THE FARM

We had a blast at the farm!  Savannah is so cute with animals.  She has no fear.  She walked right up to the goats and pigs and kissed them.  She loved seeing all of the animals, the vegetables and pretty flowers!  We had so much fun watching her.  She was in heaven!

SAVANNAH THE PILOT

Savannah was running around the house with water bottles held up to her ears, pretending they were a headset, yelling "I fly helicopter!  I fly helicopter!" while making helicopter noises.  She's so funny!  I seriously could just sit and watch her all day and be entertained.  I love her imagination!

Tessa still hasn't quite figured out how to eat cereal but she loves it!  She smiles and giggles the whole time she's eating.  I love my cute little girlies!!!!

YUMMY ROAST BEEF!

When Savannah was a baby I was the most anal parent.  About EVERYTHING.  I can count on both hands how many times she left the house before she was 6 months old, and that's including going to church and the grocery store.  I'm pretty sure I was on the less active list.  I didn't want her to get sick and heaven forbid she got off her schedule!  She was also not aloud to eat any solid food except vegetables and an occasional fruit in her first year.  Poor girl.  We got home from church today and were starving!  Daddy was so nice to let Tessa suck on his spicy cajun roast beef.  She loved it!  Good thing I've learned to relax a little bit, if he had tried this with Savannah I would have been in tears.

THE PARK!!

We went to the park with some new friends today.  It was so fun!  And so cold!! 

THE NORTH FACE ENDURANCE CHALLENGE

The race was awesome!  I forget how much I love racing until I'm doing it and then I wish I could race more often!  I think my favorite part of racing is beating people.  The Gifford comes out in me and I turn insanely competitive and aggressive.  I love it!  At the beginning of the race there are always guys in their early 20's that think they're the stuff (and usually haven't really trained).  They stand at the starting line jumping up and down, yelling, and are super obnoxious.  I always want to say "save your energy buddy.  You, of all people are going to need it."  As soon as the race starts they go sprinting off.  One of these weenies yelled at me to get out of the way.  Around mile 3 I passed them.  I yelled "SUCKAS!"  Ha!  Just kidding.  But I really wanted to.

I was super excited when I picked up my packet and I was in the fastest wave.  Which means based on my previous racing times, I was running in the wave of the fastest group of runners.  What runner doesn't like being told they're fast? The race was tough!  It was 13.2 miles.  So basically a half marathon.  It was a single track mountain trail run.  It was almost all up hill, running through streams, jumping over rocks and trees, and climbing over some large rocks.  The trail was super narrow so you couldn't pass anyone unless you or they moved off the trail.  When I got to the aid station at mile 11 I had so much energy left!  It was one of the few downhill parts so I was sprinting down hill and I tripped on a rock and went flying!  Oopsies!  My arm and leg were super bloody and swollen.  I mostly just felt bad I slowed the people down behind me because they stopped to help me up and make sure I was ok.  I didn't realize how bad I actually hurt it until I was done.  It was a great race!  By far the hardest half marathon I've ever done!

SIX YEARS!!!!

Our anniversary was Saturday!  Since we were going to be driving to Atlanta Saturday we decided to celebrate Friday night.  We had a lot of fun doing our favorite things.  Trevor grilled delicious black angus burgers and Savannah and I made yummy marshmallow brownies.  Then we let the girls stay up late watching Zookeeper with us.  It was a super fun night!  The night of our actual anniversary was pretty funny.  I love staying in hotels.  Even if it's the hotel just down the road, I love to stay in hotels.  So I was super excited to be in a hotel with Trevor the night of our anniversary. We stayed in a really big suite so the girls would have their own bed and we could have our own bed on the other side of the suite to "celebrate" our anniversary after they went to bed.  Ha!  Savannah was barking with doggy all night and I couldn't stay up too late because I had my race early the next morning.  So we ended up moving Savannah in bed with Daddy and I slept with Tessa.  Good thing we paid for the ginormous suite!  These past six years have been so adventurous and fun!  2 countries, 6 states and 2 munchkins later! Happy anniversary babe!

MY SWEET TESSA GIRL

"Why do we close our eyes when we pray, cry, kiss, dream?  Because the most beautiful things in life are not seen but felt only by heart."

