MERRY CHRISTMAS from the Wilsons- Matt, Jaime, Corbin, Hunter, Dane, and baby on the way!
I've decided to set aside my "bah hum bug" feelings and embrace the season. (Hormones- I will continue to blame them) This was going to be our Christmas card this year, but I had to remove a few to do things from my plate (and not to mention the budget). Have a wonderful Holiday Season!!
Ya know, the holidays are supposed to be a happy time where our central focus should be on Christ. Instead, they are filled with the most extreme stress of the year for me personally. It doesn't matter if I plan to the hilt or don't plan at all, I've come to dread this time of year. I paste on my crazy smile and deal with the weird Christmas mayhem. I pretend to enjoy this time of year, but I don't. Too many presents to buy, too many expectations to fulfill, too many class parties, too many presents to buy (did I mention this already? Who cares), too many places to be, too many last minute homework that teachers want to assign before the holidays come... I could go on and on. Bah Hum Bug, I guess.
I apologize in advance... Don't mind me or my pleasant demeanor, I am who I am... or I am who my hormones dictate me to be. And right now, that mixed with my stress levels is morphing me into...
Yes, Scrooge McDuck! Please sir, can this holiday be peaceful? Please sir, can I just go to the store and shop instead of letting my shopping cart on Amazon just sit there waiting!? If I don't get my shopping out of the way soon, sir, I will implode! Please sir, can the weather warm up a little so stepping outside isn't physically painful? Please, please, please sir, throw me a friggin bone!
So now, I paste on my crazy smile and wish everyone a Merry Christmas while in my head I'm really thinking Bah Hum Bug, I guess.
Kung Zu -those gerbil toys
Popsicles - continue in popularity no matter how cold it gets
Dane finally graduated to a big boy bed ...without a hitch!
Hunter began writing his name... on EVERYTHING!
Corbin and Hunter have discovered that having their own money to spend is pretty cool.
Corbin planning a running schedule.
I made Homemade mashed potatoes for the first time ever for Thanksgiving dinner
Decorating for Christmas
Playing with the Nativity set that is not supposed to be played with... "Please put the camel back, Dane."
"CRISS, CROSS, CRISS, CROSS, CRASH!" -this phrase is constantly being chanted by Hunter thanks to that dang Hot Wheels commercial.
Round Robin Family prayer -everyone says a prayer during family prayer b/c everyone likes to pray now. I'm not complaining, I will never discourage my children from praying.
Polar Express -tis the season to bust it out. But score for us- we got a blu-Ray Polar Express from Target for 7.99 on Black Friday.
Corbin learning to clean -I actually made him vacuum the other day and he did a really good job and only complained a little bit in the beginning.
Walking Dead TV show on AMC -Words can't describe how cool this show is. Everytime I watch it, it never fails that that night I dream about zombies
Chloe Neill books- I just re-read them and they are very delicious books. Chloe Neill is the author- 3 books out so far in the series- Friday Night Bites, Some Girls Bite, and Twice Bitten. Dumb titles, fantastic reads!!! No kidding!
Hard-core morning, afternoon, and evening sickness-Bleh. 8 weeks today- first Doctor Appointment is on December 1.
Matt and I went to North Carolina/Tennessee border to hike a section of the Appalachian Trail for his Birthday weekend. The drive was beautiful! Believe it or not, I took this while in the car through the windows. :) We drove through Hot Springs, NC (our endpoint) to somewhere in Tennesee. I can't remember the name of this place. Matt got us a room at a Days Inn. I know. It was only for one night, so no big deal. Well, it turned out to be very scarey. The place looked like a place someone would get murdered at or a seedy place to meet seedy people to do seedy things with. hahahaha! I laugh now, but I had that creepy crawly feeling the entire time we stayed there. Plus, I thought the cracks in the wall and ceiling were lovely and added dimension to the place. But after the 7-8 or so hours spent there, even Matt said never again. So we woke up at 4am on November 13th and headed back to Hot Springs to meet our shuttle who would take us to our start point. We came to a place called Half Moon Outfitters where the owner, Daniel, drove us. If you ever want to meet a liberal hippie who hates the forest service and the government, he's your guy. He was cool though- not my cup of tea, but good for a laugh.
