Daytona 500 - epic really!

If your have ever said "I will never go to a NASCAR race, I hate NASCAR." Then you are seriously limiting your life's experiences and boy do I feel sorry for you. NASCAR I guess is known for being a "redneck" sport so there are some people out there that never even give it a chance. Most of you know that I do not limit my love for sports though. I pretty much love all sports (basketball can get kinda sleepy for me but I still like it). So a few years back, when TJ and I had our first opportunity to go to the Daytona 500, we went!! And I found a love that I never thought I would. I mean, I have always liked watching races on TV, but that was the extent of it. Actually going to a race changed that.... it is LOVE. NASCAR races live make football and baseball games just "ho-hum" events. YEP, I just said that.
So now that we live back on this side of the country, and Elleah is a little older, all the stars alined for us to go to another race. We got the family together and decided to go Daytona the RIGHT way. We rented campers and camped all weekend out by the speedway. We had a BLAST. Lots of cornhole tournaments, lots of food, lots of family fun.... it was GREAT!
Until Sunday. Race Day. It decides it is going to rain. A lot. We still tried making our way to the track but by the time we got there and got UNDERNEATH the grandstands for shelter from the rain, the race was CANCELLED! ugh!!! Rescheduled for Monday at noon. Well, like most normal people, my parents, brother, and rest of the family had to get home Monday... some people have to work, right? It was still raining at 10am on Monday so TJ and I headed home too. We had to turn our rental in and for heaven's sake we needed a SHOWER! LOL. On our way home though, it was announced that the race was pushed to 7pm. We only live 2 hours from Daytona. So after turning in the rental, we showered and like a couple of silly heads, we schlepped Elleah BACK down south for the race. I was SO sick that my family had bought tickets and were not able to go. But we live just too close to not give it a shot. We got there just in time to hear, "Gentlemen, start your engines." Such an awesome place....






Elleah was originally NOT going to go. She was going to stay with mom while the rest of us went. But with mom no longer there and all these extra tickets we had, Elleah went. That turned out to be great though, because she LOVED it. And she loved loved loved the...... Blimps! lol


















The race was delayed 2hrs for a crazy fire!! We thought about leaving, but, naaaahhh! Elleah conveniently took a nap during the delay. She woke up ready for more racing!! So it worked out good. It was a LATE night though. We got in the car to come home at about 2:30am. Elleah was such a good girl. I am so thankful that she is so awesome and makes it easy for us to bring her along for things like this. She was asleep before we could hit the road. TJ and I both WANTED to be asleep too! So we pulled over at a rest stop to catch a few Zzzzz!! We were not the only ones....lol.... This rest stop looked like a camp grounds! It was crazy! Cars were parked EVERYWHERE!!!! We pulled up in the grass along side a few other cars, folded the seats down in the suv, and passed out from exhaustion!!! Elleah woke us up about 7 saying she wanted to go home. She fell back asleep on the way home. When we got home, we all three curled up in our bed and slept till after 11. Then we went back to sleep around 1 and woke up at 5. We. All. Were. Tired. But it was worth it. It is not a normal day, it definitely threw us off routine, but we had a balllllll.
My advice.... Get your booties to a NASCAR race, just do it how you need to do it, and enjoy the heck out of yourselves!!! It gives me an adrenaline rush watching those cars speed by! I think Elleah felt it too!! Amazing!!

*****The circumstances of this particular Daytona 500 were unbelievable. I know most people do not care about the details and since I am not ESPN, I will let you looks those details up if you are interested. But if you know all the little details, I think you too would agree it was epic really!!

Lovetown, USA

For months now, Kingland/St Marys, GA has been being scouted for a new show called Lovetown, USA. It is a match making reality show for the OWN network (Oprah's new network for you cave dwellers). Anywho, our little town was finally chosen and filming started Sunday at the kick off "love rally"! I was already thinking of seeing if TJ wanted to go down there for a bit when he called me from work on that Friday to inform me he had to work Sunday. Oprah had decided to come to the "Rally" and his boats were to pick her up in Fernandina Beach and bring her to Saint Marys. It wasn't completely out of the blue, the Coast Guard here is already sorta involved because one of the guys TJ works with is a 'contestant' (if thats what we are calling them). So while half the town was getting their panties in a wad over how much they hate all this, I embraced it and thought "Neato!!!!" PS: I think most people saying they hated it just said that because they didn't want to admit that they too thought it was NEATO! Because we all know it's Neato! Whatever! So I made plans for me and Elleah to go downtown and watch her daddy's boat come in. I gotta tell ya, they keep these boats under pretty tight lock and key and even though I had seen them before, it isn't a normal day they pull these boats out like this and bring them downtown, so I may have been more excited about THAT!! We ended up running into a few other coastie wives and had such a great time!! I think the rest of the day is better explained in pictures.....

