Ramblings

Today was PERFECT!! We got to church semi-on time (five min late). Jordan was in nursery for a good 20 min before they gave up and brought him back to me sobbing and sniffling as he always is. And they always apologize and sincerely feel so bad that they have to return him to me. I'm always like, people it's OK. He's my son. We hang out all week long so he kinda has issues going to people he only sees once a week. I really don't mind at all when they come find me cause he's usually fine sitting with me in RS. I'm just trying to get him to go to nursery cause there's no one to watch him on the Sundays that I teach. But today, Jordan didn't wanna be in any classroom setting. And the weather was too gorgeous for me to be frustrated with him. Plus, I've really been cherishing the small things with my kids and not making a big deal outta things that normally drive me crazy because I'm realizing more and more just how quickly they're growing up. 

Things didn't settle down at all during sacrament once he and Savou were together. It is CRAZY how much these two feed off of each other's energy and bad behavior!! Lol. But I've become so much more patient with them and feel like I'm really gonna miss those crazy moments once they grow up and become more mature and act right. But for now, I'm not gonna sweat the small stuff. They're my everything and I love them so much because in all essence, "This too, shall pass." 

I invited my visiting teaching companion to sit with us. She's single and I love her. She coaches the girls soccer team up at Weber and we get along so well. She was crackin up cause I told her that if she wanted to feel the spirit during sacrament, she'd better stay where she was at which was far away from us. She's currently looking into a club volleyball organization for the girls to join. She actually talked to the vball coach up there and is sending me more info on it. I can't wait. I've been really trying hard to be more HERE in Ogden, if that makes any sense. We're going on 3 or 4 years of living here now and it's kinda crazy that I'm only now trying now to really get to know everyone and be more HERE. I love it so much more every day!! 

Aaliyah went and hung out with one of her friends from school yesterday. Her friend has been having a really hard time at school with girls that she thought were friends, but from what Aaliyah tells me, aren't. The usual things we all used to go thru while still trying to discover and create our best selves. I'm so happy that Aaliyah is so secure in who she is and doesn't just go where the wind blows. She's such a leader in her own rite and I'm always so happy to watch her grow. She's definitely not perfect and continues to be really annoying and test my patience, but all in all, she's a great girl. 

When I told Hoko, he was like, why is she going over there? Lol. It's so hard for him to let them do things like that cause he's so protective of them especially when we don't know their parents. And I'm so off. I didn't even get out of the car to go meet her mom even tho she came out and waved to me both times (drop off and pick up). Anti-social much? I really am. And not purposely. I don't think of these things until after they've already happened. Goodness. I need to get it together. But we're going to the movies tomorrow night for FHE and Aaliyah invited Connie to come with us so I'll meet them then. 

Anyways, when we got home from church, Hoko was hiding behind our bedroom door and startled me (as he always does) by saying HEY!! He's so annoying. He doesn't even say SURPRISE!! Lol. But I was too happy to see him so after I punched him I gave him a long hug and kiss. I missed him so much. I've really been missing him these past couple of rotations. We all hurriedly changed out of our church clothes and hopped in the van and headed to Zaxby's for some grub and then to the park to go eat and soak in the sun. It was so beautiful outside that I was overwhelmed with pure joy for Hoko being home and making our family complete. 

I'm looking forward to spending all my time with my baby and our kids and celebrating Hoko's 32nd bday on Thursday. I'm too excited for all this warm weather to stay for good!! Please winter, be done with already. 

New Month, Same Goals: Accountability

Woke up to these bad boys this morning!! Yeeeee!! Getting my eating under control and trying to discipline it so I can lean out and stop being so dang fluffy. I'm so excited for the weather to warm up and I am NOT trying to hide under layers of clothing from all the fluff. 

Starting to lower my caloric intake and choose healthier options. Trying to take Erin Stern's trainer's advice and start my morning with a breakfast high in protein and fat so I can fat burn throughout the day. I had oatmeal, scrambled egg whites with one egg and chicken sausage. Snacked on carrot sticks just now and am getting ready to hit the gym with Aaliyah for shoulders and arms. Gonna start taking her and Lote with me interchangeably, so Lote can start hitting the weights as well. 

So I'm just finishing this post after putting the kids to bed and unwinding in my own bed for the night. Didn't have time to finish this post earlier. 

Anyways, I hit the gym earlier with Aaliyah. It's week two of Erin Stern's elite trainer. Today was shoulders and arms. Omg!! Straight killed me just like it did last week!! I love this program so much!! I'm in and out of the gym in 45-60 min every day. And I leave feeling super TAXED!! There's little to no rest and the workouts are primarily made up of supersets. It's so GREAT!! 

