Early Giving

If I haven't already announced it... we are going to Oklahoma for Christmas this year. I am so excited to celebrate with family again and to just have fun for two weeks with my hubby. That is what is so great, lots of time together.

Of course one of the challenges is transporting gifts from point A to B. I know people do two Christmas's and open at home and then go elsewhere. But to me, Christmas wouldn't be the same without the glob of presents under the tree. I shipped most of them straight to mom's house by buying online with free shipping. Easy easy for me. The only exception was Logan's bike that he wanted. Yep, Santa was not going to attempt to bring that sucker back. So Santa made an early appearance after school one day to drop it off. Not as exciting as Christmas morning, but he was excited just the same. Must have made a great impression because Gabe kept talking about how much cooler it was than his. Guess Santa has some tastes after all.

I am sure we are not the only people in America suffering from Arctic air and chilly temperatures. It has been bone chilling cold the past couple of mornings. With the temperature hovering right around 20 and the wind blasting to make it feel single digits. I passed on running Monday and Tuesday but I had to get out today. You just gotta suck it up I guess. I was telling Corey how cold it was going to be last night and he gives me an "early Christmas" present so that I could make good use of them.

First let me say that I am a cheapo. When I buy stuff for myself it is the cheapest and not the best by any means. He knew my hat was still allowing air to hit my head and then my gloves were the dollar special at Target that don't do any good. I would come home from running and I couldn't use my fingers for a good 20 minutes. So my thoughtful husband got me the best gift ever...

This stuff is awesome. The hat is thermal dry weave and pull the moisture away from you head so you don't get cold. The gloves are my favorite. They are thermal running gloves and my hands were not cold for one minute this morning. I gave both things a big thumbs up after running for an hour in the cold. So tomorrow when my alarm goes off I won't be as reluctant to get out there and go.

And what better way to end my post than the fact that Lexie was sick today. High fever and headache this girl was immobile this morning. You could tell she felt crappy. Plus she was up at 4am watching TV. Gave her some Ibuprofen and her fever went down and my Lexie emerged all ready to go. Now I am just crossing my fingers that no one else gets this and we can all be healthy and ready to go to Grandma's on Friday.

Sleep Walking

I don't know if any of you know someone who does this....well we are lucky to have a kid who does this. Logan has become our regular sleep walker as of late. At least once a week he will make his appearance and it is really entertaining. We keep wanting to get it on video, but we never have it around when he decides to come out. We have had several trips into the kitchen to start making food, random places to have a bathroom break. One of my favorites is when he came out around 11pm with his scriptures in tow and sat down for family scripture reading. Corey and I just busted out laughing because he is sitting there with his eyes closed and his scriptures open.

The latest was a couple of nights ago when he came out and stood there for awhile. Then he told me he was scared. I told him to take me into his room and show me what was scaring him. He just kept pointing to his empty bed and saying it is right there. So random, but I finally convinced him to lay down and relax. He is on the top bunk so as he was laying on his stomach and I was rubbing his back and I was right next to his face talking quietly not to wake Gabe. Logan decides at that moment to throw up. Yep, right in my face. It was so gross. And you know the best part....he was still sleep walking. He didn't even remember any of it the next day. Go figure.

It has been ages since I posted pictures....I couldn't believe what was on the camera. I decided just to post them all and give a out pour of pictures. I will try try try to keep on top of it again. With the holidays there should be some great moments to snap some pictures. Enjoy!!

So I went with Christy (hey girl) and her girls with Lexie to watch the new Disney movie "Tangled" which was so so good. In fact, it competes for my favorite Disney movie. I can't wait for it to come out on video so I can watch it at home.

Christy and her girls, don't you love her sweater? Black Friday find.
Lexie and I getting ready to enjoy.

So I have developed a love for baking within the last year or so. I love to try new recipes and Thanksgiving was that chance. I did three new ones and they turned out ohh so good. Everything I made from scratch except the peaches in the cobbler because I couldn't find them. I guess they are not in season right now. But everything else I did by hand literally since I don't have a mixer.

Peach Cobbler

Deep dish pecan pie (this was my favorite, I ate half by myself)

Apple pie

Gabe had his choir concert and the assembly room is tiny and always so crowded. We were lucky to get seats, but this is what I got to sit behind. I had to get a picture of that hair.....WOW.

There is Gabe...fuzzy I know but he was so funny. Pure cheese up there.

Random yes, but this is me getting ready to run on a Saturday morning at 6:30 with my running group. I have come to love Saturday morning runs. Maybe I will actually get a group picture one morning.

Logan had his football party at a skating ring. When was the last time everyone went roller skating? Me.....um how about forever. Since our kids had never been I felt obligated to get a pair and help them out. It seems I was the only mom who was willing to get on them and go. I felt like a little girl out there with all those boys. There was tons of falling down and I worried Gabe would break something because he was fearless and just tried to go as fast as he could. Surprisingly all three got pretty good by the nights end.

Lexie and mom

Gabe crawling to the floor....

Logan getting the hang of it.

Lexie looked like a roller derby girl with her stripped tights....oh so cute.

Gotta pose for that picture.

Breaking out the old backwards skate. I was so shaky at first.

And as a side note, I was looking down at Logan's feet one day at the store and realized his toes were basically poking out the end. I was shocked because we just bought those for school in August. He had grown a whole shoe size in a couple of months. So off to the store we went to buy another size up. The boy is only one size away from what I wear in little boys. Plus he has grown a whole pant size going to size 12. The waist is still big, but the length is right on. He needs to slow down. He is getting huge.

And we just thought she looked too cute passed out on me.

Just Gonna Do It

So I know I haven't posted in awhile, but I lost the camera, found the camera and then just got lazy. When I did remember it the batteries ran out and then I had no pictures. I promise I will load them soon. I have to wait and get the ones from Corey's phone so I can make my post complete.

I have been going back and forth about doing a full marathon. With the Gilbert's Syndrome it makes it tricky, but if I keep on track of my eating and train right I shouldn't have issues. In fact, I think this will help me in a certain way to get to where I need to be. There is a marathon on May 1st that I want to do in Gettysburg. I did a 5K last spring, but this is a really cool idea for the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War. They will have two different courses that will start at the same point and end at the same point. Depending on what state you register from is the course you take. So if you are from the Southern or all other states you run the South route. If you are from one of the original northern states then you run the northern route. Each route takes you through the side of the Battlefields that were controlled by that side. The country side is so beautiful and I think that will help to pass the time. I am in the process of recruiting people to train with me. I like that this is my first and I have just the goal of finishing and not a time limit to beat. I am excited for the challenge. I start training the first week of January and so I am enjoying just 10 miles now on my long runs.

Other than that we are just getting excited about going to my Mom's for Christmas this year. I can't wait for all the family time and memories. Today is Mom's birthday (happy birthday Mom!!) and she is enjoying it in warm sunny Cancun while I am holed up in my house in a winter storm.