our first tent camping trip....success!

We recently had our first tent camping trip with the girls.  Brian and I have loved camping since we were kids and we couldn't wait to share all the fun that comes with camping with our girls.  We decided to try a one nighter first since it would be less intimidating, we also chose a camp ground that was relatively close to our house.  The campground that we chose was Manchester State Park in Port Orchard, WA.  It is a beautiful park with really nice sites and a great rocky beach for some fun exploring, more on that later.  We brought Kelti's bike and Ashlyn's scooter so they could ride them around which is a favorite activity of theirs.  It was really fun for Brian and I to see how much improvement they had have on them in just the few weeks that they have had them.  Ashlyn's bike wouldn't fit with everything else we packed...looks like a bike rack is in order for us.

 breakin the law!

Checking out the seaweed!

We took a drive into Port Orchard to explore the town and then decided to head on over to Bremerton where Brian lived for a short while in elementary school.  He was able to drive us to both houses that he lived in, it was fun to see where he lived and hear some of the stories from him growing up.

We roasted smores with cinnamon bun and coconut marshmallows, yummy!!  `Both girls got to stay up late, which I don't think they appreciated one bit!  Ashlyn was asking to go to bed...too much fun for one day I guess.

A little lesson on being safe around knives and sharp sticks.  Brian was a great teacher and the girls were listening with rapt attention!

Roasting cinnamon bun marshmallows on the new campfire sticks daddy made them :) 

love these two!

We all slept in our new tent, that just happens to be Coug colors! :)  I think the girls really liked the tent, minus there not being a nightlight...  Before we got any of our gear in the tent they were having a great time racing back and forth inside the tent.

Of course we forgot some key things that would have made the trip even better, one of which was a diaper for Kelti to sleep in at night, bad job on mommy's part. :/  We tried to help with this by having both girls go potty before we went to bed, but it was a no go.  So Kelti and Ashlyn had accidents during the night...not fun to clean up two peed children, change them and find a good place for them to sleep. Of course they peed at different times during the night so I got to wake up twice! Thank goodness I packed enough extra clothes even though we were only there for one night!

We had a yummy camp breakfast, is it just me or does food really seem to taste better when camping...something about it sure is special.

We went for one more bike ride down to the beach before packing up and we had a great time exploring.  We flipped over big rocks and found crabs, anemones and other sea creatures underneath.  All four of us had such a great time exploring the beach and seeing who could catch the biggest crab.  Ashlyn was fearless grabbing the crabs and other sea stuff!  Sadly I forgot to bring a camera to the beach exploring so no pics of all that cuteness.

Right as we were leaving Ashlyn commented that she wanted to stay forever, glad that camping was such a memorable experience for her and the rest of us as well!

Here is one really odd thing that we found on our trip....

A little birthday awesomeness for my littlest sister

My youngest sister just celebrated a birthday and I wanted to make her something special and I was trying to figure out something that she would actually use....hmm, what to do....Oh yes every girl loves jewelry! :)  I decided to spray paint some glass ware that I found at Goodwill and attach them to glass candle sticks so she could display her jewelry.  I LOVE the way they turned out and seriously wish I had found two of each so I could have them too!  I think she really liked them too, either that or she is a really good actress!

 Before yellow paint was added

 Okay so you can see that I did find two of this little beauty SCORE!!  One for sis and one for me!

 All painted up and beautiful!! I also added some orange lentils for the blue bowl to nest rings and such in...which is what I also did with my blue bowl! 

I also got her these pretty little earrings :)  Man and I a good sister or what ;)

63 Days of INSANITY!!!! DONE

I completed 63 days of INSANITY!  I am so happy that I decided to go on this insane journey and I am so pleased with my results.

While the workouts continued to be grueling through the last day I was happy to see improvement within myself.  I was by no means prefect at every move but I continued to do my best and get better each day.

Some measurable changes were within the fitness test.  During Insanity you complete a fitness test every 15 days or so, you end up doing it 5 times and keep track of your results each time.  I am going to share my first and last day results so you can see how much improvement I had from day 1 to day 63, I did improve a little every week, but I think that the two results will show you enough.  The fit test is a warm up with 8 workouts that you perform for a minute each, then you have a rest period to catch your breath, write down your reps and get back to it. The only workout that I didn't improve is the first one and the reason is that I went absolutely crazy the first time and wiped myself out (I had to take a huge pause break in the workout to catch my breath and continue, I therefore learned to do my best but not be crazy about it!:))

1. Switch kicks: start 150  end 139
2. power jacks start 38     end 55
3. power knees start 86    end 112
4. power jumps start 30    end 65
5. globe jumps  start 10    end 14
6. suicide jumps start 12   end 20
7. push-up jacks start 14  end 30
8. low plank oblique  start 44 end 72

I have noticed so many changes that I think are only noticeable to me, I can feel my muscles all over my body in everything that I do. I can also see them so much clearer than before, and I love it...I love knowing that I am stronger and in better shape and health.  Brian did comment on how awesome and muscled he thought my legs look as we were sitting around the fire. It is nice to hear that someone else can see a difference too!

