Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We've had a fun Thanksgiving week so far. On Wednesday Lynette invited Lyd's and I to go to the zoo with our other friend Kristen for the day. The last Wed of Nov, Dec and Jan are free so why not, right? The weather was great and it wasn't even very crowded. Here's Lyd's and Madelyn with the gorilla!

Quick story:

Last Friday Lydia got a cold. Pretty normal right? So five days later she broke out in a rash all over her legs. I called my bro-in-law doctor who said that rashes are normal following viruses. Ok, great. I gave her some benedryl to help with the itching and the rash was gone by morning. The next night, almost 24 hours later, the rash came back with a vengeance and consumed her whole upper body...huge red rash all over her face, neck, stomach, arms and back. Here's what was all over her... I call the bro-in-law doc again and he thinks it's an allergic reaction. I rack my brain and can't think of any changes she's had with food or anything. I give her benedryl and the rash goes away 30 minutes later. Ok, fine! And what do you know, exactly 24 hours later, the rash comes back all over her back for the 3rd straight day. It's Thanksgiving and I don't want to go to instacare so I call the dr's office and they contact the doctor on call. I spoke with the doctor and she says almost immediately, "She has hives." Oh thank goodness. If you know me, I always think the worst. I'm thinking she has some weird disease and it turns out she's going to be fine. The doctor said some virus end with a rash and go away after a day or two and some kids get hives that attack every day for a week or two.
Well this ordeal made Lydia very tired, so while we were eating dinner last night I gave her a bite then she laid her head down and instantly fell asleep! Precious! Her hives itched worse with clothes on, that's why she's naked! I saw on another friend's blog (thanks Veronica) that she had a Thankful Tree and I thought that was a brilliant idea for this week. So we had an FHE night and started our tree. Every day you add a leaf and on that leaf you write one thing that you are thankful for. I think this will become our yearly tradition.
One week later, here's our beautiful tree. And Jake reminded me that we could have a hundred trees with a thousand leaves and still have more to be grateful for. I take for granted all the little things but I realized how truely blessed I really am. I have an amazing husband, a perfect little angel of a daughter, wonderful friends and an eternal family. That's all you really need in this life right? On Thanksgiving morn, I decided to run one last 5K, The Thanksgiving run in Kaysville. I know I said I was done for the year, but I needed motivation to run this week (you know, to burn those extra calories for Turkey day) and my only motivation is a race. And I'm proud to say that I ran my best race EVER!
Race:5K (3.1 miles)
Time: 25 min 32 seconds
Pace: 8 min 16 sec miles
I was only 1 1/2 minutes behind the 3rd place girl. One of these days I'll win a medal.
After the first few seconds of running only two people passed me for the remaining 2.5 miles. I was shocked that as I was running, no one was passing me. I had to look behind me to make sure I wasn't in last. Turns out I finished at the front of the pack! Yeah for me! There is hope for improvements to happen. I pushed myself SOOO hard that after I crossed the finish line, I thought I was going to throw up then pass out. It was awesome, the best feeling. Ok, now I'm done with races until next year, I promise...maybe!
Our Thanksgiving was fun. We went to Jake's parents and pigged out....great food!
Here are some of the grandkids with their Grandpa Johnsen! HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Now I must go to bed because Lynette is dragging me out of bed at 3am for the Black Friday shopping experience!!!! I'm scared!