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Still Alive

So for those of you who still check this blog occasionally here is an update... finally!!! Here are a few pictures from the spring tour with downhere, Jason Gray and Shawn McDonald. We were able to take a bus out on the tour which was a huge plus and makes traveling much easier. Although I really don't sleep well on the bus so it's nice to be back in my own bed for a little while. Another bonus was the fact that I was able to see my family as we did a show in Montana!!! To the right you'll see I put my Dad to work behind downhere's merch table for the evening (I was the merch manager for the tour so great volunteers made my life SO much nicer). And thank you to any of you who came to show your support at a show... you guys are amazing and we love seeing your familiar faces!!!

I had a day off to spend with my older sister and brother-in-law and was able to hang out with my cute little niece! Here we are on a tour of the bus! She loves her Uncle Jeremy... but only from a distance for some reason=}!

A couple people had Birthdays during this tour so we celebrated in style usually after the show in the bus. Jason and Taya would supply the party favors and we would play pin the tail on the donkey on the moving bus and make balloon animals... we were crazy! Jeremy and I found these mustaches for everyone to wear to celebrate a guy in Shawn's band's Birthday (he had a real mustache and wore it well)! Oh and these ugly teeth had some bling in them... notice Jeremy's jewel in his front tooth=}!

And after every show the promoters would hook us up with cereal for the next morning, and it was usually more than we could ever eat. We loved having all these options every morning though.. you never knew what you were gonna get. By the end of the tour we were buried in cereal!

Anyway, it was a great tour for World Vision!! We ended up getting 850 kids sponsored in 26 shows! Thank you Lord! It was such a blessing to be a part of that! Now for a little R & R before we are back at it again next week!

A True Princess

This last weekend I did a Cinderella party for a lady I work with part time. She has a little daughter named Gabbi who turned 6 recently. Since she is still in love with princesses and fairy tales, she thought it would be a good idea to bring Cinderella to her party. Now I was expecting this party to be like many of the others... facepainting, story time, games and crafts. etc. And all the little girls all dressed up in their favorite princess dresses like usual (very cute by the way...this job never gets old). They were all dressed up and we did many of those things, but a few moments made this one stand out among the rest.

Each activity we did, I let all the girls know that since it's Gabbi's birthday she gets to go first for whatever we are doing, so she would feel special that day! But when it was time to eat cake we sang her happy birthday and all the girls waited eagerly to get their piece of the castle cake. However, Gabbi was not at the table with the rest of the girls. She was making her way to and from the cake table and serving her friends first!! I was so impressed by that simple act of kindness from a 6 year old at HER party! I have been to many parties and I don't think I have ever witnessed that from the birthday girl.

While the girls were eating their cake I was walking around and putting little glitter tatoos on their hands. I glanced over at Gabbi and she was whispering something to her friend. Then she turned to me and asked, "Cinderella, do you love Jesus?" I looked at her with a big smile and said, "Yes I do love Jesus!" She then turned to her friend and said, "See, she does!" That just melted my heart! I love sharing my love for Jesus especially to children, because I was 6 when I asked Jesus to come into my heart, so I know she can grasp that!

Another moment that made this party different from the rest was when I realized there wasn't any presents. But there was a table with a princess table cloth right next to the one we ate at, and it had lots of groceries on it. I asked the mom about it and she said instead of gifts, all the girls brought a grocery item that Gabbi would help give away to a family in need!!! Wow... I love that idea! I give props to the parents for raising their little girl this way and I admire the little girl for her willingness to follow through... a true servant... a true princess!

My Disney World 1/2 Marathon Results!

Well I'm pleased to report that with help from my fellow running partner, Krista Lavender, we finished 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 15 mins! Unfortunately I didn't feel as great as I would've liked throughout the run and there were times when Krista's positive attitude had to carry me along, but we did it. Normally I get a second wind at about mile 5 or 6 but not this time... it was a bit tough towards the end. But I think it still puts me in a great place to work toward the Country Music 1/2 Marathon in Nashville the end of April. Hopefully some of you reading this will join me on that run=}!! The more the merrier!

