Yoga in the Park!

So I'm doing Yoga in the park to promote my new biz I'm starting! I'm super excited and hope it will turn out all right. I'm going to be handing out this flyer to anyone who shows up on Saturday!

Come join me...this Saturday June 28th and next Saturday July 5th at 9am Skate Park, Farmington!

As soon as I have more time I'll post more pics, I've been running crazy to get this up and going and I'm totally stoked to see where it takes me! Keep your fingers crossed for me and send this out to anyone who you think might be interested!

Namaste!

5k Pics

Just crossed the finish line and prepping for my victory cartwheel!

Me and Jill!

Look what I can do!

Ok, the Zazoosh pics are finally in! Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Dylan

Princess Shoes at the Party

Princess Devyn and Princess Dylan with Princess Cinderella!

Benihana

Her Rainbow cake

My little Graduate!

The Fam!

Well this has been a BIG week for Dylan! May 16 she turned 5! For Dinner we went to Benihana, she LOVES to see them throwing food, then Sunday we had a family BBQ and yesterday she Graduated from Preschool and Cinderella came to her friend party! It was all a little crazy, but fun!





Dylan is so big now, I can't believe that I've been a Mom for 5 years now. She's a mini Mike, so I've learned A LOT of patience to say the least. She LOVES to tease and hates to be teased. Dylan wants to make a game out of everything, she helps me remember to take life a little more light hearted. Dylan is also a social butterfly, she is friends with EVERYONE! She doesn't discriminate by gender or age. She'll go to Sophie's house and if she isn't home, she'll play with her 3 year old sister Anna and have a ball.





Dylan can be very selfless...she wants to make sure everyone gets a drink, toy, candy, whatever she's having at the moment. She'll remind me..."oh mom, don't forget to save one for so and so!" If we're playing a game she'll whisper in my ear "mom, so and so hasn't had a turn yet...let them go!" I have a lot to learn from her still, I'm very happy and proud to be her Mama! I Love you Dylee Dal, happy birthday!

My First Race

Here's me and Jill at the Big Boss Man's house after the Race!

Aren't we the hottest Mama's you've ever seen?

Well I ran my very first race this weekend. I ran the 5k at Odgen Marathon May 17. It was so fun! I went with Jill Sparks and we kicked some serious butt! We started pretty close to last in line and we passed A LOT of people!

My official time was 00:27:24 I came in 66th out of 501 in the girls division,so I'm perty dern proud of myself! It was an amazing experience running across the finish line. Knowing that I've been training hard and to finally acomplish something. I know it's a stupid 5k and it was only 3.11 miles, but still, it was a start!

Here's the link...I'm on the first page of results for females in the 5k!

http://www.milliseconds.com/ResultsDisplay.php?pageNum_rsResults=0&totalRows_rsResults=501&varRaceID=1037&rgGender=F&varDisplayGenderDistance=5k%20%20&varRaceID=1037&rgGender=F&varDisplayGenderDistance=5k%20%20&varRaceID=1037&rgGender=F&varDisplayGenderDistance=5k%20%20&varRaceID=1037&rgGender=F&varDisplayGenderDistance=5k

I still have a 10k, a half marathon and a full marathon to run. I didn't get into the St. George Marathon :-( so I have to find another one to run! Wish me happy runnings!

Catch-up!

Dylan crouched and ready for the ball with her pink mitt!

Posing for pictures before her first game! 65 Degrees outside Brrrr!

Dylan taking Devyn to the bases after her game! What a good sister!

Katie and Ricki Rian! Happy Birthday Ricki!

Wade and Shane helping Mike with the Auger (sp?)

Ok, so it's been awhile again since I've blogged and sooo much has been going on. I feel like I'm skipping out on so much info by adding all this information in one post, but what's a busy mom to do? Multi-tasking is a necessity for our breed so....once again here I go with a parade of our lives from the last couple of weeks!



Baby Ricki came into the world Weds April 30 in the AM hours! She is absolutely, amazingly beautiful! She has a head of hair on her that is to be envied by all new moms! On top of that, she wears it in a faux-hawk just like her cool aunt Jennie! She's a healthy lil angel, doing well. Katie has made a very smooth transition into motherhood, I'm so proud of her! I'm excited to get to share mom-moments with her, and get my "baby-fix" holding her sweet little thing! Congrats Katie!



Dylan has been having a BLAST at T-Ball! Our team is the Oriels and we're BRIGHT ORANGE! It's hard to miss us. Dylan has quite a few buddies from the neighborhood on her team....Sophie Drayer, Hannah Scott, Alex Carter, and Marin Boss are all from our lil corner in Farmington.



