First Trail Half Marathon!

Linds and I tied for 2nd place in our age group at our first ever trail half marathon!  We crossed the finish line hand in hand!  This is my last half marathon in my current age bracket!  I'll be turning 40 soon! ;)  We decided to try something different as I approach a new decade..... This is what I learned...

1.)  It's important to train on trails if you are going to run a trail race (Linds and I didn't run a single mile on a trail to prepare for this)!

2.)  Hills with roots, mud, bogs, and watersheds make you go slower and you come home looking like you ran a mud run!  This course also makes you pray the whole time that you don't break a bone!

3.)  I don't know if I'm a trail runner (even told Linds that before the halfway mark today... haha).... stay tuned!

4.)  I'm always grateful to have my sister by my side no matter what the activity is!

5.)  We always have the best fan club cheering us on at the finish line! ;)

Also, as a way to catch up on the last week in the Houston household.... here is what we have been up to!

Grannie and GranDan came to visit to celebrate our April birthday boys!  GranDan's birthday is the day before Zander's!

Zander presented his Hatchet project he has been working on.

With sports obligations most nights of the week, Maddox didn't want to get up for school a couple mornings! ;)

We found out Aunt Kelly is having a girl!  We can't wait to meet Emma!

We celebrated the boys' stellar report card grades with pizza out at a restaurant!

We are back on the baseball field cheering on our favorite #10!  He is doing great in the field and up to bat!  He is doing machine pitch again this spring! 

Grandpa took us to the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall that is in our town this week.  He got to show the boys where his second cousin's name is and explain a little about that time in history.

Happy 10th Birthday Zander!

Dear Zander,

Welcome to the world of double digits!  I cannot believe you made me a mommy a whole DECADE ago!  You are at such a fun age as I enjoy our bedtime cuddles and conversations.  I love how quickly you grasp concepts at school and your incredible memory of scripture verses, math concept, science content and social studies information.  You love doing anything outside- biking, basketball, soccer, running, baseball, hiking, etc. You are super quick and can move from one side of a soccer field to the other without me being able to track those quick movements.  You have such a kind heart and are blessed with many wonderful friends.  Those friends made cards and surprised you in my office when we got to school on Friday!  You have assumed leadership roles at our school this year, being elected as our school's vice president and leading your class and our school in many initiatives.  You wanted the school to collect items for the Ronald McDonald House and we made it happen!  You got to sing with NewSong this year (Christmas Shoes) and enjoyed many trips (Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Ocean Isle Beach, Stone Mountain, Sevierville, etc.)  You continue to love snuggles and I love how you will come into my room when you have finished reading for the night to see if we can cuddle for a few more minutes!  This year you decided to have a birthday party at Rockin' Jump.  You invited some of your closest friends for an "After Dark" themed party, complete with glow in the dark shirts, gripper socks and glow sticks.  You picked a Pokémon cake as you still love getting and trading Pokémon cards.  Some of your other favorite things are legos, nerf guns, and any Nintendo switch game!  You asked for a stapler and staples for your birthday and we made that happen as well! ;)  Here are some pictures from your birthday celebration.  While some of your best buds had other obligations that night (baseball games, chorus concerts, broken arms, etc.), I think we were able to start the next decade off in style!  Thank you for making me a mommy.  I will always be grateful to God that He trusted me with such a precious gift!

I love you always,

Mommy

Last night in the single digits.... 

 

Breakfast in bed, Chick-fil-a lunch brought by daddy, donuts with your class at lunch and a picture with your birthday twin!  You even won a new beach blanket at Career Day at our school on your birthday!

Rockin' Jump Birthday Party with Pokémon themed cake

5 year comparison..... celebrating #5 on top, celebrating #10 on the bottom!

We went on a field trip on your birthday week.... we toured the state capital, including the Legislative Building, Court of Appeals, Natural Science Museum and History Museum.... we even got a picture with Representative Zenger while on the House of Representatives floor.

On your birthday week, you also lost another tooth, the first one in the second round of teeth to come out!

Brothers and Sisters!

 This is a quick catch up post from the last couple weeks!  Emerson and I read a story that will be appearing on our nightly readings that the school sends out as bedtime stories.  She is the cutest and I am so lucky to be her aunt!

We celebrated Aunt Lindsey's birthday after church last Sunday.  She had a very popular seat when the dessert came out!

We documented our last Saturday 10-mile run prior to race day which is one week from today. We are trying a trail half marathon this year for our annual race... stay tuned! It was fun to also document Linds' last picture before turning a year older the next day!  I am so thankful I have a sister and that we can share these weekly runs together!  As we catch up each week, I wonder if our boys will be as close as we are as they grow up.  They have started to do the cutest things in between the tackles and fighting.  Zander stayed in Maddox's room for three consecutive nights this past week.  You could hear them talking before bed and even using their lanterns to read before bed.   

