The last two......

These last two weekends were pretty mellow for us, we enjoyed lots of time relaxing and hanging out at home. I really can't complain one bit, because its been so nice not having anything to do or any where to go. The hubbs has had a lot of time off as well "HELLO CYCLE BREAK", which is always nice and welcome. 

Last Saturday morning I woke up early and headed out to meet up with Kelly for our run. While the hubbs when to the range to go shooting. We were both hoping to beat the horrible weather coming our way. Thankfully we both succeeded, because just as predicted the rain and sleep swept through about 9:30am. 

We finished the day off with a ever so lovely trip to the commissary and later that evening I babysat for one of the families from school. 

Sunday we did absolutely nothing, after sleeping in till about 9am we got up and I cooked us a yummy breakfast. After that I clean the house and got things ready for our house guest that was coming. I stayed in my PJ's till 6pm, we lounged around on the couch all afternoon. I think we even skipped lunch. It was perfect I don't remember the last time I was that lazy, carefree and didn't feel like going any where. Along with the laziness mint I didn't want to cook dinner. 

.........back up for a minute.......

A few months back I met a new friend via FB though my sweet friend Becca. (A & her family are stationed with B right now) A & her husband are going to be PCSing to Ft. J soon, her husband is currently going though Drill SGT School right now.  She and her girls came down to spend the weekend with her husband / daddy and we made plans to meet up for dinner Sunday night. I was excited to meet them and get to know A more. We've been going back and forth on FB for 2-3 months now, so to finally met was great. Since we made plans for dinner, that mint I had to finally get myself together.

 Dinner date with the hubbs, and new friends, I'll get ready for that. 

 Monday was Presidents day and we were extra lazy again. I'm telling you we're really uneventful people here y'all!!!! We did take the pups for a walk at a local park that morning, because it was such a beautiful day out. They had a blast and were completely exhausted be time we got home. I guess a two mile loop along a beautiful wooded trail will do that to you. They think they have such a ruff life, please they really have no clue how good they have it. 

 Later that evening I headed over to  Kelly's for our run. I didn't have much motivation after laying around on the couch all afternoon. I knew though I'd feel good after as I always do and what do you know, I felt great!!!! It was the first time trying out my new shoes and I just loved them. They were so soft and were super cushiony. Not to mention they look great on. 

Tuesday the pups got mail, seriously I told you they are spoiled. 

They're bestest puppy friend Ella sent them Valentines Day treats in the mail all the way from Hawaii. 

 Are these not the neatest things you've ever seen. I couldn't get over how cute they were. When we first gave them their treats they were a little hesitant as they didn't really know what it was. Bailey dropped her's in the kitchen and kinda just looked at it. Dingo was off and enjoying his. It finally clicked in Bailey's head that this was something you eat. 

They were preoccupied for the next 20 minutes or so. 

They def. enjoyed it and send a BIG BIG Thank You to Ella!!!!! 

If you haven't read about my day yesterday (Saturday) you should totally check it out HERE.

Rocking & Tooting my own horn, YES!!!! 

When I got home about 12:00pm I crawled into bed with the hubbs. Since he had CQ the day before (Friday) he was still fast asleep. Don't mind at all if I join you. We slept until almost 2pm, we really didn't do anything productive after that. We just moved out lazy sleepy selves down to the couch. 

That night I was in the mood for mexican food, some comfort food at that. We decided to go to our favorite little mexican joint across town. We don't go there that often so its always a special treat when we do. We splurged a little and even got dessert. 

Fried Ice Cream drizzled in honey. 

Does that look so good or what?!?!?!?

Sunday's dinner & dessert:

Fried Chicken, Cheddar Mash Potatoes and Asparagus. 

and for dessert:

Banana Bread.

Asparagus recipe found HERE from the fabulous soon to be momma at Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!!

Banana Bread recipe found HERE from the new momma of beautiful baby bear. 