This last week she actually hit a ball from her coach (they pitch 3 balls to them and if they don't make contact then they get the T)! We couldn't believe it! The next inning a kid hit a ball right into her glove! It took her totally by surprise as she stared at that ball in her glove like "how did that get there?" then she woke up and threw it to 1st base! What a blast to see her out there having fun! I can't believe how BIG she is all of a sudden!



Backyard saga continues! We rented an Auger (sp?) to drill big 'ol holes in our backyard for our deck posts and pergola (sp?) posts. Now we made sure and called Blue Stakes so we wouldn't hit any wires and fry our brains, unfortunately, they don't stake off our sprinkler pipes. Needless to say 3 out of 5 holes we hit pipes and 1 of those 3 was the main water line! AHHHHHH! Mike got it all fixed up and now we have big 'ol holes in our back yard waiting for posts and cement. One step at a time I guess, we'll get there eventually!

YogaFit!

I did it, I did it, I did it! I finished my Level 1 YogaFit Seminar. I'm not officially certified until I Community Teach 8 hours. I'm still trying to decide where I'm going to do that. I'm leaning toward the Womens Shelter in Kaysville! Any other ideas for me if that doesn't pan out?

I gotta tell you how absolutly AMAZING this weekend has been for me! It could quite possibly be the most UPLIFTING and EMPOWERING thing I have EVER done for myself. I know it was a Yoga workshop, but...I learned soooo much about myself, something that yoga is all about.

The very first thing that came out of Nicolles mouth (she was the instructor) was..."You are all here, in this moment for a reason, lets all Listen to our bodies and let go of all Competition, Judgement, and Expectations of ourselves and others and just be Present in the Moment!" How beautiful is that? Come to find out that's the Essence of YoaFit and we talked about that over and over and over again.

How Empowering is that? Think about it for a minute. Let's break it down. Listen to your body and let go of any competition you feel with you neighbor, sister, mother, magazine model etc. We don't have to be anything for anybody but ourselves, we're perfect just the way we are. Nobody can do you better than you can!

Next, Listen to you body and let go of competition. Life is not a Desination...it's a Journey! What are we racing for? Who are we racing? Let go...and LIVE IN THE PRESENT MOMENT! There's NO greater gift you can give yourself!

And last, Listen to your body and let go of Expectations. Live based on how you feel right here and now! Don't expect yourself to do EVERYTHING ALL OF THE TIME! Allow yourself to be human and recognize those moments. Those moments are part of who we are. Learning to listen and live in the Present Moment allows you to live minute by minute and take things as they come and appreciate them for what they are...part of your journey!

Now I could go on, and on, and on, and ON about all of this and not even come close to what I learned about in 2 short days! All of these things and more are pulled from the Workbook, from my own personal experience and from what was shared in class by the other amazing women (and Mark, the Token Guy), I shared that opportunity with!

I hope to take these things to heart and apply them, not only on my yoga mat, but in my life. I'm excited and eager to start teaching these concepts with others and I hope to continue my education of Yoga to the next level!

Hugs, Love <3 and Peace!
Jennie Carlson YogaFit Level 1 Instructor (almost!) :-)

Brag Blog!

Dylan, Devyn, and Marshal stickin' their heads out of a log at the Zoo

Devyn helping Mama in the yard!

Mud Wraslin'

Dylan practicing T-Ball with Papa!

Oops, two of the same pics, sorry!

Devyn and Mama at Swim Lessons

Dylan at Swim Lessons

Check out that hole!

Ok, A LOT has been going on the last couple of weeks, hence the lack in posts! So, I'm going to just lay it all out here in this one post! Ready...Set...Go!

I'm up to running 7 Miles! Woo Hoo! I'm pretty sure that if Jill hadn't started running with me I would have quit, but she's been a great motivator! We're running 3x a week with the kids in strollers! Hoo YAH! We're super-moms! Our time is cut almost in half when we go solo, but we enjoy the thought of extra calorie burn. I read in Fitness Magazine last month that pushing a strollers boots calorie burn 20% Oh YA baby!


To go with the running theme, we registered for the Ogden 5k May 17 and we'll be pushing the children for that one! We're looking into the Farmington Half Marathon in July, and we've registered for the St. George Marathon Oct. 4. We will find out the first week of May if we were accepted since the race is a lottery and they only accept 7000 people.

