Christmas

Shew, it is two weeks past Christmas and I'm just getting around to blogging about it!  We have been SO BUSY.  We have 6 Christmas events to go to including our own.  We start with Josh's grandparents LeLe and PaPa.  It is a great way to start out the Christmas celebrations.  We went over for lunch and Garrett was SO spoiled.  We had a fabulous meal and Garrett loved his gifts.  He got a Buzz Light year scooter, clothes, movies and cars!  Not a bad way to start out!  Here are a few pictures:

Check out all the gifts!!!  Wow!

   

Getting some sugar from LeLe!

Do you think someone loves his new Scooter??

Helping PaPa open his gift

Pure Joy!

Kaysey and Garrett playing!

After LeLe's we start the busy busy time.  We did LeLe's the week before Christmas.  Saturday was Christmas Eve.  It was so nice because I actually had it off this year!  This is extra special because this happens to be Josh's birthday!  We spent most of the day hanging out as a family.   Garrett and I baked cookies for Santa, and spread the ground with glitter so that Santa could find his way to our house!  He loves throwing things, so it was just awesome.  We had church services starting at 5:00.  We went to a new church this year.  We went to a church in Farmville to hear Rick Bailey sing.  He is so amazing!!  It will bring you to tears.  Rick's grandson and Garrett go to the same school and are friends.  Garrett did really well during the service.  Last year we started doing Christmas as an entire family.  What does this mean?  We go to Susan's house on Christmas Eve.  We all do.  My parents, my brother and his fiance and us.  It is so nice that our families get along so well that we are able to celebrate as an entire family.  We don't use the term "in-law".  We are just family!
Susan fixed Chicken and Pastry and my parents brought beans.  We had a birthday cake for Josh.  Here are some pictures from Susan's house:

We get to celebrate Josh's birthday first!  Yummy cake

This is how G attacked any bag with tissue paper.  It was fun to watch!

First pair of skates!

My brother Preston and my future sister-in-law Nicole!  Love them

The kids, minus Josh

My mom, me and Nicole

SuSu and Garrett

Josh, Garrett, SuSu and Me

Getting some sugar!  I'm not sure who is having more fun :-)

Christmas morning we woke up and did Christmas at our house.  It was just awesome.  He loved all of his gifts and it took about an hour to open them.  I treasured this since I know that it will soon be a race to see how fast he can open all the gifts.  All he wanted this year was 3 Monster trucks.He would change the colors of what he wanted occasionally, but all in all he wanted 3 Monster Trucks.  So we went on a truck hunt and found some good ones!  He also got an art easel and a lot of arts and craft stuff.  He also got other goodies and we loved it!  Here are some of our Christmas pictures:
Well, it's giving me an error, so no pictures!  Sorry!

 We had a good time playing with gifts and then went to my parents house for breakfast and celebrating Christmas again!  Did I mention I LOVE Christmas?  I also love breakfast food.  We had a bread pudding (which I didn't think I would enjoy, but was SO YUMMY), bacon, egg and sausage casserole, cinnamon roles, and more food that I can't remember.  All I remember is that it was delicious!  Susan also came over with us.  It was great to have everyone together again.  Here are a few snapshots of the Joyner's Christmas:

G loves his Pops!

everyone has a stocking!

The Godfather...kiss the rings!

G loved his dump truck to deliver all the gifts

Seriously does it get much cuter?

The Dails 2011

Grandparents and Garrett

We had such a fun Christmas.  It was very quick and wonderful all at the same time.  I love spending time with family.

Back into the swing of things...urgh

This year I said that I would not allow to gain weight over the Holiday's.  I love to eat and never have been one to skip a meal.  EVER.  I am also an emotional eater.  I look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas for all the casseroles and deserts.  I could seriously skip the meat and just eat sides and desserts.  YUMMMMM
Well I failed again this year.  I'm OK with it, but maybe next year I can get this eating thing in check for the Holiday's.  Thanksgiving was awesome and the weeks leading up to Christmas were awesome as well.  Garrett's birthday just passed and we have New Years this weekend.  (Still will blog about our Christmas and birthday this week).  We have had SO MUCH food.  Wow.  I'm stuffed just thinking about it.
Well I also slacked off on exercise.  I normally exercise 4-5 times a week.  I was averaging 2 a week for the past few weeks.  Well with all that, I gained 7lbs!  YIKES.
So yesterday started boot camp to eating right and exercise.  I get an A plus on the eating, and and F on exercise (well maybe a D minus).  I say D minus because I did get dressed and went to the gym, but my class had been canceled.  I could have stayed...but I went to Old Navy instead.  Oh well.
I did get up this morning with my friend Traci to run and it was terrible!  We made it about 2 miles.  We normally go at least 3, but the wind and cold were working against us.  Hopefully by Friday the wind will be under control. 
Anyway, here is to getting back on track!

