b is for boy

The word for this past weekend was: BOY!  Two baby boys were born that are so precious to me.  

Introducing Cameron Michael LaFuze!  My brother and sister in law welcomed there second blessing Sunday evening.  I still can't believe that he is here.  

(Side note: babies are my weakness, I just LOVE babies!  Lots of happy tears.)

I still can't believe how itty bitty he is and that I was holding him when he was less than 24 hours old.  Words don't describe just how blessed their family is.  

Saturday morning my friend Jessica had her baby boy: Jedidiah!  She was the sweetest and sent me a picture of him all bundled up in the blanket I made for him.  Jessica's story just fills me with so much hope and joy and if you'd like to hear more about it, you must click here!  Jessica is a complete testimony about giving all of your worries to God, trusting in Him whole heartedly, and reaping God's faithfulness.  Jedidiah is a pure blessing.

My heart feels so full with all of these blessings and made this weekend amazing!  

Things have been pretty quiet around here because....the semester is winding down, which means that it is crunch time.  Fortunately, I've been super motivated and am pushing through strong on my proposal and research projects.  I'm giving a presentation today and am going to give em' the works, "Jamie style".  That means I'm going to rock it. 

Given that I'm "in the zone" and feeling really focused, I'm going to take a mini-break from the blog until the beginning of May :(  I'm so sad because this blog is my release and where I find so much job, but I'm on a roll and am crossing my fingers I stick with it.  I hope that the end of April brings you much joy and happiness!

Love,

Jamie

instaLOVE

I think I have a slight problem, maybe a big one...

I'm addicted to Instragram!  

Love it!  

Spring break is officially over but it left me with some beautiful memories....

Such as a fun game of Rumikub.  If you have not yet played this game, you must go to Target and get it now!  We had some friends over Saturday night and pulled it out.  We haven't played in so long, and once we got to playing I realized how much I miss it!

Sunday morning we had an amazing opportunity to help package meal boxes for Haiti at church.  Our church works with Children of the Nations and it was such a blessing to see people everywhere, filling love and passion into boxes that will bless others.  

I finally tackled my to-do list this past weekend which equaled making these adorable onesies for my brother and sister in law (Cameron-we can't wait to meet you very soon!).  I think I finally am comfortable sewing them with my machine, now, which was really exciting!  

We also finally put up some prints we got and attempted to re-do our living room wall.  I like how it is coming along but it still feels a little off...thoughts?!?!  

My new to-do list:

-no procrastinating for the next three weeks and finish this semester strong (fingers crossed)

-paint canvases to go in bathroom

-make sunglasses case

-make some decorative pillows for the couch

-begin an herb garden

These may have to wait another 9 weeks until school is over, but that is fine by me!  

happy Monday & campus book rentals

Happy Monday!  Today's a tad bittersweet because spring break has come to an end but I'm so excited to see my little dearies so much.  Also, as I was looking over my calendar I realized I only have 3 more weeks left of grad school for this semester!!  Woo too!!!!  It's crazy to see that I've already been in grad school for almost two years.  You'd think I'd be done by now, but I still have one more year to go.  

So, speaking of grad school I have to share with you an amazing site that reached out to me.  If you're like me and the Mr., your office is filled with so many textbooks that you'll never use.  Sometimes it makes me sick how much money we have spent over the years that now sit wasted on our shelves.  I'm sure we could try and sell them but we just haven't found the time.  Being in grad school seems like the book costs just doubled!  

Campus Book Rentals allows you to rent your textbooks, and you can choose the length of time you'll have them for (quarter, semester, summer).  I perused their site and their prices are 40-90% cheaper than the bookstore prices, there is free shipping both ways, you can highlight in the text (that's a biggy for me!), and they also donate to Operation Smile-an international charity that helps children with cleft pallets and facial deformities.  I'm in my research study phase in school and this book is definitely one that I might need next year.

If you're a student you should definitely check them out!  

P.S: Check back tomorrow to hear about what is really filling up my heart lately!

the day I ate a donut for lunch

Yes!  You read that right!  Today I ate a donut for lunch.  I seriously can't even remember the last time I've had a donut but there is a story.  I mentioned earlier today that I had to run 12 miles...

Before 12 miles:

After 12 miles: 

 Drinking my favorite part of long runs...chocolate milk.

