A newborn, and a weekly recap

I've been absent from the blog world for a little bit, and I've missed reading and commenting on your blogs, but I just haven't had the time.

Before, I mentioned in passing that our neighbor\friend\fellow missionary Bonnie was due to have a baby at any moment.  Carey and Bonnie had to decide what they were going to do for the delivery at the beginning of the pregnancy, since we can't just run 10 minutes to the nearest St. Jude.  Well, they weren't going to be able to go back to the States to have the baby, and the hospitals here are....horrible, horrible.  Filthy, unsanitary, and who knows (well, sadly we do!) what else.  The nearest decent hospital is probably in Nairobi, Kenya.  That being said, Bonnie picked my Mom to be the midwife, and me to assist at a home birth.  I know you're probably thinking how crazy that is, but it was the best option available, and Bonnie has always had extremely good, easy births with no complications whatsoever.

For months and months we've been preparing, talking, gathering supplies, and researching, along with having "checkups".  

Friday night at 8:45 p.m., Carey called and said Bonnie was in labor.  Mom and I gathered our things together, and got there at about 9.

 Here she is in between contractions

After a quick, problem-free delivery, Kylie Elizabeth was born at 12:14 a.m., on July 2nd.  She gave a healthy cry immediately, and was cute as a button!  The next day when the used-to-be-baby, Ryan, came in and looked at her he said, "I like that one, Daddy!!"

Here's Carey holding his new daughter for the first time.

She wasn't too happy about being cleaned up!

Now that the exciting news is over with, let's see what last week looked like:

Last week:

Monday: 7.5 mile bike ride

Tuesday: 2 mile run

Wednesday: Strength

Thursday: 4 mile run

Friday: 6 mile run

Sunday: 8 mile bike ride

I haven't included a post run picture in a while - whew, way overdue! :)

I did alot of arm\core work this week (I don't remember all the days) using some 10 minute Tracy Anderson videos.  She's a bit annoying, but it's a really great workout!

We were going to have a 4th of July party, but everyone was so tired from the weekend and excitement of the baby that we decided to postpone it. :)  We did make homemade chocolate ice cream, though!

(source)

Do you know anyone who's ever had a homebirth?

Did you do anything for the 4th?

 

Weekly recap, and tortilla pizzas

This last week was week 2 of the half training schedule and it went really well!  

Let's take a look:
Tuesday: 2 mile run
Wednesday: 3.65 mile bike ride
Thursday: 3.25 mile run
Friday: 4 mile run
Sunday: 6 mile bike ride

A good week, but I see a real lack of strength training.  I have a 10 Minute Solution pilates dvd that I really like to do, so I'm going to try to incorporate more of that this week.  We'll see how I do on that!  

Friday, our "long" run was a 4 miler, and I loved it.  I felt so good and strong, but ran at a relaxed, easy pace.  When we got back to the house, I was sad it was over, and wished we would've run a few more miles!  I take that as a great sign!  


I'm slowly getting faster, too, which I'm super excited about!  If we would have run two more miles on Friday, I would've beat my previous 10K time by 10 minutes.  Each small victory adds up to make the big ones!

The other day I made tortilla pizzas, and I really liked how they turned out.  I made flour tortillas, rolling them out thicker than I normally would, cooked them in the pan until I got some brown spots on them, added my sauce and toppings, then baked until they were warm, and the cheese was melted!

I used some cheese, but mine mostly consisted of veggies.

I used:
 • A sprinkling of cheese and meat
 • Zucchini
 • Pineapple
 • Tomatoes 
 • Corn
 • Snow peas
 • Green pepper




Here's what the guys' pizzas looked like:

 

 • Cheese

 • Meat

 • Tomatoes

 • Pineapple

These were so good - I'll definitely be making them again soon.  Quick, healthy, and filling!  Would you all be interested in a recipe section?

What are your plans for this week? 

Week 2, and my first GIVEAWAY!

We're almost at the end of week two in our half training.  Here's the one we've been following! 

We waited until about 4:45pm to head out so it would be cooler.  Even if the temperature itself isn't extremely hot, we're so close to the equator the sun feels like it's 3 inches from your face, so it can get pretty intense!

