The greatest day of Jake's life!

One down and one to go. :) Jake was baptized on Sunday. What a glorious occasion for him and us as parents! We are so proud that he has made this decision.

Introducing Octavian and Xavier

One of my best friends from high school just had twins the first part of December. However I just got to see them last week, and boy oh boy are they adorable! Here they are sleeping in their bed. Octavian is on the left and Xavier is on the right:

Octavian was cracking me up with his hand up there. It was sooo cute! I was getting ansy so Suz woke up Xavier for me...and here we are :)

We're so cute together, he liked me so much when I first got him he threw up all over me. This was after Suz gave me a clean shirt to wear. :) I got to feed him since he gave me what he ate before I got there. Here he is right before.

He was obviousley ready to eat.

So after that she got Tavian up for me to do it all with him as well. Boy oh boy this twins thing is fun! I am so jealous! Here's me feeding Tavian:

I got to do all the fun baby stuff again, I hope she asks me to come back for date night...I would love to hang out with these little guys for an evening.

I made Suz some baby books for the boys and just couldn't resist sharing how cute they turned out. I still can't believe how little these two were. OH so fun!

Here you go Brent...the recap blog!

Well the race is obviousley over and we obviousley finished. Finished is really the only good thing we can say about it however. It was horrible. I was saying it was 65 but everyone else says it was over 70 and it probably was. Then add in the 20 plus mile per hour wind and we didn't think we were going to finish. Here is a pic of us..finished.....literally!!!!



This was Jackson's 2nd race and my 4th...we had a good Friday and Saturday on our mini vacation but Sunday not so much.


So to back up a bit we drove down on Friday after we dropped the boys off at school. Saturday we met up with everyone for our annual night before the race italian dinner. Which was at Carrabas's once again. :)

SO moving back ahead...I should have planned this blog better but oh well...after the race we always go to Pappasitos. They have the best beef fajita meat eva!!! We were starting to feel a little better about this time, and dreading the long drive home.

We hope to have a good race in Oklahoma City in April...anyone want to join us?

The Run.

Well it's finally almost here. I remember when I set my countdown on my computer and it started at 154 days. Crazy to think we are down to 3. The weather is making us very nervous. It's calling for 22 mile/hr winds and 72 degrees. Not good running weather. Please pray that it's not windy and it's about 45 degrees.


We were hoping to beat our time from last year but now we are just going to be thankful to finish. We've all worked hard so hopefully that will pay off in the race! Wish us luck!!

Pondering a name...

So I know a few of you already know this but Jackson is getting two dobermans this spring. After much begging I have finally given in and actually become excited about the idea of having a good protective, non shedding dog around. We've had two dogs in the 11 years we've been married. The first was a german shephard that we got the day I found out Stockton was a boy. His name was Dozer. We had him for a while and one day he decided to jump the fence and the pound caught him and fined us. So we didn't have the money for a bigger fence and with a new baby he wasn't a house dog so we gave him to a cousin of mine. Dozer is much happier now living in the Virgin Islands...wonder if I can go live with them too...haha.

Then there was Sophie. She was our Golden Retriever. We got her from Sean and Rachel when she was I think 3. We had her for a couple years until one day she just went nuts. She'd been a house dog for awhile since she learned how to climb the fence (I am seeing a pattern here) and so we kept her in the house. However one day it was like she had lost her mind, she started acting like a puppy again, peeing everywhere and when we got that stopped we just thought she needed to be somewhere else. So a friend suggested a friend and we gave her to her. She shed too much too for Stockton so these new dogs will be great!

Well on to the reason for my blog today. Jackson is getting a male and everything he's read it was better to have a male and female than two males so I am getting the girl...obviosley. So I am in search for a name...yes Amber a name. I don't want anything sissy, as Julie and I discovered this morning Fifi and Cuddles just aren't going to cut it for my dobe. She will be a red/brown color (hopefully the litter produces one).

How cute is that!

So all you who read this if you have any ideas or suggestions please email them my way.

Couldn't resist this picture, I just love it!

