6 miles on the icy sidewalks and in the freezing cold...DONE!

White Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. Christmas Eve we celebrated with my Dad and then a few hours later my aunt, uncle, grandmother and cousins came over and we celebrated with them as well.

Me and Hayden at my Dads

Hayden and Kayla at home putting milk, cookies and carrots out for Santa and his reindeer

Sleepy heads seeing their things from Santa Christmas morning



Then we all got dressed and went outside to play in this! Here in Alabama we don't get much snow and this is the first white Christmas I have ever had.

Our first snowman. We have had snow before but never enough to actually build anything.

I miss it...

I miss my primarily weight loss/workout/attempt at weight loss, lol blog....it is what I think about constantly and well I miss it:(

So, I am going to talk about what I said I wasn't really going to talk about on this blog. I have been training for a half marathon on February 13th. It has been hard and this past Saturday I was supposed to run 6 miles for my long run but made it 2 miles and had to call Ken to come get me because my calves were cramping up....yeah...probably due to too many Diet Pepsi's and not enough water. So, the longest long run I have made it through is 5 miles. Let me tell you that running in 20-30 degree weather with the wind and even snow has not made it fun for this girl. I have asked myself what I was thinking a million times. Last nights "short run" of 4 miles was much better and I am curious to see how my long run of 6 miles goes this weekend. Yeah, I have to run 6 miles either Christmas Day or the day after...fun....not! I really don't know how in less than 2 months I am going to be able to run 13.1 miles...I really think I have lost my mind!

Teenager in a Minivan

16 years old (and the lighting just makes me look tan...I wasn't) and now 31 years old

For some strange reason in the past month I have been told several times that I look like a teenager and if you are one of my facebook friends sorry this is a repeat but I find it interesting...actually sometimes embarrassing because I have a 7 year old and a 4 year old and I don't really like people's preconceived ideas about what teenagers with kids are like. I'm 31 years old and plenty old enough to have my kids and don't want to be treated like some young thing that doesn't know anything! For goodness sakes people I drive a minivan...not the bright red convertible I did when I was 16!

Thanksgiving Weekend-Saturday

Saturday morning I woke up early and headed to do the Kaiser Realty 5k...it was a fabulous flat course and I beat all my previous race times:)

Saturday afternoon we grabbed lunch at Doc's and then took the kids to the local arcade...we always try to hit up this place while we are down there. The kids LOVE it!

Then we headed to the beach one last time for this trip.

We went to dinner at the Oyster House and took the opportunity for a few pics with the animal props:)

Thanksgiving Weekend-Thursday and Friday

We spent Thanksgiving at my Mom's in Gulf Shores. We had lunch at the Grand Hotel in Point Clear and then headed to the beach:)

Friday it was cold and rainy all day so we basically just hung out inside but I had to go find out where my race location was for a 5k I did Saturday and pick up my packet. Packet pickup was at Tacky Jacks a local restaurant so we just decided to eat lunch there and then headed back to Mom's to watch the Iron Bowl....WAR EAGLE!!!!

Weight Check...

This is strictly for me...I always like to compare myself and see how the running/weight thing is going...this is a phone pic in a mirror that obviously needed cleaning on Friday night before I went to a friends reception...she asked that we wear jeans so that explains that:)

A little of our week....

Monday I decided that it was time for Kayla to get a much needed haircut so I cut her hair off...she wasn't very happy with me at first but I told her it was time for a change and it was hair and would grow back:)

(I am going to go ahead and apologize for picture quality...evidentally I need to clean my lens...I didn't notice there was a smudge on it until I saw all of these pics!)

Tuesday- I took Hayden to our local park by the river....he had a blast:)

Thursday- Veteran's Day- We met some friends at a park in a nearby town and then all went to Dairy Queen for icecream:)

I hope you have had a GREAT week!

Life Without Limits 5k

I had originally planned to run this race for my first half marathon and was training for it when I developed sesamoiditis in my right foot that made me have to completely stop running for a few months and unable to continue to keep building mileage so I ran the 5k today:) It was a GREAT race crossing over a dam and back....absolutely beautiful. There is a BIG hill that you go down and then back up and it was killer but I never stopped running and that was my goal. Coming back off of this injury has taken a long time and I am just now getting my endurance back but I am SO proud of myself for sticking with it and not letting these injuries sideline me forever. I might be a SLOW runner (finished in 36:42) but it is much better than not running at all:)

My church friends:)

I totally stole this off of my friend Jennifer's blog because this was taken at her "Baby" Shower Monday night. She is adopting a precious 2 year old little girl from China. Anyway, I have never met a more loving group of women than you see in this picture. So many things are represented here and so many different testimonies of faith, courage and love. I am blessed to have these people to call friends:)

