Lucy is 8!

I can't believe my little girl is 8!  Lucy's birthday was earlier this month. She was actually born the day Barack Obama won the election in 2008.  It was lame for me because I had just given birth and the only thing on TV was election coverage and then of course I live in conservative Katy so everyone at the hospital was completely depressed about the outcome.  I was disappointed too- I really wanted Mitt Romney to win.  But snuggling with my sweet Lucy cheered me up a bit.
Anyway, for her birthday I told her she could have a very small party while the boys were at a scout campout so she invited a few girls over and they swam, ate donuts on a string, played pin the tail on the rabbit and ate bean burritos and cupcakes.  Girls are so easy.  I kept waiting for it to devolve to wrestle-mania but it never happened.  Lucy's BFF's at church are quite a bit older than she is.  It's so funny but she is very drawn to older girls so we had a wide range of ages at the party.

I have been looking for a couple of months for a baptism dress for Lucy.  Every search seemed to yield either a super nerdy and painfully expensive option or something that like a mini wedding dress- often even a bit sexy.  Seriously!?  Then I started finding pictures of communion dresses that I loved but all of the links were in Spanish and I never found a single one for sale.  So I finally decided to find a way to sew my own.  I am no seamstress.  I hate following patterns and whenever I sew something new my seam ripper gets a lot of use.  This dress was no exception.  I spent 2 hours at Jo Anns picking out fabric and embellishments (that part I LOVED).  I spent $37.  Then it took 2 full evenings of sewing to get it right.  But I was so happy with the finished product.  Lucy and I took a trip to the temple and snapped a bunch of pics. So fun.  I brought along a Book of Mormon and about 10 minutes into the photo shoot when Lucy became completely bored with smiling, she suddenly became very interested in reading.  I got a few good shots of her that are very Pride and Prejudice like.  :)  Yes!

So we were assigned the date of Nov 19 for her baptism.  I read on a blog somewhere that it is easy to assume a baptism is short and easy and to underplan.  It's worth it to carefully plan all the details.  So I did that this time and was so glad I did.  It helped that I didn't have babies or toddlers at my feet.  :)  We wanted it to be simple and just were hoping that people would feel the spirit there and that Lucy would feel loved.

My brother Jim and his family made the trip from San Antonio, which meant the world to us.  Also my awesome sweet Uncle Bill, Aunt Robin and cousin Jeff came down from Jersey Village.  When I got up to speak and looked over at them I just about choked up.  Curtis and I have been orphans our whole marriage so it is always so special to have some family members come and support us.  Lucy, Isaac and Daniel and the Allen and Hansen younger kids all sang "A Child's Prayer" together.  It was beautiful and just so sweet and really helped to bring the spirit right before Lucy was baptized.  Jonah performed the baptism and he did a great job.  Our awesome home teachers, Shane Jasperson and Greg Sorensen were the witnesses.  We love those guys!  While Lucy changed, Curtis played a couple of short videos.  I'll link them below because they are so well done.  "My Joy is Full" is probably my favorite church video ever.

Lucy was given the gift of the Holy Ghost by Curtis, Jim, Bill and Dale Smith in our bishopric.  It was just sweet.  Then her teacher, Mel Fillerup and our Primary president, Katie Park both gave simple testimonies.  Lucy requested that these two speak- she loves them both and they have done such a wonderful job of teaching and loving her!

We sang "When I am Baptized" and "I'm Trying to be like Jesus" with my dear friend, Jana Rice leading and Mary Tait on piano.  I realized at I looked around at the room that the Katy 2nd Ward has truly become our family and we just love them so much!  We ate muffins and fruit and donut holes afterward and took a few family pictures.  It was a perfect day! :)

The Coat

My Joy Is Full

Baptism of Jesus

Half Marathon #7

So happy this is a yearly tradition in my life.  I wish I could say I run year round but I always seem to get busy in the winter.  But for some reason every July or August I agree to train for an October race (in the blazing summer!!).

This was a new one for us since we didn't love Corpus Christi last year.  We went to Austin for their Halloween half.  It was awesome! We definitely want to go back although the timing is terrible and we are all always struggling to get away!

But we managed to and had a fantastic trip.  It was a good race even though each of us had something random come up.  Sickness, injury, too busy for last 2 weeks of training, etc... Curtis and I were in the middle of a serious detox so I wasn't eating much except for vegetables, fruit and oats.  But we all had a good race and yes stopped by "In N Out" on the way home.  I forgot my detox for the day and yum it was good.  I love those ladies.  Such a positive, kind , talented group of women.  I sometimes forget and take for granted how blessed I am to be constantly surrounded by women who are not catty, who think deeply about important issues, who aren't the jealous type and don't take themselves too seriously.  So grateful I get to be around them all.  :)