A beautiful day

The day that had been set into motion months ago was finally here. 

A shower to celebrate Brittany and Emaline.

Cindy and I began to talk about it months ago, so as with anything that has been planned for a long time it almost seemed surreal that the day was finally here. 

Cindy was sweet enough to let us use her home.

And I think it all turned out pretty beautiful.

I just love "shower food"

A little of this, a little of that. YUM.

And my favorite part of the food is the cake.

Not only pretty, but also delicious!

Crazy to think we were all celebrating the life of this little girl a world away and she has no idea.

Her mommy has been anxiously and lovingly planning on her for months. But this day was just for Brittany to relax and feel the love. All the love of those who have been behind her during this entire process.

And here we are, the official crew that helped put on the shower. Heather, Brandy, GUEST OF HONOR, myself, Christina, and Cindy. AKA: the small group girls, doing our best college girl pose.

All the guest began to arrive and you know what women do when they gather....

Talk.

 So much talking! Which is just so perfect, you know us women love to talk.

And we also love to 'oooooh and ahhhhh' at gifts.

She did get some pretty special things.

And she also had some pretty special helpers.

Hope was so happy that I brought her along, and I must say she behaved beautifully all day.

And actually that is how I would describe the whole day. Beautiful.

Beautiful to see how many people love a little girl a world away. Beautiful to see friendships that support and love. And beautiful to think about how an orphans life is about to change forever.

Emaline Joy An, you are loved!

Run on.

So little man is all up in the running club now, and within 5 minutes of deciding running is fun he was signed up to do a race. 

Nothing like jumping in with both feet! 

Crack of dawn on Saturday he was up and ready to head out, (which technically is no different than normal seeing as 6:30 is sleeping in for him) while the rest of us that had to be blasted out of our beds. 

This was a 2k race for his age group, and I was thinking to myself, oh I bet there might be around fifty or so kids....

Yeah I was way wrong.

In his age group alone they said around 160.

And off he went!

In a sea of kids I finally didn't see him anymore.

Running for fun is just so foreign to me, but Paul ran all the time as a kid so he kept reassuring me that he would be just fine.

Daddy even had the timer going to see how long it would take him to finish.

Hope kind of just drug around kicking her feet waiting for all this to be over. We've asked her several times if she would like to join him and she always says the same thing, "no, it's just way too much running."

I finally heard Paul say, "there he is."

I wanted to run out there and offer him a sip of water. Or hug him. But instead I just yelled so he wouldn't need therapy or my husband wouldn't divorce me.

It was so hot that morning.

But he did it! 46 out of 160.

And in the end he said it was fun and he wanted to keep going. So I say, run on Pierce! Run on.

The kickoff to our busy weekend

Last weekend? Super chill. 

This weekend? SUPER BUSY. 

Both kinds of weekends are pretty great, but busy weekends sure are fast weekends. 

We got home on Friday night and got swimsuit ready to go celebrate our favorite Layton. 

What a fun way for the kids to end a week of school.

Jump off all that energy

And show off your wicked cool moves.

While I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of fall and sweatshirt weather, it is nice to watch the kids still enjoying summer pleasures.

 As we all stood outside watching the kids have fun with sweat beading all over our bodies, I had serious contemplation of joining those kids.

But instead I just opted to sweat and eat pizza, and of course my favorite, CAKE!

Pizza, cake, and swimming? What else could a kid ask for? It was a fun party and a great way to kick off our busy weekend! 

Pounding the pavement

"Hey mom I would like to join the running club." 

"You mean you want to join a club that just runs for fun?" "Yeah I do." 

While I could never possibly understand running for fun, I can appreciate that he wants to do it. And with that, he was one of many kids lined up to begin an adventure of racking up the miles. 

Run Forrest Pierce, run!

They not only rack up miles they also teach the kids importance of stretching and making running fun.

Pierce is already signed up for a race, he's in it to win it!

But what this mushy mom really loves about it?

Watching him spend time with his best friend.

Pound that pavement little man!