This is only the first day!?!

My alarm went off at 4:45 this morning and I wanted to hit snooze, but I climbed out of bed, changed and left for my workout. I tried not to think about it too much or I think I would have turned the car around and head back home to bed! I got there and we started the workout....It was more intense and I was pushed more than anything I have ever done! Even the warm up was tough! Brent asked me when I got home if they went easy on us for the first day, yeah right, I wish. You just jump right into it and give it a 10, is what they say. I was already sore from saturday, but now...my arms hurt, my stomach hurts and the worst is my calves from acting like I am jump roping and doing the "boxer jump". And it will only get worse before it gets better, What am I doing?!?!
I knew I was out of shape, but I thought "I am a mother of 3, I am moving most of the day and picking up a 20lb baby all day, really how difficult is this"! They showed me. I know a lot of parents are the type that like to say, "Go get that for me" just because we don't want to or we are busy, well I have really tried to stop that the last couple of weeks, thinking I am staying up on my feet more and moving, but after all this, I think this weekend they will need to wait on the hand and foot!
No, after it is all said and done, I know I will feel better and it will be worth it. Right now I still feel that calm, relaxed, but weak feeling after you have a good workout. Which is not so bad.
I will let you know how the rest of the week goes. (If I am able to lift my body up off the couch!)

Orientation

So saturday was the orientation for the kickboxing. I got there a little before 8:00am and checked in, had my picture taken, met my coach and some team members. Then I had myself weighed and body fat determined and measured around the arms, legs, waist and bust and a stretch test. Then I did a step test, this was for 4 minutes, we just stepped up onto a step stool, one foot up then the other foot up, then down and down. Not to bad. Then they pep talked us, showed us a few moves and talked a little about what to expect. We then did sit-ups and push-ups, each for a minute. I was surprised how sore I was after just a minute of each! Then we went outside and ran mile. My time was 12:42. I was thinking it would take me around 20min! I will inprove by the end, I am determined. I did actually jog the last half of the mile, so I am proud of myself for at least jogging that much. I am still debating whether or not to post my weight, measuremens and all. Maybe I will post it at the 5 week mark and hopefully see some improvement!

Thanks Lindy for running with me!

The Last few days

So it has been a few days since I updated on my healthy eating, I have just been having two eggs with a little cheese, scrambled for breakfast, lunches have been salads, some good and some not so good. I did get a McD's salad on wed. and those taste so good sometimes compared to homemade salads. Maybe it is because I didn't have to prepare it! Last night for dinner I made hot dogs, baked beans, grapes and celery. That is what everyone had but me, I had turkey and celery and some grapes. It sounds boring, but I actually really like the turkey I buy and celery with ranch.

This week I also made chicken cooked in toasted sesame dressing, green beans and garlic bread - I didn't have the bread but it looked and smelled good. I also prepared a crab and avocado salad, you mix a pound of lump crab meat (I used Chicken of the Sea and it is in pouches by the tuna) 2 tbsp mayo, lime juice, salt and pepper, cayenne pepper, you mix all this, add the crab, then fold in one cut up avocado. You can eat it like this or a sandwich. We had it as a sandwich, I found 100% whole wheat hoagie rolls. It was pretty good. Another night I made pizza for everyone and I had left over chicken on a whole grain tortilla. So my diet this week has been pretty good. I did also make No Pudge brownies. They are fat free! you just add vanilla yogurt to the mix and bake! They are pretty chocolately but taste just as good as the fattening kind! My kids really them too.

