This Sunday Kinda Love

Welcome back to the real world after a long weekend when you realize with delight that the work week is already about halfway over after only 1 day of work! Yippee! This weekend we had a wonderful time on a short trip to Boise. At the beginning of July we found out that one of our favorite singers, Sean McConnell, would be performing in Boise. We looked at the calendar and discovered it was Labor Day weekend, so why not? We hit the road Saturday morning and I remembered that there are few things I enjoy more in life than a road trip with the hubs. A stop for coffee and good tunes got us rolling into Boise in the mid-afternoon.

We always wave hello to this giant cow on the highway. It means we're headed North to somewhere fun!

I love scratch-it's tickets. I may or may or may not have lost $19 on this trip. I chalked it up to car ride entertainment!

We changed at our hotel and then walked to dinner at a great restaurant called Fork. So....story about Fork. I follow food blogger Two Peas and Their Pod on Instagram and not long ago, she "Insta-storied" her Boise trip and the delicious meal from Fork caught my eye. I told AJ we had to try it and one of his work pals found out and surprised us with a gift card for there! How sweet is that?! (Hey Kandi, you rock!) We both got burgers with rosemary parmesan fries and yes it was delicious! I got a strawberry lemonade vodka soda that was to die for. And of course, the warm berry butter cake is their specialty so we had to try that too. AMAZING!

After our early dinner, we strolled around and went in some shops. Then it was time for the concert. It was so wonderful. I was surprised there wasn't more of a showing. I am not exaggerating when I say there were only 20 or so people there. Talk about intimate venue! We sat right in the front and when he played "Beautiful Rose," which I've nicknamed Hadley's song, silent tears fell and I squeezed AJ's hand and he whispered to me, "Our trip was worth it just for this moment." I couldn't agree more. There have been a handful of times I have truly "felt" Hadley with me since she passed and in that dark room, listening to the music. I felt her. After the show, we met Sean (remember, less people in the venue than in my 1st grade class) and we told him what big fans we were and about our summer and his inspiring story (he and his wife have adopted a special needs daughter from Ghana) and it was a MOMENT, guys. Like an unforgettable, amazing moment in time. We headed back to the hotel and fell into bed. I woke up the next morning to a FACEBOOK MESSAGE FROM SEAN MCCONNELL. I mean, come on! He said he was happy to meet us and appreciated us sharing our story and coming out from Utah. Needless to say, it made me realize two big things: 1) Tell your story no matter what. Sean writes music that touches our hearts. Sing your song, dance your dance, tell your story: you never know who needs it and 2) Reach out and tell people if they mean something to you. We told Sean and he reached back to us and it made our day. Gah! It was a love fest!

Princess Baby set! Isn't that awesome!

I promise AJ was happy to be there

Sunday morning we headed to a delicious coffee shop that I fell in love with when we visited Boise a few years ago. It did not disappoint. We walked around and did some shopping and then decided to check out Camel's Back park, this big park with a steep sandy incline you can climb. I posted this on insta yesterday and that pretty much describes the symbolism of this climb for me, "I would never have chosen the hard climb. It's so much easier to take the simple path. There's hurt, longing and suffering. But I know, even if it's deep down, the climb makes the view from above that much more sweet. No, I didn't choose the hard path but I did choose to keep climbing and at the top, with shaking legs and a beating heart, I will celebrate. (I did not want to make this steep hike but AJ reminded me that easier is not always better. So up we went. So worth it)."

orange honey walnut scone!

We drove most of the way home Sunday afternoon in the rain. We unpacked, tidied the house a bit and relaxed and watched "Stranger Things." (I loved the beginning but it sort of lost me there at the end. Suspenseful but not my most favorite, but still watch if you haven't, it's worth it). Monday morning I spent a few hours meal prepping for the week. We are still going strong on our weekday eating clean(ish) thing and prep is so the key to it! We were ready to get back onto plan today (see "warm berry butter cake" above). Monday evening we went out to dinner with friends and had a great time.

Overall, it was a great Labor Day weekend! Memorial Day to Labor Day sort of represents summer time to me, so bring on FALL!

It's my first ever Day in the Life post! I know this may seem boring to some, but I'm excited to do this for memories-sake. I have been really into thinking about the "seasons" of life lately. As summer transitions into fall I am reminded that our lives too go through phases and journeys and changes. This day is a small snapshot into this particular season of my life. I chose a random day and decided to document the whole thing for better or worse! It turned out to be a really typical day....a pretty normal mid-week groove. I'll have to do one of these sometime on the weekend but for now, A Day in My Life! PICTURE OVERLOAD warning!

My alarm went off at 5:25. I often snooze for 5 (or sometimes 20!) minutes but today I was up and at 'em! I checked my email, bank account (pay day!), and of course, FB. This headline made me laugh. Slow news day?

