Its Summertime . . .

It brutal here in Atlanta. Seriously peeps it gets HOT here! Heat + 100% humidity = Hell on Earth, quite literally. We have been enjoying the sun though in small increments. And by that I mean we don't go outside before 7pm unless we are going straight to the pool. Christopher doesn't find this story as amusing as I do but everyday (never fails) when he gets home from school in the evening and changes and finally sits down to relax. Reese goes and gets his flip flops and follows him around saying "shoes on, shoes on," then she will continue if he doesn't respond to that by saying "side, side" and pointing to the front door. When that doesn't work she grabs his hand and pulls on it until he gets up and she can pull him to the door.  He is a good dad so he always takes her. He always asks me why don't I take her outside before he gets home? I always respond with "she likes it better playing with you", because its the truth. I do take her outside all the time and we have fun but she LOVES to go out with him he is a little more relax about what she does out there. Which is actually kind of surprising to me and would be to you too if you know Christopher very well. Anyways here are some pictures of what we have been up too indoors and outdoors.

 if its not swimming its the sprinkler in the backyard . . .

 And if we are not outside then we are inside painting nails (which is her new favorite thing) and making messes. Always having fun though right!?!

And every once in a while we will get lucky and have the perfect rainy day!

Here is a little Video . . .

Nashville Rock N' Roll Marathon

This weekend we went to Nashville. I wish we would have stayed longer then we did because is is such a cool city from what I did see. I absolutely go back to check out the city. The reason we were there this weekend though was for the Rock 'N' Roll Marathon. It was a really fun Race with the bands all along the way and so many people came out to cheer us on. The course was pretty rough though definitely had some rolling hills that just never seemed to end. It was a very hot day and I don't think I started hydrating early enough on in the race and I paid for it at the end. One of these days I am going to figure out how to stay properly hydrated during races. All in all though I am so happy it is over and I am proud that I ran and finished the race. Its pretty hard not to feel good about yourself after completing something that is so physically and emotionally taxing on your body and mind. I always say that I will never run another marathon while I am training and while I am running the race. However I've found marathons are kind of like pregnancy. As soon as I cross the finish line I forget about how absolutely adamant I was at mile 22 about never putting my body through this again and I start thinking about the next marathon and things I will do differently. Its a little crazy but its kind of addicting. Christopher and Reese and my friend DaNae were my own personal cheering section at the finish and I was so happy they were all there when I came in. It was a great day! 

 My Biggest Fans!

Love this girl! I was day dreaming about these ice bags for the last 5 miles of the race. 

Rare Occasion

We are so lucky here in Atlanta to have a special opportunity to take part in a LDS Temple dedication. Our temple here in Atlanta has been closed for two years as they have been doing renovations on it. This Sunday the Prophet will be rededicating it. Christopher and I have been very lucky to live 20 min or closer to a Temple these last few years, and are excited to be able to go again. Last week we were able to walk through and view the Temple at the open house as a family. I was so glad to be able to take Reese. I was a little nervous because I didn't want her to be crazy in the temple trying to have us chase her and touching everything (you know how 18 month olds are). I was so surprised and touched when as soon as we entered the temple and she got her special little booties on she was as reverent as could be.  I know she had a little sweet spirit helping her to be calm and content as she walked through each room taking it in. Of course like any little girl she loved the bling in the sealing rooms. She walked around those rooms with her head up starring at the chandeliers, pointing and saying "pretty pretty" over and over again. It was a sweet experience.

We had a great Easter weekend as well! The Easter Bunny came bearing baskets of books and a new movie and of course a new dress! We told her the story of the Resurrection through pictures. I love teaching Reese about Jesus. I know she doesn't have any idea what I am talking about when I tell her yet, but she knows who Jesus is and that he is someone she should remember. There are a few pictures in her room and one is of Jesus and I love when she wakes up and I come in and she points to the picture and says "Jesus" it kind of melts my heart a little. Seriously though what doesn't these days with her.

Lately . . .

We went to Destin, FL a few weekends ago for one of Christophers conferences for his future occupation. His family in Florida came with us for a few days. We are missing them and the beach so much!

 She kept Nana Dougherty pretty busy running in and out of the ocean . . .

 Reading magazines 

and of course taking long walks on the beach. Nana didn't even have a chance to look at the camera the bug kept her so busy. She was pretty fond of her aunt Becca and cousins too! How i dion't have any pictures of her with them is beyond me. I was a little to lax about pictures this weekend. I'll try to be better next time. Oh and there will be a next time because Destin has the best beaches I've ever been to, and we live too close not to go back again. Maybe the rest of the Doc family can join us!!! 

In other news I had a birthday, the big 26. It was a good day, Christopher made me feel special and he made a cake and frosting from scratch! It was really good too. I was impressed.

