Hey everyone!
My kids all started school yesterday and it feels so weird! I miss having them around, but it’s been so nice to have a quiet house. Even though my kids would never admit it, I KNOW they were ready for school to start too. It’s interesting how the kids all get along really well the first couple months of summer, BUT THEN the last few weeks before school starts, they all get on each others nerves, get bored and just go stir crazy.
I really believe humans thrive so much more when there is structure, productivity and purpose. That’s another reason why I LOVE health and fitness; I LOVE the goals, productivity, hard work and purpose it brings!!!
Oh, and here are some pics I took of the kids yesterday. I love to take their pictures on the first day of school. It’s fascinating to see how much they grow and change in just ONE year!
For example, here are the pics I took of them last year! My two biggest kiddos have been growing like weeds. It’s insane.
My kids are in 11th, 9th, 6th and 2nd grades this year! What in THEE world??? I cannot believe they are so big!! I feel like I was JUST in High School! My cute little Kindergartner starts school next week. It’s always so tough for me to send my Kindergartners to school! Gah!
Oh, and my cute 2nd grader (7 years old) insisted that he wear his beloved Under Armour hoodie to school even though it’s 90+ degrees outside. He wore it to school again today too! He’s so funny and very headstrong.
****************************
Now that the house is a lot less chaotic and I have a little more time, I’m really hoping to start AND finish some projects around here. Here’s a list of some of the to-do’s I’m dying to get done…
- Clean and de-junk my closet (I still have a bunch of maternity clothes and ancient clothes in there that need to be tossed.)
- Kev recently finished a closet in the basement, so I need to move and organize all of our games, blankets and extra pillows in there.
- Organize and de-junk my pantry.
- Go through all of the toys and chuck a bunch of them! Then I want to organize all the toys so the kids will actually be able to play with them!
- Go through and re-organize our unfinished family room/storage room. I spent hours and hours organizing everything down there last year, but little by little the kids have destroyed it! My oldest son also built a makeshift mini golf course in there too. Oy. Ya, that needs to be tossed. Ha ha.
- Clean and repaint my son’s room and our master bedroom. We really want to get new carpet, but I don’t want to get new carpet until we paint!!
- Transfer all of our old movies onto DVDs and then save them all our our hard drives.
I think that’s about it! Man. I’ve been wanting to complete these projects forever!!! They all got put on hold when I had the baby, but I’m very hopeful I can start making a dent. We’ll see….
**********************
Well we had a fun, but crazy weekend last weekend! On Saturday, I ran The Color Run with Kev, my 11 year old son and my friend, Melodi. We had a ball! It really is such a fun, low stress race. It’s not even timed, so it’s just FUN!
If you are someone who is new to running and/or have never run a 5K before, this race would be THEE PERFECT one to start with. It’s also a great race for kids who are just getting into running.
There are different “color stations” set up throughout the race. Each station is marked with a giant inflatable arch in the designated color with signs letting you know which color is coming up. As you run through each station, volunteers throw “color” on you. The color is made out of some kind of cornstarch-y colored powder. This year was the “Shine Tour,” so there was a glitter station too. Awesome!
As you cross the finish line, you are given a medal and a couple packets of color and/or glitter. There is a Finish Festival immediately following the race and everyone throws their packets of color up into the air and gets plastered in color!
We started the race wearing our bright white shirts! Melodi and I represented Kohl’s at the race, so we wore our Kohl’s #YesMoment t-shirts.
Kev took some pics of Melodi and I running…
AND we took some pics at the finish line…
We got some yummy KIND bars and Crystal Light drops in our water at the finish line too!
We got covered in MORE color as we threw our color packets all over….
It was so much fun!
As we were walking back to our car, we took a selfie in the reflection of one of the buildings…
I have to say, we had a slight interesting situation that came up….we found out a few days before the race that Kev’s sweet aunt died and her funeral was going to be that same morning! The race was at 8:00 AM in downtown Salt Lake City and the funeral was at 10:00 AM about 45 minutes away!
We were very worried that we would show up to the funeral covered in color! We ran this same race a couple of years ago (you can read about it here if you so desire), and we had a hard time getting all of the color off afterward! We found it in our toenails and fingernails for days! We were VERY happy to find that the color came off very easily this year! It was GREAT!
Kev was a little conservative with how much color he got on him because he was worried about getting it all off for the funeral, but he said if he’d have know how easily it came off, he wouldn’t have worried at all!
After the race, we quickly stopped at my parent’s house to shower and then headed up to the funeral. We got to the funeral a little late, but it turned out okay. I still had a couple of The Color Run tattoos on me, but the color was all gone! I was so happy everything worked out okay. Although a funeral is never a fun thing to go to, it was sure nice to see a lot of Kev’s family there.