I hope you've enjoyed catching up on what we've been up to these last two weeks. Aside from the ever so lovely work week, you can see not much going on here. Some times though its nice that way and I'm def. not complaining.

Major Mile Stone Moment

Last night before going to bed I got everything ready, packed up and breakfast set out. Being prepared is everything!!!! Call me a nerd but it totally makes the world of a difference being prepared.

Earlier this morning I met up with my girl Kelly to head across town for a 10K race we'd signed up for. It was pouring buckets of water, like major crazy hard core rain. Seriously I'm going to run in this stuff. I signed my name on the paper, I'm not backing down, I don't quit like EVER. We had plans after we'd cross the finish line of the 10K Race Against Hunger run to loop back around and keep going. We were going to use this as our long run training day for our half, which just so happens to be in TWO two.....TWO Weeks. (thank goodness). The goal was to get in 11 miles this morning and this would be our last long run and then we'd start to bring this down again. The rain was off and on all the way across town, about two blocks before the starting location it was pouring so hard. We kept talking about what we were going to do. I wanted to get it over with, I / we were in the zone, I didn't wanna have to get up early tomorrow for our long run because we got rained out today. I'm not a tread mill runner, but we talked about doing that. Let's just wait and see if they cancel the race or go with it when we get there. Just as we pulled up to park the rain slowed up to a light rain / mist. Ok we can handle this we ran in much worse last weekend (sleet), we had our rain coats on and were ready to go. We headed in side were it was warm and waited it out for the race to start.

The plan was to take it nice and easy, not to push ourselves to much. One, we didn't want to step in a pot hole due to the rain or slip and fall from the wet conditions. The goal was to get our miles in for the day and the race was just a added bonus to help us do that. I was kinda nervous because after completing this (the race combined with our extra 5 miles at the end) it would be my longest run to date. Mind over Matter I knew I could do it, it was just getting all the garbage nonsense out of my head. 

Waiting at the start line it was pretty chilly and windy, the rain was light but still there. Then all of a sudden bam everyone started running.......what really were was the "on your mark get set go". 

The course was great, it was a nice change from what we had been running in over the last couple months. (it was in a completely different city) After a while the rain started to go away and we were enjoying the morning. There were people stationed all through out the course cheering everyone on, police officers from all over controlling traffic and others passing out water. As we would pass each mile marker they would cheer us on and tell us how many more we had to go, all I could think about was "if you only knew what I had to do after this". Did I mentioned I tried out my knew shoes last week and then again today and they were doing great. I absolutely love them, although I though I loved loved my other ones to, so I'm going to have to give them a few more runs to really break them in. But so far so good, no complaints here. 

We were almost to the finish line, I was still doing good, I passed the old guy in the blue shorts. I never let anyone pass me I kept ahead and put one foot in front of the other. I ran through the finish, heard the buzzer go off to stop my time. And turned it right back around and kept going. Kelly had to go to the bathroom so bad, I kept telling her to hold it and wait it out but she just couldn't any more. We were NOT stopping though. There was a Starbucks on the left just a block up, she ran ahead booked it in side to pee. I made one lap around the building and there she came running back out adjusting her pants. It was just the laugh we both needed. We were running back down along the course encouraging people as we passed them. We finally saw the end out the racers, a young girl maybe 6/7 at the most still running strong. I though seriously if she can do this anyone can. 

Here I am a mile 8 the rain came back for a little bit but it was a bit refreshing. No need to carry water just open your mouth and look up lol. I slowed down for a bit turned around and Kelly snapped this picture, and then facebooked it all while running. Talk about multitasking while running, she's pretty awesome like that. This was our view for the next 2 miles and it was absolutely beautiful, quiet and peaceful. A few hills here and there but nothing we couldn't handle. 

There was a mile stretch were we were on a pretty busy two lane road. I was a nervous wreck and ran my heart out to get to the end of the street so we could get on a side walk. It was probably one of the longest miles ever. I just kept my eyes on the road and stayed clear of my surroundings. 