And then splurging on this:

I mean, it looks pretty delicious doesn't it?!?

Here's the story:

The Mr. get his haircut at a very traditional barber shop.  It's legit.  It is family owned and operated, and the chairs are lined up by how long the barber has been there.  The cutest part about it is that he has been going there since his very first hair cut.  His dad and brothers all go as well.  It's a special place.  

Well, right down the street is an amazing donut shop that he just told me about.  His brother was mentioning it on Easter and when he realized I had never been he shouted, "How on earth has Jamie not been to the donut shop???  How long have you been together?"  (Umm..eight and a half years to be exact)  

You order your donut at the window and drool over the fresh mounds of sugar through the window.

I know this isn't the best picture at all, but now I know why the Mr. dreams about these maple bars.  These are the largest donuts I have ever seen!

We drove home as fast as we could to indulge in these delicacies.  I chose a maple old fashion.  My first bite was heaven.  I don't know if it is just that I haven't had a donut in years or the fact that this donut shop is pure amazingness.  

I ate all 3/4 of that donut and enjoyed every bit, knowing that I just took in over a week's worth of sugar.  Then I got a belly ache, but it was worth it.  

Sometimes you just need a little indulgence!

{fit friday} when you're just in a rut

My half-marathon that I'm training for is at the end of the month, which means it is getting close, real close.  I had big hopes and aspirations of using my spring break to workout as much as possible and get in lots of running.  Then, I just got stuck in a rut.  I feel as though we need to get a little real and talk about what happens when you start to lose your motivation when it comes to working out and staying fit. 

I'm a girl and we all go through these feelings, but lately I have not been feeling that great about my body.  Then add to it that I'm tired of feeling like I have to run versus wanting to run.  I know that I go through these dips all of the time, but lately this one has been harder.  I place an image in my head of when I was really happy about my body and raise that high as my standard for it.  It is easy for me to get discouraged when I feel this way instead of motivated to push myself harder and practice a little more self-control.  

Luckily, I have some tricks up my sleeve that help me through these fades that I just always seem to end up in.  There are TONS of blogs out there, and the first kinds of blogs that I read were about running and fitness.  If you need a little encouragement of either what to eat or how to exercise these are my go-to blogs:

Carrots n' Cake

Skinny Runner

The Hungry Runner Girl

The Balanced Life

The top three blogs are about running, which is my main focus right now.  But I highly encourage you to find a blog that focuses on how you like to work out.  When I read these blogs there are tiny moments where I think, "I'll never be able to run that far or do that!"  but I try to triumph those with motivation instead.  

I know that Pinterest is crawling with so many pictures of ladies with amazing bodies attached to some motivational saying to get you working out.  For me I just can't use those as my main source because I don't believe in comparing my body to another (especially when you have no idea what was touched up or not).  I recently stumbled upon this website called Wonderfully Made.  It is so encouraging and a perfect reminder that our bodies are not our own and that they were made beautifully and wonderfully.  Self-love is oozing all of their blog.  

Well, the above pictures is reminding me that I'm jetting out for 12 miles this morning.  Good News:  This is my last long run before the marathon!!!!  I could've made so many excuses to not go this morning-but doing it for myself makes finishing the best moment ever! 

hello Easter

Easter is one of my favorite holidays.  It is a beautiful and humbling reminder of who we are in Christ.  I also love looking back each year at my family's traditions growing up.  In fact, our car ride up to our families' church was spent reminiscing about childhood memories of Easter and what traditions we want for our kids one day.  

The Mr. and I go to church at our old home church with our parents and then festivities take place at my in-laws.  Every year my in-laws due the most creative eater egg hunt I've seen.  Inside of the easter eggs are puzzle pieces.  There are three teams competing against one another to find all of their eggs and put their puzzle together.  It's always a blast because there are always problems: we lost eggs, other people re-hid eggs, teams were told the wrong color egg to find, etc.  It is one of my favorite things about Easter though, being together with family and enjoying fun games.  

The Mr. and his brother never surprise me with the different games they can make up on the spot.  This one, for example, was "act like a human cone and catch the hula hoops".  

