It's December already?!

Holy cow, this fall flew by! We had a whirlwind Thanksgiving with about a billion family members heading our way to spend the week with us (us meaning my mom, dad, sister, bro, and me). About 20 people in total...and I had everyone under the age of 21 with me. Having them here reminded me of one thing...I am NOT 21 anymore. Or even close. I felt like a grandma, for reals. It was so fun and good to have all of us together, even in the midst of family dysfunction. We all have it right?!

We definitely kicked off the Christmas season with a bang this year. Friday night we headed to Christmastown at Busch Gardens. I love everything about Christmastown and am sad for y'all that don't live near a Busch Gardens to take advantage of this experience! I love that they still say Christmas around there, which is why I'm huge on supporting them! I'm sure most of y'all have seen some of these pics on Instagram, but I've got some more here:)

the carolers 

the pathway up to the Clydesdale barn (uh yea, the same ones you see in the Budweiser commercials)

random singers around the park

these pics don't even do justice to the beautiful lights around the park

mom, me, & Allie in "France"

my precious sister and her little guy

me  & my fav lil munchkin

we visited the North Pole

Santa's workshop

the big Christmas tree in "Germany"

the BEST hot chocolate on the east coast

the Ice tree

And a couple randoms for you:)

Starting to decorate for Christmas!! (still on the hunt for curtain fabric. gah. i hate decorating sometimes)

Hook 'em Horns!

I can't wait for the upcoming weeks of Christmas celebrations and parties! EEEEK! And busting out Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, and Amy Grant's Christmas music. Oh yea. It's my favorite time of year! 

Colorado

I just got back from my final trip of the year (I think). This trip definitely falls into top moments of the year. It was such a fun 4 days of relaxing, hanging out, rejuvenating, and seeing two of my amazing girlfriends.

I got in Thursday morning, just in time to grab lunch with Kristi (who I got no pics with...sad face). She had to work Thursday and Friday so I spent time running around Wash Park-in the snow-and shopping. Duh.

Beautiful Wash Park in Denver

On Friday, Hannah came down and we had a girls night. It seriously made me miss these girls so much my heart hurts. It was the best time. Sadly, Hannah and I left Kristi behind Saturday and made our way to Boulder for the rest of the weekend. It was so much fun hanging out with her, Jesse, and DJ. Being with them always is good for my soul. Not sure what it is about Colorado or its citizens, but every time I'm out there, I'm inspired to be a better person. That amazing place just kind of has that affect on me:). 

Anyway, the four of us went to the Bronco's game Sunday night. I hate to say it, but I may be a Broncos fan now too. Gah. It was just too fun for me to not be a fan now.  

Some pics from the game...

Peyton's first pass of the game

the four of us at the game...ignore the flat hat hair. I promise it looked better earlier! Ha! 

Apparently the good Lord knew I needed this weekend to relax because my stress level spiked when I got to the Denver airport to fly home. We had a little visitor on the east coast named Hurricane Sandy, which shut down all airports from Virginia-Maine until at least Wednesday. But you know what? God was in my entire schedule that day. Considering the circumstances, my day couldn't have gone any smoother. He got me on the LAST flight into Raleigh, NC (and the last seat on the plane nonetheless!) I got a rental car and literally made it home by midnight that Monday night (in 70 mph winds and sheets of rain. probably not my brightest moment to drive in that). It was a ridiculously long day (5am-12am), but considering that if I didn't have that Raleigh flight, I wouldn't have gotten home until Wednesday, I was beyond ecstatic. It was amazing how everything just fell into place. Thanks to all of you who prayed me home. (I'll save you from the stories of my panic attacks in Denver and Atlanta). 

Colorado, as always, you did not disappoint. You hold a piece of my heart. Who knows? Maybe one day you'll hold all of it. I can't wait to come back and see you. And I'll seriously miss you while I'm gone.

Chicago

Wow, it has been awhile since I've been on here. Oops. I'm going to blame it on the fact that I've been lovin' on my chunk of a nephew:) Seriously, little man has gained 4 lbs in 5 weeks. Um, whoa. Here's him in all his cuteness...

I got to spend last week in Chicago for a work conference. The beauty of these work conferences? We only spent about maybe 8 hours in meetings over 4 days. And I was in one of my favorite cities. That means lots of free time, and that makes this girl very.happy. 