We are back at the baseball field for Maddox this spring.  While Zander is showing more of a focused interest in soccer, Maddox continues enjoying multiple sports in a year.  His teacher, Mrs. Pulliam, came to watch him play last week!  He does great hitting the ball off the machine and has made some crucial plays while in the field.  

I took the cousins to get Kona Ice after school one day when Emerson's bus had broken down.  I love how close these cousins are and that they get to see each other every day at school!

I still try to give blood every 56 days!  This is proof you can try to do it all!  I fit this in after work and before M's baseball game one evening. ;)

Happy Easter 2023!

While these pictures show our excitement over bunnies and eggs, we know this holiday is all about the perfect lamb.  I am so thankful that Jesus came to this earth to save us from our sins!  

John 1:29:  The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"

1 Peter 2:24:  “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

Here are some fun pictures from our Easter celebrations including getting all dressed up this morning to celebrate Jesus' resurrection about 2000 years ago!  His resurrection is still just as important today as it was back then!

Dyeing Easter Eggs at Grammy's.... Grandpa brought donuts as a sweet treat for all our hard work!

Celebrating Grammy's birthday a few days early with a dinner out, complete with a cookie cake for dessert!

We took the Houston Bros. to see the Super Mario Bros. at the movie theater!

Celebrating Easter with an indoor egg hunt and full Easter baskets before church and then a delicious lunch provided by Grammy and an outdoor egg hunt after lunch!

Spring Break 2023: Gatlinburg Getaway

Zack and I made it back home from Hawaii and headed to work for two days before heading for our next adventure with our boys!  I was able to check in on Maddox's egg hunt with his class and was sent pictures from a co-worker as the egg hunt was officially commencing as I was in a meeting elsewhere.  I made it back in time to see him opening up all of his eggs stuffed with candy!  Holidays are always magical with kids!

We loaded up the car on Saturday morning with Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Boomer and met the rest of the family in Sevierville, Tennessee just in time for a late lunch at the Apple Barn, a childhood favorite of mine!  Burke was excited to join us on this adventure as well!  We are so blessed that Grammy and Grandpa treated us to a fun spring break trip!

We spent Sunday at Dollywood!  The kids enjoyed the rides and delicious food we ate throughout the day.  It was so much fun to go on all the roller coasters with the boys as they were at a height to ride on each one!  Some of our favorites were Mystery Mine, Tennessee Tornado and Blazing Fury.  A final highlight of the day was the boys each winning a basketball at one of the fair games in the County Fair portion of the park while the Kennedy kids rode some of the smaller rides!  We finished off our day being driven around by our two boys, a request by Zander who will be driving a real car before we know it!

The boys finished out the evening with a dip in the hot tub we had at our mountain house.... are these boys spoiled or what?

On Monday, we spent the day at Ober Gatlinburg!  I loved everything about this day!! It is always fun to take our boys to a place I grew up loving and enjoying as a child.  They have updated the facilities to offer a few more attractions and with a barcoded band that allows you to participate in any of the attractions, we enjoyed every single one of them!  Zander loved being able to ride the mountain coaster all by himself (since you had to be 9 years old to do that one).  We all enjoyed the bumper cars, ice skating and wildlife attraction.  The three Houston boys enjoyed the rock climbing wall as well, proudly making it to the top on each attempt!  On the way back to our mountain house, we stopped at one of the visitor centers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to get the boys' passport books stamped.  Ever since our Grand Teton and Yellowstone adventure, the boys have been asking when they can get new stamps added to their books!  It was the best day!

We came home Tuesday, in time for Zander to make it to soccer practice while Daddy and Maddox went grocery shopping.  We have knocked out a few things around the house (mowing, laundry, etc.) and are ready to enjoy the rest of spring break as we count down to the Easter holiday.  The boys and I fit in our annual spring break seven mile bike ride and run around Salem Lake.  They enjoyed stopping at the dam, the playground and playing at a creek as we made our way around the loop.  Today has consisted of a few more errands and a good amount of downtime as we rest before the craziness of spring sports and the sprint to the end of the school year is upon us!  Tomorrow, we will head to Grammy and Grandpa's to dye Easter eggs with the cousins, celebrate Grammy's birthday with a dinner out and are ready to spend some time with Daddy this weekend when he is off work again.... we have tickets to the new Super Mario Bros movie that is coming out tomorrow!