Pool Fun with Friends!

After a crazy busy week we meet up with friends for some Friday pool fun! We had never been to this pool and the first thing I see when we get there, 15 minutes late, is my school's Boys and Girls Club! Say what?! Why were they at the pool all the way across town? Once I get inside I find out it's not just our BGC but the 5th Street Center as well! Great! A thousand more kids in an already crowded pool.

 

I knew they were probably leaving by pool break so I didn't let it ruin the boys' fun and that they did! Wyatt and Braxton played and played and played. They slid down the slides and swam with each other the entire time. They were having so much fun we decided to stay longer and ended up being at the pool for over 3 hours. :)

 

This is such a turn around from last year with Wyatt and not wanting to play in the water. Here's hoping that it continues in this direction.

 



Wyatt and Braxton laughing at each other!

Woosh!

Laying in the sun to dry off!

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Swim lessons-Update

We are half way done with swimming lessons this year and they are going fabulously! So much better than last year and no tears! To recap what happened check out the post here.


A smile before heading to his teacher and class.

The best part of these swim lessons is that parents are encouraged to not be there! Say what!! The lifeguards have realized that kids will do more for them without their parents by their sides. We have a little area that we have to stay in until the end of swim lessons and they dismiss them. Praise the Lord!

The best part of swim lessons this year is that we are taking them in town and we can walk to the swimming pool! Well I walk and Wyatt rides his bike!


Rounding the corner!



Riding away!

Cooking with the Pioneer Woman=Success!

Tonight I tried a new recipe from my new cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Now if you don't know who the Pioneer Woman is, because you've been living under a rock, go check her out here!

 

The recipe is for Rib-Eye Steak with Onion-Blue Cheese Sauce and it's delish!!!

 

Ingredients: 4 rib-eye steaks, salt & pepper, 1 stick of butter, 1 yellow onion, 1 cup heavy cream, 3 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce, 3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

Lightly butter and season your steaks with salt and pepper. I grilled them on our George Foreman because I was short on time and they turned out fine.

Saute onions until they start to get golden, about 7-8 minutes on medium high heat.

Then add your cup of heavy cream, season with salt and pepper, and add Worcestershire sauce.

Stir and add your blue cheese crumbles and continue to stir until it's melted.

Here is my final result!

It looks pretty close to the picture in the book and it was awesome. This recipe combined three of my favorite things: steak, onions, and blue cheese. Yummo!

 

Wedding Day Details Link-Up

Today I'm linking up with Holly and Melanie for Wedding Day Details!
Our wedding took place over 9 years ago and yet I still remember everything, like it was yesterday!

 

Location: Our wedding took place in fabulous Las Vegas! Yes, you read that right. LAS VEGAS during Spring Break in our Senior year of college! When we started wedding planning we just weren't sure what we wanted to do. Mike is Catholic so there was, of course, huge pressure to get married in the Catholic church.  Well he didn't want to and I didn't want to, so we didn't. I think we did a complete 180 from that route. We chose Vegas because we like the idea of a destination wedding and we wanted something that would double as a honeymoon. Mike was graduating in May and we had no idea where his future job would take us and the thought of wedding planning from states away didn't sound that great. The weekend of Spring Break we headed to Vegas and in true Sara style we got to the airport and I couldn't find my driver's license because we had been out partying the night before. Oops! Once it was found (in my back pocket) we headed out. My parents and his parents were heading there in a couple of days for the wedding.

Colors: Our color theme was black and red. We thought it went really well with the whole Vegas theme and worked out well because playing cards are black and red! (My mom made really cute centerpieces for our reception out of playing cards showing different hands i.e., full house, straight, two of a kind, etc.)

Bridal Party: Our bridal party in Vegas was one of my besties, Diana, and Mike's little brother, Eric. Diana wore a gorgeous black dress and Eric wore a tux. Even though we were getting married in Vegas we still dressed for a wedding! At our wedding reception Lindsay, Stacie, and Erin broke out a cute black dress and rocked it. We looked fabulous!

First Dance Song: Our first dance song was Make You Feel My Love by Garth Brooks. This is one of my favorite songs from the movie Hope Floats. Which is also one of my favorite movies! Go figure!

