2 years....

(that is a picture of a picture. i couldn't get my scanner to work)

two years ago today, we became a family of three. i can speak for bo and say that this has been the most wonderful 2 years of our lives. every day we get to spend together is a joy. bo is more than i ever could have asked for in a husband. and he thinks i'm a pretty good wife too :-)

i hope and pray that everyone who is married is as happy and fulfilled in their marriage as we are. and i am so blessed that morgan will grow up in a home where the father is the leader of the household, and that she will have high expectations when it comes to choosing a husband (although no one will be good enough for her in my opinion)

thank you bo for making me the happiest woman in the world! and for giving my daughter something i was worried i couldn't - a strong, responisible, loving, involved (bonus) father who loves her as if she were his own flesh and blood. i love watching you videotape her school plays, play barbies and babies, teaching her how to count and read letters - and i love how you try to act all tough in front of me when she acts up, but then you don't have the heart to spank her.

i am blessed!

SPRING BREAK!

since morgan was out of school for spring break, i took the whole week off of work. bo was lucky enough to be able to take off thursday thru saturday. on tuesday, morgan and i went with some friends to clarksdale to see baby abby (morgan's friend's new little sister). Morgan just loved abby and is now naming all of her baby dolls abby.

isn't she adorable!

when bo got off of work on wednesday, we left home to go to clinton to stay with my parents and enjoy all of the benefits of being in a "big" city that we don't have in cleveland. thursday morning, morgan and i went to the mall to a store called zoe's world to "get fancy". we got pedicures and manicures and also got our hair and makeup done.

afterwards we met up with bo and ate lunch at mazzios and went to chuck e cheese's.

on friday bo and i both got massages and then ate lunch at ichiban, where he set his personal record for eating sushi - 42 pieces!!

then on saturday, i participated in my first "real" 5k. i did a 5k back in october in rosedale, but it was only about 25 or 30 runners (i finished last with a time of 34 min 21 sec). this 5k had over 1,000 participants with about 800 of them being runners. my sister april ran it with me. it was actually pretty difficult, and i blame it on the fact that i had eaten everything in sight while we were in jackson. the night before the race i ate chicken on a stick, hushpuppies and fries from penn's. while i felt awful during the race, it didn't affect my performance. i finished in 31:54 which works out to just over a 10 minute mile. i usually average over 11 minutes a mile in training. so i learned from that mistake and will not eat like that before a race again!

here is a picture of me and morgan before the race:

i want her to grow up seeing me be active and hopefully continuing to run. i hope that when she is older, we can run together .

the start of the race:

and me during the race - i was coming to get a kiss from bo and morgan - that's why i'm running on the grass

as some of you know, i am training for a half marathon in june. i am enjoying my training, especially my long runs. so far i am up to 9 miles at one time! hoping for 10 this week. i still have over 2 months until the race, so i think i should be ready in time.

New blog link

I have added a new blog link to the right side of the screen. If you are a fan of LOST, you must check out this blog. It is written by a guy who has never seen lost, and is watching the final season and summarizing each episode. As someone who has watched every episode (some of them twice), and is still somewhat "lost" about what's going on, it is so funny to see a newbie's interpretation.

http://neverseenlost.wordpress.com/

Enjoy!

Morgan is 4!!!!!

morgan turned 4 in january. in some ways it's hard to believe it's been 4 years since i was in the hospital having a c-section, but in other ways it feels like a lifetime ago.

there were many festivities to celebrate morgan's 4th birthday, which started with a "family only" birthday party...

as you can see, the "theme" was lady bugs - morgan LOVES lady bugs. back in the fall, when they were everywhere, i would pick her up from school and she's have 10 or more in her hand. i always tell people she loves lady bugs to death!!

cake was made by delta cream in cleveland....it was so cute and delicious!

the next day we went to lunch after church at la cabana. morgan had her first embarrassing birthday singing - complete with a mexican hat!

the ladybug theme continued with the cupcakes i made for her to take to school.

and of course we had our traditional birthday balloons - 4, because she is 4.

and unfortunately i did not take any pictures, but we did go to lost dog with 2 of her buddies from school and their parents.

i'm so proud of my baby girl! she is so beautiful and sweet and such a joy!

