Goals! |
June brought my return to the Steamboat Classic (I had run it twice previously but it had been a few years. Last year I attended just to spectate Clint). I had the surprise of receiving an award for being in the top 25 of my gender with 19th place...pretty cool! This is a big race with a fast field so this was a really big honor for me.
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| Often Running Racing Team at the Steamboat Classic |
I also started volunteering with Heat Wave, a women's running group that met on Monday nights. This meant a tough choice for me: I had to decide between attending my usual Monday night yoga classes or Heat Wave. I decided to take a break from my regular yoga classes (which was sad!) for June-August and helped lead a group of Heat Wave ladies and I am so glad that I did. I met some great women and I had a lot of fun. Rachelle Leuty, you lead a really great group and I hope to be a part of it again next summer in some capacity! :)
At the end of June, I hosted a 35th anniversary/60th birthday party for my parents with my siblings! We were excited to have so many family members turn out for a great celebration of my parents. It was a beautiful summer day spent at a park where we went frequently when I was younger. Sadly Clint couldn't join us because he had to work part of the weekend, but he had his own fun...an epic (mostly) solo 70.3 training day!
At the end of June, I hosted a 35th anniversary/60th birthday party for my parents with my siblings! We were excited to have so many family members turn out for a great celebration of my parents. It was a beautiful summer day spent at a park where we went frequently when I was younger. Sadly Clint couldn't join us because he had to work part of the weekend, but he had his own fun...an epic (mostly) solo 70.3 training day!
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| Matyasse Family :) |
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| Party Fun! |
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| Clint sent this pic after he wrapped up his 1.2-mile swim and 56-mile bike...time for that half marathon, baby! |
JULY
July brought some of our favorite running memories of 2015: Park2Park 5-Miler, the Matyasse-Wells Triple Crown (yes...three races in one day and featuring a visit with our pal Aaron Van Lauwe!), and the Bix7 (one of my top two events of each year...this year's Bix was my favorite yet as many of our ORRT teammates and OR Thursday Night Running Group friends joined us!). It also brought my bachelorette party adventures (featuring painting at Merlot and a Masterpiece and dinner at Reality Bites with my bridesmaids Megan, Jillian, Jill, Brooke, and Jen ...minus one...my SIL Laura who lives in San Diego). Wedding planning started taking over our lives a bit as we realized it was truly crunch time!
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| So glad to spend a fun day with some of my favorite ladies this summer! :) |
The last day of July was our wedding rehearsal/whirlwind set-up day...
AUGUST
July was great, but August was even better. August 1 brought our wedding day and with it, the Wells Wedding Run 13.1 and 5k. This run is truly one of my favorite memories of the year (and my life, really!) and we are both SO grateful to everyone who ran (and biked!) with us as well as to everyone behind the scenes who helped out so that the run could be a success. My amazing mother drove our sag support vehicle, featuring water and a variety of snacks. My great friends Jillian, Adelle and Jen managed to pull off making our reception venue even more beautiful than I thought possible while we were out running.
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| I get to marry Clint Wells today?! Cool! |
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| Yup...one of my fav pictures of some of our fav people for sure...love my lil sis ;) |
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| Joy! |
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| First "dance"...neither of us are really dancers ;)...do not be deceived here...this was not some sort of romantic moment with us staring and smiling into each others' eyes. Rather, we were laughing at (with!) each other in our "mutual weirdness" :). |
We ventured out on our honeymoon on Sunday, August 2 and spent the next 9 days out west in beautiful Utah and Colorado. In true Wells-style, we covered 100+ miles on foot with our daily runs/walks/hikes during our time there. Clint came back weighing less...while I came back the exact same as before leaving. Turns out it was probably partially due to the fact that Baby Wells was already in the works! We found out we were expecting for certain on Tuesday, August 18 but kept it *mostly* a secret until October.
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| Yoga in the mountains? Yes, please! |
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| Such beauty! We can't wait to return to the mountains. |
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| This is the very first in the series of photos Daddy Clint is working on...me on Day 1 (well not really Day 1...but rather on Tuesday, August 18--the first day that we knew for certain we were expecting our little one!) |
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| Morning honeymoon coffee in CO! |
I ran my first "pregnant race" in August...Painful Elimination (I didn't write a race report for this one, but you can click on the link if you'd like for more info on this crazy race!). In short, the race consists of a 4.25-mile trail loop that runners run up to 12 times. It starts at 6am with everyone running their first loop. The second loop starts at 7am, third at 8am and so on. You run until you can't any more (or until you take longer than the allotted hour to complete a loop). I ended up running 5 loops of this race for a total 21.25 miles before calling it for myself...quite a day!
