A Thankful Turkey Trot

This Thanksgiving, the boys and I traveled to Arizona to spend the holidays with my family.  After our regional meet in El Paso, we quickly packed up the car and drove to Arizona.  We made one stop in Flagstaff to meet up with Stephen's cousin and take their family pictures.  It was so beautiful.  Surprisingly, it was not cold at all!

Tuesday, we slept in and went grocery shopping.  The boys played with their cousins and had a blast! Wednesday, I met up with Jared and Sandy to take their family photos in the mountains by my parents home.  I just love this time of year.  I used to hate it.  I admit.  I had a very dark soul when I was younger and the thought of everyone so cheerful just chapped my hide! Now, I love it.  I mean, I really love it.  I love decorating the tree and putting up Christmas lights.  I love singing all the Christmas songs and bringing cheer to everyone I meet. 

We ran a lot while we were in Kingman.  We even recruited Logan to run with us. We also taught the boys how to play Ticket to Ride.  Sprints, run, and play games!

Thursday was our annual turkery trot.  We ran in Kingman this year and it was so fun to have lots of family and friends run with us and cheer us on.  The boys ran the full 5k and had a blast.  I ran the fastest time I have EVER ran in my entire life.  I made a goal this year to run a sub 30 minute 5k.  I am so grateful I was able to run with cougar track to help me reach and accomplish this goal. I ran the race in 26 minutes and 53 seconds! An average of 8 minutes and 38 seconds per mile.  I placed 5th in my age group and 32nd overall.  I have never once placed even in the top 100 in a race before.  The boys ran a 31 minute 5k and Edward placed 3rd and Nolen placed 4th in their age group.  

We ate thanksgiving dinner at Jared and Sandy's home.  Everything went smoothly!  Friday, Sandy had set up 3 photo shoots for me, so I was out all day snapping peoples photos.  It was really fun.  I truly enjoy connecting with people on the other side of the camera.  Saturday, we woke up early and helped clean the church for our thankful service then we packed up our stuff and drove home so that we could have a day here in Albuquerque to get ready for the week ahead. 

This time of year always makes me so grateful to have my family.  I love them.   

Regionals, Carlsbad Caverns, and a stop with Aliens!

This weekend, I begged my parents to join my in a little trip down to El Paso for the regional cross country meet.  The boys have been running their hearts out this season and I wanted them to finish the season out strong.  We drove down Friday morning after I finished a few piano and voice lessons.  The road down to El Paso from Albuquerque is barren, to say the most!  I have driven to El Paso a few times before and at least it is straight down I-25.   

We arrived at our hotel right on schedule; 3:00.  We checked-in and changed our clothes, then drove down to the park to meet the team for a jog through of the course.  The boys said the course was easy and fast.  I thought it was pretty fast, too.  It took us about 14 minutes to jog the course and that included time to stop and retrace our steps.

The 8 and under boys are so silly! I love running with them.  They work hard and push themselves hard all the time.  I love seeing true dedication to a life long sport.  Running is the best!  I started running when I was 21.  A bit late in the game, I admit.  I remember the first time I ran and mile.  It took me 15 minutes.  I could probably walk a mile that fast, now. I was so out of shape when I was in college.  I had a roommate that ran 5 miles every other evening in college.  I thought she was amazing! (She really was!)  Now I know it is something that I could have done if only I was willing to get up off the couch!

I am so glad my boys have found a sport they can do for a lifetime.  They love swimming and they love running.  I just need to get them excited about biking and I will have little triathletes on my hands!

After the jog through, we met up with the team for dinner. I promised the boys they could swim at the hotel, so we met up with my college roommate Stephanie Isaacson and her sweet boy at the hotel.  It was so fun to catch up.  It was almost as if 10 years hadn't passed.   Our boys got along so well.  We only had one minor injury with four boys running wild at the pool.  

