Labor Day Weekend 2016

This past weekend, my family and I spent time with our extended family in Dallas, Texas. It was Brayden's first time to visit Dallas as well as his first time to meet several family members, and we had a blast!

No car trip is complete without Mickey! As far as travel goes, Brayden was a rock star on the trip! He got antsy when we had about an hour left to go, but his favorite rendition of "Jesus Loves Me" on repeat took care of all of that! :)

On Saturday morning, I woke up early and went for a 5 mile run around Valley Ranch.

My main "route goal" was to run by the Dallas Cowboys old practice facility. Although I'm not a Cowboys fan, I AM a fan of the CMT show "DCC Making the Team" (I've faithfully watched all 11 seasons)! Snippets of this entrance have been shown throughout the seasons, so I was very excited to run by it in person! More about my run in Friday's post.

Our post-run brunch was delicious!

After Brayden's mid-day nap, we drove to UNT to tailgate and hang out with family. 

I was so glad I remembered his Mickey fan! He also loved his new umbrella stroller!

Midway through, some Vita Coco reps came by with free samples of coconut water. I'm a fan already, so I loved it!

We didn't stay for the game because Brayden would have been too hot. Instead, we went shopping!

Of course, we stopped at the Grapevine Mills mall for a little Disney Store run! I found several items I'd been eyeing online and I purchased Brayden's Halloween costume! :)

 

On Sunday morning, I was invited to attend my very first spin class with my cousins. After debating it for a little while, I decided to attend. 

I wasn't so sure about my decision a few minutes into the class, but it was a great experience! I can't wait to share my thoughts on my first spin class in (hopefully) tomorrow's blog post!

We also attended a game at Globe Life Park on Sunday afternoon! Guess who the Rangers were playing?! THE ASTROS! Hello! I HAD to go!

....and of course I wore my Astros gear! I wasn't alone...at least a third of the people I saw at the game were also supporting the Astros! 

The only thing I don't like about this stadium is the fact that its hot! The stadium is open air which means the sun beats down the entire game. Despite the heat, it was a great game and the Astros won!

Go Astros! :)

I couldn't stop my tradition of ice cream in a helmet! I don't have a Rangers helmet so of course, I HAD to get  one!

Dinner that evening was homemade gumbo. It was delicious!

After dinner, we took a few family pictures...

I just love my family! :)

Board games followed shortly after!

The Game of Things is hilarious and we all had a good time laughing! We also played "Speak Out"...I'm sure you've seen videos of this game floating around facebook...

Although that stupid mouth guard brought back horrible memories of my days in braces, this game was HILARIOUS! We had such a blast playing!

Yesterday, we spent our day traveling home. In all, we had a fantastic weekend and really enjoyed spending it with our family and friends! :)

How was your labor day weekend? Did you run any races? Have a fun time with family? Catch up on rest?

Christmas 2015

Hello and Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Even though it was a warm and humid one down south, we still had a great time with our families! (Of course, a cold front passed through last night and we woke up to really cold temps this morning...silly weather.)

My voice decided not to fully return until the Saturday after Christmas - along with a few new developing issues (to be discussed in Thursday's update), I didn't make it out for a walk/run/nadda not one day this week. Honestly, I'm ok with that. Delivering a safe and healthy baby is my priority - exercise will be there in a few months! :) I also enjoyed sleeping in on Friday, Saturday, and a little on Sunday morning!

Our Christmas began at Jason's family's house where we ate traditional Christmas Eve fajitas, read the Christmas story, and opened gifts. Oh yeah, we also took our traditional "goofy" picture! :)

On Christmas morning, the Grinch and Max stopped by to say hello but didn't stay long. By that I mean, their getup was gone in seconds!

Last but not least, we spent Christmas Day with my family!

We enjoyed playing games...The Game of Things, y'all (it's hysterical)...eating lots of yummy food, and spending time together! Gifts were in the mix somewhere, too!