I have been running everyday this week also. I have just been running in our church gym until I start the kick boxing, I have been rotating between walking and running, but yesterday when I went I wanted to see how many times I could jog around the gym non-stop. So I walked around about six times then started jogging. I did 12 laps! I felt pretty good, but now I feel pretty sore too. So tomorrow is the orientation, where I have to run a mile and do sit ups and push ups. I am not so nervous about it anymore because I have already been getting up and doing at least some exercise for the last couple of weeks.
My steps for the last few days have been, Tues. - 10956, wed. - 11392, thurs. - around 11000 (Sarah erased it a couple of times), and today so far they are 6212.
I also lost a couple of inches this week - in hair! Most of you who have seen me lately know my hair was pretty long, so I took Joseph to get his haircut and decided I just needed to get it over with. I have been wanting to cut it but just haven't made the time for me. So I had about 5 inches cut off. it is barely past my shoulders now. It hasn't been this short for a long time. I don't know how to feel about it right now. Sad I don't have longer hair and happy I don't have to deal with long hair! Anyway, my kids want some attention so I will maybe write tomorrow after the orientation and I will definitely report next week on how the kick boxing is and how terribly sore I will be!!!

More Easter pictures

The kids after church in their Easter clothes. Joseph always makes fake smiles!

Megan coloring eggs.
Searching for eggs in their footy pajamas.
Sarah when she found her Easter basket with Elmo and a play camera in it. She LOVES electronics! Especially the laptop.
Joseph got a monster truck!
Megan got littlest pet shop!

Happy Easter!

Megan and Joseph coloring eggs!


All done coloring eggs!
Joseph is handing Sarah an egg he found Easter morning

We always go to Brent's parents for Easter and this year was no exception. So after we returned home friday, I did laundry and we repacked on saturday and headed out to my in-laws. The kids colored eggs that night and the next morning we got up, the kids hunted for their easter eggs and baskets, we went to church and came back and had some great food! (I didn't follow my diet on this day!) We had a good Easter and I enjoyed seeing the kids have fun.

This year my kids really had fun with the easter eggs and baskets and thinks but we talked about the real reason for Easter alot during the weeks before and that was nice. They wanted to go to all of their church classes on sunday, which usually when we go to church down in Ottumwa we just go to sacrament, but this time the kids stayed for all, I left with Sarah and Brent and my father-in-law because Sarah was sooo tired, she did not sleep well the night before. But the kids came home and had rocks with the words Jesus is.... written on it meaning Jesus is my rock, or fill in the blank. They enjoyed it. It was good to see family and reflect on the sacrafice Jesus made for us and to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. I hope you all had a great Easter. And I am not writing about what I ate that day! It was all delicious.

Now it is back to getting up early and excersing and eating right, eggs for breakfast, salad for lunch, chicken and green beans for dinner! All the good healthy stuff! Yesterday my steps were around 11,000, Sarah erased it yesterday, so I don't know exactly, and today they are already 8375 and it is 2 o'clock. Megan and Joseph are at school and Sarah is taking a much needed nap! Well, I think that is all for now.

A quick trip

On wednesday last week, we headed out to our hotel for a spring break. We got there around 2, had a quick picnic of sandwiches and chips that I had brought with us and then went swimming. The hotel was full and there were alot of people there. Megan had fun, but Joseph, come to find out had a fever and didn't want much to do with the water, and Sarah didn't know what to do exactly. The pictures are of us in our hotel room. I didn't take any down at the water. We went shopping at an outlet mall the next day and swimming after that and left the following day.

The hotel had a restaurant where the kids eat free breakfast and dinner, which was good but the food wasn't all that great. Brent had soggy bread on a sandwich and I had the bottom part of lettuce in my salad, you know the part that most people don't eat and cut or tear out. It was interesting. We found a vending machine one of the nights with a microwave next to it and so we had popcorn, which Megan and Sarah thought was great, Joseph was asleep. It was a pretty family friendly hotel. They also had an arcade we checked out the morning before we left and the kids were able to trade in their tichets for a stuffed animal, which my kids love stuffed animals.
We had a nice time though and it was nice to be together as a family without any interruptions. I just wish Joseph had not been sick. I ate pretty good while we were gone for being on vacation. I had eggs for breakfast (that were a little watery), for lunch we had sandwiches and dinner I had the salad, and we ordered a pizza for dinner the second night because we couldn't stand to go back and have bad lettuce and soggy bread!
So all in all, it was a good time and the kids had fun!