Speaking of Lotteries...we entered Dylan into the Spanish Immersion program at Eagle Bay and she got in! So she's going to be speaking Spanish 1/2 her day from Kindergarten to 6th grade! She's sooo excited! We went to Orientation Friday and she met her teacher and played on the playround, she asks everyday when she gets to go to Kindergarten!

Devyn is growing up so fast I can't believe it. She knows most of her colors, shapes, and is starting to count..."One...Two...Six...Three...GO!" is what she says. She's become a little singer. She just sings and sings and sings where ever she goes, and it drives Dylan NUTS! :-)

I've been doing Boot Camp for 4 weeks and feeling stronger and stronger all the time. I'm starting to see definition return to my arms and legs! :-) If I get 2 people to join with me I'll get the next one half off...so I'm recruiting! Anyone interested? http://www.fitcorefit.com/ I absolutely LOVE it!

While Mike, Shane and Doug worked in the backyard Sunday to try and allieveate our flooding problem, Jill and I went to the Zoo! The girls just LOVE to see all the animals and trying to make their noises. Devyn was terrified of the giant Elephant Statue..."Scawey" she said and walked wide around him keeping her eyes on him the whole time.

Devy and I did a Mom & Tot class at South Davis Rec Center the last 4 weeks! Devyn is a fish and wants no help from me "I do it Mom, I do it!" Dylan seemed to have fun, I couldn't watch her since I was in the water with Devyn the whole time :-(

Dylan starts T-ball this week so we've been practicing! She only wants to hit the ball, not play catch! We're on a team with the rest of our neighborhood, so she's super excited for her first game Thursday!

Few...that's it for now! Katies in the Hospital Today, so hopefully we'll get to meet baby Ricki today, and I'll have more to blog about then!

Happy Earth Day!

Isn't it such a beautiful place we live? I LOVE IT! I'm starting to be teased by friends and family about being a tree hugger, but let me say to you...I'm PROUD of it!

It all started when I was young. My Mom taught me to take care of the place we live in. Some of my favorite sayings were..."If everyone picked just one wildflower, there wouldn't be any left for our eyes to enjoy", "If everyone threw their litter on the ground, we would live in garbage", and whenever we went camping her motto was "Leave the place cleaner than when you found it" so we'd go around and do a garbage pick up!

Thanks Mom for instilling in me the desire to make our World a better, more beautiful place. Now even SHE thinks that I'm a little nuts about some things...like not using windex or clorox because of the chemicals. But that's my part to help out the next generation!

I want my girls to be able to go camping and swim in the lakes and eat the fish that we catch. So I've turned my house into a no toxic chemical zone (or I try, I'm still working on converting Mike 100%, every little bit counts)! I use all natural cleaners, laundry detergents, hair and body wash, natural lawn care and pesticides.

I know there's still more I could do, and I'm trying to think of new ways everyday! I challenge you to pick one new thing to work on a day, week, month or year, anything will help!

I LOVE YOU EARTH!

Potty!

OK, so Dev decided she didn't want diapers anymore! After her nap one day she said "NO Mom, No diapers!" So I've officially started potty training. I was planning on starting next week since Sat is my last day of work. But when she says she's ready...I'm gonna take it and run with it! Today is my first full day since I worked Mon and Tues night. So far so good! I'm so proud of her being a big girl and wanting to do this, even though I wasn't fully ready! Go Devy!

Training update!

I'm at the tail end of week 3 of 25 weeks and doing great still! I've only missed 2 days of the last 3 weeks and those were due to sick kids :-( I'm feeling stronger and stronger every time I get on that treadmill. I can't wait for it to be warm enough outside so I can take the girls with me and burn some extra calories by pushing them! Not to mention since I've started my training program for the marathon I've gone down another 5 lbs! Woo Woo!

I'm starting to think that everyon forgot that we're still in a contest for $400. I know my dad is still going strong, my mom said she's given up, Deija said Ben has kinda forgotten, I'm not sure about Jarum, so that leaves it to me and my dad by my calculations! He's a ROCK, he hasn't cheated once since we started in Jan, and I haven't been even close to 100%, but I'm still losing and that's all that matters to me!

Random Pics over the last couple of weeks!

Wade bought the girls Build-a-Bear gift cards for Christmas and we finally got around to going the other day. Devyn picked out a cute little chick and named her Kickie (I think she was trying to say chickie, but not if we don't call her Kickie, she corrects us) Dylan picked out a 'Fancy Nancy' Dog and named her Fluffy Bones! Thanks Wade, we had a blast!