Christmas Fun Survey

Christmas Fun
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper because I like to make my own pertty bows

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial all the way! Jackson wants a real tree super bad, but 2 dobermans and a real tree really don't sound like that would mix well.

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually a week or two before Thanksgiving, by the time Thanksgiving gets here I don't have time to decorate.

4. When do you take the tree down? I used to wait until New Years but now I end up doing it Christmas weekend depending on if I am ready for my house to be back to normal.

5. Do you like eggnog? no way ewe!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? don't remember

7. Hardest person to buy for? guy stocking stuffers

8. Easiest person to buy for? Janie

9. Do you have a nativity scene? I have the willow tree, I love it!

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail of course and this year I took on the job of making my own!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? clothes probably

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Rudolph :)

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Sometime in November, sometimes if I see something earlier I'll go ahead and pick it up.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? only dirty santa ones

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Nanny's chocolate pie, or any of the assorted candies we make.

16. Lights on the tree? white lights

17. Favorite Christmas song? Mary Did You Know?

18. Travel at Christmas time or stay home? for the last few years I've had Christmas at my house.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel right now.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Just depends on what the day's plan holds

22. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? going to my Grandmas for Christmas morning

23. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember how old, I just remember knowing that it was my mom's handwriting on the tag.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? the traditional is always good, but I do enjoy Jackson's side meals, we always do something different: mexican, italian, soups, finger foods, this year I think we are doing mexican pile on.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Twilight soundtrack

Thoughts being put down on paper

So why is it wrong to shield your family from something you don't believe in, or find that it is wrong?

So why is it wrong to want someone to call you instead of calling them everytime and getting in trouble because you never call?

So why is it that Santa and "Holiday" are everywhere but we really wouldn't be having Christmas, yeah that's right, it's called Christmas people, if Christ wasn't born for us?

So why is everyone claiming it's hard when they still have jobs and gas is 1/3 of what it was when no one was complaining?

So why is it that saying you are a Christian automatically makes non Christians think you are better than them, when in reality it's the total opposite, we are saying we know we are sinners and we want to change!

So why is it that when you are in a restaurant and you order a pepsi and they offer you a coke? (they taste nothing alike)

So why is it that we all tend to be nice to certain people just to get what we want, why can't we just be nice all the time?

So why is it so hard to take care of that growing baby inside of you for 9 months instead of being selfish about what you could be missing out on, it's just nine months and that baby didn't choose to be concieved.

So why is it that people think the Bible has changed, it's not changed, it's still the same one from the beginning.

So why does Peter not have his powers back yet...or does he?

10 Things You Will Never See Me Do!

I saw this blog idea on a friends comments and thought it sounded fun. So with the help of Nephew, I am making this list for you.

1. You will never see me snort dr pepper up my nose just because someone said it looked cool.

2. You will never see me eat chalk no matter how much it will brighten my smile.

3. You will never see me wear a dress made out of post it notes.

4. You will never see me eat paper as a replacement for gum.

5. You will never see me wear paper clips for earrings, even if Cosmo says that's the new fad.

6. You will never hear me ask anyone "Do you have a case of the Mondays?"

7. You will never see me rooting for OSU when OU is involved! Go SOONERS!!!

8. You will never hear me say I want to run 30 miles.

9. You will never see me get a tattoo of a clown riding a bicycle backwards, or frontwards for that matter....mmmm no clowns period.

10. And last but not least you will never see me participate in national blog month again.

Stolen blog yet once again....

So I know I didn't blog yesterday, guess I'm being the rebel yet again. Oh well if the shoe fits right.

So after reading a friends comments on another friends blog, I decided one of the suggested topics sounded interesting...why the lack of card making when the alloted time was it's purpose.

