updates that begin with ~

~ i love this time of year…change of seasons to the fall (YES!) and football season. i posted a blog a long time ago about reasons i love fall & winter.

~ both of our football teams lost this weekend. boo!

~ lots of birthdays coming up! my dad, jen, ryan, jeff – all over the next few weeks.

~ 1 of my cousin’s has a wedding in dallas, 1 of my other cousin’s has a wedding shower, and another cousin has a baby due all in october!

~ ryan & i are going camping in t-minus 12 days…we’ll be heading to beaver’s bend for a peaceful weekend alone!

~ a few of my very best friends have 5k’s this upcoming weekend. good luck danny, ashley, & rachel! let me know how it goes. i’m so proud of all of you.

~ ryan & i have started lifting weights at the gym at his work. its nice, not to mention free! trying to incorporate more cross-training in along side my running.

~ ryan made these chicken enchiladas the other day & they were absolutely amazing…you should definitely add this to your recipe book.

~ addi’s teeth & gums are healing nicely…it looks almost back to normal & she doesn’t seem to be in any more pain. whew!

~ ryan & i have officially joined grace community church this weekend. we love the values & vision of the church & are pumped to get more involved. ryan has been helping on occasion w/the audio. we also plan to join a small group in a couple of weeks…looking forward to being part of community again.

~ rumor has it that we may be enjoying this on saturday night in celebration of jen’s bday!

~ the office this season has been hilarious thus far…i love this show!

~ the girls love to watch videos in our bed while i’m getting ready. so i will end this post with a pic of my cutie pie punkins cuddled together in “momma & daddy’s bed.” have a great week friends! until next time…

the pledge, the tumble bus, and the tooth catostrophe

the pledge…

first of all, i must say – i am SO proud of addi and all that she is learning at her fabulous school! the other night, my parents were over & after we finished dinner, addi just busted out with this…

how awesome is that?!!! i knew they had started working on the pledge at school, but had no idea that she had it memorized already…i was so very impressed. it brought tears to my eyes!

the tumble bus…

aunt jen bought addi a month of tumble bus playtime. the tumble bus is an old school bus converted into a mini gymnastics area for small children (ages 3 & up). they teach them the basics of tumbling, stretching, and exercise. it comes to the girl’s school every friday and addi loves it! the teacher said that she was so impressed with how addi does all the stretches perfectly. which of course adds to this momma’s proudness factor. here are some pics of last friday’s tumble bus experience that aunt jen joined her for.

the tooth catostrophe…

today, after a great service at church, the girls and i were sitting in the atrium area waiting for ryan (who’s been running sound a few sunday’s a month). well, addi was sitting on a bench one minute and the next thing i know she’s face down on the floor crying. poor baby fell right on her face & busted her teeth & lip! she knocked her front two teeth up into her gums and busted her lip, so she was bleeding for a while. luckily, no teeth were busted out – but one of them is sort of protruding now, so we will take her to the dentist tomorrow and see what’s up. it doesn’t feel loose…maybe its just like this b/c her gums are swollen? hopefully it will all be ok. i think i cried as much as she did! from what i’ve read and heard, gums will tighten back up and the tooth will fix itself and reposition correctly for the most part. i just hope & pray there is not root damage or anything. please say a little prayer for my baby. she was such a little trooper today…again, proud momma.

and i’ll leave you with this (don’t want to leave my kam kam out)…the cutest little recorder player you’ll ever see!

Attention all my running friends!

Are you a runner? Do you have upcoming races you are training for? I’d love to hear from you! Leave me a comment and let me know what you are training for. Something I have found to be true is this…encouragement & accountability from other runners is SO helpful, not to mention motivational & challenging! I know that there are several of you out there, from all over, that are in training…so lets band together and help motivate each other. Plus, there may be some of us out there registered for the same races…in which case, we should meet up! Also, I posted a blog not long ago about the reasons I love to run. You can read it here. Why do you like to run? I’d love to hear your reasons!

Here, I’ll start…

On my race calendar:

• 1. Tyler Half Marathon, October 2009
• 2. The Dallas Turkey Trot, Thanksgiving 2009
• 3. Dallas White Rock 1/2 Marathon, December 2009
• 4. Tyler Azalea 10k, March 2010
• 5. Austin Capitol 10K, April 2010
• 6. San Francisco 1/2 Marathon, July 2010

Now its your turn! Comment away & run on.

Labor Day Weekend

I know I’m a little slow at posting this…but this week has been insanely busy!  The girl that does all of our accounts receivables/payables at work left on maternity leave. So I’m now doing her job as well as my own! Thankfully, we have another lady starting on Monday to help out for a couple of months.

Anyways, we had a great Labor Day weekend! Three day weekends are awesome & I vote for more of them. Our good friends, Christy & Tim, came down from Lubbock to visit. We had a great time catching up & hanging out w/them. Jen’s home for a few weeks too, we always love having her here. Below are some pics from the weekend…at the rose gardens, on our back patio grilling, and just lounging around the house!

Today is important.

“This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalm 118:24

“My biggest desire as far as my time goes is to choose how to spend it purposefully rather than have it chosen for me by the dictator known as Default.” – Kristen Armstrong

Ryan & I have talked a lot recently about cherishing each moment, making the most of each day, and not just living life always waiting for the next thing. If you know us well or have kept up with our blog, you know that the past few years have been absolute craziness. The birth of our daughters, moving from Lubbock to Quitman, opening a business, closing a business, searching for jobs, deaths in the family, moving to Tyler, starting new jobs, finding a new church, starting new day cares, etc. A lot going on. But guess what? That’s just life…and it will continue to be crazy from now on. Maybe not to that extent (and thank God for that!), but as I grow older, I realize that life is just absolutely nuts…there is always something going on – whether it be good or bad. We humans are a busy people. So, Ryan & I have decided to strive to embrace each day and each moment as they come. This is our latest goal as parents and in our  marriage. We challenge each other to remember this daily. When we are with our kids, we don’t want to be thinking of other things…we just want to be with our kids.  Enjoy the precious time we have with them – reading to them, playing tickle fest, and cuddle time…because we know, in the blink of an eye, they will be teenagers. I can’t even think about that without getting teary eyed!

Its easy to get caught up…waiting for Friday, waiting for payday, waiting for vacation, waiting until this happens or that happens…not wrong things for sure.  Just normal things. BUT, do you embrace the Monday’s & Tuesday’s? Do you live in the moment, so you don’t look up one day & realize you’ve wasted precious days, weeks, and years?

I, for one, want to live each day purposefully. Today is a gift and we will never have it again. TODAY is important.

With love,

Traci