My legs felt a bit tired today, and about halfway through the run I got hit with pre-menstrual cramps.  I stopped to rest for a minute or two, because they were getting very intense.  After a short breather, we continued on and I was able to finish strong!  Time on your feet is the most important thing, I suppose!

Okay, now on to my GIVEAWAY!  I wanted to do something for you as a thank you for reading and commenting.  Unfortunately, I can't give away any super cool gift cards, but I do know that alot of you bloggers use a digital SLR camera, so I'm giving away one of these camera straps!

Yes, I did sew this especially for you!  You can turn a boring black strap into something cute and fun just by slipping on this cover.  

It's approx. 25 inches long, and 2 inches wide, so even if you don't have a SLR camera, you can put it on anything you'd like that fits the measurements.

Here's what ya do:

Mandatory: Follow this blog and let me know in the comments

Bonus entry: Leave a separate comment for each - sharing on facebook, twitter, include in blog entry\sidebar

Giveaway ends on June 23rd!

 

Weekly recap, and roasted galettes

Before I get started into my recap of last week, I wanted to share a pathetic bit of info.  I thought of this the other day after I had said to myself, "I was going to do a blog post last night, but ran out of time".  I did?  Oh yeah...I ran out of time after I sat on the couch listening to the boys watch TV, commented on blogs, and stared at my facebook homepage, refreshing it every 3 minutes.  So, apparently I didn't have time to do a post because I was too busy online, haha!

Weekly recap:
Tuesday: Hiking, and 3.7 mile run
Wednesday: 3.6 mile bike ride
Thursday: 2.5 mile run, ab ripperx
Saturday: 3 mile run
Sunday: 2 mile run, 2 mile bike ride

Not as many running days\miles as I wanted, but it's okay.  My weekly mileage will really start increasing here before too long since we're following the half schedule.  

Today I made Roasted Veggie Galettes for lunch.  Here's how mine turned out:

I really liked them, and I'll definitely be making them again!  Next time, though, I'm not going to use\use less wheat flour - the consistency wasn't my favorite using that, and I'll add a bit more salt into the dough itself, and maybe some spices.  We didn't have some of the veggies they called for, so this what I used:

 - Broccoli

 - Carrots

 - Green pepper

 - Onion

 - Garlic

 - Zuchinni

You all should try these and tell me what you think!  Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

Dough
3/4 cups + 2 Tbsp. AP flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Filling
3/4 cup chopped carrots
1 1/2 cups chopped cauliflower
1 medium red onion, chunks
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
3 cups spinach leaves
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2-3 oz. goat cheese crumbles
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper

Glaze
1 egg mixed with 1 Tbsp. water

 

Directions:

 

1. Add dry ingredients from the dough to a food processor. Pulse for 30 seconds to mix up. Add water and olive oil, mixing until the dough forms a ball. Dough should be slightly tacky. Add more water or flour to get right consistency. Remove, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 400F. Place chopped carrots, cauliflower and onion in a bowl. Toss with some kosher salt and a little olive oil. For a lighter option, spray generously with cooking spray and toss--it works just as well. Spread out in a greased baking sheet.

3. Take your garlic cloves, still in their skin, and place in a piece of tinfoil. Add a tablespoon or two of water and seal. Place on baking sheet with veggies.

4. Bake vegetables and garlic for 25-35 minutes, until browned. Check on them and move them every 10 minutes to prevent burning and sticking.

5. Cook spinach and mushrooms in a saute pan until all liquid has evaporated. This is important since you don't want soggy dough.

6. Place all of your cooked vegetables into a bowl. Mix in thyme and half the goat cheese.

7. Squeeze roasted garlic into a small bowl once it has cooled down a little. It should be soft. Mix in a teaspoon of olive oil to create a paste-like consistency. Add to the vegetable mixture. Salt and pepper your filling to taste.

 

8. Divide dough into four pieces. Roll each one into a rough circle, about 6" wide and 1/4" thick.

 

9. Divide the filling between the four pieces of dough, placing in the middle and leaving at least 1 1/2" around the edge. Press down with the spatula to help flatten the filling. Sprinkle the rest of the goat cheese on top of each galette. Then fold up the sides, pinching each section together.