Elleah was so good and had so much fun!

An empty pier, waiting on the boat!

Camera man gets ready...

Boat one... small boat... doing a sweep through :)

Boat 2, TJ's boat (he is the hunky one on the front)

TJ's boat pulling up! TJ is standing on the outside up front!

Then Oprah got off the boat for the show...

Then, while the show was going on, we crossed
the barricades to see the guys on the boats

aww

crossing the ramp....

Finally it was over and they all lined up for a pic....
 TJ is behind the pole...LOL figures!

We had such a good time!! It was a gorgeous day, so spending it in the park was perfect!!

Love is Always in the Air!

TJ and I have never celebrated Valentine's Day like some do. Do we buy each other cards?? Eh, not really! Big stuffed bears?? Nah, waste of money! Chocolates? Of course, but we don't actually present them to each other on vday like two Cupid struck lovers! I love TJ, almost more than anybody! But I don't just love him on Feb 14th!! I love him Feb 15th-Feb 13th too!! With that being said, I'm not anti-Valentine's Day either, I'm fine either way! Having Elleah makes things a little bit more interesting though. I don't need special days for her, but I love having things to celebrate WITH her! I decided that I would let her make special Valentine's cards for all the special people in our lives!! While I don't think it is necessary to celebrate Valentine's Day like two love birds with TJ, I do think it is a great opportunity to remind everyone that we L<3VE them and think of them!! So I laid out construction paper, stickers, pipe cleaners, glue, paint, glitter, crayons, markers, foam paper, and more!!! I invited some friends and their little ones over too!! What is more fun than making a biiiiiig mess with friends?? I let E make whatever she wanted on each card and then asked her who we should give it to! I helped her with name options, but she chose the end results!! I hope you all get your cards in time for Valentine's Day!! ;-) hehehe.



So TJ and I are laying in bed one night, both online, and he sees this invite to the Daddy Daughter Dance on base! Without hesitating, he mentions that he'd love to take Elleah. My heart melted because I just knew she would love nothing more than to go on a date with her daddy and that he was serious about taking her. I decided to make her a twirly skirt and top (the corset style that she loved so much) to match this zebra print shoes she always calling her "princess" shoes and dancing shoes!! She did not pose very well for pics, but here are a few pics of the end result. Notice how dapper Mr Runnels looks!!!! ;-)








After the dance, TJ informed me that while Elleah loved going in and watching, she got shy on the dance floor. He was able to slow dance with her a few times, but she mostly just loved the chocolate fountain and grapes! lol. When they got home, we turned on the music and all three danced! It was so much fun!!

And then TJ made us these this morning.... We love him so much!!!




Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Christmas, Birthday, Yes!

So I have not blogged in a while.... so sue me! lol. You know how it goes - the Holidays can suck it out of ya! So here is the recap -

I took the week before and the week after Christmas for family, food, friends, fun, and rest! I went to Pensacola the week before Christmas. TJ had to work and Elleah and I wanted to see friends and family, so us girls took off and made the trip. It was SO worth it. We got to see some awesome friends and got to go to two family Christmas gatherings. I cannot remember the last time THAT has happened.

When we got home, it was Christmas Eve and time to get ready for Santa. We took Elleah to look at lights and then came home and made Santa some cookies. Elleah kept saying "I don't want to see Santa." haha. She is a "stranger-danger" kinda girl. I guess that is a good thing sometimes. But there was no convincing her that the bearded man with the big belly and deep voice was "JOLLY" and/or "Merry". When I told her that Santa brought her toys, she said "I don't want toys." haha. And whenever she seemed to be coming around, she changed her mind again. She was so funny but on Christmas morning when Santa left the presents and she did not have to SEE him, she was all good!

 

The week AFTER Christmas... I mean... what can I say?! It might be the most boring week of the year. You have that Christmas hangover, but you are not quite ready to move on. You have no money left, the good movies are no longer on TV, the redbox is sold out, you are tired of cooking and even eating at times, and you have a mess of a house because of all the new toys/wrapping paper/trash/etc. You just sit back and wait for the New Year.

