A Hike with the Girls on MLK Day

On MLK day, the girls and I spent the entire day together. Chey wrote down our plans. Her two main requests:
1. Go out to eat for lunch
2. Do something outside

First Stop:
Pizza Snob near Texas Christian University.
I ordered the street taco pizza and the girls ordered cheese pizza. Dakota LOVED IT! She ate four slices!


Second Stop:
Nature Walk
The girls and I walked under 2 miles.

Lunch Breaks, Swim Dates and New Work Truck

Earlier this week, I met the girls while I was on my lunch break. We had a picnic at the park.
It would've been miserable, but we went to a park that had a lot of shade. I was able to meet them again, today for another lunch date. I love summer!

Last week, Dakota and I went to Hurricane Harbor. We plan on going again soon (as soon as I can pry myself away from editing) and this time Cheyenne will join us!

Trey got a new service truck for his business. I won't be driving that around town, but it's great for him. It's hard to believe, but Twin Temp is now a 4 man crew. I'm happy they are doing so well.

When it's a Billion Degrees Outside, Find a Shaded Park

Yesterday, I took the girls to the park. We're crazy, right? Maybe not, we found a shaded park.

Even though it was burning up, it was a gorgeous sight.

Chey rode her bike, while Dakota and I played in the shade. By the way, Chey dressed herself and Dakota. Somebody is ready for football.

Later, we went home to clean. Dakota was like…."NO, I'll watch."
Now, the girls are in Abilene for the rest of the week, visiting with family. Earlier, they went shopping with Nana.

Ft. Worth people, I tried a new pizza place called Patrons Pizza. It's near Ridgmar Mall. It's soooo good!!! Our whole family ate there for under 21 dollars. It's a buffet and the pizza is extra thin and super crunchy! Trey didn't like it because the sauce had onions in it. What does he know??? I loved it!!!

Spring Fever

It's spring break for UTA and FWISD. I'm working 3 days this week, but today I enjoyed spending the entire day with the girls, free of appointments and ballet class.

Lately, the girls and I have been soaking up the sun, we are so ready for Spring. It's time to start giving the compost bin some much needed attention. I've neglected it for months and we haven't had much rain, so the pile is dry…it's nothing my little fairies can't fix.

I'm completely out of coffee. So, I bought coffee from Central Market and then I let the girls play at the CM playground.

Dakota wore herself out and fell asleep before we made it home.

Cheyenne picked out her own socks.

Do you have any plans for spring break? We are just doing some low key things like going to the park. I might take the girls to watch a movie this weekend.

My Week in Photos and Video

Last night, Trey had an evening class to attend. It had something to do with HVAC and refrigerant. So, Cheyenne and I had dinner without him.

This morning, Trey took a few hours off of work. In case you didn't know, in Trey's world, Friday is Donut Day. It's like his weekly holiday. He went to work later in the day, but this morning he made sure to take Cheyenne get a pink sprinkled donut.

The workers at the donut shop know Trey and Cheyenne by name. <------ That can't be good.
Cheyenne begged me to wash her dog Clifford. I did, but a stub of his tail fell off and now I have to perform surgery and hand stitch it back on.

Okay, technically, this is from last week....
Cheyenne acting crazy on the swing set.

Well, everyone have a great weekend! Enjoy it with friends and family.

Park, Surprise Parade, Happy Hour, & Movie

Here are some of the highlights from this weekend.
My little sister, Tasha was in town. We went shopping and got matching sandals and sunglasses (different colors tho), cause we're cool like that.

We took the kids to the park.

This is Bella, my niece.
 
I played too.

Cheyenne got carried away swinging.

Things got real crazy at the park. This girl knows how to have fun. Take notes, people.

We went to the Stockyards and by total accident, made it to the St. Patricks Day Parade. Afterwards, we stopped by the petting zoo.

