A THANKSGIVING WEEKEND TO REMEMBER!!!

WHOA! We had quite the Thanksgiving weekend. Blogger posted everything backwards so we will take you from Sunday back to Thursday...

Ran the Seattle half marathon today... not as bad as running the Portland last month, but my theory of "riding on the coattails of my marathon training" (aka NOT training since the marathon) did not turn out quite as expected... in fact my finish time was down about 3-4 minutes this year.... oh well, it was a beautiful day for a "long short run" as Keri and I like to refer to half marathons...
Keri, Olivia and Kim at the finish, feeling pretty good. Olivia kicked tush on her time ofcourse!! She is so smokin' fast!
I love Olivia! Look how great she looks, and she just ran 13 miles at about an 8min. or so pace...
Keri and Kim... Yes! Another finish!!!
Shane and Olivia at the finish.
WHAT???????????????? GO COUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We kicked the UW's tushies in the apple cup (last 3 out of 4 years I might add) I sang the cougar fight song so many times that my throat hurt, that is a true coug for you!

GO COUGS!!!
Okay, here we are on Saturday, the boys ran the Seattle Kids Marathon with the Nelson Clan. We all had a great time ofcourse. Justice ran his 1.2 miles in about 8-9 minutes, I was limping along behind him...

"The Gang" prerace...
"The Gang" postrace, except Kim and Justice were already inside.
Great Job Justice, Cami, Jared, Mercy and Raami!!

Here is Sloan on friday looking pretty cool out on the trail. He ran 5 miles in 2 days to help the boys finish up their miles for the kids marathon, he is only 3 years old! He is a man of endurance....

Yay!! Zach finally came out on the boys and I "stomping grounds"... the trails... we all had a lot of fun.
Saturday was Trevor's Birthday but we celebrated on Friday by going to Chuck E. Cheese's. Happy Birthday Trevor, you special boy you! I love his crown, he looks so cute. Plus that way Andrea and I could tell him and Cami apart...
This is my favorite picture from the whole weekend! Look how beautiful Andrea looks! What a cute couple, they are so special to Zach and me!!!!!
Happy Birthday Trevor!!!!!

This is Thanksgiving night, we went to our friends parents house for dessert, it was really special to spend time with them, we love you Karen and Erik and family!

Jafeth and Abby hung out on Thanksgiving, they had a lot of fun together:-) I love you Karen!!!
We had ham and potatoes for Thanksgiving dinner at my moms house, with my brother Corey too. It was yummy and a lot of fun too! Thanks for inviting us mom:-) You are invited to our house for Christmas.... love you! Also Thanks for watching the boys while I ran the half marathon, what would I do without you???

A random trail picture that decided to post itself at the end.

These are all my handsome men!

Well, that was quite a Thanksgiving Weekend to remember! A lot to be thankful for, especially all our family and friends. Thank you Jesus for all your blessings you give us, we are so grateful.

Justice and Cami on diaper patrol...

Last night I was getting the little boys bathed before Zach got home from work and Sloan was in the bathtub already. Well there was some crisis downstairs with the dog that I was dealing with and I asked Justice and Cami to get Jafeth undressed and put him in the tub with Sloan and then keep their eyes on him until I could get up there. Well I heard some sort of scuffling and giggling upstairs about five minutes later so I hollered up at the boys "did you get Jafe in the tub yet?" and they said "no, he's poopy." So I hollered up "okay, I will be up in just a minute." Well, I headed upstairs and what do I come across? Justice wiping Jafeth clean and Cami holding Jafe's arms and distracting him. They did a great job and got him all cleaned up, undressed and in the bathtub! I was so amazed and proud of them! Justice said "I never knew I could change his diaper, it was pretty easy!" Cami quickly put the diaper in a safeway sack and put it on the front porch for Zach to throw away (that is Cami's "job" he is our local diaper duty man). Anyway, I was so blessed I just had to share that. My boys have their share of unlovely chores (obviously disposing of nasty diapers is Cami's) and Justice is forever on laundry patrol, no easy task with 6 people a puppy and 2 flights of stairs to contend with between where we shed our clothes and the laundry area is. (He is also required to sort them into whites and colors in the appropriate baskets as well). I know that any of you moms with girls are snickering, but let me tell you, seven and six year old boys don't usually volunteer for diaper duty! Thank you Lord for my boys, they are so great!

