It has been a busy last week. I worked all of last week, and my running suffered a little.The weather also did not help the situation. I only managed to run once last week. It was a very good run, but I missed running the rest of the week. I can’t believe that I am saying that I miss running, I would have never said that a year ago. We also had a fun filled weekend of birthdays and going away parties. Today was very very rainy and yucky. So I ran some errands, and cleaned the house. Now that the inside of the house has had a deep clean, now it is time for the garage and the yard. John and I are spending all of this Saturday working on the lawn. Weeding it, fertilizing it, and mowing…Yay!! I want to buy some big half barrels to plant flowers in for the front yard, and to also start on my garden. The weather is supposed to get much better by the end of the week. So here is hoping that we will have sun for all our yard endeavors. I will post pictures of the yard, flowers, and garden as soon as they are picture worthy. I am also getting really excited because I farm share is coming in in about two weeks. Then we go and pick it up from the farmer’s market every week. I think it is going to be a lot of fun not knowing what we are going to get. I know that it will make me more creative in the kitchen for sure! Well that is about it recently. Oh yeah, I used my elliptical today. It was interesting to use it instead of running. I was on it for 45 minutes. It was a good workout, but definitely much easier than running. I am very happy I have it for rainy days.
I am still running and running. My last few runs have been fast 2 milers, and today I did a 3 miler and managed to cut 2 minutes off my pace since I first started running about 2 weeks ago! It felt so great to run today, the weather was spectacular, a sunny 65 degrees. I am working full time all week, and I am excited. I like the shift that I am doing, and it feels good to get out of the house. However, I am still so glad that I am a sub, and that next week I won’t be working and I can get started on planting herbs and a garden…yay!! John has been wonderful. Busy with work and masters stuff, but still managing to cross train with biking and running. Can I say it again how much I love that I don’t have a sedentary husband! On a side note this evening we picked up our new living room chairs that I am so excited about, and are the reason that I have picked up some shifts at work to pay for. John loves them and so do I! Another side note, the grill got its first test run for the near summer. John grilled steaks, and I made yams and brussel sprouts…yum! Love you guys!
I LOVE RUNNING!!! I am now running 5 days a week, and three miles each time. My goal this week is to up that to 4 miles! It feels so good!! Tomorrow I am taking a friend running that is interested in getting into it. I am very excited! I worked today…it was nice to see all the kiddos faces. I actually worked in the Pre-K room, which was interesting considering I have very rarely worked in there. They behaved very well, and said some of the funniest things. They were so sweet, and just came over and hugged on me all day. I will be working in there again tomorrow, hopefully they will listen as well as they did today. The weather was gorgeous most of the day, but ended in rain, which is suppose to carry on into tomorrow. John bought a rode bike, because now he is interested in triathlons! He is loving his bike! Can I say how blessed I am to have a hubby with admirable and fulfilling hobbies and passions! Well that is about it for now, as far as the food front we have been eating a lot of left overs seeing as I made several meals that made quite a bit. We are still waiting on spring here in Montana…so COME ON SPRING!!!
So I am loving my new running shoes, and I am LOVING running!! It feels amazing, and worshiping the Lord while running is pretty much wonderful! The weather has been less than optimal lately for running, yesterday it rained/snowed. So I could have easily not gone running, but fortunately we have an amazing gym on base, so after dinner John and I went to the gym and ran the track. I ran 3 miles!!! It felt amazing, so I just had to sprint my last lap…LOVE IT!!!! John told me that I needed to take today off, because it is not good to run day after day. I guess it is a good day to take off seeing as it is April 22 and there is 5 inches of snow on the ground…wowsers Montana lighten up, literally…hahaha. On the menu tonight…pasta with broccoli in a lemon cream sauce..yum!!!
Well I went running yesterday, and it was awesome!!! I ran two miles, and stopped simply because I had met my goal, but I most certainly could have easily ran 2 more!!! I can’t believe it, I always thought I hated running, but I can’t believe how amazing it felt. And, of course John is very excited for me, and proud. he got me all set up with his running gear (running watch, ipod shuffle, and running headphone). I am so excited for the summer when it will be awesome running weather. I am acquiring some of my own hobbies…cooking, GARDENING, and RUNNING. Watch out John we will see who has more hobbies by next year…hahaha. We had minestrone soup and salad last night, and tonight is green chicken curry and brown rice…YUM!!
