Sneak Peak

Wow, I have been so busy this week! I have been designing Christmas cards for families, and I have been putting together a photo book for my parents & my in-laws for Christmas. This year I decided to design all my own pages... I had no idea what a project that was going to turn into! I have stayed up almost the entire night 2 times this week because I can accomplish so much more when I am alone. I am still only about half way done - I have way to many pictures! Anyway, for my secret little blog stalkers, I decided I needed to post something this week. I am such a slacker, I know! So here's a couple pages from the photobook that I am doing. Shhhh, don't tell mom & dad. :)

Now the white borders won't be there in the printed book, they are just for ease of viewing here.



I hope you are all enjoying your holiday season!!

Happy Birthday to Me

It was my birthday a week ago, and on Friday I got one heck of a birthday present. Drum roll please.... I got a Canon 5D! Yeah!!! I'm doing cartwheels here. :) I LOVE it! I got the girls out of bed on Saturday and bribed them with making cookies so I could have a few minutes to practice with it on them. Here's my first couple shots:



Thanks babe, I loooove it! (and you too :))

Happy Thanksgiving!

We are leaving to Utah in about 12 hours, so while the house is quiet I thought I'd jump on here and wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving. I know my life has been so so blessed and I am just so grateful for it. Thank you to those of you who actually still check my blog after my long abandonment. :) Just a few of the things I am grateful for:

My husband
My daughters
My health
My family's health
My prosperity
My freedom
My faith
My parents & siblings
My body that took my 13.1 miles
My optimistic mind
All the challenges I have faced
All the people in my life who have influenced me to become the person I am
Photography :)
Good food
Good friends
Love
Laughter
Tears
Make-up
Crayons (you'd be amazed how many hours they entertain my girls)
Heros - people who really make a difference
Car dvd players
Good music
Sleep
Learning
Guidance
Cute shoes
Convictions
People who stand up for theirs
All the little moments in life that make me smile and think "This is what it's all about"

Have a great holiday everyone... I am so grateful for you too.

Here's a picture I took that I am grateful for

Personal Triumph

So I have to toot my own horn here for a minute. Last weekend I ran a half marathon in San Diego. I haven't been training for it, but I do run 3 days a week with a couple girlfriends. One of them runs marathons and half marathons all the time, so she convinced us to do this one with her. I wasn't real worried about it because the weekend before we did an 11 mile run and it was no problem. Well I was in for a little surprise. :) I, of course, wanted to see how fast I could do it, so I ran at a faster pace than we ever do. At mile 10.5 I wanted to quit so bad! I was so done mentally. I did slow a little, but by mile 11 I got a bit of a second wind and picked up my pace again. I was so happy to see that finish line, wow was I happy. I finished the 13.1 miles in 1 hour 46 minutes and 55 seconds. This is my official time from the web site.

11/11/2007
San Diego CA
Silver Strand Half Marathon
Bib: 239
Name: Noel Warburton
Gender: F
Age: 30
Place Overall: 309 out of 1731
Women: 66 out of 888
F 30-34: 16 out of 142
AgeGrade: 61.15%
Place: 272
FINISH: 1:46:55
pace: 8:10
Chip Time: 1:46:55

I have to say I was pretty proud of myself. I have NO idea how people double that distance and do marathons. AHHHH Maybe someday if I actually train for it.

Head in the clouds

So Makenna says to me the other day,
"Mommy, we don't have space helmets."
I tell her, "We don't need space helmets, sweetheart."
She says, "Why?"
I say, "Because we're not going to space, babe."
Then she says, "When we die and go to heaven, will we have space helmets?"

Just typing this makes me smile. I love this kid!

Little Miss Chubs

Don't you just want to squeeze her?!!

Where did it go?

Time

Where did it all go?
Britlyn starts kindergarten in five days. Wow, five days.
I don't know if I am ready to "lose" her to the world.
I know that we will still have a huge influence on her,
but... she'll definately be influenced by others too.
She is just so so sweet and kindhearted; I don't want her
to lose any of that, or for others to take advantage of it.

Lately she's been real clingy. She really wants me to hold her
and rock her a lot. She tells me she doesn't want to grow up.
I remember doing that as a kid too. She's nervous to start kindergarten.
Well, that is until I bought her a bunch of new school clothes,
now she's excited. True girl!!

I wonder if I've stopped enough times to just play, listen, teach, read, comfort, enjoy. With all three so young, I always seem to be busy with at least one of them. Keeping up with it all is a challenge, but it's a challenge that I love. My girls are just the highlight of my life. They make me laugh, cry, sing, dance, lose my mind, and fill my heart. We really do have it good. I am so blessed with my family. I just want to bottle them up and keep them young forever. With Britlyn starting kindergarten it is the begining of a whole new phase in our lives. It's exciting, but I also like how it's been and don't really want things to change. I hope I can always keep the relationship I have with my girls open and safe. I never want them to even second guess telling me something. I'm their mommy and I'll love them unconditionally no matter what.

No pictures this time, I just wanted to let my feelings out. Thanks for listening.