Tres Leches

This past week, Landon and I decided to try making a Tres Leches cake, from the Pioneer Woman's website. Since we discovered it at Churrasco's a few years ago, it has been Landon's favorite dessert (or at least one of them!)

Since we were in charge of dessert for our small group Bible Study last weekend, we decided it was as good a time as any to try it out. It was pretty easy and really yummy (and made us so grateful for the KitchenAid Mixer! I'd highly reccomend it to anyone who likes Tres Leches...

And of course, we had to taste it before we could bring one to our small group! YUM!

this and that...

I am so glad Stanford testing is almost over.
It's three days of torture, I mean testing, for our kids.
And for us. But mostly for them--6 hours a day of multiple
timed tests. I think I'm bringing them cookies tomorrow
so we can all celebrate it being over. And I'm choosing to not
even think about the fact that TAKS is in 2 months.

8 months ago, Landon signed up to do an Ironman.
That's a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride and then
a 26.2 mile run--a marathon. In under 17 hours.
I'm amazed. I'm sure I'd struggle physically to do that,
but I think I'd struggle so much more mentally, just
thinking about those distances. I know he'll do awesome
though. That's one finisher medal he's gonna have that I
probably never will.

Finishing a triathlon is on my list of things to do before I
die though. This April, Landon is doing a half- Ironman as
part of his training and I'm signed up to do a 1/4 Ironman
that same weekend. That's a .98 meter swim, a 28 mile
bike and a 6.5 mile run. That's more my style.

Landon and I just pulled my old bike out from the garage
and cleaned it up and put a new seat on it. My brothers
bought it for me when I graduated high school and I
rode it a lot during college. It brings back fun memories
of my brothers when I see it.

I'm in the process of looking for a road bike for the race
though, because Landon told me I can't ride that one
in the triathlon. :)

Triathlon training is C.R.A.Z.Y. Seriously.
Not so much because it's so much harder than
marathon training, but because it just takes so much
more dang time. An easy day is an hour or so of working
out. A typical day is more like two hours. Which sometimes
leaves little time for anything else.

I'm working hard to find balance. While I love that we've
gotten into running and working out (because I've always
secretly wanted to be a runner but never really thought
I could), we don't want working out and training to be our
WHOLE life. So we're trying to find a balance. Balance between work
and church and friends and our marriage and working out
and resting and cleaning the house and all the other little
things that either stay on my to do list forever, waiting
to be crossed off or finally get crossed off, only to be replaced
with something else. Some days, some weeks, I succeed
with some semblance of balance, others not so much.

Speaking of balance, I haven't been to my Monday night
Bible study consistently in way too long. I'm committing
to going tomorrow. I've let everything else in life, namely
work and training and the lack of free time, make me think
I didn't need to go. But I do. I need the time in the Word,
the godly discussions, the godly friendships, the accountability.
Mondays I'm not working out--I'm going back to the study.

The only way I can cook meals these days is by planning
out the meals for the week, going grocery shopping for those
things and then sticking to the plan. I bought a cookbook
the other day from Runner's World called The Athlete's
Palate. It's a compilation of recipes from famous chef's
that are also runners/athletes. So far, everything we've
tried from it has been really good, and relatively low
calorie, but made with good things to eat while you're in
training. If you're training for some type of race,
I'd recommend it.

For Christmas I got a Kindle from my in-laws. I love it.
I'm currently reading World Without End by Ken Follett.
I love it. I'm also reading The Daily Bible. I love it too.
And I love that I can read both while I'm on the bike
for an hour or two, pedaling away. It makes me look
forward to bike days.

We know a lot of people dealing with some tough stuff,
and making big decisions, and looking for jobs. At times
my heart is so heavy for them. But, we're so grateful
for a God that hears, a God that cares, a God that is always
faithful and who we can put our full hope and trust into.

I'm so thankful for our small group, for our friends, at
church. We had everyone over for the start of our
new Bible study and it was so much fun. We love
having people over and last night was no exception--
it was a night filled with good food, good discussion
and a lot of stories and laughs. Landon led the
discussion last night and did SO good--we had a
good hour long discussion about the parable of the
landowner. We can't wait until next week.

