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I've finally joined Twitter! I'm totally 2012 now. ;)  Find me @BetsyKovatch!  One day I will figure out how to put a Tweet button on my blog page... baby steps.

The Countdown is On Sister!

It's one week from today when my Sister is scheduled to have her baby, and it has me thinking about the things that she should try to fit into her last full week of alone time during the day. Sister, Here is my personal list for you.

1. Sleep Through the Night- At this term of your pregnancy this may require limiting fluids a few hours before bed time, but your sleep is about to be interrupted for quite sometime.

2. Do a Craft- Paint a chair, make a plate, or personalize something. Whatever it is; just sit down, and complete something! This may be the last time you are able to get a task done in a reasonable amount of time without having to get up a hundred times to attend to other things in between.

3. Have a Movie Marathon- After baby comes, you will probably not be able to watch an entire movie in one sitting unless it's later in the evening. Which in this case, you or your husband is likely to fall asleep.

4. Take a LONG trip to Target- I love Target ( I know you do too), but really this can be any store that you enjoy.  From now on you will either have baby with you, or you will have an internal clock ticking that is telling you... I need to go nurse, I need to get home and relieve the husband, I need to get home with the diapers, etc...

5. Go on a Date Night during the Week- Even if you have several babysitters on hand, they will likely be around mainly on weekends if they are working during the week. Oh, and make sure it is NOT a kid- friendly restaurant. ;)

6. Make a Quick Trip-  Just jump into the car (by yourself), and run to the grocery store to buy one item. Take time to appreciate how nice it is to just grab your purse, without having to grab a diaper bag, nursing cover, bottles, a sippy cup, or Cherrios. It will be a long time before this is not just an occasional luxury again.

7. Take a Long Drive with your Husband-  Soak in the fact that there is just the two of you. For the next several years you will be constantly glancing or reaching (if not riding) in the back seat to tend to the needs of someone else. Turn the radio off, so you can chat without the sounds of anything coming from the backseat. From now you will mostly be driving to the sounds of children. Crying, babbling, toys that light up and play music, cartoons, kids laughing, or yelling "Stop it!", will be the back ground music that you drive to for years to come. The car will never, ever be the same. This is very true.


Having said all of this, it is the greatest thing that you will ever be a part of, and hard to explain until you are growing your own. There will be infinite laughs, and times of fun. For every hard day, there are 30 good days in between, and you always have your biggest fans with you along the way. It's Your Family.
I love you, and wish you the best of luck. I promise I will get home soon to meet the Babes. I can't wait!!!

Dodge Park Camping!!

Our little camp spot

This past weekend I went camping with my sweet family! So you all may not know this, but my maiden name is Camp. That's right! So Camp...ing, is actually my middle name. Ha! So does this make me a superior outdoorsman? Absolutely not! I go camping with the family because the Hubs, and kids LOVE it!  When camping; I'm not a fan of totally roughing it, and our camping trip may have included a charcoal Weber grill, queen sized blow up mattress, playground for the kids, patio chairs, and super clean bathrooms/showers.  It was the nicest campground, and close to the city. (This is good for when you aren't sure how your 3 year old will like camping. ;) Still, when the second day comes around I start to feel like I'm choosing to be homeless, and get ready to head home to wash the smell of camp fire away.  All jokes aside though, I had a great time unplugging with the family for a few days, and secretly wish for many more camping trips with family and friends.  ~Betsy

Me and R

 (Excuse the no make up. I'm camping!)

                                                                        Dodge Park

(PS. This water was about 45 degrees, and these people wading in it have lost their damn minds. 

I recommend laying out on the shore.)

             

Looking for a little inspiration...

This week has been a week of just going through the motions. R has been in soccer camp, so I have been just doing the soccer mom shuffle of running errands, dropping off, and picking up. I have been running every morning this week, but I have been getting out the door later than usual. Some days I'm not sure they can be considered running, or more like getting my heart rate up by running a mile and a half.   I am losing my inspiration to get up early and get out the door to run down the same streets every morning at 5:30am by myself. I am starting to think that I need to get a gym membership again, so I can switch it up a little. The Hubs has agreed to do the Warrior Dash with me in September, so that helps. Something has definitely switched in my head this last year that has caused me to loose that "spark" for working out, and running a lot of times.  I know that people struggle with this everyday. It is hard to keep the inspiration day after day, and year after year.  Here are a few of my favorite ways to stay inspired through the difficult times...

