4 Miler on the 4th of July & Other Festivities

Hello blog world! Long time no see! It's been insanely busy around here, but I realize that's not a good excuse because everyone is busy. It seems like every time I think I have a chance to sit down and put together a post, something else happens and it just doesn't come together. I am making an effort to be better, though! I love blogging and it seems to be a part of who I am...so even if the posts are random and scattered, they will still be there!

On to this past weekend's festivities - I RAN A RACE!! In person! 

Although the details and logistics of running said race didn't come together until the night before, the stars aligned and I was able to make it happen. I knew I couldn't miss out on our areas 4 miler on the 4th of July, so my dad agreed to stay with Brayden and off I went!

Had to pull out the traditional skirt! Love it!

It wasn't "hot" by any means (because we were graced with a cloud cover) - but it was humid...so so very humid!

The sight of a bib on my shirt and other runner's feet around me made me so very happy!

I also LOVED the addition of a "fireworks" start! This runDisney fan approves! :) 

Overall, this race was a really good one for me. Nothing hurt, nothing felt off, I didn't breathe funny and my heart didn't act crazy. I also knew ahead of time that I wouldn't PR this race and I was ok with that. I'm nowhere near the speed/pace I was a couple of years ago and that's ok. Hopefully once our Orangetheory opens back up, things will improve even more. (Not corona related but Hurricane related.)

I managed to keep pace during the race with a runner ahead of me and it was pretty smooth sailing to the end. I pushed myself to an extent I was happy with - without overdoing it - and was incredibly happy with the end result!

My official time was 35:14 was with a pace of 8:51/mi. I was 5th in my age group and 17th woman overall. 

It felt SO nice to be back, I just sat near the finish line and watched/cheered on runners and listened to the music while attempting to cool down.

After the race, I showered then met up with my parents and Brayden for breakfast at Waffle House. Seriously, their waffle with peanut butter chips is my all time favorite. So good!

Brayden is growing so big, so fast and will be starting kindergarten this fall. I made it my mission to make this summer the most magical one yet and I think we've done a pretty good job with that! (More to come later with our summer shindigs.)

That evening, Jason joined us after work for a 4th of July celebration at the park. I was sad it rained literally the entire time, but we still had fun!

The fireworks were great, too!

On Sunday, our church had a BBQ potluck dinner, complete with waterslides for the kids. 

It was fantastic and Brayden had a blast! I loved matching him for church that morning, too!

The weather on Sunday was 100% different from Saturday's which I was grateful for! It gave me a little time to sit outside on the patio and enjoy the gorgeous weather!

On Sunday evening, we drove downtown to the lake to watch the fireworks there.

They had food trucks set up as well as a commission of people handing out small American flags.

This time, we met up with some of our friends and we had a blast!

My friend Jane and I were pregnant at the same time, so these two are only 6 weeks apart. It's been so much fun to watch them play together over the years!

We stayed long after the fireworks were over, just talking and catching up. It really was great to see our friends!

As a last minute addition on Monday, we had my parents over for hamburgers! None of us were working, so it all came together perfectly!

It was yet another beautiful day, so enjoyed dinner outside on the patio. I just love days like this! 

This past weekend was a great one and definitely one I'll remember forever!

How did you celebrate the 4th? Run any races? Watch any fireworks? Spend time with friends/family?

4th of July Weekend

Hello there and happy Monday! We had such a great and relaxing weekend and I loved every minute of it! I made it my goal to seriously stay home, chill, and relax this weekend and we did just that (well, mostly).

My "weekend" began at work with a luncheon on Friday. It was a luncheon to end the 3 week summer student program and those sweet students voted for me as their favorite hospital associate and the physician I work with as favorite doctor! My take on students is this - they don't have to be there but they want to be because they want to learn. Everyone was also a student at some point in time, so we should be nice to them and encourage them. Anyway, I was honored to say the least!

After the luncheon, we were closed for the remainder of the afternoon and got to go home! Score!