**********************
WELL, I thought I’d update y’all on my Ultimate Oxygen Challenge I’ve been doing. It is SO great! I seriously LOVE the workouts (very reasonable, but very effective!) and I love the diet I’m eating (lots of real food and none of the crap!)
It’s a really practical plan and as long as I stay mentally committed, it’s really not too hard! I did have some small “issues” recently though. A couple of weeks ago, Kev and I were sick for FOUR DAYS! Ya. It felt JUST like the stomach flu (nauseous, no appetite, tired, achy), but I never threw up and I was still able to get up and do things a little bit.
It was the strangest sickness though because it just wouldn’t go away! I started to worry I’d feel like that forever. Ha! Kev and I compared notes and we felt exactly the same. It was also strange because none of our kids got it?! Anyway, I really didn’t eat too much during that time and when I did eat, I just ate whatever sounded good; things like crackers and toast. It definitely wasn’t “Oxygen Challenge Approved,” but I didn’t even care. I felt so crappy.
However, once I started to feel better, I had a hard time getting back into the swing of things! I allowed myself lots of little nibbles and snitches and eventually found myself COMPLETELY off the wagon! I was bugged, but also knew I’d just gone through a weird funk. Thankfully, I was able to dig deep again and find my motivation.
I’m happy to say my issues didn’t last too long and I’m back to 100% committed, with no plans to quit!
I also have some progress pictures I want to share. I feel very vulnerable sharing these pictures, but after giving it much thought, I decided to “take one for the team” and share them anyway!
These pictures were taken one month apart. It’s a requirement for the Ultimate Oxygen Challenge to take your before and after pictures in either a bikini or a sports bra and shorts. I chose the latter. You’re also supposed to wear the exact same thing in each picture.
I’m not proud of these pictures; in fact, I feel very very sheepish even sharing them! However, I know how motivating it is for me to actually see the results. Sometimes it’s hard to see the actual progress unless you compare progress pictures. I’m hoping I’ll continue to see great results the rest of the challenge. I just realized I’m officially HALF way through…6 weeks down, 6 to go.
I also took a picture of me flexing (total cheeseball!) and I compared it side by side with a pic I took 2 1/2 months ago…
The pic on the left doesn’t really show a lot, but I can definitely see a difference in my face and arm! It’s not drastic, but it’s there.
Seriously, I hope y’all know that it’s very hard for me to share these pics!!! However, I know it helps to keep me accountable and hopefully motivates someone else out there. I still have a long way to go and want to lean out and tone up a lot!
Health and fitness is so much fun; it makes me feel better, have more energy, gives me purpose, makes me healthier (duh) and it’s so much fun to see the changes in my body. I will also mention (for the zillionth time) that losing weight and gaining muscle is tough! It takes a long time and loads of patience; that’s why I just make it my lifestyle! Now that I’m done having children (and resetting all my progress!), I know my body will eventually get to it’s happy place and a place I’m happy with! In the meantime, I’m very much enjoying the journey and I just take it a day at a time!
Well, that’s all I have to say tonight. I hope you all have a wonderful night!!!
**My Color Run experience was sponsored by Kohl’s, but the text and opinions are entirely my own!!**
You look really, really good! You emit a glow of being happy & healthy! And that’s truly what its all about. Continued Blessings to you!
Awww, thanks so much Amy! You are so so sweet. 😉
Melanie! You look so fit. Great job!
I can relate to your 2nd grader. I remember my mom buying fall like sweaters and sweatshirts and I had to wear one on the first day of school when it was still 80 degrees. Lol.
Thanks Char! My second grader cracks me up all the time! He is very opinionated and knows exactly what he wants. Ha ha. Hopefully it will serve him well when he grows up!
Wow, big to do list but it feels so good when something is ticked off. We have been talking about doing our children’s rooms now for the past 6 months (they are 11th and 9th graders like yours). They are 90% finished. We did an Ikea run yesterday and spent hours putting together a desk and bed in 90% heat. But I know once school starts it would have been so much more difficult.
I am kind of scared of the Color run and breathing in the color….
Glad you are enjoying the challenge. I am trying to loose a few pounds before marathon training starts. Just trying to cut back portions, up protein and change up my fitness a bit. You are looking great ! Hang in there !
I’m sure I’ll have a never ending to do list! Ha! It does feel good to slowly, but surely get things checked off the list though.
I never thought about breathing in the color from The Color Run! They claim it’s safe and there were only a couple of times when I felt like I was running through a cloud of color….it’s mostly just a little bit thrown on you here and there.
I wish you all the best on your upcoming marathon training!!! That’s exciting!