Christmas and after

This was the best picture I could get of the girls before church on Sunday!  I was so excited to see Kiley sing with the Primary kids in Sacrament meeting.  Her primary president walked her up to the stand and you could barely see her little head over the wooden divider.  I was standing up with Bryn and all the sudden I see Kiley's face crumble into tears.  John ran up there and grabbed her.  We had no idea what was wrong!  Turns out she was just upset because she wanted John to take her up to the stand.  And that is how we have been ringing in her 5th year- she is so sensitive and cries at the drop of a hat!  She got over it and then in Primary she got upset over the video they were showing in Sharing Time.  It was pretty upsetting, though.  It was about the Savior's birth and it showed what happened after with King Herod's decree to kill all the infant babies.  Why the heck would you put that in an animated movie for kids??  So, Kiley's sensitivity paid off in that case because the video was quickly shut off.
 
We stayed in Tallahassee for Christmas and Santa brought a big haul!  Kiley was most excited about her new Angry Bird Star Wars toys.  Bryn was excited about the paper. 

The day after Christmas, we made the looooong trek to Huntsville, Al to see my parent's new house.  It was freezing!  Bryn hated the cold and her new jacket, but we tried to get out and see the sights.  We went to a great Botanical Garden, but everything was dead (imagine that!) It is probably gorgeous in the spring!  We did get some snow flurries while we were there, which was kind of neat!

 

Kiley's favorite thing to do was fishing with Bubba.  She got casting down!  Even though it was freezing cold, that is where she wanted to be!

We rang in the new year by staying up way too late trying to finish a puzzle my sister gave to John.  The next day we got up early to make the long drive back to Tallahassee.  I doubt we will be going back anytime soon!  The drive was pretty bad and the girls did not like it one bit.  

We are excited to see what 2013 has in store for us!  There are some pretty exciting things that I am hoping pan out and if they do, it will be a doozy of a year!  Happy New Year!

Kiley is 4 years old!

Sweet Kiley turned 4 on Sunday!  I just can't believe it!

She definitely keeps me on my toes! She is VERY strong willed, which I hope she will put to good use when she is a little older and is dealing with peer pressure.

She is so smart, but has a lot of trouble concentrating in Primary.  Yet when I call on her, she knows the answer. This girl is just like her daddy, I tell ya!

We went to dinner at a pizza place the night before her birthday and had cake. then I decorated while she was asleep and this is what she woke up to!  Angry Birds is her current obsession.  And when I say obsession, I mean she is OB-SESSED.  Ridiculous!

I think Bryn enjoyed the cake as well!
Happy 4th Birthday Kiley!

Bibbidi Boppidi Boo!

The day after the marathon, I hobbled (seriously, I was walking like an old woman!) through Downtown Disney so that my mom could take Kiley to the Bibbidi Boppidi Boutique for her birthday! (She is turning 4 this week. What???)

She was a lucky girl and Santa just happened to be there as well. She ran right up to him and gave him this big hug and they captured it on camera. So sweet!

We ran out of the Disney store to go to the bathroom real quick before her appointment and they were starting the Princess Parade and invited Kiley to join! They marched through Downtown Disney to a musical fanfare and all the employees in the stores came out and waved. It was so cute! I just wish she was already dressed up for it!

Her "Fairy Godmother-in-training" was VERY talkative, but very cute. She stayed in character so well! I think Kiley was so overwhelmed by everything, so she wasn't talking very much, which is so not like her!

The big reveal! She was so cute!

Part of the package we bought was professional photos. Kiley is the worst smiler for the camera, but the photographers tried so hard and we got this gem out of her. I love it!

Me and my princesses! Overall, it was a fun day. Except for the part when, even when they said part of the package we bought was a complete princess outfit, it didn't include shoes! What!  So I had to buy $30 generic sparkley shoes when she has like 5 pairs in her closet at home that I could have brought!  Oh, and after the boutique, Kiley pooped her pants so we had to run to the bathroom to change her undies.  And then Bryn pooped out her diaper on both her pants and shirt so she just got to hang out naked while I ran around to the stores to find the cheapest outfit I could find.  You can't go somewhere with 2 young kids and not experience a mess! Ha!

It is over!

