A Different Christmas

On Sunday we celebrated Christmas (yes, Christmas!) with my Dad's side of the family. I know, I know, it's not even December yet. But we're just lucky that we found a day that worked for everyone.

If you've been around for awhile, you know that Christmas is not the easiest/happiest time of the year for me. Last year it was perfect, but that was the first time in 10 years. This year, it doesn't even feel like the holidays... for one, the weather has been unseasonably warm (until yesterday!) and temps in the 60's don't really make me feel like it's time for Thanksgiving, let alone Christmas. Plus I've been so focused on school and preparing for Thanksgiving (not that Josh and I did a lot...we just purchased the turkey.. Mandy made it), that I hadn't even thought about Christmas! Needless to say, we didn't have our Christmas shopping done (just for that side of the family!) until umm... Saturday.

Maybe it's better that way? I think starting my own traditions and doing things differently helps. I guess it's easier to do things totally differently and make new memories rather than do the same thing that's just not the same anymore. Ya know?

So anyway, it was good.

We opened presents, ate dinner, and played Catch Phrase. Aunt Kathy made the most delicious chicken casserole, corn (yeah it was just corn but there was something about it...), green beans, etc.. everything was so good. If she cooks like that every night I might have to start making the hour long commute for dinner more often.

So Davis Christmas this year? Good. Different. I don't know that I want to make Christmas in November a new tradition, but it worked this year.

This picture should have a few more people in it... my mom for one, but she left before we took it. But I'm talking about my dad, and my grandparents. Miss them all so much and it's just not the same without them. But we've gained a few people since then too... like the kiddos and the Josh and the Jenn. So sometimes different is good :)

Merry Christmas!

Blessed.

Mindy played this song in spin class this morning.. love the lyrics. Seems fitting for this time of year. Or all the time, really.

Just now..

Josh: I just spent 145 dollars, do you want to guess what it was on?

Me: Ummmm..... *thinks*... I don't know, what?

Josh: A Frenchie! (French Bulldog puppy... that he has been talking about wanting for a few weeks but I keep telling him we don't need a 3rd dog!)

Me: OMG! Are you serious!!!

Josh: No

Me: (huge sigh of relief in my head) Okay, so what did you buy?

Josh: Registration.

In other words, he registered for this...

My B just registered for his first full marathon! So proud! I can't wait to see him accomplish his goal... and I also can't wait to see the GRAND CANYON!!!!

See you in January, Arizona!!

Turkey time!

So Thanksgiving happened.

But first, I got the best ever Thanksgiving Eve text (at 10PM) --

"Umm.. so my bed was given up for the weekend. I literally just found out. So I'm sorry to ask this last minute, but can I stay at your place?" ~Kristen

Ummm.... DUH. Is asking even needed? (no.) Pretty sure my best friend is welcome at my house anytime. But on the eve of a holiday? Even better! So naturally, this commenced Thanksgiving morning:

It's what we do. We have like 10 year's worth of these kinds of photos.

Then we tried to take an actual cute picture of ourselves (I would have asked B but he was busy running (LITERALLY) to Mandy's house... 13.25 miles away) Anyway, our first 5ish attempts looked like this...

And no, I wasn't dancing... for some reason I could only remember how to get my camera's self-timer to do a 2 second countdown... which clearly was not long enough. Then a light bulb came on my head and I remembered how to program the 10-second one.

Much better! :)

Then we were off to Mandy's (Josh's sister) house for some grub. Yummy, delicious grub. I beat Josh there (remember he was running) and it made me super nervous (even though the plan was for me to get there before him since I had all his stuff) because he was running down a 2-lane highway and on narrow, hilly back roads.. with no cell phone!! He could have fallen in a ditch somewhere an hour ago and no one would have known! But luckily, he arrived right on time and Thanksgiving proceeded as normal. :)

Of course, it wouldn't be a Thanksgiving (or any family function, for that matter) without the Angry Birds... and now there's an iPad... I think Grampy was heaven playing Angry Birds on the big screen. Luckily Avery wasn't too amused. That's my girl!! They put me to sleep too ;)

Perusing the Black Friday ads...
(Love Mo-Mo's Christmas dress :))



And my favorite sequence of the day..

Josh and Avery doing the Avery "Oh!" face (previously seen here)

She also twirls her hands while she makes the face (and all the time) so Josh was too...

Ha! Love it! :D

Thankful today for my sweet little family... what's new right?

Even though sometimes the Papa torments the Bear.... :-/

Poor girl!
Love these babies!

Can't wait to see the rest of my family this weekend!!


Hope your Thanksgiving was filled with yummy food and people you love.

Black Friday

Just arrived at the mall for a little Black Friday shopping.
It's Emmy's 1st BF experience... and only my 3rd ever.
I can't believe we are doing this.
Only 1.5 hours of sleep.
Mom's brilliant idea.
here we go...

having a little fun in the studio tonight.

