Disney World

The Brantleys graciously took the whole family to Disney World for Kate's 5th Birthday!! It was such a wonderful time and we enjoyed every minute. We left Whit behind and only took Kate. Lets face it, I wasn't made to be one of those moms at Disney World with a screaming toddler who has missed his nap and is deathly afraid of all the characters. Kate was a trooper. She was EXACTLY 44 inches so she was able to ride all the rides. Her first roller coaster ever...EVEREST! She got on every ride, but when she got off we often heard, "I don't want to do that again."

I forgot how magical Disney World is and I credit that to the employees there. Disney really has wonderful staff that make the experience top notch. Everyone was so helpful and so fantastic with Kate. I took almost 300 pictures so in no particular order, here are some pictures from our trip.

Kate's 5th Birthday Party

So I am finally getting around to posting about Kate and Whit's birthdays. (see next post for Whit's). This year I got Jason to use some of his hotel points to get us a room at Ross Bridge Hotel so that we could invite a few of Kate's friends to go swimming at their pool and then stay as a family that night. He came through big time and got us the hospitality suite...very nice! We had a great time, and the kids could have stayed at the pool going down that slide all day. Kate thought it was the coolest thing ever that we were going to spend the night in a hotel!

We were having so much fun going down the slide that we had an accident where Kate hit her head up against her friend and cut her mouth. For a second there I wasn't sure if she was going to recover but she pulled it together and enjoyed the rest of her party.

This little one had to be woken up from a nap in time for cake. He was a bit grouchy until we told him he got to go swimming and then he perked right on up!

Whit's 2nd Birthday Party

(Yes, this is 3 months late...sorry) My neighbor's little boy Miles, and Whit have birthdays a week apart in May. So we got together and decided to do our First Annual Birthday Block Party. It was perfect, we invited the families on our street with children Whit and Mile's age to come down and jump! It ended up that the entire family (daddies included) came and it was a super fun afternoon. Of course offering beer to the dads didn't hurt :)

Spring Pictures

My friend Fresh Grace Photography took these pictures a little while back but I am just now getting them up on the blog. Love how she uses lighting. And to see some amazing wedding photos check out her sight...they are breathtaking. But back to my cute kids...

Happy 2nd Birthday Whit!

I can't believe Whit is TWO! Time has flown by and it is hard to believe that he is no longer a baby but a toddler. He is much more verbal then Kate was at two years old, saying many words and repeating almost anything you ask him too. He is very independent and will disappear in seconds off wherever he wants. He loves his daddy. He eats everything. And he is clever enough to get figure out how to get what he wants. He is very snuggly when he wakes up and loves his blanket and paci.

It is a real joy to watch him and Kate play together. Whit LOVES his sister and wants to do everything she does.

Happy Birthday little man! We love you so much!!

Nashville Country Music MARATHON

We did it!! My friend, Nichole, and I ran a MARATHON! Nichole (a good friend I have known for forever) and I traveled up to Nashville Friday afternoon. We basically tried to pump ourselves up for what would be the hardest thing we have ever done. First goal however, was to get to the Convention Center to pick up our race packets which was an easy enough task. When we pulled into downtown Nashville it was complete mayhem. I have never seen so many people in my life in one area much less the line around the building of people trying to get their race packets too. After getting our race packets we walked through the expo where we overheard a man say "biggest mistake of my life was not having sun glasses last year when I ran this race." Needless to say we headed straight towards a vendor selling sun glasses and bought some very stylish running glasses...I think they made us look more like professional runners!! :) Nashville does a wave start so that 20,000+ people don't trample each other to death when the race starts. We were in coralle 20. There were 37. This picture is looking towards the start line which you can't even see because we are so far back. I have never been a part of any event this big in my life...it was insane to see all these people.

A before race picture. When it was time for our coralle to start I was almost in denial of what we were about to do. We had trained for months and prepared all week with drinking LOTS of water, eating TONS of carbs so we felt like we were ready. Nashville is known for its hills. I have never been one to complain about running hills but Nashville was relentless. It wasn't that we couldn't run the hills it was that once you got up one there was another, and another, and another. However, we felt great about ourselves because we were passing people left and right that were having to walk up these little monsters.

Jason, my parents and my in-laws came up to support us. I gave Jason a little baggy of goodies with crackers, extra waters, bananas and more for us to be able to use if we needed to...we needed to. Ideal running weather for me is in the 40's. It was 65 degrees and when we finished it was 80 degrees. Nichole and I made sure to rehydrate every water station...we drank so much water it should have made us have to go to the bathroom a million times but instead our bodies were using every ounce of water we took in and after 20 miles we realized we had never even stopped once to use the bathroom yet.

It was a neat experience to see all ages, all body types out trying to accomplish a goal. We tried to encourage those we saw struggling and especially at the half way mark we were trying to rally those around us...really just trying to sike ourselves up for another 13.1 miles!

I would have never done this alone. I am thankful for Nichole and what a sweet friend she is. This was such an amazing experience and I am glad we accomplished it together.

When we crossed that finish line we hugged and teared up and then I looked at Nichole and said, "we don't have to run anymore!" We had pushed ourselves for close to 5 hours and then to know we had finished felt AMAZING! And besides the fact that my legs felt they could have fallen off my body at that moment they were so exhausted I really felt great otherwise especially considering the heat we had just run in.

I loved every second of this journey...it was so hard at times but worth every second!! And a BIG THANK YOU to my husband who never complained once when he had to keep the kids for me to go out for hours to run and train for this. I love you.

KD Shamrock Run and Pics of Kids

I only have a story to tell on this first picture and the rest of for your viewing pleasure. I got a letter in the mail about my sorority having their annual 5K Shamrock Run. I couldn't think of anything better then running in Auburn in support of my sorority from college. Except that running alone didn't sound fun so I got in touch with one of my pledge sisters, Mallory. The race was the weekend that all those big storms were suposed to be coming through Birmingham. Needless to say we were in no threat of a tornado but it ended up being cold and rainy. Mallory was a trooper and got out there with me to run despite the weather. Now you have to understand we are 30 years old. Most people who run this race are college students or parents coming down to support their child, so I knew that their was going to be this small chance that we could win our age group because our age group would be a smaller group. Well, Mallory and I ended running a great 5K in under 27 minuntes and the rain was even a little fun to run in. Mallory and I went back to the chapter room to hear the door prizes and winners. When they announced that the winners of the age group 30-34 and said, Laura Brantley and Mallory Wilson, we were thrilled. It was so fun to win and walk away with a prize! Of course shortly after we realized we were the only people in our age group...but hey, a win is a win, right?

Jan and Feb 2012

Unfortunately it is easier to take pictures with my iPhone and upload our lives on facebook these days. But I finally downloaded a few pictures of what we have been up to recently and it includes...

enjoying outside...

believing that we are babies and can fit in the babydoll pack-n-play...

going to the circus...

marrying the boy down the street...

enjoying outside...


FIRST HAIRCUT...



believing everything is a jungle gym...

spending time with my husband and sweet friends at dinner...



hope to be back soon...