How young are you? Mud before your Birthday!

So I turned 30 today.  I know, I know... how does it feel to be 30?  Well, just like it did to be 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, and so on down the line since being home from my mission.  Actually, I was thinking about the big milestones in my life.  At 16 I got a driver's license.  At 18 I graduated from high school and went off to college across the country.  At 19 I went on a mission for 2 years.  At 21 I came home from that mission, and was legally allowed to drink (although that didn't happen).  At 24 I was kicked off of my parents insurance and I had to find my own.  At 26 I got my first real, post-college, job... which I am still working at.  At 28 I got married.  And now I am 30 and... yep.

Regardless, I got the best birthday cake Adri has ever made, and the only one I will probably eat entirely on my own.  She learned after having to eat most of the cake on her own that I don't eat much more than maybe (and I really mean maybe) one piece of cake... even if it is my own.  So, she got creative this year and made this...

Yep, she bought 32 cans of Mt. Dew and stacked them, put ribbon on them, made a little card, and even put a big 3-0 on a cupcake on top (she needed some part of it that she would actually eat).  Needless to say, I will be the only one in this household eating (well, drinking) this cake.

Other than that we went to the beach today, got a burger from In-N-Out and didn't really go all out.  We figured we are going on vacation next week, so no need to go all out this week.

Now, a bit more exciting than my birthday...

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to participate in the Mud Run here at the Marine base down south, Camp Pendleton.  It was so fun.  It was basically 6 miles of trail running with some mud pits (big ones) scattered about in the last 2 miles.  I learned that I can't run at Adri's pace.  Not because it is so slow, but because she has perfected her stride for her, and it really shortens mine and that hurt my knees.  So, I would walk a bit and let her get ahead (still within view) and then I would run my stride to catch up, run at her's for a bit and then repeat.  But, that girl has some endurance.  So many people took off ahead of us, and just staying consistent at her pace she passed quite a few of them throughout the race and never looked back.  We had a great time overall, and here is the proof.  By the way, we finished it in just over an hour.

Here we are running along... notice how bright the shirts are.  Yes, I desaturated the rest of the picture to make them stand out more, but they really are that bright.  Or, were that bright.

Then, here we are entering the final mud pit.  Notice that up to this point only our bottom halves a really even muddy.  Most of the other pits were stand up pits you just trudged through.  This one that had ropes you HAD to go under.

Here we both are, crawling through the mud.  While you crawled the Marine's would splash you with mud if you weren't dirty enough.

And here we are crawling out of the mud just covered and headed to the finish line.  You should have seen the piles of clothes and shoes that people threw away after this thing.  I think that a charity should have stopped by and picked them up.  There were some shoes that were still in good condition that I am sure could have been cleaned up and given away to someone in need.

Suffice it to say, we will for sure be doing this again next year.  The question is, are there any takers out there to join?