Sunday, January 29, 2012

Sunday Hiking

After my long run yesterday and the cramping it entailed, I was still pretty sore today. So what should you do when your legs feel like they cannot support you? Oh, why go climb a mountain, that's what! Yes, it's Sunday so we headed out to Badger for a hike. How could I not with temps like this?



The hill was still kinda snowy and very muddy in spots. Luckily I had a super cute hiking buddy!



We took the more steep 1 mile route today, taking a few breaks on the way. We were able to jog down though, which felt much better on the knees.

With these warm temps, it reminded me to share with you Parker's "Beach Day" he had at preschool. They have been learning a lot about the ocean this month, so this was kinda a finale to that chapter.



I'm pretty sure he's the cutest surfer boy ever. Can't wait until summer is really here!!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Freeze Your Thorns Off Virtual 5k

Thanks so much to The Boring Runner for hosting the 2nd Annual Freeze Your Thorns Off Virtual 5k!!!


If you haven't read Adam's blog yet, go check it out. He is hysterical and always makes me laugh. He posts awesome stuff like this:


See?

Okay, back to the 5K....I incorporated my 3.12 miles into my longer run day of 3.6 miles in which I did a 6:1 run/walk ratio. I headed down to the good old Columbia River trail to get moving. It was 41 degrees, overcast, but pretty much a nice day around here for January. There is still some snow on the ground that I tried melting with my mind. I think it's working.

As you might or might not know, I've been doing all my running on the dreadmill this winter. Running outside today SUCKED! There were muscles in my legs that haven't been worked since October people! Needless to say, about a mile and a half in, my groin (ew) muscles starting majorly cramping up. Ouchie, my groinies!!

About a quarter mile later, I missed what I think was a major skunk fight because there was some total stinkage on the trail. BAD stinkage. Like I was plugging my nose and running. Then, to top it off I had to run over a bed of hot goose poop to make it back. Lovely. I think the wildlife plotted against me today.

So, my 5K time was 37:10...probably the worst 5K I've ever done. Oh well, it was fun and I totally froze my thorns off!! My overall 3.6 mile run was 41 minutes. Only had a cell phone, so here is my blurry post-run pic.


That's right. Waving off the stinky fumes and holding my groiny. The pose of a champion!!

Friday, January 27, 2012

My Fitness Pal

So have you heard of My Fitness Pal?


It's this awesome website where you can keep track of calories and exercise, with a social network vibe built in too. There are different groups and forums you can take part in, or not. You can update your status, weigh in, create goals...whatever you want to get out of it. There are AMAZING success stories with before and after pictures that will inspire you to work hard.


I highly recommend it. I've lost 3 pounds in 10 days just by keeping track of what I'm doing and being more aware of my choices. If you decide to join let me know!!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Snow Days + Best Run of My Life!

We've been pretty much snowed in these last couple days. I am not one for cold weather AT ALL, but the snow sure is pretty to look at.






Yesterday we got the chance to use a Christmas present from Grandma Lucy and make the perfect brownies.

mmmmmmm and perfect they were!




We then headed out for some sledding with Grammie. Sledding for me and Callie lasted about 15 minutes, then into the nice warm car we went. Callie wanted to sit in the car and make funny faces instead. She was entertaining as always.




Parker and Grammie would have stayed out in the snow all day!

Today after some playing in the snow ice, I decided to work on the concept of "Solids" and "liquids" with the kids. We talked about the difference and examples all morning, then I blew their minds and we made OOBLECK!!!



After all of this fun, I went for a run on my treadmill. Check out this time-



I think I might go for the Olympic team...what do you think? Hmmmmm....well maybe my Garmin was going dead and had a little malfunction.

Truth be told, I power walked 2 miles at 30 minutes....So overall the Garmin was pretty much right.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Hiking with da Hubs

Went hiking up Badger today with the hubby. It was about 41 degrees out, sunny but kinda windy. I was really nervous I was going to freeze, but actually worked up a sweat and had to take off a bunch of my layers.

