2 mile run and I'm ready for fall.

My run yesterday didn't suck as much as I thought it would.  Well besides the fact that I got eaten alive by mosquitos.   When I stopped at two miles I felt something on my leg and I look down and my legs are literally covered with mosquitos.  I started to freak out.  We have a really bad mosquito problem where we live and you really can't go outside without getting eaten alive.  This morning the bumps all showed up on my legs and I counted about ten of them, just from my run yesterday. 

Other than that small detail, my run went really well.  My knees didn't give me much trouble and I didn't feel like I was going to die by the time I reached two miles.  I actually felt like I could have easily ran double that yesterday, but I didn't want to get a ahead of myself.   

Life has kind of slowed down, which has made me really happy. 

I am ready for fall.

It's my favorite time of year. 

I love summer, but there is just something about fall that I really enjoy. 

The changing leaves

Cuddling on the couch watching football with my husband

Long naps on the weekends

Taking Sunday drives with the kids to see the colorful leaves

Decorating my house with Halloween decorations (my favorite holiday to decorate for)

Making yummy fall food like soups and homemade bread

Going to the pumpkin patch with the kids

Watching television series on Netflix (need to finish up Dexter)

Wearing flannel pajamas and hooded sweatshirts

I'm pretty sure I could go on and on...

I am really going to enjoy fall this year because next fall we will be living in St. George and I know it will definitely be different there as far the seasons go.  :)

Off the bandwagon..

I fell off the bandwagon this past week.  

It all started on Thursday.  I was supposed to run two miles.  I made it 1.5 miles, then I just had to walk to the rest of the way home.  My knees were hurting so badly.  I didn't want to injure myself any further, so I just walked home and iced my knees and took ibuprofen.    

 We had to make an unplanned trip up north to attend my husband's grandpa's funeral so we just barely got back yesterday. The whole time we were up there my knees hurt. They just ache.  I really don't want to make them worse, but I really need to get running again so that I'm prepared for my 10k that's in just a few weeks.  To make things worse, I have been getting really bad headaches for the past three days.  I rarely get headaches, and for some reason every single day at around the same time it hits me.  I've been trying to drink more water and all that, but nothing seems to be working. 

Anyways, I'm done complaining for now.   :)

While we were up north I made some blueberry zucchini bread.  I figured since it had zucchini in it, it was healthy. :) We completely devoured a whole loaf in less than 5 minutes. It was really yummy. 

My newest addiction. I ate a whole bag on the way home yesterday.  They are addicting.

We came home to a ton of cucumbers in our garden so my husband and I canned some pickles yesterday.  I can't wait for them to be ready to eat!

I started a new sewing project today.  I gathered all of our kids' baby blankets and cut them up for a big blanket.  I'm about half way done.....

 I didn't feel like cooking dinner tonight,  so I just kept it simple and made apple walnut oatmeal.  It was really good. :)

Tonight I am going to try to run and see how my knees feel.  They still hurt, but not as bad.  I guess we'll see how it goes!  

Very Berry Red Smoothie and Weekend Recap

I am always making new smoothie concoctions.  They are so yummy, and it feels like I am having a "treat" when I drink them.  I made this one up and really loved how it turned out.  To make it such a rich, red color I used grape juice for the liquid.  You could swap out grape for pomegranate juice if you don't like the grape flavor.   When I made it I was worried that the grape flavor would overpower the rest of the flavors, but it didn't.  I have a bunch of fresh peaches and so I peeled one and dumped it in.   I loved the end result, and will definitely make it again!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup frozen strawberries

1/3 cup frozen blueberries

1 cup of 100% grape juice (secret ingredient)

2-4 Ice cubes

Instructions:

Blend until smooth.  Add more ice, if you want it thicker.

Brandon had Friday off, so we had a nice three day weekend.  I love when that happens. I didn't run on Friday or Saturday.  We spent those days cleaning the house and getting ready for our yard sale, so I didn't have time to run.  I did my long run for the week on Sunday morning.  

When I woke up I decided to weigh myself before I got dressed for my run.  So I weighed myself without any clothes on and after I used the restroom.  I weighed 144.3 pounds.  When I got back from my run I thought, hey I should weigh myself again for kicks and giggles.  So before I hopped in the shower I weighed again and I was 143.4 pounds.   I lost a whole pound.  I'm pretty sure something was off, because that just isn't possible.  Is it?  

Anyways,  like always I started out pretty slow the first couple miles.  I was actually feeling pretty good during most the run.  Then I hit 3.5 miles, and I hit a wall.  I wanted to stop so badly.  I wanted to just walk the last mile home.  I was about to have a meltdown.  I really thought I was going to just burst into tears and lose it.  But I didn't.  I kept repeating in my head, "I can do this."  It was by far the hardest run so far mentally.   It's like my mind is telling me there is no way I could possibly run any further.  But I pushed through it and I made it.  

I didn't die.

I wanted to.

But I didn't.

Sunday was our 7 year anniversary.  I can't believe how time passes so quickly! 

