Rock N' Roll Baby!!!!!!!!!!!

A few weeks back Jon and I and our friends took off to run the Rock N Roll marathon/half marathon. I was so excited about this race. Normally the marathons we do are much smaller, but I just get so energized by all the people. Also, it was Jenn. S and Angela L.'s first half marathons, and I was super excited for the both of them.

Jon and Doug took the front. They were so funny. While all of us girls gabbed in the back, they played the truck game.

The 2 Jenn's.
Me and Ang. L.
I have to say though sitting in the back of the van made Jenn S a little queasy and at times I really could have joined her. Made me feel sorry for my kiddos having to sit back there. When we got to Sav., Jenn and I hopped up front. I wasn't sure what was going to make her more sick -being in the back of the van OR my driving. . . hee!hee!

I know it is hard to tell from this picture, but see the bridge. There are masses upon masses of cars on it - can you see it? CRAZY, I tell you.
Here we are checking in!
Jon and Chuck.
They had all sorts of fun stuff for us to play with. Here we are impersonating Elvis. Look at my hunka-hunka burnin' love.

Here are Doug and Ang. . . the king and queen of Rock N' Roll :)
Doug's face CRACKS me up in this picture. Man, was he really into it, or what?
The girls!!!!
Next, we saw a booth where we got to be rock stars. Oh this was so fun and we laughed oh.so.hard.
Waiting on Jenn. B to get her rock star gear on.
Pose 1. . .
Pose 2. Y'all, I'm telling you. . . so!much!fun!
Next, it was the guys' turn. Sad thing is, Doug looks like a natural.

Jon looks soooo unnatural. . . that's what makes this so funny to me.
The crew minus Pastor D and Ang H. They were at Carrabbas getting us all a table. They had been camping there all week, so went earlier in the week to get their race packets.
We all had dinner at Carrabas and if I wouldn't have been freezing my hiney off, I might've remembered to take a picture. We opted for sitting outside because we were so hungry and then had to drive an hour to John and Judy's to sleep. Oh well, despite being cold, we kept telling ourselves we were making memories.

Poor Ms Judi and Mr. John. I echo what my Jon said, "Man, I hope when we get their age, we are as much fun as they are." Then he chimed in, "Shoot, we're not that much fun now." Seriously, this is a wonderful couple who really invest their lives into people our age (married with children). We were so hoping to have more time with them, but we literally got there and got in the bed. It was 10:00 p.m., and we had to be up at 3:00 a.m.

We were trying to be quiet the next morning when leaving, and as we were about to pull out of their driveway, they both jump out from behind a tree. See how fun they are?
This girl right here normally doesn't even get into the bed until 3:00 a.m., much less wake up at that time. I was proud of her.
Ang is bright eyed and bushy tail. She's an early riser like me.
Not so sure about Doug???
We met up with the rest of the crew. Even my break wind friend was there who I ran with when I trained for my first marathon. That's before I knew most of these crazy runners. Notice what's in the background. Any runner knows WHY we were standing in front of the port a potties. Gotta go before you get to running or otherwise you're in trouble - hee!hee!
It was so freezing cold. I was glad for an excuse to snuggle up with my sweet husband. Seriously, we would just walk like this. Body heat really did keep us warm.
We all separated and went to our different corrals. Here are Ang H, Chuck, and I.
Start line.
I was feeling really good, so I needed to maneuver through the crowds and I had a great pace for like 20 miles. I was at 3 hours 1 minute at the 20-mile mark. I met back up with Chuck and Ang at mile 18. But I started cramping pretty bad and I was hitting a wall. I've done it before so I know the feeling. Chuck took off with Ang's and I's coaxing. However, I was losing steam and losing it FAST. Ang kept trying to stay back with me. I told her to go. After my prodding she did go. About mile 22 is when everything was really getting bad. The only way I know to describe what was happening to me is, have you ever been watching and movie and trying really hard not to fall asleep, but just could not fight your body. I was falling asleep while running. I wanted to walk. however, it hurt my hips to walk. My eyes kept closing. I would keep trying to wake myself up. I got very disoriented and even thought at times, "I could just go curl up on the side of the road and take a nap. Then I'd feel better." It took me 1 hour and 17 minutes to finish the last 6.2 miles with a final time of 4 hours 17 minutes. This was terrible. However, honestly, I'm really just glad I made it. My "spell" really scared me, and I think that is my last marathon.

But, here's my favorite part of the whole race. I've crossed the finish line amongst hundreds of people. I spot Jon's face in the crowd making his way towards me. He points to himself and mouths to me I.LOVE.YOU. I just collapsed into his arms and started crying. It was such an incredibly preciously sweet moment. Man, I do love my husband so.very.much. We just stood there. Jon really wanted me to go to the Medic. At first I resisted, but then I gave him so he wouldn't worry. We went to the Medic and they made me lay on a cot and put salt under my tongue. Also, Jon had to hold my legs up. I could literally feel my face getting hot. When I got home, both Melissa and Jon looked up what had happened to me. I think we all came to the same conclusion of dehydration. However, when I later found out a man died at the marathon, I really do think it's over for me. I think I'm going back to the days of 5K, 10K, and will now be a half marathoner. After all, I had a GREAT time at the half mark of this race 1 hour 53 minutes. I think I'm going to start focusing on speed now. I can still run with Ang. H. and Becky and will go up to 15 miles, but I think 6 marathons is enough for this girl.
Also, life is so busy now. . . The Lord has been laying on my heart about laying something down, letting go of something. Training takes so much time and energy out of you, so I really think that is what I'm laying down.
I'm so incredibly blessed to have wonderful friends to share common interests with. I'm also super blessed to have an amazing husband to do this thing called "life" with. He really is such a special gift.

