Happy Monday Sparkers!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful, happy and health weekend! I always find it so difficult to get back to work on Mondays, but at the same time, I find so much comfort and solace in the routine of the week. My meals and workouts are on a schedule. My sleep is on a schedule. It's so much more difficult for me to STICK to that same schedule come the weekend.

Anyway, for me, this weekend was wonderful. COLD, but wonderful. Friday started out a little bit rough. As you know, my knee has been bothering me. After giving it a 3 day rest, I thought it would be up for a work out at the gym...and it was, kind of. After doing 25 minutes on the elliptical, it was just DONE and I ended up with a very sore, swollen right knee. I ended up cancelling a night out to watch volleyball due to the pain in hopes that I would be able to go hiking the following day.

Luckily, I was able to go hiking. And it was so cold! I was a bit under dressed, but it was the type of day where you're not sure if you are really going to need that winter coat yet or not. Yeah...I probably needed it. Once we finally started walking, though, it wasn't so bad. The hike ended up going just over 2 hours and we hiked 5 1/2 miles! It was beautiful and the fall colors were amazing!







Towards the end, my knee was bothering me, and it was sore on Sunday, but it was worth it!

In other news, I'm hoping to go to Guatemala this summer! My church is planning a mission trip with an organization called Casas por Cristo, which builds homes for impoverished families in both Guatemala and Juarez. I'm hoping to be able to save enough to go on the trip and be part of something amazing! I'm going to use it as a goal--because I haven't worn shorts in probably over 10 years. So, I'd like to be able to go to the store and buy some shorts for this trip! I'll keep you all posted as things materialize.

How did your weekends go? Did anything exciting happen?

I hope you have a wonderful evening and a great week!