2011 Accomplishments

I never make New Year's Resolutions. Never really have. But I did have one main thing that I wanted to accomplish for 2011 and that was a 1/2 Marathon. That was something that I always thought was crazy. Something I thought I could never do in a million years. And I proved that even in 5 months that goal was attainable. I ran my 1st ever 5K in October of 2010 and my first 1/2 marathon in March 2011. I'm not very fast. I will probably never run a sub 2 hour 1/2 marathon, but it's awesome knowing I did it:)

I also wanted to run/log as many miles as I could in one year's time. I ended up with 641.5 miles for the year and 118 hours of Zumba/bootcamp classes. I was pretty proud of myself for all of that. The most exercise and the most healthy I've been in who knows how long. The best part was finding a new love for running. I LOVE Zumba, but I also like mixing it up during the week. And I'm so happy that I completed not only 1, but two 1/2 marathons in 2011. Completing White Rock and beating my previous time by 9 minutes was an awesome way to end the year. And then 6 days later having a PR in my 5K was also pretty great.

I plan on keeping my running mileage and gym class hours for 2012 as well. Maybe I can do the same or even better this year. We shall see:)

2012--I would like to complete a few more 1/2 marathons. I would like to sign up for a few more races too. I only did 1-10K and 2-5K's this year.

And my main thing would be for Kerry to be able to join me again in 2012. He got hurt several months ago. Tore his patella tendon in his knee (not from running though). So he has been out of running commission for awhile now. It was weird training for White Rock without him. It was hard I know on him letting me go and run it wishing he were there with me. He just now gave it another go and has ran a mile 2 or 3 times on the treadmill. So I'm really hoping it holds up, that it heals completely and that it doesn't cause him too much discomfort. I know he is tired of doing the elliptical at the gym for his workouts.

Go Cart

Since the weather was so pretty over the Christmas break, the boys got a lot of use out of their go-cart...They spent several afternoons over there driving around and around:)

Kerry was not going to let me snap a picture of him....

Sweet girl likes riding around too....

Jaxson taking Kresee for a ride

Fall Family Pics 2011

We had Family pictures made back in October so that I could have them ready for our Christmas cards...I've not had time to upload them all on here so I will have to come back and add to it...

We had to attempt one OU family picture for our study:)

Red River #3

We went on our annual Red River Ski Trip last week....We got up and headed that way early Sunday morning so that we could be in Red River by dinner time...We made great time and were there around 6:00 or 5:00 their time...We met up with Dad and Sallye at the Auslander Condos....Unloaded all our junk...Headed over to Sitzmark to rent all our boots and skis...Then went back for some yummy hamburgers that Dad made....We were all pretty exhausted and hit the sack pretty early knowing we would be up and on the slopes at 9 am....
We knew there was a pretty bad winter storm headed our way...Red River was expecting to get several inches on snow throughout Monday and into Tuesday...But we woke up and yes it was pretty chilly out there...The snow was coming down too bad...We ate some good breakfast...Piled on the layers and headed over to the easy lift/slope so Kohen could practice a few times...It was pretty windy...The lady took our pictures before we even had time to put on our skis...As you can tell, the wind and snow were really coming down at this point....

I thought it was going to be a miserable day, but we got going...Kohen was a little more reserved than we expected...Last year, we could hardly keep him reigned in...This year he was definitely more cautious...We worked on the easy slope all morning and went over to the big lift to get one ride to the very top of the mountain...By the time we skiied all the way down, we knew it would be lunch time....

After lunch, it turned out to be a pretty day...The snow really had stopped...That storm ended up going more south and east of us...It was good weather all afternoon...

We skiied the rest of the afternoon and Kohen did really well...We had some great spaghetti that night...I ate 2 huge plate fulls:)....We went to bed early again and was up and ready for Tuesday...We walked straight over to the big lift and skiied the big slopes all morning...Kohen finally got his groove and was doing great....

We ate lunch, then Sallye, JJ, Kerry, Kohen and I all headed about 5 miles out of Red River to a snowmobile place...Dad, Chris and Joscelyn all stayed and skiied the afternoon...

Kerry and I loaded up, Kohen rode with JJ and Sallye had one to herself.....

