Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving was our year with Davin's side.  He wanted to take off a couple days early so he could play some golf with his dad.  On Tuesday afternoon me and the girls went to my parents house b/c one of my mom's close friends that moved away several years ago was in town and hadn't met the twins yet.  It was great to see Mrs. Angie and two of her daughters.  We grew up in church together and so it was fun getting to see them again.  I stayed at my parents until late afternoon on Wednesday and then headed to the in-laws. This year we had Thanksgiving on Wed night at Granny's house.  There are always lots of people there (big family) and lots of yummy food!
Davin and I did get out and run 5 miles on Thursday, so I felt a little better about all the food I consumed and was going to consume the rest of the weekend :)! 
Friday night we had Thanksgiving for the Hughes side of the family at Davin's parents house.  Again, there were a lot of people and a lot of food.
Other than a trip to the Elementary school for the girls to play on the playground, and out to eat at the Mexican place, we pretty much just hung out around his parents house.
Saturday morning we headed back home for some shopping and to take down Fall stuff and put up Christmas stuff.
We had a great time with his family.
*I stole most of these pics from Mandy's blog, she is a much better picture taker than me :)!  Thanks girl!

All the yummy food!

Davin with his Aunt Trish, and cousin Amy

Parker, Payton, and Grace...second cousins.

The boy cousins and cousins-in-law

Davin, Dakota, Peck, Tim

Britt, Kyle

(Hunter can fill in as Andrew since he was out hunting) Colt, Kent, Levi, Kevin

The gals - Kala, Amy, Hailey, Lacy

Jessica, Me, Abby, Mandy

Cousins and cousin's-in-law (if there is such a term!)

Me and hopefully my sister-in-law one day.  We all hope Britt will propose soon :)!

  

Kevin and Payton. Payton was soaking up all the attention from anyone that would play with her :)!

Parker's favorite toys are still ride on toys!

The girls at Gran and Pa's house in their Turkey shirts that me and my mom made for them!

Now it's time for all the Christmas celebrations!  It gets a little A LOT busy this time of year, but the reason I celebrate this season isn't all the fun, parties, presents, food, sugar :), but the reason is that a baby was born.  A very special baby who was, and is, and is to come! A baby that was born in a manger and grew up a lowly carpenter.  A sinless man, who is Christ the Lord.  A baby that would save the world!  Thank you Lord for your son Jesus and that we can celebrate him this season! 

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

"For God so loved that world that He gave is only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

Randomness....

A few weeks ago we went to the Richey's house for Adeline's 2nd birthday!  They had a bounce house set up outside for the kids to play in.  The girls had lots of fun in that thing! 

The girls jumping in Adeline's trampoline that they also had set up!

That night Davin's parents came up to watch the girls so that we could go to the Razorback game.  My brother and his brother-n-law Chris, and the Futterers joined us.  It was one of the most fun games I've been to.  I'm sure it had a lot to do with the fact that I had great company (Ams and I talked and laughed the whole time) and we won!  However, on our way home a kid in front of us thought he had his car in drive and floored it to go up the hill, or so he thought, but he had his car in reverse and rammed into us.  We waited over an hour for the cops to finally show up and get all the paperwork/insurance junk taken care of.  Thank goodness it was 'Fall back' daylight savings time that night so when we got home at midnight it was only 11, ha!

 Chris, Jack, Joe...calm, excited, nervous?!? haha.  silly boys

The following Tuesday, our good friends had their second baby!  Abby gave birth to Landon and I was so excited to get to see him and love on him!  With all of our traveling I just knew we were going to be out of town when he came.  When Ava was born we were in Destin and I was so sad we weren't there (she came a week early) and so I was really hoping Landon would come between all of our traveling :), and he did!

A couple weekends ago there was a local Boutique show that I have gone to for the last couple years.  So on Friday, Dia and Claire came over to be here while the girls napped!  Bless their sweet hearts, my girls napped the entire time they were here, so they just came over to hang out with each other at my house :), love those girls and so thankful for them!
Amberley hadn't ever been to the show, so we went together.  There were lots of great things, and I was really on a search for stockings, but didn't find any.  I did find the girls their Christmas outfits and a dress for the Spring!

The next morning we went to a birthday party for our friend Zach at a Bounce house.  He turned 4 years old.  Four just sounds so much older than 3 to me.  Seems like the other day we were at the hospital when he was born, crazy!  We had a fun morning celebrating with him.

That night we met up with some friends for the lighting of the town square and a small parade.  This was our first year to go and it was fun!  The girls loved all the lights!  Thankfully it was an unusual warm night so it was nice to be out and not be freezing!!  We all went out for BBQ afterward and had a fun time visiting.  I was thinking how just a couple years ago we were all on a ski trip together and none of us had kids (two were pregnant) and now we all have kids!

That Sunday night we had our good friends the Coleman's over for dinner.  It's so fun to watch the girls and Noah interact with each other.  The age gap is getting smaller and smaller and they are enjoying playing with each other more and more, I love it! 

Rock 'N Roll Marathon # 4, 5, and 6!

*I'm behind, so I combined the last 3 races into one post...long with lots of pictures!

