Trip to Atlanta

Dr. Allen and his wife. This man is the one who inspired me to become a labor and delivery nurse. I will always cherish them!

Do you think we look like twins?

MLK mural

Earlier this fall I found an AMAZING flight deal from Seattle to Atlanta. Since my little sister and her husband moved there in August, it seemed like fate:) So January 14th, I left my daughter on her birthday (luckily she is too little to care:), said goodbye to my boys and headed to Atlanta by myself. I really wished Travis could come with me, but alas, someone has to take care of the monsters. Who, by the way, were very sick the whole time I was gone. Travis was pretty much house-bound with the kids which is not fun for 5 days! Thanks to grandma and Lita who helped him out so he could get out a few times. Anyways, I arrived in Atlanta on Thursday night with my sister ready to pick me up. She had some of my favorite snacks ready in the car in case I was hungry from such a long flight:) Sweet spicy nuts, and peanut butter chip cookies. I could already tell this was going to be a good trip. When I arrived at their cute little apartment, they showed me my "wing" of the house complete with a bathroom stalked with EVERYTHING I could ever imagine. It was better than the luxury hotel we stayed at this summer:)
On Friday my sister had to go to work for the day, so I got to hang out with Jimmy. I forced him to come work out with me which was fun. Then I checked my e-mail and had a great surprise! Desi and Jimmy had scheduled me with an hour long massage at a spa near their house!!! How amazing is that! I was so shocked and surprised! The massage that day was the best one I've ever had:) After we picked up my sister from work, we went to Mary Mac's Tea House which is supposedly some of the best southern cooking in town. It was a fun experience for sure! Saturday we did some sight-seeing. We went to the MLK center which was very humbling especially for that holiday weekend. We also went to the CNN center and got to see the reporters live. That was a fun experience. That night we meet old friends for dinner and that was great to reconnect.
Sunday was full of church and small group, which I loved. And Monday was time to come home:( I had such a great time there! Most of the people there are so friendly and Desi and I were asked numerous times if we were twins, we got a kick out of that! I missed my family here, but it was nice to get away for awhile. We ate yummy food, went to Chick-Fil-A (we really need those up here!), I was able to relax, hang out with my sister and brother-in-law, and just have fun! I can't wait to go back again especially because I miss Desi and Jimmy even more now. So, to Desi and Jimmy, thank you so much for your hospitality! I had a great time and love you guys very much. And to Travis who stayed home with my sicky kids for 5 days so mommy can have a nice break, I love you! And, to Alaska Airlines who upgraded me to first-class for free, I love you even more:)

Peyton turns 2!

Happy Birthday to Peyton!

She's clapping her hands!

All the cousins

Peyton leading all the boys on a safari

Twins

Getting ready for the party

The cupcakes!

Tomorrow Peyton turns two:( It went way too fast like it always does! We are so in love with our little girl and it's so fun to have girly stuff (along with all our boy stuff) around the house. It took me a long time to decide what to do for her party, but we finally decided on a zoo party. She loves animals so that seemed perfect. I had a good friend, Adeliz come over and help me make some fondant cupcakes for the party. It was really fun to learn how to work with fondant and I'm sure I'll be using it again. The cupcakes were my favorite part:)
We made chicken nuggets and french fries for the kids and food for the adults. Peyton LOVES french fries so it seemed fitting. After dinner the kids went on a safari around our house to find different groups of animals we had hidden. It was a huge success and the kids loved it. At the end of the safari was their goody bags to take home. Then we opened presents and ate cupcakes. Peyton loved her cupcakes and I let her have two because it was her special day. She was so cute telling everyone "Happy Birthday, Thank you!" She was so excited about her birthday party. We love our little girl and couldn't imagine our lives without her. Peyton we pray that you become a strong-willed woman of God who knows how to have fun! We love you!

Christmas!

My family on Christmas Day

Playing with their new toys:)

Peyton "sleeping" on her new pillow. She was so excited to get a pillow that matched brothers.

Christmas morning in our PJ's

Ok just cute:)

Brayden showing off his new golf clubs. He can't wait to go with daddy!

Peyton on Christmas eve

Ok, ok, we all know that I LOVE Christmas! So I really don't need to say how much we enjoyed Christmas eve and day. Christmas eve we spent with Travis' family at his mom's house. It was a nice relaxing time that the kids loved so much! Grandma and Grandpa spoiled the kids like they always do with a trampoline (to stay at their house:), and real golf clubs for Brayden. We had a nice time being together. Christmas eve always ends with us opening one present for each of us that just happens to be pajamas. The kids loved their pajamas and continue to want to wear them every night:)
Christmas morning was great! The kids got up at a decent hour and we had a lovely breakfast with cinnabon cinnamon rolls! Then Travis read the Christmas story and we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and talked a lot about Jesus is the only reason that we celebrate Christmas so much. The kids were so cute this year opening presents. Peyton loved everything she got and said "whoa, wow," every time she opened anything. Brayden was so excited it was hard to get him to slow down to give other people a turn. After we did Christmas at our house, we went over to my mom's for brunch and more presents. That was so fun and relaxing. After presents we just hung out, played games, kids too naps, and checked out our new stuff. We are so thankful because we know we are blessed not just with material things but with our families and friends!