Pictures of our short vacation

Joseph was sick and slept for awhile after we went swimming the first time.
This is Sarah in her new swim suit, Megan had a polka-dot aqua colored one, they looked pretty cut together in their suits.
This was when Joseph was sleeping and we were getting ready for bed.
When we left, the kids all fell asleep in the van on the way home within about 10 minutes, I think they were all wiped out!

ready for a vacation

So we are in the middle of spring break and our kids think we need to do something fun and new and exciting everyday. So today we went to the science center, which was packed! We were there for 2 hours, came home had lunch then I put Sarah down for a nap, cleaned and took a little nap! Megan had a friend over until 5 then Brent was home shortly after and I made dinner, started some laundry and got the kids ready for bed. Now I am ready to put them to bed but they are not ready and since it is spring break I will let them stay up later.
My diet today has been my water bottle, breakfast was eggs with cheese and ham, my kids love this!, lunch- another salad!, and dinner was a taco salad, without the Doritos that Brent got to put on his. For snacks between I had almonds, string cheese and for deseret I had sugar free jello with sugar free whip cream on it! (Sarah really likes the whip cream) So I think I did pretty good. My steps today so far are 11,220 and the day is not over just yet.
Tomorrow we go on a short vacation to a hotel with a water park and some shopping then off to Brent's parents for Easter! The kids are soooo excited and I have to say that I am looking forward to it too. I hope the hotel has a treadmill so I can see how long it takes me to run a mile, at least once while we are gone. Does anyone know how many times around a gym you would have to run to equal a mile? Anyway, I am looking forward to sleeping in at least until 7:00 tomorrow! Don't know when I will write again, but I hope all our family and friends have a very Happy Easter and remember the real reason for the holiday!

This picture was taken last fall,

I can't wait for spring, this winter has been long enough!

ST. Patty's day

So today was St. Patricks day. We had a busy day! I went running this morning at 5:30am, came home showered and got ready for the day. Then after the kids were up and after Brent was off to work, we made green pancakes and had green milk! Actually the kids had pancakes and milk, I had green eggs and ham! After we were dressed and ready we went to the dreaded Walmart and it took us almost an hour and a half because we were looking for some special items for some kid concoctions we saw on IPTV. So we went home and put the things away, then went to the mall and the kids played at the play place. We then had lunch, I had a green salad, Megan had subway, Joseph had chicken and fries, and Sarah ate off of all of us!

We then came home and made some of the kid concoctions. We made gooey gunk and squishy people! The kids had a lot of fun. I then prepared a dinner and took it to my visiting teaching companion because she just had a baby boy! Then we came home I made dinner, chicken patty on a whole wheat bun, berries, and yogurt for everyone but me, I had turkey, tomatoes and cheese because I am doing just protein and veggies right now. Then we had family home evening, played for a while, got the kids ready for bed and now this.

It is 9:45pm right now and I am soooo ready for bed. I feel good about the steps I have taken today, 15860, and about what I have eaten today. Hopefully I can keep all of this up and start losing weight. I really believe that excersing and eating right will help. I need to start taking my camera along and post more pictures. I will for sure tomorrow. We have a big day planned again tomorrow. We are going to the science center so I will take pictures. Later!

weekend

So this last weekend was not so busy, except for me having to teach unexpectedly on Sunday for sharing time. At least I was notified the night before. Saturday the kids played all day, Brent started on our taxes, and I cleaned and made cookies! I was very good though, I only had one cookie. I didn't put my pedometer on until after 10:00 but my steps were still in the 7500 range for sat. Sunday was church as usaul and then I came home made cookies again for a baptism and then went to the baptism. The kids enjoyed themselves and Sarah especially liked walked the halls of the church and eating a brownie! Brent gave a great talk on baptism and we had a good time. I put my pedometer on before we left for church and my steps at the end of the day were 8796. And for the life of me I can't remember what we ate yesterday!

