A Weekend To Remember

When many years have passed and I reflect back on my life, I know that this weekend will be one I'll remember for a long time. No, nothing spectacular or extraordinary happened, but it was the little things I got to appreciate and enjoy and I know I'll cherish those moments forever.

A little back story - around Christmas, Brayden hit a crazy growth spurt and not only did he grow physically, he also grew cognitively by leaps and bounds. My soft-spoken kid who didn't really begin talking until right before he turned 2 is now a chatter box who doesn't stop and I seriously love it. He's putting more and more phrases together, counting up a storm, and he even memorized his first scripture verse which completely melts my heart.

I wish I could stop time and everything right here, just the way it is right now, because in exactly two short months, my sweet little boy will be a three year old! 

So this weekend, we enjoyed the weather, playing outside, swinging "high" to our hearts content, riding our little Mickey 4 wheeler, and simply just being together - with Brayden chattering away the entire time. No deadlines, no projects, no to do lists - it's weekends like this that do a heart good.

He even slept in on Saturday morning which afforded me the opportunity to run four miles solo. Jason was home but working nights, so I checked in on Brayden every mile or so and once he started stirring, I got him up and he joined me for the final two miles of the run!

During nap time, I even managed to complete a project for my YouTube channel that I've been rolling over and over again in my mind for a long time and I LOVE the way it turned out! I've wanted to have true opening credits for my videos for a while now and I finally completed that project on Saturday.

Throughout the weekend, I also finalized the ideas in my mind for my Princess Half Marathon outfits and can't wait to share them with you guys!

Speaking of Princess and runDisney, I listened to these guys a LOT over the weekend and boy did it just get me even more and more excited for our upcoming Disney trip!

If you don't listen to Joyful Miles then you need to! They are a wealth of runDisney knowledge and will seriously bring a smile to your face!

Last but not least, if you'd like to check out the project for YouTube I mentioned earlier, check out these videos below! Yes, I'm WAY behind on our August cruise recaps, but better late than never, right? :)

I hope you're having a great start to your week! Happy Tuesday! :)

Memorial Day Weekend 2018

Another three day weekend has come and gone and I can definitely say I'm sad to see it go. I so look forward to "extra" days off work because it always means extra time spent with my little guy! I hope all of you had a great Memorial Day Weekend as well! I so appreciate the men and women who served and died to give us our freedoms.

On Friday, I ran a few errands after work then spent the remainder of my evening pulling weeds. I'm pretty sure my flower beds hate me. Can you tell a difference between weeds and plants in the picture below? Nope, me either....

Brayden also spent the majority of the day with his grandparents. Those hands in his pockets, though...I just can't handle this kid sometimes!

Sadly, Jason had to work the weekend (although he was off on Monday), so on Saturday morning, Brayden and I enjoyed a special breakfast of Mickey waffles!

We also visited Chuck E Cheese for the first time for a birthday party! (I hadn't been since I was seriously 12?)

This kid had the time of his life! He loves loves loves pushing buttons and being around all of the games!

I've never experienced a party here and after seeing it all, I think it might be a great idea for the future!

On Saturday evening, we had dinner with Jason, then went for a spin on Brayden's new tricycle! He kept his feet on the pedals for a while with us pushing so I'm hopeful he will figure this thing out pretty fast!

For church on Sunday, we dressed in our red, white, and blue best!

We also enjoyed a lazy rest of our Sunday and I'll admit I stayed up a bit later than I should have on Sunday night trying to finish Once Upon a Time. Oh well, it doesn't happen often and I did manage to finish the finale...and I might have cried for like the last five minutes of the show. Whoops. Anyone else?

Brayden's first day of swim lessons fell on Memorial Day, so we were up bright and early for those! His lessons will continue the remainder of the week and I can't wait to see what he learns from them! Brayden LOVES water, and my main concern is the fact that he has no fear of water. He also doesn't know what to do with himself once he goes under, so I'm hoping she can help teach him some of those things!

He was so worn out from fun times in the pool that he had no trouble falling asleep and he took a nice, long afternoon nap!

During nap time, I spent a good couple of hours in the pool, just hanging out and reading a book. Downtime with me hardly ever happens, so I made sure to make the most of it while I could! It was so incredibly relaxing and I made a mental note to do this more often!

Yesterday evening, we ventured off to Jason's Uncle and Aunt's house for a BBQ! Brayden quickly became BFF with their dog, Brody. Brody let Brayden and his cousin Judah just hug him and lay on him...he was SO sweet!

Finally, we all had the chance to spend a day together, and it was a great one, I might add! 

Now it's back to the grind tomorrow. Three day weekends are never long enough and always leave me wishing for one extra day. I guess that's how it goes with any time off of work but still...I do love holidays!

How was your Memorial Day Weekend? Did you spend time with friends/run a race/eat delicious food?

Mother's Day Wekeend 2018

This Mother's Day Weekend was such a fun one for me. It was my third Mother's Day as a mom and definitely a memorable one!

We started out on Friday evening at a local pizza joint for dinner with my parents. Brayden has been to the play room many times in the past and had a ton of fun on Friday night!

He loves the lights and buttons! He won a ball in the claw machine and wouldn't let it go!

Even once we arrived home, he had an iron grip on that ball and his balloon!

On Saturday morning, I sent Jason out fishing and Brayden and I spent the morning together!

It started off with a six mile run around the neighborhood. We began our run a little later than I would have liked, so the heat was creeping in. We made it, though!

After the run, we stopped inside for a quick breakfast with iced coffee for me!

