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thursday 13 {link-up party}

how is it already thursday? i swear the weeks are just flying by and once the weekend arrives it’s monday again. i am linking up with aunie sauce.

13 things you are thankful for.

my husband who puts up with me unconditionally and knows when i’ve had a rough day and sends me straight out of the house to have “me” time. even though this time is usually involves grocery shopping i am not a stress case while doing so.
my two adorable and healthy children. it’s funny how a few years ago i said i never wanted children and now two kids later i cannot believe that statement ever came out of my mouth.
spring weather. i love how fresh everything is. i dread the summer months, but hopefully we won’t have to be in a house without a/c and then my thoughts on summer might change.
my mom. i know she has to be sick of me calling her a bazillion times a day. this goes for my dad and sister too.
cadbury eggs. i have all our easter candy hidden up above in brayden’s room. but today i am going to target to buy more mini cadbury eggs to make creme brulee. did you know that the center of a cadbury egg is fondant? i just learned that.
for my friends and the support they given us over the past nine months.
for butter. could you imagine life without it? well, maybe you can, i cannot.
trader joes frozen oatmeal, paired with a teaspoon of brown sugar, toasted almonds and dried maine blueberries. it makes my mornings that much better.
upholestry cleaner. it makes cleaning a leaky diaper accident off my couch so much easier.
the internet. i think this is self-explanatory.
life lessons that my parents instilled in my sister and i growing up. i am also thankful for my old soul.
my grandma visiting me in a dream this morning. i heard her voice calling me and then woke-up.
starbucks double shots with nonfat milk & chick fil a unsweetened iced tea. my day thanks you.

a letter To Brayden – 5 Months

brady-
you are one month away from being a part of our family for half of a year. we cannot imagine life without you. if you didn’t cry when in the car we might forget you some days just because you are so quiet…well, that is unless you are talking to your panda on the play mat or licking the toy on your jumpy to death. you are definitely in teething mode, i have never seen so much drool. we have been calling you a “walker” after the walking dead because when you’re hungry you reach your hands out and start shaking, it’s quite comical. your eyes light up when you see me, daddy is still quite jealous about this, i am just fine with it. you are finally getting used to tummy time since having your surgery and have progressed really well considering you were out of commission for three weeks. you are getting the army crawl movements down, knees are getting under you and your chest far off the ground. i am thinking teeth and crawling are in our near future! you have been a complete joy and i love watching how strong and big you have become over the past two months.

15 pounds 1 ounce – this is from our home scale we’re sure the doctor scale will show something different next month. but we’re still on the up and up!
size two diapers – these are very tight! size three’s are on the horizon.
6 month clothing, some 9 month.
rice cereal with the addition of butternut squash and carrots have been introduced.
your hair is getting more blonde by the day. you have a natural faux hawk like your cousin.
you are loving your jumperoo but you love it most when positioned by the window. we like to think you’re reflecting on your day while hanging out there.
you love sticking your tongue out. we’re not sure if after your surgery if there is something along your inner lip but that tongue of yours is always sticking out.

you and sissy have inherited my “look”.

sister-isms – you adore your sister. she calls you her best friend. she loves to find your pacifier, she loves saying good morning, gives you kisses, tickles you and copies everything i say to make you laugh. it melts my heart.

my second 5k {hot chocolate 15k/5k san diego}

this past weekend i made a last minute decision to run the hot chocolate 5k in san diego. i had been debating the race since my knee injury and just when i thought i would just be cheering on my girlfriends jim pretty much encouraged me into doing it. i was driving and told him to text janelle to see what time i needed to pick her up. the next morning was freezing and we were due for rain so i planned accordingly. what i didn’t realize was that the pants i chose wouldn’t stick to me until i started to sweat, it was 45 degrees so it was going to take some time. as janelle and i were walking from our parking lot to the race location my pants were literally falling off. i was totally in for it. we needed to meet tessa and her mom but with the sea of runners we couldn’t find them. the race started and we were back in the ‘e’ corral, meaning alongside all the runners that chose the slowest running time. we slowly made our way up the starting line hill, jogging and dodging all the non-runners. after about five minutes i lost janelle because of the non-runners. i couldn’t get past them. when i finally found a hole i just kept at my jogging pace and felt great. this course was more challenging than chelsea’s run. there was a major hill after a bridge and that’s when i decided to save my energy and knees for the last mile. i was sitting right around a twelve minute mile, and when i hit the mile two marker the board said it was 28:36 but we were in the last pack crossing the starting line about four minutes after the start. i knew i was making better time than the first 5k. my ipod gave me the song i needed, “good feeling” by flo rida. i increased my jog to run and took in the sights. i was inspired my a mother and teenage daughter running together, they slowed down at one point and held hands. i had a moment watching this. i want to be able to do this with my kids so i started to run even faster. i looked out into the distance at the coronado bridge and ran even faster. the song inspiring me, “got adrenaline, never giving in, giving up’s not an option gotta get it in”. the song ended and i went back to it again. i do this even when i run at home. this song for whatever reason just helps me focus. i saw the finish line and i ran. this was my fastest mile and when i stopped i felt amazing. janelle was on her phone with tessa trying to see where they were. we all regrouped and took some photos and got in line for our reward of chocolate! ghirardelli was the sponsor of the race, it was an amazing reward even though eating the thick, warm chocolate was hard to stomach so i took most of mine home for payton.