Madalynn figured out which gift belonged to her about 3 weeks ago and already opened it once (hence the shabbiness of the paper). She was SO READY to open this on Christmas night...watching her rip into the package was hilarious!

Overall, my Christmas was filled with lots of love, laughter, and time spent with family.

I so hate for Christmas to end...it truly is a magical time of year! Until next year....only 362 days to go!

How did you spend your Christmas? Hope you had a great one!! :)

Batteries and Birthdays

I had a completely different blog post idea for today – instead, I am going to share my story of yesterday’s events.

During lunch, I met with an ACS liaison to discuss the Gleaux Run. We had a great meeting and formatted a race plan, tied up loose ends, etc.

As I attempted to leave the parking lot (it was McAlisters, by the way), my car decided it wanted to stay. I assumed my battery was dead and needed a jump. Thankfully, my brother and sister in law were in town (yesterday was his birthday) AND Jason was off of work so he was hanging out with them. They were at the mall, right across the street and came to my rescue in minutes! Random the way that happened? I don’t think so!

I returned to work, my car went for repair – we were told that they were slammed and wouldn’t be able to look at my car until the next day. Within 2 hours, I received a phone call telling me that my battery was dead – they replaced it and called me an hour later to let me know it was ready! How’s that for service?!

I said all of that to say, I’m super thankful for the way things played out. Instead of having no one to turn to, my family was right there across the street and were able to help me in minutes. Yes - I could have called roadside assistance or something along those lines, but if my battery HAD to die, I’m glad it died on a day when everyone (who’s not normally around) was nearby to help. That’s no coincidence.

The remainder of my day was fabulous! I got to hang out with my brother, we ate a great dinner at a super delicious local restaurant, and we had legit cookie cake from GACC!

Opening gifts

We also played a game called Quelf. If you’ve never played this game before and you enjoy funny games, GO BUY IT NOW! Seriously this game will have you rolling with tears streaming down your face. We love it!

For this particular action, we had to draw bull's-eyes on paper and place them on our forehead. If we caught another player looking at our bull's-eye, they had to move back two spaces!

Overall it was a great birthday and we enjoyed spending time with family!

Do you like to play board games with your family? What’s your favorite one? We are always looking for new ideas!

Old School, Anyone?

Saturday morning, I met up with my running group for a 10 mile run. It was hot and humid, but we got it done! I took a Huma Chia Energy Gel for the first time and I really liked it! I now understand what Christy meant when she said she would use the gel as jam. Strawberry Huma Gel would taste pretty darn good on a Whole Wheat English Muffin if I do say so myself! :0)

After our run, we were greeted with a soiree of duckies. The cutest of the lot was a momma duck with her 7 baby ducklings! Adorable!!

As I was on my way home, my brother called to let me know that him and my sister in law would be in town later on that afternoon. Enter: family fun night.

At dinner, we began talking about old school games and things we used to do as kids. Of course, the topic of Mall Madness and Dream Phone came up. My brother and I have a running joke about Mall Madness, so I was excited to play again once more. Unfortunately, the center console was fried. Sad times.

Instead, we opened Dream Phone and the quest to find our secret admirer began.

Guess who won?  

I changed a lot of the faces on the cards and the game board to pictures I cut out of Teen Bop magazine…NSYNC, BSB, Dawson’s Creek, and the likes! After posting the photo on Instagram, I discovered that I wasn’t the only one who did such a thing! Whew! My mom thought I was crazy…ok, maybe I am (a little).

Sunday morning, our church hosted its “Let Freedom Ring” celebration! We honored veterans both past and present and celebrated the freedom of living in this amazing country! I love it when our orchestra/choir sang the Armed Forces Medley and members of each branch of the military walked on stage to stand with their flag. It was very touching.

(By the way…no, that’s not a giant flame, it’s fireworks!)

My brother and I also enjoyed a ride in my dad’s jeep on Sunday. It was a GORGEOUS afternoon!

Does your family ever get together for family game night? Did you have a good weekend? Any 4th of July plans?