Teaser...

Here's just a teaser of our family pictures this year....I am LOVING how they turned out, and I am having such a hard time choosing which ones to print!!  I'm gonna give a SHOUT OUT to my great friend/photographer KRISTA ADAMS for doing such a wonderful job and making my crazy kids actually look like little angels! HA!

Thanksgiving #2 2009

Every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we get together with the rest of the Wheelus gang for ANOTHER feast.  i ran 7 miles saturday morning, so i could eat pie! LOL!  We got together at Jenny's house this year, and we had super yummy food contributed by everyone!  I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture of everyone that was there, but WE WILL get one at Brian's family birthday party on Sunday! 

Trimming the tree....

Yes, I know I'm moving in a couple weeks, but I just HAD to put up my tree.  I wanted to actually enjoy it for 3 weeks instead of just one.  We put it up on Thanksgiving night.  Now it feels more like Christmas, and I just love looking at my tree.  It makes me happy to see it all lit up, and the kids loved helping put on the ornaments. Surprisingly,  Lexie has actually left it alone too!  I wanted to get a picture of all of us in front of it, but it was late when we got done decorating, and everyone needed to get to bed.  Don't you worry- I will get one! HAHA!

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving dinner!  YAY! Every year for the past 3 or 4 years, Nicole and Ryan have come over to eat with us.  We love having them, and they're practically our family anyway!  Sharon orders La Madeline's turkey feast and we RELAX while it's cooking! I used to think it was weird to order Thanksgiving dinner, but now I LOVE IT!  And it tastes really yummy- so how can you go wrong?!  The kids love that they get to have fancy glasses and "bubbly"...who am I kidding? I love to have fancy glasses and bubbly!  

Turkey Trot 4 mile run

In order for me to feel ok about eating Thanksgiving dinner- I decided to run a 4 mile "Turkey Trot" race on Thanksgiving morning.  Matt went to play football, the kids went hiking with Charles and Sharon, and Lexie and I went with Nicole and Becky to run! It was a little cold that morning, but there was a HUGE turnout at the race.  Nicole and I finished in 38 mins, with Becky right behind us at 41 mins!  It was really difficult to run with a jogger stroller on a TINY trail with 2500 people!   We felt like we were practically walking part of the time.  UGH!  Get out of my way people! HAHA!  Anyway, we had a good time, and I will do it again next year, but probably without the jogger--then I may even have a chance to win! 

Sea World Christmas

The kids were off the ENTIRE week of Thanksgiving.  YIKES!  that = crazy mom & crazy kids! So Matt took off Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to save my sanity!  Have I mentioned that I have a great husband?!  On Wednesday we went to Sea World to enjoy their Christmas festivities.  We saw Polar Express in 4D again...we were in either the "best" or the "worst" seats depending on your opinion! We got "SNOWED" on so much that my hair and back were wet! Lexie got blasted in the face with air during the hot chocolate part (which she loved)...and our seats were rumbling like crazy when the train came! The kids loved it, so that's what mattered.  For some reason, I have no pics of them on the shamu coaster, and the ones we took of them playing on the pirate ship didn't turn out very well.  I guess that's what happens when the kids are moving 100 miles an hour and you don't have an SLR camera!  On our way out, we had a nice guy take a family picture of us in front of the AWESOME tree....but he cut the top of the tree off.  Oh well, I guess that's what happens when you ask a stranger to take your picture--you get what you get, and you don't have a fit! 

Sydnee's Thanksgiving program

Sydnee had her school Thanksgiving program yesterday. Sorry for the first picture's poor quality, but they had some weird lighting thing going on. Whatever.  They sang some cute songs, and then we ate pie.  Sydnee was super cute, of course, but when it came time to sing- she was shy.  Oh well.  She's 4. It's not like this was Broadway or anything. HA! 

Her "turkey bum"

They made these silly potatoes that are supposed to be like turkeys.  Who comes up with these things?? LOL!

Rock and Roll 1/2 marathon!

