Some big shoes to fill!

When Brad and I walked into the kitchen the other night, this is what we found...

All dressed up and nowhere to go...

So I got up at 4:30 did my run, had my shower, got dressed for work, car packed, etc and when I went in to wake Connor up (the last thing I do in my morning routine) his eyes were caked together. Yuck! I was thinking pink eye for sure since he has had this once before so I was familiar. Called the doc and sure enough they feel pretty sure it is. Funny I was saying to the girls this morning that I wished I didnt have to work today- well I guess I got my wish! Would rather it not be under these circumstances BUT C feels fine, just very contagious so I guess I will count it as a blessing...? Is that wrong?! Ha! Just kidding. Not a blessing for sure, especially when I have to put those painful drops in both eyes of a strong willed 2 year old twice a day! Connor was a little guy the last time and didnt have much strength to get away, so hopefully I can restrain him this time around!

Taking on a new challenges!

I am usually not one for New Year's resolutions simply because, lets face it we all know that we dont stick to them! This year I told myself that I was going to do a few things that I have been neglecting the past few years.

1. Get back into shape.

2. Get involved at church.

3. Get back into contact with old friends.

I am proud to say that at the end of January, I can now say I have accomplished ALL of goals I set for myself or at least I am working on them!

I have joined a Bible Study at church, and found a connect group (Sunday school class) which I love! AND I have talked with a few old friends which is awesome! Also, I have joined a running group which actually consists of a few girls from Bible Study. We meet every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday we go up to Fleet Feet in Brentwood and do a group run with 150 other runners. I have been running on my treadmill since October and went from running nothing to 2 miles this past month. My friend Beth asked me if I wanted to join her and run with a small group of girls from church. At first I was a little hesitant. I thought, Ok I am not a runner and if these people are hard core I am going to be running ALONE. Beth is also a beginner runner but very in shape because she has a trainer and goes to the gym 4 days a week. I also havent ran outside since this past summer and as we all know that is a very different ballgame. I skipped out on last Monday's run because I didnt sleep much and they meet at 5 am, which meant I had to get up at 4:30 just to get there. On Wednesday night, I was like "OK, I can do this." I set the alarm and got up and met up with them not knowing what was in store for me. We took off and when I told the girls that I didnt run outside, they seemed a little concerned! We meet at a subdivision and one of the girls maps out the runs and she had a plan for us to do a 3 1/2 mile route. When we got finished we all thought it seemed like we went a lot farther than that. She insisted that we were wrong but when we got online and did "map my run" we actually ran 4.6 miles! I still cant believe that I went from running 2 to 4.6 on the road in a day. When we finished they asked me if I was going to train with them to run the Music City 1/2 marathon and I was like, "sure". I figure this will give me a goal to work toward and keep me focused. We are doing the training program at Fleet Feet. You pay $50 and meet every Saturday to do large group runs and trainers talk after every run. This Saturday we ran 6 miles and it totally kicked my butt but I did it so I am happy. If you would have told me a year ago that I would be doing this, I would tell you that you were CRAZY! I will have to say that running with a group makes it so much easier. I never would have done this on my own. I cant wait for it to warm up because getting up a 4:30 and running in 24 degree weather isnt the most exciting thing ever! I also have to rush home just to jump in the shower, get ready for work, and get Connor ready go get out the door. It isnt easy, but I am determined not to let this stop me.

Also Brad has a challenge of his own... He has been looking for a way to make his golf game more competitive and has found a way. He is joining the Amateur Golf Tour! He gets to travel to different courses all over Middle Tennessee and get a chance to qualify for a national tourn. in Hilton Head! So everyone pray for us as we have a fun year in store for us!

Blast from my past!

If you are like me, you LOVE to look at old pictures! I saw that Heather's blog and thought I would share some of my own favorites and most of my fellow bloggers are in them so you will probably enjoy them as much as me! *Captions are at the bottom of each picture.

Ballet/Tap Recital

Kellye, Darby, me, and Amanda

For some reason I had my tap recital while the rest of you were in the same ballet recital. I got left out. :(

(Amanda, I think you get the award for the tallest bun! LOL)

New Kids on the Block Concert

Brett (my brother in the left corner), Liz, Kendra, Nikki, Me, and Amanda (Amanda, apparently you werent in the mood for a picture or did you just spot one of the New Kids?!)

Ok, so this is a classic. We camped out all night in Oak Ridge for tickets to.... none other than NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK! Nikki, Amanda and I even had on our Jordan hats!

Halloween Dance at Ridgeview

Darby and I at the Halloween dance in 1990.

Ok, Mom WHY did you let me go out of the house in this costume?!!

