Contentment

My sister Jessie and I were talking about happiness last night and how God sometimes doesn't give us everything we desire, but He does give us everything we need. It's SO easy to get caught up in the thinking that I "need" this or I can't live without "this." but I know that sometimes it's using what you have that makes you most happy.

In the end of our lives. What will we have looked back on with satisfaction? Clothes? Food? No, probably those precious memories of our children being born or our little talks on the porch with our husband.

"Godliness with contentment is great gain"
(1Timothy 6:6).


Good things to think about the next time I start complaining about what I "need."

It's Monday! Time for a new week. We have Ava's gymnastics today and then we are enjoying the week. Can you believe it's almost time to get ready for school?

Question: What was your favorite thing about school growing up? I can still remember the smell of the air outside on school mornings. It was bright and crisp and a little chilly.

Eight is enough

For the first long run I ever did, I was huffing and puffing and walking some to make it to eight miles. Eight miles seemed like a marathon at that moment and I remember rushing in to church to tell my friend Jess. For some reason, it just seemed in my mind once I did that number of miles -- any long run was possible.

Today I had six or seven on my calendar so I ate a bagel with marscarpone cheese and jelly and some coffee and ran.

Only I didn't run six, I finished two loops of our trail to make it eight. It seemed poetic somehow that my return to long run weekends after baby Ryder would be eight.

My goal was to work on cadence or quick feet, which is still somewhat of a hard technique for me. I just had beginner cadence around 130-180. Why worry about this? Running with a quicker cadence actually helps you run faster, conserve energy and keeps you from injuries.

I used the ismooth app for help and think I did the best when I didn't try to hit the 90-plus cadence and just worked on running tall and having quick feet. But, man, it feels weird. :)

The humidity at 65 percent-plus was hard as well. But my two goals were achieved 1.) run slow enough to recover after one day and 2.) finish strong. I felt great and def. think I can do a half marathon in the fall. And I finished with a pace of 10:08 for 8 miles--strangely enough. There was gas left in the tank at the end of my run so I am excited about my fall training.

Zuch crazy

Those little zucchinis and squash are some of the most prolific veggies in the garden. During the summer, I can get overwhelmed and just cook them the same old way.

However, I found this cool recipe on Food Network that makes zucchini pasta by using a mandolin or veggie scraper to make ribbons out of the zucchini. This recipe uses salt (I would do it for 20 min, not 30) to soften the fibers, which makes it taste and feel like a piece of pasta.

Very weird, but good. I had my doubts, but the pasta was just like an al dente pasta. Really fresh.

However, another technique, like this recipe, is to not salt the pasta so you may want to play with it and see what you like. Or you can serve it hot, like in this NY Times recipe.

Using a veggie peeler to make zucchini pasta. 

Add salt and let sit in colander for 20 min to soften and release some of the moisture. 

Instead of using fresh tomatoes, I used can of San Marzanos since mine weren't ready yet. 

Open-faced Cali BLT with bacon (cheese house, garden maters, avocado, lettuce, lime and a lime aioli with cilantro. mmm! 

Photo Op

Those little tootsies. Jess, our awesome friend and photog, took our family pics with little Ryder a couple of Sundays ago on a steamy June day. It was super hot and frankly I wondered how she would get good pictures as we sweated to the oldies (not really).

Of course, she did amazing and even brought some cute props for the pictures. We had a blast and love them. He was one month old in the photos.

After the shoot, we went to the Tour de Grandview and watched cyclists. It was seriously amazing how fast they went - 30 mph! Hello. It was around 90, but with the shade it was really nice.

6 week checkup and snuggles

Big news here...Little Ryder slept a total of 5 hours and 18 minutes last night straight! That's officially the longest he (and I) have slept in almost 6 weeks (hello, how crazy is that?).

This morning Brandon was pretty sick so I took Ava to VBS, she was so excited, and then Soph and I had a picnic at the park and headed to the doctor's with Ryder for my six-week checkup.

Everything went great and I am pretty much cleared for swimming and biking now as well as running.

How much do you love this idea for a baby shower on KERF's blog? Bringing the parents six packs of craft beers at a shower.

Classic.

I would love to copy this sometime because I know we would love it. We don't have date nights right now since Ry Ry is still pretty little and our date night is sharing a beer on the porch.

Snuggling with him right now and it's the best. He's getting so chunky.

Ava and Sophia are doing really well. Soph always cracks up with her expressions and her cheerfulness and Ava is our little spy. She loves to be a spy with Ethan and has a little spy purse.

July 4th it up!

I love this photo of Prefontaine. He's the Oregon track legend that died in a car accident. The track Olympic trials are being held on the same track he used to compete on in Eugene.

Pre! 

Pretty much his mantra was always to start hard and finish hard and never had a coasting pace. Have you seen "Without Limits?" It's a great movie about his life. I ran a blistering hot 2.5 miles last night. It was so hot and stuffy that I felt pretty hot after running that distance. Especially at 6 pm in 90-plus temps with the actual temp at 100-plus.

Very excited to run in the morning tomorrow since it's July 4th. And only 70 degrees. And I get to run in my new shoes. It's a great day since my old shoes had 600-plus miles on them. I always get Saucony because I overpronate and am not a neutral runner like Brandon and can't wear cool girl Mizunos or Brooks.

I walked into the store thinking I was going to get Saucony again, but the Adidas Supernova Sequence 5. fit so well. And their almost pink (salmon), which I love.

Hope you have a great 4th! Any working out plans for the holiday? We are having some ribs with our family. Probably no fireworks since little Ryder is only five weeks. Not like last year (in the pics below) where were we went to Red White and Boom and stayed downtown overnight.
That was such a fun time. Or like our tie-dye party that we had the past couple of years. We didn't do it this year. You can see pictures here.



Last year at Red, White and Boom

Sophia and Ava last year at Red, White and Boom.