Very Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Here's a little Christmas treat for you.
Something cute.
How could you not love a little boy in a Santa suit?
DI for $2? I could not resist.

And then he fell trying to look at the lights on the Christmas tree.
Luckily I got this picture just in time.
Hilarious.

And he's something creepy. I think the picture says it all.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas.
We are going to have a sunny Christmas in the Philippines.
We leave tomorrow and I am beyond excited but slightly nervous for the approximately 20 hours we will spend flying with an almost one year old.
Oh goodness.
Pray for us.

the belated Thanksgiving post

Happy Thanksgiving!

Yeah I'm a little bit late. Colin actually had time to spend with us last week so I took advantage of that.

We watched a lot a Grey's Anatomy (we're on season 4 now).

We took a trip up to the new H&M and Crate and Barrell (by the way it was much too crowded).

We bought a new washer (ours was broken and we had to resort to wearing dirty clothes, gross? yes).

We had an awesome Thanksgiving day with family at my Aunt's house. It involved a lot of great food, football, a dance party, and of course a program. My family likes programs and Colin is learning to like them too. What a guy I have.

We did a little Black Friday shopping and by we I mean me. Colin did do his part by watching the babe because heaven knows I wouldn't want to take Cooper into that madness.

And we spoke in Church. Normally I don't like doing that but it wasn't so bad. We spoke about gratitude. How fitting. We honestly have so much to be thankful for. I'm not going to go all mushy on you right now but I just want to say I'm thankful for my two boys. They are what makes me happy and I love them more than I can say. I'm also thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the peace it brings. Of course I'm thankful for so much more I'm not going to leave it at that.

Also, over Thanksgiving break we gave Coop Dog a little haircut. Okay it was a big hair cut. I snapped this picture of Cooper one morning and when I looked at it I knew something had to be done.I mean it's cute, of course, but a little out of control. I would love for him to have long hair but his hair doesn't know how to lay down. No amount of gel of hairspray can keep it down for long.

Let's get a closer look.

Yes, definitely out of control.

So we gave the only haircut I know how to give.... A buzz. And I think it's pretty dang cute.

Pardon the unphotogenicness of these pictures. He wasn't feeling up to being my model at the moment. I think they're kind of funny though but that could be because he's my kid. And I'm not sure why he's not wearing a shirt but it seems to happen a lot for some reason.


And now that's it December I can officially say Merry Christmas!

Race Day

So... we survived. But I was hard. Like really hard. The first 9 miles or so were cake. It was all down hill and I felt good. The last two miles were torture but we made it through. I'm not sharing my time because I honestly don't know. I didn't look at the clock when we got in. I just didn't even think about it. Anyways, I felt good about how I did so the time doesn't really matter that much to me.

My dad and Colin and I stayed together the whole time and it honestly was fun. Time seemed to pass quickly except those last two miles I mentioned. They did not go by quickly.

Here is a picture of us right before the race started. I was a 80's something or other. I had theses awesome hot pink tights that you unfortunately can't see. Seriously, a few people mentioned how awesome they were during the race. I don't really know what Colin is. A basketballer? and we have no idea (my dad included) what he is. He claims he was a Japenese jester. Notice how happy and fresh we look.

These are the after pictures. Needless to say we (meaning me) look a little had. Although I felt like I might collapse at the end, it was a great feeling to know that you just accomplished something you never thought you could. Colin was on a high at the end and felt so good he ran and got the car for us. I couldn't really move. Col claims he wants to do another one, maybe even a full marathon! I'm not so sure.

I'm so glad that Colin and I were able to do this together. It was awesome to have him to push me at some points and I had to push him at some points. I'm also glad that I wasn't the only one hobbling around like a fool the few days following the race. We looked like fools together. It was quite pathetic.

My Tiger

Happy Belated Halloween. We had a little tiger hanging out with us on Halloween night. Sometimes he was happy.

And sometimes he wasn't.
But he sure looked cute either way.

laugh for the day

Cooper's new laugh. This kid is such a cheese.

run run run

I'm extremely nervous for this weekend. Why you ask?

Because for some crazy reason, that I cannot for the life of me remember now, I signed up for a half marathon.

This Saturday my husband and I will be running the Provo Halloween Half Marathon.

You see, I am not a runner. It goes against my very nature. I probably run slower than some people can walk. You think I joking but I assure you I am not.

I haven't mentioned one thing on this blog about the race up until now because I didn't want everyone to know what a loser I was when I backed out. Well guess what, I'm not backing out! So I'm already a winner right?! yay!

You see this was going to be the thing that makes me lose the rest of that dang baby weight. Well that hasn't exactly happened. I've lost minimal weight. Luckily when I get really discouraged I have a sweet husband that tells me I'm super hot. He humors me and it works.

Speaking of my sweet husband. As mentioned before he will be running the race as well. You see I've been training for this for 16 weeks now. That's quite awhile. On the other hand my husband doesn't believe in such a involved training schedule. His training thus far has included running about 4 or 5 times. And of course each of those times he runs faster than me and acts like it's no big deal when I feel like I must certainly be dying.

Also, Colin will run 4 or 5 miles with me once and BAM! loses 8 pounds. Now is that fair? I don't think so. When he tells me he's lost weight I have a keep my cool and act like it's totally awesome. (cause it is right?) I try very hard to keep my angry jealous thoughts to myself and I admit sometimes I fail.

My dad is also running. He's a big time runner and does lots of races so I keep asking him questions like, So what if they like close down the finish line before I get there? (He assures me they won't.) What if everyone passes me and I look stupid? But then he said "Marissa everyone is worried about themselves and they don't care about you at all." Surprisingly, hearing how one cares about me was comforting.

So I'm off to find our costumes for the race. Apparently if you don't dress up you're lame and we definitely don't want to be lame.