A Visit From The Grandparents, A Trail Run and an Unintentional Hiatus

Well, hello there!  Sorry I have been "gone" for so long.  Between all of our activities and chasing my child, I have not made it to the computer!  But the good news is that we have been up to so much that I have a lot to show you!
My sweet parents aka Cici and Poppy (or possibly "GrandDaddy", the official name is simply undecided at the moment) came out to the Panhandle for a long weekend on April 29.  We had a wonderful time and of course, Allison was in pure HEAVEN!  They were even sweet enough to babysit Allison while Nick and I made it to a Craw Fish Boil on Friday night.  I love going, but I can't stomach eatting those little critters!  Allison loves my parents and they are so sweet to her!  Here are a few pictures of her in her "grandchild" glory!

My parents also brought their dog, AnnaBell.  Allison LOVES her!  She calls her "Baby Dog."  Margo is simply, "Dog," so I guess since AnnaBell is so much smaller, she gets the "Baby" attached to her name!  She is so sweet to Allison!

On Saturday morning, a group of us headed an hour and a half south to Palo Duro Canyon to compete in a nine mile trail run.  I use the word "compete" loosely because running in Palo Duro Canyon was unlike anything I have ever experienced.  I really underestimated the difficulty of a trail run in a canyon.  It was a single path only wide enough for one runner; so we followed one another...like ants.  We ran up ridiculous hills and ran down very steep hills.  Some moments I would look out and realize I was on the side of a cliff.  Other moments I was completely surrounded by cacti and if I had fallen down, well, it would have been in the cacti! I prayed for two things as I ran (1)  To not get lost in the canyon (trust me, it was completely possible) and (2) To not fall and break a bone (which was also completely possible).   Rather than describe this in my words any further, I would like to show you a clip from my favorite television show, "The Office."  This is what it felt like to run the canyon....




So that's what it felt like.  But, honestly, believe it or not, I enjoyed it.  The scenery was amazing and I am always up for new experiences! I can't believe we have this beautiful natural wonder so close to us and we should really take advantage of it more often!  This is me after crossing the finish line saying, "Wow!  I can't believe I didn't break my arm!"

Here are all the mommies together after the race!  My wonderful running buddies, Shaynna (with George and Grace) and Shae with (Baby Smith) and of course....Allison!  Oh by the way, Shae got fourth place in this crazy trail run!  Can you believe that?!  She is awesome!  And Shaynna did amazing too!

And some lovely shots in the Canyon with the family!

After some much needed Mexican food and margaritas, we went to the Amarillo Zoo!  We took Allison last year, but she was too little to really notice much of anything.  Here she is with the bear.  She was not scared one bit of him!

Here she is with the horse.  She was TERRIFIED of him! She was shaking she was so scared!

Poor thing!  In her defense, he did come up and snort on her!  Don't worry, Nick, I don't think she will be asking for a horse any time soon!
We had a wonderful weekend!  We really enjoyed seeing my sweet parents and all the fun things we did!  I have to leave you with a picture of Allison from about a week ago.  My parents brought her a little purse, bracelet and necklace....she will not take them off!  That purse and jewelry go every where!  It is too cute.  She takes the purse to Wal Mart, Story Time and out to eat!  She carries it on her arm like Sophia from "The Golden Girls!"  Watch out dad, she might be asking for that Louis Vuitton  sooner than we hoped!