7 years of fun

Today my baby turns seven. SEVEN I say!!! Can you believe how fast time has flown? Well neither can I. And oh the changes with this little girl. She has grown to be so beautiful, smart, caring, nurturing, loving, funny, sassy, creative, and just down right wonderful!

My sweet baby girl, you are the light of my life and the joy in my heart! I love you dearly and wish you the Happiest Seventh Birthday!

quick trip

Several months back we decided that it would be fun to go to Nashville for a long weekend and when I learned that there was a race there in the spring I didn't need any more convincing. I signed myself up for the half marathon (chickened out of the full) and Elizabeth up for the kids race. Well, any military family knows that things come up and vacations have to get cancelled on short notice. So to make the best of it, I stole my friend for the weekend, left the kids with my mom and headed to Nashville for a short weekend.

We left on Friday and took about 8 hours to get there. Do you know how many years it has been since I have been in a car for that long without having to stop 300 times to go potty, do gymnastic maneuvers to reach a sippy cup, listen to some goofy movie, or sing children songs? Seven years! But I digress...

We drove straight into downtown to the expo to pick up our bib numbers and packets. (We had to take advantage of a photo op. while we were there.) I really wish that had been my actual time. :)

A good friend of mine and Mike's was in Nashville to run the full as well. We commandeered him to take our photos several times. :)

Arriving at the race start. The forecast was for high winds, thunderstorms with damaging hail and tornadoes. Fantastic! They started the race 15 minutes early in hopes of getting a head start to the race. As it started there were patches of blue and it was actually kind of nice out.

Towards the end of the race I was out of energy and out of good spirit as well. The weather was quickly turning bad and all I wanted to do was be done. BUT, Lynette, being the very seasoned runner that she is, was skipping along taking my picture and I just couldn't help but laugh. I was so thankful she was there to run it with me.

After making it to the end of the race and back to the hotel without encountering any tornadoes, we showered, took a nap and then headed to The Bodies Exhibit, which happened to be in town then. We figured it was safer to be indoors. We then headed to back to the area of the hotel for some dinner to find out that the power was out and no one was serving anything. Anyone that has run before knows that after a race, you are STARVING! So off we went on a hunt to find a restaurant that had power. Thank goodness for iPhones! Ha!

As we ate the weather started to clear up a bit so we decided to take advantage of being childless and head downtown to some bars. We quickly realized that we were the 'old folk' down there and it had been a very long time since we had been to a bar. We weren't exactly dressed for it but hey, we had a beer or two and are now able to say we have been there and done that.

Of course I had to have a drink with our old college friend. After all, that is pretty much all I remember doing back then.

In the end, it was a quick trip full of many hours of watching the weather channel and a few miles run in between but it certainly is a good memory. Thank you Lynette for going with me and thank you Mike and Mom for staying back and watching the kiddos.

5 years ago...

Five years ago on this morning I was sitting in the hospital awaiting your arrival. You amazed us from the beginning. You amazed us with your calm serenity after birth. You amazed us with your undenyable perfection.

8 days old

You continued to amaze us with your wiggling feet as you learned to sit. You amazed us with your ability to make an entire room smile with your giggle. You amazed us with your presistance and determination to learn new things. You amazed us with your desire to sit for hours just to be snuggled.

5 years old

You have amazed us with your persistance. You amaze us with your dare devilish ways. You amaze us with your ability to get dirty without even trying. You amaze us with your love for school.

And you continue to amaze us every day! You are growing up to be such a wonderful young man. We can't wait to see what you are going to amaze us with in the years to come. We love you so much AJ! Happy Birthday!

bedtime story

So every night for the past 6 1/2 years Mike and I have been reading stories to the kids before bed. The time has finally come that Elizabeth is reading her bedtime stories by herself and she reads to AJ on occasion. Well because he wants to be like his older brother and sister, Jacob too is trying to read and copy his bedtime stories. Tonight he demonstrated his skills while reading Elmo's lullaby to us. Man I love this kid!

beautiful sites

I have always known that we are stationed in "paradise" but recently the sites have just been unbelievable. Makes me realize what I take for granted and how I need to appreciate all that is around us while we are here.