I have to have a plan, I need to know were and when we were going to stop. Kelly is known to say we are going to run this many miles and we end up adding more on. We talked and decided that we would see how we felt at mile 11 and if we could push one more out we would (it was run back the the car or walk so either way we had another mile to go at 11 to get to the car) but we would NOT go over 12 for any reason. Besides I want my first 13.1 to be my half in two weeks. We were just over 10 miles and I had a "OH MY GOSH" moment I've just surpassed my longest run ever. 

We came to a long ascending hill and I was pushing with everything I had to get up it, it hurt and I was struggling a bit but I knew the quicker I got to the top the better off I'd be. I pushed through and never stopped, the though crossed my mind but I didn't give in. It might have hurt in the moment but I knew shortly after we finished I'd be fine. 

At 11.34 we had just over half a mile to go, I recognized were we were and knew how far we had to go to get to the car. I pushed through it with everything I had in me. I knew the fast / quicker I got there the sooner I could stop. We had one more busy street to cross and about two blocks to go and we were there.......I watched my watch count up adding on the distance 11.81.....11.90......11.96.....12.15 DONE. It got us right to the parking lot were we were parked. I've just ran my longest distance ever. I don't know when the last time I had ever been this excited or proud of myself was. To some people it might not be that big of a deal but for me it was. I've come a long way since I started running two years ago although I've still got a long way to go to be were I want to be, I keep pushing. 

Dreams do come true and mine will. 

12...TWELVE...12 MILES baby!!!!! 10K + 6 more heck yea!!!!! And the best part was I didn't feel like I was dying at the end. 

You can see my car is the only car left in the parking lot in the back of the picture with Kelly. 

My finish time was just 2 minutes under what my goal time is for my half so I need to pick up my pace just a little and cut off about a minute from each mile. Even if I don't meet my goal time exact I know it wont be much over it, after today's run. Doing it and finishing is a big deal just in its self. 

After uploading my run online I saw that my pace dropped a little during my last mile from 11-12 but stayed consistent through out. I've just got to push it out strong just a bit more and I will be set. 

Just 2 more weeks!!!!! 

Happy Love Day!!!

I hadn't planned anything big for Valentines Day or really put much though into it. I'm not a big V-day fan, if we celebrate we do if we don't we don't. No big deal. We normally do a dinner or something simple but nothing to big. I'm big on celebrating our birthdays or anniversary personally.

But this past Monday when I was texting with the hubbs at some point or another he mentioned us doing something for Valentines day and that he was out gift shopping. "Ummmmm what really we are exchanging gifts??" Was my exact reply back to him. I hadn't even though about anything to get him, I picked him up a card and was going to make dinner and call it a night. He said of course we are going to do something. He suggested going out to dinner Friday vs. Thursday though to avoid the crazy crowds. Hello crunch time, when was I going to be able to get away from him for a quick shopping trip. He was off work all week, I always go home on my lunch when he's off. How do I get around this.....Tuesday I run, Wednesday I have gym class and Thursday is Valentines Day. Thursday was the only day this week he had to go into work. (of course) 

I ran to the PX after my gym class Wednesday night to pick up his gift. (Thank goodness they still had one left) Although he almost went gift-less. Wednesday on post = family day, SIT can NOT leave post meaning everyone and their mother, father, brother, sister and grandma end up going to the PX. 7pm after a long day at work, gym class which totally sucked and a hungry girl was not a good combination  but I sucked it up and managed. 