I love running and that is pretty much all I was doing before, because frankly I was lazy and running comes SO ridiculously easy to me.  I will continue to run (which is what I did on our recent trip to the beach lots and lots of hills! I could really feel it in my quads :))  but I will also work in some other stuff to keep myself out of a rut.

I am going to continue with the Elite Nutrition that came with our purchase of insanity, I really enjoy the meals and eating clean so I am not going to mess with a good thing, I might do a little modifying and I am going to try and change it up a bit so I am not having the same meals over and over!

My workout plan now will be to complete the Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 five days a week, kickboxing class 2 days a week and running 2 days a week.  So you may be thinking that is more than 7 days!  You are right.  I am planning to do doubles for the next month and have a day or two off to rest.  Especially since I just did the first day of Ripped in 30 this morning and while it did raise my heart and get a slight sweat going it just isn't enough of a workout for me right now.  After I finish this month I will then start INSANITY again!!!   So my next 3ish months are planned out.

I will continue to do weekly updates for those of you who are interested. I am really looking forward to doing INSANITY a second time to see how my body changes!

If you have any questions please let me know.  Oh, and sorry this is late I did finish on schedule, but I didn't have time to post before heading out of town so that is why this is a week overdue!

8 weeks of INSANITY

I am now through eight weeks of Insanity.  One week left, but since this is late that means in a few 3 days I will be finished!  I have also decided what I am going to once I am finished...check back next week to find out just what my plans are!

So the eighth week went well.  I stuck to all the workouts just like always, I did notice that I am significantly better at some moves than I was in previous weeks.  One example is side suicide jumps, these are hard ridiculously hard, but I am now able to do them with some accuracy! :)  

As for food, I did pretty good, but I think that I fell into a bit of a rut.  I am still eating from the elite nutrition book, but I have found the recipes that I like and I have been sticking to them...I think I need more variety in my diet.  I also have had a REALLY hard time upping my calorie intake.  For the past three weeks I was supposed to be consuming 250-300 more calories a day because of the increase in workouts...this has been so difficult for me, I am just not hungry enough to eat more food. This last week I am trying to make more of an effort, but it is sooo hard!

I did however lose another 1/2 pound!  

INSANITY! week 2 of month 2

With one more week complete we are looking at two remaining weeks of INSANITY!  We are at the point where we need to decide what we are going to do after we complete INSANITY!  We have a few ideas on what we will do, so more on those later.  This last week was good for the workouts, but I did not do great at following the elite nutrition.  My little brother was in town for a visit and we decided to take him all over Seattle and show him what a great city it is!  Needless to say this involved eating and drink lots of delicious food and drinks.  Also needless to say this stuff would not have been on our elite nutrition plan, especially the drinks... :)  So with a little straying in the food department over the weekend I am ready to get back on track this week!  

Oh, I almost forgot one more piece of news :)  I lost one more pound over the week.  I guess that just goes to show how hard work really does pay off!  

Ashlyn's last day of Preschool

So this is a little overdue, but I was having trouble getting everything working while out-of-town.

A few weeks ago Ashlyn finished her first year of preschool.  It was an amazing year and we loved the school where she went. We are hoping that she will be able to there next year as well.  My job situation along with Kelti's daycare has changed and I really want them at the same place...More on that later!

 Big smiles for the last day of school, field day with a bouncy house!  What fun!

 My big 4 year old!

 nice sunny day for their field day!

 Ashlyn and Mrs. Gopen

 Ashlyn and Mrs. DeMaris

Ashlyn and all her friends. 

I can't believe how much she grew during the year, so much changes from this day when I dropped her off for the first day of preschool!  I couldn't be prouder of my Ashlyn and all that she accomplished during her first year of preschool!  Love you Ash!!

INSANITY week 1 of month 2

We are now through week one of month 2!  

This was especially hard since we were out of town celebrating 8 years of married life!  A few of the struggles of the week were: 

completing the workout in the hotel room each day.  That means for me I waited for Brian to leave the room in the morning and then I left in the afternoon so Brian could do his.  There was absolutely no way for us to both do them at the same time even if we wanted to...which we didn't.  

Also food was an issue though not a big one.  I am really glad that our trip fell in the second month of the program because I know a lot more about the types of food I should be eating and what to avoid.  I thought it would be a lot harder to stick to eating somewhat healthy, but I think we did a great job.  One example is that over the years we have enjoyed lots of junk food while driving to a destination.  I really liked to munch on the giant box of milk duds and whoppers while driving, hot tamales too, oh who am I kidding I also eat sour gummy worms by the bagful, or at least used to! :) This trip we didn't have anything until we were almost to our destination.  I chose a dove dark chocolate bar that I decided to break into thirds.  I had one third of it during the last part of our drive and Brian had one sixth of it. The half bar that is left is still in my bag, UNFINISHED!!  I also enjoyed some delicious drinks on the trip and don't feel bad about them one bit! :)

One thing that I was worried about was gaining some weight back on the trip, I am happy to say that I didn't gain any weight during our week of indulgence. I think that shows that all the hard work is paying off.

While the trip was amazing I am happy to be home to workout in our own space that is comfortable and set up for us to complete each workout successfully!

I am looking forward to the changes that my body will be making during this MAX month even if I am not enjoying the workouts quite as much...they are longer and in some instances just ridiculous...pretty sure a couple of the moves are not really possible!