1. Tired from packing up peoples shoes so they won't have anything to wear the next day to their job.

2. Tired from rushing home after packing up peoples shoes and cleaning my house so card maker friend could come play.

3. Kids coming in and out and wanting to make stuff too.

4. Lack of envelopes for such cards needing to be made, so no idea on size, so why start.

5. Playing Guitar Hero World Tour and whoopin up on Jackson and Julie!

6. Ornaments were easier to get too.

7. Just havin fun laughin like we always do.

8. Should have taken pictures.

9. Kids being too loud after being told over and over to be quiet because Jackson was asleep.

10. And lastly, ending early because we are old...oh the sadness.

Twilight Movie!

We went to Twilight last night...and well...it was awesome! There was a few parts that I would have liked to have seen made into the movie but it was already a two hour movie. Hey I would have been fine with a four hour movie. :) And I do believe my girls would have been too!

We were set...I mean we had our popcorn..large I might add, see four hours would have been fine.

And the large drink...

We had a good time and now of course the next ones are more than ever anticipated to hurry up and be made! If you haven't gotten to read the books yet I suggest you go out and get you a copy. You will want to read them over and over and over. Then you can go see the movie and be all happy like I was. :)

My dislikes

I am again copying the ideas of Julie. I decided to blog on what I dislike.

Satan, Stockton's incurable disease, being made fun of over and over and over and over...well you get the idea, running in 80 degree weather or even 70 for that matter, having a bad run day, not being able to drive to the ocean and go diving right now, friends who say they are friends but really aren't friends, the fact that it's not 6 so we could go to see Twilight, and that people already are commenting on yahoo that it wasn't any good, the sadness that she may never finish Midnight Sun.

Obesity, the fact that sweets aren't good for you, mean people, rude people, dishonest people, people who you nicely honk at once when they've been at the stoplight for 3 minutes after it's turned green and then they nicely thank you by flipping you off, door dings, being used, smoking, drunks, divorce, spousal abuse, not taking care of yourself when you are pregnant, abortion.

People who think they are perfect or better than everyone else, keeping up with the Jones', being looked down upon when you try not to keep up with the Jones', debt, not being invited to family things, bad moms, bad dads, bad hair, not having a class reunion, spiders, roaches, not having a college education.

When you run out of diet dr pepper, people who talk about stuff that's happening like they know exactly what they are talking about when they really have no clue because everything they've heard has not come from anywhere near the source of it, being lied to-just tell me the truth already-can't be any worse than the lie, not enough weekend time or time in a day for that matter, not finishing things, not being more like how God intended me to be, and lastly for today since I didn't realize I'd have so much to say, but not being more Christlike. It's a daily struggle to keep your mind and heart going down the right path! Thanks for reading check back tomorrow for my review and hopefully pictures of us girls from the movie Twilight!!!!

An easy blog day! :)

I got the idea of a survey from my Julie's and thought it was a fun idea. This is a different survey than they filled out though! :)

Spell your name without an E,S,H,I,M,A. J

Are you available? happily taken

What’s your favorite number? 7

Favorite color? yellow

Least favorite color? white so boring

What are you listening to? a customer talking to Gail and the House

Are you happy with your life right now? definetly!!

Favorite Subject? it was keyboarding class with Suz

Are you outgoing? if I know you

Do you like Big Mac's? yes

Do you own big sunglasses? kinda

Where do you wish you were right now? diving in Mexico

What should you be doing right now? working

Do you have a crush on anyone right now? Jackson

THE CANS:

Can you blow a bubble? yes

Can you touch your toes? yes

Can you whistle? yes but not super loud like some people

Can you wiggle your ears? i don't think so

Can you roll your tongue? yes

THE DIDS:

Did you ever want to be a doctor? no

Did you ever receive an engagement ring? yes

Did you ever want to be a fire fighter? no

Did you ever swim in the ocean? yes wish I was there now

THE DO'S:

Do you believe in God? Definetly!!!

Do you know how to swim? yep

Do you like roller coasters? yes

Do you own a bike? yes

THE DOES:

Does hair loss run through your family? no

Does your car get good gas mileage? when I don't get ethanol

Does your family have family picnics? no

Does your home have a bookcase? several

THE HAVES:

Have you ever been to Canada? no

Have you ever gone fishing? yes

Have you ever seen a celebrity? a few

Have you ever been on a motorcycle? yes

THE HOWS:

How much money do you have on you right now? none I never carry cash

How many cars have you owned? woah lets see...we aren't good at keeping them around until now. ;) maybe 7

How many jobs have you had? 7

THE LASTS:

Last person you hung out with? Jackson and the boys

Last thing you said out loud? "That's weird."