OR, you get it all cleaned up and head up to see your brother in Atlanta. :-) Mike had the Monday game in New Orleans the weekend of Christmas, so on Christmas Day, he was just hanging out with Levi until time to take off. We skyped and chatted, but then he somehow convinced us to try and make it up there

Mike had Mom and Dad on skype too! haha

.

It took some maneuvering and manufacturing on TJ's part, but we made it up there! My parents had snuck up for a few days too so by the time my birthday came around, I got to have my whole family together (even if it was just for a day). But we did presents and CAKE! It was fun!

The cake was patiently waiting...

The candle... cracks me up! I love it!! 

Mom and Dad left and TJ, Elleah, and I stayed through Sunday and went to the football game. Elleah LOVES a good football game. LOL.

She also LOVES her Uncle Mike. She stays up on him as much as possible when he is around. I don't think he minds...hehehe.

Elleah and Uncle Mike. And the clouds were added
 thanks for me playing too much with my new ipad! lol

Such a good Christmas and Birthday!!!!! Now I am excited for what 2012 has in store for us!!!! Hopefully more of the same.... Family, Friends, Football, Fun, and Food. lol. FFFFF <~~~ Ok I am done. lol.

And Baseball..... ;-)

I'm A Barbie Girl

I love Barbie! Always have! And I had hoped that one day, Elleah would also love Barbie! I figured she would be 3 or 4 years old. I was wrong. 

A while back, we bought Elleah a Barbie movie out of the $5 bin at Wal-Mart because.... well.... because it was $5 and we needed her a new video to watch in the car for a road trip. Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus. It changed our sweet girl's life. She loved it. And now all she wants to do is watch Barbie, play with Barbie, watch Barbie, sing with Barbie, dress like Barbie, watch Barbie, and watch Barbie. Whew. So, I bought her two more Barbie movies: Barbie in Swan Lake and Barbie the Princess and the Pauper. She loves them both as much as the first one. If she is upset, we turn on Barbie. If we have a long drive, we turn on Barbie. If we want her to settle down and rest, we turn on Barbie. 


I have decided that I will collect all the Barbie movies (like some people do the Disney movies) for her and give them to her for various occasions. I am super excited. I will definitely pay $15-$20 for one movie, but not now. I found a few movies at Target and Kmart for $5 or LESS. So I think I am going to pick them up as I see them for a good price, at least for a while since I am in no rush. I got her Barbie in a Christmas Carol to watch for the holidays and well, she loves it. So here is my mission:

Barbie Movies
1. Barbie in the Nutcracker (2001) <~~got it
2. Barbie as Rapunzel (2002) <~~got it
3. Barbie of Swan Lake (2003) <~~got it
4. Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper (2004) <~~got it
5. Barbie Fairytopia (2005)
6. Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus (2005) <~~got it
7. Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia (2006)
8. The Barbie Diaries (2006)
9. Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses (2006)
10. Barbie Fairytopia: Magic of the Rainbow (2007)
11. Barbie as the Island Princess (2007)
12. Barbie Mariposa (2008) <~~got it
13. Barbie and the Diamond Castle (2008)
14. Barbie in a Christmas Carol (2008) <~~got it
15. Barbie Presents Thumbelina (2009)
16. Barbie And The Three Musketeers (2009)
17. Barbie in A Mermaid Tale (2010)
18. Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale (2010)
19. Barbie: A Fairy Secret (2011)
20. Barbie: Princess Charm School (2011)
21. Barbie: The Perfect Christmas (2011)

There are also lots of toys I would love to get here, and of course, collectibles. I still have the collectible Barbies I was given when I was younger too! My two faves-

My Two Favorites:

...This is the reason God gave me a little girl......

The GNO

I will admit it... since I became a mom, I don't get out much. Not because I can't, more because I don't want to. You always think that you will miss going out with friends when you have kids.... but you don't. You would rather just stay home with them. Kiss them goodnight.... and then pass OUT as soon as you can. But you have GOT to get out sometimes and just be with friends. So when two of my friends (Katey and Anika) and I decided that we would all go see Breaking Dawn together. We ended up getting straight up giddy about this "event". We giggled on the phone when we talked about it, we planned and planned even though the plan never actually changed, and we talked about it like we were talking strategy in the huddle - "Ok Ok Ok..We will both pull our cars up next to each other at approx 11am, I will get out and go get my ticket and you stand in between the cars watching the kids. Then when I get back, you go get your ticket and 'break'. We will meet back here at 4:15pm. No, lets make it 4pm to be safe. We will get our popcorn and pee and meet back to take our position in line. If we get in there early, we need to save a seat. Lets sit in the middle. Not too close. Not too far. I don't want to have to turn my neck at all to see the movie." hahahahaha Strategy!! We came very close to getting matching shirts to remember the date! 


