SPRING~~~~~BASEBALL

we've had a lot of rain this spring it seems that way anyway or mabe its just ballgame nights,  ummmm which is pretty much every night:)     yup baseball has been goin full swing for awhile now!!  Ethan has been playin on the local rec team plus he played in 2 wknd tournaments close to Nashville,  his travel team hasn't been doing good at all so we decided not to do that anymore, it was just taking to much time, his rec team has been having a great year with only 2 losses.. he plays first base and has been having a lot of fun!  Josh has been having a great year, they were undefeated until last night:) he has been doing really good this year and plays short or pitches,actually has been doing some first to since their first baseman broke his elbow in a game a few weeks ago:( they had a kid break his nose in practice earlier in the season and now a broken elbow,  we just started a league for kids 11-13 since they have to quite playin little league at 12,   so mike and Josh is on that one to started playin that.... sooo if your head is spinnin yet yea mine does to sometimes but I love it!!  just in case you were wandering this has been our schedule for a few weeks,Josh and Ethan have games Monday and Thursday nights,  mike and Josh have games tues and Saturday nights,  Josh has practice Wednesday nights and sunday afternoons, Ethan has practice tues nights and a few Saturday morning games, with travel ball he had a few Wednesday night practice and sunday practices,we didn't always go to them,  and mike has a few practices in there to:) they don't practice as much,,,, yea just a little crazy but its not as bad as it sounds and only for a few weeks:)         love love this time of year!!!  just a few pics of the baseball craziness

on the way home from a Nashville tournament, Steve was at the mens fast so it was me and my boys:)

mike

Josh

this is all my baby knows, most of the time he has a bat ,ball or helmet

Zach following in big brothers footsteps:)

Easter--half marathon

Where to start again!!!!:(   here goes just for my own record of happenings in our lives!   easter wknd Mel ,back and family came down again, the guys turkey hunted, we had a great time even tho I got soooo sick again:( don't know why that seems to happen that time of year.    and I didn't take hardly any pics......                                                         HALF MARATHON                           I prob would never have done this if my sister would not have talked me into it, plans were in the beginning to run it together,  sooo after Christmas I started training, I have been running for a few years but never more than 3 miles and did my first 5k last year,  there were 2 other ladies in church that run to and one ran the Nashville 1/2 and the other one just did her 1/2, so we trained together which was great for long runs! they got me to do some TRX which I really enjoyed just didn't have a lot of time with 1/2 training ..mabe when things slow down again:)    my sis ended up not being able to come down so the lady I was training with ran it with me,(yea she did 2 1/2s this spring)  and I got really really sick the wknd before it was chest congestion , a bad cough and being weak all week, the worst ive felt in a long time!! I considered not doing it but after the hrs of training and all I decided im going to cross that finish line somehow!!   I did!  after a ton of prayers!! I didn't cough much while running but sounded awful when I stopped:)   it was fun and im starting to enjoy longer runs, I really want to do one this fall yet, running has taught me sooo much !   It has become part of my lifestyle and as long as the Lord grants me health I hope to continue:)))

easter wknd

race time

i will rise up on wings like and eagle, i will run and not grow weary,walk and not faint...was our verse,,, wrote it as a reminder on our arms:)

the running group!! ran up the mountain for our training run,

back at the motel, pretty much how i felt right then:)

finish line:)

christmas

sooo Christmas has come and gone, I took the tree out and all the Christmas decorations are packed away until next year... we had a blessed Christmas!  why - it wasn't the gifts and all that extra stuff, it was just being together again with family!!! It was a year since I had seen my sis and her family,she had a baby in june and I met him for the first... we all stay at pops.. I think people wander how we do it:)    it gets crazy and loud and dirty:) but you seriously just enjoy being together amidst the craziness,,we have 8 boys and 1 girl with our familys all together:):)  thiers laundry,thiers always food,tons of coffee, late nights!! late mornings!! did I say coffee:) we go to market sometimes:):) we shop for after Christmas deals:)   we try to solve the worlds problems:):) we do life together for 2 weeks:) we ran 3 miles together:)  the boys thing this year was air soft guns, ummm when I say boys I mean Shiloh to:) she had an airsoft gun to and was with the boys in whatever they did,,, I stole her away one day and we went to target and I painted her nails:):)     now we are back home,back to school,and life goes on...   I am always a little homesick after the holidays and being with family for 2 weeks, but thankful for the memories we made!!  aaaannnd me and sis plan to run a 1/2 together in Georgia in april!!!  baseball sign -ups have started, practices wont be until feb after tryouts,  well except for ethan,hes been practicing with his travel team 2 nights a week.... well that's it for now,i have a coffee and home depot date tonight:):)      