3 Years Old! What a day

Well I will post about our beautiful/awesome celebrations later.  Just wanted to take a moment and tell you about today.  Today Garrett turned THREE~ Seems unreal~
I can not believe that he is already 3, seriously.  The first year seemed to take three years to get through, but these past 2 have FLOWN by.
We started the day with him yelling to come and get him.  He still doesn't get out of his bed on his own.  It's awesome.  We also got a new alarm clock for him that turns green when he can get up.  It works, we all love it!
So anyway we started the day off with sprinkle pancakes!  G's favorite!  So we had breakfast, opened gifts that he was just PRECIOUS about.  For lunch we went to Chick-Fil-A.  He love chicken and french fries.  Josh had to go and help his mom out, so we were on our own for a couple of hours.
I took him to the store to get balloons and party favors for his family birthday party.  While we where there, a lady asked him why he had the balloons.  He told her for his birthday and she gave him a dollar!  SO SWEET!  It was awesome.
We left there and went to the park.  We got there and it was BEAUTIFUL.  Last year this time we were stuck inside with a HUGE snow.  So we were excited to have a good day to celebrate.  There were not many people there.  Garrett and I went and had a ball.  While we were there I was looking around and there was another young mom there.  She was in her 20's with a mid drift shirt on (it was too cold for that), leggings, a belly ring and a red zebra bra on.  And the sad thing is that she didn't look as trashy as that sounds.  Here I am with my extra weight from the Holidays, no make up and hair in a pony tail...bless!
Anyway while we were playing G said he needed to stinky.  Well the problem was that there was only a porta potty there.  So we went in and I put toilet paper down and put him on the seat.  This was his first porta potty poop.  He leaned his head forward and had it on my legs.  I thought he was sick because my legs were on fire...until I heard "uh oh mommy".  Well it wasn't his head that was hot, but he had peed all over me!  SERIOUSLY.  He forgot to point "it" down and wet me.  So we went back out to the park with me with wet pants and him happy as could be! 
We then went to Harris Teeter and got food for dinner and had family over for Birthday dinner.  I will post about it later!
we had a GREAT DAY. 

10 Mile Run

Well I had my BIG run of the year on Sunday December 4th.  This is the run I had been so nervous about all year.  I had been training for the past 3 months or so and was honestly ready for this run to be here and be DONE!  I just wanted to have the accomplishment of running the entire race.  I had done a 10K race (6.2 miles) two weeks before and did HORRIBLE.  I was only able to run the first 2.5 and then had to walk most of it.  The 10K race ended up being a very hot day and I think that had a lot to do with it.  It was in the 70's. 
When I checked out the weather for the 10 mile race was supposed to be in the 50's.  PERFECT weather!  Well a couple of days before the race the temp kept rising.  It was supposed to be around 65 degrees.  I was getting nervous.  I was scared it would be too hot!
Luckily I have been training with some great girls.  We run 3-4 times a week and on Saturdays we would do a long run.  The training really helped! 
Traci and I started out together and ran about the first 4 miles side by side.  We decided that we should listen to some music at that point and ended up separating.  I still watched/followed Traci and it was so awesome to have her there!  Well guess what?  We both did it and we both ran the entire thing.  That was our goal.  It felt awesome!
I finished in 1:43:43!  I was very happy with my time.  I was not happy with the HUGE blister I got on the bottom of my left foot!  I got it around mile 4 and it was horrible!
I will be ready for next year to see if I can beat my time from this year!!  Here are a few pictures from the race:

Before the race

After the race

Oh yeah, the guy dressed up and the older guy both beat me.  Racing teaches you to be humble.  It is amazing!

I would have to say the BEST part of the race was coming to the finish and having friends and family there cheering me on.  Garrett and Josh were there, and that was awesome!!!

What does your Christmas Tree say about you?

Growing up my husband and I had very different trees.  Josh grew up primarily with artificial trees and I have never had an artificial tree.  I have always grown up with a real tree.  It is always an experience going with my parents to pick "the perfect tree".  My dad has an Envoy and cracks me up how he will bring the tree home for us:

You should see the looks we get coming home with this :-)

Our tree also is not a "pretty" tree.  Josh's mom SuSu has the most BEAUTIFUL tree.  It is a Martha Stewart tree for sure.  I love it too.  My family has always used old ornaments and they all mean something.  Our tree is very mix match.  Here are some of the ornaments from our tree and the meaning behind each one:

 This was our very first Christmas.  We had just moved into our house in Greenville on Dec 17th (I think) and for the first year ever, I didn't get a Christmas tree.  We hung this one ornament on a fake ficas tree in the corner!  ha!