Reese had a birthday of sorts as well. My baby is 18 months! How did this happen?!?! She is growing up way to fast. I have to be a proud momma for a minute and gush about how smart she is and all the things she is loving.

- She is counting! she has one to five down and she does 1 to 10 very randomly on her own not to much on command yet. 

- she loves to sing songs and fill in the blanks. for example, I will sing twinkle twinkle little . . . and i will stop singing and she finishes it for me by singing star. We do this all the time but especially at night before she goes to bed. She will snuggle with me as long as we are singing so sometimes i will draw it out just to get some extra squeezes from her. 

- She has this need to hug and kiss everything, especially me like 1,000 times a day. This can never get old to me and i know she won't be doing much longer.

- She LOVES shoes!!! We always have at least 3 different pairs of my shoes out durring the day. She knows how to open all of our doors so she will go in my room and try on shoes and wear them around the house. She has a stroller she likes to go for walks with around the house. Lately miss piggy is her most frequent passenger. I noticed today that if I ask her if she is taking piggy for a walk and she doesn't have shoes on she has to get some on immediately before she can continue "the walk" (because of course you need shoes when you go for a walk) 

- She loves listening to my Ipod, and she knows when I come back from running I always have it so she automatically insists she listens to music when I walk in the door. She is a pretty good little dancer. We have tried to capture this on video a few times but as soon as she knows a camera is on her she stops and gets all shy.

She is just the sweetest thing and I love her more and more everyday. I don't know how we made something this cool. It blows my mind everyday. Here are a few pics of her in her shoes and listening to "mugics" thats how she says it.

 These are her favorite pair of shoes at the moment. Thats right my nude colored pumps. What can I say the girl has style.

 I forgot to mention above but the child is rarely seen without a bag if she is wearing heels and preparing for a walk.

 Walking Miss Piggy

She always brings theses boots to me for her to wear.

So there is a quick update on our lives. We are all well and happy!

Birthday, Peendas, Nemo, and Emmies = Perfect Weekend

This past weekend was jam packed! We celebrated Christopher's 28th birthday. 

 Reese and I made him dinner of his choice and of course his go to cake, White on White. He is pretty easy to please and that would have been enough for him, but because Reese and I were going out of town on his actual birthday we threw in a nice breakfast for him too! Happy Birthday. Thanks for always being so great about us leaving you babe!!

So once again Reese and I were off. We went to DC to see my sister Emily. She has wanted us to come so bad for a while now and we were finally able to make it happen. It was such a great weekend I really love DC and want to go back soon and spend more time checking out our Nations Capital. I'll break it the events of the weekend down in pictures for you. 

Friday we went to the Zoo. Reese had so much fun looking at all of the animals one animal in-particular she kind of died over. Thats right folks that would be her good friend the Panda or in the bugs language "Peenda". I don't have the best pictures of her drooling over this guy I think my sister took those ones but she could have watched him all day. He was just sitting eating a bamboo stick he really seemed like the sweetest thing. After the zoo and after my sister bought Reese every piece of Panda memorabilia the zoo sells (watch for the pandas in almost every picture we take the rest of the weekend) we went to lunch. It was a great day!

  

Saturday I woke up super early to go and run the DC National Half Marathon. It was Freeeeeezing, well ok it was like 33 degrees when we started but I am super sensitive to the cold when running. I feel like I can never warm up. Most people would have considered it a perfect day for a race but I remain unmoved in my opinion that it was entirely to cold despite the fact that I had my best race to date. The course was so nice and fast, and we got to run by some pretty great places. After the race we walked around to check out the cherry blossoms and a bunch of the monuments. Reese was such a trooper to be so happy out in the cold all day she really is such a dream!

She was mostly interested in feeding the ducks, chasing the birds and running back and forth to Emily and I.

Sunday we went to church and then hit the Smithsonian again. We went to the Aerospace Museum and the Natural History Museum, need I say more. It was another great day.

 Flying the Airplanes was a big hit.

 Checking out the Spaceships and Rockets

 Checking out some large animals with Big Teeth.

After the stuffed animals Reese found her new favorite thing. A whole fish tank full of Nemos and Dories. She was in Heaven. We tried to leave this tank once and we were across the entire room about to turn the corner into a new exhibit when she caught sight of the tank again and took off running towards it saying "Nemo, Nemo" the whole way. It was a good distance away, to the point where the people by the tank were wondering where this babies parents were by the time we caught up to her. She is a little obsessed with fish right now.

HERE is a little video.

Monday morning Reese and I packed it up and said goodbye to Emily and D.C. and headed home. We were sad to leave our Emmies but were so grateful to have gone! Its always good to leave wanting more. Thanks Em, we love you so much!

She slept the whole way home!