Jeremy did a great job as a spectator trying to capture pictures along the way. He had made a nice sign that said "Go Erin, I love you", and held it up as I ran passed=}! He had the sign in one hand and the camera in the other while shouting my name. It made me laugh and gave me a boost. I guess he had to wait in the same spot for an hour to capture a picture of me after running through Cinderella's caste. But boy was it worth it! I love this picture... this is at about mile 6 I think, so I was still feeling alright=}.

As we entered the tunnel in the castle there were characters above us playing the trumpets as if royalty were entering the castle. That was pretty cool. There were also lots of characters along the way to cheer you on including some pirates in their ship, chip and dale, Alice in Wonderland characters, Ariel and much more. It was a great experience and I'd encourage you to train for one! Even if you just walk it. There are plenty of people who walk it and have a blast!

Ok I'll post more from our fun times at the Disney parks soon! Thanks for praying everyone! I'm so thankful for the healthy body I've been given and working legs to even be able to be a part of such a cool experience.

With Minnie, and holding my Donald Duck medal=}!

Disney Marathon, here we come!!

So if you've read Jeremy's blog you'll notice we'll be running the Disney marathon this weekend! I will run the 1/2 (13.1 miles) on Saturday and he will run the full (26.2 miles) on Sunday. I like that it's split up like this so we can cheer each other on from the sidelines, and hopefully get some great blog worthy pictures=}. I'm running the 1/2 marathon with Glenn's sister Krista who stuck by my side to help me finish the country music marathon in Nashville! So her presence will help push me again for sure... thanks Krista! Below is the course map for us. It might be too small but it shows that we start running at Epcot Center and then up to Cinderella's castle and then back to Epcot. I guess there are characters out to cheer you on along the way, so that and the unique scenery combined should help distract me. Also the course is mostly flat!!!... which is wonderful since I've been training in hilly Tennessee. So if you think about it this weekend say a prayer for all of us running Sat. and Sun. Thanks guys!

A Montana Christmas!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope the new year has brought you a refreshing look on life and a time to reflect on all the good gifts God has given. Jeremy and I enjoyed our time off from the road life and retreated with my family in Montana this Christmas. So far we have successfully been able to pull off an "every other year" plan for Christmas with our families and this year happened to be a time with my family. However, we were able to incorporate some of Jeremy's family traditions such as having "Christmas crackers" at dinner and working on a crossword puzzle made by my Dad. We took advantage of the beautiful area that my parents live in and went snowmobiling, sledding and even went on a horse drawn sleigh ride!! My two sisters where there as well with their husbands and of course my little niece, Ella! I just couldn't take enough pictures of that girl. She says my name now and it's SO precious... it sounds like "owen". Here are a few pictures of the lovely time we had with family!

This is Ella before the sleigh ride! The sleigh was pulled by 4 percheron horses that were all decorated for Christmas. And Ella on Christmas morning!

Jeremy and I on my parents deck after snowmobiling. The mountains behind us are covered in clouds but when it's clear the view is spectacular.

I was smiling for the camera in this picture=}!

My beautiful fam on Christmas Eve after the candlelight service.

Decorating "Our" Christmas tree

We're so sorry it's been so long since we've posted here - things have been rather crazy in our world over the last few months. However, it's now Christmas time, which means it's time to decorate a Christmas tree!

A friend of ours was snapping pictures during the whole process and when we looked at them afterwards we thought it would be fun to let you in on how our tree gets decorated every year through a series of pictures - call it a "photo essay" if you will...

Erin deciding whether she's going to let Jeremy help decorate.

Erin decides to let Jeremy help but only under strict supervision ("This one goes here, this one over there...").

Jeremy deciding if he really wants to see this task through to the end...

Posing for a picture: "Jeremy 'helps' decorate the tree."

Jeremy decides his time would be much better spent (and FAR more productive) making eggnog ice cream.

The finished product... "We" did pretty good, didn't we!