Danville Half Marathon Race...

On Saturday, Nov. 13, we ran a half marathon race in Danville, Virginia.  We had beautiful weather and the course was beautiful.  The course was along a river for most of the race and the fall colors were very pretty.  The course started out flat for the first 6.5 miles but after that we hit about 3 miles of major hills.  It was tough!  I was thankful that we had done so many hills during our training.  We were able to pass a lot of people on the hills so that was good.  There was no water breaks during the hills so that made it even more difficult for me.  I learned my lesson and will be running with a water bottle from now on.  Tony was a great inspiration to me.  He was strong and I could tell he could have left me if he wanted to.  He was feeling much better on the hills than I was.  But, he made sure not to get too far ahead and he kept encouraging me and calling out my splits at all the mile markers.  If it was not for him, I don't think I would have done as well.  We ended up finishing in 1 hr. and 57 mins.  We wanted to break 2 hrs. but did not think we could do it because we have been sick for 2 weeks with respiratory colds.  We were so excited to break our goal.  And better yet, I placed 3rd in my age group and got an award.  That was an added bonus.  Our friends from church, David and Christina, ran too.  Christina did very well and placed 2nd in our age group.  She finished 10 minutes ahead of us.  David also broke his time goal so it was a good day for all of us.

Tony and I before the race.

Christina and David before the race.

Christina and I placed 2nd and 3rd in our age group (35-39 yr. old).  We are showing off our etched

glasses that we won.  We were very excited to both place. 

A great race and hopefully we can eventually run a marathon together!

Shiloh Report...

Regan is enjoying the fact that 4th graders do literature circles at Trinity.  Literature circles are very similar to a book club.  The children will pick a book and then will be broken into groups based on the book they chose.  Then, each day they read a chapter or two at home and come up with questions they want to discuss with their group.  This past month the whole class read the book, "Shiloh."  Regan enjoyed this book a lot because it was about a dog.  After the class completed the book, they had a big "Shiloh" day.  They had a feast at lunch of all the different foods mentioned in the book.  It was a crazy combination of foods...Meatloaf, Fried Chicken, Hotdogs, Pancakes w/ syrup, Chocolate Cake, Popsicles, Vanilla Pudding, Soda, Peanut Butter and Crackers, to name many.  They also had to do a project for Shiloh day and present it to the class.  Regan made a diorama and did an amazing job.   

Regan with her diorama.  Regan had to choose a scene from the book and make a diorama of that scene.  Regan chose the scene where a boy named, Marty, was rolling around in the grass with his dog named, Shiloh.  And Marty's sisters were there too.  His parents were sitting on the front porch of the house watching.  There was a picture of the house in the book and Regan wanted to make it exactly like the picture.  She did a very good job creating the house out of boxes, foam, popsicle sticks and the glue gun - which I had to help her with that part. 

I am now seeing the benefit of having so many craft supplies in my house.  Regan had a great time sorting through all my supplies to figure out what to use.  She used pipecleaners for the trees; popsicles, boxes and foam for the house, clay for the people, coconut dyed green for the grass, and construction paper to cover the outside and inside of the shoebox.  I thought she did a fabulous job and the teacher gave her the highest grade she could receive.  Good job Regan!!! 

Camp Kanata Fall Outing - Take Two...

Tony is doing Y Princesses with Regan and Riley this year.  Which means lots of Y Princess meetings and lots of fun doing activities with each daughter.  Riley and Daddy had their fall outing to Camp Kanata this weekend.  Their outing was for one day since they are only in their first year.  You do not get to spend the night until you are in year 3 of Y Princesses.  They enjoyed a fun day full of canoeing, hiking, ropes course, making smores, and a big bon fire at the end of the night.  Riley loved the ropes course the most and Daddy said she was very good at it.  It is fun for Tony to go to the same camp with each girl and see how they respond differently to things and how they are so opposite on what they like to do.  I am so thankful that Tony is getting to have these great experiences with the girls and that they are making lifetime memories.  I still to this day remember doing Y Princesses with my dad as a little girl and I know they will remember these times when they grow up too!

Riley enjoying the rope swing.  Mr. Little is getting Riley started.

 Riley gets a little push from her friend, Emma.

Riley on a tightrope.  Not sure about her form but Tony said she was really good at this.

 Climbing a tree that is over 200 years old.

 Riley with her friends, Caroline, Emma and Julianne.  They are just missing Sarah in this photo.

 Beautiful 200+ yr. old tree.

 

 Riley with her tribe friends.  There is only five girls and five dads in their tribe. 

 Riley eating smores with her friend, Julianne.

 Enjoying dinner with the other Durham Tribe.  Riley was excited to see her friend, Lizzie.

This is all the first year tribes walking to the bonfire and all the second year tribes are lining the path with torches for them to walk through. 

Another Year Older, NOT!!!