YAY! It's Motorcycle Weather! Devyn LOVES riding with Daddy! She keeps asking him "ride cycle daddy pease?"
Dylan and Daddy going for a Ride! Love the Barbie Helmet! We gotta find one for Devyn so Mom can breath easier when they're going around the block!
Random pic of me and my Cockatoo hair or Rooster hair....whatever you wanna call it...I think it's cute so I'm keeping it!
Daddy got the '55 Packard out the other day! I think this year he's really going to fix it up! He went and applied for a title, so I'm hoping that means he's serious!

Think Spring!

Beau, Dylan and Devyn coming down the slide
Good sisters Share! How many times a day do you think I say that one?
Grandpa Brad and Devy

Ok, it's GORGEOUS outside today! It's making me crazy to get in the dirt and work on my flower beds, get in a swimming suit and soak up some sun, and run and do cartwheels in the sprinklers! I saw the new report and noticed that we're supposed to have another storm this weekend....what's up Mother Nature? Why are you teasing me like this?



Today for lunch we went to the park with Deija, Beau, Abby and Kallie. It was soo nice to soak up the sun and fill up my low reserves of Vitamin D. It was great for the kids to run crazy for a while too!



So everyone think warm, sunny, spring thoughts and maybe we'll get it sooner than later!

It's Official!

It's officially official! (that's a fun sentance!) I'm in training for a Marathon! My 25 week program starts this week! Woo Hoo! So far I'm 100% YAY! It's still not too late to join me! Go to www.saltlakerunningco.com to get the 25 week program I'm using! It's gonna be a BLAST!

Childrens Museum

We went to the Childrens Museum yesterday with Shane and Jill, and Rian and Katie. It was pretty fun! It was super crowded, but we survived. They were having a Sesame Street Exhibit that was pretty cute. They talked about bodies and how they work. There was a whole wall dedicated to how food travels in AND out of you body. That seemed to be the favorite part of the day...Poo. You'd push the button and it'd fart and you'd hear a flush then you'd see a log roll down through the tube. They thought that was pretty funny! Here are some pics!

Marshall an Dylan (aka kettle head) just standing there.

Sesame Stree!

Give me just one min. and your food will be all ready!

EVERYONE Poops!

Marsh, Dyl and Dev Drivin the Heli.

Ty, Marshall and Dev makin music, you can see Mike, Katie, Shane and Rian in the background!

Dylan, Devyn and Marshall playin with balls!

Dev and Marsh buildin!

All the kids driving the jeep!

Katie and Rian hangin out!

Go Daddy!

Hey babe, this one's for you! I used the Title 'Go Daddy' for 2 reasons! I'm proud of my 'Big Daddy' for getting his dream started! Mike's always had a dream of starting an online biz, and he's had some GREAT ideas of what to do with it. Well no more is he just contemplating what he wants to do...he's started!

He officially has his own website that's going to get out there in the big World Wide Web! Here is the link for you to check out!

http://www.obesitees.com/

Good job hot stuff! I'm so proud of you! Thanks for helping make my world go around a lot smoother! Love you! xoxo

In Training!

Ok eveyone...I'm officially training for a Marathon! Here's my 25 week plan so you can feel free to train along with me! :-D http://www.saltlakerunningco.com/assets/25week2008web.htm

Here is the link to the Marathon I'm going to run! http://www.saltlakerunningco.com/event536.htm

I'm super excited! I've always wanted to run a Marathon just to say that I have. I'm not a huge fan of running in general, but what an accomplishment it will be to say I did it!

Last night at I had dinner at the Petersons house and my family was telling me all these negative things about training for a marathon. I went away feeling like they didn't think I could do it. But today I stopped by and said "Hi" to Rick and Carol and Carol told me about her experience running a Marathon when she was 30. She said it was actually pretty easily do-able.

Carol said that as long as you have a program to stick to, it makes it a ton easier and a buddy to do it with helps out big time too! Wade is the only brave soul so far to agree to doing one with me! I'm hoping to bring on a couple more people so we can alternate workout days with each other.

Carol also said that she did it right after she had Kaite, and so I'm in better shape than she was and I'm younger. She says that I can totally do it! So I came home feeling pumped and ready to get my training on!

The training program I'm following is a 25 week program. I actually have 30 weeks. So I'm taking the first 4-5 weeks to get into training mode. Like I said...I'm not a runner so I gotta start with baby steps. I ran for 15 min yesterday. I was on the treadmill for a total of 30 so I had a nice long warm up and a nice soothing cool down period. Today was my Cross Training day! So I did 30 min on the Ellyptical alternating between high and low intensity and I did upper body strength training and core!