On Friday evening, I browsed through my Orangetheory days and realized that I had an extra one because I miscounted. I knew I couldn't let it go to waste, so I headed off to Orangetheory instead of running outside in the sweltering heat. More about my Saturday OT experience on Friday! :)

Jason had rehearsal for our Sunday church production and while he was gone, Brayden and I ate a few grapes and watched Meet the Robinson's. Brayden actually watched something other than Mickey Mouse or Puppy Dog Pals which blew my mind! It was truly a monumental occasion!

After enjoying a nap on Saturday afternoon (all of us), we spent the rest of the evening outside enjoying the water! My parent's bought this water pad for Brayden for his birthday and we just got around to filling it up with water!

For dinner on Saturday evening, we had our first Hello Fresh meal! More about this coming up in a future blog post (my thoughts on it all, etc).

On Saturday night, I also realized that I hadn't yet registered for the 4 mile race on the 4th of July and online registration closed that night. DONE!

Sunday morning was our patriotic service at church! I left with a full heart as we ended it with celebrating our veterans. A sweet and precious WWII veteran absolutely brought me to tears as he (along with all of our other veterans) reminded me of all they sacrificed so we can enjoy the freedoms we know today.

Afterwards, we had dinner on the grounds which was so much fun! We haven't had an after Sunday dinner at church in a LONG time!

This kid loves chips, y'all. Chips chips all day long.

After returning home, we watched the Astros game, hoping to catch a glimpse of our Florida friends who were there. (We didn't end up seeing them.) We also spent more time outside and enjoyed leftovers for dinner.

Mission accomplished - it was a truly enjoyable and relaxing weekend! I'm excited for a day off of work this week and am looking forward to spending more time with my sweet little guy! I hope you all had a great weekend, too!

4th of July Weekend 2017

Happy almost 4th of July! I hope everyone had a great weekend and had a chance to celebrate in some form or fashion!

We had a busy but fun weekend and I got to spend a ton of time with my little man!

My Saturday morning plans included a long run around my house. My running group wasn't meeting up and my running buddy was going out of town, so it was just Brayden and I. He actually woke up early that morning (unusual for him), but it worked for me! We were out the door and running by 7:30 a.m. 

I'd hoped to start our run no later than 8 a.m. so we could beat as much heat/sun as possible. The humidity was already in the mid 90's and the temps were in the high 80's. Oy. Hello July 1st!

I decided to listen to the latest episode of the Fit Mouse Podcast while running and the title struck me as funny - I was seriously on the STRUGGLE bus on Saturday morning, so this episode was fitting!

It's not easy to run in the middle of summer - add a 27 pound toddler to the mix and yep, my legs felt like cement by mile 2!

My super cute watch and adorable running partner made it worth my while, though!

Brayden LOVES going outside and on runs with me and he did amazing during our entire 5 mile run! I never heard a peep from him!

My goal for this run was to stay under 10 minute miles. Even though I had to walk a little during the last mile, I still reached my goal (barely)! Seriously though, by the end of it all...I.Was.Wiped.Out!

After cleaning myself up then making breakfast for both myself and Brayden, it was almost his nap time once again. He fell asleep around 11 a.m. and so did I! My head hit the pillow and I do not remember a thing until I heard him stirring about two and a half hours later. BEST NAP EVER!

After nap time, we were I was bored, so we headed to town to do a little shopping! We stopped at both Bath & Body Works and Maurice's, then went to a local juicery for a smoothie!

This time, I tried the Tropikale - it was a delicious blend of kale, pineapple, coconut water, and honey. I really liked it!

While I drank my smoothie, Brayden enjoyed a little vanilla FroYo! :)

 

On Sunday morning, we dressed in our red, white, and blue and headed to church for our Sunday morning's patriotic service!

How crazy is this comparison? The 2016 photo was from this same church service last year! It almost doesn't even look like the same kid! CRAZY!

I LOVE how they line the street with flags for this service! :)

I had two favorite parts to this service - the first was where they honored each branch of the military by singing the Armed Forces Medley (Veterans in attendance stood with their respective flags) and the second was when they honored the Vietnam vets at the end of the service (each vet in attendance stood at the front and received a memorial pin...it was very touching)!

On Sunday night, our little coffee shop group went bowling for family night!

Brayden even tried his hand at a little bowling! Fun times!

