one more thing......Abby is STILL running with us on the Creeper Trail.

more pictures

Sitting with Granddaddy.
Watching Benji and Toto. They made their first trip to Abingdon and they did surprisingly well.
Reading books and having fun with Granddaddy. They both were sitting still...for a moment.
Our front yard covered in snow.
This snow fell while Hunter and I were in PM so we didn't get to see it. David took pictures. I guess we had around 6 inches. It looked beautiful.

Wow, I apologize it has been such a long time since I posted anything! As you can imagine this household has been full steam ahead as we plunge into the holiday season. I will give you guys an abbreviated version of the last couple of weeks instead of boring you with all the minor details of our adventures! I think most of you out there would rather see lots of pictures than read paragraphs of my text! So here it goes: We had Thanksgiving with the Hunter family the weekend before Thanksgiving and Hunter had a blast. It had been way too long since our last visit to PM. We returned to Abingdon to prepare for Thanksgiving with the Simmons/York-Simmons crew. It was fantastic. Hunter and Eli had so much fun. I really do wish we all lived a little closer together! Somewhere in there it snowed a bunch of days. I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving!! Enjoy the pictures! Ok so I have NO idea why this is blue and underlined, so just please ignore it because it is going to take too much time and effort to figure it out! Just enjoy the pics!

Hunter, David and I on a trip to the very small Bristol mall. This was like Disneyland to Hunter. He LOVED it!! We rode up and down the escalators, waved to every stranger in the place, and sat on every ride we could find. This was his favorite. The steering wheel really turned and of course their was a dog!

Hunter helping Daddy give the dogs a bath. He thought this was hilarious and was ready to help clean when the task was done. We have such a thoughtful little boy!
More fantastic rides at the mall.
Helping Daddy move furniture to get ready for the Christmas tree!
Eli have the best time painting his face. He managed to paint both sides!
The Martha decorated for Christmas. We all had lunch in the diner. It is the best little secret!
Eli and Hunter on the Creeper Trail.
How much do I owe you? This is nothing but trouble!
Eli really loved the four wheeler. I think this city boy would really love the country!
Just a really cute picture!
Chloe and Hunter played for about an hour jumping in an enormous pile of leaves at GaGa and PaPa's house.
She is just too cute.
So when I am not paying him enough attention he goes off and tries to feed the dogs by himself. The dogs love it...me not so much.

One spunky puppy

You guys might want to sit down to read this. You are not going to believe what our little old Abby did today! She ran with the rest of the family, Hunter, David, Ibis and myself on the Creeper Trail! The weather has been cooler and there is lots of room for the dogs to exercise around here so I thought, why not just take her and see how it goes. I was skeptical she would make it to the start of the trail, but she kept right up and led the way through the woods to the trail access. For those of you who have seen Abby run, it is a bit of a workout. She has to work twice as hard as Ibis to keep up, but she manages. She was really slow so we let her run at her own pace. She actually listens (Ibis doesn't) so we are comfortable with her running without a leash. This way I am not dragging her down the trail. At times she was only a speck of white in the far distance, but it didn't matter she was with us and she was running! All in all she ran a total of about 5 miles. We were on the trail for about an hour, not all of it running, so Hunter could look at the cows, play in the woods and watch the dogs play in the river. It was a great afternoon. I never thought Abby would be able to run with me on the Creeper Trail. I was so happy and excited to have her running again I could have cried! I know she will not be able to run everyday, and probably not at all in the summer...you have to remember she is lazy, but today was a great start to some more trail running for Abby.

made the paper!

Oops, I almost forgot we all had our picture in the paper for the Mistletoe Market! David and I LOVE the holiday season and so were excited to go to the Mistletoe Market here in town. It is a big indoor market with all different kinds of vendors and lots of holiday decorations. It was so crowded, but we had lots of fun. Hunter loved all the people and seeing all the different things. Anyway, we were photographed and interviewed by the paper. Hunter and David are officially famous locals! They have been on the news and in the paper!