Veterans Day!!

Hey Everyone! Hope you all had a great Veterans Day or a weekend of celebrations like we did! On Saturday my good friend Olivia threw a surprise party for her husband Shane because he is officially done serving his time with the military this coming week. Congratulations Shane and Olivia! We are so proud of you that you served our country. Thanks for serving Shane and all the military men and women out there. Shane also spent some time in Iraq. He is a man of honor and we are blessed by him!

Shane and Olivia, they are so cute!
Here is our family outside of Olivia's parents house. Jafeth looks a little roughed up, but we might use this pic for our Christmas cards this year... check out Sloan, he looks like a spinasaurus.
Surprise Shane!
























Today is Sloan's very best bud in the whole world, Rory's birthday! Rory turned the big 3!!! He is such a great little boy and he is very dear to our hearts. I am so happy that Sloan has his own best bud like Justice and Cami have Gavin and Trevor. We love you very much Rory, hope your birthday is the best!



Rory on the left, Sloan on the right, eating cupcakes. They are wearing the same shirt!







Rory with a big smile on his face, opening his present:-)

Jafeth on the left, Rory in the middle, Sloan on the right.
Two peas in a pod!

Raami and Rory, what a sweet picture!

Cunningham Craziness...

The boys with their dog

Our fall art project!

My mom on her birthday with all the boys.

The staple in Justice's head... the Dr. put it there! Crazy!
My cute Jafeth and Cami holding him.

Well, the crazy fun never stops around here. Justice bonked his head on the cupboard on wednesday and had to go to the urgent care clinic and get his head stapled!! Isn't that crazy? He is fine though and doing well. We made a fall leaf art project and put it on our door downstairs going into the garage, the boys loved it ofcourse! My mom had her birthday and doesn't look a day over...:-) Lets just say she looks great! The boys are getting ready to run the Seattle Kids marathon here in a couple of weeks, right after Thanksgiving. I decided not to teach the Varsity Hiphop dance at the highschool this year, but I am still considering at lease teaching the JV (way less of a commitment). That was a hard decision to make but one that is best for our family right now. So that is about it for the Cunningham craziness... unless you want to hear about my new running goal for the spring...

TITUS!!!

Titus, what a cute boy!


Hiding out under our kitchen table!
I just had to throw this picture in because it is so sad! His poor head. Jafe had a "scuffle" with Sloan yesterday which resulted in this and Sloan getting very busted. Cami and I both about cried just looking at him. Jafe was fine after about 2 minutes though, boys!

We finally got a dog! He is a rottweiler labrador, his mom is a purebred black lab and his dad is a purebred rottweiler. I grew up by the people we got him from, they used to breed rottweilers when I was a kid. He is a good puppy and the boys are already in love! I can't wait until he is big enough to go on the trails with us, from the looks of him, that won't be long. He is huge already and he just turned 8 weeks. Well, we named him Titus, which means "of the giants" and we figure he is going to be a giant someday. The boys, especially Sloan, really wanted to name him Jack like the Nelsons dog, we kicked around a few other names too but Titus won. Well for all you rottweiler naysayers out there, he is a good boy! I love doberman pinschers and rottweilers, they are my favorite breed of dog, I WANT my dog to look scary and be protective of our family, Zach seconds that one, he wants me to have a safe running companion too!

On the Trail Again...

I love autumn! It is the most beautiful season, especially out on the trails. This is the cedar river trail yesterday during the big wind storm!

Psalm 136

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His Love Endures Forever.

Give thanks to the God of Gods. His Love Endures Forever.

Give thanks to the Lord of Lords
His Love Endures Forever.

To Him alone who does great wonders. His Love Endures Forever.

...

With a Mighty Hand and an Outstretched Arm. His Love Endures Forever.

...

Give Thanks to the God of heaven. His Love Endures Forever.

Psalm 117

Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol Him, all you peoples. For great is His love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.

Praise the Lord.

"The gang" having a great time out on the trail like always!

This is a tunnel along the lake wilderness trail, isn't it absolutely beautiful?? I would rather be out here with my boys than just about anywhere...
The Cedar River - gorgeous!!

Psalm 118:1-4

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; his love endures forever. Let Israel say; His love endures forever. Let the house of Aaron say; His love endures forever. Let those who fear the Lord say; His love endures forever.