Ridgeview playground

Starting at the top left-Renee', Amanda, Carrie, Leslie, Me and Jennifer

I dont know what year this is from or why we decided to take this silly picture. We must have planned this because why else would I have had a camera at recess? CHEESY!

Dogwood Ball

Brad, me, Ryan, Darby, Bradley, Casey, (sorry Amanda not sure what his name was?), Amanda

Group picture before the Dogwood ball where you must wear a pastel dress of any color. I need to remember that ice blue is NOT my color! Ha! Darby, I think this was taken at your house.

Cheer Camp at TN Tech

Miriam, Amy, Casey, Lacy, Darby, Summershea, and me

Us at the dorms at cheer leading camp. What in the world am I doing? Nice pose!

My Junior Prom

Amanda Davis Owings, and I (Jay is in the background)

This picture was taken at dinner after my Junior prom. Nothing funny about this one but I wanted to share with you Amanda. We sure do look young! Ha!

Beach trip for RHS Chorus (Senior Yr)

Nikki, Amanda, and me

The one thing I remember about this picture was how cool it was outside. I remember being cold the whole time but bound and determined to get a tan for prom!!! Ha!

Swimming with the dolphins (chorus beach trip)

Nikki, Liz, me and Allison

On the boatride to see the dolphins. Sorry Nikki you got cut off!

More of swimming with the dolphins

Amanda and me

What I remember about this picture was that we jumped in to swim with the dolphins (which we didnt see much of by the way) and we all had our waterproof cameras so we were taking all kinds of pictures under the water, etc. Nikki I had one of your butt under the water but I decided not to share that one! Ha!

Beach trip (dinner)

Liz, me, Amanda, and Nikki

We were at dinner to listen to a band and I remember this night because it was the first time I tried escargot and the LAST!

Football Pep Rally

Lee Ann, Amanda, and me

Again, nothing funny other than we had sweatpants on under our skirts but no jackets on. Ha!

Graduation Cookout (last day at school)

Amanda, Nikki, Kendra, Liz, and me

Group picture at the cookout. Probably the last group picture we ever had.

Date night at my house

Me and Brad just hanging out at my house. This one was just too funny not to share. Look closely at the ribbon in my hair, curly hairdo, and the large cordless phone!

Celebrating Grannie's Birthday

This past weekend we traveled to Grannie's house to help her celebrate her birthday which was actually last week. We left early Friday to meet Grannie, Pops, An Am and Pete at The Chop House for dinner. What a great meal! I love that place and hadnt been since we moved from Knoxville about 6 years ago. Connor was a little stinker but also a very good boy for having to ride in the car such a long way and have to sit in a high chair throughout dinner. I wasnt sure how that was going to work, but he tolerated it well. We were all sitting there looking at our menus and the waitress came up and said, "Would you all like to hear the specials?" Connor looked at her and said, "Yes". She began to list the special they were offering that night and she asked if he liked that. He said, "Yes". Of course I knew too well that he didnt and he would be having his "regular" that he has everytime we go out to eat, "chickenfries" as he calls it. He then began handing her the bread dishes that he no longer wanted and said, "Here you go." It was hilarious! When we got home we had some cake in honor of Grannie's birthday. An Am and Pete came down to spend the night with us. And when you look at the pictures, she is not 85! Ha! That was a little joke by An Am and Pete. It looks by the pictures that it was Connors birthday because he blew out the candles and had a present to open! An Am and Pete are too good to him and got him a polo, blue jeans, and a khaki golf jacket. It is too cute and he will be very handsome in it. Thank you guys!

Helping Grannie blow out the candles.

Yaaahh for Connor! "I did it" he said.

On Saturday we headed back up to Knoxville- the boys to the boat show and the girls to go shopping. Pete unfortunately wasnt feeling well and had to go home- we missed you and hope you are feeling better! We then met for lunch and on the way home took a little detour to see the coal ash disaster. It was much worse than I could have ever imagined and my heart goes out to the people having to look at this day after day. Even the people who live in the vicinity that werent directly affected by the ash, are having to deal with truck after truck going back and forth tearing up their roads to clean up the mess.

Doris, we hope you had a wonderful birthday! We had a great weekend and hope to see you all soon! Here are some pictures I took of the coal ash sludge. Sorry some of them are dark, I had to turn my flash off to get the shots to come out.

This poor family now has the view of coal ash in their backyard instead of a water view.

In the background behind the tree it looks like a view of the mountains, but it is actually ash.

Again no more water, all ash..

I thought this picture was great because it shows you all of the stuff that was swept away in the tidal wave (lawn mower, stove, and other appliances)

In places where there was no water before, it is now lake front property.