So yesterday, I did my running in the morning and I am glad today is Saturday because I got to sleep in! I am going to enjoy my Sat. mornings until I start the kick boxing. I have been drinking enough water everyday, the kick boxing place gave me a huge water bottle. I believe it is 64 oz. which is the recommended daily water everyone should drink. Although my kids love to drink out of it, so between me and my kids I have been filling it up twice a day. Sarah especially likes it, she thinks it is hers, so needless to say she has been having some VERY wet diapers! I also watched two neighbor kids yesterday and after they left Megan and Joseph each had a friend over. Between them and their wants and trying to keep Sarah very being plowed over by the running around, I was on the move. I plan on recording all the steps I take in a day and the calories I have had each day. Yesterday my steps were 10,166, which they say you should have about 10,000 a day. I didn't keep track of my calories yesterday because we had the missionaries over for dinner and I made lasagne, salad, and garlic bread. Since it took me over on hour to make it I was going to enjoy it! I did only have one portion of it all, which I think portion control is important. So yesterday was a busy day. I don't know exactly what we have planned today but I am hoping we have some good weather so made a walk can be part of the day! Well, I better sign off, Sarah wants to help me type and she hasn't figured out yet how to spell or type sooo.... later!

Top, me and my beautiful kids

Middle, 4th of July, from left to right, Joseph, my friend Joli and Jessica, Megan and me

Bottom, My great kids at christmas

What do you think?

If you have any good healthy recipes or good advice for me on my journey please let me know. I would love feed back and hear of other stories of success. I feel like I am a good mother, wife, sister, and friend. And that my life is overall very good, but this journey will bring me more happiness, to feel better about myself physically, emotionally, and spiritually. So encouragement and hope from you would be great and hopefully I can add some happiness to you as well!

You are what you eat

What will I eat? Well, I don't know what the kickboxing diet plan is, I will find out on orientation, but my basic plan right now is to eat healthy! Basically like the South Beach Diet, and keeping calories at a good level and eat the healthy food, like the whole wheats and grains, my veggies and my fruits. So, I will keep you posted and I will let you know what my favorite recipes are and how sore I am after I start using muscles that have been sleeping for a couple of years!!

My plan to lighten me!

So I joined a kick boxing extreme bodyshaping class! It lasts 10 weeks 6 days a week for 45 minutes and I am going at 5:15am. I am not a morning person but with 3 kids and not a whole lot of me time, this time works the best for me and my schedule so the day remains the same. In getting the kids ready for school and the rest of the day, getting it done so early forces me to not waste my days being lazy. But I am nervous about the kickboxing because I have never done anything like this. I have been a member of a gym before but I wasn't forced to push myself like this will. I am hoping this will "kick" me into shape. It doesn't start until the beginning of April, but there is an orientation on March 29th. I have to run a mile! Do you know the last time I ran a mile?!?! In high school! and even though I graduated, I didn't go my senior year, so it has been a long time! So because I am thinking I will keel over from running a mile and getting up so early, I have started to get up at 5:00am and running/jogging a mile or two. It is not as bad as I thought. But we will see.....

My story

Hi!! I am Suzie. A little about me, I grew up in Utah for the first 17 years of my life. I then got married to my wonderful husband, Brent, and moved out to Iowa where I now live and plan to live forever!! I love it here! I have three wonderful children, Megan - 6, Joseph - 4, and
Sarah - 1. And someday we would like to add one more to are happy family.
The reason I started this blog is because everyone is doing blogging except for me, right?!?!
No, the reason I am doing this is to help me to journal some of my life and also in my journey to lose some weight before I plan another child. I don't feel particular so "fat" but I am over weight and I would like to be in better physical condition. So I plan on tracking my weight loss on this blog. I am going to put up recipes that I like and share my journey with you and then I can go back and see the progress I have made. Anyway, I hope this all works and that I will have time to update regularly!