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.

From Target Lady to Bag Lady

Well, this year Ash really wanted to take part in our traditional Black Friday shopping. After much persistence, I decided to give in. Not really, I love being with my kids, so I was delighted for Ash to join mom and I. Kris was out this year being that she's a little busy taking care of 2 babies.

Here's Ash's reaction when I told her she got to go.

Well, Hanna from the get-go said she wanted no part it in. She said she was exciting about having her Daddy all to herself. Thanksgiving Mom said something to Hanna about going. I looked at her little eyes, and she said she kinda wanted to go. Ash goes into tears, and there was drama (of course). Well, Hanna ended up going, and although I was somewhat discouraged because either way someone was mad/sad, Hanna was so gracious and sweet. She told me at least three times that night, "Thank you Mama for letting me go". She just kept hugging and hugging me. However, my heart was breaking for Ash who has had to wait for so long, so she and I took off Thanksgiving day to Old Navy, just to two of us.
I even let her sit in the front seat with me. She's tall enough and weighs enough, just not old enough yet. Ash was gracious and looked on the bright side of everything. She even said, "If I'm angry about Hanna going, then that is my fault for being angry. I just need to be by myself and get over it." Such a sweet girl. She and I had a lot of fun at Old Navy together just the two of us.

We get back to Mom's and Mom and I start pulling out the papers so we could get our game plan together.
Funny thing is. . . since being back from Guyana (yes I know I need to blog about it. . . .just how do you attempt to put something like that into words. . . I haven't gotten there yet), stuff just doesn't mean to me what it did in the past. There was definitely a difference in my heart this year Black Friday versus last years. There was definitely a difference in my spending as well.

You know what that meant? No game plan. I was just excited about spending time with my mom and my girls.

We all decided to curl up on the couch and watch "Elf".
Ash was going to make sure to get some good rest.
After all getting in the bed and getting some shut eye I hear what I think is a cell phone alarm go off. I jump out of bed, make up my bed (cause that's important to my Mom. . . very rarely do I make my bed at home), and then grab my cell phone to see what time it is - 12:42 a.m. WHAT??? We were getting up at 4:00. What in the world? That must have been a phone call! Who's calling mom at that time of night? Must've been Melissa? Why would she be calling? I started to pray for her. . . still didn't fall asleep. Shucks. So, I prayed more about whatever was on my heart. An hour later, I'm still awake. I realize my stomach is empty and grumbling, so I tell myself that if I go get a piece of cake, it will help me fall asleep. I checked on the girls. They were snoozing peacefully. I head to get my cake. Ahhhh! My belly feels full. I go lay down. THAT did the trick. 4:00 a.m. came and I was asleep when it got there. I got up, pulled my hair up, and put on some makeup 'cause I knew I'd be seeing people I know from high school (and I was right). Mom told me it was too bad I don't have natural beauty like she does. She didn't put on a lick of makeup.

Well, I had forgotten my coat, so Mom, being a Mom went and got me something to put on.

We were matching!!! I told her I looked like a bag lady and asked her what in the world possessed her to buy such an ugly shirt and 2 at that? They were given to her. Sheewwww! I was afraid I was going to have to call Stacy and Clinton on her.
Here we are outside of Lifeway.
We had such a fun day . . . full of laughter, Chick-fil-A, lots of coffee, McAlisters, and MEMORIES!!!! We even saw a Santa and I told Hanna and Ash to go and tell him he smelled like beef and cheese (Elf). They wouldn't dare. I almost did . . . hee!hee!

The girls were too pooped to pop and so were Mom and I. I'm so thankful I have a Mom and 2 girls who want to spend time with me and go shopping together. I love them all so much!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we went to Mom's, which means ALOT of people and ALOT of food. Mom is one of 6, and not even half of everyone showed up, and there were 37 people there. I just love seeing my family. And, an added bonus, Gigi and Granddaddy joined us this year. I was so excited that Jon's family is no longer HIS family or my side of the family is no longer MY family. . . that they are both of our families. . . . the two becoming one. Just does my heart so good.

After our bellies were full, all the kiddos wanted to ride on Papa's golf cart trails. He's such a trooper.
After gabbing with my cousins for awhile, I noticed Jon and Alec were missing. Where oh where could my boys be?
In the car AWAY from all the people. . . checking out the Black Friday ads. They were CAUGHT!!!!

Mom, Gigi, and Grandaddy on Mom's front porch.
My cousin Theron married a girl from Japan, Satomi. They have 2 precious girls that Ash and Hanna always look forward to playing with. This year they kept asking me, "Are those Japanese girls going to be there?" I so wish we got to see each other more. I know our girls would be great friends!
See the lady on the far left? That is Aunt Josie. Well, Hanna made Aunt Josie's entire day. Leading up to Thanksgiving Hanna would tell me, "I sure hope that Aunt Josie lady will bring her red velvet cake." I was shocked that Hanna remembered the red velvet cake. I was even MORE shocked that she remembered who made it. I didn't even know Hanna knew who Aunt Josie is. Well, I told Mom, Mom told Granny and told her she had to call Aunt Josie and tell her. Aunt Josie was thrilled that Hanna remembered her. I made sure to tell Hanna to be nice when Aunt Josie was giving her hugs. Anyone who knows my Hanna knows why I said this. . .*wink*wink*
Here's the smorgasbord of food
and my family is FULL of good southern cooks
Here's the red velvet cake, absolutely delicious!

I hung out here most of the time. . . with my cousins Lori, Jessica, and Heather. Heather ran the 1/2 marathon in Savannah that I ran. I loved catching up with my cousins. Again, I just wish we all saw one another more. I was glad for our time together.
Grandaddy was C-R-A-C-K-I-N-G me up. To say he LOVES sweets is an understatement. Every time I saw him he was getting ANOTHER dessert. Seriously, he must have visited the dessert section at least 7 times. I was giddy when I caught him on camera.
Here is me and my love. I love him so much!
Grandpa, Granny, and Mama. I tease mom because she goes by their house every morning, and when she walks in the door Granny says the same thing to her, "You want an egg?" Mama goes by and makes her bed for her. I have such a wonderful Mama!

Thanksgiving didn't end there when everyone left. Oh, me, Mom, Ash, and Hanna had some serious business to attend to. Stay tuned tomorrow for more!