Tybee Island, Georgia: The Day Before Savannah

The first week in November I set out on a girls' road trip with my good friend to run in the Rock 'n' Roll Savannah Half Marathon.  Laura and I left Friday morning and spent the next four hours laughing and talking to Savannah.  I was expecting horrific traffic since my memory from last year was scarred from long lines of people everywhere.  Well, we cruised right up to the convention center to collect our packets and then smoothly found a parking spot downtown by the water to walk about.  We met up with some other cute runners from Peachtree City and all decided to head to the beach.  I started dreaming of the sand beneath my toes already.  I live for the beach as you can appropriately guess by my skin color.   Although Savannah is a city on the water, it is not on the ocean.  Savannah's beach is really Tybee Island and it looks a lot like this:

I may have frolicked once or twice when I finally made it to the shore. 

The PTC gals about to run a half marathon: Shelyse, Linda, Julie, Laura, and Kristen

Peachtree City 15K Classic

At the end of October on a beautiful warm Saturday morning, I ran in the Peachtree City Classic with a time of 1 hour 23 minutes 14 seconds.  The course is a 15K or roughly 9.3 miles.  It was a personal best for I shaved off a couple minutes compared to last year's PTC Classic.  It was a perfect morning and I was so grateful for such a healthy body.

  

Here's a funny story for the history books.  I live about one mile from the starting line and last year I luckily hitch-hiked a ride on the back of a stranger's golf cart also going to the starting line.  I decided to press my luck and had the same transportation plan for this year's race.  Well, my luck ran dry for there was not a soul on the paths before the race started heading south.  I had left the house too late to casually walk to the start line so I had to run at about a race pace.  I found my running ladies, Liz and Coach LeAnn, near the start with about 20 seconds to spare before the gun.  I had plenty of adrenaline already flowing and I was ready to run...again.

And then to sandwich my race with more adrenaline, I had to finish under a certain time for Gavin had a soccer game later that morning.  With one car and the soccer fields only assessable by vehicles, I had to run fast enough so I would make his game.  So when I crossed the finished line I did not slow down.  I ran to get my finisher's tee, I ran to get my refreshments, and I ran to the car with a bunch of boys cheering and waiting for me.

Two Colorful Clowns

In the middle of October, my mother had a total knee replacement surgery.  Her recovery was amazing this round compared to six years earlier when she had her other knee replaced.  I think it might have had something to do with these two clowns.  The day we went to take my mother home, the boys walked the hospital halls wearing this wig we acquired from purchasing Madagascar 3.  I know I am their mother so it's only natural, but I would swell with pride when I saw someone's day brighten because of them.  They would laugh and sing Marty's song from the movie, but talking about apple circus instead afro circus.  I love every day with these two colorful clowns. 

The Tree in Our Front Yard

Every day during the fall I would wait all day until the sun hit this one tree in our front yard just right.  It usually happened around 4:00pm and it was almost like someone lit the tree on fire every day.    Amongst all these evergreens, this one tree had the most vibrant reds and oranges.  I loved watching this tree change during the season.  I even gave thanks to it once it dropped all of the leaves for we were able to make the biggest leaf piles with them.  This tree also lends itself to the boys every day when they can sneak in a swing or two.  Moments like these remind me how beautiful this earth is that our Heavenly Father created for us.  What a blessing to be surrounded with beauty.      

  

Happiest Christmas!

May your home be filled with love, health, and happiness this Christmas season.

p.s. I promise to update the blog again soon.

More October Happenings

At Gavin's Preschool Pumpkin Patch, Logan poses for the camera in fashion right after his brother.  The motto in our house is 'monkey see, money do.'
 

One night for our church's mid-week activity with the young men (ages 12-17), we had just about every guy over for video game night.  Hence all the shoes.  We had a Wii, PS3, and Xbox all running various games throughout the night.  My boys were in heaven watching all these older boys play, dance, and wrestle.  Oh, and there is a picture of Captain American waiting for his family to finish getting ready before school drop-off while reading the Target Toy Catalog.    
 

Monday night is Family Night in our house.  And we realized the Monday before Halloween we had not carved pumpkins yet.  Well with only little pumpkins in the house, we decided to paint our lot instead.  It was a great age appropriate activity and we all had lots of fun.  
 

Shopping and Peru

Shopping with these two can be a hoot!  Gavin's guitar jacket was bought, while Logan devil dog's costume was not.
 

Earlier in the month, Sean's cousin Nate received his mission call to serve for two years for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to the Lima Peru North Mission!  We are excited to start sending him letters and packages, but we will have to wait until March to do so.  Our sweet family indulged us and let us join in the fun via FaceTime when he opened his call.  The room had fits of excitement for Nate as we then got passed around from person to person to say a quick hello.  We are blessed to have such amazing families.  
 

Bobby Dodd Stadium in Downtown Atanta: Brigham Young Cougars vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

At the end of October, the Brigham Young Cougars came to town to play against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.  Sean and I were able to sneak away with some friends and enjoy a great game where the Cougs won 41-17.  With the sun shining and just a bit of breeze, the game was perfect made mostly because we won.  Way to go, Cougars! 

Happy Thanksgiving: A Thought of Gratitude

I was making the boys' beds Sunday morning when I suddenly noticed silence in the house.  It was too quiet in fact.  Then, as if directed, I heard Gavin's hearty laugh coming from the front yard.  Looking out the boys' windows, I see my family sneaking a bit of pre-church play in the front yard.  Sean is pushing Gavin on the tree swing while Logan is shoveling leaves besides them with a sandbox toy.  Everyone still in their pajamas.  Everyone still wearing their house slippers; Gavin wears the Spiderman ones while Logan wears Lightening McQueen.  