So we finally got to the start of our hike. There was a mixture of nerves and excitement as we began. Did I mention that it was cold? Good things we started out with several layers of clothes. The first few miles were fun. We laughed and took lots of pictures (and probably wasted too much time) We made it to I-40 and that's when we crossed over to the most hellish climb. 
Matt pointing the way for us. :)
But in actuality, we followed these. They are called White Blazes- they are marked along the way to let the hiker know they are on the right path. Always keep your eyes out for these. I kinda led us astray (not terribly) once b/c I wasn't paying attention.
We broke for lunch and peeled our capilene layers away. The beauty of this amazing material is it dries in minutes.
v We took our shoes off too, to let our feet air out. The weather was so mild, almost a little hot. Lunch was peaceful. If we would have found a flat place, I might have even fallin asleep. We even were stalked by a chipmunk. You wouldn't believe how quiet it was out there.
It took us 6 hours to get here- 7 miles straight up for 3000ft, we reached the summit of Snowbird Peak. It was very beautiful, but we couldn't stay. We basically took a couple of pictures and started back down. We were trying to get to the campsite or shelter area before dark. So we booked it downhill for the next couple of hours. By the end my toes were killing me!
Yay! We made it- we were so gross and sweaty- I stole Matt's only short sleeve shirt-actually he gladly gave it to me. He was so good to me and took really good care of me during this trip.
Stop taking picures, Jaime, we have to go!
Our tent that Matt set up while I regained my vision. You're walking on uneven ground and bouncing for hours carrying a lot of weight, so when I stopped, the platform in the shelter was moving in waves. My equilibrium was so off. Matt set our tent up and I got the sleeping bags and everything else set up while he cooked some soup for us for supper. It was dark, we'd eaten, written in our trail journals, and by 6:30 we went to bed. LOL! I know, right? But I slept all night until 6 the next morning, except for a few bathroom breaks. ( I made friends with this super nice tree) Matt had trouble sleeping because I kept rolling and pressing him into the wall of the tent. oops. I can't help that he set the tent at a slight incline. hahahahaha!
I woke up to Matt making breakfast- we ate some not so creamy grits... they were actually quite gritty and plain (no salt or butter) but they were super good! We broke camp, got our bags packed, and nursed my blister bubbles from the day before with some moleskin. But before we left, I had to check out the privy.
This. was. the privy. It was not a privilage to use. It was disgusting and scarey. If it were warmer weather I would not have gone near it. This picture does not even do it justice. It was not pretty. It's basically a hole in the ground with a putrid toilet on top of it. You throw in leaves or something to create a natural compost pile. bleh.
Matt and I began hiking again... uphill. Which was not helping my blisters. My feet were so tired and I was so tired. I was beginning to feel sick, but I was determined not to ruin this for Matt. He kept taking things off of my back and putting them on his pack, but the hike was slowing going and my feet and not to mention my pregnant body (yep, that's what I said) was not working to our advantage. So a few miles in, Matt called it. I was in tears (mostly out of anger at my body for not being able to finish, but also because I felt I was ruining Matt's hike and his birthday weekend. He pulled out our SPOT communicator and let everyone know we were calling it and then found a signal to make calls for a pick up. We hike another mile or two to Brown Gap which also had road access. Daniel, our liberal hippie shuttle guy came and got us. On the way to road, we came across this. 
Yes, a blue cooler- AKA "Trail Magic" left by some "Trail Angels"
We'd heard about these gifts along the hiking trails, but never thought we'd come across some.
Inside we found soda, M&m's, and honeybuns. My spirits were down because of having to quit, but it definently brought a smile to Matt and I. We actually laughed and were in awe at this. It was a nice surprise and uplifting during those moments.
Thus ended our hike. Daniel reached us, took us to Hot Springs, and we got our car and headed to Asheville to find a hot shower. ;) We ended up at a Holiday Inn and Suites (I think) which was sooooo nice. Seriously. It was new and the room was beautiful and the bathroom was all granite and had bath and body works stuff in it. We showered, ate dinner at Carrabba's, and went to watch a movie. We slept in a bit, explored downtown Asheville and then headed home (but not without an out of the way pitt stop at IKEA). It was a great weekend. Our adventure started out in the woods and took us to a place Matt had never been. It was all spontaneous after the hike and that was fun. I hope that Matt and I will continue with more adventures. I love you, Matt.