this was tessa’s starting point and we were even further back.

right after.

about to get our chocolate.

our goodie box filled with: half of a banana, pretzel rod, quarter of an apple, a marshmallow, rice krispie treat, a cup of hot cocoa (this was delish) and a cup of warm chocolate fondue. they were also handing out squares of chocolate. i love their dark chocolate and i tried the dark chocolate sea salt soiree, amazing! drooling thinking about it.

we sat around eating our chocolate and talking about the run as we listened to liquid blue. this band is amazing, no joke. my aunt and uncle have them at their end-of-summer parties, cannot wait for this august! if you want an invite let me know. ha ha.

i improved my time by around 7-8 minutes. my first 5k, the one where i ate it i finished at 43 minutes. this one i finished around 35 minutes. i won’t know my official race time because i crashed the race but based on janelle’s time and her handy dandy phone we’re pretty sure it was right around there.

now we’re planning the next one in a few weeks and looking as far as october for this race. are you a walking dead fan? check to see if this race comes to a town near you!

monday phone dump

i’m late, i’m late. . .busy morning for us this morning so i am posting late. i started the collage last night but then the rain made me super tired and we tucked in earlier than normal. i hope you all had a great weekend! our saturday was busy, busy but yesterday was chill and we took a family nap for 3+ hours. can’t complain there! here’s my weekend recap via photos.

i am linking up with what makes savanah smile

starting from top right to left.

* everyone always thinks i am crafty but my sister is way craftier. i took a pic of her dining room table but what i should’ve taken a pic of was her front door wreath. ten yards of burlap made for a gorgeous easter wreath paired with some cute pier 1 carrots. i asked her to make me one. maybe she will give us a tutorial…linds? will ya?!

* after saying i wasn’t running the hot chocolate 5k for the past week i decided saturday evening at 10 pm that i would run with my girlfriends. jim pretty much encouraged me. remember my knees hurting like hell? well, they held up, i felt great and beat my last time by almost eight minutes. more on the 5k later this week.

* on saturday jim ran his first 5k to support his friend and co-worker, JB. his daughter, ava, has pretty much beat autism, her story is amazing. team ava was represented on our local news channel. i got a text from jim saying they were going to be on the news so i ran to get the remote with frosting covered fingers just in time to hit record. payton loved seeing her dada on tv.

* birthday twinsies, niece makayla and payton playing at my youngest niece, maddie’s fifth birthday party. payton truly admires makayla. i think you can see that from this picture. i cannot believe my maddie-mo is going to be five on the 31st, the past five years have flown by.

* after last week and my post on zero pairs of jeans fitting we all went to the mall and i bought a pair that finally fit. a size down, getting me to size 8 at gap, normally i am a size 6 there so i am getting there! after trying on a blouse at nordies i did not purchase it because we were heading to the rack. after no such luck there i was just about to pass the exit for the mall and jim said to go back and buy the blouse & cardi since i deserved a new outfit. i love the colors. hard to tell in the pic. i remembered when we got home from the party to snap a pic.

* maddie is a lover of scooby doo. so for her birthday she requested a scooby cake. this was my first attempt at a bigger cake in a while. my new frosting technique has really helped me. i will share that one soon too!

how was your weekend? i cannot believe this is the last week of march. insane! did you enter my giveaway? winner is being announced today!

safari time

yesterday we headed to the san diego zoo’s safari park with my parents. it was their first visit, which just blows my mind considering they’ve been open for 43 years. the weather was amazing, about 80, which in my book is just way too hot. in a few months i will be wishing for 80 degree weather but for now my pasty legs aren’t ready for the warm weather. anyhow, here is my picture overload. hope everyone is having a great week so far!