Skull crushers 

Drag curls

Selfie cause I'm trying to flex the side grooves in my arms. Lol. 

And one last one when we were done and feeling so accomplished!! And taxed!! Lol. 

Tomorrow's legs day and I can't wait. The plyo moves are gonna kill me just as they did last week. But I'm ready. Lol. I hope!! I don't wanna focus on certain body parts anymore. I'm gonna continue focusing on my body as a whole and try to lean out by eating healthy and pretty much clean. 

We had a salad for dinner cause it's meatless Monday in our home. The kids seriously LOVED the salad. 

A cup and a half of iceberg salad. One hard boiled egg. Two tbsp ranch. Pinch of shredded or blue cheese. Pinch of lime chili sunflower seeds (my fave from the bulk section of WinCo). 

And I'm not gonna lie, I feel really tired today. I know I'm depleted from the low cals today, but I'm disciplining myself once again and keeping myself accountable for all the crap I've been eating. My birthday's coming up in a little over a month and I have a goal that I'm determined to reach. Let the countdown continue. 

Sunny Days!!

The past three days has been nothing, but sunny sunny sunny!! Aaaaaahhhh!! You don't know how exciting it's been to sunbathe here. The kids and I have been going to the park every day. I swear it's the simple things in life like the sun coming out to play that can make things just feel right and confirm just how much there is a living God. 

I think we had a little too much fun our first day at the park cause later that night, Jordan was up crying and tugging on his left ear. Poor thing. I was pretty sure he had an ear infection so as soon as morning came, I called his doctor and set an appointment for him. 

Before the doctor's office, I hit my T25 workout. I mean come on now. It's only 25 min. Thee best 25 min of my day. 

Once we got to Jordan's appt, Dr. Watts confirmed an ear infection in both ears. Poor thing. And then he also got two MMR shots. Hoi. He's behind so we've been getting him caught up. One more in six weeks and he'll be all caught up for a while. 

We hit the playground right after his doc appt. But we came home first to pack up some lunch and then Savou wanted to ride his bike there so I put Jordan in the stroller cause it's all uphill and I wasn't trying to carry my little fatso the whole time. Lol. It was such a nice walk. The playground's about 1.75 miles from our house. We logged a good 3.5 miles yesterday and it felt GREAT!! 

It's crazy how a beautiful day can just change your whole outlook on life. Walking with the boys seriously had me feeling so grateful for who I am, where I was and who I was with. They are my everything and they don't know how much they help me strive to be better than the person I was the day before. I love being THEIR mom!!

Day Two

This morning was day two of Erin Stern's 4-week trainer and it was plyometrics and legs!! And in that order. Nothing kills me more than plyo moves, which is kinda crazy since they're all body weight moves. But it does. It exhausts my muscles and pushes me to and past my limits. I was sweatin' hard before even hitting the weights. Yeeeeee!! 

Tomorrow's rest day in the gym, but I'll still be doing T25 here at home. Aaliyah and I might hit the track for a mile run as well. The weather's warming up and I've been reeling my eating in so I can start leaning out for summer. But I don't deprive at all. I'm just watching what I eat and saving my sweet tooth cravings for the weekend. And not all weekend long, but maybe one day out of it. I'm back to a gallon of water a day, which has helped me, tremendously, with curbing my sweet tooth. I'm about to hit the shower and go thrifting with my boys. Until next time, ADIOS!! 

Gymin' It!!

It's been about two months of me being off pre-workouts. It's crazy!! I used to rely on them so much to give me that extra rush so I can push past my limits. But I've come to realize that I don't need to rely on anything besides my natural capabilities. I do bodybuilding workouts, but I'm not a bodybuilder. Competing has never been my goal. I just wanna feel and look good. I've given up on being insecure about my body because I was always so overweight from lack of caring. I've taken control of my health and I've kept it for years now. And although my fitness journey started back in '08, I've never felt as good about my health as I do now. And for that, I'm forever grateful to my Heavenly Father for instilling this passion for weight lifting in me. It's been my best friend when I need to release all the stresses of life back out into the world. 

Today I started both T25 Beta and Erin Stern's 4-week trainer and I absolutely LOVE them both. I struggled last week with getting to the gym cause I was so bored with my program. I faithfully stuck to T25, but only hit the gym twice. So I was too excited to get to the gym today and hit the weights. I did shoulders and arms and exhausted my muscles thru supersets. Aaaaaahhhhhh!! Felt so good!! 

