Oh man, we are getting hammered :( For the past four Sundays in a row someone in our house has had a fever! The first Sunday Addy woke up with a fever. The next Sunday she had a fever after church & it was gone by the next day. That was a little strange. The next Sunday Lexi woke up with a fever & her fever lasted for three long days. Poor girl was miserable :( Today it's my turn. Like Addison I only have a fever & my body hurts. We didn't throw up like Lexi did. I also still have an appetite.  Let's hope after this we stay healthy for awhile!

This past week Wednesday's workout was so much easier than Monday's workout, and I did the exact same thing both days: I ran for 30 minutes on the treadmill and then lifted some weights.  It was odd to me how much easier it was on Wednesday when on Monday I remember how I really had to push myself to do the exact same thing on the treadmill.  I have finally reached the weight I was when I met Steve, 5 years ago though!  It feels good to know that I have control and motivation again.

I've always been an active person.  Growing up my family and I always played ball or went on bike rides together, or some other activity.  When I was in 6th grade my brother, Kimball, taught me to play volleyball so in 7th grade I made the middle school volleyball team.  I played on the middle school and high school teams for the next 5 years.  When I was in 9th or 10th grade the weight started creeping up.  I noticed my pants got tighter.  After the volleyball season was over my junior year of high school I started going to the gym.  I really don't remember what my motivation for going to the gym was.  For example, I can't remember if I thought, "Oh I'm gaining weight.  I need to workout", but I do remember the first day at the gym I lasted only 10 minutes on the treadmill!  Somehow I stuck with it and got to where I could run 30-45 minutes on the treadmill.  I got to watch Oprah while I ran and that really helped!  Sometimes I would just stay on the treadmill longer because I wanted to see a segment.  So that's how it all began - my love for the treadmill that is, and my love for fitness and exercise.  That's why I got my degree in Exercise Science :)

When I graduated from high school and moved to Utah I got a one year gym membership and definitely got my money's worth out of it.  I eventually got certified as a group fitness instructor and taught step aerobics classes, kickboxing, and weight training classes.  I was able to maintain my weight through all of that.  I moved to Detroit and continued to work out at the apartment gym while I was getting my BS degree.  I had tried other cardio exercises but I always went back to the treadmill. Something that helped me maintain my weight was my weight scale.  If I saw the numbers going up I knew to either workout more or eat less.  After I graduated from college I got a job teaching group fitness classes again.

Then I moved to Mesa, AZ.  I was 25 years old and had maintained my weight since I was 17.  But my scale broke shortly after moving to AZ and that first year in AZ I gained 15-20 pounds!  I was working a full time desk job and decided to get an additional job part time as a personal trainer.  And I started dating Steve who lived 45 minutes away from me.  That's when my workouts started getting skipped.  Between my two jobs and dating Steve after work I started skipping workouts.  In addition I was eating out more.  There was a Cafe Rio right around the corner from my apartment and I went there quite often :)  So without the scale I didn't notice my weight going up until I was 15-20 pounds heavier.  Many of my clothes still fit, although maybe some were getting tighter.  Therefore, I will never go without a scale again!

Steve and I got married and I got pregnant right away.  At that point I wasn't working out anymore and I wasn't feeling well during the pregnancy so I didn't want to workout. I did try a prenatal yoga video but I didn't enjoy that. I didn't feel like I was getting a workout so I didn't do that long.  After I had Addison I tried a step aerobics video but again, I wasn't consistent with it. When Addy was just over a year old we bought a treadmill. That was the best purchase ever! I didn't start using it consistently though until after Lexi was done nursing. But I've been consistent now for about 6 months. In those few years of not working out I wondered if I would ever have the self-control & motivation again to workout consistently. Working out helps me emotionally, physically, & mentally. I'm so glad we bought that treadmill!

Losing weight has been a learning experience. I didn't succeed just because of my workouts. I also had to control my diet but that's for another post, another day. 

Nacho Libre

I came downstairs this morning in the dark & THIS was at the bottom of the stairs!!! Scared me to death! My heart skipped a beat. Steve had pulled it in from the porch when he left for work. He said it scared him too when he opened the front door. He said "The lights were off so I couldn't see that well. Looked like a dude with a mustache was waiting for me to come out." Lol

People in our ward pass this around anonymously with treats. Now it's our turn to scare someone, haha. On the back of Nacho it says "You have been Nachoed." It also says "Nacho is 'Not-yo's.' please pass him around."  Very creative. After my initial scare I laughed because I think the movie is funny. 

Share!

The other day Lexi walked away from a book she had been looking at & started playing with another toy. So Addison picked up the book to look at it. When Lexi saw that she ran over to Addison and started whining for the book. Then she said "share!"  It was the cutest thing ever. I was surprised she knew the word. I guess I say that a lot :) She said it in her baby talk too so it took me a second to understand what she was saying. 

Today the girls were playing the keyboard when Addy kind of took over and pushed Lexi a little out of the way. Steve & I were right there watching them & Lexi whined & said "share!" again. It is so adorable that someone so little can say & somewhat understand a concept like sharing. The funny thing is is it's ok for her not to share but she expects Addy to share with her. 

Seashells

We got Addison & Lexi some seashells from our trip, a bowl-full. Addison loves them. They are her pride & joy right now & she told us several times yesterday after we got home how much she loved them. She is so sweet. I love how appreciative she is sometimes. We knew they would get scattered & lost and in just 24 hours we have been finding them everywhere. We did gather all of them (or so we thought) into one spot tonight before the girls went to bed, but I just climbed into bed & what did I find? Lol, another seashell, under my covers. 

Weekend in Long Beach

Steve and I left our girls in Utah with Courtney & Mitch on Thursday for a much needed vacation just the two of us.  The two weeks prior to our vacation Steve worked 70-75 hours each week because there were so many problems on the stock market. We were both ready for vacation! This trip to CA is the start of Steve's mandatory two weeks off so he doesn't have to go back to work for another week & a half. Yay!

We're coming home today. I was very nervous for how Lexi was going to do while we were gone because she does not like to be away from me. If Courtney is telling me the truth ;) then Lexi did the exact opposite of what I expected her to do! She slept through the night, she took her naps, & Courtney said she barely cried!!  We even Face-timed with her & she smiled at us & blew us kisses & then she was off doing her own thing as if she didn't miss us! We joked that we would just stay a few more days. Actually the length of the trip was perfect. We're ready to come home today. Even though Lexi doesn't seem to miss us we miss our girls so much!! 

Addison did great too but I wasn't worried about her at all. She's always open to new events, people, and social gatherings. She got to play with her cousins a lot while we were gone. Courtney said she did say she wanted her mommy sometimes though. Before we left I told her we were going on vacation & she asked where. I told her the beach & she said "I LOVE the beach! I've always wanted to go to the beach!" So we face-timed from the beach so she could see it and she liked that. She asked if we got her a present & then asked to see the present. We told her she had to wait till we got home to see her present. 

The first night we got there we went to the beach in Long Beach & just walked around the shops & got dinner. We were just in time to see the sunset.

The next day we went to do a session at the Los Angeles Temple in the morning. In the afternoon we went to the Santa Monica beach. The water was so cold! Too cold for me

Santa Monica Pier

Yesterday we went to Hollywood. 

This picture is for Steve's brother Rob. He loves Meryl Streep so when we passed her star we thought of him lol.

Chinese theater