We didn't do anything huge to celebrate, we just spent the day at home relaxing.  My husband made me  one of my favorite things for breakfast.  Breakfast burritos.  YUM.  Yes we ate on our finest china. (paper plates)  I love breakfast burritos, they are so yummy and so filling.  I could eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  We also baked up some cookies and had hot cookies over vanilla ice cream.  I may or may not have went back for seconds.  I have a really bad sweet tooth and would rather have dessert than dinner any day of the week.  It's my weakness.  I just can't say no to dessert. It's not possible. 

Just looking at those cookies now is really not helping my "smoothie cleanse" today.  Hopefully I survive today without killing somebody out of hunger.  I'll update how it went tomorrow. 

30 Day Shred....and Random Bits...

For some reason I thought it would be fun to start this yesterday:

I just followed the YouTube video here.

I watched it first all the way through yesterday morning, and thought it didn't look too hard. 

Well it sucked.  Right after, my legs were jelly.  I could barely walk down the stairs.  It really kicked my butt! Supposedly you are supposed to start level one and do it for 10 days and then move on to level two and so forth.  I don't know if I'll buy the dvd yet, but I'm going to try to do level one for ten days and see where I'm at.   

The nice thing about it is that it is only about 25 minutes long and you are constantly moving.  There are no rest periods at all.  So it's over quickly.  I made my husband do it with me, and he was also sweating by the time we were done.   

I'll update my progress as I go....

This little super hero was being such a cutie the other day....I put her brother's cape on her and she loved having it on.  She is just like her big sister and thinks she's already a big girl and loves to copy her big brother and sister.  :) 

Charlie's newest fascination right now are cowboy boots.  Or in this case cowgirl boots.  He loves wearing his big sister's boots.  I really need to get him some, I just hate spending the money on such nice boots when he will grow out of them so quickly! 

Onto a new recipe I just tried from Pinterest:

I've been wanting to test these tasty little things out for a while now.  I love hot dogs and I especially love a good corn dog.  I made them for me my kids and they absolutely loved them.  I ended up changing the recipe a little because I thought it called for too much sugar and also had to add in a little more milk because the batter was so thick I could barely scoop it.  

Here is the link the recipe.  

Mini Corn Dog Muffins

I would definitely make these again, but maybe next time use larger hot dog pieces or cut them into smaller cubes and just add them to the batter.  Overall it was a great recipe and one that everyone enjoyed!

The best $1.49 I ever spent and what was I thinking?

Yesterday we promised our five year old a snow cone if she did all her chores and helped out with our deep cleaning yesterday.  She did all her work and did everything we asked.  So we packed up all the kids and went to Walmart first.  I only had like 4 things on my list, but I came out with a hundred less dollars in my account and more than 4 things.  Which pretty much happens every single time I go to that store. 

Anyways, I didn't have any cash in my wallet for a snow-cone so I convinced her we should go get ice cream cones instead.  I then remembered that I have been salivating over Wendy's Waffle Cones they have been advertising.

Like I said, it was the best $1.49 I have ever spent.  Here's why:
1. I love ice cream
2. I love waffle cones
3. I love sweet treats
4. I love ice cream
5.  Ice cream fixes everything

I think I inhaled that sucker faster than it took to order it.  After, I looked at my husband and said I could totally eat another one. :)

I know it wasn't gourmet ice cream or even probably a freshly made waffle cone, but in that moment it tasted amazing and I honestly could have probably downed three more!  It was definitely worth the 290 calories.

Now, sometimes I get into a mood where I want to organize everything.  Today I woke up and was in that mood. My husband was not happy with me. He wanted to just relax all day long and do absolutely nothing.  I however had different plans:

I decided that we have enough crap, I mean awesome stuff to have a yard sale.  So I started in my craft/sewing/junk/ room and started to go through boxes.  I then moved to our storage room and started to go through boxes.  I can't believe how much crap we acquire in such a short amount of time.

 It's disgusting.
I don't want all this crap.

 We have like 4 container bins of just things from high school/mission/college crap.  Why do we save these things?  What's the purpose? I haven't looked at the stuff for 7 years, am I going to look at it in 7 more?  Probably not.  So why am I keeping it?

I honestly don't know.   Or maybe I do know.  I think we actually enjoy hauling it around every time we move! :)

I also have about 8 containers of just holiday decorations. I mean who really needs that many decorations?  I have decorations for pretty much every single holiday.  Once upon a time I used to be really good about putting out cute little things for every little holiday. I've got Christmas ornaments coming out my butt! (I just had to buy 17,000 boxes when they went on clearance)  I haven't gotten anything out since I put Christmas away in January.  So why am I saving all this stuff?

Again, I have no clue.

So, I am getting rid of a lot of stuff.  Things I haven't used for years, things I wont use ever again, things that are just taking up space, and things I could live without.

I am not going to turn into one of those hoarders you see on that TLC show.  If I haven't used it for the past year and it doesn't hold sentimental value.  It's going.

It kind of feels good to de-junk.

You should try it. :)