She Runs By Faith

Hello, Friday! Hope your Friday is going wonderfully this morning. I pulled a smooth move this morning by pouring old half n' half into my freshly brewed coffee. Moral of the story: Always smell milk or half n' half before you add it to your coffee. 5 Reasons I Run 1. To be a healthy example for my family. Little man is always watching and I hope he picks up more good habits from me than bad. I already caught him biting his nails like mama once... not good! I'm still working on breaking that nervous habit! 2. So I can eat these brownies and not feel bad about it. Of course I recommend eating them in moderation, but I just had to eat two of them because they were fresh out of the oven. I cut them small, okay?! Don't judge me ;) 3. Running is a low-cost sport. Goodbye hockey equipment and tennis rackets! All I need to run is a good pair (or two) of shoes. I alternate between these two types of shoes and that works for me. Race fees can get expensiv...

It's been a little over a year since I left my job in the corporate world to stay at home full-time with little man. Life has changed so much over this past year - adjusting to my new career as a full-time mom, new hometown, "new-to-us" house and so many new experiences as our little boy is growing up. I wrote a "Day in the Life" post back in May 2013 and thought I would follow up with a life update over a year later. Being a stay-at-home mom is challenging because... It gets lonely. Some days that sweet toddler boy drives me up a wall. Sometimes I get down about being just a mom in a world where most people don't see the value of a mom being at home to raise their children. Aside from early morning hours and nap time, quiet time is hard to come by. On the more trying days, I do miss those adult lunch visits and 15-minute coffee breaks I had at my old job. Living on one income means less expendable income. But it's all worth i...

After quite a dry stretch, we finally got some much-needed rain on Monday and the weather was just cool enough for some baking. It was about time because we have been lacking baked goods in this house! So here you have it - my first go at baking "blondies" or "blonde brownies". These bars are the perfect sidekick for afternoon coffee! Choco Chip Blondies 2 cups flour 1 tsp. baking powder 3/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. baking soda 1 stick butter 2 cups light brown sugar 2 eggs 2 tsps. vanilla 1 cup chocolate chips Optional 3/4 cup chopped pecans Preheat oven to 350°F. Flour and butter 9x13" pan (I used a smaller pan). Mix flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. In a separate bowl, melt butter and then add sugar; stir together. Add eggs and vanilla to the butter mixture and mix well. Slowly add flour mixture. Pour into pan and spread out evenly. Sprinkle chips and/or nuts on top (I added the chocolate chips into the batter instead). Bake fo...

Saturday was an interesting long-run morning. The second I woke up, my body felt stiff, sore, and tired (last week was a long one and I think it took it's toll). After reasoning with myself and accepting that I would indeed regret sleeping in, I slowly climbed out of bed. I walked into the kitchen to grab an English muffin before heading out the door and my finger got nipped by what felt like an angry little animal hiding under the muffin bag. I screamed and jumped around the kitchen while looking for a paper towel to stop the bleeding. After the situation was under control, I found that my attacker was a ginormous watermelon-cutting knife (whew, not a wild animal in my kitchen). After the attack... 'tis a mere flesh wound! After the bleeding stopped, I scarfed half of the English muffin and headed out the door. The run felt... not good. My legs felt lead-filled and the tiredness was really weighing me down. I told myself "just make it one hour". W...

Friday is back again and it's time for another favorites list with Fitness Friday ! We have had family staying with us this week and the days have flown by. Here are a few of my favorites over this last week: 1. Harvest time.  Barley harvest recently started and E really enjoys driving the combine with daddy. We don't see Leo as much during harvest but I am very thankful that we can go out to the field and visit him. The wives even bring supper out to the field so all of the families can eat together (notice the chili on E's face). It's awesome! 2. New beats. We've been listening to a lot of Lecrae and Switchfoot lately. It's hilarious to watch E bob his little head and dance to the music. I highly recommend checking out "Live Free" by Lecrae and pretty much all the songs on my running playlist below! 3. My favorite double date. My brother and sister-in-law babysat little man while Leo and I went out on our pre-harvest date. The ne...

This post is linked up with "One Year and Beyond" and we are covering the topic "Deciding when the time is right for baby #2". Our topic this week is one near and dear to my heart. Having a sibling for E has been on our hearts for a while. Actually, for the last ten months or so. **Disclaimer: This post is about pregnancy and all that business, so read beyond this point at your own risk!** With our first baby, E, we were pregnant in the first cycle of "trying". This time around has been another story. After I ran the Blue Ox Marathon in October 2013, Leo and I decided it was time to add to our family. A few months passed after that and we still weren't pregnant. When E turned 14 months old, I reluctantly weaned him from nursing and thought maybe, just maybe my cycle would return. A couple more months pass and still not pregnant. He will be 18 months in September and never imagined we wouldn't be pregnant again at this point! All I can sa...

Even morning runs have been hot this week and I am praising God for it! After a winter like we recently had, I can't complain about any temps above 0°F. We put on 6.25 solid stroller-miles for this morning's tempo run and I knew today was a smoothie-making day. Now that the weather is comfortably warm, E loves to have his shoes off in the stroller and let the windy blow on his stinky little feet. At least he's staying cool while I'm a hot mess! This was my first try at making a "green smoothie" and it turned out really well - even my husband liked it! Tropical Green Smoothie 1 cup mango, fresh or frozen 6 oz. Chobani peach Greek yogurt 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen 1 cup spinach, shredded 1/2 banana 1/2 cup cold water Place all ingredients in the blender. Blend until smooth. Stir with spoon to make sure the frozen fruit is well-blended. Serve as a smoothie OR pour into small containers to place in the freezer for frozen yogurt. Servi...

E and I were visiting Grandpa and Grandma's farm last week and we enjoyed some shoe-less time outside. E loves playing outside and I was able to fit in some barefoot running, too. He was very busy working on his Fisher-Price car; you know, being a mechanic like daddy! Running barefoot is so freeing (and quite a workout on the calves)! I'm not a radical barefoot enthusiast but I do want to incorporate one low-mileage barefoot run or barefoot strength training into each week. Why Barefoot Running Rocks The (lack of) shoes are free. No socks needed, therefore less laundry. It's like a flashback to being a farm kid! For more information and tips on barefoot running, check out this article: "How to Start Barefoot Running" by Ben Greenfield A Few Summer Memories I will be sharing more about our summer in a future post but here are a few pictures to hold you over (I'm sure you just can't wait, right?). Harvest is just around the cor...