By Earl Neikirk/Bristol Herald Courier

Hunter Simmons reaches for a stuffed toy as his dad, David, and mom, Jaime, laugh while at the Mistletoe Market Friday.

Just David and Hunter made the front page and this was the picture posted in the local section of the paper! How funny!

Well, David and I successfully completed the 2008 Shut in trail ridge run! I ran this race once before in 2005 and thank goodness I didn't remember how hard it was or I probably wouldn't have ever run it again. It is by far the toughest race I have ever competed in, but it is also the most beautiful. The Blue Ridge Parkway was a canvas of colors and I almost wanted to stop and admire the beauty of it all....but I was racing afterall! It was a good day and I finished 3rd overall among the women. I was amazed with my finish and time considering our limited training since becoming a parent. David and I were both tired from the physically demanding run, but were anxious to get home to Hunter. It was the first time we have ever left him overnight. GaGa and Papa came up to keep him and I think they had a really good time. Hunter was great and thankfully sleeping well. He has been sleeping great, all until the time changed. He has finally gotten back into his routine. I was beginning to think I was going to have to get up at 5am forever! We also had some special visitors for the weekend. Aunt Jackie and Unle Joe came to check out the house and play with mom, dad and Hunter. It was great to see them and we look forward to seeing everyone soon for the holidays.
In other news we had our first snow. It was beautiful, but a bit early for me. It didn't stick on anything but the cars, but it did snow off and on for the entire day. The weather is such a peculiar thing. One week it snows and the next week every day is beautiful, sunny and with highs in the low 70's. Hunter also had his first big boy haircut. Up to this point I had been trimming it, but when a little boy at the library kept referring to him as "she" I knew it was time to let the professionals take over. It is a little shorter in the front than I would have liked but overall it looks 100% better and he really looks like a little boy. He did great. The key to cutting a 14 month olds hair is to cut quickly!

Hunter eating breakfast the morning after his haircut!

Hunter loves playing in leaf piles...Hunter pre hair cut!

Helping Daddy clean out the gutters!

Getting our first hair cut!

Our first 4 wheeler, which he isn't so sure about.

Just a really cute picture!

(I will have to post pictures of our run later. I can't figure out how to save them from the email our friends sent so just bear with me!)

Halloween at White's Mill

Cute little dragon!

This was my car decorated! Pretty scary?

This is Hunter's chair which used to be David's. He pushes it, climbs on it and sits and rocks in it.
Chloe looking down at the river.



Fall is officially here! The leaves look beautiful and the mountains are glowing with every sunset. I really wish everyone could see! We have had a couple of really warm weeks, but for the past couple of days we have had frost in the mornings and highs in the 60s, perfect fall weather. While it was still warm we all went to a cookout given by the ED at JMH. Hunter had a great time and loved throwing rocks into the nearby stream. He was one of the smallest kids there but it didn't matter to him, he just did the best he could to keep up.
Jenny and Chloe came for a visit this weekend and boy was that a busy time. We went to the farmer's market on Saturday where they got to eat apples and watch pumpkin painting. It was really cold that day so we didn't venture too far from the house but we did manage a short walk on the Creeper Trail. The trail was busy with other walkers, horses and lots of bikers. Chloe and Hunter had the most fun waving at all the people. We were sad to see Jenny and Chloe go, but can't wait to see them again and have more fun when they get back. Chloe is still a little hard for Hunter to keep up with, but he sure does give it a good try! It was easier with his big boy shoes. Hunter got his first pair of sneakers this past week and he loves them. He knows he has to wear his shoes outside and he always brings me his new sneakers. He is all over the place--in the woods, walking in the gravel, kicking leaf piles or just wandering around in the yard so we had to say good-by to the soft soled 'I'm just beginning to walk shoes' to the 'I'm outta here shoes!' I have fun chasing him around and it is so cute watching him run. I am sure one day he will finally out run me.
Today we had a big trunk or treat party at White's Mill with his preschool. It was great and all the kids were fantastic in their costumes. Everyone decorated the trunk of their car and the kids went trick o treating from car to car and then we had a big picnic afterwards. Hunter is a dragon this year and he was the cutest little thing wandering around. He, of course, LOVES THE CANDY, but he really enjoyed looking at all the cows in the field across the street.
We have also spent some days on the river. You will be able to see from the pictures how low the water line is this year. It is still really pretty, but it looks so strange to see boat docks sitting in grass. Hunter likes to go to the water, and you guessed it---throw rocks in the water! In other news Hunter has learned to dance, LOVES TO READ, loves his rocking chair, and is working on eating with a spoon.

