It's been awhile.....lazy Sunday.

 No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth!  I am settling into the new routine that is working a normal workweek again.  Praise God, I no longer have to work weekends!

 I am completely in love with our new home!  I am blown away every day how beautiful the fall weather is here in New Mexico!  It goes to show that if you trust God and his plan, things work out great!  I have decided to run a marathon in April, and this beautiful weather is helping that goal!  This afternoon after church, the boys grilled a pizza on the smoker.  We stayed outside as it cooked and enjoyed the afternoon.  Todd got to work collecting pecans.  We have 2 pecan trees, and we are overflowing with pecans!  Here are a few pics from our afternoon.

Briggan and his "tacta"

those cheeks!

Todd, pecan "harvesting"

lounging

I'm getting crafty!..........

Hey everyone!  I have been really excited to begin decorating our new home, however, I didn't want to break the bank.  I have been browsing Pintrest for ideas and came across this one.  A store here in Carlsbad sells these jars just like this for $30 a piece!

I used Krylon Looking glass for the mercury finish.  Apply in mutliple thin coats to the  inside of the jar to create a mirror finish.

I am loving burlap right now!   I found these flowers at Hobby Lobby and thought they would add a nice touch.

Boutique jars, $30.  My mason jar was $5 plus an additional $5 for the paint that can be used multiple times.  $20 savings!  Yay!

Faith and Patience

Hey everyone! I know I haven't written in a very long time, but I'm back!  We are finally homeowners again.  It has been a long exhausting process with lots of ups and downs.  But God was teaching me to have faith, and when I did he blessed me beyond measure!

We are busy getting settled in our new house, and our moving truck will be here with our stuff next Thursday.   Yippee! I get my bed back!  In the meantime, I have been picked up pieces along the way to decorate with.  I have found a great antique store that has really great prices.  I have been in there a lot, and I will be refinishing several things I have bought there.  For those of you who have me on Instagram, you have already seen the mirror and lamp.  Stay tuned, I will post the projects on here.  So for now, sit back and enjoy the tour!

Family room

family room

the joys of being a homeowner.....already a leaking roof.  Thank goodness it is under warranty from roofing company!

hallway looking towards entryway and living room

front living/dining room

kitchen view

another kitchen view

We finally have our puppy under the same roof!

We have had rain all week, Praise the Lord!

Morning coffee reflections

Hello everyone!  Just sitting here enjoying my coffee after a morning run!  I have been sitting here thinking about how nice it is to start my day before my guys are up for the day.

I run for stress relief.........anyone that has ever bought a house can relate.  I think mortgage underwriters must be really miserable people :)

5 am is a quiet time in the world, most of the world isn't awake yet.  On the running paths, it is like a secret society of people who also are craving that early morning time to themselves.

I can come home and shower and enjoy my coffee and computer in peace.  It is a really satisfying feeling knowing my workout is already done for the day.  I feel like I am slowly getting back into a running routine, and I like it.

After our running group photo shoot, I did not like what I saw looking back at me in those images.  I was a chunky girl in running shorts.  A girl that needed to get back in gear.  So, I am making an honest effort to be tracking on myfitnesspal every day.  I wear my FitBit to get an accurate measure of what I burn throughout the day, and I am trying to find substitutions for my soda habit.  I am addicted to it like some people are cigarettes.  Hopefully, in baby steps it will get better!

Sorry, my thoughts are random this morning!  Hope everyone has a great day!

The beginning of my running life....

My running group from home has started our own blog, "The Callipygians"!  As part of our introductory posts, we are each writing about how we started running.  So here is mine.

First off, I was FAT!  I weighed 196, and was determined not to hit the 200 mark.  And I was ANGRY!  I had a friend that lost a child in a tragedy, and I was losing faith in humanity with how she was being treated.  That accident showed me what a cruel and judging world we live in.   I needed an outlet for all the emotions swirling in my head.  I was going to Weight Watchers and walking for my activity points, but on a particularly bad day that just wasn't enough.........so I ran until I couldn't anymore.  Then I walked until I could, I ran until tears were streaming down my sweaty, salty face.  Some days I ran and it didn't feel like work.  Some days I felt like a turtle stampeding through peanut butter :)  But I kept running, and the weight started to come off.


My first race was a 10K a month after I began running, Laura's Legacy.  It is held in Garden City to honor a mother-runner who lost her fight to brain cancer leaving behind two young boys and a husband.  I probably should have started with a shorter distance, but go BIG or go home right?  I ran/walked that very emotional race, every mile with my heart aching for my friends that were grieving.  At the finish line, Laura's two little boys were handing out water bottles.  That was hard......but they were actively honoring their mommy in her memorial race.  I cried the whole way home.

Needless to say, by this point, I was hooked on running.  I began searching for more races.  Our area has several races and I began to grow as a runner.  One thing that amazes me about the running community is that whether you are first or last, everyone cheers for you the same. The encouragement I got from other runners motivated me to better myself.

So, I decided I wanted to tackle a half-marathon.  Again, go BIG or go home.....so I signed up for Disney World!  I ran the Inaugural Disney Princess Half-Marathon.

I have since ran three more half-marathons, one more at Disney World, and most recently Vegas!

We moved to New Mexico this spring, and I am slowly finding my running groove here.  There are beautiful foothills and rivers to run on!

In closing, I just want to encourage everyone.  It doesn't matter if you are slow or fast, what matters is that you are out there.

This post was part of the 'Get to Know Us' series on The Callipygians blog.  Follow us here.”  

Settling in

Hey everyone! I know it has been a long time since the last post.  Things have been wild lately!  We have sold our house, moved two states away and we are loving it!

I started my new job this weekend, and I feel like I will fit in just fine.  I enjoy getting to be home with Briggan during the week.  We have been going to story hour at the library, walks along the river etc.  Last night we went to the river to feed the ducks and had ice cream after.  There is a great ice cream shop here called "Kalideoscoops".  I seem to be eating my way through our new town, however I am not finding many opportunities to run the food calories off.  Hopefully things will settle down soon and I can get back in a running routine.  There is a Glow 5K here on Friday night.  I plan on running it, although my time will be horrible.  I am just trying to get out and meet people that have similar interests as me.  We have found a church we like, and they offer lots of activities, and there are many young couples like us.

My in-laws are making their first trip here to see us this weekend.  I'm excited! I'm ready for Friday to be here already!  I will try to be better about blogging now that we are a little bit settled.

Here are some pics of our recent duck feeding experience.

Briggan and daddy getting surrounded.

watching the birds fly over

Gorgeous sky over the Pecos river.

Our new friend

Local plant life, I think it is some type of cactus.

Hand in hand :)

New year, new beginnings!

I know it may seem as though I fell off the face of the earth, but I'm back! I have just been crazy busy!

The new year started off great, workouts were going good, stopped cold turkey on my coca-cola, life is good! Then, like life always does, I was thrown a curveball. It involves a great opportunity for my husband, but simply scares me to death. How do you know when God is trying to push you out of your comfort zone? Is this something that is in his will? I will go into more detail later as we know more. So, throw in a baby that is getting 4 molars at once and running a temp, and you get a mommy that has thrown her good eating and exercising intentions out the window. Why is it so easy to do that? I guess that will always be my struggle, when life gets overwhelming I just throw in the towel with my good habits? I still look to running to handle the stress, but when my only choice is the treadmill I often skip it. How can I make friends with the treadmill?

Anyway, the moral of all this is, tomorrow is another day. I can start fresh tomorrow. And I will be ready, God willing, for the next curveball!




I will try not to wait so long to post again!

Laura