Aggie Team Party!

Whenever I asked the Big One what kind of Birthday party he wanted he switched back and forth from Lightening McQueen to “Aggie Team!” That is what he calls the USU Football team.  Since there was a game this weekend I decided to go with the Aggie theme and follow the party up with a live college Football game!

Since we are poor grad students we decided to keep it low key and just invite family.  His grandparents, an aunt and uncle, and 4 cousins came!  It was the perfect number and so much fun.

After all the guests arrived we dug into lunch because everyone was starving! Hungry kids are NOT fun. We had salad, apple slices, 7-layer dip with tortilla chips, and Pizza Hut Pizza!

When lunch was over the kids all ran around the yard and played while I set up the obstacle course. Most of the kids were very young so we did easy obstacles like rolling across a yoga mat, throwing a football through a hoola hoop, jumping across the lawn and a 3 legged race!

I had a few other activities planned but the kids were having so much fun playing in the yard I just let them be!

Awhile later The Big One opened his presents. Gift opening at kids birthday parties always makes me claustrophobic. The kids can’t help but crowd the Birthday Boy to see what he got!

Next was cake and ice cream.  It was a windy day so we had a hard time getting the candles lit! Once we got it, we sang Happy Birthday super fast and the Birthday Boy, and the wind, blew out his candles!

Clearly, I am not a professional cake decorator! Luckily, 3 year olds don’t care what the cake looks like.

We had to have some chocolate too!

The weather was perfect and The Big One had a GREAT time which was all that mattered to me!  He is still talking about his “Aggie Team” Birthday Party with his cousins.

We cleaned up and headed to the Football game.  It was homecoming and the student body planned white-out. Nearly every person in the Stadium had white shirts on.  It was awesome!

The game was tons of fun but with all the activities going on The Little One didn’t nap all day and he was DONE.  We headed home at half time, put the kids to bed, and watched the rest of the game on TV. We smoked UNLV, btw!!!

It was truly a wonderful day and I can’t believe I have a 3 year old!!! A big thanks to Kelly’s family for making the 2 hour drive to come to the party!

Healthy French Toast

For our Sunday morning breakfast we decided to skip pancakes and make some Healthy French Toast.

Healthy French Toast

• 6 slices Ezekiel Bread
• 3 large eggs
• butter
• Almond Butter
• Pure Maple Syrup

Warm griddle or pancake pan on medium high heat. Grease pan with a little bit of butter. Beat eggs in a large shallow dish. Soak each slice of bread in the eggs on both sides. Fry on pan until browned about 2-3 minutes, flip and brown the other side. Top each slice with almond butter and a drizzle of maple syrup.

I sat down to eat this beauty and after a few bites I realized French Toast is just not the same without a glass of milk to go with it!

We had a wonderful, activity packed day yesterday. The Big One LOVED his party and watching the Aggies smoke UNLV! I’ll be back this afternoon with a full recap of the game and the party but until then here’s a little teaser!

Super Saturday Plans

Today is going to be a busy one. It’s The Big One’s 3rd birthday party.  He requested an Aggie Football party so we decided to throw a party followed by a USU football game.  It should be a great time! But man, birthday parties are a lot of work. It doesn’t help that I left ALL the planning until yesterday. I still have to clean my house, go grocery shopping, make the cake, make the appetizers, order and pick up the pizza, and set up the obstacle course. Like I said, its going to be a busy day!

I have the greatest husband in the world. He almost always gets up with the boys in the morning so I can sleep.  Our kids go to bed at 7 and get up at 6:30 or 7 so we are up early.  This morning they decided to get up SUPER early (sometime in the 5 o’clock hour!) When I came out to the living room this is what I saw:

The boys were eating dry cereal and watching Cars while Daddy slept on the couch. Poor Kelly, I’m going to have to get up with the kids tomorrow so he can sleep.  He needs to get some rest!

After my run yesterday my muscles are feeling great but my joints are still quite stiff. I’m going to do a short and super easy recovery run this morning followed by a nice long yoga class.  Hopefully that will help with some of this stiffness.

In other news, I got a job!  I’m going to be working as a server at a barbeque restaurant here in Logan.  The place is still under construction and should but up and running in a few weeks. The people seem really great and I’m excited to start working a for few hours a week.

