Busy Life + My Challenge Ended!

Well hey friends, it’s been a minute since I posted! Dang it.

I really don’t have any excuses other than life is busy! Balancing everything is difficult! And sadly, in the big scheme of things, updating this little blog isn’t as high on the priority list as other things.

Sigh. Sad, but true.

Life has been busy, but it’s also been fun.

Last night, I went out to dinner with some of my dearest childhood friends…

I love these ladies with all of my heart. We laughed and laughed and laughed all night long. I’ve been friends with a couple of these friends for as long as I can remember, seriously since birth.

We were all lamenting the fact that we are getting so old, yet we don’t feel old! We couldn’t believe that it has been 25 years since we started college together. T.W.E.N.T.Y F.I.V.E years folks! That is nuts.

Time seriously flies!

In other news,

This sweet boy got his driver’s license last week. Here we are at the lovely DMV. We waited an hour and a half! Joy.

He is now a big 16 year old and I can’t believe it!

I also gotta say that I’m still in my beautiful gym clothes and sportin’ my beautiful gym hair because we went to the DMV immediately after I taught an exercise class with friends in my neighborhood.

It is the story of my life. I really do prefer to shower after I workout, ha ha, but more often than not I just roll through life with my “cute” sweaty hair and post-workout look!

Such is life.

This same sweet boy of mine also went to his first high school dance. He actually went to Homecoming at his high school and a different Homecoming at another high school the week prior.

Aaaaand once again, I’m sportin’ the beautiful post-workout look! Ha ha! Another sad thing is I think I look like an old lady in that pic! Gah!

This darling little 9 year old boy of mine had his first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby last week.

It was so much fun! His cute BYU car did pretty well! He came in 9th place out of 27 cars. It was a fun night.

Oh, and I also got my hair done last week, which was so nice. It was soooooo needed!

I also gotta mention that good lighting is everything! I’m not techie enough to be very good at photo editing, so I’m always happy when the lighting works in my favor. This particular picture makes it look like I don’t have any wrinkles! Seriously yay!

Sadly, it’s all just good lighting. Case in point, take another look at the “old lady” picture of me and my son. Sigh. It’s amazing what a difference lighting can make!!!

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Well, as far as health and fitness goes, it’s going well! I organized a 30 day healthy challenge with a bunch of my friends in the neighborhood + some of their friends. That challenge ends tomorrow and it’s been great!

A few of my friends lost 10 pounds, some lost 5-6 and a lot of us have just lost a few pounds, but have felt and noticed a lot of positive changes in our bodies and in our lives.

It’s always a good thing to step up our healthy habits! It’s also always nice to band together with others who have like-minded goals. A little positive peer pressure can be very motivating!

I did pretty well with my goals. Throughout the month, I just tried to remain consistent and mindful. I focused on eating better, eating less, getting my sleep, exercising consistently, intermittent fasting and a few other goals.

I wanted to stay away from sugar the entire 30 days, but I didn’t end up doing super well with that goal. Dang. I did okay though.

Ya know, I’ve cut out sugar for a month or months at a time many times in my life and I gotta say that the number one most important thing is mindset! The times I’ve been most successful are when I have just decided I am staying away from sugar and that is that. I don’t even entertain thoughts about sugar, I don’t feel tempted or deprived; I just decide to do it and then I do it!

With that being said, I didn’t do that this month. Ha ha. I definitely cut down on my sugar intake and paid more attention to my overall health in general, but I didn’t stay away from it entirely.

I’d gained a few pounds in August as I was living high on the hog while my sister was in town for three weeks. I’m happy to say that I lost those pounds this month and I’m pretty much back down to the lowest weight I’ve been at in a couple years. Woot!

I would still like to lose another 5-10 pounds. I gotta say that as far as healthy living and weight loss goes…..consistency and mindfulness is key!

KEY!!!!

You just gotta remain mindful, be somewhat disciplined, not crazy, but just disciplined-ish and consistent-ish. You gotta make decent decisions most of the time.

Over the years I’ve learned that this is what really delivers the “best” results for me and yet still allows me to live in a healthy balance. It’s so great and actually liberating to find something that helps me to feel really good, lose the weight I want to….and enjoy the process!

I’ve also been stickin’ to an awesome exercise schedule that I’m lovin’! I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been teaching some exercise classes at my church with some of my friends in the neighborhood. It’s been so good for me! We do strength training on Mondays and HIIT on Wednesdays.

Because I’m teaching these classes, I have no choice but to show up and and git ‘r done! On top of those two classes, I’ve also been loving going to some of my other favorite classes at the gym.

I was stoked to go back to one of my very favorite classes last weekend that I hadn’t been to in over FIVE years!

This is a class that I went to religiously every Saturday morning back in 2012-2014. Sadly, the gym that this class is at is about 20 minutes from my home. After I had my last baby, five years ago, two new gyms (same chain) were built closer to my home, so I’ve just been going to those gyms.

BUT, I’ve been really wanting to get back to this favorite class of mine….and I finally made it! I’m so glad I did and I plan to continue to go from now on, whenever I can. It seriously is the best, most effective class I’ve ever gone to! It’s a strength training class that kills every muscle in the body! We always do AT LEAST 125 push-ups every time. It’s amazing!

Definitely worth the 20 minute drive! In fact, I find the drive rather peaceful since there’s not a lot of traffic on Saturday mornings. <3

I’ve also been enjoying going to a yoga class on Tuesday nights lately….

Yoga is so good and so restorative to the body, mind and spirit. I love it!

I haven’t been running very much lately, but now that the weather is a little cooler, I’m hoping to get out and run more! I have run on my treadmill a few times recently, but I DO NOT LOVE the treadmill. Blah!

Well folks, that’s the latest around here! I’m still pluggin’ along and as always, just doing the best I can! I hope I can step up my blogging game too.

I hope you are all doing well and are happy and healthy! I love you all! Mwah!