Honeymoon: We originally planned on our honeymoon being our Vegas vacation the following days of our wedding. We got a great wedding gift a month later from my aunt and uncle who invited us to Southern France for a week with them at a villa they had rented. Hard choice, I know! We went to France in August, which was the perfect getaway right before I started student teaching and with Mike living in North Carolina and me in Kansas it was a free trip together. We were there for a week and it was beautiful and wonderful. We ate croissants everyday and leisured around markets and saw some sights. We also ate a ton of French cheese and even got to see a running of the bulls in St. Remy. We miss Provence and the lavender scent it left on us.
 

What Would You Do Differently!: I'm not sure what I would do differently. The main thing would be to find a cheaper chapel to get married at in Vegas. We spent a pretty penny on a chapel and it was such a nightmare working with them. Never again. I think the $39.95 chapel would have worked just as well. I loved our destination wedding but I wish more of our friends and family could have came. Don't get me wrong we still had quite a showing! Mike's aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins all caravaned across to come and my grandma and her boyfriend flew over from California. My parents flew to Vegas and I'm pretty sure it will be the first and last time my dad ever flies again. The only person missing that would have made the day better was my brother. He was attending auto-diesel mechanic school and couldn't get away from Nashville to come, since it was during the week.  

First Dentist Visit

Today was Wyatt's first visit to the dentist. I had read that three or four was the age to start taking kids to the dentist. So we settled on four because three wasn't going so well, behavior wise!

I made this appointment almost two months ago and since then I've been talking to Wyatt about the dentist. When we brush our teeth we make sure to get all of them and the gums. We also talk about why that's important and how the dentist will know if he's been brushing his teeth good or not. (Well this was more my doing than the dentist!) We talked about the tools the dentist would use and how to open your mouth really wide.

Today was finally the day and he was all set to show me how well he would do all of the things we've practiced for the dentist. He got to wear cool star sunglasses, watch TV, and relax. It seemed more like a vacation for him. Why can't it be that way for me when I go?

Looking at the tools!

Getting his teeth cleaned.

Using the water and spit sucker. He loved it!!

Thumbs up for no cavities!

The dentist and dental hygienist talked non-stop about how well behaved he was and was so cooperative with them. It took about thirty minutes for the whole cleaning. He got to pick a prize from the treasure chest and got his next appointment made!

Vanilla ice cream for doing such a good job!

Treadmill-New Inspiration

Today I broke down and got a gym membership. I looked at the forecast for the week and just the thought of running in 90s drained me of any energy to run and desire to run.

I signed up today and went to go run. I was pleasantly surprised that the gym was pretty slow and I had my pick of any of the treadmills. I grabbed the one in the middle and got started on a 5.5 pace. It was nice and slow and felt really good running. After a mile and a half I turned it up again to 5.7. I got through three miles and then decided to crank it up to 6.0 for the final mile. I was hot and sweating but loved it.

It was so nice to not have to think of routes to run and worry about how I'm going to get another mile of distance. The other nice thing was the lack of humidity and temperature. It was wonderful!!!! It's amazing that I ran four miles on the treadmill and it didn't feel anything like the four miles I run on the road. It was easy easier than what I thought it would be.

Don't worry I haven't given up the road for the treadmill. I'm still planning on hitting the road when I can and it's not 90+ degrees!

Wyatt's Fourth Birthday

It's hard to believe it but Wyatt is FOUR! It seems like I was just pushing him out of my vagina yesterday. To relive that story click here.

This year the theme Wyatt chose was Mickey Mouse. I had contacted my friend Kim about making his birthday shirt and all was good. Then something happened. He changed his mind and of course had to have a Cars themed party. Thankfully Kim was a saint and the shirt was changed to be a Cars theme.

Mike of course got put on cake detail and he did an awesome job, like always! To see his previous works of art click here, here, and here.

Yes, this was the best picture of him and the cake!

We had another great birthday at the Train Depot in the park and this time the train was even running! We have been having a party here for four years and this was the first year the train was running. His birthday party was at 10am but we got to celebrate and watch the kids ride the train for free for two hours. Best free entertainment ever!

Wyatt had a great time because his friends from daycare were there and his family. I think this was one of the best birthdays he's had.

