Pictures

Before you look at the rest of the picture let me ask you - Lily or Mikayla?

About a month ago we hiked up to the beaver ponds. It was a wonderful fall hike.

Lily was along for the ride!

Good thing it was a short hike because that is all Teo is good for.

Sorry I don't have better Halloween pictures. Mikayla was Tigger and Lily was a pumpkin.

The girls and their daddy.

Happy Girl

On our way to the playground.

The next few pictures are where I go when things get stressful or Gunnison is too cold. For our honeymoon we went to Hawaii. Come back and visit the next few pictures the next time it is cold, snowing, icy and a miserable day in your neck of the woods.

Marathon Training Week 3 - What Training??

I started my training schedule last week off great, even though I felt myself getting yet another cold. I was able to run on Monday and I did my strength training routine on Tuesday but it was tough. Wednesday through Saturday I did nothing. I managed a slow 1.3 mile walk on Sunday but it took all of the energy I had. I am finally feeling better today and I did my strength training routine and I hope to go for a slow run tomorrow at lunch.

Ever since I had kids and Mikayla started going to daycare I get so sick in the winter. She gets all of the germs at daycare and brings them home and gives every last one of those little buggers to me - and I am sick of it! I few years ago I was taking Body Balance by Lifeforce.

Here is blurb from their website regarding Body Balance. (They can say it much better than I can.) Body Balance is a powerhouse of liquid nutrition made from whole foods. Aloe alone contains over 75 nutrients and 200 active compounds, including 12 vitamins, 20 minerals and 18 amino acids. Combined with SeaNine™—our proprietary blend of nine select varieties of nutrient-rich sea vegetables--Body Balance is absolutely loaded with unique whole food nutrition. SeaNine provide a broad spectrum of trace minerals and phytonutrients that are more frequently deficient from land-based diets. It’s pleasant tasting, and its liquid form promotes easy absorption.Why sea vegetables? The mineral riches of the earth that have been washed into the oceans have been reclaimed by sea vegetation. Furthermore, the chemical balance of the human body is similar to that of sea water. The nine varieties of sea vegetables in Body Balance are sustainably harvested from pristine ocean waters around the globe. The Aloe vera in Body Balance is grown and processed according to organic standards, and is inner-fillet aloe. The pairing of SeaNine vegetables with Aloe is dynamic. Experience what it feels like to finally give your body the nutrients it craves for optimal performance.

When I was taking it a few years ago I really enjoyed it and I felt like it was giving me a boost of energy. I was taking it in the summer so I did not give it a chance to help me in the winter. I have talked to many people who take it and they say that they do not get sick as much as they use to.Let’s hope that this stops me from being sick all of the time. I am getting a cold at least one a month and that is too much time for me to take off from my marathon training.

Send me an email if you want to try some. It is only sold through network marketing and I can set you up.

Wednesday Blog Tour - How to Deal With Yelling

This week as I was strolling through blog land I read 2 blogs that I read all of the time. The first is Uppercase Woman I think on my blog roll I list her as "so I wasted all that birth control" which was what she was called when I first started reading her blog over 3 years ago. I should mention that she describes her blog as "The Rantings of a foul-mouth liberal, feminist, fat, recovering alcoholic, mother, wife, women and writer," which describes her to a T. You might ask yourself why you are reading a blog like that but I have grown to lover her outspokenness and liberal views. You need something like that in your life to shake it up! I don't always agree with her but that is ok too. Cecil is great about responding to EVERY comment. Take a few minute to check out her blog and let me know what you think.

The next blog I was reading was Snickollet. Snickollet is a single mom to 2 year old twins (boy and girl). Unfortunately she is single because her husband died in April 2007 due to pancreatic cancer. I have been reading her blog while she struggles to be a single mom, a widow, work full time, and recover (is that the right word) from her husbands death. She recently dove back into the dating world.

Now back to the second part of this blog entry - How to Deal With Yelling. On both blogs mentioned above they had entries regarding yelling and difficulty in dealing with the kids. It just so happens that I read an article just two days ago in Parents so I thought I would recap the article "How to Discipline Without Yelling" from the December Parents magazine.

