5Ks

So, I have one more run in week 8 of couch to 5k, and then I'll be on week 9, which is all 30 minute runs. Then I'll start really working on speed so I can hopefully do a 5k in those thirty minutes! I'm doin ok right now at a 12 minute mile. I'll have my work cut out for me for sure.

ANYWAY, in order to keep me motivated to run, we are having 2 5ks this holiday season. Since we aren't going to be somewhere that is having a 5k...we are having our own. With our families.

We'll be with Collin's family over Thanksgiving, and we plan to do a 5k with his family. I think so far everyone is joining in, there might be some walking, but that is fine.

Then we'll be with my family for Christmas. We are doing a 5k with them too, but my mom has invited some other ppl from church, so we'll see how that turns out.

So, if you are wanting to do something active over the holidays sometimes you have to plan your own activities...and that is just fine :) Can't wait for our 5ks!

Camping Trip

We had a GREAT camping trip last weekend with Collin's family. We hung out, we played games, we ate wonderful food. It was a blast!

Here are some pictures. I only got pictures of Chase after nap time, our Frisbee Golf game, and Zane being a manly man chopping some wood. Also got some of Layla, she did PERFECT on her first camping trip! Can't wait to take her camping again! It sprinkled most of Sunday, so I didn't get any more pictures.

Running again

It's official. I'm running again. Collin started running and got me motivated this time. Tomorrow morning will be my last run for week 5 of couch to 5k. It's 20 minutes. I'm feeling good about that now, but...we'll se tomorrow :)
When I started running before(almost 3 years ago! WOW!) I had horrible shin splints that never got better. And I even had new shoes. That is why I stopped running and started biking. But I just wasn't getting the great work out I had been getting. So I went back to running and that is when I got a stress fracture in my foot. If you ever get a chance to have a stress fracture...go ahead and pass that up!

ANYWAY, I've run off and on since then, but never sticking with it. But I'm glad to be sticking with it this time. AND I have new shoes that help me with my running. I LOVE THEM! I had no idea you could run shin splint free!! ARE YOU KIDDING!? This is great! I found out I'm a supinator(or under pronator) and it has made all the diference in the world to know that.

Wish me luck tomorrow...if anyone is still reading this! Oops! :)

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Have you heard of this book/method?

Well, my S-I-L told me about it, and how simple it makes GREAT breads. So I looked it up online(lots of videos and some recipes)

Basically, all you do is mix 4 ingredients...let it rise, either use some then, or put it in your refrigerator to use as needed. Peel off how much you need, shape it, let is rise, bake it...DONE! With wonderful bread.

Here is the original recipe:
3 cups water(room temp or cold)
1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tbsp yeast
6 1/2 cups white flour
(there is no kneading involved because it's a wet dough, and you just add some flour when you grab your dough)

I loved this idea, and have had some of the bread, it's wonderful....here's my problem. I LOVE BREAD! I know if I make this bread, I'll have homemade bread whenever I want! Hungry for a snack? BREAD!!!

So...white bread...it's just not good for you. Sure they add some stuff that is good for you...but the white flour doesn't react the same in your body...

I wanted to see if it would work with Whole Wheat Flour....I've never use it before in my life! (that I can remember!)

So I didn't want to go out and buy the book.
Online they do have a recipe for whole wheat sandwich bread. It looks great, and includes salt or honey, and milk I think.

Well, I want something that's as raw and healthy as I can get...cause I'm prone to eating a lot of bread!

So I decide to try it with the original recipe using wheat.

Ok...apparently whole wheat flour soaks up water WAY more...so my dough wasn't very wet(it's supposed to be a very wet dough)

I tried to make it work anyway since it was already done.
The bread was ok...definitely didn't rise like it needed to.
So I talked to my mom, and she told me about how ww needs more water, and more time to rise. Ok...no problem

Second try...here is my recipe:

3 cups water
1.5 tbsp kosher salt
1.5 tbsp yeast
4.5 cups whole wheat flour

Now I probably won't use this bread for sandwiches...but as a bread to go along with dinner or a healthy snack, I think I have a winner! I'm baking my second loaf now! It's a little salty to me, I might try a tiny bit less salt next time, but I know salt helps with the rising, and I don't want to mess with that!

Here are the other things to know when trying this bread.
You pre-heat the oven at 450! wow!
have a pizza stone(I just use a cookie sheet for now) on the top rack and on the lower rack I have a pan(I use a broiling pan) while you are preheating.
Boil some water right before you are going to put the bread in. (about a cup of hot water)
When you are ready, put the dough on the stone, pour the water in the pan(BE CAREFUL! the steam is hot! Also don't spill any, especially on the glass)
Close the oven, and let it cook for 30 minutes. This makes a GREAT crust! But the crust gets softer after time for wheat bread)

Everything else you get on the videos if you are interested. I didn't put EVERYTHING down, but just what I had to search for.

Hope you try either recipe!

Or better yet, buy the book. They are working on a second book too.

Senior Staff Director

Sounds kinda impressive huh?
That's my new title in the Admissions office at Harding. I feel weird saying it though. I'm used to being a secretary in the Admissions office...not Senior Staff Director. I'm sure I'll get used to that too.
I really do love my new job! It's fun, but I just know I'm gonna mess up!
Basically, I review the applications when they are ready to be accepted, and I accept them however they need to be accepted to HU...unless something is wrong with the app or reference or transcript...which doesn't happen too much thankfully! So I'm learning all the ins and outs of that. I knew the basics already, now I'm just adding to that knowledge, which is fun to me...i know...I'm a nerd!
I also do the opposite, canceling applications and all sorts of other fun things that involve the paperwork part of applying to college.

