Concerts at Myriad Gardens

So, it's been a while since I've blogged, partly because I thought I had some of these set up to post automatically and partly because Camp Impact led into July 4th, and I had some catching up to do all around. Here starts the catch-up...starting in June (only 2 months behind!).

The young adult group from Mayfair went to the first Summer Concert at Myriad Gardens in June. It was beautiful weather, and I had a lot of fun playing with all the toddlers, listening to the music, and talking with friends. I'd like to go again sometime this summer, if scheduling and temperature will allow.

Scheduling and temperatures have not allowed a return yet. Especially with these current 110+ temperatures!

Sugar-free/Carb-free Treats

When we got back from our Memorial Day Weekend Trip, I decided it was time to get serious about getting in shape for the summer, for our cruise coming up in August, and just to feel better about myself.

I had been doing good this year up through April because I was training for a 5K in the OKC Memorial Marathon, but after that came May--busy and stressful. My eating was off and I didn't do any sort of workouts, so I changed that starting on May 29th.

I started a summer sugar-free/carb-free challenge, similar to Maximized Living's Advanced Plan that I've done periodically before. Right now, I'm eating all the fruits, veggies, and protein I want and just restricting carbohydrates, like bread and pasta, and sugar. I am allowing steel-cut oats, quinoa, and stevia. I've been this for almost a week and half. I had a few vacation meals to celebrated a friend's birthday and to go out to dinner with my hubby, but for the most part, I'm sticking with it and don't feel very restricted.

I also got back into Zumba on Tuesday and Thursday nights. Amanda B got me into zumba back in October, but I had taken a break from it starting in January as I trained for the 5K. I love the Tues/Thurs teacher at Dojo 3, I feel great after zumba, and it's real close to my house; I'm definitely going to keep this up! I gradually got back into my running the first week of June, too. I did a Bridge to 10K workout by myself in my neighborhood Saturday morning, June 9th (as Evan slept in). I was impressed at how well I did given that I hadn't really run since April.

Now to the treats. These are some recipes I whip up when I just need a little something sweet. They're all sugar-free, sweetened by either stevia or fruit, and grain-free.

Raw Brownie
 

Banana Bread Cookies

Almond Butter Fudge Pudding

(This Detoxinista blog that the last two are from has become one of my favorites for finding recipes.)

5th Grade Graduation

Monroe Elementary had their 5th grade graduation back on May 30th (which I thought was a little funny since they didn't get out of school for another whole week). I got to go to the 5th grade graduation last year to cheer for these great kids, most of them have been at Mayfair since 2007, when the Tutoring program began--

I think it's a tradition at Monroe for the graduating 5th graders to sing Man in the Mirror to remind them that they are in charge of their own destiny. Last year was the first time I heard the kids singing it, and it gave me chills!

  

This year we had 5 kids from Mayfair graduating, although I had gotten to know some of the others by going up to Monroe for lunch just about every week of the school year.

Elijah is the one from this group that has been with us the longest, also since 2007, then Leonard, since 2010. The other three have started coming within the last year.

I'm so proud of these kids and know God is doing great things through them as they transition to middle school!

My first sewing project

The Problem:

 

We have 2 skylights in our bedroom, which aren't so bad during the winter, but when summer it hits, they make our room hotter than any other room, not to mention they let the earlier-rising sun keep us me from sleeping in on weekends.

(They also took a pounding in the hail storm the other night and got chipped.)

The Solution:

 

I tried my hand at hand-stitching a whip stitch to make pockets on each of the long sides for tension rods.

 It's not perfect, but it worked out. We hung them up this weekend, and I can already tell a difference! Evan's a fan of these covers because they will eliminate the afternoon glare he often got on his computer screen when playing games. So it's a win-win!

I have realized that I'm gradually darkening every room in our house, especially with summer upon us, while I have friends that value natural light from windows for their homes. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy natural light and basking in the sun, but in the heat of the day, I want my home cool and dark to relax.

Adventures in Kansas City

We headed out last Thursday for a little weekend getaway to Kansas City, home of the Chiefs, Royals, Sporting KC, and probably some non-sport-related stuff. None of that was on our agenda this weekend, but we did play volleyball at a super-cool gym HealthRidge on Friday night with Allen, Jered, and Rachel, our hosts for this trip. Evan and I met right around OC intramural volleyball season, and we both love playing. We jump at any opportunity to play now...in fact, we're hoping to start sand volleyball on Thursday nights of the summer at either Mesta Park or Mitch Park!

On Saturday, Jered and Rachel took us to this really neat Italian place for brunch called Lidia's. The owner or chef is actually a semi-famous tv chef! Saturday and Sunday brunch at Lidia's consists of buffet-style all-you-can-eat appetizers (antipasti for the serious Italian-lover) and a variety of bite-size desserts! You order a main course from a menu, but they have a special of the Pasta Tasting Trio--chef's choice of three different pasta/sauce combinations, also all-you-can-eat. It was all very yummy! When we were leaving we saw this...who knew we had a building named after us?!

After stuffing ourselves, we headed out to the Legends outlet mall to get some walking in and do some shopping. The boys were such good sports as we spent nearly 3 hours there! I'm not often a shop-til-you-drop girl, or maybe I am and I just drop much earlier than most, but this place had an Old Navy outlet (with everything 40% off!!), Loft outlet, and few others that we browsed. Our last stop was by Topsy's Popcorn, where we got a 6 1/2 gallon bag of popcorn to snack on later!

After Legends, Jered and Rachel took us to RJ's Bob-Be-Que Shack, featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, for some real KS City Barbeque! Then we headed back to their house to hang out, relax, and watch a movie...with popcorn, of course!

Sunday included church at Overland Park, which started at 10:45--a big change from having to be at church by 8:45, lunch at Bo Ling's, a yummy Chinese place we eat at every time we're in town, shopping at a Nordstrom Outlet, and a drive back to Tulsa. We got to Evan's mom and dad's house just in time for the 2nd quarter of the Thunder game.

It was a great weekend getaway! Unfortunately, I'm still new at blogging and didn't get pictures of everything or everyone I would have liked to. I'll be working on that!