WE DID IT!  After months of training and preparing, Nicole and I finally ran and finished the Rock and Roll 1/2 marathon.  That's 13.1 miles folks! My first 1/2 marathon ever! And I totally loved it!  We finished in 2:21:39.  Slower than we had anticipated, but the humidity was UNBELIEVABLE  on Sunday morning.  Seriously, we had stripped down to our sports bras by mile 3!  For the past 5 weeks, we had been running long runs on Saturday mornings and the temps had been in the high 30s and low 40s.  So for us to wake up on Sunday morning and it to be almost 65 degrees and (what felt like) 90% humidity- we were shocked! And that was at 530 am!  It was a fun run though, and we met lots of neat people waiting in line for our shuttle, waiting to start, and along the way.  No injuries for either of us (except a couple sore toenails and a blister!) either, so that is something to be thankful for! Nicole, Ryan, Matt and I spent the night at the Rivercenter Marriott downtown on Saturday night, so we didn't have to mess around with waking up SUPER early, and hectic traffic like Matt and I dealt with last year.  It was fun! AFter we ate together, Matt and Ryan took off for a Spurs game, and Nicole and I headed back up to the room to relax and get prepared for the next morning.  (did I mention we left ALL 3 kids with matt's parents??  This was Lexie's FIRST EVER time being left for more than an hour or two.  I think I was more stressed about that than the race! But she was the best behaved of all 3 -of course- and now I'm not so nervous to leave her!) Anyway, we settled in by 930pm and awoke at the glorious hour of 5 AM to catch our shuttle to the start line by 530. THERE WERE A GAZILLION people in line! We waited in line for 45 minutes! and there were hundreds behind us, whom I'm sure didn't make it to the start line in time, but with a wave start, it pretty much doesn't matter.  Matt and Ryan met us at miles 2, 8, 10.5 and 13.1!  It was SO AWESOME to see their faces in the crowd cheering us on.  Thanks HUBBIES- we love you! That was one of the biggest motivators of the day! The other was all the people with their funny signs and words of encouragement.  Mile 9 was a bit rough where we hit a mental block, but of course we got each other past it, and by mile 12- I was ready to sprint! LOL! Just kidding.  We crossed the finish together, and I have to say, I love Nicole! She is THE BEST friend a girl could have!  She encouraged me when I didn't want to go on any further...She made me get up at 6 am on Saturdays, because I knew that she was counting on me to run with her...She stayed with me when i was SO SICK for our first 11 mile run! And I just love her~ Thanks, Nicole, for helping me put that PINK 13.1 sticker on my car! You're AWESOME! 

I am going to run the Turkey Trot 4miler with Lexie (and hopefully Nicole and Becky!) next week, and I'm looking at doing a 5k on Dec 5th,  a 10miler on Dec 12th, and the Cowtown 1/2 marathon on Feb 27th! Could you say I have caught a running bug??  yes, some may say that...but I think it's a dang good bug to catch! 

Besties at the Rivercenter after we ate

The hubbies mapping out where they were going to catch us

530AM sunday-yes, i have sleep face, but who cares?! 

We started in corral 17

A nice lady took this for us along the course

Mile 2

Mile 10.5--you can see our little heads right behind the lady in aqua

Crazy best friends!

WE DID IT!

Funny signage 

A few of my favorite things

I was thinking today of my favorite things and thought I would share:

*my kids- yes they test me to my limits, but they are all my favorites in their own sweet ways.

Brian- makes me laugh with the funny things he says and does, and melts my heart with how sweet he can be.

Sydnee- I love how she copies me..most of the time..She is a very loving and sensitive girl, and I like that she wants to be like me.

Lexie- this girl smiles so much it's unreal! always happy, always curious...I just love her!

*Running! I never, ever thought I would be a runner girl, but I am! I love the results I get from my runs, and I love that I have a friend to go with me-Nicole!  I am so excited to run my first 1/2 marathon (13.1 miles!) and I will be doing more in the future! 

*Target (especially the $1 spot!)- this store has everything that I need, and I wish I could buy everything! 

*the approaching holiday season- I love, love, love this time of year.  It really makes me reflect on the spirit of Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I have SO much to be thankful for- and most importantly, the Savior in my life.

I know there are many more things, but this is what I wanted to share today!

Diabetes 5k

On Saturday morning, we took the family out for a nice 5k run for Diabetes.  We did this same run last year too, only I was pregnant with Lexie at the time.  Needless to say, I had a much better time this year!  I wanted to run it twice to get in a little over 6 miles...I do have my 1/2 marathon next week, and 3.1 miles didn't seem like enough...anyway, they messed up the start line and ended up sending almost everyone in the wrong direction for like 30 minutes! I.WAS.SO.MAD! Well, I just kind of did my own thing and did 5 miles in about 44 minutes. Not too shabby.  I am getting really excited about my 1/2 marathon next week, and I'm even thinking of running the Dallas Rock and Roll 1/2 marathon in March.  Don't you fret, I will be posting pictures of Nicole and I after we finish next week!

Matt's 30th birthday festivities!

Well, it's happened!  We have a 30 year old living in our house! YIKES! WOWZA! HOLY SMOKES! hahahahahah! Just kidding-a little....we have had a birthday filled weekend around here.  The "official" date of birth is tomorrow- November 9th.  However, with life responsibilities..aka..work...we did our celebrating from Friday night until Sunday night! Wahoo!  On Friday night, Matt opened his gift- ROCK BAND- and then we went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse with matt's parents and brother.  They made Matt get on a saddle there-hilarious! On Saturday, we ran a 5k, ran some errands, played a little rockband with the kids, then went out to dinner at BJ's Brewhouse with our friends.  Matt thought we were only going with Ryan and Nicole, but I secretly had *almost* all of our friends meet us there-waiting secretly at the table! He was surprised for sure!  On Sunday night, we had a family party and celebrated both the guys who turn 30 this year! Matt and Chris!  I made them a Longhorn cake and Sprinkles pumpkin cupcakes.  The Longhorn cake was last minute, so it wasn't my best work, but it tasted good, so I guess that counts for something.  All in all I think we've had a pretty great weekend, and we're looking forward to Matt's next 30 years. HAHAHA!  Love ya babe!