We have all been there and done that. EVERY parent has yelled at their kids when they did not mean it. Just the other day I was working on cleaning the house and I was planning on heading out in a little bit with the girls to give Daddy some quite time. Daddy was doing some sort of work on the computer. The girls were getting very noisy (especially Lily) and Daddy yelled at them to settle down. So I decided to leave the house now instead of later. Which meant getting hats, coats, gloves, library books etc... I yelled at Mikayla for being too demanding while I was trying to find something for Lily to wear. I should not have yelled at Mikayla and I felt bad so I apologized. I also find myself losing my temper in the morning because Mikayla moves too slow at getting dressed, I wished Joe would get into the shower earlier than he does, and all I want is 10 minutes to sit down on the couch drink some coffee and watch the Today Show.

Ok - back to the article. Here are some tips to reduce the yelling in your house.

1. Recognize your child's limits. Sometimes, a lot of the time, we expect are children to do things above their capability. In my house a 3 1/2 year old will get distracted while getting dressed and she is a lot slower than I want her to be. In order to solve this I need to allow more time for Mikayla to get dressed.

2. Bite your Tongue. Do nothing is another example. In this article the author mentions that her kids will yell down to her from upstairs and she will yell back. She solved this problem by saying that is she can't see you than she can't hear you. The kids have to come downstairs to talk to their mom. I have tried this with Mikayla but she is great at "Mama, can I watch my show?" and repeating the same question until she gets an answer from me.

3. Survey the Situation. Instead of a food diary, keep a yell diary. Write down when most of the yelling occurs and what can you do to reduce it.

4. Devise a Battle Plan. What drives you crazy the most and causes you to yell the most? Then write down your resolution to this situation. In this article the two boys yelling at each other causes the mom to yell at them. So instead of yelling as well the mom sends the boys one one bedroom and they cannot come out until they have spend 5 happy minute together.

5. Drop a decibel. This was my favorite. Instead of yelling, whisper. It makes everyone quite down to listen.

6. Patience. This is one of my own and I use it all of the time. In order to raise kids you have to have a TON of patience. I have learned if I stop to take a breath, even in the middle of yelling, screaming and crying, it does help.

What do you do in your house to control the yelling?

7 Random Things About Me

Carrie at Newlywed Girl tagged me and it has taken me awhile to get to this post. The biggest reason is that I am having trouble thinking about 7 random things about me.

1. I never liked exercise as a kid and I never ran a mile until I was in college. Now I can do 6 miles and now I enjoy running and exercise.

2. As a kid my family would travel to Colorado all the time in the summer. I always wanted to live in Colorado but I never wanted to live in Gunnison. Now I live in Gunnison!

3. I am an anally clean person.

4. I love to read.

5. I want our next two dogs to a pug and a HUGE dog like a English Mastiff, Berense Mountain Dog, or Great Pyrenees.

6. When I daydream I see myself 15 to 20 pounds less, and a girl who runs marathons, does ironman triathlons, and can keep up with the boys on a killer mountain bike ride.

7. I really want to travel one day - Africa, Asia, Australia, Iceland, the Caribbean - everywhere.

I am tagging (but don't feel like you have to):

Mommy From the Midwest

Views from the Passenger Seat

Fitness for Mommies

Marathon Training Week 2

Week 2 of my marathon training plan did not go so well. I only did 2 runs and a total of 5 miles. No real reason why, one day I did not feel like it so I only did 2 miles and another day the wind was horrible so that really slowed me down and unmotivated me.

This week should be much better. I am planning on 4 runs this week with a total mileage of 17 miles.

With daycare in its new location I should be able to fit in shorter runs during the week and even weight training two times a week. I would much rather run at lunch than early in the morning. It is getting cold in the morning.

What do you do during the winter to stay in shape?

Daycare

The girls go to a wonderful daycare but it is unlicensed. In the state of Colorado if you watch more than one family you have to be licensed. The stupid thing about this law is an unlicensed daycare or babysitter can watch one family. That one family can be 1 kid or 10 kids as long as they are brothers and sisters. But if you watch more than one family (even if it is 1 kid from each family) you have to be licensed.