Last time you ate at McDonalds? couple weeks ago

Last thing you bought? does paying a copay count?

Last place you went to eat? El Patio

Last song you sang out loud? something in the car

Last person you know to die? my keyboarding teacher

Last pet you bought? some fish

Last time you cleaned your room? goes can't remember it's been so long :)

THE WHATS:

What is the temperature outside? 39

What time did you wake up? 6:19 a.m.

What is your favorite car? something fast would be fun, but I do like my Tahoe alot!

Another exciting blog.

Maybe I should give up on this trying to blog everyday, especially since the instigator may be done also. I have no new pictures of anything nor do I have anything wonderful to talk about.

Today I am home with poor Stockton. He's got a horrible cough. Pray for him please. I thought I would get something done around the house and while that worked fine in the morning I am wishing I was asleep right now.

Day after tomorrow is Twilight, hopefully someone (it will probably be a teenager) will take our picture so I have something to talk about Saturday from that most anticipated experience. So excited!

Well tonight is Awana's and I'm glad I get to see my group of girls. We have always had awesome groups of girls but this year they just want to do so much. I have a couple who come ready and do 5 verses or more a night. What a wonderful sight, to see these girls wanting to know more and more. All of our girls do at least one almost every Wednesday, it's just such an awesome experience that I am sorry I ever complained about going! God has blessed me so letting me be apart of it.

Well that sums up the day...not sure what I am cooking for supper, maybe it's not to late to throw something in the crockpot.

Thanks for reading about my day. Come back tomorrow for more exciting times in the life of Jamie.

Unfinished stuff.

Today in Bible study Beth Moore talked about not finishing things. Which is so true for me. Granted that wasn't the only thing she spoke about, but it convicted me.

We always want to jump to the next thing without completing the current thing we were on. So I am setting out to do better in this. All these projects I've brought upon myself, I am completing them. It may take awhile but I WILL finish. For instance, the kitchen. Even though we are still waiting on Lowe's on some doors, we have some stuff left we can finish.

Why is it that so much other stuff grabs our attention away?

Because that's the way the world is. Bigger better newer funner...sound familiar? Yeah I'm guilty of it. It's starting in the right direction that needs to be done. You can never achieve anything if you don't start. So here I go...to complete not only the minor stuff, but also the bigger stuff too that God is calling me to do. I urge those of you that are feeling the same way to start with me. It's easier if you don't have to do this walk alone!

Not sure what to blog on today...

This is the 17th and so far I've done pretty good. I've not missed a day and some blog entries were smaller and lamer than others but one still got done for each day. So I think I'll blog on things I am looking forward too...soon and future in no particular order.

I am looking forward to the Twilight movie...comes out Friday!! It's about time!
I am looking forward to the next movies of the Twilight trilogy to come out too, I am sure they will.
I am looking forward to our race on Dec. 14th and beating our time.
I am looking forward to Christmas.
I am looking forward to getting out of town in January or Febuary.
I am looking forward to Florida on Spring Break.
I am looking forward to when there is a cure for Stockton.
I am looking forward to when we are debt free.
I am looking forward to watching my boys grow older and what they will do with their lives.
I am looking forward to what Jackson and I will do on our 20th wedding anniversary.
I am looking forward to being content with all things.
I am looking forward to growing more and more like Christ.

I know there are more and more things I am looking forward to but those are what came to mind.

10 miles ain't for the weak!

Today was my 10 mile run. I was a bit nervous about it yesterday. Jackson and I set out at 5:30 am at a brisk 24 degrees. I was pumped...it could have been race day from the way I was feeling! I know from previous blogs you know I've had pain, but I haven't for several runs now. So adding that wonderful change in, it was awesome! I am leaving out my time for certain reasons...;) But overall it was an awesome 10 mile training day!!!!