Thursday I ran all around town on my lunch to get last minute things. Literally from midtown to downtown to post to work. First up was dinner, Whole Foods was a epic fail they didn't have what I was wanting (Hubs likes their freshly made Enchiladas). So plan B (same dinner as last year) went in to place Pizza Joint. From WF I went to Cupcake in the Vista to pick up Dessert. I should have known it was going to be busy I mean hello its V-day. A quick trip turned in to 30 minutes long to get 4 cupcakes. I rushed back to post to pick up a order of Tamales I had placed last month. (today was delivery / pick up day) Then back to work by 2:30 for my last 2 & half hours of the day. Thankfully I took the hubs gift with me to work to wrap bc I sure as heck didn't have time to do it earlier in the day. 5 O'Clock came shortly later and it was quiting time, thank the laurrrd. It had been a long day and I was ready to get home. But not yet, I had to first order the pizza and wait 20 minutes for it to cook them pick it up. Although its totally worth the wait because they have the best pizza ever, drive through Chick-Fil-a sounded pretty good. (simply bc I wanted to get home.) With everything that had set me back today or not gone as planned I got some good loven at PJ when I went to pay for my order. The guy behind the bar asked if I was Military umm Yes why do you give a Military discount??? "Yea we do 20%" HELLO were the heck have you been for the last year that we have been coming here. How did I not know this?!?!?! This dude earned his tip plus some tonight. Thank You!!!!!! 

I finally made it home after sitting in traffic for what seemed like forever only 5 miles from post. My love was waiting on me with open arms, I sure do love him!!!! He was so excited for me to open my gift from him, I could barley set my bags down. We agreed to go small, something simple.....did we stick to it........NO, of course not. 

He got me a Nike Fuel Band which I'd mentioned a week or so ago that I'd wanted for working out and daily use. I have a Nike GPS watch for running but it doesn't track anything else were as the Fuel Band will and I can sync it to my computer as well. Unfortunately he couldn't find it any were in stores so he had to order it on line, so it should be in the mail soon. He also got me this spatula from the PX that I though was so cute!! 

The hubs is all about his guns, accessories and reloading and all that fun stuff that goes along with it. So here lately its been a little easier to shop for him because I'm able to get him things to go along with what he's doing. There's this light (flash light) that he's been eyeing for a while now for one of his Glocks, he just hasn't bit the bullet and gotten it. We saw it at the PX a week ago for a little less than Shooter Choice and double bonus no tax. It was perfect and I knew he'd love it and my search was over. Wednesday night when I went they had one left, talk about cutting it close. I also picked him up some peeps, he loves those things.......I hate them. 

We ended the evening eating pizza on the couch while watching Grey's Anatomy and enjoying our cupcakes. It was still simple and perfect I couldn't have asked for a better Valentine He's just perfect for me. We're so blessed to be able to celebrate our love together every day not just one day out of the year.   

Happy Love Day Yall!!!!

Loven Life Lately!

Seriously is she not the cutest puppy you've ever seen. She's such a lazy over sized lap dog, or at least she thinks she is. I love her though and would be lost with out her. 

Last Friday the hubbs got off work before me and headed down town to pick up a late night dessert. Seriously love this man he's perfect!!!! 

There's no sleeping in on Saturday mornings when the hubbs is off work. Up and at it bright and early at the range for some shooting. It was 37 degree's out and we were freezing our booties off but he was enjoying every minute of it. 

Later that afternoon we went to Whole Foods to pick up a few things to make dinner. The hubbs is on a huge Bison kick and frankly I'm not a fan. However I sucked it up and went along with it, happy husband = a happy wife right. He helped me fix everything up and then ditched me to do the dirty work when his buddy came over. That's ok I don't mind. 

Bison Enchiladas with a side of Mexican Rice. They weren't to bad, I just can't get past the chewiness of the meat. He says its because its more Gamy then other meats. 

Everyone loves a FABULOUS Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Including a bunch of Drill SGT's when they are stuck out in the field for a week. Any reason to see my hubbs while he's away working. :) 

Wednesday night Strength Class at Jamie Scott Fitness, with my fabulous running partner as the teacher. She really knows how to push you and give you a good work out. Can't wait till next week to go again. Building my lower body and cross training, doing what's best!!!!

