Marathon Pictures

Ken and Phillip waiting on Becky and "watching" the kids...oh wait, where are the kids... hmmmm...

The Crew: Aubrie, Abbie, Elaina and SuperKaden
Completion of Relay One and a very happy Simon Family

Meeting my cheering squad at a checkpoint

Off to the finish line!

Little Rock Marathon 2009

This year I ran in the LR Marathon. I did a relay which was 6.2 miles as one leg of a four man (woman) team. It was tons of fun, lots of work and I'm so glad that I did it. My friend Becky ran the first leg through downtown LR and over to the North Shore then I go to run through historic downtown LR (gov's mansion, Arkansas Baptist College, Central High, the State Capitol, the park from gang-banging in LR...you know, the interesting places in town). Becky and I had our own personal trainer to run with us...that of course was my dad. He ran Becky's leg of the relay with her and then ran with me too...and he ran crazy fast, I had to book it to keep up with him! It was a beautiful day for the race...perfect weather for running! The best part of the run was seeing my own personal cheering section and three different spots along the way. Phillip, Abbie, Aubrie, Ken, Becky, Kaden and Elaina Simon met me along the way and cheered me to the next meeting spot. It was awesome and so encouraging. I have the best friends and the sweetest family ever!

Okay, it's been a while...

Brie in her car (20 months)

Tulip in the yard...Hooray it's spring!

Abbie upside down on the swingset

My girls in the Azaleas...springtime in Arkansas

There is no excuse, I know. It's just been busy but tonight I'm up late and not really wanting to head to bed so I thought I'd do a quick update. Things are fine in the Durham household. It's been a wonderful year so far and we are enjoying our time with Phillip before he deploys for the summer. The girls are so wonderful and so much fun. These pictures are from today. It's the first time they have been out since early this past weekend because they both came down with cold...thank goodness it wasn't pneumonia again. They are clearly on the mend and doing fine. We were out looking at the few pitiful flowers in our backyard and took these pictures.

Thanksgiving in Heber Springs

Daddy & Abbie Hangin' on the couch

Cranium: the word was Rodeo, the result was hilarity (this is when I peed my pants a little)

Two of these guys are surgeons and are befuddled by this game, the other is licensed to carry a concealed weapon...be afraid, very afraid...

Pam and Wendy during CRANIUM: again, the word was rodeo

Blowing out the candles on Abbie's family party cake

Daddy taking a moment to fish

Jumping on the new trampoline

Aubrie and Fannie...making friends, sharing crackers

Daddy and Brie

Crazy Aunt Wendy

Abbie and Mommy

Run Brie Run!

The Happy Couple (almost 10 years...)

Riding on the Zip Cord

Mom and Dad are Twinkies!!

My beautiful Sisters, Niece and Daughter

Abbie, PawPaw and Back Phat (the turkey)

My little Pilgrim: Costume made at school

We love going to Heber for Thanksgiving and this year was no exception. It was so fun. Here are some memorable pictures from the weekend.

I would have to say the funniest moments of the weekend were centered around the Cranium game. It was hysterical...like pee your pants hysterical. Check out the pictures, it might make you question the sanity of the men in my life.

FUNTASTIC PARTY!

The Birthday Girl at Funtastic

Brie and Abbie

Carsyn, Brie and Abbie playing Busy Bee

Opening Presents from Mr. Ken...

It's my Cake!!

Brie, AJ, Abbie, Carsyn and Emma waiting on the cake

Good Buddies: Eric and Kaden

Our friend Hannah (or Kid Hannah as Abbie calls her...)

Magdalen and Abbie Grace

Daddy and Brie at the Party...

McKenna and Abbie team up for a crazy game of Air Hockey

Emma and Abbie

Party Crew: Elaina, Eric, McKenna, Hannah, Magdalen, Abbie Eric and Kaden

What a great time was had by all at Funtastic. Funtastic is Abbie's idea of heaven...she loves the games and the noise and the pizza. I have to admit...the pizza is actually quite great there. She has been looking forward to her party since we booked it and as a testament to her excitement, she didn't fall asleep on the way to her party. Generally, Abbie is snoozing when we get to any party, but this one she stayed awake for. All of her buddies were there and she cheered everytime someone came in the door. Once everyone arrived, we divided up the game cards and it was a free for all at Funtastic. We played until it was time for pizza then we ate till we were all uncomfortably full and followed it up with a princess ice cream cake. Abbie was thrilled to see that the princess that was front and center on the cake was her favorite: Sleeping Beauty. We opened gifts (she made out like a bandit, I tell you!) and then everyone ran off to play some more games. The only glitch of the afternoon was a couple minute period when I lost Aubrie in the busyness of the party but she was located with Ms. Tracy (praise the Lord) and all was well with the world again. Abbie ended the day by spending the night out with her cousin AJ at Pap and Nonnie's house. She had a blast! Thank you to all who made her day so very special. Enjoy the pictures! Happy Birthday Abbie Grace!

Abbie is FIVE!!!

Opening Presents

Aunt Shana helped us celebrate

The GIANT new pink pony from Nini...the name: pink glitter sparkle pony. It was exactly what she wished for.

Birthday girl with Mommy

Abbie is FIVE!!!

Oh my goodness...my baby girl is Five years old. Where did the years go? We celebrated her actual birthday by doing anything that the birthday girl wanted to do. We went to a movie (Madagasgar 2) and were the ONLY people in the theater. Brie ran around like crazy (good thing that we were the only ones there) and Abbie enjoyed it immensely. Phillip took the day off so we could spend it with her. We went to dinner at "Gagwall's" and had her favorite...cheese dip and chips with chicken strips. It was a great night. These pic's are from after dinner when we did the birthday cake and presents. ... Five years full of blessings and fun and the girl that made us a family. Wow.

Falling in the Leaves

Aubrie in the leaves

Aubrie and Paci in the leaves

Midflight!!!

Siding down into the leaves

Running through!

Happy Fall Ya'll

I love the fall...not just because my birthday is in the fall (although that helps) but I love the sense of change that comes in the fall. I can literally smell when it starts to change...the air smells different to me and it gets me so excited to think about what is to come...Thanksgiving in Heber Springs, Abbie's Birthday, decorating for Christmas, making Christmas cookies, Christmas music at Body & Soul with Jingle Bells on, My Christmas Tree...so many wonderful things that just the change in the air gets my blood moving faster with anticipation. One of the things that I love to do in the fall is watch Abbie play in the leaves. This year, we have our little Aubrie joining in the fun too! She was not sure what to think about the huge pile of leaves but she eventually consented to sit in the middle of it and explore the textures and sounds. It was so fun to watch her as she picked up the leaves as best she could in her mittens and moved them around. Abbie is now a veteran leaf pile jumper. This year, my dad moved a HUGE pile of leaves from his yard to ours and strategically placed the pile at the end of our slide. Abbie immediately went up the slide and slid down into the pile. After she had done this a few times she suprised me by standing up and launching herself off the top of the slide and into the leaf pile. I was anticipating another picture of her sliding and as I snapped the picture, she was midflight...the result is posted above. What can I say, change is in the air, my baby isn't a baby anymore...she's a toddler and my toddler is now an adrenaline junkie jumping off the top of slides.
I LOVE THE FALL!!