The girls' daycare, a husband and wife team, have taken all of the necessary daycare classes but they rent their home and at the time (quite a few months ago) they did not have a fenced in yard so they could not be a licensed daycare. A couple of months ago they moved into a new home with a large fenced in yard but they have not taken the time to get licensed. At the beginning of November they got a letter stating they had to close down the daycare. The daycare did the responsible thing and gave everyone notice. Since we had 2 kids we had until the end of November to find a new daycare.

I had found a new babysitter for the girls and she was ready to watch them whenever I wanted but we decided on December 1st. I had Tuesday off for Veterans Day (I know I have it made at the law office). That night I got a phone call saying that they had received another letter and no more daycare. So for Wednesday I had no daycare. I was very upset that they could just close it down just like that. I called the new babysitter and she was more than happy to start watching the girls but the girls had never met her before. Joe and I decided to take Wednesday off in shifts and that afternoon I took the girls to meet the new babysitter and her kids.

I was more worried about Lily since she is going through separation anxiety. But while we were visiting I disappeared a few times and Lily was not happy but the new babysitter was able to calm her down and Lily was not screaming horribly just fussing. So after the meeting I felt MUCH better.

On Thursday the babysitter and Lily were able to bond and had a great morning. When I dropped Mikayla off after preschool she had a blast playing with the 5 year old and on Friday the babysitter's other kids, twin 8 year old girls showed up and LOVED playing with Mikayla.

So after all the stress and headache of moving to a new daycare we are much happier. I also love the new location. The new babysitter is only 3 blocks from preschool so I now have over 1/2 of my lunch hour back and I plan to use it to run. I really slacked off this week in my marathon training so I gotta get my butt in gear.

Home Made Yogurt

In order to make my own yogurt my mother-in-law bought us the Euro-Cuisine Yogurt Maker from Williams Sonoma (she works there!). You could make it without the yogurt maker but the yogurt makes is so easy for a busy working mom.

First bring about 32 oz. of milk to a boil over medium to low heat. (whole, skim whatever you want - I am sure you could also try substituting soy milk as well - I need to try that!). The milk needs to heat up to 185F and stay there for a couple of minutes. Make sure you are stirring so it does not stick.

Next cool the milk down to room temperature. If you are in a hurry place the sauce pan in a bowl (or the kitchen sink) in a cold water bath.

After the milk has cooled down stir in 7 oz of yogurt (according to the directions you can use homemade yogurt but once do this one time then use store bought the next time - it has something to do with the cultures).

Once the milk and yogurt is all mixed up pour into the jars that come with the yogurt maker, turn the yogurt maker on and let it work for the next 12 to 15 hours (I use the 15 hour button). Once the machine is done chill the yogurt in the fridge for 3 hours, and then enjoy. You can add fresh fruit, honey, granola, whatever you want!

Whole Wheat Bread Receipe

A few of you asked for my whole wheat bread recipe and yogurt recipe. This recipe is from the back of the yeast packets you buy.

2 3/4 cups flour (I use 1/2 cup of white and the rest wheat)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup water
1/4 cup margarine or butter melted (I have been using about 2 tablespoons of olive oil instead)
1 packet of Active Yeast

First - Dissolve the yeast in hot water (105 to 110 - make sure you measure the temperature of the water first), also add about 1 teaspoon of sugar to the yeast and hot water and stir - the sugar feeds the yeast and helps it rise.

Then I put the salt, oil and some of the flour into the mixer, add the yeast mixture after it has doubled in volume. Start mixing and add the rest of the flour and water. If your dough is too watery add some more flour.

Instead of kneading by hand I put my kneader on the kitchen aid mixer and let it go for about 10 to 20 minutes (depends on if I get busy doing something else.) After the dough is kneaded place the dough in a bowl and cover with a towel. Let the dough rise in a WARM spot (sunny window works great). After the dough has doubled in size punch it down and knead it again and I let it rise another time, and after it has doubled in size again punch it down and knead it into the shape you want. Place the dough on a greased cookie sheet and let it rise one last time.

