Getting in Shape: It's An Ongoing Process

My resolve and motivation to get in shape over the last year was a direct result of how horrible I physically felt the last few months of my pregnancy with Cooper and Kale. (Poor boys, I hope they don't develop some sort of complex hearing about how painful my pregnancy was with them.)

{This was taken the day I went to the hospital. It makes me hurt just to look at this picture.}

I was carrying around so much extra weight, that my heart would race all of the time, my back was in pain continually, I could barely catch my breath doing the simplest things, and my joints and bones ached and felt like they were falling apart. My knees felt like they were going to give out on me, and I feared they would never be the same so that I could have the agility and flexibility to do a quick knee bend to pick up toys or squat to help tie a shoe. It took me a good six months after the twins were born to get to where I could kneel down without pain or discomfort (and be able to get back up). Lets just say it gave me a very good wake up call as to how I did not want to feel the rest of my life. It scared me. I was very determined to whip myself back into shape no matter what and make sure I always took care of myself. No excuses.This time was going to be different from all of the other times.

Well, then real life after twins set in and there really was no extra time or energy to offer up to "working out". Every day was pretty much a workout in learning to juggle many things at once and keep two babies happy and well loved. But still determined, I decided that even though it wasn't realistic to get really good workouts in, I could concentrate on my diet and making sure I wasn't fueling myself with junk. To be honest, I was just too tired or busy to eat half of the time. I knew I needed to keep myself healthy however in order to avoid exhaustion and burnout. So just starting first with the diet portion before the workouts really helped me. Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps.

By the time Cooper and Kale were in a good routine of taking regular longer naps during the day I decided it was time to really kick it into gear and start a regular daily workout routine. So as soon as school started this last fall, I began to get on the treadmill every day (or as many days as I could) after I'd put the twins down for a nap. The very first day, I wanted to see if I could run a mile straight without stopping. (Yes, I'm telling you I was starting out small.) I had not been able to run very fast in a long time and had no idea of what my body was still capable of doing or how my knees and everything else would hold up. I told myself to just run it in the best time I could without stopping and see what I could do. My time was not very good, but still better than I thought it would be which gave me incentive to do more. {The biggest thing I had to get over was that working out is as much mental as it is physical. You have to say that you can -- and then you will.} I made it a goal to see if I could get my time down farther and farther. So everyday when I did my half hour or more on the treadmill, I would always start with running the first mile as fast and hard as I could. It made it a challenge and sort of fun to see if I could beat my own time everyday. Then after I was done with the first mile I would do some walking/running/incline intervals for the rest of the time. I always made sure to have good workout playlists on my ipod which kept me pumped up and from getting bored.

In a month's time I had taken a minute and a half off of my time for the mile and by pushing myself by the end of December I was only a few seconds off the time I set as my goal. Because I had stayed committed, the running was paying off not only in shedding some weight, but more importantly I felt healthier and stronger and had more good energy. Mentally I was feeling better as well.

In January I decided to switch things up a bit, so instead of running four or five days a week I was running Mon/Wed/Fri, and then Tues/Thurs I started doing a workout DVD. I also decided to ramp up my running a bit and try to run farther/longer. I found that just by telling myself I could do five more minutes, I would get there and think, ok I can do another five minutes. It has been good to push myself and prove to myself that I can do it. That is a great feeling to give yourself. *Here's where I have to be honest.* I'm still not in love with running. Maybe if I was able to run outside more I would like it more. Maybe. But really, it's just become part of my routine - like cleaning the bathroom. I really don't like cleaning the bathroom, but it's something that has to be done and it feels good after you've done it. And just like cleaning the bathroom or any other household chore, it is much easier to do it often and maintain it than to let it go to pot and then have to really get down and dirty to restore it to it's normal state.

