5th National Title

Congratulations to Tom! This past weekend at the US Championships Tom battled his way past a couple injuries to win his 5th national title. Indianapolis had some crazy weather. We were at the meet on Thursday for a couple hours and it was hot with a light breeze, but on Friday and Saturday it was mostly overcast with light showers. It was actually great weather for spectators, especially since we had rain ponchos, but for the athletes, it created a whole different set of problems. Luckily, Tom stayed with the plan he and his coach talked about and made it through the meet, and on top for bonus! Kinley and I are so proud of him. He is so mentally tough. Whatever is thrown at him, he works through it, and has great results.

From here, he is getting some treatment on a couple things and starting back into training for the World Championships in Osaka, Japan. Tom will leave the States on August 14th and compete August 31st and September 1st. Best of luck for him and we'll keep you updated on everything else.

Big Weekend

Well, after all this waiting and training...the US Championships are here! We leave for Indianapolis on Tuesday. Tom competes Friday and Saturday. We just ask that you think of Tom and pray for his health and his ability. I know if he goes through each event confidently and healthy he will do great! I'll try to keep everyone updated, but we'll see what happens. There will be some TV coverage, but we all know that means one clip of the winner. There should be live results on www.trackwire.com or www.usatf.org if you want to follow along. Thanks for all of the support so far and the prayers to come.

Oh, I almost forgot Kinley has been cracking us up lately. She is just so funny. She'll dance to commercials on TV (only the ones with great music), she grabs whatever is near when we leave the apartment, and a lot of the time I have to tell her to leave it (like her booster chair she eats in), and she is such a little mimic right now! We have both been loving this stage right now. She tries to talk more and more everyday and is working on growing more hair. Of course we still think she is the greatest!

Like Father, Like Daughter

For the past few weeks Tom has been battling plantar fasciitis (no idea if I spelled this right - most likely not). This is inflammation to the sheath on the bottom of the foot. It is very painful and very hard to get rid of. Tom has been applying medicine to the bottom of his foot and using an ice cup on it. He gets out a towel, gets the medicine and ice cup, and sits on the couch for treatment. A little bit ago, we looked up and this is what we saw...

Kinley had pulled this blue hand towel off the couch by Tom, got his ice cup from the end table, and sat down to ice her foot. I don't really know if its been bothering her (her training has been pretty tough lately) or she just thinks this is a fun thing to do. Either way, Tom and I cracked up! I actually had tears in my eyes from laughing. Its true - kids are great entertainment!

Janvrin House of Fun

This weekend we got to spend a few days at the Janvrin house. It is such a beautiful place to be! Kinley had such a great time (Tom and I did, too). She got to play outside a lot. They have a sand box, swings, a pond, a baseball field, a kitty cat, a little slide, and lots of toys. It's always fun to play with someone else's toys especially in a new place. I guess the funniest thing this weekend was watching Kinley swing by herself.

She wouldn't hold herself upright sitting on the swing, so we laid her across the swing. Strangely, this worked for her. She just hung there while we pushed her back and forth. When she was done, she stood up and walked away. But, like most little girls, she really liked riding with her daddy.

They have one of those Little Tykes small slides. The first day there we tried to show her how to use it, but she kept stepping through the ladder and sitting on the bottom. By the time we left, she was trying to stand up on top and run down the slide. Like all kids...she also tried to run UP the slide.

This is my favorite picture right now.

Besides all this fun, we got to see Jaxon and Mason play baseball, and Tom and Kip spent many an hour on the track and golf course. It was so much fun to get away and do something different.