Life is great right now and I’m so excited to be able to celebrate 3 years with my Little Man today!

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What are your Saturday plans?

Are you a plan aheader or a procrastinator?

• Procrastinator, I really need to be better about this!

Almost There

I started my day off right with a 12 mile run. I am almost there, I can almost say I ran a half marathon.  This will be my last long run before my big Half Marathon on October 13! I usually do my long runs on Saturdays but I decided to get it done today because The Big One’s 3rd birthday party is tomorrow.  I don’t want to be stressed about planning the party and running so I decided to sneak it in early. 

The run went really well today.  I did 12.35 miles in 1:56.  I’m hoping I’ll be able to do my race in less than 2 hours but my main goal is to finish and have a good time.  About a quarter mile before I reached 10 miles I saw a man running ahead of me.  He was a big dude and was running fairly slow so I decided to try and catch him. He heard me coming and sped up but at this point I was determined to pass him. I gave it my all and I did end up passing him just before we run off in opposite directions. I am usually all alone on my runs so it was really fun to see someone I could compete with.  It got my adrenaline going and made the rest of the run fly by.

When I got home a did a 10 minute walk again and then came in and stretched.  My hamstrings felt really tight while I was walking so I did a lot of stretching followed by a few sun salutations. I feel much better, especially after my hot shower but I am still a bit stiff.

I followed my run with a glass of chocolate milk. I have never done this before but I hear it’s the perfect post run fuel.  It has just the right amount of carbohydrates and high quality protein to refuel exhausted muscles. I’m not sure yet how it will effect my muscles but it sure did taste good!

After taking a long, hot shower and getting dressed I made myself a big bowl of oatmeal.  (No I did not end up buying 50 lbs. of oats! I did buy the biggest bag the store had though.) I topped my oatmeal with a huge spoonful of peanut butter, a splash of maple syrup, almond milk, and blueberries.

Oh, I almost forgot.  I recently discovered the phenomenon that is running socks! They are awesome. I have significantly fewer callouses after wearing them for todays run. I’m officially converted and will never go back to cotton socks again.

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Have you ever used chocolate milk for muscle recovery? How did it work?

What do you do for tight muscles after a long run?

Did you know there was a special sock made just for running? Do you wear them?

The Man Who Started It All

My maternal Grandfather was an incredible runner. During his 10 year running career he ran in 106 races with 49 of them being marathons. His marathon PR was in the St. George Marathon, he ran it in 2:35:38. He ran in the Boston Marathon 5 times. His running career was cut short when he was diagnosed with Colon cancer. Cancer eventually took his life, but his legacy lives on. He has inspired his children and grandchildren to enjoy the sport of running. I hope to be able to share his story with my children and grandchildren and turn them into runners too!

This is the Boston Marathon in 1979.

I am going to share a few stories my grandpa wrote in his memoir about running.

Grandpa’s Stories

I was introduced to running in 1976 at the age of 39 by a colleague at work by the name of Howard Russell. He was running 2 miles a day during lunch. I went out the first day with street shoes and a suit and tie on to run the 2 miles. I decided maybe I could do this everyday so I got some old gym shorts and tennis shoes and started with that.

He ran everyday during lunch and slowly increased his mileage up to 9 miles a day. He found a group of running friends and stuck with them. His first race was 12.6 miles (1:17:13) and after that race he was hooked!

This is what he wrote about his first marathon:

My running friends talked me into running my first marathon. I didn’t even know what a marathon was, and when I found out I thought, “These guys have to be crazy!”

The morning of the race was cool. I had good feelings. The first half of the race I was comfortable and ahead of schedule. I had met up with somebody to run with that took my mind off the race. At about 18 miles I began to realize what a marathon really was: I became very tired. By 23 miles I wasn’t sure I could finish. But I hung in there and made it across the finish line. I had such exhilarating feelings having accomplished the goal. After the race I was very excited because it turns out I had a good time (3:08).