I like that my kids keep me accountable and ask if I've worked out that day. Morgan always asks me if I'm going to go run on the treadmill. It is a good feeling to be able to fit into clothes I want to wear, but there are a lot of more important things than that. I try to really stress that mommy does this so she can be strong and healthy, (and not because I look fat in my jeans). I don't want them to hear me say negative things about myself and then in turn feel like there is something wrong with them. I feel like I can jump and run and play and do the things I want to do now. I'm proud I have put in the hard work to get where I am and I know I still have a long way to go but that I can do it. I'm happy to be a positive role model for Kendle - that being strong and fit is more important than the pressure of being the unhealthy size 0 examples that the world puts out there for us all to see. A few years ago I would have just made short term goals to lose weight before a vacation or special event, but now I'm committed to making this a way of life.

So why did I share all of this? I just felt inspired today to let other people know that you can start small and keep working at where you want to be. You don't have to feel pressure to do what everyone else is doing. Find something you enjoy and that works for you. You can do it on your own time and make your own goals. This time last year I would have never thought that I would be where I'm at, or feeling as good as I am. I'm lucky to have lots of friends and family members that support and inspire me as well. I have lost about 16 pounds since September, and it has been through diet and tough exercise. (Mostly exercise though because I really love to eat and can't stop baking treats if my life depended on it.) I still have a long ways to go.  I was basically starting from scratch, so believe me if I can do it anyone can!

Here are some things that have helped and worked for me:

*Good music on my ipod. Let's face it, running on a treadmill can get reeeeallllllyyyy boring, so I try and switch up the music I work out to and treat myself to new music to make it fun. Music makes everything better. It keeps me pumped up. I also listen to it on occasion when I'm doing my workout DVDs. (Because the hosts can get kind of annoying.)

*New workout clothes. It might seem silly to buy some new cute workout clothes if you only workout at home where no one else but your family sees you, but there is something about having designated "workout" clothes, that once I put them on I feel like I can't change my mind and not do it. Where as if I was just in some comfy sweats or other lounge type of clothes, I might be tempted to just whittle away my time on something else. It makes me feel like there is purpose in what I am doing.

*Setting Goals. I started by setting some short term achievable goals. It feels good, even if it is something simple. Then I began setting some long term goals. It always would psyche me out in the past if I just set a big grandiose goal, and it would be easy to give up because it would become discouraging. So I started off with little things that grew into bigger things. I didn't start out saying I was going to run the Boston Marathon, I just wanted to be able to run a mile straight as fast as I could without stopping.

*Having a designated time at night that is your cutoff for eating/snacking. I know this is kind of controversial and there has been a lot of debate on it in the health community, but all I can say is it works for me. My usual cutoff time is around 7:00/7:30. I try not to eat anything after that. I also feel like I sleep better because of it.

*Going to bed at a good time and getting up at a good time. Remember the old saying, "Early to bed, early to rise - makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." (I haven't been very good about that lately as I've been staying up late at night reading a good book.) If I stay up too late I feel sluggish and totally unmotivated the next day.

*Enlist your family to be your cheerleaders or exercise with you. Our whole family is trying to do more and be better about adding exercise into our days and staying active. Riley works out with his soccer team at practice, Kendle likes to ride her bike or jump rope when she's not playing a sport, and Morgan burns off a gazillion calories doing all the running, jumping, climbing, and playing he does every day. I've noticed everyone is a lot happier when they've got some exercise into their day.

*Practicing portion control.  There are a few things that I try to avoid 99% of the time (like pop), but really I think I do much better if I just allow myself the things I want to eat instead of cutting them out all together which usually makes me crave them more. I know a lot of people who are way tougher and more hard core than me that have cut out sugar and all sweets and I give them a big virtual high five. I don't think I will ever be one of those people myself. I do however try and make lower fat or healthier versions of foods if there is a good alternative that is still tasty.

So that pretty much sums it up. It's an every day ongoing process. Nothing too tricky or complicated.


**If you'd like to get some helpful running tips, head over to my friend Jenn's Blog to read about some great pointers.

For Kendle

This is for my darling Kendle girl who's cheeks and nose are sprinkled with the most adorable freckles ever and I love every single one.