I had a birthday last Monday, November 1st and I am happy to say, "I am NOT a year older!"  You are probably wondering how that can be.  Well, I am about to share with you one of my "blonde moments."  I would usually be embarrassed to share my "blonde moments" but I benefit from this one so I can share it. :)  I was supposed to be 36 years old this birthday but for some reason I already thought I was 36 years old and have been telling people for quite some time that I was 36.  Tony's birthday is 2 months before mine and I thought he was going to be 37.  He then corrected me that we are only 36 years old this year.  I then said, "Oops, I have been telling people I am 36 and have been thinking that for quite some time, well at least I won't be older this year."  I am horrible at math too so knowing my birth year does not help me remember my age unless I am going to figure it out on paper and I don't have time for that.  So, now everyone knows I am NOT smarter than a 5th grader and I also did NOT age this birthday!!!!  See, I told you I benefit from this "blonde moment" or "senior moment" whatever you want to call it. :)  Anyways, I feel pretty good for a 26 year old, oops I mean 36 year old, and it was a good birthday. 

My birthday was on a Monday this year so it was not too relaxing but it was filled with love and fun.  I worked at the church during the morning with my dear friend, Robyn, and we got a lot of children's ministry stuff done.  Then, Tony and I had lunch at one of my favorite wings places, Over the Falls, while Reece hung out with her cousins and Aunt Abby.  Thank You Aunt Abby for letting Tony and I go out by ourselves for a nice lunch!  Then, I enjoyed a nice evening reading in bed with all my girls and my night ended with a wonderful surprise visit from Pastor Ross and his wife, Cathy.  They brought me an amazing chocolate cake!  It was a SWEET way to end my birthday night, literally!  Tony also bought me a cookie cake which is my favorite kind of cake so I ate on cake all week long and Halloween candy too.  Yikes, hopefully this year won't bring me anymore cavities. :) 

Here I am enjoying some sweet time with my girls reading together.  Regan actually gave me a backrub for a while too.  It was so nice. 

Halloween 2010

We did something different this year and actually braved going out in our neighborhood to Trick-or-Treat.  For the past 4 yrs. we have gone to a local church Trunk-or-Treat but this year our neighbors invited us over for a Chili dinner and then to go out Trick-or-Treating with a group.  Our neighborhood draws a huge crowd and we have to have security people at all the entrances so we don't have a ton of cars coming through our streets.  It is crazy and I have never been a big fan of the crowds.  Anyway, we tried it out this year.  We had a great dinner with our neighbors, Tony and Joyce, and several other good friends and then went out trick-or-treating and stayed out for at least 2 hrs.  We were all flat worn out by the end.  The girls did great and enjoyed themselves.  They did not get scared and most of the houses were not scary.  The only downer of the night was when Regan had a reaction to some of my eye make-up I put on her.  Her eyes starting getting very itchy and she was very uncomfortable.  I had to take her home and wash the make-up off and give her benadryl.  After that, she was fine the rest of the night.  I guess in the future she will have to wear hypoallergenic make-up or maybe no make-up at all. :)

 Riley scooping out the yucky stuff from our pumpkin.

 Reece getting a turn to scoop...

 Riley showing me how she wants the pumpkin carved.

 Reece the Butterfly, Riley as Dorothy from the "Wizard of Oz," and Regan as Cleopatra.

 Hanging out with our neighbors and friends...

 A Silly Photo.... Regan is not in this picture because this is when her eyes started hurting.

 Better after the make-up is removed...

 Tony had a football playmate all night, Brandon.  Tony brought a football along while the kids went trick-or-treating and Brandon was more interested in playing football than collecting candy.  Hence Brandon's costume, a football player. :)

 The kids out trick-or-treating.  We ran into our friends, the Lundbergs, and they had their dog dressed up as "Frenchy" from Fancy Nancy.  It was hilarious.  The girls loved playing with "Frenchy." 

Reece with her sweet friend, Annabeth a.k.a Fancy Nancy.

Camp Kanata Fall Outing...

Regan and Tony had their Y Princesses Fall Outing this weekend.  They spent the night at Camp Kanata on Friday night and then stayed all day/evening on Saturday doing all kinds of fun activities.  I love the bond Regan and Tony have and it is neat to hear all about their fun experiences when they come home.  Regan is always so happy when she comes back from these events, as well as Tony.  Here are some highlights...

They stayed in a very nice lodge.  Regan and Tony's bunks are to Regan's left.  Tony's highlight of the weekend was when he called Regan to come down to his bunk and read with him.  They sat cuddling under the covers reading.  Sweet times!!!

 They awoke to a beautiful, crisp Fall morning.  Regan and Tony walked down to the lake to enjoy the beautiful morning and got some great photos.

 There was a rope course at the camp that all the girls and their dads enjoyed.  Regan is walking across a tightrope here. 

 This is a large wooden teeter totter.  The girls seemed to have a lot of fun on this.

Regan and Tony enjoyed shooting Pellet guns.

This was a dead tree that Regan and the other girls enjoyed playing on and jumping off of.

 This was the highlight of Regan's weekend.  She got to ride on a pony led by her daddy down a small trail.

 Regan's pony's name was Peanut. 

 Regan and Tony were walking back from the horse trail and Regan was being silly and getting ahead of her daddy.  So, Tony captured a lot of cute photos of her.  I love the big smile on her face, SOOO happy!!!

 Catch me if you can....

 And off she leaves her daddy....check out her great running form.

 Regan is in her elements, with her daddy, in the woods, having fun!