Celine Concert

Yes, this is another way that I am showing my age! We went to see Celine Dion last night in concert and can I say it was one of the best I have seen. She did such a great job! I have always loved her music and most of all just really appreciate her talent as one of the best vocalists of our time. It was even more amazing to hear her in person! I will start off by saying that we have had the tickets for a year. I dont remember if you guys remember me blogging about it a year ago, but Brad bought tickets online after I saw a commercial about her coming to Nashville. He knew I really wanted to go and it was so sweet of him to get them for me. He wasnt too excited himself about going, but being the good husband that he is took me anyway! We laughed and laughed because as we were walking around downtown trying to decide what to eat before the concert we noticed that we were amongst mostly middle aged and older people! Oh well, I didnt care. I am about to turn 30 and own a mini van so what is one more uncool concert going to do to me? Ha! I felt better when we got to our seats as there were plenty of young people around. I made sure that Brad took note! I think he actually enjoyed the performance a little more than he would let on. You know its the macho thing! LOL He told me that if I ever wanted to go back and see her though that I would probably be taking a girlfriend with me. The opening act was a guy out of Vegas who had a great voice and impersonated all of the stars. He was hilarious and we have decided that if we ever to back to Vegas we must stop at the "Golden Nugget" and see him. It was pretty funny because when we went there this past March, we went to the Golden Nugget because we were told you have a better chance at winning in the small casinos. Well, it was pretty much a dump by Vegas standards. However I would go back to hear this guy. Anyway we had a great time and I can only wish that I can look like Celine when I am that age! Thanks to my Mom who came down and spent the night with Connor so we could have a night out. We had a great time and got in pretty late for a school night! Ha! By the time I got to bed it was 1 and had to get up this morning to work. Now that is when I really felt old!

Brad wishing this was the real reason he was at the Sommet Center!

Here is the shot that I took when we walked in, just look at all of the grey hair! Ha!Aww, and the cheesy "hold the camera out and take your own picture" shot!

Now I know what you are thinking...Our tickets were good but we werent this close to the stage.

Now maybe if I keep running my two miles a day, I will look like this. Hmm, I am not convinced.

Being 2...

is so much FUN! In case you need a reminder on what it is like to be 2 year old little boy, here you go...
We are smart, very smart. We 2 year olds repeat everything that we hear. We also have a very good memory and remember that when we see golden arches that there are french fries, and that when we go to Publix or Lowes that there are "cars" (car grocery carts), and that we need to "play" in the play area as soon as we arrive at the mall. We know how to get what we want by squinting those eyes with a sweet smile and climbing up in Mommy's lap just to say "I love you". We also know the little corner by the couch very well, especially when we do something that Mommy says isnt nice. We like to play in the potty and tell Mom and Dad that we need to go, when really we just want to flush the toilet. We also like to give our doggies 2-3 bones at least 3 times a day. We like messes, destruction, and dont forget that everything is MINE, MINE, MINE!

This pretty much sums up what my son is thinking most of the time, at least I think so. We are still really enjoying this age and everything that it brings. I took Connor to the doctor last week (I was a little late since he turned 2 almost a month ago). He loves the waiting area, but as soon as he approaches the scale in the hallway he freezes and says, "I dont like it." This is pretty much the only thing that he says while he is there. He weighs 25 pounds (20th percentile), his length is 35 inches (70th percentile), and his head- 51.2 cm (95th percentile). We talked about his picky eating which was my main concern and they basically said it was very 2-ish. Not a big deal. I have been thinking for a while that Connors vocabulary was pretty good for his age and she confirmed that by saying that he is talking like a 3 year old. She was able to understand everything that he said, which is unusual for a stranger to understand a 2 year old. I think we might be in trouble someday with our little talker. He got one shot and he was very glad to hear that it was his last until he is 5! I cant believe that we dont have to go back for another well visit for a whole year. Woo hoo!

Connor's best friend is definitely Cooper and of course dont forget Mickey! He is really into building blocks, working with his tools, playing in the choo choo train tent, and golf. Funny story- Brad has been watching the golf channel lately and there is a show that comes on that has celebrities playing golf and people giving lessons, well Connor loves it. I have noticed him watching it a few times and then yesterday he was sitting there watching his Mickey show and out of nowhere he looked at me and said, "I wanna watch golf ball." I immediately knew he was talking about that golf show, so I had to call Brad at to find out what channel it was on. He mimics them when they swing and makes a swoosh sound every time. Brad is so excited about the spring and taking him out on the course. He keeps reminding me that there is footage of Tiger playing when he was 3, so I guess he thinks Connor is going to be the next Tiger Woods. I dont know about that, but I do know that Connor really likes the game and it hasnt been because we have pushed him or enticed him to play. He has shown a real interest all on his own so I guess you have to wonder. Brad really just wants to retire and become his caddy! Ha! Sorry this has been such a long post, I just wanted to catch you all up on what is going on in the life of this 2 year old. Here are some videos of Connor playing with Cooper and being silly with Daddy!

