The Las Vegas Half Marathon

Earlier December Cami and I met in Vegas to run the Half Marathon. I don't think I have ever seen her so nervous about anything before. She was totally second guessing herself. I knew she could do it though. She'd put in all the miles. She'd had several long runs, but prior to the race her ankle had been bugging her, and now when she'd run it gave her trouble. I made a decision early on to stay with her. A part of me had wanted to try and beat my first time. In St. George I'd run the Half in 1:44. I was super excited to run another Half. But more importantly I was excited to run with Cami. She couldn't wait to get it over with. We got up bright an early. The gun was scheduled to go off at 6 a.m. We hung out in the Mandalay Bay foyer to stay warm. Then we headed out with just enough time to mix in with the crowd of 13,000. The race itself was awesome. It was still dark, and the city shot off fireworks. That day I felt great. I was revving to go. We both celebrated after the race with our "blue" Half Marathon medals. I hoped Cami would catch the bug. Not long after the race she whispered how much she wished she had the "red" medal - the Marathon medal. So, I guess she did catch it after all. We are already planning (and hoping) to run the Seattle Marathon in June. We'll see. For now I'm looking forward to the Painters' Half Marathon in St. George on January 17. That's just 2 weeks away!

Making Christmas Cookies

Dakota loves to help me in the kitchen when I'll let him. We've been talking the last couple of days about making Christmas cookies. Last night once all the errands were run and we were home, we decided to get out the flour and get to work. Little did I know that my flour was lacking in the food storage room. Thanks to Kris, she saved the day, and we made 3 batches of cookies:
Thumbprint Cookies
Crescents (Sandies)
Chocolate Crinkles

Dakota's job was shaping the Crescents and then rolling them in powdered sugar once they'd been baked.

His favorite part of the entire night was licking the beaters. You'd think he'd died and gone to heaven. His expression was priceless. He licked those things dry and had a crusty chocolate face to show for it!

What I Want for Christmas...

Dakota decide NOT to be shy this year with Santa. When I offered to take him to visit Santa, he was all over it. He waited patiently for his turn and then eagerly climbed on Santa's lap. Dakota told Santa that this year he wanted a Pokemon DS game. That came out quickly and easily. When Santa pried to find out what else he wanted, Dakota was stifled. All of a sudden he'd forgotten. Mind you, he has at least 30 toys circled in the holiday catalog. He couldn't think of one. Funny!

Dakota and I ventured out for some Black Friday Holiday Shopping. I lured him out telling him we were going to Toys R Us, so he could spend his toothe fairy money. He had already saved $4, received $5 from the toothe fairy (he lost 2 teethe last Friday) and then Oma said she'd match it. So, he had $14 to spend. He was on a mission to find just the right toy. He ended up choosing Pokemon Cards (what the...), and that was after an hour of going up and down every single aisle. Mommy did get some good ideas for Christmas though.

We then hit the other stores on our list. Mommy came armed with coupons in hand. We were ready to find just the right gifts while saving as much $$ as we could. Money's a little tight this year. Five hours later we came home with a few gifts for Daddy and Aunt Heidi.

This year we really don't have a lot of gifts on our list. Christmas in Hawaii is our main gift. We are focusing on food storage with Greg's side of the family, and I already have most of what I need for that. Maybe one more venture out, and I'll be all set for the holidays!

Thanksgiving Dinner at Our House this Year

Amy's Luncheon

So the Gants are moving on Thanksgiving Day, and that makes me sad. I am excited for Amy and her family, but selfishly I don't want her to move. Ever. They are moving down to sunny San Diego (bummmmm) where Jesse has a great new job. The company who hired him even gave them a great relocation package, so Amy doesn't need to worry about packing up everything (my very least favorite thing to do). Ethan and Hadley will make friends quickly - they are so outgoing, but the whole family WILL be missed. We love that family!