Cleaning, Play date, baking

It's Friday!!   I hope y'all's week has gone well and if it hasn't it's almost over!! 
If you weren't able to read Wednesday's post, head on over to see our NEWS!

Yesterday, I got up and had a small breakfast and some coffee, yay!  I am now wanting it again!  There were about 6 weeks where I couldn't stand the smell or thought of it! 
I hopped on the treadmill and knocked out a about 5.5miles when Ava woke up.  I got her breakfast and settled to watch Doc McStuffins and finished off a good 7 for the day. 
I took a shower and had a smoothie that Clint had made for us before he left for work.  He is so good at that!  Especially when he puts veggies in and that is the only way I want to eat them these days.

It was one of my two days a month that I go clean the office where I work.  I knocked that out in an hour and a half with my trusty helper, Ava.

Then I told her our next stop was a play date with one of my best friends and her three kiddos.
The kids played on the deck while we chatted at watched them.  Because of Christmas and her kids being sick, we haven't seen them in like 6 weeks!  It was a much needed playdate for them as much as the mamas.

We left around lunch time. I had packed us a lunch so we could eat while doing the rest of our errands.

I dropped of the water bill. A perk of a small town! 

Then we stopped at the oil changing place to see if and how much the Murano was leaking oil. 

There is a small leak, somewhere and they said we will need to take it to the dealer.  Thankfully it isn't a big leak...yet!

Eating her lunch at the so not cleanest place in the world.  What can you do, she was hungry!! ha
We got home and I put a load of laundry in the wash and put a "new to me" recipe of Herb Wheat bread in the bread machine. (It didn't look pretty, but it is pretty tasty!)  Apparently, I was in the mood to bake. Ava and I whipped up some mixed berry wheat muffins to have for breakfast the next couple of days or for a snack.  They turned out pretty darn good!

Clint got home and we chatted about the day and watched the DVR'ed Nashville from Wednesday night!  Love that show and seeing and knowing where they shoot the scenes is so neat!

I still had to do my 3000 club exercises for the day, so Clint asked us to go down to the garage with him and have family workout time.  I did 40 pushups, 40 burpees and 160 crunches.  The top abs are the only ones I am working these days!  I decided to try out the punching bag I got him for Christmas.  That was fantastic!  I had some pent up aggression from parts unknown.  I did 3x10 sets single arm punches and then 3x50 double fast punches. 

I headed up after I was done and started supper.  I made home made cheese fries for Clint and roasted some sweet potato fries, kale and onion for me. I also grilled us some Chile Lime Turkey burgers from Trader Joe's.  So yummy!!!

Well, I need to get to what I get paid to do! 

Y'all have a great weekend and I'll talk soon!

Christmas get together

Hi!  Middle of the week y'all!  Yay!  How was y'all's Tuesday?!  Ours was busy but great!!

I got up and started laundry and got my grocery list together.  I started cleaning the house a little and then decided to start my run.  Ava woke up about a mile in, so I got off and went and got her and fixed her breakfast.  I turned on Cinderella in the bonus room while I jumped back on the treadmill.
Total of 8.37miles!  Oh yeah! Good stuff!

I finished cleaning the house from top to bottom.....we were having guests later!

Time to get cleaned up for the day!  Ava is the only one I know who wants to eat an apple in the bathtub.  Who can deny that kid?!!

We headed to Kroger and got some produce and a few groceries for the rest of the week.  No grocery shopping next week! Because of all the shin-diggin!

After Kroger, we headed to Walmart to pick up one of my dear friends and her daughter.  They were going to our house to hang out for a while and then 2 more of our friends and another daughter were coming over for supper!

Waiting for Leigh and Zoey to get there!

We got home and had some lunch and put the groceries away.  I put the chili together and let it marry together for a good 2.5 hours.

We went up to the bonus room and played!

Not sure what is happening here!

Mary and Kate arrived and Rachel shortly after.  We fed the girls organic chicken nuggets and mac n cheese and then sent them off to play while we bowled up some chili and cornbread and caught up with each other!

After supper, we had Clint take our pictures and then we all played and laughed at the girls in the living room.

Perk of being home is getting in your jammies early!

Hugs all around!

Zoey LOVES to hug....anyone!

We had such a good time together!  Love these girls!!

Hope you have a great day! See ya soon!

M.I.A.

I have been M.I.A and I apologize.
I have gotten over my Strep Throat, thank goodness.

Our laptop decided that it needed a new hard drive! You can not prepare for these things!

On to a little recap of the weekend that flewwww by.

Friday night:

A little bit of this:

 Source

and a little bit of this:

Source

Saturday:

Gym

6.5 miles on the tready in 60 min! Oh yeah, my energy is back and I am back in the game!

Upper body lifting:

Combo: Bicep curls into shoulder press 2x12 12lb DBs

Front raises 2x12/arm 12lb DBs (owwwwch!)

Bent over rows 2x12 12lb DBs

Single arm overhead tricep press 2x12 12lb DBs

GOOD DAY at the gym-o!