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Hanging Out

Cooper and Kale discovered a new hang out spot for eating their cookies. I just have to make sure the laundry baskets are crum free from now on before taking the clothes out the dryer. :)

Glad it's Monday

Riley is flying back from Las Vegas today and should get home just in time for dinner. We have really missed him. Five days is a long time to be gone when you have little ones at home. The kids are just super hyped up and can't wait to see him. (Me too.) Every time the front door would open, Cooper and Kale would run to the door saying, "dad" and then it would just be one of us. I know, so disappointing. His team ended up making it to the semi finals and then lost to the Utah State champs in a tough game. He said it was a really good experience over all and was glad the girls had the opportunity to participate in something on that scale. They didn't have that great of weather down there so it wasn't as much of a "vacation" as he was hoping for, he said they had some bad wind. He sounded glad to be coming home when I talked to him last night. I'm going to be making his favorite dinner tonight as a surprise -- fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and some cinnamon rolls for dessert. Hope he still has an appetite left after all the buffets they have been eating!

We went to stay with my parents over the weekend and before we left I cleaned the whole house. It was so nice to come home last night to a clean home, feed the kids a little dinner, and then put everyone to bed and have some quiet time to relax. Saturday night, the babies did not sleep very well at my parents and I was pretty exhausted. I got a really good nights sleep last night thankfully. I think the kids were pretty tuckered out as well, as soon as we pulled out of my parents driveway they were asleep in two seconds flat. Pretty quiet drive home. On this trip home from my parents my dad sent Morgan some peas to plant. You can bet that was the first thing he wanted to wake up and do this morning! I let him have three little peas to go out and plant himself and I told him he will have to wait for us to help him do the rest. Who knows what all we will have growing this year! The other day he told me, "he wanted to be grandpa Tovey when he grows up." I tried to correct him and say, "you mean you want to be like grandpa Tovey when you grow up?"  To which he firmly replied, "No, I want to be grandpa Tovey when I grow up!"  Can you tell how much he loves his grandpa?

Well, time to go fold some laundry, finish washing the bedding, and clean up after the tornado that is Cooper and Kale. They suddenly have an obsession with pulling all the sheet music out of the piano bench. Oh joy!

Crazy Week

This has been one hectic week with double soccer practice and all the other usual things and running around. We've been getting Riley ready so he could leave on his trip to Las Vegas yesterday. His girls U-15 club team is playing in the college showcase tournament there this weekend. There will be college scouts from all over the country there to check out the players in the tournament. He flew out of Pasco yesterday morning and their first game was at 8 am today. He just called to tell me they were down by 2 points and then came back to win it 3-2. He said the other team was really good and his girls stepped up big time and played hard the last half. Great way to start the tournament! I'm hoping the girls can play up to their full potential and put it all out there and that they have a good experience. When I talked to Riley last night they were just getting back from check in and dinner and he said the weather was perfect and warm. I'm trying not to be too jealous. Only four more days of me single parenting, but hey who's counting!

{Here is a picture of Riley and his team from a few weeks ago when they won this tournament}

Yesterday felt like THE longest day ever but I got a ton of stuff done. I cleaned house and organized and did laundry like crazy. I finally got some of my kitchen cupboards that have been driving me nuts reorganized -- you know the kind that every time you open them you feel like everything is going to fall out on you.  I even managed to squeeze in a little workout later in the evening although I really was not feeling it and did not want to. Since yesterday was St. Patrick's Day I made some green snickerdoodle's for the kids in the afternoon and when I asked the kids what they wanted for dinner (it's always either spaghetti or breakfast when they have their choice, they are not too fancy) they chose breakfast so we made green pancakes and then Morgan decided he did not want his eggs and sausage to be green. (I can't say that I blame him, too much food dye kind of grosses me out). We all wore our green yesterday. Kendle said not many kids in her class or at school in general were wearing green. Who knows if there was a lot of pinching going on or not.

