{I am a Warrior}

I'm back!

This has been my longest break from blogging since I began Link Adventures in 2005. Thank you for all your thoughts about missing my online updates. It's been very appreciated and nice to hear. Every note, comment or phone call felt like a hug, and I used them all to help refill my emotional bank account.♥♥♥♥♥

I took some time off from blogging to deal with life. It snuck up on me and kicked me in the ass a few times, but I chose to look at it as a wakeup call and deal with it. I feel like I finally got out in front of it this time around. The last two months, I've spent reprioritizing and creating balance where it previously lacked. Today, I feel stronger then ever. I'm doing a lot of things I'm really excited about. I feel grateful, inspired, happy, energetic, motivated, and satisfied.

With that, let's get back to blogging, shall we?

I couldn't think of a more appropriate post to return with than one about the Warrior Dash we ran in last month. Have you heard of this race? It's -- hold on, I don't want to over state this too much -- the coolest thing EVER.

The Warrior Dash is a 5k loaded up with obstacles like cold water, mud, fire, climbing, sliding, leaping, jumping, and dodging. It's AWESOME. People dress up in crazy costumes. Afterwards, there's live music, beer, food, and general camaraderie.



David and I flew to the midwest so we could do the race with Aaron (my brother) and Pam (his wife). We all really needed this. Pam and Aaron spent the year kicking cancer out of her body. David and I had a crazy, life-changing summer. And Edgar -- the one who got us turned onto the idea of doing the race -- gave a stern talking to his fear of heights.

We all left a few demons on the course and connected with our inner warriors that day!

Best event ever. So, so fun. Totally worth all the dirt in inappropriate places.

Special thanks goes out to:

* Edgar for giving us the idea

* Aaron for pushing us to sign up

* The guys at mile two who literally threw drinking water into our faces

* The fire department for volunteering to hose us off afterwards

* David for going with

* Pam for being my running partner

* The nice group of people in the parking lot (field) who were standing next to us but

didn't stare when we stripped down to our birthday suits afterwards and got clean.

Be warned, I am taking my new warrior status very seriously going forward. :)

{Meet the Links}

It seems like every week David and I play a little game called 'Guess Who's Pregnant?'.

I make him guess who is preggers every time I learn someone new has announced they

are expecting. He loves it. Ha!

Right now, a lot of the people we know are making babies or in the stage of their life

where they're busy taking care of them. When these people are just starting their

families, I think of things like trying, pregnancy, nurseries, and the baby stage.

But once they're passed the early parts of raising babies, those little humans eventually

grow into big ones. The next thing you know, you have a "large family" to celebrate with

during those special moments in life.

David's grandparents (on his dad's side) had five kids. They've all married and had kids

of their own. So, the Link side of our family is pretty big now. It was amazing to see all

of them at Grandma Link's 90th birthday.

I told David and a few of his relatives how lucky they are to have such a big family.

It's awesome to have that kind of connection, love and support from a group that

will, in theory, always going to be connected that way.

We got a photo of grandma with each of her five kids and their families. So, I thought

I'd introduce our extended family on the Link side:

Arthur is child one of five. This is our clan. Art's married to Mary.

They have a daughter, Marya, and two sons. Brian is the oldest.

He's married to Tracy. Alex and Morgan are their kiddos. Then,

there's David and me.

Dan is child two of five. He's married to Nancy. Their daughters

are Jaclyn and Andrea. Andrea is married to Ryan.

Richard is child three of five. He's married to Eileen. (She's the one

who gave me the Irish Soda Bread recipe I posted recently.) They

have two beautiful children, Breanna and Brendan.

Peter is child four of five. He's married to Dotty. They have two daughters,

only one of whom is pictured. Dotty's other daughter has two kids, Lyric and AJ.

And finally, Peggy is child five of five. (They finally had a girl!)

She's married to Jeff. They have three kids -- (from left to right)

Chris, Katie and Carolyn.

So, there you have it. That's what happens when you have a bunch of

kids and let them marry and multiply! :)

We don't get to see all the members of the extended family as much as we'd like to,

being that they're mostly in Michigan and we're in Arizona. Seeing them last month

made me realize that it isn't just them who are lucky to have each other. We're all

fortunate to have this group as our family, me included. It's a really nice feeling to

be connected to such wonderful people in this very special way.

{Celebrating 90 Years and One Beautiful Life}

There's only one appropriate thing to do when a person lives nine decades, and that's

to get everyone together and a have a big party. So, that's what we did.

Margaret Bowman Link, David's grandma, recently had a big birthday milestone --

90 years! (Can you imagine the things she's seen and the changes she's witnessed in

her time on this earth?) She is such an amazing person who has lived a beautiful life,

and she's still going strong. We all got together in Michigan to help her celebrate.

