Sunday Outing

So, after thinking we'd be stuck inside all day, what with the thunderstorms and all, I finally made the executive decision to brave the elements and get us out of the house. Cuz we were all pretty much going stir crazy!

I had no plan though! I love winging it!

We got into the car, piled the kids' bikes into the back and headed out. We ended up heading towards Bridal Veil Falls. The kids and I love it there! As we approached the turn for the falls, I saw the turnoff for Squaw Peak. I've never taken the kids there, and thought that they would LOVE the view. So we made our way up the mountain. I've never driven up there myself, I've always been the passenger. So it was a little nerve racking. But I stuck it out. I'm terrified of heights! lol! As soon as the kids got out of the car, they were so excited that they could see the WHOLE city! It was so fun seeing them so excited at the view! I was so glad to have brought them there. Of course, they were nervous about being so high up. And they would not let me take pictures with them, thinking I was going to let them fall. Sadness!

I did manage to sneak a few in though!

After that we went up to Bridal Veil and the kids rode their bikes along the trail to the falls. It has rained so much the last couple weeks that the river was so high and moving so fast! It was incredible! Alayna had a hard time pedaling up the hills, so Hunter would either stand behind her pushing her up or in front, pulling on the handlebar trying to help get her up the hill. It was adorable! She kept pushing on, because she really wanted to see the waterfall. We are not quitters in this family! :)

All in all, it was such a great time! I love that we're getting out more as a family! It's a lot easier now that the kids are a little older and not tiny babies! lol

I completed my first open water swim. In a wetsuit! I fit into one! hahaha! I was nervous about that. ;) It was incredible though! It had been stormy all day, so we weren't sure that we were going to go out and swim. (We being my tri team.) But the storm cleared just in time for us to head out to Lindon Beach. It was absolutely stunning out there! The cloud formations were simple incredible! Big, white puffy clouds mixed with low, rolling, dark clouds. The sun was shining behind a few clouds and sun rays were bursting out from behind them. The light was pure golden and made everything it touched glow. Over to the east, in front of the mountains was a full, bright, double rainbow! The tall grasses framed the lake and it was just picturesque!

We marked out where we were going to swim to, and I was completely nervous! It was so far! They told me, since it was my first time in the open water that maybe I should just swim back and forth in the bay. I considered it, but being me, I had to prove I could do it. So we took off. The mud at the bottom was so squishy! I don't even want to think about all the stuff I was walking through! The water wasn't too cold. A LOT better than I thought it would be. Until I bent my knees and let the water come up to my shoulders. Once it started seeping through the zipper in the back of my wetsuit, it felt COLD! But it didn't last long. Yay for climatizing! I attempted to swim with my face in the water. But it was so murky I couldn't see where I was going. So I stuck with keeping my head out of the water. The closer we got to the buoy we were heading towards, the further it seemed to drift! But we eventually made it! Now for the swim back! There were two other women who were doing their first open water swim too. One of them started having an anxiety attack! But she made it to the buoy. Once there, though, she was having a really hard time breathing and just wanted to get out of the water. So Kyle, the owner of SBR Sports (the triathlon gear store that's sponsoring my team) and McKenzie (one of the women who started the team) helped her get back to the water. The current had picked up and was helping push us towards the shore. That was nice! :) A huge pelican was flying overhead. I'd never seen a pelican like that before! At least outside of Tracy Aviary or the zoo! lol. Another bird was floating in the water and squaking at us. It was probably mad we scared the fish away. haha!

Eventually we made it back to shore. McKenzie and Kyle estimated that it was about 1200 meters that we had just swam. I have never swam that far before! I was so excited!!! I just wish I had brought my camera to take a picture of how the lake looked. It really was just amazing. Especially considering it was yucky Utah Lake! ;)

Random Saturdays!

So last night Raleigh took Hunter to my ward's Father/Son camp out. He brought Hunter home early this morning, cause he had clients scheduled at the gym. But they cancelled, so he and I went and worked out. We did the 50 reps of everything again. I thought he was gonna have a coronary! haha! :) Or that I just really wasn't working hard, cause man! The sounds coming out of that man! :D Then we went swimming. I set a goal of 16 laps. We did 8. Raleigh got a cramp. :*( And he had to go. But I ran into a girl I went to high school with. Turns out she trained with Raleigh too, and also wants to be a trainer. Elle was there in the pool too. She and I are going to meet up on Monday and work out together. Yay for gym buddies! :)

After we left the gym, before we hit the freeway, I heard on the radio that there was a free festival at Utah Lake. So I decided that sounded like a lot more fun than going home. So we went down and checked that out. It was pretty fun! The kids got a hot dog and we played duck shoot and had a boat race. They turned a couple of rain gutters into the race course and had a little boat inside and the kids made the boats go by blowing at them through a straw. There was a fish pond and Hunter COVERED me in the stickers that he got from that. Then we stood in line for over half an hour so the kids could have their face painted. Alayna is a kitty, Hunter is a puppy and Bridger got a little koala bear on his cheek. I'll post pictures in a bit.