Kids say some amazing things sometimes that really impact us in the smallest ways, right?! This morning in the car, Hunter and I had a rather unique conversation. It was so neat, I decided to come home and write it down so I wouldn't forget this. I know I typically write quotes from my kids on the sidebar, but this was too long and too good to put over there...
Hunter: Mom, we live on Earf?
Me: Huh? Earth?
Hunter: Yeah, Earf.
Me: Yeah.
Silence. I looked in the rearview mirror and Hunter is looking in the sky.
Hunter: It's raining on Earf.
Silence
Hunter: I miss all the people...
Silence
Hunter: And I miss our home.
I turn around to see him because we're at a stop light. He's just looking out the window.
Me: But we have a nice home here, too, right?
Hunter: Yeah
Another moment of silence and then Hunter looks at me and smiles really big
Hunter: I like popsicles a whole lot!
Me: Smiles.
I love little moments like this. They make me happy and they also remind me that moments like this make staying at home worthwhile and valuable.
For the month of October, the trends in our house goes as follows:
-Toy Story 3
-Lighting McQueen (Dane)
-Iron Man
-Dinosaurs (they have made an epic, "John Travolta" come back in our house-glad I didn't get rid of them)
-Normal Popsicles (cherry, grape, orange kind... and oh so messy)
-Corbin begging to go back to carpool for school pick up (uh, h*!! to da no! I will never participate in that madness eva again)
-Prepping for the big hike on the Appalachian Trail (my trail name is gonna be Alpha, of course- and Matt is gonna be Tango. Alpha + Tango = AT or Appalachian Trail)
-Hunter's Lion (he's become unusually loving toward his stuffed companion)
-Dane climbing out of the crib (and at all hours of the night now- OMG!)
-DIY projects (I find a certain amount of therapy in doing these- the latest is painting the window shutters)
-Still running (not a trend, new way of life- ran a 10k Hammer the Hills Habitat for Humanity race in 1:08...not too shabby for my first go- I beat the 84 year old guy by 3 mins. lol!)
-Pumkin decorating
-Halloween costume shopping (Corbin will be Dastan from the Prince of Persia, Hunter will be some kind of Red Dragon Ninja, and Dane chose to be Scooby Doo)
-Fall TV started - House, Grey's, Private Practice, Vampire Diaries, Cutthroat- RW/RR challenge (woot, woot), some truck driver show that I find fascinating
I'm a walking cliche. Yes, I do believe I am. I'm posting today because tomorrow I will sink into that abyss of Friday, October 15th, to wallow and cry, eat some California Dreaming while dreaming of days of yore as I inhale that strawberry daquiri that I get once a year when I go... Then I will emerge on Saturday, October 16th- dare I say it??!.. Th- Thi-Thir-Thirt- THIRTY!!! To quote a wise man named Kanye (uh-hem), "Now that don't kill me can only make me stronger"... that said, this ordeal will not kill me and I will (eventually) get over this and move on with my good life.
But today, I will dread and cry myself puffy and complain and be dramatic because I can and I will! In all seriousness, this is a hard pill for me to swallow. Turning 30 to me is a marker of sorts. I'm officially "marked" as an adult now. Do I feel 30? I don't know. All I know is that it feels unreal. 18 was yesterday for heaven's sake!! I mean I just turned 29 five minutes ago! I just. can't. accept. it... Today (or tomorrow) at least.
According to society, I'm way ahead in the game of life. I have a good life- great husband, awesome kids, a nice house... It really is charmed. But I think the "mark" reminds me of what I personally have not done. Questions that I have about myself, I feel, should have been answered during my twenties... but they haven't. I'm thirty and I still don't know anything! I need more time to figure stuff out. Thirty marks being a real grown up as I said earlier. I should have my stuff together so I can enjoy and coast the rest of the way through my mortal life. Maybe my expectations are completely unrealistic and maybe I just need to let go and let it be. I will, but not today. I need today... and tomorrow... and then I'll be good. Aaannnnnnd scene.
