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While I was at the 2010 BRC rooting on our boys from Team 41, I also tried to capture some images of Team 40, our other National Guard team from Rhode Island.

Meet CPT Chris Ahlemeyer and SSG Bob Tobin. They are members of the 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne) which is a battalion of the 36th Infantry Combat Team based in Texas.  CPT Ahlemeyer and SSG Tobin finished 1st and 3rd respectfully in the ARNG Best Ranger Competition Tryout in JAN 2010.

They are extremely strong physically and mentally and were steep competition to the rest of the field, particularly on the initial Buddy Run, the Night Road March, and the Darby Queen Obstacle Course. These two did an outstanding job during the competition and came in 14th out of 25 finishing teams.  WTG guys!! While I was sitting in the media area waiting for teams to finish their final buddy run to the finish, I couldn’t believe it when I saw these two hauling in as the 4th team to cross  the finish.  A-maz-ing.

I didn’t get a chance to meet their families until the very last day of the competition, but I know they are all extremely proud of them!  They all came down from Massachusetts and Rhode Island to watch them compete.  Congrats again to Team 40!

Another great day at the 2010 Best Ranger Competition. Team 41 started off the day in 10th place out of 26 remaining teams. Day 2 consists of Ranger stakes: skills that all rangers must have. They are tested on the following activities: grenade assault, Ranger first responder, tri-tower challenge, weapons, a stress shoot and 2 mystery events. One of the mystery events included entering and clearing a room.

I missed a few of the early events, like the grenade assault and the stress shoot, but our boys did well all day. They were crazy fast on the weapons assembly and did a fantastic job on entering and clearing a room. Not gonna lie, watching that scenario unfold was a bit intense, but they did AWESOME.

Our support team (including 1SG Dylus’ guys from NC and staff from NC Joint Force HQS) said the guys did a great job on the stress shoot. 1SG Dylus has several friends who live fairly close to Ft. Benning who came out to support the guys – it was so nice meeting all of them today! And a special thanks to all of them who’ve been helping me with the kids while I take pics of the guys.

Then it was onto the tri-tower events for a wall climb, rappel, and fast rope.

They’re doing night land-nav tonight and then onto an obstacle course and helo jump into the water tomorrow.

I’m experiencing technical difficulties here at the hotel, so I’m only able to post a few pics from today. More to come later – hopefully the connection will be better in the morning. It’s painful how long the pics are taking to load. gnite y’all!

ETA: I was able to hop on this morning and add the extra images. Off to today’s events! GOOOOOO Team 41!!!!

And Happy Mother’s Day to all of you moms out there, including 1SG Dylus’ wife, Laura, who just became a mommy for the second time just a few short weeks ago!

Many of you know my husband is a captain in the North Carolina Army National Guard.  This year he and 1SG Kevin Dylus signed up to represent the National Guard in the Army’s Best Ranger Competition.

I’m going to make this post short and sweet because…. well, it’s 10:30 and I’ve been up since 430am and I need to get some shut-eye!  I know many people are anxious to see some pics from the event, so here they are!  These are pics from Day 1 of 3 and include images from the beginning Buddy Run, two of the range sites, and the helo jump at Fryer Drop Zone.

After day 1, team 41 is in 9th place! More to come tomorrow!!!

We had an absolutely gorgeous day at the green McDonalds in Cary, NC last week – a perfect day to celebrate Earth Day!  If you haven’t been to this McDonalds before, you should check it out – not only is it built with many earth friendly materials, there is a charging station for hybrid cars and a really fascinating interactive display inside the store to show customers the economic and efficiency aspects of the restaurant.

Many people came by with their kids to plant a flower supplied by Garden Supply in Cary, NC.  Garden Supply also provided a beautiful backdrop for pictures, to include a bench and gorgeous plants and shrubs. Thanks Garden Supply! And if you’ve never been to Garden Supply – they have an amazing selection and an incredibly knowledgeable staff who can help you choose the perfect plants or shrubs for your house.  And don’t even get me started on their Christmas displays during the holidays – absolutely incredible.  I have to give myself a budget during Christmastime, otherwise, I end up with the entire store in my cart. And you think I’m kidding!

Cynthia and Katie had a great display from The Produce Box – a company that provides locally grown produce delivery right to your neighborhood.   They are essentially a C.S.A. (Community Supported Agriculture) organization, but give you more options than a typical farm C.S.A. set up. I am a HUUUUUUGE fan of local produce here in North Carolina.  I frequent our local farmers markets in Morrisville and Raleigh all summer, and let me tell you, the Produce Box is definitely a convenient way of bringing the farmers market to your door.  Check it out!

Other fun activities included making bookmarks with the Girl Scouts, taking pictures with both Mother Nature and Miss North Carolina Perfect Jr Teen.

And, of course, an event isn’t complete at McDonalds without our good buddy, Ronald McDonald!  He was there with his scoot coupe to take pics with the kids and also give them rides around the building.  Ronald not only has a sweet ride, he has some sweet tricks up his sleeve! You can’t help but smile along with these kids who were giggling the entire time.

A special thank you to Julie Barberio at McDonalds for including me in this great event!  I had a blast!!

It’s hard for me to believe this little guy is 1 year already!  It seemed like just yesterday I was taking maternity pics of his mommy – how fast time flies!  We had a BLAST when little B came by to take pics a couple of weeks ago.  He loved the balloons and tried his best to get them in his mouth. His mommy made him some cupcakes for our session and let me tell you, this boy loved them! We had cake and frosting everywhere!  Good thing the bathtub wasn’t too far away!!   Happy Birthday, little buddy!  Here’s to another great year!

I have some pretty awesome friends here in NC, and two of my really good friends happen to be amazing photographers.  Whenever the stars to align and we are free of kids, prior commitments, and the weather is nice, we try to get out and have a little fun. A few weeks ago we had a gorgeous 60-degree winter day in NC and decided to head to downtown Durham to see what funky places we could find.  Here are just a handful of my favorites from the day!

I grew up in upstate New York where winter lasts approximately six months (slight exaggeration) and a foot of snow wouldn’t cancel school.  As a kid I loved the snow – my brothers and I used to build massive forts using our recycling bin to make bricks (yes, we had THAT much snow to do so!).  And sledding in Highland Park in Rochester, NY was the the place to go because of it’s insanely long hill.  But as I’ve grown older, I’ve become less fond of the pretty white stuff.  Cleaning off the car, shoveling the driveway, and battling slow and slushy traffic to work are now my associations with snow.  That is, until I had kids.  There is nothing more exciting than experiencing life through your child’s eyes!  When my son woke up this morning, he called me into his room to look out his window to see all the snow!  He excitedly asked to “go outside to play in the snow, mama!” at 7:30 this morning.  And after breakfast, that’s what we did!

I had the pleasure of assisting my good friend Julia (www.julia-wade.com) on a promo shoot for the local bluegrass band, Sweet Potato Pie.  What an incredibly talented group of women!  As part of our session, we had them play for us so we could capture some more spontaneous moments and they are absolutely amazing!  I’m anxious to see them again during one of their shows.  If you want to learn more about them, check out their site! http://www.sweet-potato-pie.com/

One of my favs of Missy – I love how the sun sneaks through the columns and illuminates her! Plus, her expression is priceless!