The theme of the party was a University of Michigan tailgate since that's where grandma

went to college. Even the die hard Spartans in our family donned blue and gold!



Most of the family lives near grandma in the Detroit area. A few of us grandkids had

to fly or drive in, and she had no idea we were coming. It was fun to surprise her. ♥

And it was so good to see everyone. D and I hadn't seen all these people, all in one

place, since 2006 ... and 2003 before that.

Mary blew up this photo of grandma in a raft. How great is that? Floating in the lake

and enjoying the day at 89! She's with David, Brian, Mary, and Morgan. It was taken

when we were at D's parents cottage over the summer.

David shared a few kind words ...

... and then there was cake.

Mary made Grandma Link a scrapbook that was a beautiful snapshot of her life.

(I got to help her with it when she was visiting us in January.) It started off with

photos of her as a young girl, then flipped to pages of her and grandpa. It included

all her kids, grandkids and great grandchildren. We had as much fun watching her

open it as she had seeing it for the first time.

It's so rare to get everyone together. So, we had to take the opportunity to get some

family photos. It was fun to document the big and growing Link family. (I'm so lucky

to have married into such an awesome group of people.)

Grandma Link was an only child, but she and grandpa had five kids of their own.

Each of her children are married. (The spouses are in the back row.)

Look at all grandma's grandchildren. This is the first time we've ever

taken this photo with all of us together. I'm so glad we have it now.

Alex and Morgan (David's brother's kiddos) are grandma's great grandchildren.

(She has two others that weren't able to be there.)

But we couldn't just document the present without looking back through her passed,

as well. So, I collected photos from everyone beforehand and made a slideshow.

Happy birthday, Grandma Link, to a woman who has brought -- and continues to

bring -- so much life and love into the world. ♥♥♥

{He Didn't Want to Let Go of Her}

Sometimes a girl just shares -- not because she wants to -- because she knows she

should. She then counts the seconds until the person she shares with gives her

back the thing -- or in this case, the precious baby -- she wanted to keep to

herself all along.

"Do you want to hold Kate," I asked David, clearly out of a sense of obligation.

I passed that sweet little Katie Bug over to him.

But the two minutes he usually holds a baby before handing him or her back came and

went. (A trend I've been noticing over the last year or two.) This cut deeply into my

snuggling time with Kate, but he had to be forgiven because they were so cute together.

She was happy in his arms, and he wiped a little tear from her cheek. Sigh.







Today happens to be Miss Katie Bug's first birthday.

A special reason to celebrate a very special little angel.

Happy birthday, Kate. I wish we could be with you this

weekend. Enjoy your party!

{It's Always Good}

We were invited to a very special party in Michigan recently. (More on that later.)

So, while we were home for a few days, we squeezed in a quickie, under 24 hour

visit with some of our favorite people on Earth.

It's always so good to see David's parents. Being with Sandy and Jim feels like

being home, no matter where we do the visiting.

We love you, guys. ♥ Until next time ...

{It Was a Very Happy Halloween, Indeed}

Way to be late for my Halloween weekend post, I know. It's not timely news, but I am finally

getting caught up on my own, personal editing. Now, I'm ready to share some details from a

wonderful Halloween!

I went to see Aaron (my brother), Pam and their kids. They moved from Toledo, Ohio to

Geneva, Illinois recently. It felt good to see their space in the world -- their new house, their

town, the girls school, etc. I miss home (the midwest) most in the fall. So, it was a huge treat

to go there this time in the year. The weather was cool, crisp and fabulous.

I got to follow the kids as they took over the neighborhood to collect candy Halloween Day!

It my first time to celebrate Halloween with them, and it was my first time to ever go trick

or treating -- in 32 years! So, that was really exciting for me. I dressed up as an Iron Chef

(unfortunately, I didn't get any photos). Aidan and I taped "Fe", the symbol for iron, on a

chef's jacket. :) Even better though, I enjoyed watching the kids love life and revel in their

day. Aaron and Pam are such good parents. They work so well with those kids to help them

get a lot out of experiences and family time. They made my heart smile all weekend.

Aaron with Aidan and Lauren

Pam with Catherine and Meghan

We went ...

- to the Field Museum in downtown Chicago

- rollerskating
- to dinner at a new-to-them place in Lake Charles

- browsing around Naperville

- through some cool, old neighborhoods in Geneva

- trick-or-treating

We also ...

- played catch in the backyard

- took a bike ride

- ate some of Pam's delicious food

- played the wii and bumper cars

- went for a walk

- snuggled and talked

- tried to learn how to moonwalk

- watched the ending of "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" three times :)

So, it was basically a perfect weekend. I love those kids and wanted to pack them in my

bags and bring them all home with me. Here's our weekend in photos ...

Until next time Byrne-Rownders! Thanks for a great long weekend. I love you all so much!!