Then we did a little bit of this:

Source

Little bit of this:

Source

We watched this:

Source

Sunday:

We went to my bestie, Eva's church to visit since they were celebrating their 50th Anniversary.  Bonus: it started and hour later than our church, it is half a mile down the road from our houses and we got free lunch!! Booo ya!  Winning!

Came home and Ava took a nap before we headed off to a wedding shower.  Tis the season for weddings and showers.

All in all a good weekend.  They always go so fast!  Ava has figured out how to wave and reach up for you when she wants you.  It is the CUTEST. THING.EVER. But in all honesty she could be cute to me with a burlap sack on and covered in mud, with an animal print bow on of course!!!

  My friend Mary is in labor right now!!  Yay!  Kate Emerson will be here any time!  

Do you go to the hospital to visit friends when they have babies or do you wait until they get home?

Have a great rest of the day!

1/2 marathon and a shower!

GOOD MORNING!!

I hope everyone's weekend was fabulous! 

Mine was!

First, here is Ava and her new trick! Such a big girl!

On to the weekend.  Saturday morning started at an early 3:30am!  I was so afraid I would miss my alarms that I set two! I never sleep through an alarm but for some reason I was terrified I would.  We were meeting friends at 5am to head to LP stadium(where the TN Titans play and the FINISH line for the COUNTRY MUSIC MARATHON and 1/2 MARATHON.  It was still dark and quite chilly when we got there.  We were able to get on the shuttle and head on over to Centennial Park where the race was to start.  Poor Ava and mama were SUPER cold!!! (Holy white legs!)

I just took my long sleeve tshirt off and am ready to get the show on the road!

Me, my running buddy Eva and her friend Tabitha.  Eva was doing all kinds of nervous laughing!  She was making me nervous!

Me, my best friend Leigh's husband(beside me) and his friend Kevin.

I had too!!  A rave isn't official without a baby onesie with zebra print....right?!?!

My sis loaned Ava her shades!

Ava and my mom at the finish line waiting on me. Doesn't it look like she is cheering? (sorry for the sideways pic)

Do you see me?

Finally found Clint and Ava!

Trusty Garmin!

1/2 marathons are exhausting!  (she wasn't eating the sunflower seed btw)

Quick recap!  

I was super nervous and anxious and had pterodactyls flying around in my belly.  When we started the START line, Kevin took off and Leigh's husband was up ahead but I could still keep him in sight. Me, Eva and Tabitha kept together until about 7.5 miles and then they waved me on.  Periodically, I was giving text updates to Clint to let him and everyone with him where we all were and what mile we were on.  I lost Leigh's husband at one of the curves and never saw him again. 

The hills weren't that bad actually since where we live is extreme hill mania.  What sucked was there were lots of hills but BARELY ANY DOWNHILLS!  Talk about a killjoy.  

I kept my pace and took a CHOMP around mile 8.  I was feeling good but new that 10.5miles was the farthest I had ran.  I was nervous I would hit my wall, so I took another CHOMP around mile 10.  My corral was 2:15, but secretly I wanted to get 2:00.  So what did I get???

OvrPl	SexPl	DivPl	Bib	First Name	Last Name	City	State	Chip Time
5878	2530	674	18580	Courtney

02:07:55!!!!!!

I am pretty dang proud of that!!  The only time I walked was at the water/Cytomax stations and it was my farthest run so far!  I crossed the finish line a bundle of emotions.  I got teary actually.  I can't explain the accomplishment you feel when you set out to do something as amazing as running a 1/2 marathon and doing it!  Especially having a baby 9 months ago! Having Clint, Ava, my mom and sis there meant the world to me!

Am I sore?  Yes!  My quads were yesterday and still today.  All of the uphills and no downs really pushed the quads.  

How long are you resting? I took yesterday off and will today too. I am going to do the elliptical and some slooooow couple mile runs this week and then next week it is game on.

Why is that? Because I signed up for Wilma Rudolph 6th Annual 10k Road Race on June 25th!

Will I run another 1/2 marathon?  HECK YEAH, I am running

The Women's Half Marathon & 5K - Nashville, TN Saturday, September 24, 2011   7:00 AM Walk of Fame Park Nashville , TN I have to get 2:00 now!!!!!  I am addicted!!

  

Good workouts, food, friends, & 1st

Ugh alas, it is Monday!  It came way too quickly!!

Weekend recap:

Saturday:
I worked. Not fun being away from my 2 favorite faces.  I did get to workout/run.
Weights:
15#DBs 
Giant set:
4x10 Bicep Curls
4x10 Bent over rows
4x10 Shoulder Press
4x10 Laying chest press
Cardio:
5.15miles in 60 min.  ( I felt really good in this run.)