Decorating for Christmas

I think I may decorate for Christmas today. Seems like the thing to do. What else is there to do?For cleaning comes with decorating so it's 2 in 1. I will post pics to finish off my blog a little later...tata for now.

Well I'm back and it's about 6:30 pm. All I did was the tree, but hey, that's something...right?

Drum roll please....

Ya I know, lame blog...but my tree is pertty at least! :)

My friend Julie

My friend Julie is the bomb diggity bomb bomb. (I think it's mainly because she said so). My friend Julie is loud and oh so much fun. There is never a dull moment with my friend Julie. It's always been easy with Julie. Never an awkward moment like there are with so many other people. She's just my friend Julie. My friend Julie works at a bank. My friend Julie also has her own blog which sometimes is about working at a bank. My friend Julie told me to write this about how rad she is. So my friend Julie is rad. :) My friend Julie and I talk on the phone an average of 5 times/day. My friend Julie likes the color purple, not the movie the actual color, well come to think about it she may like the movie...maybe I should ask my friend Julie. My friend Julie and my other friend Julie like the Twilight series. We are going to see the movie in a week. Which I know you already know from my last blog. ;) She probably reminds me alot of Alice, always having fun and very stylish. Sometimes I think she knows things that are to come too...oooh. Well that's enough about my friend Julie for today...here's a pic of me and my friend Julie and what we do best!!!

Twilight the movie!

Well it is yet only one week and a day left until the most anticipated movie of the year comes out. At least for me that is. Twilight! I've read all four books which you already know this from a past blog and just can't wait till the movie. Brietzke, Nephew and I all have read the books and are going to be in line like the rest of the other 12 year old girls next Friday night. We have been waiting for several months now since we finished Breaking Dawn and heard the sad news about Midnight Sun for more of The Cullen Family. Hopefully it won't be a let down. Hopefully we all get what we thought we were going to get out of the movie. I'm sure it will not be as good as the book but most of the time they never are. However I do hope it does give us the feeling we all had while we were reading the books. I still hold out hope that the author will continue Midnight Sun, but until then we'll have the movie. More on this after we see the movie next Friday!!

Biggest Loser

Spoiler Alert if you haven't watched last nights episode do not read any further, unless you don't care, then read on...

I don't know how the rest of you feel but I dislike Vickie and Heba tremendously! I know some of you do feel the same and wish they were off the show along with me. Last night was by far the worse for Vickie. She was just ruthless. I love the red team

and was sad to see them go but obviousley they know what they are doing and will come back at the end proudly! I was so proud of Amy C for voting off Vickie's husband, that took alot of guts. However, I am scared for her on Tuesday to see Vickie's wrath come down on her. Maybe she'll move back to the black team. Poor girl but you go!! Way to go over Vickie and Heba's head. I don't remember a season where the girls were like this...does anyone else? Granted I haven't watched all of them but the ones I have, the people seemed to have gotten along so much better. Well anyways there's my take on things as of now, my favorites are the red team of course, even the trainers loved them. Bob, oh yeah, he's not a contestant...Amy C went back toward the top yesterday. I like the mother daughter pair alot as well. I know I am probably leaving someone out worthy of mentioning. Well it's going to be scary on Tuesday.

Bunko!

So a week later I decide to blog on bunko. #1 I haven't sent my pictures to work and finally got that done today and #2 I had to let the laughter settle after the "Julie Brietzke of Golf" blog. So though I will not be anywhere near as funny as Jasper here we go.


Bunko happens once a month during the school year. It's always on the first Tuesday and consists of 20 players, well most of the time there are 20 players. This last one, however, 3 were missing. We always have tons of yummy food and loads of fun.


We always start the night off eating...hello!



Our wonderful hostess this month was Kimberly..she didn't want to be in the pic alone so here I am too :)




She did such an awesome job!!! Jami was one of our subs for the night and we can't go without a picture of her and I now can we...


Yeah no idea what she was doing but obviousley we know what I was thinking...haha...love you J!

