Christmas 2011

We were terrible this year about taking pictures at Christmas! I also didn't send out Christmas Cards for the first time, or maybe second, since we've been married!  I'm hoping to do better next year.  This is all we have and Brody was not at all excited! We do have some video, so I guess all is not lost!

Christmas Day after church.

Meme and Papa's

We love visiting my grandparents!

We were able to visit my grandparents before Christmas.  The pictures were taken with my iPad, so they are a little grainy. It is always such a joy to be there!

Girls on the Run!

Ella and I ran a 5K together!  She was a part of a running group at school and trained for about 3 months. Her goals were to: 1. Have fun! 2. Don't walk!.  She was able to do both of those and I was so proud of her. It was really cold and she was so relieved to drink her hot chocolate at the end! This will hopefully be the beginning of many runs together in the future!

Birthdays

 I decided to have a combined birthday party for Ella and Brody this year.  Their birthdays are close enough that it really makes a lot of sense, especially when they want to have it at a gymnastics center.  They were both able to choose five friends. Ella invited six, but one girl didn't come. Dallin was even able to have a friend.  We'll definitely be doing this again in a couple of years!  It will be Dallin's turn for a party next year.

Thanksgiving in NC

We had a wonderfully long drive and too quick visit to North Carolina for Thanksgiving.  After the screaming on the ride down we, Michael and I, decided we might not be doing it again until the child who wouldn't stop screaming was old enough to enjoy 11 hours of movies like the other children! It was great to visit with family and it's always sad to come home and realize how far away we are. 

Yes, that is a turkey leg!

Brody and Eden were inseparable the whole time we were there.  I'd always find them behind closed doors jumping on beds or playing like babies.  So cute!

Tennessee RAGNAR 2011

RAGNAR is an almost 200 mile run as a team of 12 people. We ran, as a team, from Chattanooga to Nashville, TN.  All of the teams had two vans of six people. Each person runs 3 different times. One van is "on" as those six people run their routes and then when person 6 hands off to person 7 the first van gets to rest as the second van begins their routes. I ran 17.1 miles total in 30 hours with about three hours of sleep. AND I had a blast!  I would do it again next week if I could. 

Melissa, Parie, Me, Rhandi

You always had to cross the street with a flag:)

My favorite picture of a hand off!

Parie and I were always crazy and a little confused!

My favorite fun.  7.9 miles down a mountain!

Melissa in her Mickey Mouse gloves and directions written on her arm.

Me wearing Rhandi's snuggy and showing a little leg.

One of my favorite parts of the race, I have a lot of favorites I guess. Melissa is on her last run and had to run up the biggest hill-mountain. Graham had just finished his last run but ran down and finished her run with her. AMAZING!

She is my hero! She was so grateful to be done.

Other teams "tagged" our van with their team symbols.

Kills were how many people we passed as we were running.

Our official team name.

Our more colorful team name!

Rhandi striking a pose!

Graham and Rhandi's adorable 3 month old baby. She was an angel the whole time!

Parie trying to figure out my ipod:)

I wish I had a picture of all of us together.  I was the last runner, so I didn't have my camera as we finished the race. All in all it was an amazing experience and I gained a new appreciation for a lot of things. My mother-in-law came to watch the children because Michael had a business trip at the same time. I am in awe of her willingness to come and allow us to participate in these life experiences. She was amazing with the kids and I will be forever grateful to her for sacrificing so much to be here. My mom came as well to help at the end of the week so that I could join Michael in Chicago. More on that later...  I also came to appreciate that the Lord knows us as individuals and is able and willing to help us in every way. I was at the brink of exhaustion several times, but was able to keep running. I was so grateful for good friends who were amazing examples to me of faith and charity. I personally have so much to learn but was so grateful to see the gospel in action. I'm thinking of maybe doing the Louisville marathon in the spring.  We'll see if I follow through! 

Dallin still loves football!

Despite my best efforts to deter Dallin's love of football, nothing is working!  Not the fact that he is the smallest kid on his team, and probably the league; not the fact that his team has not won any games; nothing!

He has had the best coaches this year despite their losing record.  And yes, the guy in blue who is a state trooper, is wearing a fanny pack.

We always start out the play with so much hope.

And then as he's laying on the ground while the play is still going I hope he wants to play soccer instead next fall...