I loves my B. And my new red hat :)

*knock knock* anyone out there?

oh hey there, little blog... *wipes dust off* sorry to leave you hangin' for... oh a week and a half now. (!!!)

if that wasn't an indication that life has been busy i don't know what is. but it's been good. just super crazy busy. think clinicals, homework, holidays, you know the drill. probably much like your life this time of year.

today... was a good day for:

• quick trip to the gym this morning for weight training class in an effort to get prepared for tomorrow's feast :D
• quick stop at old navy to do some christmas shopping (it's on the way home from the gym and i needed a reason to procrastinate on my homework ;))
• scored this skirt for $1.97


• it's 2 sizes too big, but if i roll it over once it's fine and you can't even notice. plus it's adorbs.
• so gym then shopping followed by lounging around at home all day



• with my 2 favorite boston terriers
• seriously.. look at them.



• and a failed attempt to work on homework (can we say end of the semester!! = lack of motivation!!!)


(lola tried to help momma but i really just wasn't in the mood to watch videos about how the functions of the kidneys are similar to that of coffee pots)
• i've also been looking for pictures from when we were little to give to my brother (or rather, his fiance) this weekend for their wedding slideshow... and i can't find them!!! so now i'm all sorts of freaking out because the pictures i am looking for are PRICELESS.. they're all my childhood memories with my daddy.. and i have no idea where they are! this is why i hate moving :( hopefully they turn up soon!

• while i'm procrastinating and uploading cell phone pics, i will share with you some more photos that have piled up on my phone..

• this is what my hair looked like the other morning when i woke up.. a crazy hot mess! i don't think the picture does it justice really.. it was everywhere!
  
• apparently they make wine especially for me.


found at target :) i was too chicken to buy it though.. i am not a huge fan of wine and i didn't wanna spend money on it in case i didn't like it. maybe santa will bring me some.
• and while we're procrastinating, i present to you... lola's latest trick!



oops, sorry it's sideways but you get the idea. baby girl learned to shake!! her so smart :)

okay, my B just got home and it's time to get our holiday weekend started!!! more substantial updates about life coming soon :)

Six. ALREADY.

Celebrated Gage and Cherrish's 6th birthdays today.
Cupcakes and ice cream were involved which means it was a good day.

Happy Birthday, Gage!! Unc & Yenn love you!!!

P.S. Can I just say that I'm a little sad that these kiddos are growing up and I'm no longer "Yenn".... they are learning to pronounce my name with the "L." :(

I ordered our Christmas cards last night!!! *squeel*

this is not our actual card, obvs, but I don't want to give it away yet.. at least not until I drop those bad boys in the mail

Sending out Christmas cards has always been one of those things I've wanted to do.. but never get around to actually doing. I don't know why because it was a super easy process... maybe easier now that we can do our own photo shoots anytime we want right in our own basement, so getting the photos to use was easy peasy. But yeah, usually I have really good intentions but it just slips past me... but not this year! Umm middle of November and they are already ordered?! I'd say I'm pretty on top of it this year. And they're super cute!!! Is it too early to mail them out now?!

(okay, yes I KNOW it is... I hate the whole skipping to Christmas before Thanksgiving's even here yet thing.. I'm just really excited about my cards! :D)

a thankful place.

while i'm tempted to start plucking away a list of what i'm thankful for tonight -- after all, it seems to be the cool thing to do on facebook nowadays, right? thankful for something each day for the month of november -- it doesn't seem enough for this place i'm at tonight. and it seems exactly that--not just an emotion or a state of mind with a cliche title like 'thankful' or 'gratitude' -- it seems an actual place. like a long-term plan not a limited-time-only deal. like a way of life.

the place of gratitude...i try to make a conscious effort to not take anything for granted. to realize that i'm truly blessed all the time, not just when the holidays tell me to. because being grateful, thankful, and content isn't something that should just be practiced one month out of the year, it should be celebrated every day.

my mom wanted to re-create a family photo we had done back in 2003 when she was married to mark, so we had a little fun in the studio last weekend when they came over for kosmo & lola's birthday dinner. well, really it was just family dinner that happened to fall on kosmo's birthday. but... same thing. it was a good excuse for party hats and cupcakes!

breathing it all in tonight.
where i am. because life is good.

celebrating lately....

a week of clinicals in the books

it's hard to not be grateful for so many things after spending a week caring for paralyzed, sick, and/or dying people -- who often times have better attitudes about life than we do. i have had the opportunity to meet so many amazing people this past week who, in such a short period of time, have already made a tremendous impact on me. i've met people who were normal just like you and i not even a year ago, and then through whatever extraordinary circumstance, they are now paralyzed and living in a rehabilitation facility... some will fully recover but many will be there for the rest of their life. and yet they are happy. genuinely happy. and if that doesn't make you realize that most of your problems are rather insignificant, i don't know what does. i've learned so much... not just about caring for people from a nursing perspective, but about life and how your attitude about it makes a difference. of course there are some mean, bitter and angry people in there too... but i'm thankful i've had this opportunity, it's taught me a lot.

like that sometimes changing your thought process changes your attitude which in turn can change a situation.

