{best} running formula

I found the best running recipe (for me). I have tried several different things, and this works the best by far. I've realized what I eat/drink either totally makes or breaks my run. I eat one of these granola bars about 15 minutes before I run in the morning & I drink no water before my run. I sure love my water, but on days I have tried running with drinking any sort of water before hand, I feel bogged down and get side aches. On days that I run later or eat something more filling-- same thing. My run is slower, I feel more tired, and I barely make it 30 minutes. These granola bars aren't even super healthy, but I guess they are just the right amount of food + whole grains + protein. When I do it this way, I feel super energized, lighter, faster, and I feel great even after running for 30 minutes, I can go for more, and sometimes do. Like 40, ha.

Also, the saying is so true "listen to your body." Even though I've never noticed my body telling me anything ever before, every time I get done running, I immediately drink a gigantic glass of water and then reach for fruit, and either string cheese, peanut butter, or eggs. I guess that would be my body telling me to refuel with protein & healthy carbs! Wow, what a concept.

Just thought I'd share.

p.s.

dear body, now if you can just "tell" me why I can't get pregnant...mmmm, that'd be great. k thanks.

lego submission

Kosty gets the Lego Club magazine in the mail and in every issue there are a handful of kids pictures and their creations. He asked me to take a picture and put it in the magazine, oh, I really hope they pick him. I hope it doesn't hurt his chances that he insisted on sitting in dead grass...

my boy scout

I wasn't super thrilled about Scouts, and I have no idea why. Maybe I was thinking about my lack of sewing abilities and all those lovely patches. Brayden LOVES going to Scouts. The same day he turned 8, I had two darling little boys at my door on their scooters asking to pick Brayden up for pack meeting. I was so happy to see little boys at my door again. They all ride their scooters together every Wednesday after school. Brayden is learning all kinds of good things; one of his acheivements was to make dinner and do the dishes. Um, awesome. He's picked up litter in the neighborhood, learned about tools, made a birdhouse on his own, planned healthy meals for a week, helped make his derby car, etc. What a fabulous thing to be a part of. He also tucks in his shirt and combs his hair right before every meeting. He says he is aiming for the "most groomed scout" award.

at sweeties with my sweeties

Over Christmas break, we made a visit to Sweetie's candy store in Chandler. It was awesome. Brayden chose jelly belly's and I was the lucky one to get just "2 or 3" of every single flavor they offered. Much trickier than it appears.

today I gave a lesson on 'preparing for your eternal companion'. Ironic to give, since I never prepared for mine. I wish I had. But, I wasn't even thinking about marriage when he came along. Having been inactive for so many years and dating boys that were no good, I found myself (young as I was) at a fork in the road: Jeremy had appeared at the same time I was contemplating my ex boyfriend. whoa, whoa, whoa. what my life would have been had I chose the other path. surely I would be divorced and miserable.

I know that Heavenly Father knew where he wanted me, and he knew what it would take to get me there. Soon after Jer and I started dating, he picked me up & took me to church. I had missed it. Now here we are married 10 years, sealed in the temple to our beautiful and wonderful little boys. I'm right where I need to be, and forever grateful for the man that took me in; seriously imperfect as I was. I remember one day about a year ago, I was sweeping the floor, and all of a sudden it just hit me like a ton of bricks: Heavenly Father's hand is guiding us through this life. His hand is in everything. He tries to reach out to us and steer us along. He wants us to make good choices. He wants whats best for us. He wants us to be happy, because he loves us.

I told the Beehives that picking your husband is the most important decision they will ever, ever make. I couldn't stress it enough. And I tell my boys that too. I surely hope when the time comes that they pick lovely, kind women with strong testimonies, and pure hearts. I want to protect them from every bad thing on this earth, and I know that who they marry can either make them or break them. What pressure! And the scary part it that we have no control over who our they will fall in love with. But I feel assured that as long as they are surrounding themselves with good people, and doing good things, they will make the right choice.

on another note: I'm so excited, I found two other ladies in my ward with kids that go to Brayden's school. I now only have to drive him one week out of every three. Kosty is also carpooling this week, and I am so happy that I do not have to even step foot inside my car if I don't want to. I really was starting to feel like 90% of my day is spent in my car. I have big plans of finishing my blurb book, organizing a few things, cleaning out my car, and getting dressed only if I feel like it. Happy Monday.

no jeans challenge

I can't remember where I saw it but someone posted about a no jeans for 2 weeks challenge...well I rely way too much on my jeans and I wanted to give it a try. Could I even last one week? I want to see. A good way to force me to be more creative. Plus, I fell and scraped up my knees pretty bad while running, and jeans HURT right now. So, I'll be taking {crappy} phone pics each day and maybe I'll post if I do in fact survive/succeed. Luckily, church counts as a day. There's 2. Sweet.

and, while we're on the subject, I intend to go most of this summer with very rare appearances made by the notorious Mormon shorts. Sorry. I know everyone wears them, me included, but I still dread them every summer.

rolls.

I can die happy.

One thing I have wanted to learn ever since we got married was to make yummy dinner rolls from scratch. I have attempted one or two recipes per year ever since (that's 10 years of seriously crappy rolls). Every time I ended up throwing the batch out and vowing that I would never attempt it again. Its such a waste of time & ingredients when yeast recipes don't turn out. Super frustrating too. So the last time I tried what I said would be my very last recipe ever. It looked promising and had great reviews. They never rose up big and fluffy and the real kicker was when my kids asked why I don't just make "Grandma's rolls" (She uses Rhodes). So, feeling defeated, I bought the biggest bag of Rhode's rolls at the grocery store and tried convincing myself to be content with those. They are easy & delicious, but I was super disappointed that I couldn't accomplish my goal. A few months later, I decided to try one last recipe.

...and they actually turned out. Big, moist, buttery, melt in your mouth...the most delicious rolls I have ever eaten! I had a grin ear to ear the rest of the day. Don't know why, but this was something I needed to learn, and it felt so good to learn it.

Click here for the recipe!

p.s. I used butter instead of margarine, let them rise for an hour instead of 30 minutes on the last raise, and increased the salt to 1 1/2 t. Also, when they come out of the oven, I brush the tops with melted butter. Oh, and I rolled them the Lion House way.