New Playlist-  A few new songs in your ears can go a long way!  Here's a little secret of mine.  In my every day life I LOVE country music, and listen to it all the time with the exception of a little pop on the radio. My workout playlist is almost all rap! Kanye, Eminem, Black Eyed Peas, etc..  My power song is Eminem's "Till I Collapse", and tons of Rihanna  is a must on my Ipod.  :)

Commit-  This may be the best way to stay motivated. Commit to the next thing! Sign up for a race, join a boot camp, running group, or Cross Fit class. Something where someone will hold you accountable for showing up.

Find a Friend-  Misery loves Company when it comes to working out. You are always more likely to show up if someone is expecting you to be there.

New Swag-   I'm always excited to get out the door whenever I get a new pair of running shorts, or a new top to run in. It's always nice to feel good in what your wearing, and if you commit to the outfit, you are more likely to commit to working out in it. :)

Pinterest- This is one I use the most. There is a world of workout inspiration on Pinterest! You can find everything from pictures and quotes, to workouts and regimens to follow. I look at these almost every morning while I drink my coffee. It's has gotten me out of the house more times than I can count. :)

               ~Betsy

What's Up?

Life that's what! I have been so busy lately that I feel like blogging has taken a back seat to LIVING! We have been having lots of fun this summer so far with park days, friends, activities, or just hanging outside in our little backyard oasis! We've been having play dates, soccer camp, taking in movies, and having cook outs with friends, even though cleanliness wise my house is going strait to hell in a hand basket. ;)  Oh well, I'm hoping when the kids look back they will remember the fun things we did, and not the GIANT pile of laundry in the laundry room floor and the dust on the lamp shades. Things have been very busy around here lately, but I am loving the chaos. Well, most of it anyway.

Our little oasis in the city.

(Please excuse the wet t-shirt on the ground. We live here. ;)

What a fun weekend! On Friday we had a totally fun play date with Friend and the boys. It was hours of fun with water balloons, bounce house, tons of food, and friends. The kids were konked out in the car in 5 min. on the way home! I love it when that happens.  Then spent the evening hanging out with more friends and a few beverages, just chatting on the porch on a rare warm summer evening here in Portland. 


On Saturday we attended a BBQ held by our good friends that have just had a baby, and (cue jealousy) I got to hold their new babes for quite awhile during the evening. I don't mean to brag, but I think he really liked me. ;)  He was so teeny tiny, and very, very sweet. All the while catching up with some of our favorite people that we don't get to see often enough.

Sunday, got up ate breakfast at The Blue Pig (if you live in Portland RUN to this place for breakfast), did a little clothes shopping for The Hubs, then came home and (cue major jealousy) bottled gallons of our homemade beer!  Yep, the Hubs has been brewing this for 2 weeks now, and I was able to taste it for the first time. It was awesome! I had pretty low expectations since this is my first experience with home brewing, but it was super good! We had the kids help us cap the bottles, and now I have to wait for 3 more weeks before I can actually enjoy a cold one. Boo!  It will be worth the wait I'm sure. I'm thinking of buying labels for the bottles. I would love to hear any good name suggestions. It's a NW pale ale style beer. I'm thinking "Kick the Pale Ale" has a nice ring to it. It's a play on words for kick the can.  :)  What do you think?

Monday morning while on my morning run, I got sprayed from feet to face with pesticide by a lady in a HAZMAT suit treating her Asian pear tree growing next to the sidewalk, and spent most of the day totally sick! That makes me seriously wonder if I should start eating more organic fruits and veggies. I started feeling better by the evening, but fun weekend over. ;)

Anyway, I will try to get back on the ball with blogging. I'd hate to keep my mom ( half of my blogging audience) waiting for an update! Ha! :)

               ~Betsy

Someone's Fibbing on Pinterest...

So many times I have seen recipes pinned by friends and family that look absolutely delicious, tagged with a calorie count that is WAY off. Today I was inspired by a recipe that was "pinned" by my cousin.  These "Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies" boasted having a mere 36 calories!

Seeing the recipe called for 1 cup peanut butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 egg, and 1 tsp baking soda; I knew right away this was total BS. Adding up the actual calories it came to at least 118 calories and 6.5 grams of fat per cookie.  (This assumes that they made 20 cookies even though the picture only shows 18) 

I decided to challenge myself to try and make some "healthy peanut butter cookies" that came closer the the 36 calorie per mark. So here goes!

Today I am going to alter the recipe with  Better n'Butter Spread, natural peanut butter, and stevia sweetener. 

