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!)