5k - Plank - Junk

What a great weekend! A high school friend, Anna, was in Omaha visiting a friend and I was lucky enough to get to meet up with her for dinner! We went to the new restaurant Plank down in the Old Market. It is a seafood restaurant but luckily they also had "landfood" for this girl! Anna, Casey, her friend Claire and I had a wonderful time at the restaurant that was completely nautical theme. From the tall glass vases filled with flowers to the salmon colored booths, the atmosphere was wonderful and the food delicious! 

Skeleton of a boat on the ceiling of the restaurant! And the "caged" alcohol

Afterwards I went home and got about 15 minutes into watching tv and was passed out on the couch! It was only 9:00! I don't think it was from the Seaweed Sangria I had at dinner though...it probably had something to do with leaving Omaha at 5:30 am to run in a 5K in Anthon. 

With a 90 minute drive fueled by coffee and an energy bar I was ready to run! I met my aunt Lynn, Grandma Carolyn, Great aunt Cathy and uncle Clayton at the start of the race where we waited for my mom to get there. My mom was going to run in the 5k but she "mysteriously" hurt her foot and decided to do just the 1 mile walk with my aunts and grandma. The rain held off for about 5 minutes into the race which was still nice because it was pretty hot even for that early in the morning. I got my second best time that I remember for a 5K so I was really proud of myself especially since my 2nd mile was faster than my 1st which is always a goal I like to have :) 

Grandma made it through the rain!

Aren't they cute with their umbrellas?

Our before and after pics!

Sunday Alex and I slept waaayyy in and headed out to JunkStock in the afternoon. I heard about this through facebook and knew of some friends that were also planning on going this weekend. The motto for the event is "Peace-Love-Junk" and features refurbished items by various vendors. There was music and yummy food vendors at the farm where the event took place. Alex and I browsed around the area and soon I was off wandering through tents by myself when Alex comes back with his parents!! They were just saying how much I would like this event and that they should have invited me. Well luckily I was one step ahead of them ;) It was a really neat event and awesome that it was right here in Omaha! There is another one in October and a friend and I are going to set up a display so that I can feature my Etsy Shop items!

love the "50 Shades of Grey" reference

Huge Peace Sign Display with real flowers inside the tires!

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”  2 Peter 3:18

Night at the Theater

Hey everyone! Hope you are having a splendid weekend. Wanted to share about my adventures last night! Alex, Jack, Fidel and I went to World War Z at Aksarben Theater and then went to Ponzu for some sushi. Alex and Fidel have been missing out on their quality time together because school is out so it was great to finally reunite them after a month of not seeing each other! Fidel's mom dropped him off at the theater after we stopped and got some snacks at the gas station to smuggle into the theater (everyone does that right??) I had only seen a brief preview of the movie and was excited to see what all the talk was about (oh and Brad Pitt isn't bad on the big screen either) Since we sat in the handicap area at the front of the theater we were right in the action and I jumped several times! The movie had a lot of great stuff that is interesting like epidemics, zombies and oh yeah Brad Pitt ;)

 I thought the movie was pretty smart and also had some great scenery because part of the movie took place in Jerusalem. I would love to go there some day just to see all the history and be right in the setting of the Bible! I won't give away to much of the movie because I recommend you go check it out for yourself but it was one of those movies where the entire audience clapped at the end! Plus Jack said while we were walking around Aksarben that he felt like people were going to come up and bite him..Haha! 

After the movie we strolled around the area and even were at the front gates of the Gay Pride Celebration that was happening there. The music sounded like a lot of fun and we kept teasing Alex that he should go in there to see if he would get hit on ;) It didn't help matters that he was wearing a colorful tank to show of his muscles! Fidel thought our jokes were hilarious and missed poking fun at Alex like he would everyday in school. We were hungry and the only place open at 10:30 pm was a sushi place so we had some edamame and lobster ragoons to start off with. Fidel had never had edamame before so Alex showed him how to eat it which was pretty cute because Fidel didn't quite understand how to get the bean out of the pod.

Alex and Fidel shared a steak and french fries and Jack ordered the nasty seaweed stuff which turned out to be not that bad ;) I tried a couple of the tuna sushi rolls and Fidel tried sushi for the first time and enjoyed the ones with avocado! 

Best Buds!!

If you remember this post  I shared about Fidel and his back surgery. Fidel recently had a follow-up appointment and the doctors said he was doing great. His mom even shared this photo of the before and after x-rays and it is pretty remarkable to see! Medicine is truly amazing and I'm so glad to hear Fidel say "I feel great" when he talks about life after his surgery. Him and his mom want to go and talk to other kids with muscular dystrophy that are trying to decide whether or not to have surgery so they can tell their story about his great outcome! He is such a thoughtful kid and an inspiration to so many!!

BIG Difference!!

New Twist on an Old Favorite!

Hop on over to my updated #SRT page. The devotional this month is over 1st Peter and is really great!!

"When we submit to another out of reverence to Christ, we replicate (faint though it may be) the very submission of Christ on the cross—the very heart of the gospel.” -Nate Shurden

Learn how to make it!!

Also Check out the detailed tutorial for this DIY Cakestand
 

Last night Jack came over to watch the 2nd half of the finals game with Alex and I made a "remixed" version of my stuffed shells recipe. Since stuffing those jumbo shells is such a chore and takes way too long, I decided to just get the lasagna noodles and roll up the mixture which is MUCH faster. I also added zucchini to my half of the recipe because Alex is too picky of an eater and I didn't want to chance it by making his half healthy too! (Heaven forbid!) So here is a step by step recap of the recipe.

I used ground chicken breast (a discovery I just made about 6 months ago) because it is quicker and the chicken gets diced up pretty small. Then boiled the noodles for 8 minutes so they were still pretty sturdy. Combines the pound of chicken breast, 3/4 container of cottage cheese (this is what makes it so yummy), 1/2 package of shredded cheese and then 1/2 a zucchini. I was going to add spinach but decided against it.

Then I laid the noodles on wax paper and spread the mixture on the noodles (just takes a thin layer because other wise it will spill out) and roll the noodles. Place the noodles in a 9x13 pan that had a thin coat of marinara sauce on the bottom. Once you have all the noodles in place you can put more shredded cheese on and then the remaining sauce from the jar. Cover with tinfoil and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

 

Unfortunately I only alloted myself one stinkin' roll because of my low carb diet. Just one of those lasagna noodles has 20 grams of carbs!!! This is Alex's favorite dinner and I can always tell because the next day he takes the WHOLE container of leftovers to work and I never see them come back.



Last saturday I picked up my NEW glasses and was pretty excited to wear them that night for Kendra's party! I got some compliments on them and even got bored at work and took the opportunity to take some nerdy pics.

 

 

Strong lil buggers!!

Kendra's party was a lot of fun. Even though it was mostly family that was there I was still excited to see her family and Trent's family. We had brats and burger, taco dip (my favorite!), oreo fluff, corn/macaroni casserole (Kendra's mom's specialty) and cake! Trent's grandmother was hilarious because she even had a Budlight Lime-A-Rita and was convinced the 8% alcohol in the tiny 8 ounces was going to put her to sleep! It was pretty strong but really tasty mixed with ice and lemonade :)

 

After Kendra's I weathered the rain and went over to Eric and Lauren's block party. They had a firepit going and it was a relaxing time! Debbie and I talked about and started planning our family vacation hopefully in Okoboji in July which will be a nice 3 day vacation with the kids!

Oh how I miss the Lakes!! This is Arnold's park all lit up with the Oldest wooden roller coaster in Iowa.