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I am not a runner. And so I do not run.

Yet all of my friends run.

About a year and a half ago I decided I was going to try running. I probably guilted myself into it because all of my friends run. And so I went and bought my first pair of running shoes, and some running shorts, and socks to wear with my running shoes. Then I started running.

I stink at running.

I’m going to blame it on the church. We live in this townhome development that is not very conducive to running. We have one sidewalk that starts at the top of our neighborhood by our house and then goes straight down for half a mile where it empties out into a highway. And that’s no fun. So naturally, when I run I go to the parking lot of the church next door. It’s one of those mega-churches (so to speak) with a huge parking lot – one in which they have a shuttle service to get churchgoers from the back of the parking lot to the church doors. It’s slightly less hilly than our neighborhood.

I should say it looks slightly less hilly.

When I ran it for the first time and made the turn onto the “big hill” that goes straight up for about 7 miles I nearly died.

That’s a lie. My body would never live long enough to run 7 miles.

For some reason I got the crazy idea in my head this year that I want to run a 5k. I’ve been avoiding this calling for a long time, and by “calling” I mean enduring all of my star-athlete running friends who love to run pestering me every other week to join them for a leisurely marathon.

For reasons still unknown I felt compelled to share this desire to run a 5k with some of my star-athlete running friends last night. Good gosh what have I done?

So, here I am, documenting for posterity the fact that this year, 2011, I’m going to be a runner.

…………… oooh boy……..

Well, it’s our last Christmas “alone”. And with the baby’s due date just around the corner we decided not to make the annual marathon across the Midwest this year and instead hunker down close to home. So it’s been a quiet Christmas, and surprisingly a white Christmas! We’ve been getting the baby room ready, spending time with friends, and appreciating the fact that life will be changing soon for us. Here’s a few photos from Christmas Eve – we made a little turkey dinner and had a celebration for ourselves. Wishing you a wonderfully Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, wherever you might be reading this from this year!

So, we’re gonna have a baby!! Yeah, I know – that’s old news by now. And I’m a bad father for blogging about this for the first time as we enter the third trimester. Better late than never.

So here’s a picture of the little guy! I think he looks pretty good. Here’s what we know about him so far: He’s a fan of one of our favorite bands, Mumford & Sons, because he dances every time he hears it. Church and worship music seem to make him really calm. And this just learned today – ‘N Sync gets him really excited. Sigh… can’t win all of them.

Some of our wonderful friends threw a shower for Steph today and it’s exciting to see all of the cool baby stuff piling up in our guest bedroom. I did not attend the shower, but after seeing the pictures of the full ice cream bar I kinda wish I had.

I love music, but I don’t go to very many concerts. It’s just not that enjoyable of an experience for me. Dark club, toxic smoke fumes, drunk college kids all over the place, 105 degree heatbox. I sound like an old man.

But then there are bands that come along and I’ll do whatever it takes to see them perform live because the music is just that good. Along comes Mumford & Sons with their debut album “Sigh No More” early this year. This album blew me away within the first 20 seconds of listening to it, and it’s pretty much been on my playlist nonstop this year.

They are rightly categorized under the “British Folk” genre, but that might leave you with the impression of a sleepy singer-songwriter style full of dragging slow songs. Hardly. This band has energy and passion that doesn’t stop with the first few tracks, full of fiery imperfection that gives you an honest glimpse into who these guys really are.  They draw a lot of comparisons to The Avett Brothers, except with British accents. The Avett Brothers with British accents would basically be The Swell Season (and I love The Swell Season). Give The Swell Season banjos and we might be getting closer.

Anyways, we were kindly invited to tag along with our friends Dave & Meg to see Mumford & Sons in Bloomington, Indiana earlier this week. We immediately said yes.

So on Monday morning we left unwordly-hot Nashville for an equally unwordly-hot Bloomington. It’s possible that we were pulled over for reckless driving on the way to the gig. It’s also possible that tornado sirens were going off as we stood in line for the concert.  I was responsible for neither of these things. The band played at the Bluebird, which was a fantastic club minus the fact that it was 100 degrees outside and 200 degrees inside. That paired with the wood floors and soaking wet people (post-tornadoes) essentially turned the place into a giant sauna. But after suffering through two opening acts we were finally given the chance to hear what we came for.

I’m terrible at describing concerts, but suffice to say, it was one of the most fantastic shows I’ve ever seen. These guys are incredibly proficient musicians, multi-instrumentalists, and extremely talented at what they do. They were able to recreate every ounce of passion on stage that you hear on the album, and probably more. I’m incredibly excited to hear what’s next from this young band in the years to come.

For just a glimpse of what we got to experience, check out this live video of “The Cave“.

Click here if you can’t see the video.

Also, photo gallery of flood images here.