Our kids have all been coughing and hacking and having runny noses like crazy the last few days. Last night I just crossed my fingers I could get some sleep. I rubbed the twins and Morgan up with some Vick's baby rub and wrapped them all up good. For my sanity's sake I had to go in and give Morgan a cough drop and his own bottle of water. Everyone miraculously slept through the night without much trouble.  I have been feeling a sore throat coming on myself, but I've been trying to fight it off the best I can. I told Riley before he left, that it never fails when he's out of town we all get sick. It's sadly becoming a tradition that I'd like to break. Luckily though, the sun has been shining and everyone has been in pretty good spirits regardless of how they're feeling.

Well, I'm glad it's Friday. I hope the rest of the weekend fly's by and Monday comes quickly. Next week is going to be an awesome week. Can't wait. Riley comes home Monday, one of my best friends Kristen is coming to visit, and my little sis will be home for a few days to boot. Lots of fun and visiting and ladies nights in store. Yay! It's gonna rock.

{Kendle with her bobble head trophy at her end of the season basketball pizza party. The trophy had a surprising likeness to her.}

*Funny tidbit -- Kendle's team name was "The Shooters". The girls thought it would be cool after they scored a basket to act like they were blowing off their guns (a.k.a. their fingertips) and kind of do a bang-bang motion with their hands. But, seeing as how we are in Pasco, we figured that probably wasn't the best idea. :)

Thanks to daylight savings time this weekend, I am officially off kilter. Everyone's sleeping schedules are completely off. I guess it would help a little if we actually had some daylight to go with daylight savings time. It has been so dark and overcast and quietly peaceful (because the kids have all been sleeping in) the last few mornings, that it has been torture to drag myself out of bed. Those are the best type of mornings for sleeping in, and my body fights me from throwing the covers off, putting my feet on the floor and getting up to start the day. My energy seems to have just been zapped right along with that extra hour we lost.

On the bright side however, while perusing through vacation rentals last night, I found the perfect spot for us to stay this summer. We've been wanting to go back to Long Beach because we loved the laid back vibe, huge beaches, easy beach access and the fact that you can drive on the beach as well which is perfect for going down for a night time bonfire. We had a great time the summer before last when we stayed there for a week and made lots of good memories. I don't know if we will be as lucky this time around, but when we were there before we had the most gorgeous weather I've ever experienced at the coast. Warm, sunny days that were perfect for hanging out on the beach. (I think it helped it was the hottest week of the summer). It will be so nice to not have to worry about Riley coaching soccer this summer and be able to kick back for a week without having to rush back. I am super excited to start planning for that and some of our other summer vacation plans as well.

After church on Sunday we drove to Irrigon to hang out with my parents for a while. While we were there my dad took Morgan out for a little drive to the farm. He sent him home with a bag of little potatoes ready to be planted. The last few weeks, Morgan has been working on the side of our house (where it is just dirt) and has single handedly cleaned it all up, raked up the leaves, picked up all the toys and buckets, got rid of any big rocks, and made it into his own little farm. He is amazing and such a hard worker for a three year old. It would blow your mind to see him. He goes out there all the time during the day and pretends to check on things. We have been talking about letting him plant some things over there and take care of them. So with the little potatoes my dad sent home, he and Riley planted them yesterday and today we got lots of rain. We will see if they can grow. Morgan has already checked on them about twenty times since last night.

Well, I am kind of cold and debating on turning the fireplace on. (In March!) I think it is going to be a soup night for dinner tonight. I need something warm!  

No School Friday

I am happy to report I was actually able to sleep in a little this morning. If I discount the fact that Riley got a work call at 5:30 this morning, then Morgan came in with a bad dream and wanted to sleep on our floor and started coughing and coughing,  and then one of the twins started to wake up. Thanks to Riley for getting up and calming everyone down so I could catch a few more much needed winks. After Riley left for work the house actually stayed quiet for a little while. So even though there was no school today, Kendle of course was still up bright and early about 6:00. I don't think she could sleep in if she tried, but at least she was as stealthy and silent as a ghost this morning which pretty much never happens.

Today I will:

-Finish all the laundry

-Get one last work out in before the weekend

-Wipe lots of runny noses

-Make some treats for the weekend. I'm thinking frozen peanut butter bars are sounding pretty good.

