One Year Down...Forever To Go.

This past Easter Sunday, April 12th, marked the one year anniversary of mine and Shane's marriage.

One year already!

Can you believe it?

It has flown by.  

It has been full.

It has been fun.

It has been hard.

But most of all, it has been good.

I knew what I was doing when I married Shane. :)

And now, this Saturday, April 18th, Shane and I will be sealed in the Mesa, AZ temple for time and all eternity.

I'll never be without him again.

Challenge #14

Have you ever seen the documentary Super Size Me?

Truly disgusting.

However, what is more worrisome than fast food is the portion sizes we eat.  Whether it be fast food or not, American's eat TOO MUCH food.

How many times have we looked at a box of cereal and said, "Hey, only 130 calories!"  but we totally ignore the serving size that says 3/4 of a cup and instead we eat 3 bowls of it, all the while trying to convince ourselves that we've had somewhere around 130 calories.  

While you may be able to fool your mind, your body is smarter than that.

The challenge this week is to pay very close attention to serving sizes and don't eat more than a serving size of anything.  Measure things out and look at it closely so you can learn what it looks like.  Retrain your eyes and your brain and your stomach will fall in line.

If you go out to eat, ask your waiter for a box at the beginning of the meal so you can put whatever is more than your serving size in the box to take home.  If it's not on your plate you won't be nearly as tempted to eat it.  Most restaurant portions are 2-3 times bigger than a serving should be, so cutting it at least in 1/2 is a good rule of thumb.

Use this week to really learn what eating healthy LOOKS like.  

Again, what you eat matters, but HOW MUCH you eat matters a lot more.

If you're supersizing your meal you're supersizing your body--

--and I'm pretty sure we don't want that. :)

Jello

I'm not referring to the refrigerated treat.

I'm referring to my legs.

I did this work out today:  

100 yard sprint, 100 yard lunges...repeat 5 times.

Then I ran 1 mile with high knees and sprints mingled in for good measure.

OH. MY. GOSH.

It doesn't sound like much huh?

Try it.

It's not even a mile in distance (the first part).

But what you do in that short distance is what makes all the difference.

Tomorrow, when Shane has to wheelchair me around everywhere, I wonder if I'll regret it.

Probably not. :)

Above Average

Morgan is very advanced for her age.

She is already telling jokes on a 5th grade level.

Her latest joke goes something like this:

"Hey Mom, you like dogs?"

"Um, yes, I like dogs."

"Oh....it's poop!"

hahahahahahah

"Hey Mom, you like kitty cats?"

"No."

"Oh.  Mom, you like shoes?"

"Yes."

"Oh....it's poop!"

She laughs really hard because she knows she has totally burned me.

She's such a genius. 

Olivia's Announcement

About a month ago Olivia asked me if I would please announce to the world that she can now ride a two-wheel bike.

Pardon me for the delay in announcing this great accomplishment.

Perhaps I was less excited to make this announcement because the fact of the matter is Olivia has been able to ride her two-wheel bike for over a year.

She just wouldn't.

Last February (2008), when her cousin Tatum was still living next door, we took off both of their training wheels one night.

Both girls rode their bikes, without training wheels, on the first try.

It was pretty amazing.

The next morning (and every morning thereafter) Tatum rushed outside to practice riding her bike and Olivia told me she was afraid of riding her bike and that she couldn't do it.

What?! 

For a year she complained to me to put the training wheels back on because she couldn't do it without them.

I was just about to break down and put them back on because her bike was just sitting here rotting away when suddenly, one day, she decided she COULD do it.

Now she's riding like a pro.

I guess I just have to remember she has her own time table.

She's careful and cautious and for that I am grateful.

Challenge #13

The Challenge this week is for your to come up with your own challenge.

Challenge Yourself.

An important part of a healthy lifestyle is being able to analyze what you are doing and where you might need some changes.

Maybe it's a nutrition goal.

Maybe it's a training goal.

Maybe it's both.

There is a good chance that as you are reading this something is coming to your mind.

Do it.

If you don't know what you want to do then you need this challenge more than anyone.

Take the time to figure it out.

Get creative.

Then tell me what you are doing in the comments or an email.

I want to hear what everyone is doing this week for their challenge. (it can be a repeat of something we have done, but it'd be best if you came up with your own).

Ready, GO!

Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk

For some reason Morgan thinks it is a great idea to dump whatever cereal and milk she doesn't eat out of her bowl...every morning.

To say that we are tired of this is an understatement.

However, this morning when I walked in to find her mess and had just started to say "Mor-GAN!!!", I lifted up the bowl and found this staring back at me:

This Milk Ghost was smiling at me and for some reason I couldn't be mad.
You're off the hook today Morgan.

Thank goodness for Milk Ghosts.