A turtle in a pond in our neighborhood.

Driving home from the grocery store after a light rain.

Driving over the bridge to get some dinner.

A view from the beach house we are staying at this summer.

Sand dunes at the base beach.

Driving home after a photo shoot.

We are really lucky to live where we do.

Seaside 1/2

I have now officially been running for over a year and Seaside was my anniversary race. Back in 2009, I ran my first race (outside of high school) in Seaside. I ran the 5K and never imagined that I would want to or be able to run more than 3.1 miles. A year later I ran my first half marathon exactly where I ran my first race.

This journey was not an easy one. I have had my share of running related injuries as well as the challenges of having a family and trying to get my training in.

About a two weeks before the race while out on a training run, I hurt my back and leg. I wasn't able to walk for two days and was afraid that my race would not become a reality. After seeing my doc and getting in with an awesome physical therapist, they got me in condition to run.

Not only did I have my redheaded stubbornness working for me but the motivation, inspiration and encouragement of close friends and family were huge. In the end, I ran my first half marathon with my husband by my side the whole way and the inspiration of a dear friend in my thoughts. My time was slower than I wanted but I was just happy to cross the finish line. I had a blast and it was a very memorable experience for me. I am so happy that I did it!

the big one

For months now this little girl has wiggled and wobbled her teeth just to get them loose and now for about a week we have seen this...

A tooth hanging by a thread because she is too afraid to pull it out and won't let us near it!

However, today she came home after school with a very wide gaping hole right in the middle of her smile. The thing finally came out while she was at school.

Now for the next one to come out....

a walk in the woods

It has only taken us 18 months to explore the trails on the range right behind our neighborhood but we are so glad that we did. What better day to spend some quality time with the ones that you love than Valentine's Day? After breakfast we told the kids we were going on a "hike" and they were raring to go.

Only one block over from ours is the entrance to the range. The trails start out by a lake. We were able to see several beaver dams along the way. Elizabeth was especially interested in how the beavers built their dam and how the sticks all stayed together.

The kiddos were anxious to explore the trails and find all sorts of nature along the way.

Elizabeth recently took a field trip to a state park so she was able to be our tour guide on our trip through the woods telling us all about the trees and the moss and some of the flowers we saw.

I had to take advantage of the rare sightings of all three of them together and smiling.


By the end of our walk, they were pretty tired and actually getting along enough to hold hands. This too is a rare sighting.


I think we are going to have to take advantage of all of the trails again sometime soon before the weather gets to warm and humid and all of the bugs come out. It was certainly beautiful on our walk through the woods.

Mardi Gras Destin Style

When the weather is nice we head over to Destin for some fun with the kiddos. We had no idea that the Destin Commons was having a Mardi Gras celebration but we certainly enjoyed stumbling upon it. The kids got their faces painted, we watched a parade and collected way more beads than one family could ever want.

Once the parade was over, we watched a dance school put on a performance that the kids were mesmerized by. It was a great day to spend a Sunday afternoon!

a night away

Thanks to some ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL friends of ours Mike and I were able to leave the kiddos at home and hit the road for Pensacola for the night. We headed out right after school and drove right along the coast. We knew the sand was white here but honestly it looked like blankets of snow. It was so smooth and pretty.


We actually went to Pensacola to run in the Double Bridge 15K. To our surprise, my Dad was working there that weekend so he met us the night we got in and then met us again at the finish line the next morning.


The race was awesome! We ran over two bridges and through 3 towns. Who knew you could do that in as little as 9.3 miles? Anyway, it was beautiful to see the sunrise over the water. The weather was cool but sunny and the wind was at our backs. Good times.

After the race we headed back home with my Dad in tow it retrieve the kids and have them spend the rest of the weekend with their Pappy. The kids were so surprised to have Pappy spend the weekend with us and they showed off nonstop the entire weekend.

It was a great weekend! Thanks Dad for spending time with us!