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| One of the first laps of Painful Elimination...running with AP! |
Oh.....we also gained a new family member in August:
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| Olivia is just about as thrilled as she looks here ;). Welcome to the jungle, Richard Parker! |
SEPTEMBER
September ushered in Marathon Season! I proceeded into September with a bit of trepidation. Being newly pregnant, I didn't want to be foolish and push things too hard. However, I also knew that I had worked very hard and was in the shape I needed to be in to run a sub-3:35 (my current BQ standard!) marathon. Since everything was proceeding with the pregnancy the way it should've been and the doctor said that running was fine...we went ahead and drove up to Batavia for me to have what ended up being the best race of my life. I am so grateful for Clint's coaching, advice and guidance through my training and on race day! The Last Chance Boston Qualifier (BQ2) was an amazing experience and I was thrilled to walk away with a 3:33:16.
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| I will never forget this moment. Thanks, Clint, for making it possible... and for making me believe it was possible! |
The day after my big race, I spectated Clint in his fall ultramarathon (as well as our friends AP and Tanya). I had almost as much fun that day as I did running my own race the day prior!
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| My inspiration! |
I volunteered at the finish like of a 5k event supporting our local McLean County Autism Society in late September and had fun seeing a number of families and kiddos that I know.
OCTOBER
October featured Run the Woods, where Clint and I snagged "First Family" honors (thanks, Kevin, for coining the term ;)). He was the first overall finisher in the 8k trail run and I was the first overall female finisher in the 8k. As friend and fellow committee member John Pratt called me up to give me my award, I was pretty sure he was going to give away our baby news (still a secret at that point, but he was one that did know) as he said into the microphone, "Rachel, is there anything else you want us to know?" Ha, no thanks John ;). Run the Woods is one of my favorite events of the year, and not JUST because I have served on the race committee for the past ~5 years...big thanks to all of my ORRT and OR Thursday night running people who came out!
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| Yup, there's a baby in there too! |
October also brought the Chicago Marathon...and our public pregnancy announcement. This was my second time running a marathon as part of Team Believe, a team of marathon runners who runs to raise funds and awareness for Easter Seals of Central IL. It was a MUCH SLOWER (intentionally) marathon than the BQ2 the previous month but was still a great experience.
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| DONE! |
Clint's birthday weekend featured the ISU Town and Gown 5k (my first time running this...he spectated :)) on Saturday the 24th and the Allerton Park 5.7-mile trail race on Sunday the 25th (Clint's 31st birthday! :)). We celebrated our birthdays together by having Sunday and Monday off of work together which was really nice. We visited Rader Family Farms near our home and picked out pumpkins...that ended up rotting on our apartment floor before we thought about carving them (our fault, not the pumpkins' ;)). Oh well.
NOVEMBER
November started out in a big way with Canal Connection on the 1st. I had gotten first in my age group at this race in 2014 but wasn't expecting big things this year since I was just starting the second trimester of pregnancy at this point. I managed to get 1st for the second consecutive year (out of 43 in my age group!). Big thanks to one really speedy lady in my age group who got an overall award and was therefore taken out of the age group ;) (if she were included I would've gotten 2nd out of 44...still awesome!).
We had a great time with a big group of running friends at Rachelle and Ryan Leuty's home...THANKS for being amazing hosts, guys! I ate too much and stayed up too late...that's how you know it was good ;). I also think we all actually kept our phones (mostly! ;)) put away all night and as a result have no pictures of this event. Wild!
I added a (new-to-me) race that had been on my radar but I had never really thought seriously about it before...Furrow Euro. Well, wasn't that just a great idea?! This race featured our first snow of the season...and what a snow it was! 3.1 miles of cold and wind and snow at 17 weeks pregnant. What the heck was I thinking?! It actually was a lot of fun...and I was surprised to grab 3rd in my age group (out of 7) in spite of taking it REALLY cautiously.
Thanksgiving brought my second running of the Oglesby Turkey Trot. I need to remember to read this report again prior to the race next year so I remember how dang hilly it is! Holy crap, somehow I had *forgotten* about that this year...until I started in on the second mile. EGADS!
DECEMBER
We had a great time in early December at our Often Running Racing Team holiday dinner at Destihl. It was awesome to have our ENTIRE team all in one place at the same time! We are sad, of course, to say "good-bye" to Nigel but we know it's only good-bye as a teammate and we will surely see him around at races and the like!
December 11th marked the halfway point in our pregnancy...crazy how fast it seemed to get to that point! I also made a night-before-decision to run Da Deer Run Run 8k XC race at COMLARA on December 12. This was my first experience with this race...and it was tough! I think it would've been tough had I not been pregnant :).
