Been There. Done That.

Got the T-shirt!!Well, I did it! I ran my first Peachtree and it was AWESOME!! I have never seen so many runners in all of my life. If you have any interest in running (or walking for that matter) I definitely recommend trying it at least once. There is so much excitement in the air and there are so many people who show up just to cheer on the sidelines. I really wish I could have had my camera with me to take more pictures, but needless to say I wanted to carry as little as possible. There were tons of photographers there though and they will be posting their pictures on a website throughout the week, so hopefully I will have more to show as the week progresses. In the meantime, here are a few from the day...

Me, along with my brother Tim and my sister Pam in the hotel before the race...

Pam and her hubby, ChrisI decided to drop back so I could start with Tim's group so we could run together. Here we are moving ahead to the starting point. Woo Hoo!!
Mom and Dad kept the kiddos while I ran. They looked too cute and patriotic not to get a picture of... They even had their house dressed up for the fourth. This was them waving goodbye as we drove home last night.

Once we got home we met up with Michael and went to celebrate the fourth with some friends. Living as close to South Carolina as we do, fireworks are easy to come by, so it has become somewhat of a tradition to have a fireworks show each year. Truth be told, the men just like to light things on fire and so this presents the perfect opportunity. There are usually about 30 families contributing to the firework fund, so the result is usually pretty awesome.
Happy fourth, everyone!

Four Days and Counting...

Beach Bums

To quote a little Soul 2 Soul (ahhh yeaaa, baby!) it's 'back to life, back to reality' here at the Rich household. We're back from a week at the beach and missing every minute of it. Apparently I missed a lot. (You know who you are and I really, REALLY want a update and especially a picture... but I guess I'll be patient given the circumstances.) Anyway, we had a great week and tons of fun with our friends. All total, there were seventeen... yes that's s-e-v-e-n-t-e-e-n people that went with us and yes, we all stayed in one beach house. The kids had a blast and we were very fortunate that they all got along so well. Now, let's get to what everyone really wants in a blog entry... the pictures. Here are a few of my favorites...

Allie and Wyatt, taking it all in...

Allie LOVED the waves!

Allie & GeorgiaThe jellyfish were really bad one day. Here's one of the four we caught for the kids to look at...

The kids were bummed they couldn't swim much that day, but Wyatt had no problem finding other ways to occupy his time...Allie Loved putt-putt, which btw, I WON. It came down to the all the men and me in a very heated match. On the last hole I came on strong with a hole-in-one to tie the game with Michael. So... on to a tie-breaking hole we went... and guess what??? I got another hole-in-one to secure my victory. Oh, sweet, sweet victory!! (What?!? Me...competitive? Nahhh.)

Here's Allie... my little golfer-in-training.

Allie showing off the pose she now does in all of her pictures. The girls even got hair wraps. Allie learned to jump off the side of the pool! Next step... no life jacket!
I love this shot I got of the two of them!My little beach bum...

I also figured it was about time we had a family portrait taken since... well... we have NEVER taken one before. (Well, other than the d.i.y. one I took for the church directory, but that totally doesn't count. Plus, it was many pounds ago...LOL!) Since I'm usually the one taking the pictures, I never get to be in them myself. So we hired a photographer to come and take some family portraits of us on the beach.

Well, as a photographer you can probably guess I kinda had in mind what I wanted. After a long search, I found just what I was looking for at Beach Bum Photography. David and Jessica are a husband and wife photography team and they were awesome! They were both so sweet and wonderful to work with. Plus, they were totally affordable! Their session fee included a disk with all the images on it so I could crop, Photoshop, and print at my leisure. If you are ever in the Pensacola, Navarre, or Destin area, I TOTALLY recommend them! Here's a few shots from our session...
O.K., so that was more than a few pictures... but what did you expect? I was really happy to get so many shots. They shot hundreds of images... way too many to post so I had to narrow it down as much as possible. Seriously though... If you need some beach pictures and you're in their area you should totally give them a call. You won't find anyone sweeter!

Now, I'm off to comment on some blogs before I start loosing friends...

Best $20 I've spent in awhile....

I was at a consignment store today searching (and searching... and searching...) for a full-sized play pin and happened upon this little gem. Well, actually Wyatt spotted it first and the look on his face left me with no other option but to take it home with us. As you can see... he is IN LOVE with his new Jeep. Not bad for $20!
BTW, if any of you know where I can find a full-sized play pin... the big old-fashioned square kind, but in a pack and play style... PLEASE let me know. I was lucky enough to find one at the last Kidsignments sale, but we really need one more to take to the beach and to leave at the other grandparents house. I have looked everywhere, so if you ever find one PLEASE let me know. Love ya for it!

Anyway... since the last two posts have been all about Wyatt, I decided that I needed to add one of Allie be fair. So... here's one that will be shown to all potential boyfriends...

Turning four has brought a whole new since of independence. This is most apparent in her choice of wardrobe. She insists on picking out her own clothes and getting dressed all by herself every morning. I think somewhere Stacey and Clinton just threw up a little...

Mama always told me to 'pick my battles...'

...and this was just not worth fighting a loosing battle over. I mean, have you ever tried to take a blankie from a sixteen-month-old?

Update...

Hey everyone! I thought I'd give you an update on Dad. First of all I wanted to thank each and every one of you who prayed for my father's healing. Your prayers were truly felt within my family and brought us all comfort during this stressful and frightening time.

God truly was looking out for my dad and I know he answered our prayers as the doctors do not think he had a second heart attack. His enzyme tests, ultrasounds, and x-rays were all negative so that is some AWESOME news. He is, however still in the hospital and is undergoing more tests to find out what has been going on for the last sixteen months.

He is currently taking a stress test (this is Friday 8:15 a.m.) which includes injecting him with dye to watch his heart function on monitors while he exercises on a treadmill. I ask you once again to join with me in praying that the doctors find NO BLOCKAGES or any other potential problems with his heart. The next tests would be heart catheterization and eventually open-heart surgery so we praying to avoid that.

I truly believe that God has preformed a miracle on my dad as he displayed every sign of a heart attack when he entered the hospital but left the doctors in amazement as they could not find any trace that he had actually experienced one. This news is such a blessing to us all as this means there has been no further damage to his heart.

That is all I know for now. Please continue to keep Him in your thoughts and prayers... and thank you again for your kind words. I know I am truly 'blessed' to have such wonderful friends!

Caron

A Prayer Request...

Hey everyone. Well, I didn't make my goal of 5 blogs in 5 days. Worse things can and will happen I guess. I wish I could redeem myself with a funny or lighthearted blog, but tonight I need to ask a favor of all my blogging friends out there.

As most of you know, my dad had a heart attack when Wyatt was only two weeks old. Since that time, he has four stints put in to try to correct the problem. Unfortunately, the problems have persisted to spite of the doctors efforts.

Tonight, when Allie and I returned home from Cubbies, Michael told me that my dad had been taken to the hospital and was showing signs of a second heart attack. To put it mildly... I am a bit beside myself right now and I would really appreciate any and all prayers that you might be able to lift up for him. This has truly been a tough week as he also learned that a place on his skin he had biopsied last week showed cancerous cells. His surgery was supposed to be this Friday.

Anyway... it has been a long and exhausting week. Please remember my dad and my mom tonight in your prayers. I ask that you join with us in praying for his complete and total healing both from the heart problems and the skin cancer. I believe that God is an awesome God who had power over all things. Please keep my family, especially my dad Gil, in your prayers tonight. Thanks everyone.