I hopped in the shower and then made our bed. We both have early mornings so AJ empties the dishwasher each morning and I make the bed. It helps our house feel a bit more put together and sharing responsibilities is a great part of the "teamwork" component of married life. I have been diligent this school year (well, 3 weeks in!) about doing 3-4 loads of laundry on weekday evenings so I don't spend all weekend buried in a laundry pile. I took 5 or so minutes and folded the clothes that spent the night in the drier. AJ's usually out of the house and on his way to work while my hair is still in a towel! Today he was gone by 6:30 and I got ready until around 7:00. Yes, I am watching Bachelor in Paradise as I blow dry my hair and do my makeup. It makes my get ready routine take longer as I get distracted by the drama, though!

A little before 7:00, I head downstairs and eat breakfast. This day I had shredded wheat with strawberries and walnuts. I read some fave blogs and checked work email while I ate. This was a day I brought coffee from home so I filled up my glass Starbucks cup with this iced coffee I love and headed out the door! I wore white pants and wedges today which, for a 1st grade teacher, is rather daring I'd say (my feet hurt by the end of the day and I did get Expo marker on my pants so yeah)! Ha! My commute takes between 10 and 15 minutes and I left the house at around 7:20. I listened to Chris Tomlin's "Love Ran Red" CD on the way (am I the only person under 70 that gets CDs from the public library?). Just some worship jams to get in the right mindset for the day. I LOVE seeing the sunlight on the mountains in the mornings and know this is short lived as it'll soon be DARK on my way to school. I absolutely hate that, so I enjoy the sunshine today on my drive.

I get to school a little after 7:30 and fill up my water for the day. I start up my computer and smile seeing my sweet girl as my desktop. I keep smiling when I check my email and see a hilarious email from AJ. These little sweet gestures mean so much and yes, he put the Buffalo Wild Wings logo on the bottom because I may have an unhealthy obsession with that place. Haha. From 8:00-9:30 was a blur. I was busy teaching phonogram sounds, working on letter formation, and introducing my students to nouns. We did this noun sheet together and then I got a 15 minute breather when they went to morning recess. When they returned we had a little over an hour until lunchtime. I drilled my phonics groups with flashcards and ran centers. We are still getting used to Centers procedure so today was a pared down version of Centers choices.

Our lunch is at 11:00 but since I didn't have a morning snack, I was actually super hungry. Lunch was a grilled chicken salad, some wheat crisps, and dried fruit. From 11:30-12:15, I taught a math lesson. Today was all about adding horizontally or vertically. Any other elementary teachers feel like there is no middle ground in math? It's either a piece of cake for them or a super struggle! There is no in between! Might need to revisit that concept tomorrow.

My kids have Spanish for half an hour on Wednesdays so I grade some of the papers from the morning, input them in the gradebook, respond to a few emails, and that time manages to go by in about 5 seconds. I teach my kids a few community helper/neighborhood poems and songs and they seem to enjoy them. It only takes Mrs. Steele about 5 whole minutes to figure out which way the cardinal directions face in our classroom! Before I know it, it's time for afternoon recess. I am thankful for a chance to get some fresh air outside each day (ask me how I feel about that in January). By the time we come in from recess, there are only about 45 minutes remaining before the kids get packed up. They work on tasks in their work folders and kids that are finished can do free choice. I have a jr. high TA who comes in and puts together some of the class books we made last week about rules and traits of good students. After the bell rings, I spend some quality time with the copy machine for a while and head out a little before 4.

I decided my class whiteboards were so gross and nasty so I hit up the Dollar Tree to buy replacements. I wiped out their supply! I arrive home and change into my workout gear because that motivates me to get my booty there. I decided to try a new smoothie recipe for snacks for AJ and I. It was pretty good! AJ arrived home around 4:30 and he immediately made some calls for our medical bills before offices closed at 5 (guys, what a nightmare. I won't go into it here but insurance issues and hospital bills are a huge headache right now). Thank goodness for AJ because I just get too upset to handle that side of our tragic summer. While AJ changes his clothes, I sip my smoothie and "pinterest" (yes I make this a verb) for a few minutes.

It's about 5:30 when we get to the gym and we workout for about 45 minutes. Once we get home we take showers (super fast with a shower cap for me. I refuse to wash my hair twice a day) and FINALLY I am in sweats for the evening! I start making dinner while AJ does some school work and we usually have Fox News on in the background (judge away, haha, we are obsessed with The Five).

Giving leg presses the HADLEY EYE!

Dinner was a quick and easy pasta veggie creation (olive oil, spinach, red pepper, sundried tomatoes, grape tomatoes, garlic, whole wheat rotini). After dinner AJ helped tidy the kitchen while I made our lunches for Thursday. I did some food prep Sunday so I just have to throw some ingredients together for chicken salads. Usually we go for an evening walk around this time but I was so very tired today and AJ had a lot of school work to do. I went upstairs to watch Bachelor in Paradise and Pretty Little Liars. I popped some popcorn, too and enjoyed it in bed! Simple joys! While Bachelor was on, I checked and responded to some work emails and made some notes in my phone about lessons for tomorrow.I also texted with pals regarding important life matters like Nick Viall as the Bachelor, planning coffee dates, who AD is on Pretty Little Liars, and of course how much I miss my Hadley girl.