Trike A Thon

Here they are at the start. Hunter is warming up.
Making the first turn and getting lots of cheers from the local fans.
Everyone's favorite--The PIT STOP
Our friends, Noah and Taylor
Great new toy!

Hunter participated in a Trike-a-Thon this past week to help raise money for St. Jude's Childrens Research Hospital and to teach the children about the importance of tricycle safety. His preschool was sponsoring the event. It was so much fun and Hunter had a blast. Of course he is just a little too small to ride a tricycle, so he rode in his little car. At first he didn't know what to think about all the kids zipping around on bike, trikes, scooters, hot wheels--basically whatever a kid could ride on. After the first lap or so around the track he sat back with his sippy cup and goldfish and just enjoyed the event. The preschool had chalked off a 'track' in the parking lot complete with a water/juice and fuel pitstop. Hunter enjoyed the crackers and juice box from the pit stop station. Lots of our friends were there and it was good to see all the kids have such a good time. Thankfully, there were no major bump ups (as you can imagine how hard it was to keep a bunch of toddlers 1. All going the same direction, 2. all going in a circle and 3. the older kids from going 30 miles an hour!) We even made the local 6 o'clock news! David and Hunter have a cameo appearance and they both look very handsome on TV! Had we known this was such a famous event we would have washed his car!

crazy animal!

Ibis worked and worked on this drain. He was so exhausted he had a hard time catching his breath when I finally got him away from it. The end of this tube has been destroyed! He has expanded the end such that he can get whole head in it. I wish I had a picture of that! What a nut case!

Fun Times

They are looking for deer in the woods!Hunter loves this bridge and looking over at the rivers down below.

All he wants to do is walk back and forth across this bridge!

This is the only way Ibis will let Hunter get close to him!

This cool outfit given to Hunter by my good friend Amanda, finally fits. It was a new baby gift and we didn't think he would ever grow into it!

I just don't know where to begin. We have done so many fun things in the last couple of months, so an abbreviated version will just have to work. Thank goodness I write it all down. I can barely remember what I did this morning, much less 3 weeks ago! On our first trip to PM we spent four whirlwind days. We were finally able to pick up our dining room furniture that was being refinished and it has turned our even more beautiful than I envisioned! It looks amazing in our dining room, which has become my favorite room in the house. Hunter also got his picture made. It was exhausting. It was pouring rain and Hunter was in a terrible mood. Thankfully, the pictures came out better than expected--but I am his mother and I think every one is perfect. Hunter spent lots of time with the grandparents. Granddaddy surprised Hunter with a brand new 'car'. There are some of you out there that are aware of the Simmons car obsession. Well, I think Hunter is going to have the same fetish. He LOVES cars and trucks. If I am running out of entertaining ideas all I have to do is sit him in the car and he could seriously entertain himself for hours. I even broke down today and let him ride in the 'car' grocery cart at Food City. I never thought I would ever let him ride in one of those things (it is like driving a truck down the isle) but he loved it and it kept him out of my groceries! I wonder who will have more fun picking out his first car, Hunter, Granddaddy or David! The following weekend we returned to PM for a benefit dinner and to watch the Embers. Ike was going through so I don't need to go on about that event. We were all soaked.
Hunter is growing up so fast and developing such an explosive personality. There are so many things that he enjoys doing. Right now he loves anything outside. He loves walking on the Creeper Trail, especially wandering around and playing on the forks in the river bridge. He also loves eating apples, looking for deer, aggravating Abby, walking in the woods and watching the tractors clearing the lot next to our house. Having a toddler is so much fun and really exhausting!