They took us across the street on like 1,100 acres of land...You had to follow the trails they made for you since the snow was so deep in places and you couldn't just venture anywhere...But you had 2 hours to ride and do what you wanted...It was a lot of fun....At first, I wasn't too excited...I thought I was going to end up being cold...But I had a great time...They had this tall hill that you could ride to the top and get on one of those plastic bowl type sleds and slide down...It was probably the funnest thing I've done in a long time...I have several videos of us sliding down that thing....The guy said Kohen definitely held the record on the farthest he's seen someone go...Probably a good 2 football fields worth...

Here we are trying to get a picture after we were done...The sun was shining straight in our eyes and Kohen was NOT into having his picture made....

We headed back and met up with everyone...Got changed and ate a very good meal at Timbers restaurant...We ate there last year as well and enjoyed it....

We really lucked on getting there on Sunday b/c the pass/stretch of road into Red River was closed all day Monday and half of Tuesday...We got out in time on early Wednesday morning b/c they got more weather that night and Thursday....So we couldn't have timed it more perfectly...

The only bad thing was that we left around 6:15 am Wednesday morning and b/c of the snow storm there were road closures and we had to go really out of the way to get home...Basically took us right at 11 hours to get home...We were very ready to be back in Wichita Falls!!!

We seriously have the best time going on our yearly ski trips...I'm so glad Dad/Sallye invited us 3 years ago...I'm not sure Kerry and I would have braved doing that on our own..And it's something I think we will continue to do every year...We really look forward to it...

Kohen from this past January (4 1/2 years old)

Kohen from our 1st time in December 2009 (3 1/2 years old)...I guess if we take Miss Kresee next year she will be 3.5 then as well...Should be interesting with the 2 of them!

Christmas #6

Our last Christmas was at my Nana and Papa's house for lunch...We had the usual turkey and dressing with all the fixings:)....We then opened the last of all the presents....The kids are patiently waiting on Papa to return to the house so they could open theirs....

Kresee giving me a silly face....

Sketch sitting on Kohen...

Kohen got another PS3 game and 2 more wrestling guys and some art supplies....Kresee got a Fur Real penguin, a Dora game for the leapster2, some colored pencils with some art paper and stickers and a barbie doll....

Needless to say we were pooped by the time we were done with all our Christmases...We got home around 4:00...Kohen got to play on his PS3 for the 1st time....He and Kerry competed in football for awhile...I picked up the house while Kresee played with all her toys....We went and grabbed some leftover soup at Kerry's parents for dinner...Then went to the Lavender's that evening to let the boys and girls all play together for about 1.5 hours...The kids went to bed and I wasn't too far behind....

We did sleep in a tiny bit today (if 8:15 counts as sleeping in--I did lay there for longer though)....I finally went and got donuts around 9:15....Then we put up all the Christmas stuff today...

I was just looking through old pictures...It made me realize this was our 3rd Christmas without Biskit and of course our 1st without Sage....Kresee wasn't even born here (Christmas 2008)....Kohen was 2 1/2 (Kresee's age right now)....As you can see they were all tuckered out and taking good Christmas nap together....Hunter and Biskit laying with Kohen...While Sage and Parker were with Kerry....

I had to really step back and concentrate on appreciating Hunter this year....I have a sinking feeling that this was probably his last Christmas with us....

Christmas #5 (Christmas Morning)

Christmas morning is always spent at our house with just the 4 of us....It's my favorite Christmas, of course, just hanging out with the kiddos and enjoying them....
Kohen is so good b/c he knows I don't like him to look in the living room until we all go in there together (I know that won't last much longer)....But he had a "nightmare" around 3 am and Kerry just let him sleep with us so that it wouldn't be an issue in the morning...
At 8 am, he finally came over to my side of the bed since he had been just laying around in his chair at the foot of our bed and asked when we were going to go into the living room...
Luckily, he's a patient little guy and let me go and get Kresee and everyone's milk cups made...I had to let Kresee use the restroom and semi-put her hair back....Then I had to get my camera and video camera ready so I could film them walking into the living room:)

Kresee really wanted a white puppy with a bone...Luckily "cookie" was big this year and Santa brought her this pup and some Hello Kitty rain boots....Santa only brings the kids one big gift and one smaller one...Then some good stocking stuff....
Santa brought Kohen this big ole AT/AT (all terrain) transport...So he had to go upstairs and bring down all his Star War guys...And his small gift was the game Operation....