I got to go on runs along the lake with this view...

We went out to eat the goodness that is Giordano's pizza (which I found out will SHIP TO YOUR HOUSE frozen for you to cook. This may be a problem...)

Late night walks along the river...

Dad and I went and checked out Wrigley (which he's been to a few games. I hadn't even seen the ballpark...which is shocking considering how many times I've been to Chicago), shopped...a lot, and the best part? I got to see 2 of my college girlfriends, Emily & Mandii! We only had a couple hours over brunch and I got no pictures (sad face), but had the best time. I miss you girls!

It actually was a pretty awesome conference, but the high point was hearing Joe Gibbs, former 'Skins coach and current NASCAR team owner. He's such a legend that he could've been speaking Mandarin and I probably would've gone to hear him. 

The other high point? Renting out the House of Blues, just for Cambridge. It was such a fun night of hearing an awesome band, dancing the night away, and just having a blast. We even got a VIP box so we didn't have to stand around with everyone...we had seats! wooo! 

the amazing band 

Pam, Kim, and I at House of Blues

Can't wait to see you again soon Chicago! You really are a city that holds my heart:)

Thankful

You know that feeling of trying to swim, but you only have one arm so you keep going in circles? Yea, I don't either. But that's what I feel like life is doing right now. Overwhelming, non-stop chaos. I haven't been home one night for two (almost three) weeks straight. I'm running in circles and on fumes here people. And while life has been going like a freight train, I'm not seeing the "fruits of my labor". Ugh. They'll come, I know.

I just kinda want to lock myself in a padded room. and in all seriousness, I thank God everyday for making me healthy enough to workout. Seriously. 

SO! since I just vented for a paragraph and a half, I'm choosing to be positive for the rest of this post. And focus on what matters. On that note, here is what I'm incredibly thankful for during these past few weeks....

• An incredibly understanding dad and boss (lucky for me, they are one and the same)
• A best friend who encourages and supports me and always has my best interests at heart
• A flexible job
• An assistant who rocks
• Beth Moore's James study. This one is rocking my world.
• A God whose mercies are new every morning and whose love and grace far exceed anything I can comprehend
• A healthy body that can handle everything I throw at it (extra 15 lbs on the squat track in BodyPump? Sure, why not?!)
• Parents of high school kids who are literally bending over backwards to help plan our FCA tailgates at the high school footballs games. For those of you not in VA...high school football is kind of a big deal here. Tailgates are necessary.
• A family that steps up to help each other out. My dad, brother-in-law, and mom (Allie gets an exception since she's a 3 week old mom) have mowed my yard, cleaned my house, and had meals when I've needed them. God.Bless.You. Words don't even begin to express how much I love and appreciate my family. I tear up just thinking about it.
• Last but not least, these two cutie patooties. I could talk about them to death (and the resurrection...ha!), but I'll spare you.

Let me just say this is one flexible kid. Within 2 weeks of his birth, he's been on boat rides, walked 9 holes of golf, shopping trips, 5 days of vacay, etc. And he does it with the best attitude ever. We are one blessed family to have him in our lives.

Okay, I'm done. Time to go study for one of the many tests I have coming up. I thought this part of life was behind me. Give me college anyday!

So Thursday night looked like this...

which means that by 11:38 that night, I was looking at this...

Sawyer Glenn Lane. August 30, 2012. 7 lbs 2 oz and 19.5 inches of absolute perfection.

Allison would probably kill me if she knew I put this up, but this is what she looked like immediately after giving birth. I mean, are you kidding me?! she did AMAZING. and LOOKS AMAZING. Her water broke that afternoon at 4:23 and had him at 11:38 with only about an hour and 15 min of pushing. 

the proud grandparents

holding him the first night (ignore the sleepiness...it was 3am)

open eyes. he melts my heart.

I'm so in love. He's so beautiful and perfect.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights..." James 1:17

Sawyer Glenn Lane, you are a perfect gift from God and we thank Him everyday for you. You have become our world and we are over the moon to finally have met you. I love you so much little man. 