Bridger would NOT let me put him down, so holy cow! My shoulders and back HURT after the whole day!

But I beat Raleigh at swimming, so life is happy. muahahahaha!

And some from a photoshoot that Raleigh did. :) Yay for having friends who take pictures!

H


Here's a couple pics from a photoshoot my friend Leslie did.

June 4th

Oh man, last night was HORRIBLE! And yet, amusing at the same time. Bridger and Hunter fell asleep in my bed, with me squished in about a foot of space inbetween. Good thing I'm smaller! haha! At about 4 in the morning, I woke to a loud crash. Bridger had rolled right off the bed. I wait a minute, hoping in my half asleep state that maybe he'd crawl back into bed himself. Not so much! I leaned over and he was just sitting there, looking around like "what happened?!" It took over an hour to get him back to sleep. I can wake up at 5 just fine. But to wake up at 4 is just TOO MUCH! So I decided the gym could wait until after work today and went back to sleep hoping to stay that way until 7.

Not so much.

Alayna comes walking into the room at 6, wanting to go downstairs and see who else was awake. For the love! So I resigned myself to getting up anyway. Still didn't go to the gym until after work.

I realized today though I probably need to add calories to my diet. lol! Being generous in my counting of the calories, I only got to about 1100-1200. I'm thinking I should probably be at about 1400-1600 with the amount I exercise. But I'm not hungry in between meals, so maybe I'm fine. It's a fine line, I think.

Tomorrow will be fun!

Oh man i hurt!

So, to continue on writing updates.... 10 minutes later! lol!

On Monday, I worked with my trainer Raleigh. Coolest guy ever! He'll kick your butt for sure! I tell him he kicks my glutes. hahaha! Gym humor. :) He had me do 50 reps of each main muscle group. Biceps, triceps, abs, shoulders, thighs, and calves. Holy cow and for the love! It's Wednesday, and I'm just barely starting to feel not sore from that! Probably didn't help that I ran Sunday night and Monday before we jumped into the 50 reps. It hurt good!

I missed yesterday. I couldn't drag myself into the gym. Forget drag, I could barely stand! It paid off today though, for measurements! It's totally addicting, once you really start seeing the weight and inches come off, and feeling the muscle tone building! Today I swam 16 laps this morning and another 12 this afternoon. I couldn't face the weights today. I just couldn't do it! My arms would hate me for life if I had! lol!

People keep asking me how I keep from cheating. It's simple, really. I simply made up my mind that I wasn't going to eat things that are unhealthy. Maybe when I reach my goal and I'm just working to maintain I'll eat more things like that on cheat days. But I made up my mind that getting in shape was what I wanted, and NEEDED to do. Once that clicked, it's easy saying no to treats and all things junk food. I don't drink soda or even juice, and haven't since the first of the year. There's just too much sugar in most juices.

Anyway. That's been what I've worked on this week.

Training

Ok. I'm gonna start posting more of my training stuff on this blog. Track my progress online! lol :)

Today I got measured. Haven't done that since May. I can't remember my exact numbers, I'll try and get them tomorrow. But I believe, if my quick, at a glance math is correct, I've gone done 6-7" and 15 pounds since May 1!

I changed up my diet since then. For a while I couldn't get past a certain point with my weight. I kept yo-yoing between a few pounds there. So I doubled my exercise, taking it from 1/2 hour 6 days a week to 1 hour 6 days a week in the mornings and 1.5 hours 3 times a week after work. (The kids LOVE going to the gym playroom, so I use that as a good excuse to get my butt back in the gym. :) My exercise routine consists of a half hour running on the treadmil. Doing intervals of 2 minutes slow, 3 minutes fast. Then I do 10 minutes each working on legs, core and arms. 3 sets of 10-12 reps on each area. Then I finish off with a half hour swim. I try to get between 14 & 18 laps.

I completely changed my meal plan. A friend at work started this "Kristi Approved" diet. I did the first 2 weeks on it and dropped 9 lbs! In 2 weeks! It was awesome! I couldn't afford to get the groceries for the 3rd week, which is this current week. So I'm improvising with what I have on hand, but following the same basic principle. 5 small meals spaced 2-2.5 hours apart. So this week I've done a protein shake in the morning when I wake up at 5. Then when I'm done at the gym I'll have either a bowl of oatmeal or 2 egg whites and 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of salsa on a wheat low carb tortilla. For lunch I have brown rice, steamed veggies and a gardenburger. Plain, no bun or condiments. It tastes good with the brown rice! :) I know, I'm weird. For a snack I have either a string cheese and a fruit or a South Beach Diet meal replacement bar thingy. (Like my technical terms? haha!)

So that's what I've been doing to kick my butt into shape! (Other than round!) Hopefully I can remember to post updates here for anyone that cares to follow. :)

Have a great day!!!!!! Make it good!