-Try and get some good reading time in.

-Keep listening to this album by Alexi Murdoch because it's soothing and just plain amazing. {I played it as the twins and I went to pick up Morgan and do some errands yesterday and everyone was as silent as could be and did not make a peep.} The perfect soundtrack for my weekend.


I'm so glad that the horrible wind from last night is gone and now we are left with some peace and sunshine. It's going to be a great weekend.

Today started out dark, dreary, and rainy. But now that the sun has come out to shine, I'm hoping that will be a good omen for the rest of the day. I've been dealing with sick cranky kids around here and it's good to see those golden rays shining through my window. Cooper started being really fussy and tired last night during dinner and just wanted to get down out of his high chair and be rocked and held. That right there is always a dead giveaway that something is wrong because he is not a cuddler and does not ever sit still. After a few minutes of rocking he was passed out. He and Kale both have some big teeth coming through on both sides of their mouth right now and it's been quite the miserable week or so for them and me, as I have not been feeling too great myself. I think we are all restless and ready for some warm spring weather. We had a good stretch going there for a while though of nobody getting sick, so that was pleasant while it lasted.

Riley stopped at the Nike outlet on his way to Seattle last weekend and got me some new workout gear. He picked out some great stuff that is super comfortable. Good job on that Riley. He also discovered they now have an Under Armour outlet there as well. Now we are REALLY in big trouble. I don't think our family will ever have a shortage of athletic clothing if Riley has anything to say about it. Good thing a lot of Kendle's stuff can be passed down to Morgan and then to the twins. At least that's how we justify it. Sorry Kendle, no pink soccer cleats for you, have to get the black ones so your brothers can wear them too. HA! Riley was pretty bummed out that his club team had their first league loss in two years. Hopefully they can redeem themselves at their game this weekend. Southridge also has their first two games of the season on Friday and Saturday. Busy weekend for sure.

I think I am going to make some Local Boyz crock pot chicken for dinner with rice.

It always makes the house smell good like you are walking into a restaurant. I've been trying to think of lighter and healthier dinners to make that my family will still all enjoy. To be honest, they are not big veggie eaters so it can be a challenge. I've been trying to just lighten up a lot of our family favorites and make them lower-fat and lower-sugar. So far, not too many complaints but there are definitely some recipes that are better left how they are. I know I've mentioned this website before, but I love Gina's Skinny Recipes at http://www.skinnytaste.com/. Every recipe I've tried is really good and I like that there's lots of flavor and also yummy desserts. Got to have some sweets!

Well, I think that's enough rambling for the morning.

**Here is the recipe for Local Boyz chicken:

Recipe #1 - The easy version
3 or 4 chicken breasts
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
4 tsp. ground ginger or 1/2 tsp. fresh grated ginger

Place chicken in crockpot. Mix remaining ingredients all together and pour over the top of chicken. Cook in crockpot for 8 hours on low. To eat, shred or chunk up and serve with hot white sticky rice.

(I also found this other knock off recipe that is really good)
Recipe #2 - Slow Cooker Shoyu Chicken

Good news and bad news

Bad news:
I'm not going to Las Vegas with Riley after all for their college showcase tournament for their club team. It would have been a much (MUCH) needed break, but it just didn't seem like it was going to work out. I'm still bummed out about it, but not as much because..................................

Good news:
I decided I wanted to do something else with some of that money I set aside for the trip so I bought tickets for us to take Kendle to see Wicked in Spokane Memorial Day weekend. I scored us some really good seats and I'm thinking this will be a wonderful lifelong memory for her. We're just going to make a super fun day out of it. I can't wait!

I think Riley will actually end up enjoying it too. We listen to the soundtrack all of the time in the car because the kids love it, and Riley's favorite is "Popular". Sorry, Riley I just outed you on your guilty little secret. Ha!