Oh, Friday night we took Tasha and Bella to one of our favorite restaurants, Chuy's. Did you know that Happy Hour is Monday thru Friday from 4 - 7 pm? They have a nacho bar during their happy hour and get this, it's FREE. Say, WHAT????? If you knew about this, we are not friends anymore because you did not share this information with me. For reals, though! We made it right in time before happy hour ended. SCORE.

Trey drove the scooter to Chuy's and met us there since our car can only seat four people. I know, more ammunition for Trey and his case to convince me we need a new vehicle. LALALA, I'm not listening, ELEMENT for life!

Last night, Trey stayed at home with the kids, while Tasha and I went to the Movie Tavern to watch Project X. It was nice getting out with just her, thanks TREY! So, that was our weekend with my sister and niece.

Work & Play

Is this Christmas Vacation or Spring Break? I can't tell...we are having unusually warm weather for December, but then again this is Texas, so I guess that's not saying much.
Today, I took Cheyenne to the park, to wear her out before nap time.

A little girl, she was probably 4 years old, told Cheyenne she wasn't suppose to be on the slide because she was a baby. Cheyenne ran up to me and cried, "Momma, she called me a baby." I told Chey the girl must've made a mistake. Later, the girl told her again, "Babies aren't allowed on the slide." Cheyenne responded, "I'm not a baby! Don't call me a BABY!" And then she slid down the slide.

Oh, all I want to do is to protect her, even from toddlers who taunt her.

And throughout the day I worked on a freelance project. I'm scanning a million photos. It's a tedious process and it's more work than I anticipated. I feel like I barely made a dent in the project. I'll work on it more tomorrow. I made the dinning area my temporary office. There is plenty of workspace.

Mineral Wells State Park Has a Running Trail!

*Note: 50K Training Program at the end of this post*

Sunday morning, while Trey was working on his truck, I took the opportunity to explore the state park. That's what I love about running, you can discover things you might miss otherwise.

The trail covers ground from Mineral Wells to Weatherford, which is a 14 mile one-way trip. One day I will run the entire distance. Anyone want to join me? I would have to arrange for someone to pick me up in Weatherford. Seriously, this would be a great trail to run to prep for Palo Duro. Mineral Wells trail is NOT technical, it's basically flat...or at least what I saw. I ran 8 miles, in and out.

A bridge overlooking water.



I got a late start on my run, 10 am. Oh, my goodness, it was hot! Luckily, I ran with my handheld, but the last mile was a struggle. The sun was close to high noon, by the time I was making it back to the car. I only had one mile left and I had drank all my water.

I parked myself under a tree for a few minutes, got my head out of I'm going to die out here land...and I sucked it up and finished.

 I was so glad to see my car, since I had cold water waiting for me. Oh and I'm also thankful for sunblock. Trey thinks I should start wearing sunblock more often, even on my short runs because he's noticed my tan shoulders go from a fair bronze to medium/dark brown, in a matter of months. He's right, you should see my tan line. I have not had a sunburn, this season, but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't wear sunblock.


Official Palo Duro 50K Ultra Marathon Program
I decided to post this online because I've noticed blog traffic picking up from people searching for 50K training programs. When I was on the search for one, I had a hard time finding the perfect match, so hopefully this will help other ultra runners out. You're welcome!

(note: on Thursday's I plan on doing some speedwork)

I'm on week two, so I'm feeling pretty good. Depending on how I feel, on my rest and low mile days, I will incorporate P90X. Or I'll rest. Like I said before, I'm not going to stress over this program, it's just a plan. My main focus will be long runs. If you are on dailymile you can follow my daily progress. Here is my page.

Hot Idea

This weekend, Cheyenne had this great idea to go to the park. She was so excited, we couldn't tell her no. Even though it was late in the afternoon and most people were inside staying cool, we decicded to play outside.

She's getting bigger, she didn't even use the hand rails. Seriously, she's getting taller and thinning out.

I guess, she's not afraid of heights.

That expression...

Please, Mom -- No pictures!

The slide was a little hot, but not hot enough to stop her.

I want to do it again and again and again.

A little sweaty.

He's still a kid.

What a fun afternoon. I love my family.