Tessa has an appointment with the retina specialist on Monday.  I am so looking forward to, and nervous for that appointment.  I've been researching retinal dystrophy and there are so many different kinds.  Most of them come with neurological problems and/or eventual total loss of vision.

My mother in law said she believes Tessa is a special spirit that chose to take on these extra challenges.  I completely agree.  She is such a sweet, loving baby, even at this young age.  She loves to feel and give affection.  We're so blessed to have her as part of our family!

ARE YOU OK DOGGY?

Savannah had a blow out during her nap today and it got on Doggy.  So I showed her how we have to put Doggy in the washer and dryer to get him clean.  She was so worried about Doggy!  The whole hour he was in the dryer she sat there kissing the dryer, asking Doggy if he was ok, and telling him how much she loved him.

GRACIAS WEIGHT WATCHERS AND MARATHON TRAINING!

I've gained 80-90 pounds with both pregnancies.  Closer to 90 with Tessa.  Needless to say, I am SOOOO happy to be back to my pre-pregnancy weight! 

Awesome Neighbors!

I love living across the street from Nate and Morgiana Anderson!  We lived in the same apartments in Florida and it is so fun to be back by them!!!  It seems like we rarely make actual plans with them but somehow we always end up spending super late nights with them.  Yesterday we walked over to their house to drop something off and we all came back to our house and made yummy homemade pizza and doughnuts together.  It was so much fun!  Trevor and Nate could talk ALL night long.  Sometimes they do.  And the later it gets the more fun Morgiana and I have together.  We're like crazy teenage girls, laughing at everything when our husbands talk all night long.  It's so fun because Nate is a pilot too.  They have the same amount of hours and the same career goals.  We all think it would be so fun to move to Alaska and Hawaii and then settle down somewhere in the West.  Always staying neighbors.  They really feel like family now and we're so grateful to have them when our real families are so far away.

Tessa's Eyes

Tessa had her appointment with the pediatric ophthalmologist today.  I've been so excited, looking forward to this appointment and getting answers.  I didn't think it would be bad news.  Just more information.  Unfortunately, I was wrong.  When we first saw the doctor he said he thought it was so strange that Tessa was wearing glasses at such a young age, even if she was farsighted.  Her eyes should correct themselves at this age.  He said he didn't think she needed to wear the glasses but would let me know more after he dilated her eyes.  I was so excited!  I called my mom and Trevor to share the great news while we were waiting for her eyes to dilate.  As he was looking at her eyes after he dilated them he said he understood why she needed glasses.  Her situation is very unique.  She is VERY farsighted, which we already knew.  Her exotrophia (eyes turning out) is in both eyes.  We thought it was in just one.  Normally this would correct itself by about 6 months old but given her unique situation she may need corrective surgery when she's a year old.  She also has a problem with her retina.  He thinks she has retinal dystrophy.  I had no idea what that meant as far as how well she could see, so I asked if she'd be able to drive.  He said your eyes are like a camera.  The retina being the film.  If the film is bad you get nothing.  So probably not.  Her eyesight is very limited.  She can only see from about 1.5 - 4 feet.  My heart is breaking for my precious baby.  I'm trying to stay positive but all I can think of are the things she'll never be able to see or do.  All these thoughts are going through my head of how her life will be.  Imagining her sitting in special ed, with a big book and big words and her thick glasses makes me smile.  But I know to all the other kids she will be the perfect target to bully and make fun of.  Daddy will have to give her a blessing and we will have to pray for the best and to have faith.

Mommy Savannah

Anything Mommy does with Tessa, Savannah does with doggy!  She's such a good mommy!!

SEPTEMBER PICTURES

WOOHOO FOR BLOGGING!!!!

I was talking to my favorite cousin Cel tonight about blogging.  I don't blog very much because I feel like everyone's blogs are like look how cool we are!  Look how big my house is!  Look at how much money I have!  Look at how perfect my life is!  Barf! We are not rich.  We really aren't that cool.  Well Trevor is super cool because he flies helicopters but I sit at home playing with little girls all day and my life revolves around them and training for races.  Not super exciting.  We are super duper happy and that's all that matters.  I'm excited to make this my journal and keep up on it.  I've always enjoyed writing in my journal and now I'm excited to have pictures with it.  I apologize ahead of time for the scary pictures you will see of me without make up on and my girls without bows in their hair.