You see, it really was not about the movie. Well, we WERE really excited that Breaking Dawn was finally out. But not near as excited as we were that all 3 of us have kids, all 3 of us are married to the military, and all 3 of us were able to go AT THE SAME TIME. This was an EPIC event. Monumental really. Our husbands are not on the same rotation (one is not even on the same kind of boat) and it seems like making something like this happen is tough. The good news was, our husbands/babysitters were on alert from the beginning that Nov 18th posed a great chance for a Girls' Night Out and were ALL for it if it meant that they did not have to attend this movie as our date themselves. Their words - "oh Gosh GO... stay out all night... why don't you get dinner afterward... for gosh sakes I will stay here and clean toddler pee off the floor just do not make me be the one that has to go with you to see that movie." hahaha. <3 them. 


So off we went!! We had SO much fun. Our little theater here in town is just that.. little. So it is not like you have to stand in obnoxious lines and crowds. I happen to LOVE that about this place. We sat there for what felt like 15 minutes watching the movie (oh wait, that movie was 1hr, 50min??? didn't feel like it haha). Then two of us headed out to dinner. We laughed...we cried... we found out our waiter had a vasectomy 6 days earlier... it was a good time. 


We have GOT to start making this a monthly thing. Us mommys need it!!!! It is hard because we ARE each other's family. We usually call upon each other when we need someone to watch our kids last minute or whenever. We bring the kids along on outings because our hubby's are out on the boats so much. We kinda depend on each other. I envy people that can call their mom's, aunts, or sisters/brothers when they need a night off! Us girls call upon each other and therefore, we do not get to spend any of those nights TOGETHER!!! But while I envy those other people, I would not change anything in the world. I am just thankful... thankful to actually have friends like that in my life at all... that I can depend on and that I trust! Also thankful to have a hubby that supports the GNO. That's right, I said it.... The GNO! haha. Lets do it again!! 


As a side note - I was supposed to meet my bestie Maria somewhere half way between her place in Raleigh and here in GA. Girls weekend away!!! It didn't work out..... Just an example of how hard it is to plan something and have it stick when you have the jobs, and the kids, and life to worry about!! The good news is, we get to REplan for another weekend! :-) Having a GNO was probably what kept me from being bummed about not getting to see my Maria. Love all these  darn girls!! <3 <3  

Awesomeness.....

As many of you know, I have become a pinterest-aholic. It is SO a word. Look it up!!! I started a board on there called Genius because I kept running across things that I had nothing more to say about than "That is genius." Well, I sometimes think "I should have thought of that!!!!" You can check out my board here but here are a few samples: 

This is great.... you can put it away hot!

I should have thought of this....
it would be more useful in a diaper bag though! ;-)

I am just speechless with this one...

This got me thinking about other awesome things!!! Things you cannot find on pinterest because there are no pictures for such. Like my doggie's "innocent" look or Elleah's "innocent" look. I am such a sucker for that look, what can I say. Or when I am watching my dvr and I am skipping through commercials... how awesome is it to stop right when the show starts back up?? How about when you get an answer RIGHT when watching Jeopardy. Just shut up now if you get NO thrill from guessing the answer before they even buzz in... just shut up!! Oh and especially when other people are in the room. I also think it is so super awesome when I am sitting at home alone and something makes me laugh out loud. Literally. (ps-just being at home alone is pretty awesome too, all in itself). You know what else is really awesome.... fedex showing up when you completely forgot you ordered something online! SCORE! Oh and when I forget to set my alarm but I manage to wake up in time all by myself. That really is divine intervention right there (or sometimes Elleah). 

The other day, at Walmart, some guy who had a lot of things let me go ahead of him in line because I only had 2 things. THAT GUY, that guy is pretty awesome! Oh and when I can successfully pick something up with my toes!! And when your 28 year old friend hangs upside down from the bars at the park... AwwwweSoooome! 

When the score of the game is tied near the end of the game, when you high-five strangers, and when you say the exact same thing the sports commentator said minutes before he actually said it.. ALL awesomeness!