Wow, what a great time we had on our road trip! I got to stay in 6 different hotels, and I LOVE hotels!! It was so awesome to see family, friends, and familiar places. Our driving went great, John drove, I fed him snacks, we listened to new music, he listened to audio books (that immediately put me to sleep) Mexico was amazing. It was short but sweet, it was so good to see Granni and Papa, and Brendan and Sarah, and oh yes those beautiful girls. The range of vocabulary those girlies have is incredible! They are so fun and precious. Also…nothing can beat authentic mexican food! One of my favorite moments was the first morning that we were there precious Grace came downstairs and whispered to me “wake up, Ellen,” I then motioned to her to climb into bed, and she climbed in and snuggled with me. I love family. We definitely missed everyone in England. After mexico we drove up to Santa Barbara to visit old friends. That was great, and Santa Barbara is as gorgeous as ever. We most definitely got our fill of Chipotle! I got to do a little shopping which is always fun! We walked along the beach observing the “Art Walk” I fell in love with this beautiful painting. I waited for the artist to be done with a client and then asked how much it cost. For some reason I assumed that it would be cheaper than in a gallery, let’s just say I was most definitely wrong…haha. After a couple days of fun times with friends we made our way up to San Francisco. While there Peter gave us a 3 mile walking tour of the city it was so cool. I also had the best iced coffee EVER! Then that night we went to a giants game, which was a blast, minus the mind numbingly cold wind. Then the next day we were off. Up the PCH we went the Northern California coast in unbelievable. We drove through the gorgeous redwoods and spent the night in Fort Brag, CA with a beautiful view of the Ocean. The next morning it was onto Medford, OR. It was so cool to see all the mayer memories. What a neat town. We woke up the following day at the crack of dawn to drive to crater lake. Unfortunately when we got there it was blowing snow like crazy, we could not even get out of the car :(. So onto Seattle we went. What an amazing city! We had yummy sushi, then drove around town. Wish we had more time there. Then finally we made our way back to good old Montana. I must say it is so good to be home. I have realized that this big city girl, is really starting to see the sweet positives in a small town. So not jaded. It was wonderful to go to our church today. John ran the “Icebreaker” which is a 5 miler race here in town. It was snowing so that was a little kick to the race. Amazingly John still managed to run it 2 minutes faster than his goal…GO JOHNNY! Then we came home, and while John took a 3 hour, yes I said 3 hour, bath (he likes to read in it) I cleaned the house did the laundry, grocery shopped, and started putting together John’s lunch for tomorrow. All in all it was a very productive day!! So so good to be home. Pictures of our trip to follow!!
Well 3 weeks in Texas was awesome, the weather was gorgeous and hanging with friends and family is always amazing! I did lots of shopping, ate amazing food, made it to the beach, a farm, and the driving range! What more could a girl ask for?…HER HUSBAND! I so wish John could have come with me, poor guy was unheard of busy with the inspection on base. I made it home to Great Falls with just a couple days to teach kids church at a conference held at our church, clean, run errands, and PACK PACK PACK for the west coast!! Now I am sitting in our lovely hotel room in Salt Lake City typing this blog, and looking so forward to seeing my OTHER family and friends. Feeling very blessed. 
So, I am heading out this afternoon to start my travels off in Austin visiting Lauren and Kendi…I CANNOT WAIT!!Then after a short but sweet visit with them, I am headed to Houston to see the fam. Mimi will be in town, and so will Alison. So I get to see everybody!!!!!
John is so sweet, the whole reason why I am going to Texas is because he felt so bad that he would not be around at all for the next two weeks. The base has an inspection, and so John’s work is going to keep him VERY busy, plus with his masters. Please pray that he does not get exhausted. I told him I would be fine here, but he just hates to “neglect” me. Sweetest husband award?
So with that said, I have done all the laundry, and prepared some dinners that should last him at least the first week. I also made him some breakfast taco filling so that he can have a warm breakfast full of protein. Is it sad, that it is ALWAYS hard for me to say goodbye to him, even if it is just a couple weeks? He is my best friend, and I miss him so much, when I am gone.
Anyway, I am so excited that I will be in warmer weather, I have been going a little stir crazy. John, however, is LOVING the cold weather, he and his friends are being taken by a guide to glacier, and cross country skiing to where they will camp in the mountains, in personally dug out ICE CAVES!!! Sounds way to cold for me, but I am sure he is going to have a blast!!!
That is us for now!
It has been a slow and wonderful weekend. Friday afternoon I got my hair trimmed and styled. Isn’t it sad when you have to wash your hair after having it styled? Then friday night we had dinner at our friends house who live across the street. Good company for sure. I learned a lot about make-up from Kate, the wife. Then Saturday we decided to go out to eat at Jaker’s for lunch, and I got to have my favorite salad! Yum! Then we grabbed coffee and went driving through the highwoods. It is beautiful out there. I was a little bummed that we did not see a bald eagle, and just as I had that thought a huge one flew up out of field, what a beautiful site! Once we got into town we decided to walk around some furniture stores I have been wanting some chairs for the living room, because it always seems a bit awkward for all of our company to have to seat on one sectional couch together. It is a little more cozy than most are used to, therefore, people tend to sit on the ground even when there is enough space on the couch…people are funny. John went out on alert Sunday morning, so it was just me at kids church and church today. After church I came home, made myself some whole wheat pasta with vodka sauce and goat cheese. Yummers! The dogs and I just chilled out today. I have been watching the cooking network a lot lately. My favorite show right now is “Chopped” it is where seasoned chefs compete with a time limit and are given crazy random ingredients and have to make dishes that they create. I LOVE IT!! Speaking of food. A little trick to using left over steak or pot roast. My momma taught me this, you can throw it in a food processor with pepper, mayo, and pickles to make a delicious sandwich spread. John thought it was tasty, and I loved mine over an avocado with vinaigrette. Well that is it for now…
Well it is a whopping 2 degrees out. It most certainly does not feel like March here. On these kind of days I must remind myself that if we find ourselves in a warmer climate at our next base, that I will miss the snow…hahaha
Nothing hugely new around here. John had his second volleyball game last night and they won! Yay! Before the game we had some friends over for dinner. I made pot roast, mashed red potatoes with skin on, garlic green beans, and cooked carrots. It was super yummy!
Tonight we have small group. Our executive pastor had to step in for a little while to lead it, because our leaders just had their second baby yesterday. I am making them dinner tonight, and hoping I will get a glimpse of that precious baby. On the menu for them, is homemade lasagna and a green salad.
Hope everyone is enjoying their wednesday!
