If you have been checking our blog you have noticed we are well behind the eight ball on updates.  Needless to say it has busy in the Huffman household and we are just now catching up.

I can tell you that December was a whirlwind as has been the start of 2011.

The Wisconsin Huffman’s Christmas Tree decorated by Julie, Simon and Hudson.

Early Christmas with Brian and Sarah included a guitar and a Doctors set.

Julie and the kids with the tree

Matt got in on the Christmas spirit and played the role of Santa on Christmas Eve delivering presents to everyone

Does this tree look familiar?  Yep, after three weeks in the Huffman’s house in Rib Lake, the tree was hauled 250 miles south and put up once again at Julie’s mom and dad’s.  Can you tell I have been hanging with a few Schneider’s for the last 8 years. 

This year as part of the garden, Simon and Hudson wanted to plant some pumpkins.  They didn’t plant the big ones but ones that could be made in to pie filling and pumpkin butter.  Needless to say the “little farmers” enjoyed being able to pick the pumpkins and haul them up to the house.  We look forward to trying it again next year and seeing if we can’t get a monster to grow in the garden. 

We recently celebrated Alivia’s first birthday a few weeks ago.  It was actually spread out over the course of a few days as we were in Michigan for the first part and than had a party here in Wisconsin for her.  Needless to say she loves cake and ice cream and all the attention.

Me, Kori Churney, Beth Wruck, and Laura Hoffert at the start line.

This past weekend I ran in the Community First Fox Cities Half Marathon.  I kept meaning to post an update during my training process, but figured most people who read this would also be reading my facebook updates. Anyways, my journey began in February when Beth Wruck (my very best friend) and I decided to run this race together.  And so the training began. We started out really slow. I had run this same race five years ago, but I was really needing to get back into shape after having three kids since then.  So over the course of the last eight months we trained, ever so slowly increasing our mileage. 

Around mid-May Laura Hoffert began running with me.  I am so thankful for her faithfulness and encouragement.  We turned out to be perfect running buddies. Whenever one of us was having a tough run they other one was there to push through. Each week we ran three times at 6am. Despite the early hours I began looking forward to each run.  Running had become a journey in my relationship with the Lord, and with my running buddies. Early on I had committed to making time to spend in the Word each day before I ran. I knew that if I was going to make running a priority I needed to make God’s Word a higher priority. God blessed that desire and started teaching me so much.  My friendship with Laura was another blessing!  We were friends when we started running together, but the hours of uninterreupted time hitting the pavement and trails together transformed that friendship into something much deeper as we talked and shared life together.

And so this weekend was the culmination of months of training and growth. By the grace of God and in His strength we ran our half marathon on Sunday.  It was amazing! Beth and her training partner were there as well as Laura and I.  We all posted better times than we expected, felt great, and had so much fun! I would wager to say that we are all hooked! I can’t wait to run another one next year! So here are a few pics from this weekend.

Here I am somewhere around mile seven, I think.

Laura and I sporting our medals at the finish

Beth and I

The week after our family reunion my sister’s family camp up for a week of family camp at Camp Forest Springs.  My kids love it when they come up because her kids Anna (5), Seth (4), and Ashton (21months), are very close to their ages.  We spent every waking moment out at camp with them, and by then end of the week I know my kids were worn out.  But some of the things they enjoyed included the CFS Express, the 1/4 mile Sunset Run, and the new Sling Shot Range.  Other things we did were geo-caching, mini-golf, the mini-farm, swimming, and of course the sessions with the puppets and the Bible classes.

riding the express

Seth, Hudson, Simon, Anna, and their friend Jason, right after running their race.

Simon giving the slingshot a go

Another exciting happening is that our favorite Sarah in the whole world turned 25!! We hosted a suprise party here, complete with games, food, cake and ice cream.  We played Sarah Jepoardy (compliments of Sarah Komer), in which we found out how much we all know about Sarah.  I think we did pretty good and impressed her!

Sarah, Brian, Simon and Hudson

The first week in August Rib Lake celebrates Ice Age Days.  This year I got involved by running in the 5 mile Velociraptor Run, and the kids got to enjoy thier first Ice Age Days Parade.  They got so much candy I am pretty sure we could save it and hand it out at Halloween (just kidding).

the kids waiting to get their candy

Alivia’s first parade

And of course we have done plenty of the summer time staple activity: swimming!  This is the first summer the boys want to get right in the water.  Whether we are at home or at the lake, they are loving it, splashing and getting soaked! Alivia gets right in there too! She loves to splash and get her face in the water!  When we are at the lake I have to watch out because she also loves to eat rocks! The other night it was so warm we let the kids swim after dinner. Here they are having a blast! (even though the water was fresh out of the hose and REALLY cold!)