Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day started bright and early waking up at 6:20 am...not to start making food, but rather to go run 5 miles in The Woodlands Turkey Trot. (Notice the short sleeves and shorts. It was 67 degrees that morning.) My goal was to finish between 45-50 minutes, preferably closer to 45 min. The first two miles felt great, and I was right on track to finish around 46 min. But as I pushed on from mile 2, my body stopped cooperating with me and we'll just say that I was in pain, not because I was pushing myself too hard or anything like that. Needless to say, it was all I could do to finish the race. The mantra that I kept thinking over and over in my head was, "Just keep going. Don't stop. Just keep going." I actually still met my goal and finished in 49 minutes, which I was proud of considering the circumstances, and as soon as I crossed the finish line, I made a beeline to the bathroom to take care of some "issues."

Race day

Being Thanksgiving, I would like to share a few things here that I am grateful for, although my other journal will contain a more adequate list.

The first thing would have to be my sweet husband. He is one of the most amazing men I know as well as the most patient! He never raises his voice at me or says hurtful things to me ever. He is so positive and teaches me so much about service and charity. I have to say that I am so thankful and in awe of his handy-man abilities. He can fix just about everything whether it be cars or things around the house. It is a huge money-saver. (In fact he worked on a project all morning today that would have cost $600 to pay someone else to do it.) He is such a hardworker around the house, in his callings, and in his job. He is such a good daddy too. I love to watch Caleb and Matt play together. Caleb loves attention from his dad more than me, I think, because Daddy is just so fun! I'm so grateful to have Matt in my life and grateful that he is mine forever!

Another thing I am grateful for is Matt's job and how it allows me to stay at home with our little boy. Caleb adds such purpose to my life. I love his little quirks, and I love seeing more and more of his personality come out. He definitely has had his moments where he makes life difficult, but the good always outweighs the bad. He is such a joy in our lives. Who can't help but love this kid?

Camping Trip

We decided to take a family vacation with my sister and her husband as well as our best friends, Jeff and Tahlia. We left Friday afternoon, set up camp, started cooking dinner, ate, put the kids to bed, and then played games. It got pretty chilly that night for Houston--in the 40's--so we all bundled up in our sleeping bags for the night. Caleb slept really well and since we were so worried about the cold, we had Caleb sleep between us. Caleb loves any chance to sleep with us. He is the best cuddler and I love it! Saturday we woke up at 7 am, started breakfast, then took a nature hike. We played some outdoor games, packed up camp, and headed home. It was a very short vacation, but a lot of fun. The hardest part was having to be the "mom" and worry about not forgetting anything and all the ingredients for the meals etc. In my past camping days, I just go along for the ride and worry about myself. Those days are over! Here are some pictures:

Daddy and Caleb looking in the woods for more firewood.

"The Cooks" for breakfast: scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, hashbrowns, and pancakes...yum!

Caleb's very own camping chair

Caleb playing football with Daddy
Caleb and Dallin playing in "the cage" as my family calls it.

Our nature hike

Caleb and Dallin both fell asleep on the hike.

National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption month. As many of you know, this has become personal to our family since my adorable nephew is adopted. Here is my sister's story. Every time I hear about the brave birth mom's out there who love their child enough to give him/her a better life, I can't help but be touched.

24-Hour Bug

While running with my friend Tahlia on Saturday morning, we were talking about getting sick since her family had been sick a few days earlier. I bragged about my amazing immune system and how I never get sick. I'll get the occasional cold here and there, but never anything that wipes me out. Famous last words.

We get home from church around noon on Sunday and my stomach is just gurgling. I rarely eat breakfast on Sunday mornings because it's such a hassle getting us all to church by 8 am so I can have one last practice for the hymns I'm playing and start prelude music on the organ. I always run out of time for breakfast no matter what time I wake up. So even though my stomach seems a bit upset when I get home from church, I just attribute that to the fact that I haven't eaten yet that day. It was a bad idea to eat lunch because for the next 8 hours I was running to the bathroom every 10 minutes (or less) with the runs. 4 hours into that, I threw-up whatever else remained in my stomach (which I couldn't believe anything was left!). Throwing-up is one of those things that terrifies me. I threw-up once during my pregnancy, but before that, the last time I threw-up was when I was 8 years old. I spent from about 5 pm on in bed and left Caleb and dinner to Matt's care. Unfortunately Caleb was having a rough night (teething) so I felt really bad, but every time I thought I was feeling well enough to get out of bed and go help, I quickly discovered that I wasn't. I also wanted to quarantine myself as much as possible from passing it on to Caleb and Matt. On the bright side, I finished the last 200 pages of a book. The stomach bug only lasted 24 hours, so I was feeling better the next day and finally had an appetite. Unfortunately for Matt, his spell with the bug started at around 8 pm after he put Caleb to bed. That meant that he was up and down all night running to the bathroom. Not fun. It looks like it passed Caleb by, which we are so grateful for! I now know that my immune system is not invincible even though throughout all my teaching (and being surrounded by all those germs), I never got sick.

Matt went to the doctor yesterday, not for the stomach bug, but because he has had a severe pain in his left shoulder/left chest area that started after playing "touch football" on a Saturday morning. (I don't see how it's touch football if Matt keeps winding up with injuries from playing every Saturday morning.) The pain has just gotten worse over the last two weeks and started to spread. The doctor told Matt that he thought it might be heart-related and sent Matt to the Emergency Room where they could do some tests and x-rays. After 4 hours of the ER and several blood samples and x-rays later, the doctor told Matt his collarbone is bruised really bad and there is some fluid leaking between his chest cavity and lungs which is making the pain spread. Hopefully the meds prescribed will help because Matt's had a rough couple of weeks!

Hopefully this covers sicknesses and "owwies" for the next few months!

Painting Frenzy

Painting the downstairs was on the 'to-do' list before December, so Matt took two days off work (he had to use up the last of his vacation days before they expired), and we started painting! Here are some pics:

Before
After

Kitchen
It's amazing the difference a little paint can make! We love it and can't wait to tackle the piano room next! We did the majority of it by ourselves, but Friday night Ariane and our friends Tahlia and Jeff came over to help. It was very much appreciated.

Halloween

Halloween 2007
Halloween 2008--Same angry face
(Apparently Halloween is not a happy occasion for this kid.)
Caleb the Dinosaur meets his cousin, Dallin the Frog.
Mommy with her sweet Dinosaur
Family picture for Halloween.
I'm not big on dressing up, but my cousin made this cute shirt I'm wearing.

We went to our church 'Trunk or Treat' where they block off the church parking lot so that it is more of a safer environment for the kids. The kids trick or treat from car trunk to car trunk. I stayed behind and passed out candy in our decorated trunk of our van. (You can't see the spiders hanging from the ceiling because it's dark, but I thought our trunk looked pretty good). Matt took Caleb around and they both had a really good time.

Running Update: I ran 7 miles this morning! :o)

Voting Time

Caleb and I got out and voted today. The lines have been horrendous from mid-morning on, so we went bright and early this morning and got in and out really quick. Unfortunately for this election, I felt I was voting for the lesser of two evils. It doesn't look too promising for McCain, however.