Happy Birthday, Andrew.

Andrew's second birthday was on Wednesday, the 13th. I can't believe that he's already two! We had a great time celebrating his birthday with my family. We went out to Alpharetta and had a great time. I made a Mickey Mouse birthday cake. We had Mickey ears, balloons, and plenty of Mickey toys. Andrew was in heaven! He LOVES Mickey Mouse!

Here are a few pictures of his soiree.

Learning...

Although Andrew isn't talking much, I'm enjoying all the other things he is learning. It's been so much fun watching him grow! I can't believe that he will be 2 next week.

Andrew just LOVES to make towers. He'll just make them, then simply admire them. It's so fun - once he's done - he'll get this big grin and claps ecstatically for himself. Love it!

Also - if you've been around Andrew at all - you know how he loves to line things up. He loves playing with my fake fruit that I use as a centerpiece. I was quite impressed when I realized that he had separated them by color, then proceeded to make two lines. Such a smart little guy.

Tradition.

Some things seem to never change. Morgan is not a Chinese food lover, I on the other hand, LOVE it. So, after Morgan and I got married, when I kissed my Chinese restaurant love goodbye, I started a tradition.

Every General Conference while Morgan is off going to Priesthood Session I go out and get Chinese Food. I've shared this special event (yeah, it's an event to me) with closest friends, a sister, and a sis-in-law. Even when I was only 10 days from delivering Andrew, and as swollen as you can believe - I risked consuming MSG to carry on this great tradition. So, to keep up with it - I ventured out tonight to have my Chinese. And oh, was it good.

I do have to admit - while I was enjoying my Hot and Sour Soup - I couldn't help but think of my sweet little sister who had one horrible incident while enjoying some yummy soup in China. (click here, then here)

So, do you have any "Priesthood Session Traditions?"

Case and point.

It's funny when I see Andrew do certain things, and am positive that I used to do the exact same thing. Case and point....

Andrew LOVES stuffed animals as of recently. He just loves to get in the hamper with all of his buddies. From what I hear from my parents - I was often found playing with my toys in my closet in the very same manner.

There are other things about Andrew that I can see he clearly gets from me. He is getting to be shy lately. You can ask my parents... I was super shy, and still struggle with it from time to time. Thank goodness I have a bit of my dad's extroverted-ness in me to balance it out.
Also, Andrew is becoming quite the tenderhearted little boy - which I LOVE. It's sad though- he definitely knows how to stick his little bottom lip out and whimper - it's super cute, but something we are trying to shake off little bits at a time.

I love seeing Andrew grow and develop traits that either I or Morgan had growing up.

5K, ok!

Morgan, Andrew, and our good friend, Mike.

Today Morgan, Andrew and I all had the chance to participate in a 5K. It was in memory of a solider who passed away a few years ago (he was LDS, too). It was put on by the ROTC organization on campus, and the proceeds are going to the Families of 9/11. We thought it would be nice to go and support our country this way, especially today. They had a nice short program before the race in Sanford Stadium. It was really nice.

I've been training to do a 5K since May, and have been able to run the whole length, and steadily improve my time during the past 6 weeks or so. So, we get to the race and everything starts out great - Morgan is moving faster than he thought he would with the stroller - I was feeling great and pumped - and had some great music going on my iPod.

Lucky me, though. Literally 4 minutes into the I roll my ankle and sprain it really bad. At first I thought it really wasn't that bad. I tried to walk it off, then started to run a little, and realized that it would not be wise to do to. Needless to say - I had to stop. (SO BUMMED... remember, I've been training for this since May) Thankfully when I started to walk back I spotted Mike's wife, Heather and her son Anders. I was glad to have someone to sit with until the race ended. I was pretty bummed about not being able to finish the race! It's still pretty swollen, and imagine it will be for a little while. I'm having a grand time hobbling around the house. haha.

At least Morgan and Andrew did well - Andrew won first place in his age group!!! (haha) Morgan was really happy that he beat the Air Force group from on campus. (sorry Air Force) I was really impressed with the Army, Navy, what have you. They all ran in formation and were doing their chants, the whole time! Some carrying flags and all.

Morgan said it was also fun pushing Andrew. He swears that at parts of the race Andrew was saying "Go, Go!" He was a good little cheerleader for Morgan.

Well, I'm hoping to be back running in a few weeks. I had plans on running a 10K in November, I think it'll only be a 5K now for me. I don't want to push it too much. I'll just have to find another 10K to do later on.