The marathon, that is! What an experience it was! We drove down to central Florida Wednesday for Thanksgiving and since the day before, I had been having some digestive issues. I won't get into the details, but it wasn't fun. I thought for sure it would all be out of my system by Sunday, but it wasn't! It was a lot better on Sunday, but still not pleasant. I got up at 4:20 Sunday morning to leave the house by 5. It was really cold, but I knew it wasn't going to stay that way, so I had to just deal with it in a tank top and a jacket that I was going to leave with my bag at bag check. My sister and I headed to the start line and got in with our paces. I wanted to stay at a 9:55 or so pace and finish around 4:20 or 4:30, so I stood with that group. At 6:15, the jumbo-tron showed a space shuttle launch and had real smoke billowing around the jumbo-tron and we were off! The first 8 miles were great! I kept my pace and I was feeling good. Then around mile 8, I felt the familiar rumble in my stomach, so I had to stop and use the port-a-potty. I had to wait in line for a good 10 minutes and man was that port-a-potty gross! I told myself that I wasn't going to use another one the rest of the day. Well, that was false. The next one was even worse and it didn't even have toilet paper in it! Yech! Finally I got to the halfway point and my time was 2:21. After stopping twice, I could not get back in the groove I was in. I was so mad at myself because I was doing so good until I had to stop! The 2nd half was definitely the worst part. During training, I only got up to 20 miles and thought that surely, 6 more wouldn't be that bad after doing 20. Yeah, I was wrong. My dad was cheering us on at mile 20, so that boosted my mood a little. I was HURTING so bad and had to keep stopping and stretching my hamstrings and it felt like my tailbone was rubbing on another bone. Not pleasant!

This is at about mile 24.5. John, my mom, Kiley, Bryn, and my dad were there to help us finish! When I ran by, I told John "I am dying!!" but he said it just sounded like I barked at him! Ha!  My mindset during the race went from "Alright, I can do this in 4 and a half hours!" to "Ok, let me just finish in 5 hours!" to "Oh my gosh can I please just finish!!"

Here is my sister giving Kiley a wave!

After I finished, they gave me a towel and I just took it, grabbed some water and a banana and layed down on the grass.  So I did finish under 5 hours, but barely! My time was 4:59:44! Ha!

So happy to be done!  And no more marathons for me!  What an experience!

Atlanta Trip

We went to Atlanta for a long weekend to see John's sister Mary get married!  We had tons of fun!  This last picture is of the girls with John's grandpa, who flew in from Utah for the wedding.  Congratulations Mary and Zac!

Halloween- A week and a half later!

Halloween was a blast this year!  Bryn was a kitty cat

and Kiley was Ariel, the Little Mermaid

Bryn can't believe that hair!!

Kiley's BFF came trick or treating with us.  The girls had so much fun!  Kiley would run so fast down the driveways that I just knew she was going to fall and bust her face, but she didn't! I was following her up to the door and she turned around and said "Mom, you stay right here.  I am going to do it by myself!"  I swear, this girl is 3 going on 13!
Bryn just loved sitting in the stroller and waving hi to all the kids.  I am sure she can't wait until she can run around with them!

Bryn is One Year Old!

 Oh how I have dreaded writing this post.  I just can't believe my sweet little baby is one! If you want to re-live her birth story, it is here.

 What a precious little girl I have!  She is so tolerant of me and her big sister.  She gets dragged around to things and (usually) goes without complaints.  Every week at dance class, she loves to crawl as fast as she can into the studio to catch a glimpse of what the bigger girls are doing.  I know she just can't wait to get her legs so she can run and jump just like them.

 She got a cupcake at her party and on her actual birthday, plus a smash cake the day after her birthday when we took her one year pictures, so she has been fully exposed to the wonderful world of sugar.  She used to be such a good eater!  Now, not so much!  Give her sugar or she will throw her food on the floor!

 She is a finger pointer (as you can see in the very first picture of this post).  She waves to people, but she prefers the finger point.  She especially loves it if you point back and even more so when you touch your finger to hers, E.T. style.

She hasn't taken any steps yet, but she cruises around furniture and crawls like a boss.  I don't mind if she takes her time walking, it keeps her a baby a little while longer.  She can say 5 words (Momma, Dadda, hi, bye, dog), but mostly prefers to just say "Momma" over and over again.  She also has 12 (yes TWELVE!) teeth, including all 4 molars and boy, does she love to use them!
What a wonderful year it has been!  We are so so happy that Bryn was chosen to come to our family. I can't imagine life without this little ray of sunshine!

