Happy Halloweeeeennnnn

Halloween means candy. And lots of it. As hard as it might be, I promise to NOT go crazy eating the halloween candy before the trick-or-treaters even get a chance. (That being said....I've already had two pieces of candy and its only 8:30 heeehee). But seriously. Will power is my friend. And of course, here's a motivational picture to really embed this goal for all of us.

Are you strong enough?? 

So. I'm sure you are all dying to know how our Insanity workouts are going. It is day 3 and in the words of my wonderful husband,  "ughhh I feel like an old man." Yep. That pretty much sums it up. Yesterday, we were both hobbling around the house like we were 95 years old. It was kind of pathetic. Our backs of all places have taken a beating. I didn't even know that I could work out the middle of my back and have it hurt so bad. The craziest thing is Insanity doesn't use a single dumbbell or weight beside our own body weight. And we were still hurting. If that wasn't bad enough, my right calve was killing me yesterday. Not my left, just my right. Don't ask how that happened..No idea. So, I was hobbling around because of my back, and limping because of my right leg. I was quite the sight.  As bad as that sounds, we both found it kind of funny and were able to laugh at ourselves.

But it's not all bad! Brent and I made a new friend. A friend that we will be getting to know very well: IcyHot. We had an emergency Kmart run to pick some of this glorious, glorious stuff up. It works wonders. Thank goodness for IcyHot is all I have to say about that. 

We knew that it would be hard from the beginning. Waking up early is hard. Putting ourselves through such a grueling workout is hard. Having sore muscles all over our body is hard. But we're not giving up! Hopefully each of you are setting a goal for yourself and sticking to that goal. Like I said in the last post, it is NEVER too late. :)

From the desk of....

WOAH! Where did the last two weeks go?? I am really slacking huh. Sorry to disappoint my avid readers. (Shout out to my biggest fan, my Grandma Josie--she's probably really the only one who reads these anyway ;) ) A lot has happened. My work outs have TOTALLY fallen apart. Totally. I went on a 3.5 mile run last Saturday. And ate lots of brownies and cake. That's it.  Until today, that is. :) *drumrollllllllll

Shaun T:
Brent and I have accepted your 60 day challenge. DAY 1 of INSANITY = success. You just about killed us both, but we DID it. 

Look! He's happy for us. Even his ab muscles are smiling at us. 

For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, let me fill you in. Shaun T has created this very intense and effective workout plan and has (rightly so) named it INSANITY. It.is.the.real.deal. I've been wanting to do this for some time now but have never buckled down and done it. It's a 60 day program promising to transform your body. I guess we will find out soon enough. Brent and I woke up at 6:15 AM to get this done and are going to do so 6 days a week (except for Saturday--we'll sleep in a bit that day) to get this done. But, we are going to need allll the motivation and encouragement we can get! 

Check this video out:

Ya. We're crazy. I know. :)

Anyway, I think that is that for now. I am going to update everyone on our insanity progress. So stay tuned. If nothing else, it will be humorous. ;) It is NEVER too late to get yourself back in shape. Never. Even if you do nothing but eat brownies for two weeks. Get back out there. Go to the gym, go on a run. Think about how badly you want it and don't let anything get in the way. 

Life. Gotta love it.

Okay. Officially half way through the semester. I can do it. That is what I have to keep telling myself.

My workout schedule has totally fallen apart the last week or two. I went home last weekend. It was great to see my family and go through the Boise Temple open house, but I'm not very good to keeping to a schedule when big things like that mess it up.  That plus stress plus the "blah" feeling that comes along with cold weather and midterms had such a toll. I haven't had any motivation to run or work out. But I am putting an end to this before it goes on any longer. Tomorrow, I am going on a run at 6:30 AM! I have a friend coming with me and we are going to push each other and help motivate each other to get up and get our days started right! It will not be easy, but it will have some great pros. Working out first thing in the morning will help me to get to bed on time and to have productive days. It will also just fit into my day better. I don't really like having to workout in the middle of the day and get cleaned up and ready twice!! (But then again, I don't really like waking up early. At all. But it is one or the other. I am not giving up). It will be a good mix up to what I've been doing the last 2 months. Who knows, maybe I will like it more than I think. Wish me luck!!


I want to write a little bit about the last week. It has been pretty eventful. Like I mentioned, Brent and I got to go home to Boise for a few days. It was my youngest brother's birthday. And it was the first day of tours for the temple. The temple was absolutely gorgeous. I loved being able to walk through it with my family. It was the greatest thing in the world. 

For those of you living in the Boise area, go to the temple!!! It is open to the public until about mid November and its absolutely free.  Check this out for reservation information:  Temple Open House.