Thursday one of my kiddos got sent home from school because she was sick. No Bueno. Her daddy was out of town and her momma had a big work meeting to attend. The hubbs was off work and so kindly agreed to sit with her while her mom went to her meeting. I went over to her house on my lunch and took him lunch and checked up on them. He is so good with Luc. and is going to make a great dad it we ever decide to go down that road. While I was there I asked him "are you going to be good changing her if you need to" he replied with "well it cant be that hard to figure out" Ok, so you've got this handled it looks like and I headed back to work. 

Did I happen to mention I'm going home soon :) Well if not I AM!!! TEXAS HERE I COME!!!!! 

And I can't wait. I'll be spending my Spring Break HERE (below) at our River house and on our Boat. I can't wait to go skiing, lay out on the beach and just be back on the water again. Its been to long since I've been down to our house and I am so looking forward to going again. Not much longer now and I'll be on a jet plane headed home. Best part is I get to spend the whole time with my little not so little brother!!!! 

Saturday run day!!!

 Pushing out a fabulous 6.2 miles today back in my minimalist shoes. I think I finally figured out what was causing my leg pain. :( To bad I didn't figure it out sooner, but as they say better late than never right. Come to find out I was fitted wrong with the shoes I was wearing. I went from minimalist shoes to fully supported, motion control shoes. With my bad ankles that have no arch at all (I'm 100% flat footed) and no support this put a lot of strain on my legs. Mainly my left one, shin splints turned in to stress fractures and mega horrible blisters which were no fun. I decided to change things up today and try out my old shoes and HELLO WORLD I'M BACK. 

100% difference and I felt even better after. Long story short I took my Asics back to Fleet Feet that I bought about a month ago and was refitted in a pair of Brooks PureFlow. They are minimalist shoes and feel great, I'm so happy I made the switch. I am however going to finish my training for my half marathon (and run my half) in my original minimalist shoes because I'm use to them. With a month left I don't want to cause any problems or stress on my legs and not be able to give 100% come race day. After that I'll go for the switch. 

My new KICKS - I've joined the Brooks fan club. They didn't have anything with pink so I jazzed them up with my pink Lock Laces. Loving them already and can't wait to switch over after the Half in March. :) Any other Brooks fan out there????

Today Sunday, was a hill training day. Now that we are nearing the end of our training we have to start stepping it up. This afternoon K and I met up and tackled two hills multiple times. We started off with a quick run over to were we were going to be training. We then took it full speed ahead up 3 times, bringing it to a slow walk at the top and then back down the hill to do it again. We did this same hill 3 times before running around the block to bring it up a total killer hill. (I'll have to take my phone with me next time to get a picture) We pushed it out and ran the whole way up and back to her house with out stopping. It was a great 3 mile recovery run after our run yesterday. 

How was your week, what about the week before last?? We haven't really had anything to exciting going on. The hubbs unit Graduated this past Thursday so we are officially on cycle break till March 1st. Hello!!!!!!!! We don't have anything big planned but some much needed down time for the hubbs which is well deserved. Lots of training and running here for this girl, I know it will all pay off in the end. 

New Year New Me!!!!!

Bulletin Boards Lately!

We have been busting out the art work at school here lately and the parents are loving it. I'm loving it, its so fun and hearing everyone comment on how cute our boards are makes it that much more worth it. I try to take pictures of the finished products when I remember but I've been slacking. Any how here are two of our January boards and one of our February boards so far. More to come in the coming weeks and months. :) 

THERE'S NO PEOPLE LIKE SNOW PEOPLE! 

Do you see a theme going on here.....its still winter and chilly weather so went with snowmen for January. 

The first one was Cotton Ball snow People. They turned out so cute!!! 

This one was one of my favorite Snow People made out of Marshmallows :) 

LOVE IS IN THE AIR!!!

 Moving into February we've got LOVE to share!!!! 

Our love people with a bit of finger painting. Aren't they adorable!!!! 

 Don't worry there's lots more to come over the next few months!!! 

3 & 1/2 more months till Summer semester starts!!!