This year we attempted a whole gingerbread village. I quickly learned that next year I will do the assembly after the kids go to bed and let them decorate to their hearts content the next morning. They were monsters while I was trying to put the houses together. Oh well, it’s all good fun.

I have two exciting things to share with you…

1- Ha you thought I was pregnant. Nope! 🙂 My friend Brittany is doing a 25 days of recipes on her cooking blog and today she featured me and my favorite recipe. Go check her blog out. I always find yummy recipes. In fact I get more recipes on her blog then anywhere else at the moment. Love it! Brittsapron.blogspot.com

2- My cakepop company Ladylove is currently doing an online giveaway. Go to the facebook page and look for the details. The winner gets a dozen free cakepops! (If you don’t live by me I will mail them to you!) Hurry and enter you have until midnight on Dec 10th.

See 2 exciting things!!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving again this year. We had our friends the Eng’s over for some dinner and then later that night we walked next door to our wonderful neighbors, the Frogan’s, for dessert. I really enjoy cooking and with the menu split between me and Kami it wasn’t stressful at all. Time consuming yes, stressful no. Our menu this year included: Turkey, Homemade stuffing (once you try this stuff the box just doesn’t do it for you.), pumpkin bars, rolls, green bean casserole, mash potatoes and gravy, jello pretzel dessert, apple pie, homemade whipped cream. It was delicious!  This was my first year cooking the turkey. I was so nervous! I got the Martha Stewart recipe here and it turned out really good. YAY! Ahh Thanksgiving is the best. Maybe one year we will make it back to Utah so we can eat with our families. Fingers crossed but not holding my breath.

We are so blessed beyond our own comprehension. Life is good.

This little man turned 16 months on Nov. 9th. He is our little stallion. We love him so much! He really completes our family. I kiss him every chance I get. Here are some fun things about our Ky Man:

He is obsessed with balls. He throws and kicks them all day. He is amazingly coordinated for his age.

He loves books. He picks a book and sits in your lap for you to read to him. He does this over and over again.

He loves to dance. It is hilarious and one of my favorite things to watch.

He talks all the time but most is jibberish.

He has to do everything his sister does.

He loves shoes and tries them all on.

He has started to be picky with food. He would eat anything before and we loved it! Now he has started spitting things out if he doesn’t like them. We are dissappointed his “eat everything” attitude didn’t last. He still loves to eat though.

He has started to throw tantrums.

He runs everywhere. Very seldom does he walk.

He would be outside all day if we let him. He cries every time we come in the house.

His nicknames are: Ky, Ky man, Ky boy, Boomer, Grump Master.

He thinks he’s a big boy.

He likes to clean with me.

He hates when something spills etc. He just stares, points and talks jibberish until I clean it up.

His smile still melts my heart.

I can’t believe he is getting so big! He is my sweetheart.

For the first time ever we took the kids trick or treating. We had taken Hallie to the ward Halloween party before but we never stay for the trick or treating part because it starts too late.  We went again this year and continued the tradition of leaving early. (We have a strict bedtime schedule. If you ever want to watch my kids the day after they stay up late you are welcome to.lol)Anyway, Hallie is old enough to remember now and since Halloween fell on a Monday night (Family Night) Ben went with us. Hallie and I were both very excited. We went with our neighbors the Forgan’s who have a 3 year old boy who Hallie just loves. We went around the neighborhood and collected the loot.  Hallie was very polite and said “Thank you berry much” after receiving candy. I felt like a kid filled with excitement just watching her have so much fun.

I decided that I would do a thankful journal with Hallie for the month of November. Each day she draws something she is thankful for and then she gets a piece of her halloween candy. 16 days into and it’s going really well.

Yesterday I ran the Richmond McDonalds Half Marathon. It was amazing!! I really only have great memories from this race! I am so so happy I did it. It is amazing how good I feel about myself after running this race. I set a goal. I trained. I accomplished it. I loved it!!