With T25, it's the last half of the 10 weeks and I'm so excited!! I did Core Cardio and it killed me because the moves were so new to me. But I loved it!! I'm so looking forward to dying some more in the morning. Lol. And tomorrow's legs day in the gym so I can't wait since it's gonna be different from what I've been doing. 

I haven't really been taking my protein shakes either. I lost my shaker bottle and I'm too lazy to use my blender all the time. I haven't been taking any supps as well because of my laziness. Hoi. It's not a big deal to me, tho. I'm trying to be more mindful of the Lord's nutrition plan and incorporate mostly whole grains, fruits and vegetable and eat meat sparingly. Which I don't really know what the definition for that is. Once a day, once a week, once a month, once every couple of months?? I have no idea. But the girls and I are going to pray on it and see if the answers we receive are unanimous. And we're also starting with eating meat only in one meal per day. We'll see how long this lasts. This totally sounds like a vegan way of living. And HELLO?? Beyonce's been on this diet!! We need to get our life. Lol. 

The weather's warming up and we've been outdoors more. Aaliyah's gonna start working out in the backyard. I'll most likely join her so she won't be alone. She's taking dynamic fitness at school right now, which is weight training. She said she got to go in the squat rack today for the first time cause it's usually always full. She said she squatted a plate for 12 reps. Then a plate 25 for 15 reps. Then a plate 35 for 20 reps. Whaaaattttt?? I was like, GREAT JOB!! And she was like, yeah full body squats mom. And everyone in her class, mainly the boys, were like, ummmm....where did you learn how to do those? Lol. She laughed and told them she works out with me in the summer time when she's not in school. They were like daannnggggg!! Hahahahaha!! I love that girl. She is so confident in such a healthy way. 

I am so happy the weather's warming up. I can't wait to start hitting the track!! Nothing kills me more than doing sprint intervals on the track!! And I just wanna be outdoors again. I'm over hibernating in my house and in the gym. I wanna go trail running, hiking, swimming at the lake, bike riding, vball and bball at the park, free lunch, and everything else we have to enjoy here in Ogden!! Spring is almost here and summer falls right behind it. I can't wait!! 

Science Fair

Aaliyah had her science fair tonight. And she was so relieved once it was over because she's been stressing about it since Dec. Lol. I was so not like that growing up. Thank goodness she's the opposite of me in that aspect. But she's so like me when it comes to procrastinating. As in, we went and got everything for her board last night and printed out the last of her stuff as well. Hoi. She could've done so much better if she didn't procrastinate it, but I feel like I could've made sure she did better if I made sure she got it done sooner. Hoi. Another thing to add to the long list of things I need to be better at. 

I just hate when my kids turn in their work halfhearted all because they procrastinated. And she still got the 'EXCELLENT' award in her category. So I know she would've blew it out of the water had she been more on top of it. But it's ok. Live and learn and we'll definitely do our best next year. 

Her teacher came and spoke to me after the ceremony was done. She said how impressed she was with Aaliyah when she had to present her board to the judges. She said that she was so professional and mature. That she impressed them so much with her demeanor. I was like, really?? Lol. Nah, I know Aaliyah is wise beyond her years and I'm even guilty of forgetting how old she really is and expecting too much of her. But I've really toned it down and I am always reminding myself her age and what's appropriate for her. 

We stayed after the ceremony and helped clean up and then headed home to finally wind down for the night. It's been a really busy day that I'll have to blog about on another night. With that said, I'm signing out. 

Family Fun Night (FHE)

This past Monday was President's Day so the kids had no school. And Hoko came home on Sunday so he's home this week as well. So it was perfect. The kids took a vote and they decided on ice skating up at the Ice Sheet. When we got there, there was a hockey game going on so we couldn't do it. So we went with plan B and headed to the Junction for some bowling at Fat Cats. It was soooo FUN!! The kids haven't ever bowled so it was hilarious!! We had so much fun!! We ordered a pizza, some chicken wings, tenders and fries!! It's nights like this that I feel so grateful to be a mom to these amazing kids!! 

Oh and I can't forget what we did before that. Straight karaoke in our living room!! It was so much fun!! One of the things Hoko got me for VDay was a HUGE speaker thing from Costco that came with a mic so we hooked up Aaliyah's iPad and sang to our heart's content. Which was a lot!! Our poor neighbors. Lote was like, dude, I can hear you guys from outside. Lol.