Christmas festivities

Peyton and Roman out at the cabin

My little man and I out to dinner at Maggianos

Peyton with daddy ready to watch the parade

My dad and I

All of the sisters out on our date!:)

Christmas is always a fun, but busy time of year at our house. We usually have family come from out of town and lots of traditions to keep, and we love them all. Our first official Christmas celebration happened the Sunday before Christmas. We went out to the cabin with all of my extended family and did a big celebration out there. We had such a great time and my favorite part was the delicious Puerto Rican food!! So good! The kids are getting older now and LOVE to see and play with all their cousins and second cousins. Good times!

This year my dad asked if he could take my sisters and I out on a special date. We met on Tuesday night before Christmas and had no idea what he had planned. We just got into the car and started driving. He gave us all cards that explained he wanted to do something special with his girls and he was taking us out to dinner and on a shopping spree!! How fun for us. We ended up eating at the Nordstroms cafe and shopping at Macy's! We all bought things we wouldn't normally buy for ourselves which was a blast. We even all got pictures with the black santa at Nordstroms. That was a really special night that we will all always remember!

One of our favorite Christmas traditions happens the day before Christmas eve. We meet my family up at Maggiano's in Bellevue for an amazing dinner and the Christmas parade. If you have ever eaten there you know how fun this restaurant is. They serve you family style, all you can eat and the food is delicious. It's so fun for all our family to be together! Afterwards we hang out at the coolest mall around and then get ready to watch the Drummer Boy parade outside. This year it was soooo crowded we all had a hard time watching the show because we were afraid we would get trampled, but the kids still loved it. My parents are sweet enough to treat us all to that very special night! I just love Christmas time!:)

Brayden's first Christmas program

There is Brayden holding up his flower:)

My handsome little man before his program

In December, Brayden had his first school Christmas program. He was so excited for it and even had a little dancing part in it. They practice with the little ones for months and every time a song would come on the radio Brayden would say "mommy, that's my song," and proceed to belt out the words:) It was very cute and made me love Christmas music even more. On the actual night I was a bit nervous because he had to stand out in front of everyone and dance and Brayden can be shy at times. He did amazing! He was confident, cute, and smiley the whole time. One thing I remembered about Brayden was that he takes his jobs VERY seriously, and to him, this program was another job to be done:) We know we'll have many more programs to attend as the kids grow up, but we feel so lucky that he was able to sing about Jesus with all his little heart!

Gingerbread house

The finished products

Peyton eating candy...

So my Bible study friends and I have the crazy idea every year to get together and let the kids decorate gingerbread houses:) The hosting house gets so dirty, the kids eat way too much sugar, and most of the houses don't look too great, but the kids love it. This year Shari was brave and offered to do it at her house (Shari, I'm sorry you had to clean up that mess:). Brayden did an amazing job making it look pretty and Peyton did an amazing job eating candy:) She eventually got in trouble because I told her no more candy and every time I turned my back she was sneaking some anyways:) It was cute, fun, and we enjoyed hanging out with friends. I do love this Christmas tradition and look forward to the chaos next year:)

Never say "never!"

WE DID IT!

So if you read my blog or have been keeping up with the Metcalfe family you know Travis and I have turned into workout maniacs:) Not really, but since last January I have added some type of fitness to my daily routine and Travis has upped his exercise too. This is a big deal because pretty much since high school I haven't exercised very much and I really didn't like it. I have learned to love it because of the results it brings and the positive effects I feel of it afterwards. Anyways, last January I tried to run one night at the Y and could barely make it one lap around the track (6 laps= mile). Eventually by March I ran a mile which was a huge accomplishment. I've been slowly working my way up because running is a great and quick way to burn calories especially if I'm short on time.
Travis and I were invited on December 5th to run our first 5K!!! I was really hesitant, but Travis promised me that we could go my speed (which is jogging VERY slowly), if we ran the whole thing. That morning it was freezing cold and we were both thinking "what did we get ourselves into?" But..... WE DID IT!!!!! It was an amazing experience to do together, not give up and to look and see how in one year our lives and bodies have changed. We're both contemplating another race in the near future, but for now we're still proud of our little accomplishment. Some might say, "A 5K, so what." But, for those of us who have never run that far, it's huge.