Cousins

Friends

Great Gram and Wyatt

Family Portrait

Thank goodness it's all over and we have until next year before we have to think about cakes, decorations, and themes. :)

Five on Friday Link-Up

I am linking up today for some Friday feel good love from Darci at The Good Life. The idea is to talk about five things that you like, have happening, or just want to brag about. So here are mine...

1. I'm thankful that today went great since it was the first Friday that Wyatt had off together. We spent the morning at my school and then had lunch and an impromptu play date with Mynon and Saige. It was so much fun and I'm glad that our first Friday, of many to come this summer, went well!

2. I'm pumped that the first week of summer school is over and it went well. We had more kids show up each day and I'm sure next week we will have even more coming!

3. This week we have not had to watch Tarzan fifty time but we have watched Madagascar fifty times. It's all about the trade-offs, people!

4. I went baby shopping for a cousin's registry and seeing all of the little stuff ALMOST made me want to have another baby. That is, until, my own child yelled "Why are we here? You can't buy me diapers!" at the loudest decibel possible in Target. Gotta love it!

5. Decided that Wyatt needs to transition to a booster seat and have started the hunt. Any recommendations would be great! We currently have a Britax and love it. :)

That's my Five on Friday!

New Challenges!

Well now that Operation Red Bikini is over I find myself needing a new challenge to do. What's the fun in running if you can't tell someone about it? ;)

After reading my friend Darci's blog I found a new challenge that she is participating in and being the leach that I am I asked to join in the fun as well. So far it's going well. I've only missed one day of the challenge and that's okay. If you want to join in it's not too late!

 

This challenge has came at the right time because I am finding myself becoming annoyed with running. I know I can do it but I have been having a huge mental block about running distance and maintaining my pace per mile. It seems like I can't even run a 5K without stopping to walk. I don't need to walk but I can't convince myself not to and why I shouldn't.

 

Hopefully this challenge will be what I need to push me into my half-marathon training. I haven't signed up yet but I'm planning on running a half in September. My training would start at the end of the month. One of the biggest issues I'm having while running is actually planning my route. I have a couple of routes that I've done consistently but they are getting very boring. I've tried to make some new ones but then I find myself watching my watch for distance and not really getting into the run itself because I'm just worried about how I'm going to come up with another mile to finish my route. It's not fun and has been making my annoyance with running even worse. I'm thinking that I'm going to have to break down and purchase a gym membership this summer to run on the treadmill to kill this heat and humidity.



Today is also National Running Day and I participated with a easy 1.29 mile run. I had no intention of running at all today. I was feeling blah and just not in the mood. After eating supper I finally sucked it up and got my shit together and went for a run. I actually felt so much better once I got done running. It is true that I run just so that I can eat a ridiculous amount of food, and I'm okay with that but after running today I realized that I also run to feel better. Running even that single mile made me feel lighter and at ease. I wasn't feeling restless and just generally annoyed. Running helps me in more ways than I realize.

More races are coming up and I'm trying to plan my running calendar for the fall and hopefully they will include more miles and medals! :)

Konza Prairie Hike

Ever since I went to a teacher class on the Konza last year, I have been itching to take Mike and Wyatt out there to hike. Well, almost one year later, that itch has finally been scratched!

Today was a gorgeous day! The high was 72-degrees and it was overcast with a slight wind. This would be perfect hiking weather for the family.

After a trip to the library we all got ready and headed to the Konza. We decided to hike the nature trail since it was the shortest distance, 2.6 miles. I was worried about how Wyatt would do but thought this would be a great energy waster and he would be so tired and fall asleep on the way home. Mental score!

Smiling for the camera! This was at the beginning of the trail.

We followed that path all the way to the top of that hill!

Sometimes you have to stop to smell the flowers! He said they smelled like lemons!

Wyatt and Momma!

Daddy and Wyatt!

Notice there weren't many pictures after the first half of the hike. Shortly after we made it half-way our energetic boy turned into the whiny monster and whined the entire rest of the way. We sang songs and tried to keep his mind off the fact we still had a ways to go. That worked for a little while but the crying and fit throwing started in the last leg. Luckily we made it to the bridges and Wyatt forgot how tired he was so he could walk across them.

Hopefully this will be the first of many family hikes for us on the Konza!