I'm so excited about the units that I'm about to begin
teaching, as soon as testing is over. I love this time
of the year, because it's when we get into our interpretation
unit and begin talk about social issues and get to dig in deep
and talk about things that really matter. And the kids
get really into it. All through the books they're reading and
through book clubs and discussions. It's messy and hard and
fun and I LOVE it.

24. So good. And this season looks pretty interesting. I love
show, but just as much, I love curling up on the couch with
my husband, being reminded of our early days of marriage,
when we first started watching. And I love that it comes on
on Mondays, giving us something to look forward to.

Disney Vacation Part Four: The Marathon

Sunday morning we woke up with a strange sense of deja vu--same 3am wake up call, freezing cold weather (it was colder in temperature, but not raining, thank goodness!), layering, eating bananas and bagels and peanut butter on the bus ride, same standing out in the cold...

It wasn't a bad feeling, but definitely a weird one, to feel slightly tired and sore because you just ran a race, and then think about going and running another one twice as far. But, that was what we came here to do, so we were ready to do it! I was a little anxious, just because I had no idea how I would feel once I got out there or how stiff and tired our legs would be.

On the walk to the marathon area we saw part of the UP house!

Once we got to the gathering area, we (along with about a hundred other runners) found a semi-warm spot to wait in inside one of the tents and hung out for about 30 minutes until it was time to make the 1/2 mile hike to the start line again. And again, we had that weird sense that we had just done all of this very recently, haha!

This time though, we were in the first wave and VERY close to the start--definitely the closest we've ever been. So when the gun went off, we actually got to start running--it was fun!

About two or three minutes into the race, Landon turned to me and asked me if I had my Ipod turned on. It was a normal enough question, but that morning it was horrible--because as soon as he asked me, I realized I left my Ipod in the sweatshirt I tossed at the start line! I had planned on putting my Ipod on as soon as I took off my sweatshirt, but because we were in the first wave it was a lot more rushed than the day before. So, I just chunked my sweatshirt to be ready to run and didn't even think about what was inside of it!

I didn't get a picture of the start line, but it looked like this only with, literally, about 10 times as much clothes--because it was FREEZING!

Landon asked me if I wanted to turn around and get it but, though I was really mad about it, I just wanted to keep going, so we did. I wasn't mad about not having it for the race so much as just not having it anymore.

So, we kept on running...the first place we came to was Epcot, which was really pretty, even in the dark!

And, it was a very welcome distraction, because my legs were pretty much as tired as I'd been afraid they would be. It was a very weird feeling to start a marathon out feeling tired on mile one--and for your legs to only get more tired as time went on, obviously. I was having to fight to keep a pace that was slower than the pace we easily kept the day before on the half!

After Epcot, we ran a few more miles before we hit the Magic Kingdom. Somewhere after Epcot we turned a corner and ran right past the start line again, which made me think of my Ipod, but stopping to look for it just didn't seem like an option to me. However, to Landon this wasn't the case. He told me to keep running and then ran across the road, through the ditch across into the other road and searched through TONS of clothes (I wish I had taken a picture of it!) for my generic grey hoodie that had my Ipod in it. He said he looked for about five or six minutes--which is pretty much an eternity to stop when you're running a race--and then he finally found it!! And then, as if that wasn't enough, he ran crazy fast miles to catch up with me a few miles later! I felt so bad and so grateful all at the same time! I don't know how I ended up with such an amazing husband, who does things like that for me without batting an eye. Those miles were definitely some of the more interesting of the marathon!

When we finally got to the Magic Kingdom (reunited again, thank goodness!), we ran the same path as the day before. But it was light this time since we'd been running for longer, so we could see more--and there were A LOT more characters out, which was cool. We didn't take any pictures WITH them, but we took a few of them as we went by.

Then, right around mile 12, as we were headed towards the Animal Kingdom, we finally saw Mickey! We wanted a picture with him, but the line was L-O-N-G! So, we just snapped one and ran.

Mile 13--I'm really awake in this picture, I promise!