I went home after and played with Clint and Ava and ate, of course!  I was famished.  Then we got ready to spend some time with one of my Best Friends that was in town..  She is pregnant and we are so excited.  We always have a great time with her and her husband.  They were staying at her mom and stepdad's house and Mama G made pasta, salad, bread, and apple cobbler.  We brought wine!  Yumm-oooo

Sunday:
-Church
-IHOP....did you know they have a new Simple and Fit area on their menu??  Yes please!  I am on it!
I got the Whole Wheat French Toast Combo and it was just enough.
-COSTCOOOOOO! We LOVEEEE Costco.  It had been a while since we had been, and boy did we make up for it!  Our freezer and non-perishables are FULLY stocked again!
-Home for lounging around.
***Ava was standing on the couch looking outside holding on the the side and she lost her balance and plopped down on the Boppy pillow we had propped behind her in case of said balance losing.  Do you know she PULLED HERSELF BACK UP!  A few minutes later she plopped again and once again pulled back up!

She is going WAYYYYY to fast for her mama!  I begged her to slow down, but she just giggled at me.  Apparently she is an overachiever like her mama.  Not necessarily a bad thing right?!?!

Have a great day!!

Releasing an egg and a burden!

We are back!  It it was such a GREAT GREAT weekend.  There have started to become this group of young adults, mostly marrieds, that we have been hanging out with at church.  We decided in the summer to go on a retreat sometime in November.  Really just to get away and know each other better. 

Clint and I were a little apprehensive about going because as much as we love these people, we don't have a heck of a lot in common with them.  So we weren't exactly sure how it was going to go.

Highlights of the weekend.
Friday, I took off work and got things ready and Clint just got off early that day.  We start up to the place and were called by one of the guys to tell us the directions were wrong that he gave us and he had the correct ones.  Ok.  That's cool.  We weren't too far off the mark.  Well, long story short, a 2 hour trip turned into a 3.5-4 hour Tour! 

Um yeah!  One of mine a Clint's "things" is directions.  The way I read them isn't the way he needs to hear them.  I have learned through crying/mad trial and error that he just needs the basic directions like what exit to get off and hwy etc.  I read the directions EXACTLY how they are written.  We are learning. 

We didn't do too bad on this 3 hour tour, but we did get frustrated a wee bit!  For obvious reasons. 

Anyway, we got there safe and sound to this place. Although, the leaves have turned and are off most of the trees, it was an amazing place and everyone got there finally later that night after EV.ER.Y.ONE got lost.

Saturday morning we had a big breakfast and a devotional with an amazing video and makes you realize just how small you are in this universe.  Definatley pulled at the heart strings when it went into detail just how precious that moment is when life is produced.  YEAH I GOT THAT THANKS. 

We had not told anyone about what has been going because 1. we didn't want to take away from all of the couples that drank the water and got pregnant recently and 2. we didn't want the pity card pulled.  It was very very hard to keep it together during that part of the video.

One of the guys wanted us to go around the room and say (if you wanted) something that you need prayers for.  All Clint and I had to do was look at each other and we knew it was time.  The time was right, the trust was there with the small group in attendance.  It was time.

It got to Clint and he said, "Courtney and I have been struggling with something in our life since January...."  My husband LOST it.  He is the strong one!  He is my pillar and to see him lose it was (this might be bad) comforting.  To see how this is really affecting him made it easier on me.  Although, I KNOW he is struggling, it is so good to see it on the outside.  I fell in love with him more.  I gathered myself and told everyone what was going on and there was not a dry eye in the room.  One of the guys said, "can we stop right now and pray for y'all?!"  Um yes please and thank you.  We are an emotional train wreck over here. 

I am so glad we told them.  No one pulled the pity card and we felt so loved by each and every person.  We know that what was said at the retreat was to stay in our circle and just to know that there are 12 other people thinking about us and praying for us is so humbling and I am without words.  (shocker!)  I can come up with a few though!!!

We realized that we can't do this alone anymore.  I love you girls that read my ramblings and y'all are so supportive, but to actually have someone hug you and say "I wish I would have known sooner, so I could have gave you a listening ear or a hug"   is priceless. 

The best thing though is that because there were some single girls, that were on the trip, the guys and girls were split up (we had issues about this, but some people in the group were uncomfortable). That's for another post. We "kind of" let them know that this week was "Prime time game time" and that's why we had our own room.  They were complete supportive in this.  We took advantage. (wink wink)

Clint and I are so blessed.  We have so many people in our lives that love us and want us to be parents.  It was such a great weekend and a much needed emotional release. It brought me closer to these wonderful people AND to my amazing husband. 

You might not feel comfortable telling people in real life of your IF issues and that's fine.  You can do what is right for y'all, BUT it was time for us and it was better than we hoped.  It's not just us dealing with this anymore, but we have a real life support group.  A huge burden was lifted from us.  You will just "know" if and when the time comes to open up about your struggles.  People WANT to know that they aren't the only ones who feel like they are carrying the world on their shoulders.  It not only helps you get that burden off your shoulders, but it takes the focus off of your problems and focusing on someone's elses problems.  Everyone is struggling and hurting with something in their lives, you just have to be open and accept help.

Have a great week!!