I made the boys take a shower and I turned on a movie in our room so they could fall asleep.  We woke up bright and early to eat our breakfast so they could have it completely digested before the race.  I miss read the text about what time to arrive for the meet, so we made our team a bit nervous as we drove around looking for a place to park.  

The boys ran their hearts out!  Nolen consistently ran a minute faster every time he raced this season.  Saturday's meet was no different.  He was a whole minute faster.  I know he can run much faster, as soon as he gets the confidence to pass the other runners on the course.  Edward ran about 10 seconds slower at regionals than he did at state.  He still pushed hard and I bet he could have even sped up at the end if he wanted too.  That's the key, right? 

After the race, we waited around for the awards.  The boys team came in 2nd overall!  Edward came in 56th and Nolen came in 61st.  There were 91 entries.One of the boys on the team received two metals and kindly gave Nolen one of his team medals!  Nolen was over the moon excited!  He talked on and on about the silver medal he won.  He even wore it ALL THE WAY HOME!

This really made our trip amazing.  I know it isn't easy to give up something you worked for, but the boy on his team who gave him the medal was truly kind.  It totally motivated Nolen to want to earn more medals in the future.  We talked about how he needs to push harder at practice in order to get medals.  I am so excited for track season next spring.

After the meet, I told the boys I would take them to see some of the sights in southern New Mexico.  We drove 2 1/2 hours over to Carlsbad Caverns and spent about 2 hours walking through the caverns.  It was really cool to see the caverns.  We walked through every route underground.  

We then hopped back in the car and headed home.  We stopped in Roswell, New Mexico to eat dinner and search for aliens.  We didn't see any aliens, but it was fun to talk about life on other planets.  

We made it safely home by 10:00 at night and went straight to bed.

I just love being a part of Cougar track.  

LIFE CHANGING!

I am running a 5K on Thursday and I know, for the first time in my life, I am completely prepared to break my Personal Record!!

7 Never Looked So Good!

Today, my sweet Nolen turned 7!  

My baby. 

My littlest boy.

My sweet, tender hearted, loving little boy turned 7.

I would say that 7 years flew by, but in this case, we worked hard for these 7 years.

Nolen is kind.

He is loving.

He is ambitious.

Nolen loves running.

He is extremely competitive.

He has worked so hard at learning to run at cross country.  It motivates me to run faster and harder knowing he is pushing hard every single day.

Nolen loves minecraft.

He loves mario.

He loves, most of all, marble towers, and marbles.

He is funny.

He loves to make people laugh.

He makes the silliest fart sounds.

He loves to eat candy, popcorn, and chocolate frosting.

Nolen has been consistantly eating chicken noodle soup from Panera Bread and, of course, my famous home made chicken noodle soup.

I am SO grateful he is finally eating some form of meat, albeit, sparingly.   

Nolen and Edward are still the very best of friends.  They play all day together.

They wrestle and fight but they truly love each other.

Nolen still loves playing his iPad.  I doubt that will ever change. 

It is so fun watching him grow up and learn.  I love helping him learn new concepts and he absorbs information like a little sponge.

He still plays the piano and will soon start playing the cello.

This little boy is my little hero.  

I teared up as I said our family prayers tonight because I am so proud of how hard he works to over come the challenges of autism.  

For Nolen's birthday, we threw a little party at our house on Saturday.  I ordered a bounce house with a slide and bought a lot of junk food.  All the kids had fun.  

Today, we woke up early and sang happy birthday, opened presents, and ate cake for breakfast.  Stephen had to work tonight and I taught piano lessons, so we decided to celebrate before school.

At school, I brought in Walker's Popcorn to share with Nolen's class.  Nolen had a great time as all the class sang happy birthday.  After school, we went out to eat at his favorite place to eat, Panera Bread.  Of course, he ordered the chicken noodle soup and a cookie.  Such a fun day!

I love this sweet boy.

I love him.

I love him.

I love him.

Happy 7th Birthday, Nolen!