Shamrock Half Marathon!

Jarod and I completed our 2nd half marathon. Jarod did awesome..he did it in 2 hours and 8 mins. I completed it in 2 hours and 12 minutes. Both were personal bests for each of us. Here is a link to my pics.
http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=47903&BIB=8856&S=230&PWD=

Here is a link to jarod's pics.
http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=47903&BIB=8851&S=230&PWD=

Enjoy!

What a great hubby!

Jarod surprised me on valentines and got me flowers and a gift card! I have the best husband in the world! :)

I passed!!!

I just heard late last night that I passed the big exam I took in December. Once I get all of my paperwork in I will be a Certified Information Systems Auditor.. Woohoo!

Thanks to everyone for your prayers! I definitely felt them up to and during the test. :)

Christmas 2008

As promised, here are pics from Christmas. This is going to be a huge post since I have so many great pictures! The Blaney family tradition is to spend Christmas eve at Jarod's grandparents house and then Christmas day with our family. This was Anna's first Christmas and it was so fun to have her there.

Here are some pictures at Christmas Eve with Jarod's grandparents.

This is a picture of me with my sister-n-law and Jarod's 2 cousins. It's a family tradition for the girls to get a picture on the couch. This picture was taken in Jarod's grandparent's basement where the money games are played. This year Jarod's won the money jar - that's where you have to guess the amount of coins in a jar.

Here's a picture of my mother-n-law Cheryl with Baby Anna. Isn't it cute?? :) Anna's little outfit was so adorable!

Here's a picture of the Blaney family including Daryl's mom Elaine.

Here is one of the money games in full swing! We get really competitive but I never win! haha!

Ok, on to pictures from Christmas with the Blaneys. As I mentioned this was Anna's first Christmas. And, Uncle Jarod tried to make her a present. :)

And then we decided to do some portraits.. Christmas is so much fun!

Last but not least - we added another family member this year - Jazzy! Cheryl got a new puppy and she is adorable! Here are some pictures of us enjoying her during Christmas. (reminds me so much of Liberty when she was a puppy!)

Keefers in Panama

As many of you know, my parents go away for a week at Christmas time. Mainly because they like the warm weather and they also enjoy taking a break when mom is out of school and Dad's work has slowed down. Here are some pics from the trip. They did some cool things - things I haven't even done yet! :)

This is a picture of my parents with "Chubby" he was our waiter for 3 different cruises collectively - once in the Caribbean when we went with my parents, this year when Jarod and I went to Italy and now when my parents went to Panama! How cool is that?

I think mom may be a little sick on the para sail.. I know I'd be having a nervous breakdown!

I'll post pictures soon of our Christmas adventures! :)

Life After "the test"

The test is finally over! I took the Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) this past Saturday after months and months of studying! I can breathe and enjoy getting ready for Christmas. Many of you have asked how it went so I wanted to give you the details. I studied for this exam for the past 4 months - the last 2 months being really intense! My strategy going in was to go through the exam, answer what I could, take a break when I got through it the first time and then come back and take the exam again. - this is what Jarod did for the CPA and it worked well for him. I needed all the help I can get! :) I also brought peppermints to suck on - apparently they stimulate your brain during a test.

Day of the Exam!
I got up at 5am Saturday morning (12/13) with just enough time to read through my notes one last time and grab some breakfast before my co-worker met me at my house..we were off!

6:15 - on the road, headed to the Westin in Washington DC.
7:00 - all parked and headed into the Westin to take the test. We are supposed to be there by 7:30.
7:40 - they start signing people in. We had to all go into one large conference room and sit in rows of tables - there were probably 500 people there taking the test and only one person could go to the bathroom at a time - yikes!
8:30 - they started reading the instructions.
9:04 - start the test (4 hours to complete)

I opened the test booklet and the first 5 questions I wasn't familiar with... total confidence buster! :( But, I determined to press on. At question 130 I wanted to cry. I was so frustrated b/c I had studied so much and I was really struggling on the questions! I finished my 1st time through the test at 2 hours so I got up and went to the BR and gave myself a pep talk- much like I do when I'm running races! I told myself to get it together and get in there and focus. I came back to the test with a much more positive attitude which I am sure helped. :)

I went through the entire test again and it took me right up to the 4 hour mark. I felt completely exhausted and pretty deflated, but I gave it my best!

I wont know the results for 6-8 weeks. Everyone is asking how I did - I say I don't know but I wont be surprised if I have to take it again.

The question is.. what will i do different if i have to take it again? I guess read the book more and less trying to memorize. They say there are 6 or so different versions of the test and it just depends on whether or not you get an easy one or a hard one.

Well - I'll keep you posted even if I have to take it again - hopefully not though.

Thanks for all of your prayers.. I definitely felt them at about the 2 hour mark! :)

Pictures from some of our races