Our 4th of July!

Hey there! We celebrated the 4th of July Wilmore style. Every year we take the girls to see the parade downtown, and then to the little festival the town puts on afterwards.



Waiting for the parade to start!

 



Kara tore into the first sucker that was tossed our way



It was soo hot yesterday we only stayed long enough at the festival for a quick horse ride for Kirsten and then headed off to lunch at Chick-fil-a!  When we got home the girls napped and I made these cookies...so festive right!

Jack bought some sparklers for the girls to try while we waited for the fireworks show to start. Kirsten loved them and did really well with them all. Kara wanted to hold it all by herself too, but she also wanted to point them directly at herself so that didn't happen! Yikes!



Watch out for the creeper :)

 

Watching the fireworks

 

Hope you all had a Happy 4th!

Vacation!!!!

This past weekend Jack's parents came to stay and visit with us for a fews days. Our 7th anniversary was on the 25th so we took a day and went to King's Island, just the two of us! We love amusement parks and water parks! We went to Busch Gardens and Water Country USA in Virginia on our honeymoon and we've celebrated several of our anniversaries by taking trips to different parks. We had never been to King's Island before so we wanted to try it out. It wasn't the best as far as amusement parks go, and we felt lost most of the time trying to find our way around, but we still had a really good time. I'm very thankful to my inlaws for keeping the girls for the day so we could have some time away!

Then on Sunday we all went to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge for a couple of days. We rented a cabin way up in the mountains that was beautiful! The first night we got there just in time to take the girls to Dollywood to see the Gazillion Bubbles show. It wasn't quite what I expected but still very cool and the girls were mezmorized by all the bubbles.

The next day we ate breakfast out at a pancake place before heading back to Dollywood. I spent my childhood going to Silver Dollar City in Branson, so I loved Dollywood! It was so fun to take the girls to do something I always loved so much growing up. They had a blast riding all the kids rides!



Kara "driving" the car with Daddy, you can hardly see her tiny little head :)



Kirsten LOVED driving! She took it very seriously :)



We spent all day riding rides and were all completely wiped by the time we left. It was a very fun day! We spent our last day walking through Gatlinburg's strip, eating lunch at Loco Burro, and then making one last stop at a little carnival area  for the girls to play.



riding the mini train!





Kirsten REALLY wanted to ride the swings at Dollywood, but she wasn't big enough for them yet. So we took her to ride the small ones at The Track

 

 If you can't tell Kara LOVED them too!

Girls just want to have fun!

I love LOVE having two little girls! They have so much fun together! Kara wants to be just like big sissy and do everything she does. And Kirsten is the best big sister!
If Kara wkes up from her nap before Kirsten she kind of wanders around lost, not sure what to do without her sister, she walks back to Kirsten's bedroom door and checks to see if she's awake. And she gets SUPER excited when she hears Kirsten calling for me to get her out of bed. It's very sweet!
It's so funny to me to see them already developing the same relationship that I had with my sister when we were little. Best friends one minute, screaming and whining at each other the next. I forsee lots of "she's touching me",  "but, I had it first", "she won't play with me". ....ordeals to work out. But for all the little spats they may have, I hope they have a billion more memories of fun times, just like I have with my sister.

We've been having alot of fun making memories so far this summer...


                                                   Finger painting! Kara's first time!

Eating Fro-yo!

Their new favorite thing, pretending to go for a walk in the babydoll stroller!

Practicing writing our ABC's. She's a pro!

And taking her first ever BALLET Class! She said "Soon I'll be a real ballerina!"

And then waiting for Daddy to get home from work to join in the fun! They get SO excited when they see him pull in the drive way!

20 Random things

A couple of my friends recently shared a 20 random things post  and I thought it be fun to join in. So with complete randomness and no reason, here are my 20 things about me :)

1. I enjoy cooking and trying new recipes.
2. I was married a week after my 20th birthday.
3. I am horrible with directions and often confuse my left and right.
4. I  hate spending money on anything that seems unneccesary. It makes shopping stressful.
5. I love chocolate. I eat a piece almost daily.
6. My middle name is Leann.
7. I played basketball in highschool and one year in college. I love it, but was not very good.
8. I can't sleep if my closet door is open even a little bit.
9. I think it would be cool to have lived out on the frontier in the late 1800s. A real life pioneer woman.
10. I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
11. I don't like dogs at all. sorry.
12. I love running. It's my me time.
13. I don't wear heels and can't really walk in them.
14. I love listening to Sinatra. (one of my favorite profs talked about his music all the time, it got me hooked)
15. Pink is my favorite color.
16. I haven't been to the movies in over 4 years. (Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was the last.)
17. I get really nervous driving in traffic.
18. I like soda and candy and fast food. It's no secret. But I also love my fruits and veggies. It's all about balance.
19. If my husband isn't home and I see a bug it takes everything in me to work up the courage to kill it. I'm terrified of them getting on me.
20. I was homeschooled through the 8th grade.

So there you go, 20 things you may or may not have known about me. :)

5K Race Recap

I got up at 6:45 this morning to drive into lexington to run the Girls on the Run 5k. Why do races always have to start so early?! Too early for a saturday! Jack was very sweet and got the girls up after I left and brought them out to cheer me on at the finish line. (I promised him we could go out to breakfast afterward if he came ;)
This race was a little different than most because along with the other 600 or so regular racers there were about 300+ elementary school girls running in it who are a part of the Girls on the Run program. The 5k is like their grand finale for the whole program each year. It was a really fun environment, the girls had tutus on and their hair sprayed different colors.
They had the regular runners line up first followed by the Girls on the run participants. I positioned myself in the middle of the pack, I definitely didn't want to be in the front and have all the super fast men zoom past me right away. Once we took off, rather than being passed, I actually had to weave myself around a bunch of people in order to run the pace I wanted too.
The course was pretty flat with only a few small hills, which was nice. I'm used to running a lot of steep hills around my neighborhood, so that along with the adrenaline of running against other people allowed me push harder than normal. I felt great!
As I approached the first mile sign I looked at my watch to check pace, and realized I forgot to turn it on...drat! So I had no idea how I was doing, if I needed to push harder to reach my goal or not. So I just focused on keeping with a couple of men right in front of me. I knew I was running faster than normal so I hoped it would be enough.
When I was approaching the finish line and saw the clock read 23 minutes something I was ecstatic! My goal was to finish in under 26 minutes...I killed it!!!  haha!
Jack and the girls where standing near the finish line, smiling and waving!Well, Kara didn't notice me, but there were lots of balloons holding her attention :)



running it in...I was making a stinky face :(

 

I'm so fast...he almost missed me! lol!

 

We didn't stick around too long after the race, I wasn't sure if they were announcing the places or anything like that, plus I promised everyone a breakfast out. And we were hungry!

Celebratory breakfast at Cracker Barrell. She's ready for her pancake!

Kara loved this thing! She was concentrating so hard on pulling on the pegs out and putting them back in.

Rockin.

Since we left before all the runners had finished. I didn't know my official time or place until we got home and I was able to check the race results online. My official time was 23:23!!! I place 2nd in my age group and 5th woman overall! I never considered that'd I be able to place in the top 5. I was a little excited!!! Now I'm pumped for another!