We also jumped in the pool after breakfast to help cool us down.

The water was chilly but we had so much fun swimming!

Once Jason returned home from fishing, we discussed what to do for dinner and I decided that I wanted crawfish. It was much overdue (by like a year) and since it was Mother's Day Weekend, we went for it!

This only made me look forward to my dad's yearly crawfish boil even more!

Even Brayden tried a crawfish or two! He sure was curious about those little critters!

On Sunday morning, I woke up to cards, flowers, and a gift!

The gift was a beautiful "Mom" Pandora charm! I love it!

We also attended church where they had this gorgeous backdrop set up for pictures.

Since my mom had to work on Sunday, we ordered lunch out and brought it to the hospital to eat with her. On Sunday evening, we had dinner with Jason's mom and grandmother as well which was a great way to end the weekend!

We gave each of our mom's a personalized flower pot as well as a book that we personalized with pictures from Brayden!

I hope all of you mom's out there had a great Mother's Day weekend as well!

Weekend Happenings

It's been a while since I shared a weekend recap here on the blog, and this past weekend was a pretty amazing one over here...so here we go!

Our weekend began on Friday evening at my mother-in-law's house for her birthday party! We had a great time celebrating with her and our family! Brayden also LOVES his cousins! It's so cute to watch them interact!

On Saturday morning, we attempted a re-take of Brayden's 2 year old pictures. Originally, the date for his session was cancelled due to rain. Instead, it was "added on" to his Easter session (for no extra charge). Well, home skillet was NOT in the mood for pictures that day which means we only got maybe one or two good shots. (He ended up taking a four hour nap that afternoon, so I think that was his issue.)

So, Jason and I set out on Saturday morning with Brayden for a little adventure of our own. He was a MUCH happier little dude that morning (back to his normal self) and we were able to capture several great shots of my little guy! Yay!

During nap time, I set out on a quest to pressure wash everything! During this time, the back deck, the entire back porch, as well as parts of the house were cleaned and I'm loving it! Everything feels so nice and refreshed now! We do have to replace a few boards on the deck and I will need to re-stain it but other than that, the majority of the backyard work is complete!

After nap time, we ate dinner then we enjoyed our first sno balls of the season!!

I had "The Little Mermaid" which is definitely a favorite and SO good!

Such a great day with my family!

The sunset that evening was gorgeous, too!

On Sunday morning, we headed to church. While driving there, this popped up in my instagram feed...

Funny, right? It was taken last Sunday! The story behind the photo? I said, "Smile! You're on Instagram" and he was like "Huh??" Too funny!

On Sunday afternoon, Brayden decided to be a nap rebel so Jason and I took turns doing things we needed to do while watching mr no nap. I took that opportunity to pressure wash the front porch as well as the side walk and apart from the awning around the rest of the house, my pressure washing duties are almost complete!

For a little while, Brayden was playing quietly with his toys, then I heard a lot of giggling. I couldn't figure out what he was doing so when I walked over to him, I saw this....

As soon as he looked up and saw me, he said "Uhoh!"

Yes, uhoh indeed! This kid cracks me up.

We really did have an amazing weekend and apart from not getting a run in (my own fault), I wouldn't change a thing!

How was your weekend? Did you participate in any St. Patty's day events?

Weekend Recap - Birthdays, Family Time, & Yummy Food!

Although this past weekend had a lot going on, I didn't plan much of it and just decided to go with the flow and see what happened! It was so much fun!

For starters, my sinus episode did not get better, it got worse and by Saturday morning, I couldn't breathe through my nose. A little sudafed helped somewhat, but needless to say, I decided not to run at all. I am feeling a little better this morning but I have a doctor appointment this afternoon after work, so we shall see what he has to say.

On Friday afternoon, I took Brayden in for another haircut. His hair grows so dang fast and he had his 18 month pictures scheduled for the following day!

My dad's birthday is this week, so we celebrated with my brother and his wife on Friday night.

I had to laugh at Brayden's fortune!

Happy birthday, Poppy!

Brayden's fall pictures/18 month pictures took place on Saturday morning. He was in a super happy mood and did SO well! We also took the pictures at an antique store that's owned by Jason's uncle & his wife.  The old cars and props were perfect for the images...I can't wait to see how they turned out!

This cracked me up - he was supposed to be taking his Saturday afternoon nap, so when I heard the sounds of his baby piano on the monitor, I knew something was up! Apparently he decided that his toys were way more fun than a nap.

Once he fell asleep, I left him in Jason's care and headed to a local build-your-own salad place for lunch with my sister in law. It was such a gorgeous day, we sat outside to eat!

After lunch, we walked next door for coffee at PJ's and sat outside again! It really was a lovely afternoon!

Jason's grandfather and sister will be celebrating birthdays this upcoming week too, so we had dinner with them at a local Seafood restaurant on Saturday night! I had the shrimp and crab gumbo and it was SO good!

Happy birthday, grandpa!

Sunday was very low key, with a trip to church, lunch after, and taking care of a few odds and ends around the house that evening. Breakfast began with Mickey waffles and coffee, and I reminded myself that it wouldn't be much longer before I was eating Mickey waffles every day for breakfast! YES!

On Sunday evening, I had the opportunity to record a podcast with Relay for Life! I recently served on a 5K work group initiative where we created a Relay 5K packet on how to put a 5K together from start to finish, so they had me on to discuss our work. I was honored they asked if I would be on their podcast!

The rest of the weekend was spent getting things together for our upcoming vacay. I can't wait!!

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! Happy Monday!