labor day weekend
I hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend! After a few very busy, stressful few weeks of work, a 3-day weekend was a much needed break! We spent our weekend with friends and family, and trying to relax as much as possible.SaturdayMatt had a meet on Saturday morning, so I ended up waking up extra early for a Saturday to get my long run in for the weekend. It was a very laid back 7-miler, although it just reminded me how sluggish I am when I run first thing in the morning. My legs need a looooong warmup to run to my full potential, so my run was a little slower than expected, but I felt pretty great throughout. Although, I'll admit how much I am looking forward to cooler weather!
The kids and I used the morning to get some things done around the house waiting for Matt to get home. Once we got the kids down for a nap, I headed out to the grocery store so that we had milk again in the house, and so I could make a snack to bring to our party that afternoon.
Have I mentioned how much I LOVE our neighbors?! For the most part, I chose them (we live next store to 2 of my best friends), but the friends we have made in the past year are awesome! It's so nice to also have neighbors with kids the same age and who love playing together. Our next door neighbors had us all over on Saturday afternoon/evening for a pumpkin beer tasting. They provided several different pumpkin beers to taste, while everyone else brought a snack to share. We all hung out in their newly finished basement and just let the kids play, while the adults chatted and watched the Mizzou game.
This is a pic from a few weeks ago, minus the 2 older girls. But, they all love each other...
I think we ended up sampling 13 beers. The first few were not my favorite. Sour, bitter, and just not great. However, once we got into the more local beers, I was in love. St. Louis definitely has some great craft beer, and the local pumpkin beers were top on my list. By far my favorite of the day was Crown Valley's (Ste. Genevieve, MO) Imperial Pumpkin Smash. We still have a few in our basement from last year (Matt bought and saved a bunch of pumpkin beers for me last year while I was pregnant) that I fully intend to enjoy throughout the season. I'm telling you, if you enjoy Pumpkin Spice Lattes, you will LOVE this beer! I also enjoyed Avery's Pump[KY]n and Rumpkin, which are barrel-aged in bourbon and rum barrels, respectively. Just watch out, they're pretty strong! 
We spent the rest of the night sitting around the un-lit bonfire (it's too dang hot right now for the fire) talking for several hours. Seriously, I absolutely LOVE where we live!SundayAfter church in the morning, we headed down to Hillsboro, MO to spend some time with my extended family at my aunt's house on the lake. Kenna woke up in the morning telling us how excited she was to go to Aunt Lori's to swim and play with her cousins (well, my cousins). We spent the entire afternoon and evening in and sitting around the water, eating and talking.
I also got to try the standup paddle board for the first time. I wish I had a picture - the SUP is actually a blow up one! I really thought that this would be so easy for me, but SUP is no joke! I was on it about 15 minutes tops, and my legs were burning by the end! I have no idea how people actually do yoga on these things! Now I'm thinking about getting one myself to take down there in the summer and to the lake in Branson - I would seriously do it all the time!MondayThis week is going to be a crazy busy week, so I decided that instead of waiting until Saturday or Sunday to get my long run in that I would get it done yesterday. Luckily, it was a shorter run (6 miles), so I was able to sleep in a little bit (oooh, 5:45...) before hitting the trails. Again, AM runs for me suck. I found a comfortable pace to start with and planned to do the last 2 miles fast. Thankfully, I was able to pick up the pace and was able to finish my last 2 miles 7:40 and 7:46.
We most of the day getting things done around the house - cleaning, catching up on work, etc. - before Matt's parents came over for dinner. We have an awesome Mexican restaurant right up the street from our house, but instead of going out, we decided to get takeout and eat at our house. Mexican food, beer, and family. It doesn't get much better than that!Now, on to a busy week! Hopefully a 4-day week will go by super fast! I am looking forward to the weekend already!