Opening up our presents....

Kohen wanting to just love and snuggle with Daddy for a little bit....He is such a sweetie sometimes

Kresee got him the Guess Who game...We got him a big army truck/helicopter set, a WWE rumblers set of guys, WWE rumbler semi-truck, nerf double swords, a shark/ship set, NCAA 12 and Star Wars for his PS3....

Kohen got her a Ken doll and Barbie doll...We got her an Ariel Mermaid doll, a little puppy set to go with her dollhouse, a stamp pad set, a sticker "make your own" jewelry box, a leapfrog write your number pad, a Fur Real polar bear, and a school bus phonics thing....

She loves this dog...Named her Abby....Santa did well:)

We ate cinnamon rolls...The kids hung out and played all morning....My living room was a complete disaster:)...Then we headed out to my Nana and Papa's for lunch and Christmas #6:

Christmas #3 and #4

Christmas #3 is spent every year at the Maroney's house on Christmas Eve morning...We got over there at 8:30 am to eat some breakfast...

Kresee needed her kitty cat all zipped up in her jacket so she wouldn't get too cold...

Getting a decent picture of Kohen these days are hard work...He gives the silliest faces or tilts his chin up to the ceiling...whatever:)

Eating some yummy breakfast (cinnamon rolls, biscuits, sausage, eggs, bacon) before opening gifts....

Present time:)...Kresee has a full house of animals now...She got a new bunny from her cousins...She loves it...

The girls both got a Barbie doll on a bicycle....

The boys both got helmets (Kohen thought they were for football?)

Kerry needed to try it on...

Then Maw let them open a box with a picture inside it....

Then they go out into the garage and see this!!...They were sooo excited...

Maw even cleared off some paths behind their house to drive this thing around ONCE the part comes in--haha...Poor guys really wanted to ride it...But it should be in the mail tomorrow....

The girls got a Barbie car

Then after the gifts we all went back in the house since the adults knew this guy was going to show up any minute.....

We had all the kids sit in Maw and Papa's lap...This is them right after Santa walked in with his loud voice...Scared the crap out of them...haha....

Kohen and Jaxson jump on up...Kohen has no idea what to tell Santa he wants (thank goodness)....

Kresee told me "I already sat in Santa's lap" (she did at the mall a few weeks ago)...So I didn't think she would go for Santa again...But she sucked it up and did....Now, she wasn't going to smile or talk for anything, but she sat in his lap for awhile:)....

Now Kenzie and Lexie wanted nothing to do with him...Maw tried to get them to cooperate, but no such luck....

Then we tried getting all the grandkids together (with Maw)....

Kresee, Santa and Kohen

Family Picture with Santa 2011

Family picture with Santa 2010 (yes Kerry is wearing the Same shirt!)

Family Picture with Santa 2009

Kresee and her bunny

Jaxson brought over his Wii and we played Just Dance all afternoon...It was a lot of fun:)...I am going to have to go and buy it for Kohen's PS3 for us to play at our house....And I'm awesome at it--haha...I give all my dancing credit to Zumba!

We hung out in our PJ's pretty much most of the day....We had to go get changed and dressed for 4:00 when Kerry's whole family came over for dinner and Christmas #4....We ate yummy soups and sandwiches...Played LCR (a dice game) and Kerry won the whole $42 pot, so that was fun...We then went to Kerry's Meme and Papa's house to open presents...That evening,

Kohen got a army gun, a gun that shoots water pellet things, moon dough, a squishy ball, and money

Kresee got her a puppy with vet accessories, a cute shirt, squishy ball, a set of ice cream sundae toys and money....

We then headed back home to bed since Santa was going to be on his way.....

Then fun part was getting Santa gifts out about 9:30 at night and realizing the batteries were dead in Kresee's puppy...So luckily JJ's gas station was open and was stocked full of "C" batteries and some "AA" batteries for Kohen's star wars toy as well...We probably shouldn't wait so late to next year--haha....