sis and family

meet Leon after work- he gives them a ride in the back:)

what a party:)

boys-confederate hats-

love this girl!! 

after our 3 mile run

took them to kitchen kettle one day[[[ gingerbread cookies



some of the crew

Shiloh and her gingerbread cookie

catching up

ok popping in again randomly :] catching up on life in November and December\\\\     oct. ,nov, and December are birthday months plus Christmas and our anniversary,sooo lots of celebrations..... we celebrated 14 years of marriage!   so thankful for 14 years with my man!  I celebrated another year of life ,another year older,another year to enjoy life and those I love! Ethan turned 7,Adriel had his first birthday, mike became a teenager ,,, The boys like to go to the Mexican resturaunt for their birthdays, they sing for you and smear ice cream on your face and you wear the huge Mexican hat..... I celebrated my birthday in pa this year, we went to pa for thanksgiving this year for the first since we moved.         Its so close to Christmas we usually don't go so it was fun to be with family this year, and we spent a night at mel & beck..the guys hunted the next day and we shopped:):)           Ethan has been going to the armory 2 nights a week to practice some baseball, its inside and they do some strength training and other drills,, he loves it and doesn't like to skip....they want him on their travel team in the spring,ummm we'll cross that bridge when we get there:):)     we went to our usual Christmas tree place and picked and cut our tree,,, the boys are soo funny with this,they think we have to go to the same place and they need there hot cider ,it is a fun time and fun memories:):)   we had our Christmas program at church, made our cookies and gave them out, gave the boys their gifts today,,and I got a laptop:):) happyhappy:)  (mabe ill blog more now)    so now we are ready to spend Christmas with family!!   sooo excited its been a year since ive seen my sis and her family!!!  way to long!!        MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!  hug eachother tighter this chritmas! cherish the memories, and thank Jesus for sending his son !  BE BLESSED!      ugh now I need to figure out how to load pics:(


waiting for the Christmas parade

ethans birthday

looking for the tree

cutting the tree

Running --life--summertime

Running---- I wasn't going to blog about his but I'm going to a little:):).    I've been running since Zach was born 2yrs ago almost 3,  I slowed down a lot while I was pregnant with Adriel but kept running just didn't push myself.... I really never thought I would be a runner and hated it when I first started!!  I kept going and it became a stress reliever and just something I had to do:):) something I could do for exercise since my options are limited at this stage in my life..... And it became my thing it was just running our driveway pretty much because that's all I felt comfortable with ,with the kids at home, so just did what I could,,, beginning of the year I decided I needed to break out of my comfort zone and do some races this yr, didn't think it would be me but needed to get out of my comfortableness ( if that's even a word:) and try it..... I'm kinda a loner, and like that for my alone time,,,,,, anyway Saturday I did my 2nd 5k for this yr:).  I'm getting a little more comfortable with what was uncomfortable and want to keep moving forward,,,,, it can be that way in our spiritual journey as well,some things may feel uncomfortable or scary but sometimes we just need to move forward into more....  I've just been challenged with this lately!! I don't want to settle for just ok I want to keep learning to keep growing stronger!!   I've been thinking of that saying lately that says fall down 6 get up seven, that's true but I don't want to keep falling down, how can you move forward if you keep falling down and getting up?? I want to move forward and at the end of the race I want to hear you've run the race you've kept the faith, well done my faithful servant!,,      Anyway whew was not gonna get into all that:):) here's some pics:).   Blessings!!