Thanksgiving with the Kemps

This Thanksgiving we got to spend time with my parents, Tamra and Paul and the kids. We also got to go to my cousin Michelle's house for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a great holiday! On thanksgiving morning, Mia went out with my Dad to feed the horses. She was so cute in her little p.j.s, trying not to get them dirty.

Mia getting ready to help Poppa feed the horses

She had to do everything just like Poppa!

So sweet!

Later that day the kids all took turns riding the horse.

Here is Benjamin taking his turn

Eli

Mia had no fear. She was so precious on that horse.

Cait

Even Paul took a turn.

Here is Mia on her second time around

Then that night we went to my cousin Michelle's

house to have the "Kemp" Thanksgiving dinner.

Michelle even made crafts for the kids to do.

Here is her baby girl, Miss Riley working hard on her craft!

Here is my cousin Angela's little boy, Allen, working on his craft!

Eli working on his

Miss Mia

Eli stole my camera and took pictures of Tamra and me!

It was a fun day with family! We are so thankful and so blessed!

House Guests

Last month my niece and nephew came to stay with us for a few days. It was so much fun. Eli and Mia were in heaven, having them all to their selves for 3 days.

Here are Cait and Mia swinging.

Yes, Mia is too big for this swing, but we haven't gone

and gotten a big girl swing yet. Soon hopefully!

Eli and Benjamin hangin' out. Make sure to notice the next picture!
Ouch! I love how Eli is just looking at him. No, he wasn't hurt.
He jumped right up and did it again. We caught him
several times up on top of the entire swing set. He literally can climb anything.

It was such a pretty day that we did pretty much

everything outside. Here are the kids drawing.

I had to get a picture of this. Benjamin was teaching

Mia to dance. It was the sweetest thing!

Here is Cait taking a turn on the 4 wheeler. Tamra and Paul, you better watch out for this girl when she turns 16. She ran over and into everything. And I do mean everything. Anytime she started to go, she would run into a bike, a person, the garage, anything that was in the way. But she sure did have fun. And brave little Mia hung on through the whole thing.

Thanks Tamra and Paul for letting them come stay.

We had a blast and look forward to the next time they get to come visit.

Rock and Roll San Antonio! I did it!

Well, we trained for 15 weeks and finally did! My great friends Kelli, Wendy and I ran a half marathon! WooHoo! It was my first half marathon and it was so much fun! I never would have thought it would feel like such an accomplishment after I finished it! It felt so good to train for so long and finally complete it, and without passing out mind you. Here are some pictures from the weekend!

My sweet Mom and Dad came up to see us run.

It meant so much to me!

Here are Ryan, Eli and Mia ready to cheer me on!

Here comes Wendy! Notice the orange shorts!

We did this on purpose so it would be easy to spot one another.

And Kelli!

Finally, here I come! This was the very last mile. And yes, I was running even though it looks like I am walking. I was so excited to see my family there cheering me on!

After the race! We made it!!!!!!

Here we are busy stuffing our faces with free food from HEB!

Afterwards, we went to a great Mexican restaurant to eat.

We could hardly walk, but it was so worth it!

Can't wait until our next race girls!

Maybe we can get more people to join us!

Nothing Sweeter

Every morning my sweet baby girl crawls in bed with me. If you know her well, you know that she is not so much a cuddlier (like her mommy). But in the mornings, she is all cuddles and so sweet. I treasure those moments with her. I thought I would share some pictures because she is just so darn cute!

Isn't she a doll????

Notice Ryan snoozing in the back!

Monkeying Around

In our back yard we have a great climbing tree. Eli is always climbing it and now Mia has been trying also. But Daddy has to help her out a little!

Our little Monkey Mia!

(Yes, she did pick out her outfit, okay.)

And so did Eli
And our course Ryan had to take a turn in the tree

Mia thought this was very funny!

I love my sweet family!

Fall Festival Fun!

My kids LOVE to dress up! When we are at home they dress up all day long. So, they were very excited to dress up for their Fall Festival at school! And then they got to dress up for West Columbia's Trick or Treat in the Park. My friend Kelli organized the event and it ended up being such a great outreach for the community. Our church had a booth to take pictures of kids in their costumes and we also gave away magnetic frames with our church info on them. And a band from our church "Faint Not" sang the entire night at the event. It was so great to walk around this park on a usually very dark night and hear praises to God throughout the park. It was amazing. We even had visitors the next day at church that heard the band play. God is so good! Anyways, here are some pictures!!!!!

Eli and Mia ready for their Fall party at school!

Snow White

No, her hair is not "as black as coal", but she does have the "skin as white as snow"!

Our little Texas Football player

At school!

Look at that face!!!!

Right before we left to go to the Trick or Treat in the park!

Our pirate. I love how he turns his head so he can

still see out of the eye with the eye patch on!

Beautiful Cinderella

She usually does not turn her feet out, so these pictures crack me up!

GiGi and Nonny got to come with us! The kids were SO excited!

Eli and Mia with Eli's buddy Brayden!

Mia loved this little dog with a tutu on!

And Eli loved this huge dog with a tutu on!

The kids at the booth for our favorite hardware store.

Some sweet friends of ours own the store!

Eli and Mia were very excited to see Ms. Angela and Ms. Ditter!

GiGi and Mia

My sweet friend Kelli that planned the whole event and "Faint Not" behind her. I know this is a terrible picture, but it was getting dark and I was so far from the stage.

Nonny with her sweet grand babies!

GiGi with hers!

My good friends Danta, Heather and Paola!

I love this picture! Don't they look so cute???

Eli with his sweet Kegan!

Mia with her sweetheart, Lukey!

Mommy with her princess and pirate!

Ryan made it home from the Baylor game and got to see the kids all dressed up.

They were so excited!

It was a fun, fun night! Can't wait until next year!

Fall and Birthday Fun!

For Tamra's birthday we all went to the lake to celebrate! While we were there the kids decorated some pumpkins with GiGi. They turned out so cute. They cut out eyes, noses, mouths, mustaches, etc. from magazines and glued them to their pumpkins.

Eli with his pumpkin

Mia with hers

Cait

Benjamin

Tamra with her Birthday cake! Yum Yum cake!

Singing "Happy Birthday"

Then the next day we went to Dallas to visit Tamra, Paul and the kids.

Ryan had to work in the library at Southwestern for his doctorate paper.

One night we met at Babes Chicken to eat. That is always a treat we get to enjoy when we visit Dallas! It was so yummy!