I love Fridays

This has been another long but good week. Riley started high school boys soccer on Monday so now he has high school practice every night plus double duty with girls club practice Tuesdays and Thursdays. He and the other coaches think they have a really promising boys team team this year. We're hoping for a good and fun season. We just found out some of their boys who were facing appeals got approved to play this season, so that is great news. His girls club team were tournament champions last weekend and Riley was really proud of them. They really outscored their opponents and played hard. I wish I was able to go watch more of their games to be there to support him and all of his hard work. They travel to Seattle again this weekend. We also celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary this week. It was without much fan fare, but I guess that's how it goes sometimes when life is as busy as ours is. Riley asked me if there was anything I wanted him to buy me, but I had already ordered some things for our house so I called it good. Aren't we romantic? Ha.

The kids were super jazzed up to have my mom come up last night to watch them so I could go to our Relief Society dinner at the church. She brought them dinner, made paper airplanes with them, kept the twins out of trouble and had everyone in bed with the house clean when I got home. To say she is incredible is an understatement. I can't believe she can do all that she does, and that was after a full day of work at her full time job. She's pretty much my hero and I have buckets full of appreciation for her. If anyone deserves a long extended relaxing vacation it is her. The Relief Society dinner was really fun and it was good to get to visit with so many people I have not been able to get to know until now and put names to faces. We have a really great ward full of fun women.

Today has been a really nice Friday morning. The kids have been contentedly playing, I've stayed in my comfy clothes, nothing pressing is on the horizon and it's nice to relax a bit -- scratch that. One of the twins just spilled a full glass of water someone left on the counter all over the floor. (Have I mentioned how they are climbing up on everything now? Pretty sad I can't even keep things up on the kitchen counter safe anymore.) Ok, two towels later and it's cleaned up. Tonight Kendle has her end of season basketball pizza party at Round Table. It should be a good time, she played with some really fun girls this year and we really like her coach. He's thinking about doing a traveling team for some of the girls maybe in the summer, but not sure if we're ready to hitch a ride on that wagon yet. We'd love him to coach Kendle again though if she got the chance.

I have the biggest stack of books waiting to be read, but I have a confession. My bed time reading routine has been sabotaged by Netflix (cue the Beasty Boys).  I have been loving catching up on past seasons of some of my favorite shows and also watching movies. Friday Night Lights was hands down one of my favorite shows ever and it is now officially over (tear) so I've been going back and watching some of the older seasons where I missed a lot of episodes. I also love the Masterpiece Theater classics and loved their newer version of Wuthering Heights with Tom Hardy from Inception. I even got Riley into it which is really saying something. So maybe this weekend I can get some speed reading done so I don't have to keep renewing my books/and or racking up late fees. :)

*Random thought for the day -- I really, really love the song "And so it goes" by Billy Joel. Might be one of my all time faves. Just listened to it when I had my itunes library on random shuffle this morning and it always makes me stop and think what a beautiful song it is.

Well, nap time for the babes and running time for me. I'm out!

Growing Up

Today I had one of those mornings where I really stopped to take a minute to look at Kendle and how all of a sudden she just looks so much older to me. She is getting taller and more independent and has braces and all of these things which are just giving me a big punch in the gut that she is not such a little girl anymore. I swear I just blinked and she went from her adorable baby self to this girl with an attitude and big personality that is almost done with the third grade. Instead of quiet mornings and afternoons spent together reading books and playing, our days are now filled with sports, piano, school and church activities, driving to and fro from one thing to the next and birthday parties and sleepovers. She surfs the internet, paints her nails, turns up the stereo in her room, is a reading machine, is trying to be more helpful, occasionally plays the part of the class clown, and has a little bit more interest in clothes. She also talks back and has a very messy room, but we're working on that. :) She has muscly calves and a strong athletic body that help her play and enjoy sports and I really appreciate watching her play hard and give it everything she's got. I love her sweet little face, her deep brown eyes that always seem to twinkle with mischief, and her sprinkling of freckles across her nose. This girl is a fighter and she knows what she wants and how she's going to get there. I'm in awe of how she is the best of both her father and I. She is my only girl in a rowdy household of boys -- we have to be allies me and her.



















I just need her to stay a little girl for a little while longer.