4 year old stats:

she weighs about 30 lbs and is about 38 inches tall - she's a little bit!

she loves to eat pasta - mac and cheese, spaghetti, etc.

but, her favorite thing to eat is candy and anything sweet!

she loves to play hide and seek and memory

she pretty much knows all of the books of the new testament

she loves school and learns something new every day

she hates to go to sleep and thinks of any reason to call us in her room at night

she doesn't take naps and hasn't in about 2 years

she always wants to help us do everything, from cooking to cleaning to fixing things

she loves going to dance school and dancing in general

she loves taylor swift!

she's pretty much the cutest and smartest little girl ever!

for my baby on her 4th birthday (tomorrow)

"In My Arms" by Plumb

Your baby blues
So full of wonder
Your curley cues
Your contagious smile
And as i watch
You start to grow up
All I can do is hold you tight

Knowing clouds will raise up
Storms will race in
But you will be safe in my arms
Rains will pour down
Waves will crash all around
But you will be safe in my arms

Story books full of fairy tales
Kings and queens and the bluest skies
My heart is torn just in knowing
You'll someday see the truth from lies

Knowing clouds will raise up
Storms will race in
But you will be safe in my arms
Rains will pour down
Waves will crash all around
But you will be safe in my arms

Castles they might crumble
Dreams may not come true
But you are never all alone
Because I will always
Always love you

Clouds will raise up
Storms will race in
But you will be safe in my arms
Rains will pour down
Waves will crash all around
But you will be safe in my arms

merry christmas and happy new year! (a little late!)

we had a wonderful christmas at the williams' house! unlike a lot of people, i wasn't glad when christmas was over! i loved every minute of it! morgan got a TON of stuff - and she knew it too...after seeing all that santa got her and opening all of her presents from us, she said "yall got me too much!" which is crazy coming from the girl who wants everything she sees a commerical for - even boy toys. she'll say "i want one of those, but a girl one"
do you think she got too much? the gifts on the right are from santa, and the wrapped presents are from us. not pictured is her v-smile from santa, which was hooked up to the tv.

here are a few pics of morgan trying out her first "big girl" bike

after all of the excitement of christmas morning, morgan left us for about a week to spend time with her dad. so we had plenty of time to clean, organize and "de-christmas" the house. for new year's eve, with bo having to work new year's day, we didn't make it until midnight. we did watch the ball drop in new york at 11 (bo barely made it!) and at midnight i was rudely awakened by fireworks.

as far as new year's resolutions, the only one i could come up with was to be a better housekeeper. actually, my first thought was to hire a maid, but bo quickly shot those dreams down! this is probably the first year ever that i don't have a goal of losing a certain number of pounds, or trying to eat healthier, or trying to exercise more. i feel like i'm the healthiest i've ever been. i am at a healthy weight, i drink mostly water (no caffiene at all) and eat fairly healthy.

also, i have taken up running, and i love it!!! i always thought i wasn't able to run. i had sort of tried before and it hurt my ankles and legs. i just thought i couldn't do it. but i started doing a couch potato to 5k program late in the summer and have just increased from there. i did my first 5k on oct 31st and i believe my time was 34 minutes and 21 seconds or so. i was the last runner to finish, but i beat all of the walkers!!! which brings me to my 2010 goal: run a half marathon!!! actually, my goal is to run a half marathon before i turn 30 (which is in july of this year). there is a half marathon in new orleans at the end of february. i think it would be tough to be ready for 13.1 by then (the farthest i've run so far is 6 miles) and we'd have to get a hotel. so it looks like i'm shooting for the marathon makeover half marathon in ridgeland on june 12th 2010!!!
i am so excited at the prospect of completing a half marathon. i always admired runners and always wished that i could run. being able to run 6 miles is something i never imagined in my wildest dreams, much less 13.1! and i can't wait to go to fleet feet after the race and by my 13.1 decal for my car. and who knows, maybe i'll shoot for the full 26.2 next time!

i'll keep updating my running progress. if there's anyone who is reading this who wants to try running, i highly recommend it! even if you say you "can't run" - i say you can! good luck!

it's christmas time!

in our house, the holidays mean many things, but the first sign of christmas is the arrival of curtis, our elf on the shelf!

he showed up this year while we were in gulf shores, alabama for thanksgiving. we had a great time in gluf shores. our beach house was right on the beach. morgan loved playing in the sand, looking for seashells and "muscles" and getting in the water a little bit. i really didn't take any pictures though! i did get one of our beach house - ours is the third from the right. we stayed there with bo's family - his parents, grandparents, sister, aunt, uncle and cousins. it was really fun and relaxing!

another sign of christmas is the tree. we put ours up 2 weeks before thanksgiving because we knew we would be out of town on thanksgiving and morgan was out of town the weekend before thanksgiving.

since we don't have a fireplace, i have to get creative with our stockings....

morgan is so excited about christmas this year. it makes it so much fun! so far, we have been to the christmas parade, breakfast with santa and morgan's christmas program at school. at breakfast with santa, morgan sat on santa's lap and was just mesmerized by him. she kept looking at him and smiling. she planned to tell him that she wanted a baby doll and a bike, but i think she only said baby doll because she was so nervous and excited!

bo also makes christmas very fun - he wants morgan to have a ton of presents under the tree. he keeps counting what we've gotten and saying that it's not enough, she needs more! on christmas, i'll take a pic of them and of santa's presents too.

i am so blessed to have a husband who sees the value in making each holiday special and fun for morgan. i hope she has great memories of family traditions that she will continue when she has a family of her own.