Back in October (21-23rd) we traveled to St. Louis for race number 4!  For this race, we left the girls with my parents so that we could enjoy a weekend getaway.  I am SO thankful for my parents and for their selflessness and willingness to help with the girls. 
Friday morning after the girls and my parents had left, we finished packing up and headed out to run a few quick errands before we left town.  Of course those few quick errands turned into a couple hours, HA!  So we ate lunch at a yummy Mexican place a few towns north of us and then hit the road!  It was a nice drive and it was good to be able to talk to each other the whole ride!
We got to St. Louis around 6 and after checking into our hotel we walked to a local BBQ place for dinner.
Saturday we were able to take our time getting up and around...so nice.  We went out for brunch at a local place called The Rooster.  It was great.  Then we walked to the Expo and then to the Arch.  It was such a beautiful day and perfect weather.
After the Arch we drove to the Anhueser Busch building for a tour.  Our friend Jill went to school here and told us that it was a neat place, and although neither of us drink, it was free and we thought it would be neat.  My favorite part was seeing the Clydesdale's.  Those horses are beautiful. 
Next we went to Delmar Loop for some fro yo and to walk around and look at the shops.  Then we were off to dinner to meet up with a big group of friends.  Will was also running this marathon, so we met up with them, his brother Andrew and Laine, a few people from Atlanta that Will and Sarah know, and some of Laine's family.  We had a great night and enjoyed some carbs before the big run (I just enjoyed some carbs for all my cheering :)).
Davin always craves Mexican after a big run, so after showering and packing up we left the hotel and headed to Chevy's for some oh so good Mexican. 
I was thankful for a nice break in parenting, but I was excited to see my girls when we got home!  I know they had a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Amber, Davin,(a friend of Will's, forgot his name), Andrew, Will, Kevin

The following weekend Davin flew to LA to run in the 5th race of this series.  His childhood best friend, Donnie, just moved out there last winter and so Davin flew out on Thursday so that he could spend some time with Donnie.  They had some 'guy time' hiking and camping!  I was sad to miss this race and the trip to LA, but I know Davin enjoyed being able to catch up with Donnie (and enjoy some male bonding :))! 
The girls and I went to my parents for the weekend.  My mom and I did a few sewing projects and went to the local Fall Fest.

Laura, Donnie, and Del on the Pier in Malibu.  Miss them!!

Almost 2 weeks later we drove to San Antonio, TX for race #6, the final race of the series!  My parents hadn't ever been to San Antonio (us either) and so they joined us for the trip.  I decided we should just drive so we could pack all the stuff we needed instead of paying for 4 plane tickets, renting 2 car seats and 2 pack-n-plays, but I may rethink this next time :)!  The girls did very well, but man it was a LONG drive.  We stopped a lot so that the girls could run off energy from being in the car so much, so it just made for a long drive.  Car trips at this age (almost 22 months) are just harder b/c they don't just sleep all the time like they did when they were 7 months old and we drove to Destin, nor are they interested in TV/videos just yet (like 5min and they were done with them!).  All in all they did great and we had a wonderful time!
We left early Thursday morning so we got to SA around dinner time.  We stayed right on the riverwalk, so after checking into the rooms, we walked down to the river and found a place to eat and then it was back to the room to go to bed.
Friday we found a little local bakery and had a yummy breakfast and then headed to the Zoo.  I had heard/read great things about the Zoo here, but I wasn't as impressed as I thought I was going to be.  We still had a great morning and the weather was just beautiful!  I think the girls may have still been a little young for the zoo.  They liked the animals, but were more interested in running around and climbing on anything and everything.

After a quick stop at Subway for a light lunch, we headed to the Expo.  It was fun for my parents to finally get to see and experience all that comes with participating in runs that we've talked about for the last several years since we've been doing this. On our way to the Expo we stopped at the Alamo.  Can't come to SA and not see the Alamo. 
That evening we spent some time down on the Riverwalk and ate dinner at a really good Italian place.

Saturday we had breakfast at a favorite local place, Tim's Country Kitchen, and it was SO good!  Then off to Market Square for some shopping.  Mom and I had read that this was a neat place, but as Davin put it, "it was like shopping in a 3rd world country" ha!  We didn't stay long.  After a quick stop at the hotel we walked a few blocks to watch the Veterans day parade.  The girls had so much fun dancing to all the bands playing, and waving at everyone in the parade!  Then we headed to the RIM for some shopping and back to the Riverwalk for dinner and a boat ride/tour of the river.

   

 

 The girls got beads at the parade.

                     
Sunday we got up bright and early to head to the start line.  We were able to walk to the start, then mile 3, and mile 8, and finally the finish!  It was fun to see Davin a few times and cheer him on.  We pretty much walked everywhere but a few places all weekend, it was nice!

Davin did great and after the long walk back to the hotel to pack up, we were on the road again! It was another LONG drive, but we made it home around midnight.
Davin has been wanting to participate in the Rock-n-Roll Marathon Series for a long time and eventhough I may have thought doing this before we had kids would be better :), I'm very proud of him and excited that he accomplished one of his goals!  Way to go babe, you rock! I love you!