 I did NOT end up using the Splenda sugar blend. The mixture was plenty sweet enough without it, and I have a total sweet tooth. :)

I LOVE Better'n Butter. You can learn more about it here.

 Better'n Butter

My little helper Adds 1 large egg

I added 3/4 cup Better'n Butter

I kept 2 Tbs of natural peanut butter for a more authentic taste

Add 1 unpacked cup stevia blend sweetener and 1 tsp baking soda

Here's where it starts to go wrong. This is the consistency of the original "healthy peanut butter cookie" recipe. They must have been baking in The Land of Make Believe, because this is not at all the consistency of actual cookie batter. ;)

PLAN B:    I decided to add 1 cup quick oats to thicken, but also try to keep it healthy and calorie count on the lower end.

The new batter made 22 cookies

Bake 350 degrees for 7-9 minutes until done. Let sit on pan for 2 minutes before moving to cooling rack.

The Result: They are not the prettiest cookies, so I won't be taking them to a neighbor anytime soon, but they are DELICIOUS! 

I found myself licking the batter out of the bowl while the cookies were baking until I remembered the raw egg. Shoot! ;)

They turned out thinner than I like, but they were very soft. I baked mine just over 8 minutes, but I think 7 minutes would be perfect for next time for a fluffier cookie. I also may grind the oats in the Magic Bullet the next time I bake them to see what happens. This is definitely a recipe I will have to perfect before the holidays!   ~Betsy

Final Calorie Count-  52 calories and 1.25 grams of healthy fat per cookie   ENJOY!

Friday Loves

Here are a few of the things that I have been loving this week.  Have a great weekend!

The Sun! Here is the 7 day forecast for Portland, Oregon! Summer has finally arrived! Yippee!

Dallas

Wow! Have you watched this show yet? I used to watch it with my parents when I was little, but the drama of South Fork is back! It's my new guilty pleasure. :)

This picture was taken from the back yard of the beach house we rented outside of Destin, FL.  I love all of the memories made during our beach trip each year. 

Friends. There's nothing like having an awkward social situation hurt your feelings to make you appreciate the genuine friends in your life. 

I bought this while at the beach, and I am about half way through. So far it's good, and it's definitely thought provoking. When was the last time you pondered Nature vs. Nurture? This book will do it!

Maybe inspired by my trip to the rodeo, but I am in "NEED"  of a pair of cowboy cowgirl boots! I have no use for a shiny new pair though. I want mine to be scruffed up and worn. I may take an Ebay adventure to fine these. Buying well used boots should be interesting, but maybe I can find some that don't smell too bad.  ;) 

~Betsy

This ain't my first rodeo...

Hi Ya'll! I am back from my long vacation, and although I am feeling the urge to go into total travel and miss-my-family hangover there is no time for that. It's the week of July 4th, and The Hubs' father Marv is in town for a week. It's a busy time, but I LOVE having family around, and wouldn't want it any other way.

Yesterday on July 4th, Hubs had the BEST idea! He took us to the only place near Portland, where once a year all of the shit kicking, country loving, want-to-be rednecks (some strait out the trailer) all gather together in once place... The Molalla Buckaroo Rodeo! It one word it was awesome. I love things like this. Good food, good entertainment, great people watching, country music, cowboys, etc. etc.  We had some friends meet us there, and it was SO fun!

I do have to admit that The Misses was not a big fan of the rodeo part, just too much sitting for a little one. The kids really enjoyed the carnival games, pony rides, snow cones, and ice cream.  I on the other hand loved the rodeo!

The funniest thing that I saw yesterday (and in awhile) was the kids "Sheep Rides".  Don't let the name fool you, these are NOT docile animals walking in circles on a harness. People would strap their unsuspecting 3/4/5 year old on a saddled sheep with a helmet and chest protector. The sheep would then BOLT out of the gate with the kid holding on for dear life while adults stood by cheering and laughing. Two men would chase the sheep down and try to catch the kids as they inevitably fall off the darting animal. It was just one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life, but I also couldn't help but wonder how this had become acceptable in any custom. Still, very much entertaining. Katie wanted to do it, but I said "No dice Misses. Maybe next year when you are 4 years old."  I'll take my parenting of the year award now. Thank you! ;)

If you are in the area, check it out if you ever get a chance. If nothing else, it's a good people watching experience! Here are a few pics from our day. I think I hear a new yearly family tradition!

             ~Betsy