We're having a baby!

Brian and I were so exited to find out we were expecting. It turned out to be a very lovely birthday present :-)

A little note from the daddy

Christmas Letter 2010

For pictures of Trash the Dress click here

Pictures of our race click here

Writing Christmas letters is hard. This is only the second one that I've composed and it's like being in high school all over again. Either you build up every high point of the year and seem like an insufferable bragger, or you do a monotone update of every detail and bore people. So much pressure...

On February 21 we celebrated our one-year anniversary. Our first year was amazing. The Vector trip in early March was to Costa Rica so we were excited to spend it at a beautiful resort. We had considered doing a “Trash the Dress” photo shoot since before we were married. Miriam sent tons of e-mails and eventually found an amazing photographer in our budget. The results were unbelievable photos that we will cherish forever.

Now for reality: Miriam got food poisoning on the flight to Costa Rica so she spent the first 4^1/2 days sick in bed. Don't worry, I was fine. My days were spent leisurely strolling around the resort, occasionally stopping by the gift shop to get her more Gatorade. Her days were considerably less fun. When it came time for the shoot, our photographer drove four hours to pick us up at the hotel. He barely spoke English but his assistant helped bridge the communication gap. Since we were driving to various locales to shoot, Miriam had to be in her dress the whole time. Seeing her climb into the back of a poorly maintained compact car in her beautiful dress was a sight. It was like a David's Bridal vomited in the back of a Geo Metro. We stopped at Subway for lunch which caused much excited conversation among the patrons.

We drove for more than two hours to the site, lightly reassuring ourselves that we were not, in fact, being abducted. As it turned out, our photographers did not kidnap us and instead we spent six hours shooting carefully choreographed shots, and we are so grateful to them. Rest assured, the dress was successfully cleaned and is now sitting in a closet. Not sure what to do with it, but it's comforting to know that it's there in case of an emergency.

This experience highlighted why my wife is amazing but insane. Amazing because she thought this out, set it up, and was willing to ride a bicycle and even crawl through barbed wire in her wedding dress. Insane because of this quote: “You know, thanks to the food poisoning my dress fits even better than on our wedding day!”

As always, our families are a huge part of our life. August we cruised Alaska with her parents, my mom, and my brother Chris. The trip was incredible, and such a blessing to spend that time with family. Larry and Paula were married in Alaska 35 years ago, so many memories were shared, and even more created. The Carter side is doing great, and I finally experienced a Smith Family Thanksgiving. I think there's 39 people in the photo. We also welcomed a new niece on her side and cousin on mine. Both beautiful baby girls.

We finished the year by participating in the White Rock Marathon. Miriam and I ran the half marathon, my brother Chris ran the full. You'll see a picture of us after a triumphant 13.1 miles.

Now for reality: Miriam trained hard and committed to the Half months ago. Because of ego and stupidity, I said, “Sure, how hard can it be?” For the record, that was a stupid question and I am a stupid man. The training schedule (what I did of it) was brutal and race day kicked off at 40^o. I don't know what sadist thought December was a good time to plan a marathon, but I hope they suffer from shinsplints for the rest of their life. The race was hard, but fun, till mile eight when my right knee decided it was done with this nonsense. I hobbled my way through the last 5 miles, Miriam patiently slowing down to finish with me. But finish we did, and I have a medal to prove it.

This shows why I'm also amazing but insane. Amazing because I'm open to doing challenging things I've never done before and seeing them through to the end. Insane because I have no sense of the preparation needed to do these challenging things my wife thinks of.

For more photos of our year, go to www.WorldofCarter.com. We hope 2010 has been an adventure for you, too. God Bless you and your families as you celebrate the season. I look forward to hearing your great stories from the year past.

Merry Christmas!

Brian and Miriam Carter

Running a half

They have my money, there is no turning back. Dallas White Rock Half Marathon…I’ll be there! I love how goals take you places. When I started my ‘summer goal list’ goal number two was:

2. Run twice a week. The distance isn’t as important as simply getting on the treadmill twice a week and running. I want to be a better runner and I’m not getting better by not running so I will run twice a week this summer.

I ended up completing a 90-day workout program called Body for Life which had me running 3 times a week. After this I kept up my running and I started thinking about doing a 10K and eventually a half marathon. I was right on schedule to begin training for a half in December so I googled some ‘first time half marathon runners’ schedules and whoola, here I am training for a half. It’s been the most interesting experience to see how I CAN push myself to run farther than I’ve ever run before in my life. Every two weeks my ‘long weekend runs’ move up a mile. My body is constantly being challenged to do more. Sometimes my body hits a wall and I come home, fall on the bed and take an hour power nap, other nights I clean the apartment, run my short run and cook dinner. I wish I could be super-girl and never have to re-charge, keep my same schedule but that’s not how it works. Learning that my body needs rest, stretching and proper eating habits is a learning adventure and I look forward to learning more. I wouldn’t be where I am without the encouragement from my husband, who keeps encouraging me. Thank you Brian!

Ironing, Ironing, Ironing

My goal of ironing each week proved to be a challenge for me. I would let it pile up just a bit and these past few weeks it REALLY piled up, I mean, I had 21 shirts/pants/blouses to iron! That’s the biggest it’s gotten! But, I stuck to it and finished up the ironing in two nights. Whew. Don’t want to let that happen again!

Cowgirl boots: CHECK!

I got my cowgirl boots! Enjoyed checking this one off my list for sure! My brother-in-law, Chris, also needed some boots so away we went on a hot Saturday afternoon. We shopped at three stores, Sheplers, Cavender's and Pink's Western Warehouse. Cavnder's had the best price, people and variety of boots. Here's what we came out with:

The Dyson BHAG!

This weekend was the perfect weekend to check off my "read the manual for our Dyson." Now I've had several of you ask "So do you not know how to use your vacuum cleaner?" Of course I know, I just figuered there were several things this awesome Dyson could do and I want to be taking full advantage! So I sat down ready to read the manual.


I was surprised when I didn't see any text instructions, rather pictures! Yes, pictures of how to do everything! I laughted out loud.

I was happy to learn how to remove the spinny wheel thing to clean it off. Whoola!

Next I learned that I'm supposed to be cleaning the filters EVERY MONTH...oops.

So I promptly cleaned all the filters and attachments that could be cleaned:

Good as new Dyson, how I love it!

7 Pull Ups! BHAG # 6 Checked Off!

That's right, I've completed BHAG #6! This week I completed 7 pull-ups! It was harder to get to than 4 but I'm so glad I did it, don't think I've ever done 7 pull-ups at once!