Well, we didn't have shoe polish for the windows, but will dirt do? I think so.
Ang and I before getting in the van to head home.

What's in a Weekend

Oh the weekends, glorious weekends. . . how I do love thee, especially when they looked like this one.

First, we celebrated Lisa!!! Like I told my 9th and 10th grade girls Sunday morning, when you get old you're idea of fun with your friends is going to Hobby Lobby, Cracker Barrel, and Starbucks. I'm so blessed to have such amazing friends and so grateful to celebrate Lisa and . . . goodness. . . 13 years of friendship??? Wow!!!! I always tell everyone Lisa was my first friend when we moved here. She remembers seeing Alec pee in the yard. . . NOW that was a LONG time ago!!!!

Our night was short on buying things (we were all trying to be thrifty. . . I was so thrifty I wouldn't even take my purse in). Although, we saw some really funny signs at Hobby Lobby that I almost went back out to the car to get my purse to buy. However, our night was NOT short of laughter. . . I mean LOTS of laughter!
We had Cracker Barrel for our grub that night, all the while gabbing from Hobby Lobby to Cracker Barrel then to Starbucks for Jenn's "decadent fudge pie" and coffee.
Lisa opened her present, but didn't read her card. She said she might cry!!!

I can't remember why I took this shocking picture of Jennifer. I DO know that I was laughing though. The conversation is never dull. In fact, we declared Tripp needed a metal because he was the first of the dads to have the birds and bees talk out of the men!! We had so many, make your stomach hurt, laughter over Griffin's reaction! These ladies always do my heart so good. And, to steal from Faith, I'm so grateful for my sisters!!!
Saturday I got up and worked some. Jon and Alec went to work on our rental house that was demolished. The girls and I went to the grocery store, folded laundry. Ash blew off the leaves on the driveway. We watched the GA/Kentucky game. Just a lazy/productive Saturday. . . if that makes sense??

Sunday was my day to teach. I am just plum crazy about my girls!!!! It was a very sweet moment, so many opened their hearts this Sunday. We always start off by asking if anyone wants to share how the Lord is working in their lives. It took a while, but all it took was one. . . and it just happened to be my sweet Shelby. The others then followed. We serve such an amazing God that He would even care to dwell in our hearts. We then had Upward lunch, came home, napped. I actually started to read a new book, "Southern Fried Sushi" my friend, Celeste lent me. We then went to a cafe in a nearby town with Gigi and Grandaddy. We had such a wonderful time of fellowship. Got home, brushed teeth, all piled into our bed and we watched TV. Jon and I were out by 9:00.

I love weekends like this . . . slow, yet busy, lots of laughter, and good, sweet fellowship.

Cupcake Wars - Family Style

Our family loves the show "Cupcake Wars", so when some of our favorite kiddos stayed with us for a few days while their parents went out of town, we decided to play a little bit.

I just LOVE this adorable apron Lisa, Faith, and Jenn. B. got me one year for my birthday. It's almost too pretty to wear. . . seriously.

Melissa came over to help me.

Since eggs may or may not contain salmonella and I couldn't dare risking any of the kids getting sick. . . Melissa and I had to suffer for everyone and eat the batter.

While you're on a sugar high, you might as well keep it and just go for the icing too.

Plus, there were 9 kids in the house. This picture could almost convince you that I actually can cook. . .hee!hee!

Yummy toppingsLook at the icing. . .

Do you see the real butter? Oh yeah, baby!

The girls decided to get creative and add toppings to their batter.

This batter was so full of stuff it was seriously pretty heavy.

Look at how it turned out!!!!! Like a really bad science experiment. It actually tasted quite yummy.

My sweet niece

The boys took a quick break from the video games to join us.

I love, love, love this sweet girl. She makes my heart smile.

I was so proud of these girls. . . after spending 3 days together, they didn't fight once!

Alec was getting uber creative with the rolling pin I bought in Guyana.

The finished products - Noah's cupcakes.

Joseph-Scott's. .. however, his wasn't up for judging, as he was a judge.

Hanna and KJ

Noelle and MaeMae

Alec's cupcakes.

I have no idea where a picture of Ash and Maddie's cupcakes went. Ash actually won the "theme" prize. I can't believe I didn't get a picture. She had a cupcake with a cross drawn on it. It was very pretty.

I guess he's about to dive into it.

Cupcake Crew

Hanna. . . as always, is a MESS!!!!