The next day my mom planned a little wine tasting adventure for the three of us.  Our parents live five minutes from each other so we stayed the night at their house so we didn't have to keep driving back and forth.  Sometimes you just need a little over nighter at your mom's house.  Since we don't have to go out of town to visit family we sometimes lose the nostalgia of waking up in our jammies altogether.  I loved staying at my mom's, going for a long walk with her in the morning while the Mr. slept, making breakfast and coffee together, and sitting and relaxing.  

We headed our for wine tasting, and I think it was my favorite experience thus far.  We took a class on wine making and learned so much!  I've done the bus tours before and this experience really was much better.  The winery we went to was fairly small and doesn't distribute any of their wines.  The "behind-the-scenes" experiences was amazing, but the stories behind each type of grape and why their wines are exclusive to their winery was really eye opening and made your appreciate the wine even more.

Thanks Mom for the perfect day!

the hike I'm still sore from

Welcome back to part 2 of my Utah trip!  If you missed the first, click here!

Thursday night we packed everything up and drove to St. George where Colleen's brother and his family lived.  Then, Friday morning we were up bright and early to get all packed up for a day full of hiking in Zion.  

One word: Breathtaking

The first hike we did was to observation point, then we headed to hidden canyon on our way down.  Observation point was 8 miles round trip, and between the two other little hikes we did we covered a total of 12 miles throughout the day.  

I don't even know where to begin with the beauty of the hike, the paths, the views

So I'll let the pictures tell the story...

Observation Point

At the top of Observation Point 

Snacks are your friend 

Did I mention that Colleen's mom came with us, too?  Yep, and she's 60, AND she made it all the way to the top!  She's my hero.

PB&J hit the spot hiking back down

Hidden Canyon

Side Note: Colleen's brother taught us how to turn our cuties into elephants.  Amazing, right?

The Narrows

The entire day was a blast.  The weather was pretty chilly but I'll take chilly over dying of heat any day, especially when hiking.  The next morning I could feel the hike in my muscles, especially my calves and right hip.  Sunday morning I had to run 11 miles for my training plan and it was miserable because my body was still sore.  This morning I think I'm finally back to normal.  Tip: Don't run 11 miles two days after hiking all day.  

Thank you SO much Colleen and family for taking me along on a beautiful journey!  

2 girls, a car, and Utah bound

So what do you get when you have two teachers on spring break, a week with nothing to do, lots of snacks and coffee, and an itch to take a road trip?

You go to Utah, of course!!!

This is my dear friend Colleen-fellow teacher and pure awesomeness.  She grew up in Utah and is always making the trek there to visit her fam.  I've always had an itch to see this beautiful state, so we made a date and took a little road trip.  

We left the hubbies behind (knowing they'd be able to fend for themselves quite well), packed lots of snacks, magazines, workout clothes, and our sewing machines and headed out on the road.

(Of course, no road trip is complete until you've made a stop at Starbucks for iced coffee AND a shopping detour at a Banana Republic outlet.)

When we got to her mom's house I was astonished that the mountains were covered in snow!  This San Diego born and raised girl is not used to seeing snow covered mountains any time during the year, especially in April.

Our first full day there we spent running in the morning and then golfing with her dad.  This was my first time golfing-ever.  And I can actually say that by hole 5 I could actually hit the ball in the direction I needed it to go the first try!  There were lots of embarrassing moments, including missing the ball not once, not twice, not three times, but four times!!!

More snow!  I'm a little obsessed.

Golfing was a blast, it was a gorgeous day, and I called the Mr. immediately after exclaiming, "I'm a pro!".  He was happy that I liked it enough to think about going with him.

Our next day there we ran a couple errands and I had to indulge in these Easter jelly beans.  I have a weakness for Easter candy.  Then we hopped into our cars and drove way out into the valley to visit her grandparents and hiked a little around their property.

The car ride was a little over an hour and was filled with lots of exciting things, such as wide open fields of snow, antelopes, and deer!  

The way home was not as exciting, and we entertained ourselves by eating lots of snacks.

Colleen's mom is an amazing sewer.  That's probably an understatement-she's just so good.  She was even generous enough to give us a little lesson and help me make some cute reusable shopping bags.  These bags are sturdy and adorable.  I couldn't believe that we actually made them!

Our last day in Utah was spent hiking all around Zion National Park.  

One word: breathtaking!  

So make sure to stop by tomorrow for lots of beautiful pictures from our hiking adventures!