The rundown

I am back with another running post!  Today marks exactly one month until my marathon.  Obviously,training for this race is taking up quite a bit of time, mentally and physically.  John likes to tell me this joke: "How do you know if someone has run a marathon?  Don't worry, they'll tell you!"  Ha!  True, but that is just because it is such a mental thing that you just can't help but talk about it.  I will liken it to natural childbirth- I have never experienced it, but I bet it is very much mental.  After you experience something like it, it is probably all you want to talk about because it is such an accomplishment!
So with that being said, I have finished the toughest part of my training.  I have ran 20 miles twice and that is the highest mileage my training has me going.  Last Saturday I dropped all the way down to 9 miles.  I told John the night before "Well, I am just going to go for a quick 9 mile run in the morning.  I'll be done fast!"  What a funny statement that is!  6 months ago 9 miles would have been the death of me! Another thing I have noticed in my training is that towards the ends of my runs, I am not cardiovasculary (I don't think that is a word, basically I mean I am not out of breath and I can talk), but my legs are SO fatigued and that is what slows me down.  I think part of it is the high mileage and part of it are the hills in my neighborhood.  My race course is flat, so I am not sure if that is going to make it easier or harder for me!
My sister introduced me to these pills.  They work wonders!  I take one before I go, 2 at my water break, and 1 after.  They help my stomach so much!  TMI, but after my long runs, I would pretty much spend the rest of the day in the bathroom.  I guess my body was reacting to losing electrolytes, even though I would drink tons of Gatorade and water all day.
I know I haven't run the race yet, but I am so close.  I just have to say, if I can do it, anyone can.  You just have to prepare yourself mentally and it does take a lot of time and sacrifice, not just on my part, but on my family's part as well.  John helped my by picking up the slack on those Saturday mornings when I was gone for 3 and 1/2 hours.  I just can't wait to get my pedicure after the marathon- you guys wouldn't believe how gross my feet are!

Bryn's Pumpkin Patch 1st Birthday Bash!

Yesterday we celebrated Bryn's first birthday!  Her birthday isn't until Friday, but I wanted to have a little time between her party and Halloween because this time of year is cuh-razy! John created the invitation by taking one I liked from Etsy and tweaking it a bit for our party.

Here is the birthday girl!  I made her dress and headband, with Hannah's help!  Isn't she just the cutest?  She wasn't a fan of sitting on the hay.

The party decor.  I saved Bryn's baby food jars and cleaned them out and painted them to look like pumpkins.  My plan was to put them on the ground with flameless votives in them, but then I decided not to have the party at night, so I hot glued some twine and hung them on trees!

I created a cute little photo spot to capture the families that came to the party.  I am glad I grabbed these shots before the party started because everything became too hectic and no one got their pictures taken!

The food!  Everything was pumpkin related (but not pumpkin flavored) and it was yummy! I bought so many bags of candy corn and pumpkin candy corn it was ridiculous!  Good thing I found lots of sales!

We had face painting, pumpkin painting, a ball pit, and other outside activities.  We were so lucky that it was an absolutely gorgeous fall day outside.  Not too cold and not too hot.  Perfect!

Bryn digging into her cupcake.  She ate the whole thing, minus a few crumbs.  She snacked on it for a good half an hour!  Her only complaint:  everyone singing happy birthday to her!  She burst into tears!  It was such a fun day to celebrate sweet little Bryn!  We love you!

Bryn is 11 Months old!

 Bryn turned 11 months old yesterday!  One month until she is one ):  It has seriously gone by so fast.  I can't believe it!

 Bryn got to go to the zoo for the 2nd time in her young life in Jacksonville

 She also got to hang out with Mimi at the UNF soccer game.  She loved dancing and clapping when everyone else clapped.  She didn't even complain about the insanely hot, humid weather!

She is cruising around furniture, especially when a remote control or my phone is in site.  She doesn't want me to walk her around the house, so I am pretty sure she is far from walking by herself.  She crawls so fast, though, and is into everything!  She says "Mama" all day long, especially while crawling down the hallway to my bedroom to get to me.  She is a serious Momma's girl.
She also has 9 (!!!) teeth.  That is just crazy to me!  Kiley had 4 at her first birthday, so this is just ridiculous.  She has also been sick twice this month alone with a runny nose and nasty cough and she now has a rash on her face and leg.  This girl gets sick so much and I have no clue why!  She is still nursing 6 or so times a day, so I can't even imagine how sick she would get if she wasn't!
I love this girl to pieces and ea1ch and every day she gets more and more cute.  I can't wait to see what she accomplishes as she grows