NYC

this past weekend, my friend Emily and I flew up to NYC for a quick girls weekend. we had so much fun once we got there! (which was after United cancelled our flight from Richmond to Dulles and us getting in the car to bust it up to Dulles to catch our flight to Newark...NOT a good way to start the trip. the good news? it usually takes about 2 hours and 10 min to get there (it's pretty far west of DC and 95) and we made it in a hour and 20. thank you psychotic drivers on 95 for setting the pace:)). the flights in general were just terrible this trip. never ever ever flying USAir and United again. ever.

once we got up there, we brunched, shopped, went to dinner and to the Hotel Chantalle, shopped some more, brunched some more....you get the idea. i hadn't spent tons of time in Chelsea, Soho, and the West Village (we usually stay on the upper east side and hang there and in midtown), so it was super fun to explore those neighborhoods!

here's some pics of the weekend....

brunch of champions

Em + I at brunch with Sarah + Derek...ignore the sweaty faces. we'd just come from a long walk in hot temps. not exactly the cute dewy look we were attempting to achieve.

cute little park in the West Village

the Freedom Tower under construction

some plans wrote United We Stand in the sky...crazy cool

it was our friend, Sarah's, birthday last week so we got to celebrate with her Saturday night. we went to dinner at Co-op on the lower east side then on to Hotel Chantalle (which was so crowded, even though we got bottle service, that you couldn't even move your arms...much less take pics).

Em + I at Co-op

the birthday dessert

the ladies at Co-op

sunday, before we headed home, I got to meet up with my cousin who lives in the West Village-so jealous-and I hadn't seen him since my sister's wedding. um..not okay. we met up at his place then went to eat at Dos Caminas-which was out of this world amazing. maybe the best brunch I've ever had. i'm so bummed that I didn't get any pics...we literally attacked our food as soon as it was on the table. yikes. i'm sure everyone around was like ummm, have these people not eaten? like ever? oh well:) 

Mike + I at Dos Caminos (also please ignore the baggy sweatshirt that was 2 sizes too big. we'd had a late night the night before and this girl wasn't up to dressing cute. it was alll about comfort on sunday)

Next up, CHICAGO! Let the jetsetting fall begin! 

#London2012

okay, I know I'm about a week and 2 days late on this post, but I am obsessed with the Olympics. my favs are swimming, track+field, beach volleyball, and the love of my life, gymnastics.  it brings back so many memories of the happiest days of my life. the 25-30 hours a week in the gym practicing with the dream that I'd be an olympian one day (clearly we all know how that turned out). it did bring back memories of meets and new leos/warm ups, the competitiveness between teammates who were my best friends, the intense training and russian coaches yelling at me to "point feet! point feet!"...ahhh the good ole' days. since I never got there, here's some of my fav highlights from the 2012 games...

• the fact that it was in London, my favorite city (I'm choosing to forget the travesty that was the opening ceremony...i can describe it in two words. Epic fail.)
• my future husband, Ryan Lochte, beating Michael Phelps in his first race...which btw, all of y'all will be invited to the wedding
• Phelps breaking the record most medals won and becoming the most decorated olympian of all time
• Misty May and Kerri going out on top. they look like they would be so much fun to hang out with!
• Usain Bolt striking all gold again...he's not human, I tell ya
• Allyson Felix + Sonya Richards-Ross getting the golds they deserve...and the relay team (yay Carmelita Jeter!!) breaking the world record
• Missy Franklin for just being her and hopefully becoming the future face of USA swimming...how can you not just love her?! and all her accomplishments at her first Olympics!
• seeing USA basketball back on top, and in a respectable fashion
• the spice girls
• and last, but not least, of course the #FIERCE FIVE! we swept the competition. and how can anyone's jaw not drop at McKayla Maroney's vault in the team comp??? i have to say, while I love Gabby and am beyond excited for her, all respect goes to Jordyn Wieber. i've been following her for a couple years now and she is just an amazing talent who got robbed. her scores were not reflective of her routines (just ask Bela). all five of these girls should be beyond proud of themselves for their performance, but most of all for their conduct. they acted as a team on and off the floor and deserve the utmost respect. 

i do wish they'd worn these leos in the team finals

i'm so bummed they are over (and that the closing ceremony wasn't the opening ceremony. it was much better).  and we have 4 years to wait for Rio...which I'm not so excited about after watching their portion of the closing ceremony. however, I can finally clean up my dvr and go to bed again at a decent hour. 

all in all, London was no Beijing, but the Americans rocked it. and who didn't love seeing Wills and Kate everywhere?!