Atlanta Weekend

Last Christmas my Dad gave Ken and my brother Jake gift certificates to drive racecars at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. We finally coordinated everyone being able to go at the same time this past weekend. Since Ken was going to be in Atlanta the kids and I decided to tag along and we made a fun weekend out of it. We got to Atlanta late Friday night. Ken and Jake had to be at the race track at 7:30a.m(6:30a.m. our time) so Dad took them to the track and got them situated and then came back later to pick up me and the kids from the hotel. We hung out at the track for a while while Jake and Ken rode and drove and then headed to grab lunch at Olive Garden and after that decided to hit up the Georgia Aquarium. We have never been to that particular aquarium and I must say I was in awe....I love stuff like that. We got there late so we only had 2 hours to roam around but managed to cover everything quickly. We want to go back when we have more time. After the aquarium we headed to a different hotel for the night and my step-mom, my step-brother and my brother's girlfriend and daughter had made it to Atlanta to join us. We all headed to Cracker Barrel for dinner and back to the hotel to call it a night. Sunday morning we got up and ate breakfast at Shoneys (can you tell I come from a family that likes to eat?....this might be why I have such a struggle with weight!) and then had a couple of hours to hang out in the room before Six Flags opened at noon. We headed to Six Flags for the next 6 hours and had an absolute BLAST! Kayla rode her first real roller coaster, Hayden finally got to ride on Thomas the Train and he soaked up every minute and I ended up with aching feet but we had SO much fun! I dare to say that it was actually more fun than our last trip to Disney.....

I took over 250 pics this weekend but here are just a few....

Ken and Me at the track

The kids patiently waiting and watching

Jake after he drove


Ken after he drove

Me and the kiddos at the Aquarium

Kayla took almost as many pictures as I did!

Hayden after riding Thomas

Me and Kayla riding the balloons

The gang with Sylvester

We played this game 3 times...we all got to throw rings and none of us got one on a bottle but we did get our 3 hats that the rings came in...

Kayla breaking plates...he broke 2 and won the kids a dalmatian and a batman

My little superman with his batman sidekick

Kayla and Cali with all of their girly loot!

The kids were exhausted when it was time to leave...

Just some thoughts....

Since Halloween is fastly approaching I thought I would give my view about ghosts, witches and wizards. My children will never be allowed to dress up as those things and the following verse is why....

Deuteronomy 18 says "Let none among you be found who practices sorcery, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist who speaks to the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord."

I think that we must guard our hearts and our childrens hearts about these things. If we allow them to seep in even in the smallest innocent of ways then it is opening the door for evil (the Devil) to come in. Now, let me say these are my convictions and if you choose to let your children dress in these things then it is your convictions that you have to go on. This is my blog and I'm stating my views:)

One thing I have been looked at strangly for is for not letting my children watch the popular show "Wizards of Waverly Place"....I just don't feel that it is appropriate and won't allow them to watch it and they know this and won't. I also won't own the movie "Wizards of Oz" for the same reasons. I'm not trying to put my kids in a bubble and they will know about these things and know why I won't let them watch them, dress like them, etc. I do remember my brother dressing like a ghost one year and me as a witch so it isn't something I grew up with it is just my own convictions that I have developed as an adult:)

Besties....

One of my longest and best friends is getting married Monday at the beach with just her and her soon to be hubby. I have to admit I am a little sad that I won't be there to see it. She was the maid of honor in my wedding. We have been friends since 7th grade and don't see each other that often due to different stages in life but no matter how long it has been or how different our lifes are we can always just pick right up where we left off:) Last night several of her friends throughout her life got together at Chili's to celebrate with her...it was nice to get out for a couple of hours:)

Sicklings.....

My have I had an exciting two weeks....Hayden had a stomach virus all last week and luckily he felt better for us to go on our trip to Seaside....well....yesterday Kayla started with the stomach virus and this morning woke up with a sore throat so I took her to the doctor and she has strep along with the stomach virus....and even though I haven't really done anything I am exhausted....I am praying for a better week next week....two weeks of basically being stuck at the house and missing church absolutely stinks!

Hayden took this pic at breakfast in Seaside one morning and it describes how I feel perfectly....

Seaside in October

My cousin's wedding was this past Saturday in Seaside, FL so we left Friday morning and stayed until Sunday morning....it was a quick trip but a nice break from day to day life around here:) We absolutely LOVE our trips to Seaside....it is such a quaint little town.