Oddly enough, I won (which NEVER happens)! My name is #2 on the list above! :)

My puppies also got groomed last week with fresh summer cuts!

I'm back at work today and will have the day off of work on Tuesday. I'm debating on running a 4 mile race on Tuesday morning (solo) - I've run it several years in the past but am not sure about this year. Honestly, I'll probably end up running the race because otherwise, I would still have to get up and run some time on Tuesday morning anyway! Might as well make it worth my while! :)

I hope you all have a great and happy and safe 4th of July! Happy Birthday, America!

What are your 4th of July plans? What did you do this weekend? Any racing?

Baby Update & Weekend Vlog

Do you ever sit back and think "this time last year, I was doing such and such..."? I've been doing that a lot lately, especially since around this time last summer, I was pregnant and didn't even know it! Last August, we opened up about our struggle with infertility, told our families we were pregnant, recorded the entire experience, then shared it with all of our family and friends on youtube in September. We've received lots of well wishes and congratulations from viewers over the past year - some of you even sent gifts for our baby which was oh so sweet and incredibly appreciated!

Since that time, I've had several people ask for a baby update/video...so on the 4th of July weekend, I made one! :) Yep, I vlogged. It's been AGES since I created a vlog and I was feeling kind of rusty, so I decided to give it a try once again. (I also can't WAIT for Disney World in February and Princess Weekend vlogs...YAY!)

I know I'm late in posting this since the 4th was like forever ago but oh well...here it is! I also know that vlogs aren't everyone's thing...no worries, I'll be back to my usual blogging style tomorrow, without a video camera! :)

4th of July Weekend 2016

Happy 4th of July! I just love this holiday...it makes my patriotic heart happy! Thank you to the men and women who have put their lives on hold and given their lives for our freedom. I can't say it enough...your sacrifice is appreciated and doesn't go unnoticed!

Source

My little family really enjoyed spending our 4th of July weekend together! It began on Friday with a visit to the home of one of my longest and best friends, Jane!

If you remember, we were pregnant together and our babies are only six weeks apart. It's fun getting them together and watching them grow!

I think they are going to be great friends! Well, they kinda don't have a choice! Hah!

This was one of three 4th of July outfits Brayden owned...and he had to wear them all throughout the weekend, of course!

Even the rice crispy treats were patriotic!

On Saturday morning, I went for a run (more on that in my Fitness Friday post) and Jason made breakfast for us after I returned home!

We had delicious Mickey waffles with Joffrey's coffee...in a Disney mug, of course!

Do you know you can purchase coffee like they sell in the Disney parks online? Well, you can! Head over to Joffrey's website to check it all out!

Saturday afternoon brought about a long awaited treat - a crab and crawfish boil! My dad always does an excellent job with these and they didn't disappoint!
 

This was my first time to have crawfish this season and probably last. Unfortunately, we are on the very tail end (no pun intended) of crawfish season here.

After crawfish, we stopped by TCBY for dessert! Yum!

On Sunday morning, Brayden got all spiffed up for our church's Patriotic Service.

I just love his outfit! (This is outfit number 2! Number 3 will be worn today.)

My two favorite guys!

The road in front of our church was lined with flags and it was a beautiful sight as always!

I also helped out in the coffee shop and we had shirts made for the holiday! I just love it!

This year's patriotic service was hands down one of our best yet. Although we are still in our kids building due to a recent flood, they still managed to make this service a memorable one.

At the end, they played the Armed Forces Medley and members of each branch walked up to the front with their respective flags as their song was being played. Afterward, they lined the back driveway and we had the chance to shake their hands and thank them for their service to our country. I LOVED IT!

My red, white, and blue fam!

 After lunch on Sunday, Jason and I made last minute plans to catch an afternoon showing of Finding Dory! We hadn't been on a "date" in...gosh...at least two months so this was a nice little getaway!

Our town recently opened a Movie Bistro and it has been all the rage! We LOVED it and I'm pretty spoiled to the super nice comfortable and reclining seats!

Now THIS is how you watch a movie!

I hope you all had a great weekend, too! There's not much going on here today, I'm just going to enjoy my day at home with my baby! 

Have a wonderful and safe 4th! 

Any special plans today?