December 25th is a great day for our family for a number of reasons. First, the obvious - it's Christmas! Second, it is the first anniversary of our engagement! Third...we will be 22 weeks into this pregnancy! I'm really looking forward to celebrating the holidays this season with my family and friends. Last year's Christmas/New Years celebrations were bittersweet as we, as a family, mourned the loss of 3 of my 4 grandparents who each passed away in 2014 (two of whom died over the holidays). It will be impossible to celebrate without remembering the struggles of last year, while also remembering to celebrate and acknowledge the privilege of having those wonderful people in our lives for so long. This has been a good reminder to me to never take for granted the time that I have with my dear family and friends.
2015 SUMMARY
I PRed in almost every distance I ran this year (all attempted distances other than 10k I believe).
PRs
5k (20:54)
4 mi (28:52)
7 mi (52:01)
15k (1:08:53)
13.1 mi (1:35:43)
26.2 mi (3:33:16)
Sprint tri (1:17:48)
Age Group Finishes (mostly 30-34 age group; some 30-39 age group)
Top Female Finisher (3) - Easter Seals Run Walk and Roll 5k, Lake Run Club 12k, and Run the Woods 8k*
1st in Age (5) - Frosty 5k, Fisher Fair 5k, Dog Days 5k, Canal Connection 10k*, Da Deer Run Run*
2nd in Age (3) - St. Patrick's Day 5k, Town and Gown 5k*, Oglesby Turkey Trot (3 mi)*
3rd in Age (2) - Park2Park 5 miler, Furrow Euro XC (3.1mi)*
* = run while pregnant
Looking ahead...
This brings me to my 2016 Goals!
1. Finish the all-important race to the finish line of this healthy pregnancy and delivery a healthy baby boy around April 29! This is the ultimate priority and takes precedence over all else for 2016 (well, other than maintaining my happy marriage that is :))
2. After running the best I have in my life and managing 13 overall or age-group finishes in 2015, I would be lying if I said I didn't really care about racing well in 2016. I know "well" is going to have to have a different meaning for me this year, though. I have NO idea what the final half of pregnancy will be like...much less the labor, delivery, and recovery situation. Plus, after all of that, we will have a little one vying for our time and attention! All of that said, I would like to try to get 2 top 3 age group finishes in races {of any distance} in the second half of 2016. We'll see!
3. Complete a marathon in August, September, October or November. I was in the best shape of my life, marathon-training-wise, in September in spite of being 7 weeks pregnant. With Clint's guidance I had trained wisely and worked really hard toward my initial goal of a sub 1:40 half marathon in the winter/spring and then through the late spring/summer toward the goal of PRing my marathon and running a Boston Qualifying time. I want to try to get this fitness back. I know it will be VERY different post-baby, but I've seen women do it...and some come back after childbirth even faster than they were previously. I'm putting this goal in writing because I want it to happen. I am not saying I will run a BQ next year, rather that I WILL "get back on the {marathon} horse!"
4. Run (at minimum) the following races (in addition to a marathon): St Patrick's Day 5k (March...yup...I will be LARGELY pregnant! :)), Dog Days (July), Bix7 (July), Run the Woods (October), Allerton Park 5.7mile Trail Race (October), and Canal Connection (November)....and volunteer (with baby in tow? :)) at at least some Kids Run For Fun events this summer.
5. Run confidently with a jogging stroller! Oh boy. I may need some tutorials! :)
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2015 has been a big year full of exciting life changes for me (and the hubby!)...as well as much stronger running than ever before in my life. Even though it's often the BIG things that we talk about the most with others, write about, share on social media, etc....it's the little every-day things that I am the most grateful for. Waking up each morning with my very best friend, sharing quite moments together in our tiny cave of an apartment (moving next year will be bittersweet for certain!), spending time with our dear sweet nieces, (almost) daily chats and text messages with close friends, runs (and some rides!) solo or with friends on our beloved Constitution Trail, enjoying coffee dates with Clint at Coffee Hound or 3030, Jillian at CH, or Megan at Dunn Brothers, hitting "submit" on a big paper for a doc class, hikes with Clint (at our local parks as well in the mountains!), and of course seeing my Metcalf and Easter Seals kiddos meeting goals and milestones ... these things (and more!) are some of my favorites from this year. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that spring 2015 also brought the safe return to the States of my brother, Dan, who was in the Middle East with the Marine Corps...and therefore bringing a very joyful ending a very tense period of time in our family.
I'm looking forward to 2016...with all of the joy, challenges, friendship, love, baby snuggles, sleep deprivation, and peace that is/are sure to come.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, All!
~Rachel
Everyday moments of 2015....
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