His closing thoughts on running:

Running has brought many blessings to my life. I have made so many great friendships with the experiences we have shared. Running has been an education on the principle of health. It has been an opportunity to do the physical things that teenagers do. it has been an opportunity to help many people by giving running advice, including my own family. I feel my running accomplishments have helped me to build mental toughness as well as physical endurance.

Merl Davis Glauser: July 16, 1936 – June 13, 1988

My Brothers Marathon Recap:

My brother ran his first marathon last year and his recap is both hilarious and inspiring. You can check it out HERE.

It is really fun having such a strong family history with running and I can’t wait for my half marathon in a few weeks so I can finally be a part of it!

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What do you remember most about your first race?

I just couldn’t do it

I’m not feeling the love this morning.  I’m lethargic and lazy so I skipped my scheduled 5 mile run.  I know this is a horrible idea since I’ve eaten TONS of yummy food these past few days, but I just couldn’t get myself out the door this morning. I almost always end up feeling guilty when I miss a workout and I hate that feeling! Maybe I will head out tonight after Kelly gets home from work and school.

I got up and played with the boys for a while and then I moseyed into the kitchen and grabbed a banana and a bowl of frosted mini wheats. This is definitely not the breakfast of champions since there was no protein in sight, but it also wasn’t the worst thing I could have eaten! We are completely out of oatmeal which is really throwing me for a loop since I crave oatmeal almost every morning! You better believe I will be buying 10 pounds of oats today so we never run out again!

 

(source)                                                                                     (source)

Lucky for me I am still going to get some sort of exercise in today since I’m going to yoga in a few hours.  Hopefully yoga will get me out of my funk because I have 2 job interviews this afternoon! Nothing too big but I decided I might want to be a server at a restaurant for a few months while Kelly finishes school. That will really put my college degree to good use!

I’m pretty nervous since I haven’t had a job in 3 years. I don’t even remember the last job interview I had. I’m really praying I don’t say something completely stupid.

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Do you ever get lazy and skip a scheduled workout?

When was your last job interview?

Logan Canyon Hike and Dinner at Rumbi

After we took The Big One to preschool this morning my mom and I decided to go on a hike.  We were debating weather to go hiking or take a spin class and boy am I glad we decided on the hike.  The views were spectacular! The colors are starting to change and it was truly magnificent. We enjoyed being outside listening to the river running, smelling the trees and flowers, and breathing in the fresh mountain air. It was a nice change from the smelly gym!

Aren’t the colors amazing?

The Little One started out in a backpack but he was very unhappy so we took turns carrying him. When I put him on my shoulders he kept leaning down to kiss my cheek.  It was quite possibly the cutest thing he has ever done.  I loved every minute of it!

I know I have mentioned it like 10 times but we had a great time with my mom.  She left about an hour ago and we miss her already. The kids will miss being spoiled rotten and I’m going to spending the next few days bringing them back to reality.

I DO NOT buy them massive lollipops to eat when we run errands.

I also don’t buy them toys every time we go to Walmart.  I don’t pick them up when they throw fits and I don’t let them watch TV every time they ask.  We have quite a few habits to break but Grandmas are supposed to spoil their grandkids and give in to all their desires!

We grabbed a bite to eat at Rumbi before dropping my mom off to catch the bus to the airport. I ordered a salad with chicken, mangoes, red peppers, and bleu cheese.

We enjoyed our dinner out on the patio and while eating, spotted a twizle berry. I bribed The Big One and told him if he ate his broccoli I would get him a cup of sorbet. To my absolute SHOCK, he ate his broccoli! Since we were in the store and it happened to be free waffle bowl day, I decided to have some too. I mean, I couldn’t exactly pass up free waffle bowl day!

After 3 days of constant eating out, I am MORE than ready to get back to my healthy eating habits.  It’s a good thing my mom only comes to visit every once in a while!

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What toppings do you put on your frozen yogurt?

• I am all about the chocolate.  No fruit on my yogurt!

What are your feelings on hiking? Love it or is it not for you?

Attitude

Grandma has to go home tonight so we are going to make the most of her last day here. I am so glad she was able to come visit.  We have had a blast together!

This morning I grabbed a quick breakfast of plain Greek yogurt with smashed blueberries, chia seeds, and homemade peanut butter granola.  I also grabbed a Healthy Pumpkin Muffin.