For those of you that don't know, Badger mountain is in Washington state. Elevation is about 1600 ft. There are a couple different routes. A longer route that's about 2.2 miles and a shorter, more steep route is about a mile. We went up the longer route and came down the steeper trail. It's a great hiking trail for beginners.

Cory would like to hike Mt. Adams this summer, so he is starting to train for that now. Crazy guy carried a 50 pound pack.

My moutaineer

The view was great like always. On the way down there was even a few pretty snowflakes. I'm totally sore already. Tomorrow, I'll need the Advil!

At the summit!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Soccer & Running

Today was Parker's first day of soccer!! The kids decided on the team name of "Blue Guppies". Can you tell they are a bunch of 3 and 4 year olds? Too cute.



Parker was really cute. The coach told the kids to "dribble", so Parker picked up the ball and started dribbling like in basketball. The coach saw Parker doing this and told him, "dribble with your feet". Parker then tried bouncing the ball up and down with the bottom of his foot, trying to bounce it like a basketball, but with his feet. It was really funny. After a little more clarification, he got it. He did great for never even watching soccer before! He even made a few goals during practice. He still can't decide if he's going to be a lefty or righty kicker.

As for me, I had my long run today. I was happy to have both my mom and Cory join me so it was fun. We were all on treadmills, which kinda sucks, but also kinda good since physically treadmills are easier for me. Mentally, it's hard for me. Treadmills are so boring!!

I was excited though because I got a foot pod to go with my Garmin. It was very interesting to see how different my pace actually is from what the treadmill says. The foot pod definitely helps with accuracy. I did a run to walk ratio of 6:1 for this run, with an average of 11:00 per mile, 3 miles total. It was a workout and I'm tired tonight!


I haven't ran this long in weeks if not months, so it felt pretty good.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Helloooo last year in my twenties!!

Yuuuuuuuppp (that's for you Dad) it's my birthday. 29 feels GREAT! I love when it's my birthday. I'm one of those annoying people that uses the whole month of their birthday as a reason for everyone to be nice to me.

Today was a low-key day. Went to the grocery store, hit up the park and fed some INSANE birds, and went out to dinner with the fam. What a great way to celebrate. Here are some pictures of the crizazy birds at our river. These birds are trained to hunt down cars and chase people! To avoid the mental geese and below freezing temps, we fed them from the car.




I gotta say, I'm not one to want any gifts for my birthday...it's right after Christmas so I usually just like some family time and I'm good. This year though, holy cow! I got some awesome presents!! Cory and his family all went in on a gift for me and got me a Kindle Fire!


I'm addicted.

My parents got me all of the below, plus a puuurrrdy case for my sweet Kindle (need to think of a name for her...)

I'm lovin' these puppies:


I'm ALWAYS cold, so these are heavenly. I'll put these on, hide out under my Snuggie, play with the Kindle...magical.

My mom also helped the kids make me a sweet pot for my patio. How adorable is this?


I got an awesome pancake pen I cannot wait to try out. The kids will love this. Who am I kidding- I will love this!! Thank you Mom and Dad!


I got some mail love too. Thank you friends/family for my cards!! I love getting mail!





So that was my bday. Lengend....wait for it....

Tomorrow will entail Parker's first day of soccer and my longest run in WEEKS...3 miles. eeeks! I am hoping the weather warms up so I can run outside. It makes all the difference for me. The treadmill sucks sauce.

DARY!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Somethin' New

So you guys all know one of my goals this year was to try a new thing every week. I have no plans on what these new things might be, just flyin' by the seat of my pants. The point is just to get outside of my comfort zone and do something I wouldn't normally try.





Are you ready for my new thingadaweek this week?

I tried Quinoa!!





I was really excited to try quinoa since I've seen so many yummy recipes on . I was at work, so it's Cory's job to make dinner Mondays and Tuesday since he gets home first. He went for simple and fast- the rice cooker.

Sad news my friends...none of us liked it. :(

Anyone have any suggestions? Perhaps a free almost full bag of quinoa?