 

10. Brush with egg wash. Place on baking sheet and cook at 400F for 25-30 minutes until browned, checking every 10 minutes or so. Serve warm.

What are your plans for this week?  

Do you like to try new recipes, or do you usually stick with the same things?

 

 

National Donut Day, Oatmeal, and morning runs

So yesterday was National Donut Day!  I read that Krispy Kreme's give out free donuts on this wonderful holiday. *drool*

But since we're about a billion miles from any KK, we made our own!  Super good, but super sugary so instead of having one of the leftovers for breakfast this morning I made overnight oats.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons chia seeds (don't have them)
• 1/3 cup oatmeal
• 3/4 cup almond milk (regular milk)
• Banana (all ours were brown and attracting gnats)
• Five heavy pinches of sugar (didn't actually use it)
• Salted peanuts (used PB instead)

Directions:

• In a small bowl, combine chia seeds, oatmeal, and milk.  Put in fridge and let stand overnight.
• In the morning, remove chia seed mixture and stir.
• On a hot and greased griddle, place banana chunks and cook on high until it begins to brown.  Flip once and sprinkle with sugar.
• Mash half of the grilled banana and plate. 
• Top with remaining banana and nuts.
• Enjoy!

This looks like a really yummy oatmeal recipe, but as you see in the ingredient section above I ended up having it majorly different.  I tossed the oats and milk in a bowl and let it sit overnight, then pulled it out the next morning, added a teaspoon or two of the ol' PB, and called it good!  


Jake and I got up early this morning to go on our run.  We're attempting to start following the half training schedule again.  Our plan is to be really relaxed about it, repeating a week if we need to.  I just really like having a schedule to build my mileage, and know what days I'm going to do what.


It was a beautiful morning, not hot yet...but even after stretching and warming up my legs felt like they were saying, "Um, we're not awake yet...we're tired...what are you doing?"  Hopefully they'll get used to morning runs once time goes on.


Got back from the run, cleaned up, and then gobbled my oatmeal before we went down the road for our Saturday morning Bible class!

I added just a little too much milk...that weird thing that looks like it's hanging from my nose is actually a drop of milk. I promise.

"Yum, I know what I'm having for breakfast for the next 3 months!!!"

Also, I used part of my itunes GC to buy Despicable Me.

This movie is too funny!  "Piranha gun, ooh yeeah!"

I better just stop before the rest of this turns into a "my favorite quotes from this movie" post. 

Did you eat a donut yesterday? 

Have you ever tried overnight oats?

Please tell me I'm not the only one who loves Despicable Me!

Happy weekend! 

Sickness and half update

Last week was a bit miserable, bleh.  Being stuck to the couch with a fever, and coughing up a lung was pretty much our week.  Thankfully I think we'll be back to normal soon.  We're still spending most of our time coughing, and get tired very easily, but each morning we're a little stronger!

Half training has been...postponed until further notice.  Any running, actually - but we'll start back as soon as we're able!  However, even when we can get back to it, I have a feeling we may still put a hold on the training.  We'll be making a trip to Malawi in a few short months, and won't have time for it while we're there.  Life happens.  You have setbacks, there are some things you can't control - that's life.  But when those things do happen, you can look on the bright side and do all sorts of great things, even if it's not what you first had in mind!  

There will be lots of opportunities to do a half, and I look forward to them!!  Buuut,with all the above being said, we're going to do some other fun stuff with our running!  We're still going to try to slowly increase our weekly mileage, and also start including some fun speed workouts!  Overall = Exciting.


Hooray for Christmas! What?  Yes.  Yes it is nearing the end of March, but I can still celebrate because we got a box with the stuff we ordered from Amazon.com using our Christmas gift card!

 I've been loving reading this while we've been infirmed! [I ordered it back who knows when, so I didn't know about Kara Goucher's book, or I might've gotten that]

 I also got these beautiful headphones! My other nice ones had broke, so I'd been using a pair of "super-cheapy-fall-out-of- your-ear-every-two-seconds" kind.  So excited to test out these puppies.

If you get a chance, go check out Erin's blog! She has such a cute blog, but hardly any commenters {well, neither do I, heh heh :) } - so go show her some bloggin' love!

