^^^ Fan of alliteration much? Why, yes. Yes I am.

Happy Monday, friends! I hope most of you here in the US have the chance to enjoy a day off in celebration of Memorial Day. Take a moment to remember and say a prayer of thanks to all of those who make the sacrifice to serve our country. Blessings abound in our freedoms and we need to show gratitude for them daily. I know I appreciate my freedom of religion. And my freedom of speech. Could you imagine trying to shut me up? Likely impossible.

We already did most of our celebrating action Saturday and Sunday, leaving today open for more relaxation and normal activity. Works for me! As I mentioned briefly on Saturday, the family & I enjoyed a little hike that morning. We headed out to Sawnee Mountain – a short hiking trail relatively close to us with a fabulous lookout at the top.

We strapped the kiddos in and headed on our way…

Watch out for the poison ivy!

Although, I don’t think I ever remember getting poison ivy before. Now that I have said that, I need to find some wood to knock on.

For some reason this hike took a lot longer than I ever remembered. Odd, considering we go every year. I think my body just felt a little tired from the week. I got very excited when we finally made it to the top.

The beautiful scenery rejuvenated me to make the trek back down. Although I can’t lie. I wouldn’t have minded being in baby B’s spot and catching a little cat nap instead.

Even with achy shoulders and legs, we had a great time all together. Family love!!!!

The second half of our memorable Memorial moments came Sunday afternoon. Every year my friend Nikki’s family hosts a pig roast BBQ. Every year we go and have a fun afternoon eating good food and catching up with family friends.

I ran 8 miles that morning and therefore had “long-run hunger” in full force by the time we got to the BBQ. I happily loaded up my plate with the goods. A pulled pork sandwich, a scoop of potato salad, a scoop of peanut coleslaw, and a hunka hunka burning love watermelon.

Yay for watermelon! It’s finally in season!

After devouring my plate and chilling for awhile, I obviously got my hands on a slice of the congratulatory cake.

My friend’s younger brother graduated college! The younguns in our families are growing up! It’s so strange to think. I always get a little weirded out that my sister is old enough to live with a guy and maybe even get engaged. Eep! Where does time go? Seriously. I feel like at the rate this year has gone, Christmas is tomorrow. Anyone else agree? Slow down Earth spinning around the sun. Slow down!

• Any Memorial Day weekend traditions of your own?
• Have you ever gotten poison ivy?

Gooood morning! I’m trying to stay chipper and welcome Monday with a smile. It has its good points…like starting a week off fresh. Right? Right! Catching up from the weekend?

• I met a new distance record on my long run and shared the giveaway winners.
• Self-Love Reflection: You only have one life to live. Live it well.

So after my fantabulous long run on Saturday morning, a busy day awaited me. Funny how that always happens on Saturdays. Weekends with down time come very rarely in these parts, but that’s okay. Especially when the busy schedule includes a little bit of pampering for moi.

I got my hair all beautified up!

It needed a cut pretty badly since I try to stretch out my cuts to save some money. I love the cut and think it looks great, but I wanted a bit more of a noticeable side bang. I thought it looked shortened enough when at the salon, but now I think I wanted more of a difference than my previous cut. I may see if I can go back to get her to snip more off. You know, if my laziness doesn’t get the best of me trekking back out to the salon. And if its a free touch up since my money tree has gone into hiding.

From my hair appointment I had to immediately pick up Peter and the kids to go to another kid party. Yes, we attend one of these shin-digs basically every month. Yes, we have many friends with kids. Yes, we love every bit of toddler party we visit.

Yes, birthday cake never gets old. Just like time with this crew never gets old. It’s free fun!

Once the party ended we settled into the relaxing part of our weekend. We just had our typical Saturday low-key, at-home, save-the-dough date of pizza, ice-cream, and a Redbox movie. We chose No Strings Attached and liked it well enough. Predictable rom-com is basically the only description it needs. We had originally thought about taking Makenzie bowling as well this weekend…but then we checked the prices. It would have cost about $40 for a few games! Ridiculous! When did bowling get so expensive? Now, where is that money tree?

• What is something you came across recently and were shocked at its price?