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Work Blahs

Everyone has bad days at work. Yesterday was one of those days for me. No one particular thing happened, but we were SO busy. Every nurse was busy. There was no one to ask for help. I was drowning and overwhelmed.

I guess nursing is hard because it's just such a negative field. Patients are crabby for the most part- and rightfully so- they are sick and who wants to be at the doctor? You are probably fighting a cold yourself because of all the germs. You're coworkers are practically begging for your help because they are so behind. You are so behind, but you feel like you need to say "yes! I will help you!" Because you are a nurse and you want to help EVERYONE! You are a middle man between the patient and the doctor. The doctor is annoyed with the non compliant patient. The non compliant patient is mad at the doctor. You are stuck in the middle. I guess that's why the burnout rate for nurses just after 2 years is 58%!!! That is bad. I'm coming up on year 7.

Now don't get me wrong, somedays I like my job. The patients are polite. The doctors are on time. My coworkers are happy. Yesterday was just not one of those days.

I walked in the door from work, saw my family and just started crying. I didn't want to. I was just so drained, I couldn't help it. Sorry- I'm a cryer! They immediately made me smile and forget about all my work blahs. They always make me laugh.




Cory took us out for dinner. That was sweet and made me realize where I love to be.

So as I get ready for work this morning, I already have knots in my stomach over all the work I know that is sitting on my desk. I will get through this day! My family will get me through this day!!

Work Blah's SUCK!

Okay, my vent is over.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Holidays 2011

Christmas was filled with lots of fun this year. The kids really got into the season which made every activity and craft so special.

I already filled you in on most of our December activites. For Christmas Eve we enjoyed spending time at Cory's parents house opening gifts and eating dinner. When we got home, we left out Reindeer food in the front yard, put out some milk and cookies and got the kids in bed. Santa left lots of presents!



Callie's main gift was the Barbie Townhouse. Parker got a Leappad, but was more stoked about his "big train".




We then headed over to Uncle Randy's and Aunt Shannon's for more gift opening and hanging out. After that, we did a gift drop off at home and headed back out to my parents house for MORE gifts and dinner. It was a fun day, but boy were we pooped!

For New Year's Eve we didn't do much. We played a fun game with the kids where they got to pop a balloon each hour from 1:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. In each balloon there was a fun activity or game.


Activities included:
-Going for a walk
-Play game of your choice
-Play with art set
-Dance Party
-Hot tubbing (had to make a stop at Grammie's for this one)
-Silly String Fight
-$1 each
-Have a thumb war
-Fireworks (poppers and noise makers)

But oh no- in 1 balloon there was a chore!! CLEAN YOUR ROOM!!!! You don't want to be the one to pick that one!


Welcome 2012!!!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

2012 GOALS


Well I hope you enjoyed my post on my 2011 goals. With a new year, brings new goals. Always looking forward. Posting my goals on my blog not only keep my motivated, but it's a good way for other people to keep me in check. Thanks in advance bloggy peeps!

FINANCIAL GOALS:

-Pay off all credit cards. We don't have that much left, only 1 card, but still- we want to never see a capital one bill again!!

-Pay off student loan. Yes, I graduated in 2006 from college but I'm still paying on my loan. I'm ready to kick old lady Sallie Mae outta my house!

-Pay off all medical/dental bills immediately. No more payments!

- Use "Cash Only" Envelope system. This is a Dave Ramsey way of life. Here is the info on the envelope system.

FITNESS/HEALTH GOALS:

-Run a 10K. I always do the March for Babies, so this one will be done in April. Let's see if I can beat my time from last year!

-Run Bloomsday. THIS RACE should be a blast. Hoping to run it with family, so it should be fun.


-Kayak 1 time. This is a carried-over goal from 2011. I WILL do this.

-Make into the "Healthy Weight" category for my height. Between 146-148 pounds.

-In warm weather, bike once a week.

-Run while on a camping trip.

-Drink more water than pop.

CAREER GOALS:

-Change part time status to per diem.