Week 1

Hola bloggy friends!  Week one of half training  is complete!  Well, except for our Sunday short easy run of two miles.  Jacob isn't feeling great, and has a fever, so we're not going out today.  Hmm, might do some Pilates in a bit though so I don't feel like a complete Sunday afternoon couch potato...?

So here's a quick overview of workouts this week:

Monday: 40 minutes of strength\stretch training. Pilates arm and stretch workout, followed by ab ripperx.

Tuesday: 2 mile run - first run in our official half training! 

Wednesday: Lower body and arm work, with ab ripperx

Thursday: About 2 mile run - Luke's shin splints started acting up, so didn't go as far. Jacob and I did some splits as well.

Friday:  Pilates arm segment, stretching, and ab ripper. Yes I am working on my noodle arms, and we try to do ab work on our off days. 

Saturday: 3 mile run. Slower time, because we had to do the hills and those slow me down, but maintained a steady, strong pace, so still happy with it!


We're probably going to have to switch our long Saturday runs to Friday, because we are beginning a Saturday afternoon class with the ladies from Church, so won't be able to run then.  It should work out fine!

I'm still a bit scared about our half training.  I'm not worried about getting injured; I'm extremely serious about stretching, no matter how long\short the distance.  I even sometimes ice because the terrain is often uneven where we run.  Almost anything to keep from possibly getting injured!  

I'm a bit scared because...it's a long distance, and progresses fairly quickly.  When we were training for our 10k, it seemed like it had us running 2 milers every single run, and took forever to build up to the 10k.  Great for building your base, but sometimes frustrating and boring.  That won't be a problem now, though!  If I have trouble with a particular week, I know we can repeat it - it's just a little fear of the unknown distance.



I think that before too long, I'm going to do a nice picture post for you all.  Heh heh.  Now you have time to mentally prepare.  Until that time, here's a little comic for ya!

 I think this applies to way too many women!

Aaaalso, remember.....!

Ready, set, go!

Today was our first run for our half training.  It was so great to get out there and have a run!  I'm really excited to have a schedule again to follow.  I'm still a little bit nervous about running such a long distance, but I'm going to take one run at a time, and before I know it, I'll have done it!

So, apparently I drink a bit of water.  I was cleaning my room up today, and took these out to the trash.

These are 1.5 litre bottles of water.  There's actually five of them I'm holding, one is hiding.  These built up after just a very few days. (Excuse the hair...Real life, bloggy friends!)

Hooray for hydration!

What's your favorite beverage? Do you drink alot of water?

The plunge

Happy April, everyone! Oh, and this post isn't a April Fool's post a day late. Thanks.

This week I've only logged a few running miles, but it's been full of other good stuff!


One of my goals for this year was to complete a 10k.  Check!  At the time I put it into my list of goals, I knew that I'd be able to do it, but I still wondered if I could.  It turned out to be alot easier than I expected!

My brother, Jacob suggested we start training for a half.  Hooray! Hold on...Gulp.

This is the face I would have if 3 months ago someone told me I could start training to run 13.1 miles. Get serious.

But...wait a second, let me think about this.  I've come a really long way in 3 months, and running the 10k was alot easier than I thought.  To me, 6 miles seemed almost impossible.

And if Oprah could start at about 200lbs, and train for and run a full marathon,  at 5'9'' & 130lbs, I can train for and run a half. 

I researched online just to make sure that it wouldn't be too much for me, but it suggested training for a half if you've run shorter distances, and\or you can run 30 consecutive minutes.  Yep, and yep.

Hmm, I can do it!!!

I've been researching and googling for tips, because running that far is completely new to me.  If you all have any advice that could help me, please share!  

[For example: If you run some longer distances, what do you wish you would've known starting out?  What was the hardest thing you ran in to? What was the easiest? Was it easier than you thought?]

This is the training schedule we'll be using.  We almost went with Hal Higdon's schedule, but this one had the longer runs on Saturday, which works better for us, since we have worship on Sundays.  We're going to do stretching and strength on Mondays, etc.

I know I'm going to need help from you all along the way! 

:)




"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'"


"The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win."
 
~

My running journal is on the ready. Bring it on.