I guess that's all I have to say about it now, tomorrow will be the end of the second week of me doing the job "on my own." If only we could hire the new secretary soon!! Oh well, we'll just keep praying about it and God will lead the right person to us!

Have a great friday and wonderful weekend!!!

I know

It's been a long long time since I've posted, but I'm still not in the mood to post much, so I'll just post some pics to catch you up :)


Layla turned 6 months old! This is a pic from that, BUT now she is actually 7 months. So we need to get a new picture. She is still growing like a weed! It's crazy!


Carter turned 2! This is the cake Amy made, I believe my mom helped her with it. Isn't it awesome?! I have some talented siblings!


Carter got a sand table! Claira and Carter both love it. (Claira had her 1st birthday, but I didn't have my camera...she got a sandbox and a swing!)


This is Carter on part of his new swing set!

We took a family trip to the zoo when my mom was here as well, this is a cutie pic I got of Carter.


We got to see one of the elephants pretty close up! It was so neat!



This was right after Claira was showing us what monkeys do! Soooo precious and smart!


I like this one, becausey ou can see the fear in ben's face! They were feeding the bird, but I think ben was worried...turns out it was smart to be worried, my mom got bit by one!


We had our 5 anniversary!!! YAY!! 5 WONDERFUL years of marriage! And so much more to come! This was a pic I got on our anniversary trip. We went back to Cancun, which is where we went on our honeymoon. Funny story, we were going to go back to the same resort we went to then, we booked through apple vacations(highly recommend them) and then we got upgraded to a resort that was about twice what we payed for. So, it was a VERY nice place. And we had SUCH a great time!


Our room was on the lagoon side, which meant we got to sit on our balcony(or swing in the hammock) and watch live dolphins! ANYTIME!



Sorry I've been such a bad blogger, but at least I am always quick to upload facebook pics! There are lots more there if you haven't already seen them.

And I don't have a picture for this update, but I got a promotion!!! I start the 15th! I can't wait!!!

The family dog...

I knew it was coming some time, but I don't know if you are ever really prepared for it...

Poor skittles, after 17 years was just in too much pain to keep going. My mom had hoped and prayed she would die peacefully at home, but she just kept getting worse and worse.
We all know it was for the best, but it's a bit difficult. Like having a member of the family leave.

Love you skittles!

Harding Spring Sing with great friends!

Our friends Ryan and Elisha and their baby Chloe came to see us this weekend!
They came all the way from Pontiac IL. We had a great time! Sat we walked around campus and took some fun pics! Here they are!

What's new with me you ask?!

do you need a before???

Sorry I didn't take one. Mostly because my hair was on my nerves all the time so I had it up most of the time. I'm not sure how much she cut off...but I know it was a lot!

I LOVE SPRING!

These are some of the fun things happening around our house related to spring! The first is our dogwood tree, and the pink flowers are on our peach tree! So much fun! Enjoy!

4 months and growing!

Here's our little girl at 4 months! She is now almost 5 months. We took her to the a couple vets this sat for a little vet shopping and she got weighed. She was 45 lbs! Today at the vet she was 48 lbs. That's 3 lbs in 4 days...NICE! She is also growing about an inch a week. We sure are enjoying her! And enjoying taking her on her walks with this beautiful weather!!

It's Layla!!!

We are crazy about this girl...and I think she pretty much loves us too, she loves to cuddle us! She is big, but not near as big as she will be! She is only 13 weeks!

Hope you all have a great monday!

Meet

Our new puppy!!! Yes...she's a puppy!!

She is a great dane about 11 weeks old! She has been reduced in price twice because the family is falling deeply in love with her and they don't need a 6th great dane!

We are picking her up Sunday...help us with a name?

We like rock star names...our bird was Ringo, our cat is Joan Jett(and the black hearts....I love rock and roll-incase you didn't know!), we just call her JJ though.

We are trying to find a great name for her....I haven't told collin yet....but I'm thinkin maybe Journey....we'll see. Any suggestions would be awesome!

Update: her name will be Layla! What do ya think?! :)

Anyone?

out there still listening? lol
I'm in need for a good idea. Collin and I decided not to move our dresser when we moved because we didn't like how it would fit in our new room. So we are wanting a tall dresser to replace it. Anyone know of any way to get a great deal on one?

Other than that I just haven't had much time for blogging. Collin and I get home from work, then work out, then eat, and then it's time to relax and get in bed. We are both just thankful we are at times in our lives where we can do that.
When we worked at the village every other week we couldn't work out together because someone had to be at home all night.

Since we both have off work tomorrow this weekend we've been trying to organize the closets! Yipes! What a job! But we've cleaned out two of them already, so just one more to go! It's amazing how much more space you have when you really get in there and work.

Hope everyone has a great weekend and MLK day!

ooooooh

meeeeeeee.....




..............



yeah....that's all I have to say.....oh me....

So Little Time....

To Post!

We are loving our new house!! And I REALLY enjoyed decorating it for Christmas!!


I have been enjoying the joys of owning a house so far. I enjoy picking up every night....which is weird....hope it lasts though!
The house is mostly done as far as moving in...BUT we need curtains and to hang some more things on the walls...but I'm just taking my time trying to make the right decisions! :)

We spent a whole day on the yard and flower beds and doing the outside lights, but it was totally worth it!!

Hope everyone is having a great christmas season!!