Christmas Morning/Afternoon

 Oh, it is so hard to not just post cute pictures of Mitchell!  The other kids are pretty cute too, but he is at such a FUN age; we all love to watch him and make commentary for his actions!  Christmas morning we did stockings, a quick breakfast and then got ready for church.  We hurried home, had some snacks and waited for Aunt Jamie to come over.  Grandma stayed home because she hurt her back a few days before we came and was mostly confined to her chair with lots of drugs.  Grandpa was finally getting over being sick (bad enough that he actually came home early from work!) and was able to resume his annual duties as present-passer-outer

 Andy and I were assigned to the couch, Jamie had the chair, and the kids were scattered throughout the room!  So much fun to be spoiled at Christmas...especially with my favorite perfume!  Now I can wear it each day instead of making it last by only squirting on Sundays!

 One of our 'fun' gifts to Jamie was these yummy things.  She introduced them to me a few years ago; although I wish she hadn't!  She was nice enough to share - half the package was gone by the time we were finished with presents!  Those white ones are just delightful!!!

 Mitchell hadn't completely caught on to opening, at least in Ben's eyes!  He and Annie had to be special helpers!

 Fun fun day!  As Latter-day Saints, we don't usually go to church services on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, unless it is a Sunday.  It was kind of special this year to hear talks and sing songs in a more formal matter before going home to do gifts...we did a Nativity earlier in the week too - but those pictures are on Mom's camera and I am waiting to get them....  Sidenote - Mitchell also LOVED the bell ornaments from the tree.  I was okay with him carrying these around because I always had a general direction of where he was!  Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Prep

 While we lived in Texas, I loved taking the kids to Santa's Village each year.  He arrives on a firetruck to a line waiting to see him!  There are over a dozen little houses (with entrances just the right size for little bodies) and Elves galore to help man the houses.  Everything is free (thank you taxes), except the refreshments, which would be very reasonably-priced if the line wasn't so long.  We were able to visit Santa the very last night he was in his Village - yes, I dragged my sisters and nieces along too!  Don't you love Aunt Nancy's and Cosette's fake smiles!?!

 Cutie cousins who escaped the long Santa line...Below - we finally made it into Santa's workshop!

 Oh, the number of pictures I have with this Santa-helper.  He is the BEST!!!

 Mitchell hasn't yet learned the joy of Santa.  I think his eyes are telling me that we're on the naughty list for making Mitchell be there!

 After Santa, the big girls took off for home while Andy and I stayed with the 5 younger kiddos.  I love Rudolph's House.  The kids sit on saddles to have their noses painted red.  (Mitchell absolutely LOVED the saddle and didn't want to get off!)  As you leave, they give you a bag of reindeer food to spread out on the yard for Christmas Eve...the reindeer were fed very well this year!

We were so lucky to see our friends, the Bulls for a Christmas Eve brunch! We sure miss Miss Monica and her two boys. Ben and Alex have been little buddies since August of 2005.  They learned how to interact and share and makeup after fights.  Ben and Annie learned about 'allergies' and what food is okay to share.  Such cute little boys.  I learned about a friend who can help me through ANYTHING and who loves to cook yummy foods and how to be a better mom.  They moved further north just before we moved to Ohio, but we love to visit them each chance we can get!

 This was such a fun time for Andy and Brian to actually visit too.  The kids love to play with the Nerf Arsenal - especially when it is Dads against Kids!!!  Monica taught Mitchell to say 'hoho' while pointing to Santa on the tree.  This past summer, their cute dog, McGee (who realllly wanted to come home with us!) taught Mitchell how to move his little tongue in and out to give kisses.  It was the CUTEST thing!  He has seen many dogs since then, but he's never repeated the action, except for the one afternoon with McGee!

Oh, if one I had pictures to capture each moment.  I am so grateful for my memory and the jogging path that comes when I see pictures!  I just love the Holidays!  And teaching my kids about Baby Jesus...and grown up Jesus...and the Savior, Jesus...

Under the Shadow of T-Rex

 Above, I guess Ben didn't want to sleep alone.  Mitchell didn't seem to mind the company...  Below: Ben bought these three plants from our neighbor's garage sale for my birthday.  They needed to be replanted, but as that is NOT my forte, Andy did them for me after finals were over!  Sadly, he left them on the table when he went to work.  Mitchell LOVES to be on the table and pulled most of the dirt out of all three pots not just once, but twice...joy!  Then, mom's brain finally clicked and they were moved to the counter until they could be hung up!