This is going to give me something to shoot for other than to just lose weight for our Biggest Looser Comepetition with my family!

Wish me Luck....or better yet, join me!

Human Rights!

After re-reading that last post...I wanted to mention how proud I am of "We the People"! As far as the candidates go...I am very, very proud at how far we've come as a country. Human Rights have come a long long way! Where the two candidates are 1-Female and 2-Black! Who would have thought this could have happened even 10 years ago?

Go "We the People"!

Peace!

Ranting, and Raving, Politics!

K, this one's for you Brookie! I honestly don't read much on what's going on politically in the world. My knowlege of politics is directly from ranting and raving e-mails sent to me by authors like Robin Williams and Jay Leno and such...all of which are pretty fabricated I'm sure. Still...given my little actual knowlege I do have some opinions!

I'm SCARED TO DEATH to see where the world is going with the lears we have to choose from. I believe that not one of the runners for office have the right frame of mind. I believe that they want to be Pres. for all the wrong reasons. I hate campaings. No one ever tells the truth. Didn't you learn this from Jr. High and High School elections when the would be Presidents swore they would get us longer lunches, better vending machines, and music in between classes? Seriously...they're just pumping themselves up.

I also believe that if they had the right frame of mind they would want to come together and solve the issues as best as they can. Haven't they ever heard the phrase "Two heads are better than one?" With that being said...Why don't all the canidates get together and talk about the things they like/dislike abour the country and what they think could be done to better it and then do it and not fight to live in the big White House with all it's perks.

Hilary Clinton. I don't even know what to say about her so I won't. Honestly...nothing comes to mind. Orak Obama (sp?) lets just think for a min what his religion tells him to do...Honest and true to AFRICA. Not the US of A. Some would argue that I can't discriminate based on his religion or his beliefs or that the above statement is more on his heritage than his politital views. What I say is...what if we were to come upon something in the future and he has to choose? USA or Africa that his religion and his heritage are true to. Will he defend us against them or will he choose his heritage/religion? What would you do? Laws of the Land or Laws of the Lord? Makes it a lil scarey don't ya think?

Like I said at the beginning though...I really don't know much. These are my opinions of what I have read, and I'm not even admiting that they are truth. But what is truth in Politics? So there ya go! I hope you enjoyed my ignorant rants and raves! :-)

PEACE!

Week 4 Results

Ok, so another week of just so so commitment. The pounds continue to stay stubborn. I haven't lost anything since the first week. :o( BUT...I have lost another inch around the waist! YAY! So apparently I need to amp up the work out regimen and be a lil more strict on my eating habits.

I forgot to mention a few things about Dev's party. I did eat cake and ice cream. BUT...I made healthy cake and ice cream. For the cake I used Devil's Food Cake Mix and used Diet Coke instead of oil and eggs. For the frosting I used Fat Free Cream Cheese, Sugar Free Cool Whip, and Splenda Sugar. :-) For Ice cream I used Evaporated Milk, Fat/Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding, and Skim Milk. I wasn't a huge fan of Ice Cream. My mom really like it though! I didn't even save the left overs either. I threw it all away so I wouldn't be tempted with it for the next couple of days!

I took Dev's Dora 4-Wheeler Downstairs so she could start riding it and while the girls were runnin around I pulled out my old Rebounder! For those of you who don't know what that is...it's a small trampoline. I forgot how much fun that thing was! I got certified to teach Rebounding at Hill Air Force Base right after Dylan was born. It was a blast! I miss teaching. But pulling it out was a blast from the past for sure! The girls had a heyday with it too!

My baby's 2!!!!

Yesterday we had Devyn's party! It was way fun! We had potatoe bar and lots of fun with family! Thanks to everyone who came and all the cute clothes you got that Devyn threw out of her way to get to the toys! :-) You guys are so good to us!

Shane, Jill and Marshal brought Devs first present, a Birthday Crown, Sash, Earings and Wand that she wore ALL NIGHT LONG! I was shocked! She was so proud to wear them and she looks soooo big I can't believe it!

Here are some pics of the nights festivities!

My In-Laws are cooler than yours!

Dev trying out her new 4-wheeler!

Katie and Dylan!

Dev and Marshal in her new tent!

Call me Tom Sawyer!

Dev in her Bday crown and Dyl in her Princess dress and crown!

Happy 2nd Bday Dev! What a big girl!

Proud Mama!

Mmmmm, that's good cake!

Grandma Gretch!