How is it possible that another year has gone by?!

I still cant believe that it is 2009! This year has been a year of changes for us and has definitely had its ups and downs. Nonetheless, I am so thankful to have such a wonderful family to hold through all of it. We had a quiet New Years Eve at home this year. You know you have reached true adulthood when you are in asleep on the couch at 9:30 and in bed by 10 on New Years Eve! I couldn't even stay awake to watch the ball drop- pretty sad! We got up the next morning and got busy taking down all of our Christmas decorations and boy was I pooped by the end of the day. On Friday we headed to the mall for the first time since before Christmas to see what bargains they had in store for us. Boy, were there ever bargains to be had! Thanks to my wonderful mother in law for giving me money for Christmas- I had some to spend! I got a pair of shoes, a wallet, lots of clothes, some clothes for Connor, and lotion from Bath & Body! It is so fun to not have to shop for anything in particular and just buy whatever suits your fancy. Brad walked away with a few bargains of his own. He still had some shopping to do and Connor was getting a little tuckered out, SO we headed to the van to watch our first movie on the DVD player! We sat in the back together and watched Toy Story (well part of it) and I think I loved it as much as he did! Love that movie. We are LOVING the van so much! I think even a lot more than I thought we would. I am happy to say that there is no going back now. Other than that I have been trying to get my house back to normal. I will have to say I think January is my least favorite month, BUT I love the fresh and new beginnings that come with it! I feel like organizing everything. It would be nice if I had the time. Connor makes sure that I dont have much time for that, but it is a nice thought.

$175 later, our garage door is fixed. Apparently we are supposed to have two springs on our door and only had one, thus not allowing us to manually open the door when the one spring broke. Its so great when 3 days into the new year you have a costly home repair. We just replaced the garage door opener 6 months ago. Happy New Year, right?! I guess that is what home ownership is all about.

Anyway, this post is very boring. Just an update on what we have been doing around here and to say Happy New Year to everyone! I cant wait to see what the new year holds!

We play in the van even when we dont have anywhere to go! Ha!

Who is the cool dude in the glasses?!

Another day of vacation...

Our garage door spring snapped last night, thus we cant get my car (never mind...VAN) out of the garage. Darn! I guess I will have to stay at home another day. Blah..blah... Ha! We have started our spring cleaning so this will force me to finish cleaning out those closets and take stuff to Goodwill! YIPPEE! Not much else to do on this dreary day. Oh how I yearn for spring!

Christmas with the Lux's

I am also late getting this post out... Too many Christmas festivities to have time to post them all at once! On the Saturday after Christmas we got together for our new tradition to have Christmas with my Mom's sister and family. Since they have moved to Tennessee we have been trying to make up for all of the lost time when we didnt get to see each other for holidays. Last year we celebrated at Mom and Dad's house. This year we met at Monell's in Gallatin for dinner and then went over to Aunt Linda and Uncle Ron's house for the rest of the night. We had too much fun! I was excited to finally get to go to the famous Monell's. It is one of those places that Nashville is known for. It has family style dining and if you dont go with a large party of people like we did, then you sit at a large dining table with people that you dont know and, "pass the peas..." as they say. We were at the Gallatin location and not the original Nashville one, but the house was so cozy and inviting. The staff even gave us a tour up the winding spiral staircase to the upstairs and the watch tower. I was too afraid to go up in my heels, but Uncle Ron took Connor up to see the view. The decorations were beautiful, as they were as my Aunt Linda's house as well. We always enjoy going over there to see her pretty house. Connor really enjoyed Ryan's room upstairs playing with his drum set! I told the family not to get any ideas! Despite what Aunt Amanda said we DO enjoy some peace and quiet around here. Ha!
Some of my pictures came out blurry and some were provided by my cousin Ronnie and Uncle Ron. Thanks for taking the family picture- boy were we happy! LOL

Stuffed from the BIG meal!My Aunt Linda, Uncle Ron and cousin RyanMe taking pictures as usual...Grandy and ConnorThank goodness they werent busy that night because Connor had the run of the house!Pictures beside their pretty Christmas tree. Connor was too busy to smile for the camera with Mommy.Sitting with Nonna. a BIG hug from Nonna!
Nonna going up the very tiny spiral staircase.

The guys spent most of the night playing pool in Uncle Ron's cool pool room!
Cousin Ronnie being silly!and here he is... the ROCK STAR! The Whole Family