After the dough has doubled in size for the last time place it in an pre-heated over at 375 and bake for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Heidi - What was it like to move from the North Pole, Alaska to Las Vegas?? Culture and heat shock I bet!

Wednesday Blog Tour

This week our blog tour takes us over to Metropolitan Mama. Stephanie is the queen of surfing the internet! What I mean is that by reading her blog she will show where all of the best information for parents and contests are. For example this week you can find links to win a $30 gift certificate to Expressiva, $25 gift certificate to Kroger, the other day I entered a contest to win a Bissell Prodry Fast Drying Carpet Cleaner (how she gets offers to try this products I have not figured out yet - but I want to review these products), she also has links to information such as baby clothes, nursing, exercise, and so much more. I learn something new everytime I read her blog and she is ALWAYS hosting giveways and contests.

Marathon Training - Week 1 - Excellent!!!

This past week I did a total of 3 runs and all of them were great. On Wednesday morning I got up early and ran 4.2 miles. It was cold and wonderful! Then on Friday I did my normal lunch time run and I fit in a full 60 minutes and I ran approximately 5.6 miles. Sunday was my long run. I ran 67 minutes for an approximate 6.1 miles.

The reason I started running was that it was a fast way to burn calories. It was something that I hated doing but I did it anyway to get in shape and lose some weight. Now I am finding myself really enjoying my runs, even the hard uphills I am enjoying. I find myself at the end of a run when I am tired, smiling and singing along to the song on my Ipod.

I am getting tired of estimating my miles and it is hard since I am trail running mostly. So I talked my mom into getting me my Christmas present early. I had originally asked for a heart rate monitor for my birthday and my parents sent me a check and told me to find my own! So I asked mom to send me more money for Christmas now and I bought the Garmin Forerunner 305. I found it at Walmart.com for $195 instead of the $299!! I have spent the last week looking for the perfect heart rate monitor and I ended up with the Garmin because not only does tell me my heart rate but it will also tell me EXACTLY how far I have run using GPS and my pace. Right now I am estimating I am running an 11 minute mile but since I am trail running I really have no idea.

My first week of training went great but I HAVE a long way to go. Until January my plan is to focus on increasing my miles in 3 to 4 runs a week. Since I ran a total of 15.9 miles last week I going for 17.5 miles this week during a total of 4 runs.

Food From Scratch

We all know that when you buy food at the grocery store it contains a lot of junk you don't need. Such as bread. Why on earth do they put high fructose corn syrup or add sugar to bread? So I have been busy making some food we eat on a daily basis from scratch.

I make our bread from scratch. It is whole wheat and yummy. I have figured out if I add 1/2 cup of white flour and the rest is whole wheat it comes out perfect. Joe told me to never buy bread again and I have to make all of our own!

I am also making our yogurt with a yogurt maker. I would get so upset at how high the sugar content is in yogurt from the store so I make our own and mix it with some store yogurt and now we get half of the sugar it is yummy.

Another big ticket item is the rice or pasta mixes for dinner. Joe has been making his own pasta mixes for a while and last night he got the whole grain brown rice to come out perfect with just a dab of olive oil, rosemary, basil and other spices. No more rice mixes for this house!

Wednesday Blog Tour

My blog tour this week goes along with my exercise theme and getting up the courage to run a marathon.

Our blog tour takes us over to Fitness for Mommies. Rachel is one busy mama. She has two boys, is a PE teacher, she runs, bike races, does triathlons, yoga, pilates and much more. She also recently ran a marathon and beat her PR (in running lingo that stands for personal record). I stive to be like her - but she had a head start on me! She stared running in middle school and I did not start until college. Her blog is all about staying in shape, training and the newest and latest products for fitness training.

It seems as if I have been stuck in the same pace since I started running - an 11 minute mile. Right now I would love to run a faster mile and increase my miles. I asked Rachel how do I take my running to the next level?

