Grateful for Friends and Family

I recently discovered a hiking trail near my house that I hadn't realized was there. It's a gorgeous area with a lot of history. I'm a goner for local history! My work is doing a Biggest Loser challenge and so a hike is organized for every weekend. This past Saturday we headed to the local trail near me. 

A couple of my co-workers brought their small babies and strollers so, unfortunately, we weren't able to do as long a hike as I wanted to (but I'm planning on doing it next week!). 

The story behind this area is that there were American Indians that lived here. There is a point (further from where we went on Saturday) where there are grooves in the rock where the stagecoaches were lowered by the horses. 

A couple of months ago we went on a guided tour of the area that gave us a lot of information on the area - I hope to go on another one soon!

In this next picture you can see an old truck that has basically melted into the ground. Since it's been there for more than 50 years they are unable to release it under state law (the area is a state park and is also designated as a historical area).

Nonetheless it was a nice 2 miles hike. Afterwards a coworker, my husband, and the kids headed to another local park where there are grapefruit and orange trees. They were having and open house of sorts where we could go and pick fruit for a small free ($5 for a big bag). I was a bad blogger and didn't get pictures (but my friend took a few).

After we were done picking fruit I went to see the Spongebob movie with the kids, their dad and my dad. We stopped for frozen yogurt afterward. 

My Saturday ended with a nice dinner out with Thomas...

On Sunday I did my usual weekend morning shopping trip with my mom and Nikki (my brother joined us this week). We went to Ralphs (Kroger), Wal*Mart, Big Lots, Costco, and Bed, Bath & Beyond and were home by 1:30pm! (This definitely helped me on the step goal, as of my writing of this on Sunday night, I have 15,811 steps for the day!). 

Then I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up my house. It's not a dump, but things gets left in places week after week. My husbands' cousin and his wife (and 2 kids) were coming to dinner on Sunday night so I wanted to make sure to have the house cleaned up (and it was also an excuse to get Thomas to help me get things in order). I should take pictures now that the house is all clean! 

We had a great time with the his family. Thomas grilled steaks, I made broccoli, and they brought some mashed potatoes. After dinner we played a round of Quirkle before they headed out for the night. 

So this Monday I am thankful for my family, Thomas' family and for our friends. I had a great busy weekend and I wouldn't have it any other way! 

Week Long Rewind and A GIVEAWAY!

Wow, what happened to me? I reach 100 followers on BlogLovin and I start slacking off? I had a very busy weekend which made it impossible for me to get a post out for Monday, and then Monday night Thomas and I ended up going out (more on that in a moment) and that ended any hopes of getting a post out for Tuesday. My post on Wednesday was written early in the morning and was inspired by all the other posts that I had been reading. 

So here is a mixed post of last weekend and the week. 

On Saturday I was offered overtime at work (along with some 60 other people) so I worked from 8am until 2:30pm. At time and a half I didn’t mind it. It was something different than what we normally do, so it was a nice change of pace.  Thomas and I were trying to do a game night for Saturday but no one wanted to come (sad face) so we ended up going to his parent’s house for dinner (for him) and a game. 

We ended up playing Cards Against Humanity. If you’ve played this then you know that it’s a pretty inappropriate game. And we played it with his parents, uncle, and older sister. It was hilarious! I loved it! 

I took my niece to get her hair cut on Sunday morning and we then did a bunch of shopping. I had a lot of grocery shopping to do for the week. I’m still working on my meal planning and sticking to it. The good news for you guys is that I will be having a raffle for a meal planner! The planner is pretty awesome! It was my first Etsy purchase and a good one! Keep an eye out for that post in the coming couple of weeks. In the meantime check out her shop.

I ended up walking 5 miles (thank you Galaxy S 5 S Health!) throughout the day. I was beat! Still, I got up from my short nap around 5pm and made some spinach gnocchi. And by made I mean I hand made it all! They weren’t as good as in the past. 

The week started off interestingly enough. I got home from work and was taking the elevator up to the 2^nd floor when it stopped moving. I could tell it had stopped at the 1^st floor (we have a G, 1^st and 2^nd) and no matter what I pressed it wouldn’t move and the doors wouldn’t open. I finally pushed the red “STOP” button which made it go up to the 2^nd floor. Apparently this has been happening. Great. 

When I got in the condo with Thomas he decided that he didn’t want to register his Jeep and we should go looking for a new car. He called his cousin who works for GM/Chevy and after a quick steak dinner off we went to look at cars. 

As of right now we have two contenders. We first tried out the Chevy Equinox and then headed over to Toyota to look at their Venza. I’ve been admiring that car since I got mine 5 years ago. Let’s say that I’m disappointed. It’s not as pretty on the inside as I thought. Maybe it’s because we had just looked at the other car which had lots of bells and whistles. Thomas, on the other hand, actually like the Venza better. He test drove both vehicles and he said the Venza felt better, sturdier. 

The problem is that the base model of the Venza starts at about $30k, and the luxury version of the Equinox would run us under $25k (which is the maximum we wanted to spend). Thomas is agreeing to the Equinox, but I’m suggesting to go to the other Toyota dealer and seeing what deals they want to offer. While I prefer the Equinox (and I’m totally a Toyota person at heart) and would love having it, the car is for Thomas and he should decide what he wants. 

Tuesday was the first day of school for my niece and nephew. They entered 1st and 5th grades. My nephew's reaction when I asked him if he was ready was "yea, it's just 1st grade". 

Wow! My butt looks huge here

The rest of the week was pretty laid back. I have more overtime tomorrow until 2:30pm. At 3 I'm going back to help feed the homeless, and then right after that my husband and I are hosting a game night (and hopefully the people who signed up will go!). 

Have a great weekend!

I'm also participating in a giveaway that ends tonight!!! Don't forget to enter! If we reach 1000 entries we'll add $10!

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