Two days ago was Brent and my first wedding anniversary. We went out to dinner to Rodizio's Grill and enjoyed a wonderful evening with one another. It has been a wonderful year :). We have both learned a lot and grown a lot together. I am so excited for the years to come:)

hills and lunges

Day 2 at middle school. I actually really liked it yesterday! We'll see how it goes today.

Okay, so my workout Monday was pretty intense. I ran a one mile warm up (8 minutes 40 seconds) and then did some weights. I can totally tell that I am getting stronger (even though I'm still weak sauce) and that is pretty dang cool. I did 60 lunges holding a 15 lb dumbbell in each hand. And OUCH. It hurt. Especially today and yesterday. And yesterday, I kept dropping my pencil on the ground. I swear I must have done it like 20 times. And every time, I would just stare at the ground for a few seconds before making the slow...very slow descent down to pick it up. Ya. It was great.

I'm starting to increase the weight I am able to lift in all my other exercises. I'm starting to see some definition in my arms and all of this is totally motivating me to keep going. I love the changes I'm seeing in my body. But, the last thing to go is always the annoying belly pouch. And I always have to keep reminding myself that. If I keep up my workouts and watch what I eat (and not eat tons of brownies--which I am guilty of yesterday and today), it WILL go away. It's just really stubborn and I just really have to want it. And not give up. Yesterday, I found this awesome ab workout and did it at home. This girl has a ton of other videos too all focused on abs. So I'm going to start adding this to my workouts and hopefully in another month or two, I'll start seeing some improvements. 

So, that was Monday. Tuesdays are my running days. I got home from the middle school and was going to go running and then my mind started complaining that it was too hot. So I texted my friend to see if she would go with me later tonight when it was cooler, but she wasn't able to. At this point, I was already relaxing on the couch almost completely convinced that I couldn't possibly run in that heat. I was really REALLy tempted to stay there. But since Brenna couldn't come with me later that night, and I knew that I wouldn't go by myself once it was dark (and it gets dark at like 7:30 in Utah) I got up off the couch and went running. It was hot. And maybe a combination of that and my reluctance to go in the first place made the run harder than usual. I ran some of the same hills that I usually run, but I seemed to get tired a lot faster. But regardless, I ran for about 30 minutes and walked for about 7-8 minutes. Which is definitely better than sitting on the couch watching youtube videos all afternoon. 

Every day is a new day. Every day I get the chance to make healthy and active choices. We all do. So, keep it up! Don't ever get discouraged because of one bad day, one bad week...or even one bad year!! We all have it in us. Good luck! :)

High School Never Ends

I woke up last Friday and the first thing I said was "I don't want to teach!" To say I was nervous would be an understatement. I was so So SO nervous. And it didn't really help that Kelsey, the girl that was teaching with me, has known since the day she was born that she was going to be a teacher and had been waiting for this day to come forever. She was so ready and wasn't nervous at all. She is super ambitious especially when it comes to teaching. And there is no doubt that she is going to be a phenomenal teacher. Heck, she could probably take over now and be one of the best. (Although, I definitely was grateful for that when the we were actually in front of the classroom teaching. Some of her confidence must have rubbed off on me). 

The first class was great! They were really respectful and attentive and that really made things easier. I was still pretty nervous at the beginning, but after a few minutes I started to loosen up and it started to run a little smoother. 

But then we had lunch and a whole 45 minutes for me to rack up all my nerves again. I was kinda dreading teaching it again. Then, when we got to class, it was obvious that the entire classroom dynamics had changed. There was a group of football players all huddled together on the right side of the class laughing and making jokes. Some cheerleaders, jocks, the whole shebang. And I have no idea why, but that whole scenario made me super nervous. I could tell that the second time around did not go as well as the first, mostly because of my nerves and the class was not near as respectful and courteous as the first class. But as we were leaving, I still felt that the experience was good. Obviously in real life, you are going to have class periods that run smoother than others and I was okay with my effort. It was my first time teaching in front of a classroom like that and I was not expecting to be anywhere NEAR perfect. 

For whatever reason, I let myself think as the day went on that it wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth putting my self through the nerves every single day. And I was exhausted after just teaching two class periods. When I got home I laid on the couch and told Brent I was going to change my major. I told him what I was thinking and asked him the same question I had been asking myself: why would I want to do that to myself every single day? 

Brent's answer to me was something I have known all along. In fact, thinking about it now, I don't know how I could have forgotten that answer even if it was only for a few hours. Why would I do that to myself? For the chance that I have to inspire a student and to help them become a better person. To be a good influence and to help them find something that they love and are passionate about (even if it's not the subject I teach or the subject any other teacher in the school teaches). I know that I have to be realistic and understand that I cannot save them all. But I can do good and hopefully my influence will inspire someone to reach their potential. That's why I (and thousands of others) choose to put ourselves through it. And plus, with time, the nerves will get better :)

Something to add to my "teacher scrapbook." The first classroom I ever taught in :)