At the beginning to November I was just starting work with Noonday Collection, which I am totally loving, and I was fortunate enough to have 4 trunk shows, along with a vendor fair, scheduled in the span of 7 days! It was pretty intense but I loved every minute! Then on the 8th we drove up to Clemson, South Carolina to meet up with my family and go to the Clemson homecoming game! Going to Clemson always feels like going home. It was so much fun to stay up in the mountains and spend time with my family, and then to meet up with friends that live in the area. Any time spent in Clemson is never enough!
"Who wants to drive to Clemson today?" "MEEEEEEE"
My dear friend Emily and I... along with all of our kids! Well, minus Lyla because she was sick. :(
Clemson friends (the best kind) and our kiddos! Wow!!
Our cabin... and the view!
Siena with the Tiger Cub
At the game!
the twinkies.
my folks. Mom, if you're reading this, could you send me your pics? All of mine (other than what was on my phone) got erased from our computer. I'm sad that this is all I have!
The downside of that 6 day trip was that all 4 of the kids got sick (and their cousins too). I think they all had the flu and fortunately it wasn't too bad while we were there, but it carried over to the whole next week that we were home. So instead of returning to school, chase and Siena were home all week. Chase ended up getting strep throat as well. It was a terrible week of being stuck indoors with fevers and runny noses! It broke my heart to see them all so miserable!
The good news is that I somehow managed to escape catching anything and I was able to run in my half marathon the next weekend! It was my first time officially running a half. Even though I've been a runner my whole life, I just never had much desire to run that distance. 5k's and sprint triathlons are more my speed. But I've been running with a group of friends at the YMCA here in our neighborhood and they were all signing up so I jumped on board! It is so nice to have that group- we meet 3 mornings a week and the Y provides childcare while we go run. I've sort of felt like I had my old cross country team back... It's been a long time since I've had other girls to train with and I've missed it. Race weekend was lots of fun- a couple of us went over to St. Petersburg the night before and ate dinner and stayed the night. The race course was beautiful and included a run through Tropicana Field, where the Tampa Bay Rays play! I thought about Chase during that part since he loves the Rays so much. It was a great race and I finished in 1:50. I think that's good, although I don't have anything to compare it to! ;) but I was happy with how I ran. The only bad part of the whole race is that my good friend and running buddy Nicole hurt her hip and couldn't finish with me. :(
The next week was thanksgiving week and the kids were out of school (so they really didn't go much that month)! On Monday Eric stayed home from work because he was sick (may have been flu leftover!) and it was a good thing he did! Early that morning Lyla was climbing Chase's bunk bed ladder and fell and broke her leg! So the day was filled with doctors appointments! Poor little Lyla! She is always climbing and being adventurous, I guess it was bound to happen sometime!
We celebrated thanksgiving with our friends Jackie, John, Ava, JJ, and their friends and family from New York!
They were so sweet to have us over and I admit that I was happy not to have to cook a big meal! We brought a turkey and our fryer and a big crockpot full of Mac and cheese! The kids all had a blast playing together and we had fun hanging out with our friends and watching football. On Black Friday I hit the outlets with my good friend Laci! We had so much fun shopping and trying on clothes all morning!
The weekend after Thanksgiving we bought a Christmas tree and decorated the house!
And then the next Monday I had my colonoscopy (sigh). I could go into the whole reason for why I had this procedure, but everything to do with this subject seems like a little but too much information. So I will just say that everything went fine that day (I even had a trunk show that night!), but then a few days later I had a call from the doctor with some scary news: they removed a "good size growth" during the procedure and it tested positive for cancer. I was shocked to say the least. The good news is that the doctor says that he got it all out (although he does want to re-check) and he says this is "barely" stage 1 colon cancer and that we caught it early. It doesn't appear to be invasive. The bad news is that I have quite a few doctors appointments ahead of me with both my GI doctor , an oncologist, X-rays, cat scans, etc. I'm not sure I will feel completely at ease about this whole thing until all of those are done and they tell me I'm all clear. But I can say with confidence that I do feel an overwhelming sense of peace. I have been in constant prayer, I am surrounded with friends and family who are praying for me, and I wholeheartedly trust in God. He created my body and He knows the number of hairs on my head! I'm in good hands.
So on that note, you can imagine how those last few days of November were for me with that news and trying to pack and prepare for this epic trip we are on! But in the end we got everything done and here we are! More on that when we return! :)
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