 This was from my very first Christmas in 1979

 We did an ornament exchange with my Meredith College girlfriends a long time ago and this was the one I got.  I love it and it makes me think of my MC girls!

 AARRGGHHHH!  This has a duo meaning.  We are HUGE Pirate fans, so I loved this one anyway.  I got it when I had to go to Seatle for work and found this while I was there. 

 Josh, Susan and I went to The Homestead for New Years the year after Gary died (Josh's dad).  It was a great time to be together as a family and remember an awesome guy!

 This was made my Freshman year at Meredith College

 My brother brought this back to me when he was in the Navy overseas.  I was so proud of him.

 This is another one that reminds me of Gary, Josh's dad who passed away.  He was such a beach lover and this is so him!

 Josh will kill me for putting this up, but this is his first ornament he made when he was a child :-)

 Garrett's thumb print last year

 Garrett's obsession with Buzz and Woody

 AAHHHH!  Josh and I went to Vegas before Garrett was born.  It was awesome!

This is my good friend Sara, who passed away when she was 16.  Her beautiful family gave me this and I put it up every year.

This is just a little look into our tree :-)  I hope you enjoy

Running crazy

No really, I'm running like a crazy lady these days!  I have signed up for two more races for the end of this year.  One on November 20th that is a 10K (6.2 miles) and my last one is a 10 mile run.  At the beginning of this year I had a few goals I was thinking about.  One was to run a 5K in less than 30 minutes and the other was to do the 10 mile run.  Up until this past year I have only run a max of 3.1 miles.
When I had these goals at the beginning of this year I didn't want to say them out loud.  I knew that would mean I would have to do them.  SO I said them out loud!  ha!!!
Earlier this year I ran my 5K in less than 30.  That was one of my proudest moments in running EVER!  I honestly never thought that I would be able to do it.  I had hoped to do it, but seriously didn't think it would happen.  I have never been confident when it came to athletics.  I played a few sports but was never good at them.  I'm not just saying that...I really wasn't good. 
I owe a lot of this to my old trainer Anthony.  I feel like he really helped prepare me for my races.
Well, I recently found a great couple of girls to run with.  I have never been able to run with people because I couldn't run and talk at the same time.  Ha.  Well my first run with them was last Saturday.  We ran 8 MILES!!!  What in the world??  If I had to bet money on if I could run 8 miles, I would have lost that bet.  This is now my new proudest moment!  We are going to attempt 9 miles this Saturday. 
I have also run 3 times (including tomorrow) this week.  It is so nice to be able to run and come home and get ready with my family. 
I'm REALLY enjoying this.  I never would have imagined.  The girls that I am running with are all my age and all have children.  They are all new friends and I look forward to our new journey's.
I will keep you posted on how I do in my races!

One of my FAVORITE weekends of the year (part 2)

So it took a little lot longer than I thought it would to finish this blog.  The second part of why I love this weekend is because of 2 reasons.  One being Rooke (Garrett's best buddy).  This is his birthday weekend.  His parents always have a fun party and this year was no exception!  It was a Pirate football theme party.  LOVE IT!  His parents even made a "mini field" on their lawn and they were able to play football.  It looked like the ECU field, but smaller and Happy Birthday Rooke on it!  ha!  Here are a few pictures:

How cool is that????  We just love Rooke and his family!  They are real special to us and this is so much fun.


The other reason we love this weekend is because it is Halloween!!!  We have celebrated with Rooke and his family each year now.  We usually go to our parents houses the night before to let them see Garrett's costume.  Last year he was supposed to go as a cheeseburger.  Well, we have a stubborn little guy and he REFUSED to put it on!  So I got crafty and made him a shirt to wear since he can't read.  Remember this:

That's right folks, that is what he used as a costume last year!

I was a little worried this year we would have the same problem, but he was into it this year!  He was the cutest Buzz Lightyear ever!  ha!  Actually him and Rooke both were Buzz Lightyear!  They were quite the duo!  We are very fortunate to have such a great group of friends that were able to come out and Trick-Or-Treat together.  I think that there were 6 families that came out.  I cherish all the time together. 
We didn't get a long time together because of the rain...boo!  Although, it was just enough time together.  Here are some pictures from our Halloween :-)

This was trying to get everyone in the picture.  Still missing a couple.  The rest of the pictures wouldn't upload but I will try again later! 
I LOVE THIS WEEKEND!!!