Happy Days…
“These happy days are yours and mine, these happy days are yours and mine, my happy days…” > Name that TV show! Talk about a throwback… side note, when we were growing up, we would sneak downstairs, early in the morning to watch the Beverly Hillbillies, Happy Days, and the Suite Life of Zack and Cody. How’s that for an odd combo? Anyways, this weekend was truly filled with happy days and I am feeling like I can approach a new week, feeling refreshed and ready for another week of hustle.
It was SO nice to be greeted by the sun Saturday morning. Two reasons why: 1, being greeted by the sun meant that I had slept in, at least a little and 2, the sun was out! Last week was the first week that I can remember (in a long time) that the sun had shown consecutive days in a row. LIFE CHANGING. I didn’t realize how much the sun and warmth energizes me. Remind me why I live in the Midwest again?
Before Landon and I went to bed, we both agreed we would go to soccer early Saturday morning. Since we were leaving the house around 8, we read our Bibles, fed Benaiah breakfast and ate a slice or two of toast with peanut butter. On my schedule for the day was a 10 mile run, but when I realized I would have to push Benaiah in the stroller for 10 miles, I wasn’t really feeling it. Instead of deciding right off the bat that I wouldn’t run the 10 on Saturday morning, I decided to give it a go and see how I felt. I was hoping to trick my brain into running 5 and then just doing it twice. Sometimes, breaking down a bigger run into two smaller portions makes it seems so much more doable.
After we got to the soccer field, Benaiah and I took off in a new-to me direction, but I figured I knew the area well enough to simply pick up an easy 1 mile and then turn around and head toward my normal trail that I run while Landon plays soccer. I think I may have either been overconfident or lost in my music (The Greatest Showman is literally my favorite music to listen to while running) because I TOTALLY got lost. I mean not turned around but LOST. I was running through the neighborhood next to the soccer fields and somehow got turned around. Instead of picking up and easy 1 mile, I ended up with 4 miles before I finally found the trail. I cannot tell you the amount of relief I felt when I found that trail! Since I had already four -ish miles under my belt, I decided to see if I could fit another 6 in before Landon finished his game. In order to avoid getting lost again, I went on my normal route (which was a good decision) and ran another 5 miles before meeting Landon on the soccer field. We started off finishing the last mile together and everything was going great until Landon totally sliced his foot on the concrete (he was running barefoot!) I ran back and forth to the car with the stroller, got him so bandages and water and hit my 10th mile as he hopped into the car to clean his cut. I think this was probably the most interesting long run I’ve had before, which may be why it felt so short!
Overall, the run felt amazing and I felt super strong the entire time. I finished at a 8:29 average and was excited to see my pace, since I was just going based on my body and what felt good! I think all that speed training is paying off!
Once we got home, Landon cleaned his cut and I got to work on food! We ate a late breakfast/early lunch of large salads topped with feta and a leftover lentil pilaf with roasted sweet potatoes on the side.
The rest of the afternoon was spent getting work, projects, and house cleaning done while Benaiah slept.
Dinner = favorite lasagna (leftovers) EVER. You can find the recipe, here. I’m not usually a huge lasagna fan, sometimes I find the meat/cheese to be overwhelming. But this recipe, is to die for. Yes please. After diving into my plat of cheesy deliciousness, we got Niah ready for bed and I worked on this blog post.
Once Benaiah was in bed, we popped some popcorn, watched a couple episodes of our favorite Netflix series and went to bed wayy to late.
Sunday
Sunday morning, I woke up to Benaiah talking around 6:30 am. Instead of diving into the covers again, I made myself a steamy cup of coffee and scooped him out of his bed. Since we were all up early and were ready way before church started and it was gorgeous out, we decided to take a little family walk around the block. It was so sweet to watch Benaiah run up and down the sidewalks, waving at each neighbor’s door.
We headed to church and got there, right on time (hallelujah!) After a equally encouraging and convicting message, we ate a potluck with friends and amused ourselves with watching Niah run around with the ‘big kids.’ Niah has never played with the kids at church before (at least too much.) But, this week he wanted to be right where the action was. It was so precious watching him run up to the ‘big kids,’ and then run away laughing. I think he thought he was playing with them and it made mama’s heart happy watching him interact with other kids.
After church, we headed to Ikea to browse around before heading home for a quick dinner of black bean tacos! I didn’t feel like making a big dinner, so I decided to take leftover black beans, throw some salsa on top, add a few spices and call it good. It tasted pretty good and we filled our stomachs before our friends came over for games and brownies. (I used this recipe!)
We ended the night feeling refreshed and encouraged and even though I am bummed the weekend is over, it was a good one. Here’s to an equally awesome week!
Questions of the Day
- What was your weekend like?
- Finish the sentence...My favorite dessert right now, is _____________
- How is your Monday, so far?