I was happy to hit the 13 mile mark, because I felt like after 13 miles, your legs are supposed to be at least a little tired, so I didn't feel so weird anymore. And, it meant we were 2/3 of the way done with the Goofy Challenge!!

High-fiving the Christmas moose as we passed the 13.1 mile mark!

We passed some fun hot air balloons at different points on the course--they were so pretty!

Around mile 17, we finally hit the Animal Kingdom, which was possibly my favorite part of the course! It was SO pretty!

And then, right as we exited the Animal Kingdom, we saw Mickey again! And, this time there was no line, so we jumped in and took a picture with him! We were so excited--too bad the photographer, moved the camera or something and made it all fuzzy! Boo!

Then, after pushing through a few more miles (and a few more hills!), we finally made it into Hollywood Studios somewhere around mile 21. I had been looking forward to this park for a while, because it meant we were almost done--and because I'd never been there! It was pretty cool---but I'm not gonna lie--I was getting a little too tired at this point to fully enjoy it all. I did manage to keep up my picture taking responsibilities though, while Landon took some videos. :)


After Hollywood Studios we ran right through the Boardwalk Resort and, holy cow, it was pretty much the most gorgeous place I'd seen in a while. The sun was shining on the water and we were running over bridges and there were little man-made beaches on either side of us. I was near exhaustion at this point and really had to make myself look around and soak in the moment--because we were ALMOST done and it really was beautiful. I must not have had the camera out at this point though, because I didn't take any pictures.

Me running through the Boardwalk Resort--it looks like I'm walking here, but I promise we ran the whole thing! :)

And then, the coolest part of the race, even cooler than the start, was the finish. The last mile and a half or so you run all through Epcot. As you enter the park, and they have grand finale type mucis blaring all through the park and the streets are jam-packed on either side of people cheering you on. I was SO tired at this point that I didn't take any picture, but it really was a neat way to finish a race. I'm not sure anyone but Disney could pull that off. :)

During the last 1.2 miles time seemed to be going on slow motion, but I just kept telling myself that if I kept putting one foot in front of the other, in less than 15 minutes I would see the finish line. So we pushed as much as I could to pick up the pace and just kept heading down the street, trying to soak in the moment. Then, right as we rounded the last turn, the finish line came in to view (YAY!!) and we heard a Christian group on the right side of us singing (I think) a MaryMary song. Landon ran over to them singing the song and telling them thank you for being there! Though I did not have the energy to do that, I enjoyed watching him and we both were loving the fact that God's name was being proclaimed right at the end of the race, for all to hear. Too cool.

As we came down the last stretch, we saw Micky and Minnie on one side of us and then, on our left, we saw Goofy. So, we took off in his direction and hugged him before crossing the finish line hand in hand--notice how Landon looks all peppy still and I look like I can barely walk! Ha! But, it was worth it because he helped me get a new PR--4:53! 2 minutes faster than Chicago--crazy!

I cannot put into words how good it felt to be on that side of the finish line!

And, it was fun to get our two medals! :)

It was much nicer after the race this time--the sun was out and it wasn't rainy and unbearably cold. We actually got some food this time and walked around a little before we headed back to the hotel. It was nice--and such a good feeling to be done. :)

After grabbing some lunch and the taking a shower and a nice long nap, we decided to go to Downtown Disney for dinner and to walk around a little bit. I don't know if it was the Aleve or the fact that it wasn't our first marathon or what, but we were relieved to find we were walking a lot better after this race than Chicago!

We enjoyed an easy dinner at Earl of Sandwich and then strolled up and down the area--it was a nice way to end the day. Then, we spend the remainder of our night relaxing in our hotel room and trying to savor our last few hours of being on vacation. It was wonderful.

All of these were made of Legos--it was crazy!

The next morning, after our much anticipated breakfast of Mickey waffles (which we'd been promising ourselves after the races were over),

we boarded Disney's Magical Express and headed back to real life after an amazing 5 days of being here.

Thanks babe for a wonderful vacation and a wonderful couple of races (that I never would have signed up for on my own, and that I'm glad you talked me in to)!

There's no one I'd rather experience these things with than you!