Nothing too new

I haven't been very busy this past few weeks - and that's ok =) I've tried a few new recipes, read a few good books, signed up for fall semester, visited with lots of family, and got my two oldest off to school (3rd graders!!). Life is good!

The boys are really doing well and our relationship (our part-timers and me, that is) is strengthened with each little visit - they actually get pretty excited to see me [so Stephen says ;)]and the littlest bit insisted I read the bed-time story this past Friday night! Little victories, y'all. Jack turned 8 on the 20th; Stephen and I surprised him at school with some yum-o cupcakes: 

idea culled from Sweetapolita.com

I officially dropped out of the office's "Biggest Loser" competition; it was genuinely ruining my Fridays (weigh-in day) but I've stayed very consistent with my C25K program (and my weight, bittersweet-ly) and will be running in a 5k this weekend in Pooler, GA. I ran it last year with about 12hrs notice and uhh, well, let's just say I KNOW I'll be besting that time! 

Let's see...what other personal info to share... Oh! My 29th birthday! I was graced with the wonderful quality time from the bestie, her man and my sweetheart for a painting class - what a great time!! However, the best gift I could ever receive was from up above. I decided to go for a long walk in the morning and would never have seen this had I kept my lazy rear in bed: 

stellar, right?! It was gone about 10 minutes later. Truly an unique gift :)

Drake & Sarah, Jess & Stephen

Stephen has been working very hard and is still enjoying his work - the company he works for released a bad ass new product - one that he had much to do with and which received rave reviews - at a show in June (July?). So, ya know, that's cool :) MOLLEminus System <~ aforementioned rave review. Non-work related - we've both been trying (he better than I) to stay on top of our health by cycling and running at least 3x week. He's looking way hot, y'all. Like, way hot.

And to catch you up to now-ish: we went to Anderson for Labor Day. We got to enjoy some home made bbq by Stephen's dad, cakes from The Sweetery, a fish fry by Uncle A and wonderful company by our friends from Atlanta (whose family also lives in Anderson) and of course, our resident Anderson fam. I wish I'd have gotten more photos than I did but here are a few for the wind down: 

Josh (8) Jack (8) Russ (4)