Here is her response:

In my mind there are several factors that are important- mileage not being one of them. When I trained for St. George, our average mileage was 25-30 over the whole 16 week program! One week, we hit 40, but other than that it was around 25 or less. All of our workouts had a GOAL. Something specific to work on that day. We never went out and just ran. I think 3 workouts a week is absolutely achievable for a marathon! The first week of the marathon plan that I have calls for one long run of 10 miles. To me, that is what you should work up to now. Then plan on training seriously come January.

1. Speed. You need to train your body to go faster by running faster. You can incoporate one speed workout into a 30 minute run- by running for 10 minutes easy, then go hard for 1 minute, easy for 1 minute, etc...Try doing that once a week.

2. Tempo. Let's say you want to start running 1030 miles, right? So, on your regular run, once per week, plan on running one mile at 1030 and 2 miles at 11 (warmup and cooldown).

3. Long Run. If you want to start training for a marathon, you will need to increase your mileage by 10% weekly. First week at 5, then next week 6, then 7, back off to 5 one week, then back up to 8. Gradually increase your distance over a long period of time.

Resources:
If you can, I would highly recommend purchasing a plan from Coach Al. (I don't get any kickbacks for referring people!) I just would never train for any big goal again without a plan. The plans are well researched and you will get results from it.

Another resource I like is the Run Less, Run Faster book that you can buy on Amazon. It has detailed plans for all distances from beginners to advanced and all are based on three runs a week.

Finally, I have to say this because of all the pain I've gone through training for this marathon, stretching and yoga are non-negotiable. I like to refer to Sage Rountree's free yoga podcasts because they are only 5-10 minutes in length and are designed for athletes.

Also, if at all possible, a training buddy can be invaluabe to getting you out the door on days you don't feel like running!

With that said for the month of November I am going to focus on running at least 3 times a week, doing one speedwork a week and increasing my miles by 10% every week. In order to do this I am going to have to get up early - which I hate!

What do you do to motivate yourself to get up early to workout?

Marathon Training

One of my personal goals is to complete a marathon and I really think I want to start training for this but I am just scared that I don’t have what it takes.

I have been running for 10 years now and my longest run has been 8.7 miles and that was a few years ago. The biggest reason I think that I don’t have what it takes is that I am having trouble finding time to run. I use to run during my lunch break but now I do the transfer from Mikayla’s preschool to daycare during my lunch break. I was also trying to get some runs in right after work but now I won’t be able to do any runs longer than 20 minutes or so because it is getting dark so early. I might try to get up before work and run but that is hit or miss because I never know if Lily is going to have a good night or a bad night.There is a trail marathon about 2 hours from here at the end of May and I think it would be wonderful to do that marathon. I enjoy trail running MUCH more than street running and since it is in May I would have plenty of time to get ready for it.

Sprint Triathlon

Yesterday I did my personal triathlon. I was not racing anyone except myself. It was fantastic!!

I did changes things up a little bit. I biked first, ran second and swam third. The reason I did this was that the pool at the college where I was swimming did not open until 3pm and I got both girls down for their afternoon nap at 1:30 so I decided to take advantage nap time to sneak away for 2 hours.

I was worried about the bike ride the most. I have been riding my bike a lot but I have not done more than 6 miles (and even that is broken up) at one time. But the bike ride went great. I was estimating it would take an hour but I beat that time and I finished in 51 minutes! Next was the run.

It was hard transitioning from the bike to running and I also started the run by heading up a steep hill. After about ½ mile I found my groove. As I was running I felt like I was running slower than normal but I wasn’t. I finished the 3 mile run in 33 minutes.

The last section was the swim. Since this was not a real race I took a couple of minutes changing and it took some time to find a lap lane. The pool was BUSY. I finished my 1/4 mile swim in 12 minutes. This was pretty slow and I felt that I was taking it slow but it was also at the end of the triathlon. If I had done the swim first it probably would have taken me 10 minutes instead of 12 but then the run would have taken longer.

Overall I felt great and I was proud of my 96 minutes. Next time I want to shoot for 90 minutes or less!