This morning I have been thinking a lot about how our attitude can really influence how our day is going to go.  We can choose to let the little things get to us and ruin our day or we can choose to take the high road and let go of the things we cannot control. It is easy to focus on the lady who was so rude at the grocery store or the fact that you woke up with a huge pimple on your face.  These things are out of our control so we should just forget about them and enjoy our day anyway.

We shouldn’t use a bad day as an excuse to go to Cold Stone and have 3 cups of ice cream or to skip a workout. We’re all going to have bad days, it is a part of life but, if we can change our attitude and do our best to be positive, our bad days might not be SO bad.  Also, if we keep up our healthy eating and workout habits, we will have more energy and feel better about ourselves, which may just help us pop out of our funk!

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What helps you when your having a bad day?

What did you have for breakfast this morning?

Dinner and a Movie

We had an awesome time tonight. Texas Roadhouse was everything I hoped for and more.

It is a tradition for my Mom to treat us to Texas Roadhouse whenever she comes to visit since she doesn’t live close to one. I have noticed that when it comes to restaurants we are creatures of habit.  We know what we like and we generally go to the same chain restaurants over and over. I have decided we need to branch out and start trying some of the local restaurants our city has to offer!

But back to our evening at Texas Roadhouse.  We decided to celebrate The Big One’s birthday a few weeks early so Grandma could watch him open the gifts she got him. The Big One got to hop up on the saddle and shout Yeehaw! with the whole restaurant in honor of turning 3.  He LOVED it.

He was acting like a real live cowboy!

My favorite thing at Texas Roadhouse is without a doubt the buttery rolls with cinnamon sugar spread! They are fluffy and light and not too sweet, plus they bring them to the table piping hot out of the oven. They are to die for.

After enjoying every last bite of my roll, course number 2 arrived in the form of a fresh salad.I had the house salad with vinaigrette dressing on the side. This salad comes with the works, hard boiled eggs, seasoned croutons, huge chunks of fresh tomato and shredded cheddar cheese. I finished the whole salad.

Course number 3 was a half slab of slow roasted barbeque baby back ribs and mashed potatoes filled with sour cream, cheese, and bacon.  Not exactly the picture, perfect healthy meal, but boy did it taste amazing.  I am a firm believer in moderation in all things and am not against splurging every once in a while. The ribs stole the show and were perfectly sweet and had just the right amount of barbeque flavor and talk about tender!  These babies are so tender they literally fall right off the bone. YUM. 

I finished off my meal with another roll smothered in butter for my dessert.  I seriously can’t get enough of those things.

My favorite part of the meal was the company and good conversation. We had a strict no phones at the table rule which allowed us to talk and laugh and have a great time. Thanks to my mom for a great meal and awesome evening.

After dinner Grandma took The Big One on a date to see Finding Nemo 3D.  It turns out they were the only 2 people in the theater so we got a lot of text updates with pictures. The Big One came home with a huge smile (and a little leftover lollipop) on his face and told us all about his cool glasses and all the fish and sharks he saw.  I think it’s safe to say he had a blast with his Grandma.

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Do you like to venture out and try new restaurants or do you tend to stick with places you know and love?

lunch in bowls

We didn’t end up going swimming after our workout because the pool was being used for swim lessons. We went to Walmart instead!  The toy section in Walmart is just as good as swimming. The Big One got two new cars from the movie Cars 2 and the Little One picked out a new ball. We also picked up a few groceries: plain Greek yogurt, berries, bananas, & organic whole milk for The Little One.

We fed the boys and then put them down for naps so we could eat and watch TV. We ate our lunch in bowls today. We decided to use as many dishes as possible in one meal! We had chicken sausage and quinoa in a bowl, salad in a bowl, fruit in a bowl, and half a pumpkin muffin for dessert. It was all fantastic!

The Little One only slept about 45 minutes so he is already awake.  Currently he and Grandma are playing peek-a-boo on my unmade bed.

Everyone is really excited to meet Daddy for Texas Roadhouse for dinner tonight! Hot rolls with cinnamon butter and fall-off-the-bone barbequed ribs are in my future and I am SUPER excited.