eight is great!

guess who turned 8!!

this sweet girl of mine turned 8. it's a big one. 

i honestly feel like she should be turning 6. she is growing up so quickly before my eyes.

she has turned into quite the little lady

daddy was off on her birthday so we got to take cupcakes into class

opening presents.

she got some make up, a vest, a few shirts and some jewelry. she also got scriptures

we took her to red robin on her birthday. just the 3 of us. it was so fun. she loved slurping the bubbles from dad's root beer float. she was so cute

she couldn't wait for them to sing happy birthday. then she dived into the hot fudge sundae-only actually eating the cream

then she went to get her ears pierced. she has been counting down for 2 years. she was a trooper. no tears, no flinching, i honestly thought that maybe they hadn't gotten the earrings through. she did awesome!

ending the night with yummy strawberry cake 

some things about this cutie-

-she is adaptable! she can do makeup, then run outside to catch bugs, then back inside to play barbies. -she has the best personality. really easy going most of the time.

-she is a great helper. 

-she is a great big sister. she loves helping her younger siblings

-she loves to ride her bike

-she loves to roller-skate in our basement

-she likes to watch my little pony and wild krats

-she likes to eat corn chowder 

-pizza isn't her favorite

-she is a social butterfly

-she adds so much to our family. i love tucking her in at night and talking to her about her day. she is kind and thoughtful and just downright happy. i love having this gal in our home!

LOVE YOU!

5 K

there is a great amusement park pretty near to our house. i got a call friday night from my friend who asked if i wanted to run it. i thought- 5K?yes, i'm in.

it was a pretty chilly morning. my friend (right next to me) has asthma. with the cold temps and her asthma, i was a little worried about her. i ran with her. she was having a hard time breathing. but it was a super fun/delightful run. took it so slow. enjoyed the scenery and every step.

the other two girls with us hadn't run a race before. it was fun to be with them.

best part of the morning. stopping for breakfast at a local little bakery. mmmm. 

i'm up for this new tradition.

ps my sweet hubby got me the jacket I'm wearing for my birthday. it was perfect. love it!

loving fall

we have been enjoying this time of year. I honestly think PA is one of the prettiest places for fall leaves. Everywhere I look i see picture worthy scenes.

snuggling at conference

 popcorn makes the perfect conference snack

 i love all the roadside stands that line PA back country roads.

we found a place to grab some pumpkins.

the kids loved finding their perfect one. $4 for big, $2 for small

 how beautiful is this? 

right by my house

 soaking up some well loved october sun

half

in my days of losing weight, i loved the idea of half. instead of a whole cookie, i'd eat half. half a cookie. great idea. still get a treat, just not the entire thing. half a bagel, half a cup of ice cream. oh how i came to love the idea of half of anything.

i have now found out the one thing i am not a fan of.

the half marathon.

half makes it sound like a good option. maybe not quite so bad.

i am here to tell you it is. it is grueling. hard. kicked my trash. felt defeated.

i honestly had no desire to run a half marathon. not ever. never crossed my mind. then a few people from our church group decided to run the buffalo niagara half. they kept taunting me. i called my friend in buffalo, asked her if she ever had any desire to run a half. she said it was on her bucket list. next thing i know, i'm training for a half.

the week before the half, i ran 10 miles. it felt good. i felt like i could have gone a few more miles.

then i found myself at the start of the half. without my friend who had hurt her back a few weeks previously so she couldn't run. luckily, i had a friend from up in ny that i ran with.

i felt off the whole run. my stomach hurt. i kept feeling like i wanted to throw up. couldn't get a good rhythm. it was hard.

another friend from buffalo, met us close to the finish. she snapped pics of everyone.

here's my hubby, he rocked it!

ran it in 1:47

 she caught up to us. this was around mile 11

 mile 12 was hard. i was spent, right after this water break,  i about lost everything i had down. i dropped back. i needed to get through the last mile. i had to do it alone. i pulled my headphones out and just had to concentrate on getting to the finish. the last 3rd  of the last mile, my sweet hubby came and met me. he ran the last part with me. i wanted to walk so bad. he kept me going.

i finished in 2:10. not exactly what i wanted- but i finished. i laid on the grass and tried to stay coherent and keeping everything down.

thanks to my friend molly for running it with me.

thanks to my friend rachel who was going to run, but ended up bringing 7 kids under 10-- 5 of them under 4, to wait for us at the finish!

we had some other friends from buffalo who ran, and another good friend from PA who ran. somehow i ended up with no pics of them.

funniest part was when we tried to board the bus. after waiting, lying on the grass for 35 minutes, it finally came. i stood up and realized i was going to vomit. yep. awesome. scan the area for a perfect spot, i spy a trash can, right where everyone is boarding the bus. i stood there dry heaving my guts out for a few minutes. awesome.

realized i had a bit of  a stomach bug. i was sick for 3 days after. then other member of my family got it :(

i said i would never do one again.

BUT

now i have to see how i would do minus bad stomach. 

we will see.

best part of the day. getting delicious treats at wegmans :)

and no, i didn't just eat half. 

fair

once again the fair rolled on into town and we of course visited.

we ate a ton of snacks, cinnamon roll, salt water taffy, cotton candy, penn state ice cream, apple dumpling. it was all quite tasty. one thing about PA is they know their snack foods.

the kids love riding the tram into the fair.

 seeing the animals 

 i had to get a pic of these shoes. 

i don't know what proper fair shoe attire would be, don't think these would be at the top of my list...

 the kids love the corn dig

 fun little bikes the kids can ride.

great family home evening.

everyone left happy and full. :)

a little bit of us

enjoying our swing set

 loving these kids of mine

playing beauty shop

 enjoying a new found park

 got to watch this cute little lady. look at this hair and cheeks.

she was so cute. B loved her!