for example, last week when i was super stressed out because my days were filled with clinicals (which, while they were awesome, they left little time for much else), my house resembled a pig sty, my legs were killing from my failed half marathon, and my dogs pooped all over the house because no one came home all day to let them out.... instead of letting it all get to me i thought of it like this --

- days full of clinicals means that i have the opportunity to go to school and learn and make a difference in peoples' lives while taking steps towards advancing my career

- having a messy house means that even though it's messy, at least i even have a house to be messy... not everyone has a roof over their head

- even if my race didn't go as planned, it means that at least i have 2 able legs that still carried me 6.5 miles

- dog poop on the floor means that even if they did poo in the house, at least i have 2 dogs who bring so much more than poo to our family

speaking of family..

i'm in love with my little family :D

i don't think i ever posted this picture. we took it back in august for a thank you card to send to the surgeon and vets who saved kosmo's life. (we didn't want kosmo to feel self-conscious about wearing that cone around this head ;))

pretty sure i'm still thankful every time mr.kosmo gives me a kiss, snuggles up next to my chest, wants to play fetch, or even poops on the floor. he's a special little guy and i don't know what we'd do without him.

in related news, turning 1 hasn't changed the way lola sleeps. it's still with her legs straight up in the air. josh texted me this picture earlier while i was out shopping --

i literally LOL'd in the middle of bed, bath & beyond. she cracks me up. and she's laying next to me right now snoring as i type.

anyway, the point of changing perspective is that sometimes life is kind of like the outtakes from a photo shoot -- you may think it's horrible at the time, but you'll look back later and laugh.

promise :)

lola did..

;)

there's beauty everywhere... in every situation.

i'm convinced of it.

sometimes you just may have to look a little harder to find it.

and while thankful lists are just perfectly good and all, i'm tired enough and attempted words would surely cheapen the beauty of this place tonight. but there's just something about this month, and the last few days, that bring about a spirit of thankfulness. and i'm just happy right now and wanted to get it out there.

and last but not least. i know i missed this yesterday - but i'm also thankful to all of our servicemen and women who protect our freedom and our country. especially my grandpas!!! my heroes :) another thing that should not be recognized on only one day of the year.

what are you thankful for today?

The Race That Didn't Really Happen

one of these is not like the other.... can you spot it? (hint: look at the medals)

So I almost totally forgot to blog about this race, and it really wouldn't matter if I didn't -- because, well, it sucked.

I'm talking about the Big Hit 1/2 Marathon that took place a couple weeks ago. You may remember me mentioning it? Anyway, the only reason I even tried to run it was because I had a free entry. No way I would have paid money and signed up, because I knew my training had been less than stellar and obviously I'm still injured.

Lucky for me, they also had a 1/4 marathon course (6.5 miles instead of 13.1). Never ran a 1/4 marathon or seen an official race for one, but hey whatever -- it saved me from a DNF (did not finish) that day. The 1/4 split from the 1/2 at mile 4, so my plan of attack was to try to finish the 1/2 unless I was just DYING by mile 4.

As it turns out, I was dying by mile 4. I ran the first 3 miles pretty easily, but started to feel a pain in my leg/knee around mile 3. Somewhere along that mile the pain progressed enough to where I had to stop and walk. At that point I knew I couldn't run another 10 miles so I knew I'd just finish out the 1/4.

By mile 4 all I could do was walk. The pain was excruciating, the worst I've ever felt. My hips, knees, legs.. it all hurt. I'd try to run and I'd want to cry. It was awful. I pretty much walked the last 2.5 miles with tiny spurts of jogging here and there.

I finally crossed the finish line after the worst 6.55 miles I've ever run. The lady handing out medals asked me if I had done the 1/2 marathon (because my bib was a 1/2 marathon bib) and I wanted to be like Really? you think that this girl hobbling across the finish line in obvious pain could really have just run 13.1 miles in a little over an hour? I mean I wish I did but let's be honest, that would mean I was faster than B! That would make me like Ryan Hall fast and look at me.

Speaking of B, he ran the race as a pacer for a finish time of 1:40. He got a cute little sign.

aww!

He ran with a little posse and his official finishing time was 1:39:08.. I would say he's a pretty good pacer! I could never be a pacer! My pace is too inconsistent. I start off fast, then get slow, then pick it up again when I feel like it. I could not handle the pressure of having to run even splits. But B is good at it!

So the moral of the story is: I'm not sure. But I'm thankful for the 1/4 marathon course! It saved me from my first DNF... AND at least I still got a medal! :) It was kind of fun finishing early. I'm usually done after Josh and all his crazy fast running friends so I never get to see them finish if we're all running the same race. So this way I got to see them cross the finish line AND I still got to run too.... I'm trying to look at the bright side here.

It really makes me miss the good feeling of running though.. I haven't had that awesome feeling about a run or a race in quite awhile :( Instead it's just painful. My plan at this point I think is to go see my sports doc and start training over completely... like at square one. I really want to do Fast Freddie's again.. which is 5 miles on Thanksgiving. So, we'll see... then I'm taking the winter off and concentrating on yoga, weight training, and spinning. I think that'll help with the injuries... and I'll resume running again in the spring.

But I miss it :(