A wave of gratitude filled my heart as I reflected on that moment.  I quietly said a prayer of thankfulness.  We live on a quiet street in a central location of this bubble we call Peachtree City.  We are healthy, happy, and loved.  Heavenly Father has blessed this phase of our lives immensely and we have much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. 

On Monday night, we had Family Night where we took turns revealing what we were grateful for right now.  Logan said corn and edamame since that is part of what we had for dinner.  Gavin said his school and church friends.  Sean said his job and Peachtree City.  I said my healthy body and the sun.  Then we ended our round with naming each other; Gavin said Logan, Sean said me, Logan said Gavin, and I said Sean.  We have each other, and truly that is a thought of gratitude.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family this Thursday.            

A Few More

Logan while touring the Walking Dead filming locations.
 

Not only were we happy to have the Miners visit for a week, but we were happy to have daddy off work too.
 

Some 'Grandma Jeana and Gavin' love.
 

Peachtree City, Georgia: Saying Good-Bye

It's always hard to say good-bye to ones you love.  We missed them the minute they left and cannot wait to see them again.  We were so happy that they came to visit us on their precious vacation time away from work.  

Our Miner Family: Kortney, Chase, Grandma Jeana, Gavin, Grandpa Steve, Logan, Sean and Kristen

Downtown Chattanooga: Tennessee Aquarium

Making the most of our visit, we toured the Tennessee Aquarium while in town.  We had heard from some good friends here that the aquarium was worth the trip and maybe even better than the Georgia Aquarium.  It is hard to compare the two equally, but we will say that we had a blast at the Tennessee one.  It was housed in two large buildings and both were well designed for crowd control.  Not that we had a crowd since it was a weekday afternoon.
 

Sting Ray petting pool.  Look at that beautiful belly on Kortney.
 

I am trying to see if Kortney notices that I posted this picture of her.
Just remember I love you, Kortney!
 

Just look at these two.  So lovely, so exciting.  We love these two so much, and we are so excited for this baby girl to get here.  The end of January will come soon enough but at the same time it will take forever too.
 

Gavin inside the piranha tank.  You can barely see his feet spotlighted at the bottom of the tank.
 

How our boys stand up to a penguin's height.
 

Party inside inside the giant crab tank!
 

On our way to the second building.
 

It was a dreamy day filled the ones we love.
 

Chattanooga, Tennessee: Lookout Mountain Incline Railway

After the race we left Alabama and headed home for a good night's sleep.  The very next morning we woke and traveled north to Tennessee to the cutest town of Chattanooga.  It is right on the water and has this really charming, southern feel in the air.  There is quite a lot to do in Chattanooga, but we chose to ride the Incline Railway to Lookout Mountain.  The railway is about one mile long but has an incline around 72% (thank you, Wikipedia).  It actually felt pretty steep.  Gavin said it was a pretty cool ride and on our descent back down Logan exclaimed "weeeeeee" with his arms in the air.    

Views from the top.
 

Riding the train.
 

It was a little chilly at the top, so I sacrificed my jacket to Logan.  That is why it looks like he is wearing a jacket dress in all these pictures.  Why is he without a jacket?  On the ride north to Tennessee, we stopped to grab some breakfast from McDonald's and he gagged/threw up all over his jacket and the pregnant lady in the car.  Both were eventually cleaned up and just fine.  
 

Still riding up the mountain, apparently.
 

A few steps away from the top of Incline Railway is Point Part.  This cute, little historic park sits on the corner on the mountain overlooking the city and the river.
 

A view of Chattanooga.
 

History mixed with a beautiful view.
 

Love these two.
 

Our childrens' family.
 

Talladega, Alabama: NASCAR Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500

Now back to the Miners.  Despite being almost exhausted from Six Flags the day before, we forged ahead and attended the NASCAR race at Talladega.  It was our first visit to Alabama since moving to Georgia and Superspeedway lived up to its name.  The track was large and long, and yet we had an easy time getting into and out of the track.  Sean was gifted a sweet scanner for his birthday that we were able to enjoy during the race too.  The weather was mostly cloudy with a chilly wind blowing once in a while.  The sun would make an appearance every now and then to warm us up, and I was grateful for it.  And gratefully, Grandma Jeana stayed home with the boys while the rest of us got our redneck on.
   

Peachtree City, Georgia: Trick-or-Treating

This year we went trick-or-treating in the cutest, easiest neighborhood called Honeysuckle Ridge with our good friends, the Johnsons.  The street was flat, the front doors were close together, and the whole street was in a circle making it easy to walk the outer then inner loop for candy.  It was this parent's dream come true.  They even handed out full-size candy bars occasionally including a huge bag of Sour Patch Kids just for me.  Remind me to thank Logan later for picking that colorful, shiny bag.

Both boys were super excited, Gavin especially since he was trick-or-treating with one of his best friends Jake.  We had a bakugan, a princess, Captain America, an eskimo, and Thor walking around with us collecting candy.
 

Here are the street-walkers who periodically collected their candy tax from their children.
 

This handsome, little lion stayed in the stroller, but never seemed to mind.
 

This neighborhood knew they were the place to go, so almost all of the houses were well decorated.
 

Caught-up in the excitement of the night.
 

The scariest house on the block happened to be a family from our church.
 

A quick impromptu group shot after I asked the owner if we could snap a shot.  This house, and so many others on the street, looked like they belonged in a Pottery Barn catalog.
 

And finally the sorting and dividing begins!
 

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!