 On December 14th, we pulled the kids out of school early and headed to Dallas for the holidays.  It was a long drive, but thankfully VERY uneventful!  The kids did fantastic, as usual.  We weren't sure about Mitchell, but he was surprisingly happy for the 21 hours in the car!  He claimed this rocking chair in Grandma's Christmas Wonderland as soon as we got there.  (By the time we left, her tree was surprisingly top-heavy...any guesses why?!)

 We found a cute little Peanuts nativity two days before we left and had to get it for Grandpa.  He loves Peanuts.  My mom is a little bit Christmas-happy.  She has tubs and tubs of decorations that take Grandpa an entire day to get out of the attic.  We decided that Grandpa needed a decoration of his own!  (And one that is safe for little Mitchell-hands!)

 After running our 15K on Saturday morning, we hung out at home, showered, got ready, then headed downtown to the Dallas Museum of Science in Fair Park.  We met Uncle Roy in the parking lot!

 Finally the ceremony begins!  Andy and Uncle Rusty were groomsmen.  My nieces Addy and Cosette were bridesmaids.  Annie and Emily were flower girls, and Ben was the ring-bearer.  And I tell you - that boy is a STUD in a tux!  (The wedding had a steam punk theme, so Andy and Ben got matching pocket watches for their tuxes.)

 Yes, Uncle Roy and Tia Christina got married under the watchful eye of T-Rex.  They both love science and decided to exchange their vows in a place they love!  It was beautiful!!!

 These sweet girls!!!  They had on heels for the first time, although I was going for efficiency and bought the Velcro straps instead of the buckle straps.  DUMB move!  However, the one and only time the girls have worn the shoes and the straps haven't come undone, was as they walked down two flights of stairs with a room full of people looking on.  :)  The girls came and sat with my sisters and I on the front row during the ceremony (and were entertained with a plethora of electronics!), but Emily was pretty stressed about something.  We finally figured it out - she had ONE black silk flower left in her basket!

 We all quite love Christina.  She's the best thing to happen to Roy in a very very long time!!!

 This handsome little guy doing his job!  Sadly most of my pictures didn't turn out so well, since I was also trying to videotape at the same time...alas...the photographer will have some too!

 This was my favorite part that went WAY too fast!  My three little munchkins with linked arms going back up the stairs...

 The beautiful wedding party!  After pictures - a BBQ dinner - then lots of dancing!  Sadly, my battery died and I missed the unposed shots, but we had a great time!  Thanks for letting us share in your special night!  Congrats to Roy and Christina!!!

One Goal Down...

 I have a neighbor that I have gotten to know much better this year as her daughter started kindergarten and rides the bus with Ben and Annie.  We chat each morning and each afternoon.  She like to run and was getting ready for a marathon last October.  Over the course of a several days, my confidence was boosted just enough for me to convince 2 of my siblings that they wanted to run a 15K with me while we were in Dallas.  :)  My neighbor said she'd help me get ready.  It was so great to have support each morning and afternoon!  Then I found a lady from church who loves to run.  She let me borrow a few books to read, as well as her old gps watch to train with.  And - I was off!!! 

 I had two major turning points during this training process.  First, an email from a very athletic cousin who basically told me I COULD run 3 miles without stopping and just go DO IT.  I did- and felt great!  Second, a friend came to town to visit her mom for Thanksgiving.  We did a 4-mile Fun Run on Thursday, then she did my 8 mile long run with me (at my pace instead of hers...quite a bit slower!).  We found that the lap I had been doing my training on were actually 1.1 miles - we ended up running 9 miles that day.  I knew I could do 9.3 in four weeks.  I just knew it!

 I had signed Andy up for the race.  He did great going to the gym through September, slowed down in October, and just hit a few times in November.  I didn't think he was still going to run with us since he hadn't gone more than 5 miles.  However, did I mention that my pace is pretty slow?!?  I followed Jeff Galloway's Run/Walk method...and highly recommend it!  The first mile we ran for a minute/walked for a minute.  2nd mile we ran for 2 minutes/walked for 1 minute.  By the 3rd mile we were up to pace with running 3 minutes/walking 1 minute...until Nancy's legs started having issues.  We had the most beautiful day in Dallas but a bunch of hills....  My brother Rusty was just there to keep us company.  He did break a sweat, but more because it was warm outside.  :)  We had fun just doing it together!  Bonus: we weren't too sore later on to dance the night away at Roy's wedding!

It was a fantastic experience and definitely one I want to repeat.  Guess what?  A friend told me about a 1/2 marathon in Akron...on a Saturday...that happens to be our 12th anniversary.  We have 3 months to get ready!!!