-Complete 8 hours education hours.

PERSONAL GOALS:

-Complete 1 Bucket List item. I'll be sharing my bucket list sometime this year. Stay tuned!

-Try 1 new thing a week. I want to go outside my comfort zone this year and have more adventures.

-Go camping 3 times.

-Take kids to see a waterfall up close.

-Go to Silverwood or Silver Mountain.

-Read 3 books and complete book reviews on blog.

So that is all folks! My goals. Do you have any goals for 2012??

Monday, January 2, 2012

2011 Goal Review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011 was good to me, I cannot complain too much. Crazy I never got around to sharing all of my 2011 goals with you- my bloggy peeps. So 365 days late, but here there are. BUUUUUTTTTT, I am sharing my 2012 goals with you so you are only allowed to be mad at me for a second.



2011 GOALS IN REVIEW:

*FINANCIAL GOALS:

-Complete FPU- FPU is a program by Dave Ramsey that helps you learn about money and getting out of debt. I did not complete FPU this year, but did read The Total Money Makeover and LOVED it.

-Pay for Disneyland with cash only. DONE and best time ever.

-Pay off $3K worth of debt. DONE and way more than exceeded this.

-Pay off all medical and dental debt. DONE. This came down to the last month of the year, but we did it!

*FITNESS/HEALTH GOALS:

-Run 1 mile without stopping. DONE. Got this done January 2011. A great way to kick off my year last year. Little did I know how much I would grow to love running.

-Try 3 veggie options rather than meat (I.e. boca bugers, vegisausage). Nope. Only did this once- tried eggplant for the first time in an eggplant grilled sandwich. It was delish!! Hopefully this year I can branch out a little more.

-Complete March For Babies in 90 minutes. Rocked it in 70 minutes! Full recap was HERE.

- Kayak 1 time. Sadly I did not get to kayak last year. It's on my bucket list though and would love to get to kayak this year!

-Fix bike and use it once a week. Another goal I didn't make. This would be a good warm weather goal for me this year though.

- Hike Badger Mtn. DONE! I got to do this a few times last year and talk about it HERE. This is a great exercise to do when it's nice outside and I need to cross train.

-Be under 160 pounds by June 1st. DONE! Reached this goal in May ( I believe..I was doing "No Weigh May" so I'm guesstimating. Weight loss has been my struggle, but luckily I was have been able to maintain this weigh


-Run a 5K. DONE! I reached this goal in May as well. I do a full race recap HERE. This was one of my biggest accomplishments all year.

Own a cute running outfit. DONE! Thanks to a Christmas present from my in-laws, this goal can be checked off!

- Go Roller Skating. It's too bad I didn't complete this goal. It's such a fun way to burn some calories.

EDUCATION/CAREER GOALS:

- Bring family pics to my office. DONE! An easy goal, but it sure does brighten my day to look over and see the reason why I go to work smiling at me.

- Start planning for per diem status change. This has been a long time goal for Cory and I, but this year just wasn't the year. We want to make sure we are financially ready for me to reduce my hours before making this transition. This goal will be on my 2012 list for sure. More on this topic later.

PERSONAL GOALS:

-Read 2 books. DONE! Checkity Check! Read a lot of good books this year! I did a few book reviews on running books HERE.

- Have family pics taken in the fall DONE!




-Put myself on a cleaning schedule DONE! This has made such a difference to me. I tend to feel overwhelmed with the amount of cleaning I need to get done. My schedule has helped me reduce some of that stress.

-Do 2 arts and craft activities with the kids monthly DONE! We had a blast doing it too!

-Go camping 3 times. DONE! I talk about 1 of our trips HERE.


-Start using video camera. DONE! Got lots of great and priceless footage this year!

-Update blog at least twice a month. DONE! It was hard some months, but I did it!

So that's it! My 2011 goals. Most were met, so I'm happy. Stay tuned to find out about my 2012 goals and holiday updates!!






Thanks to all my readers who have stuck by me through the boring, the dull, and the extensive breaks between posts.