So the time to play was at hand and it started off slow. But after a while I got a bunko!!!!!

And another bunko!!!

And yet another!! Yes folks that makes 3!!!!

So you think did she win most bunkos? Nope LaShonda got 4 bunkos that night so Rachel and I rolled off and since Rachel always wins I just knew I had lost but I rolled higher!!! However Rachel did win the traveling bunko which still proves she always wins. I did win and here is me and my prize. Since I won such a big prize I will probably not win for the rest of the year...unlike Rachel..hehe.

Bunko is always a fun time and if you want loads of laughs about bunko and the skill it takes to play, go read Jaspers bunko blog. It's sure to give you a giggle. ;)

Today's running...

Running this morning was what started out to be horrendous! Both of my legs felt like they weighed 100 lb. each. I'm not sure how those invisible weights got straped on there, but they some how did. About mile number 2 a few started to fall off and it eased up a bit. We hadn't ran since Thursday and that day was 9 miles. You would have thought we had had enough rest time. Boy oh boy do we love those 3 mile days, especially when the weights seem to be strapped to our legs. I would rather them be on there for the short runs and not the long runs. However the talking wasn't there which was sad. I guess that means we have to start saving our phone conversations again for our runs. :) Or that we were so tired this morning at 5:15 that we barely had energy to do the run let alone run and talk. All day shopping trips aren't the best when you need sleep. It's 34 days until our half. Keep praying for cool weather and an awesome run day all around!! (no weights included)

Oh the joys of shopping.

I used to love to shop from store open to store close. However since I've become 80 the feeling no longer is there. Only when you take your sparked best runnin buddy does it make it worth while. I did get quite a bit done, but have quite a bit left too....

Gotta Love Spark

OH spark. It's a wonderous invention. However not so wonderful when you take it everyday to stay focused and energized and your body becomes immune to it and then you give it to your best runnin buddy and you have to try so very hard to keep up with her because your little legs aren't moving 90 mile an hour like hers were. It was a sad sad day! Mental note: Get off spark at first of running season, get back on when best running buddy does.

There's Always Something to be Thankful for!

I decided to blog on what I am thankful for today in spite of the recent events that have happened from the unfortunate election of Obama and the sad news of possible Conoco moves. I know this sounds like a blog I should be doing for Thanksgiving but I felt I should do this anyways.


First and foremost I am thankful that I have Jesus. I am thankful that He died for me, even though I am so not worthy. If you do not know Jesus you really should!! He's an awesome listener and redeemer. I'm thankful for Jackson, the most wonderful gift from God. I am thankful that he is always there and always knows just the right things to say and do. I am thankful for my 2nd most wonderful gift from God...my boys. I'm thankful for Jake and the ways he is so caring and sensitive and so creative. Stockton for living life to the fullest each and everyday. He can teach us all a thing or two about life. Having an incurable disease does that I suppose. But I am thankful to God for intrusting Stockton to us. I am thankful for my Mom for without her I wouldn't be here. love you mom. I am thankful for my cousin Lori! Secret twins at heart. I'm thankful for my inlaws. I am so thankful for all my friends. I am thankful for my oldest friend Jami that she has come to be the person I knew she always could be! I'm thankful for my 2nd oldest friend Suzanne and her always being there through out my life no matter what. I'm thankful for the miracle of those two precious baby boys she's carrying so well!! I'm thankful for Jasper and being so patient with my learning of the Bible and being a great running partner and being able to calm pretty much anything I need calmed. I'm thankful for my loud friend Julie and just simply being her loud funny self and calling each other 20 times a day and being able to hang up on a whim when one of us gets busy. I'm thankful to have gotten to know Laurie and can't wait to learn more from that funny woman! I'm thankful for Cindy and our learning to run together and becoming the friends we always will be.