My good friend Kami and I woke up at 4 am on Saturday morning and drove down to Richmond. We sat in the warm car before braving the cold weather and lining up at the start line. We met up with a couple of our friends who were kind enough to pick up our race packets the night before. (Thanks again Molly and April!) I wish we would have gotten a picture with them but time got away from us. There were 16,000 people running this race! It was packed! It was so fun to have random people cheering us along the whole way. There were bands playing, water and powerade stations, and even vodka being offered. (Don’t worry friends I didn’t drink any!) haha. On our race bib they had our names and a few people cheered for my friend Kami after seeing her name. It was pretty cool. It ended up being a beautiful day. Cold yes, but beautiful. The sun was shining and the leaves were gorgeous. It doesn’t get better than running in beautiful weather with gorgeous scenery and good friends.

As far as the actual running goes it was a fabulous run. I felt energized by all the people and we just kept running and running. At around mile 10 or 11 I started to hurt. My legs didn’t want to do it anymore but when I slowed to get water I found it hurt just as bad to walk as it did to run so I ran.  I had the goal of finishing in under 2 hours. I finished in 1 hr 59 min. HA now that is a close call! Ben came with the kids to cheer me on at the finish line. Because there were so many people he didn’t see me run in but just the fact that he drove all that way with the kids that early in the morning once again gets him some major husband points. He has been so supportive of my running and I am so grateful for him. I married a good one!!!

I love, love, love the memories I have from this race and I am so grateful I did it. Thank you Kami for being such a great running partner. You rock!

Did I mention what a great experience this was. It was a great experience. haha

Now I think I am going to let my wallet take a break from running races for a few months. 🙂

These two pictures are my current favorites. I love my cuties!

Both taken with my phone of course because the camera is still broken. UGH!

Finally over a month late I am posting about my Ragnar race.

I ran 16.7 miles. It was an accomplishment! There was so much involved in this race that I will highlight just a few things.

My first leg of the race I ran up a freaking mountain! No joke. I remember thinking this isn’t running this is an extreme sport. I had been waiting so long to run (I was runner #5) and I wanted to unleash my legs. However it was impossible for me. There was nothing in Woodbridge, VA that could have trained me for that mountain. I kept up with a buff marine guy and felt pretty good about that. haha

I ran my friend Kami’s second leg with her and then she ran my second leg with me. Both of which were in the middle of the night. I was grateful for her company. We ran in fog that added to the spookiness and the danger and we ran past cemeteries and old bridges. We ran with huge headlamps, reflective vests, glow in the dark bracelets and a flash light.

My third leg was where I served my mission, Kensington, MD.  It was so exciting to be there and it was a tender mercy for me to be able to run there. Ben had been out of town all that week and came home while I was gone. He joined me with the kiddos for the last mile of my run. He scored some major husband points!

I did something I never thought possible. I became a runner!

Unfortunately my camera broke.

Fortunately my phone has a camera. Albeit not a very good one…it is nevertheless a camera.

I blame my lack of posting on the lack of camera. I figured even though the pictures aren’t great quality, I should still post them because lets be honest it doesn’t change the fact that my kids are stinkin’ adorable!

KYLE… is in my favorite stage. (I think I have been saying that since he starting sleeping though the night. lol) He is just so handsome and sweet and fun. He understands everything and I just want to kiss him all. the. time. Good thing he lets me. 🙂

HALLIE… is still her spunkie self. She has been pooping in the potty everyday now for at least a month. I love not having to change her nasty diapers. haha She rarely lets me do her hair because she “likes it in her face”. Our backyard has really given her the adventure and freedom she craves. She catches all kinds of bugs, worms, centipedes etc. She even came to us holding a frog the other day. When we first moved into this house she would always say, “mommy you hold it”. She is now brave! YAY!

BEN… is loving his new job. Hallelujah! He goes to work enjoying what he does and is told how wonderful he is while is there. I’m telling you I married a true STUD! The sky is the limit with him. Does he work a lot of hours-yes. Does he have to go out of town sometimes-yes. Do I feel like a single mom sometimes-yes. However, I will do it all because he is happy and I am so grateful he is happy.

ME… lets just say I run a lot. My race is next week and I am so excited. I have never been in better shape and I am loving it! I pray everyday to be a better and more patient mom. Sometimes I am and sometimes I fail. I guess that is the nature of it. At least I hope I’m not the only one. 🙂 I will start tutoring again this week and I am looking forward to that as well. Life is good!

Here are some pictures from my phone.