I'm thankful for the little things: the smell of a fresh cut hay field, horses, farms, scrapbooking, laughing, Arkalalah, shopping, baking, cooking, gardens, laughing, girls trips, Twilight, tattoos, fellowships, movies, dj'ing in the car and probably driving everyone else crazy, sitting close, electric blankets, running 8, 9, 10 or 11 or more miles and the feeling you have after, when you know you just ran that far, running and having something to talk about the entire time, good run days where you feel like you could go forever, diving in Cozumel and looking at your computer when you've accidentally gone down to 94 feet, the fish that you see and the sharks you hope to not see, laughing so hard and it getting caught on camera, being totally and madly in love with a husband that adores me, bunko, trying to beat the Julie Brietzke of golf, laughing so hard at blogs that you are crying, crying at others because they were gracious enough to share that with you, blogging everyday for the month of November, turning leaves, snow, sushi, facebook, Beth Moore Bible studies, Sun n Fun, and having a good tan. I am sure I could go on all day, maybe that will be what I do for my Thanksgiving blog. I am thankful for every single person in my family and life. Thanks for everything and everyone that is apart of it.

Running update.

We have about 38 days left until our next 1/2 marathon and since I have to blog every single day I decided to blog on how Jasper and I have been doing. Tonight we run our 9 miles. Last week we ran our 8 and felt super other than a few sore areas we didn't feel like it was hopeless. So with that said I feel I need to go back a few weeks and talk about why we felt like it was hopeless.

Last year when we were training for the 1/2 marathon Jasper got horrible shin splints and back pain. She continued to run but was done immediatly after the race. She went and saw the wonderful dr we both go see and he fixed her right up. I have had knee pain off and on the entire time I've been running and I've just chalked it up to bad knees. I was oh so wrong. This go round my right inside knee just would throb the entire run and after for hours. So I went to Jaspers miracle worker (the chiropractor). He told me that the knee pain was because my hips were not centered and my feet were all jacked up, okay so maybe he didn't say those words exactly but you get my drift. So he gives me about 13 exercises to do twice a day. So long story short my hips are where they are suposed to be and my feet are much better, I haven't had knee pain in 2 weeks and I am down to doing the exercises only once a day.

We are getting pumped about the Dallas White Rock and hope that we feel the same wonderful feel we did last time. Just if the weather cooperates and it's 45 and not 85. Here's a picture of us last year after we were done, notice how happy Jasper and I were...Cindy however wasn't feeling as spunky as we were. Hopefully this year we ALL look happy at the end.

Halloween

Halloween seemed to come and go so quickly. I still have 3 pumpkins sitting on my porch waiting to be carved. Guess they'll end up Thanksgiving themes.

This year for Halloween Jake initially wanted to be a mummy. I unwillingly agreed. I went out and bought a white sheet, tea stained it, and then proceded to rip it to shreds.

The boys are in Awanas and have been since they were old enough to go and this year they let the kids dress up for Wednesday night. Oh were they excited. So I take off early to go start on Jake's costume. I got about one and a half arms done and I had had it! So I brought him up to the office and my wonderful mother in law finished him up for me. Of course after she had to unwind my bang up job. It took her 2 hours but Jake was very patient. By the time it was over we had all unanimously decided we weren't doing that again. I am sad to admit this, but I have no photo to share of the mummy that Janie so willingly created! Yes I know...horrible.

So for the rest of the two dress up days he was Karate Kid and Stockton was still a Cowboy. And what a cute cowboy he was:

And here's Jake in the new and improved (meaning super easy to get on and off) costume:

They ended up with a lot of candy that we still have over half of, but fun was had all around!!

One of the most wonderful days of Jake's life and ours as parents!

Jake and I were discussing the other day different things in the Bible and the subject of angels and demons came up. We were discussing the different things each does, etc. He asked me if a demon could get inside of you and I replied only if you aren't a Christian. I believe that if the Holy Spirit lives inside of you there is no room for evil to dwell there also! Now this doesn't mean it can't attach itself to you but that's a whole other story.

1 John 4:4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

So Jake asked how he could keep that from happening and I said by believing that Christ died for your sins and now lives in your heart. He said oh I do and I have for a long time now, and then he got this sad look on his face and said but I haven't been baptized. I asked him why he hadn't told me this before and he said he had told other people, oops should have told your mom dude! :) So of course we keep talking and I asked why did Christ die for us and he answered for our sins. So we went on about that and what sins were and what it meant to be saved and so forth. I asked him if he was ready to go down front at Church and he said yes he was! So wonderful. God is good!! We are so proud and blessed. I was not baptized until I was 20 and I wanted my children to have so much more and know Jesus early on in life so they can make better decisions than I did. I know this doesn't make one perfect, by all means, I am not claiming I am perfected, however I do try to strive for it and with God's strength that He gives us we can move thru this world knowing we have a secure place, thru His son Jesus, up in Heaven!!

John 3:16-17 For God loved the world so much that He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him!

AMEN!! What a wonderful feeling to know that my son will be right up there with Jackson and I when the time comes. Stockton and I have discussed this alot lately because I do not want him to not know and he knows as well! So awesome.

The long awaited Arkalalah blog...

Arkalalah came and went so fast this year and I missed the parade again. However running 7 miles and standing in a crowd of thousands just doesn't sound like that should follow the other. So needless to say I just went to our annual girls night out. Which was more than enough fun!!

The girls that went with me have all been to Arkalalah except Laurie, this was her first year and I do believe she had a good time:

Although she is from Arkansas she still has all her teeth, the chocolate covered cheesecake was a hit if you can't tell! :)

I have been going to Arkalalah since I was a baby. I can't remember a time not going (except for maybe when I lived in Tennessee for 2 years) at least to something that they have in the week of festivities. So we have made Thursday night a girls trip to Arkalalah. And boy oh boy do we have a good time...

We leave right after work and drive down there...this year Nephew and I were the dj's for the trip, they probably won't ask us to do it again next year...gotta love some Sir Mix Alot and Vanilla Ice every now and again. We arrived in Ark City and first thing we do is scope out what we want to eat first. My favorite thing to eat at Arkalalah is a bierock. So Yummy!!!

No idea what was so funny though. So on we go after the oh so yummy bierock stop to find what everyone else wanted. Jasper and I decided to split some fried pickles. She really thought they needed ketchup, I however was fine with the ranch they had given us, so we start scouting out a place that has some ketchup. Low and behold we found some or should I say "our retarded friend Jasper" found some:

She went running over, screaming about the ketchup and people all just stared, oh my it was so funny. So we had to savor the moment by the above picture. :)

After we got the initial food we decided to walk around the carnival and look at all the rides that no one would ride with me. :( When we were done there I of course if you know me had to go to the bathroom. Porta potties do not bother me one bit so off I go. Julie however thought the moment needed to be captured:



SO on we went after that wonderful experience to hunt down our favorite food stand of all...the chocolate covered cheesecake!! After the cheesecake was the hot chocolate...it was so cold that night. Here we are waiting at the hot chocolate stand being a bit goofy...

And I have no idea what I was thinking but this picture of Laurie and I totally cracks me up!!

And then Jasper and I patiently waiting for our hot chocolate, I do love my running partner!

And one of Nephew and I...if you've ever been around us, we are constantly in tears from laughing...I don't even think we know half the time what exactly we are laughing at...

All in all I am sure you can tell it was a funfilled evening that we will do years to come! I will leave you with the last event of the night...yes I had to go the the bathroom yet once again...and this time it was a new potty! They decided to make it a camera moment yet again. The first one is Laurie not agreeing obviously in my choice of restrooms and then the lovely exit is the next one.

It will be a much anticipated fun time for next year!

Gotta love Family Picture Day

So today Jasper and I decided it would be a good family picture day. We are always aware of how our husbands are ready to go and the children get a little annoyed, or vice versa. So why we do try to hurry and not be so picky we get some funny ones in the mean time:



Luke really wanted to be in the picture :)

Here's one of Jasper and I, gotta love friend pics!!!

And another one, you know the ones where you can't quit laughing and she just happens to capture it on camera!!

But I got her back...:)

All in all I think we got some good pics...however Jasper....we forgot to take pics of just the kiddos...oops.