Well holy cow folks, this blog has gone dark the past few weeks! Gah!
Life has been NUTS! Like, for reals. Our summer certainly went out with a bang!
K so, my little sister came into town about 3 weeks ago (she just went home 2 days ago) and we have pretty much been going (and eating, lol!) non-stop ever since.
When she first got here, we headed up to my aunt and uncle’s cabin in Vivian Park up Provo Canyon. It was so fun to see them and to be up there! I have a lot of wonderful childhood memories of that place. My mom used to go up there when she was a kid as well!
We decided to float down the Provo River on tubes. It’s a very popular thing to do in the summer.
We only had two of our little boys with us because our youngest was home with the flu 🙁 and our 15 year old son was kind enough to stay home to take care of him. My two oldest kids were working. Sadly, our 15 year old (and our 9 year old) got the flu a few days later. Super fun.
We really enjoyed tubing down the Provo River! This is something my family has done for years and years and years. I gotta say though, it can be quite dangerous if you’re not careful. My poor little sister had quite a scare with her 8 year old son.
She lost her footing and she and her son were swept down the river while she was trying to hold onto him and her tube. She was able to get them both back on the tube, but she was very scraped up, bruised and quite traumatized. It was scary.
My only advice (remember, I’m a novice) would be to try to stay in the middle of the river. If you get to close to the sides, you risk getting stuck on branches or getting scraped up. Also, although the water isn’t too deep in most places, it is VERY COLD and very swift and powerful.
My 11 year old also got stuck behind a big rock and fell off his tube. The water is sooo FRIGID. He started to panic a bit, but Kev was able to save him.
You have to respect the river.
So, although we had a few freaky events, I’m still glad we went. It was fun to do something that has been such a tradition in my family for so many years. It was very memorable. If I were to go again, I would go as late in the season as possible so the water wouldn’t be so cold. I would also bring a small oar to be able to navigate the water better.
We’ve done a lot of other fun things the past few weeks as well.
We went to Boondocks, swimming and visited Bingham Canyon Copper Mine.
Oh, and we went to the Planetarium as well!
My sister took my little boys to Lagoon Amusement Park one day too (I couldn’t go that day :-()
Yes, it’s been crazy. Not to mention the two birthdays and our anniversary that we celebrated last week!
Kev had another birthday and my baby turned FIVE! I really cannot believe it. Five sounds so big to me and I’m not happy ’bout it. I really feel like he was born 2-3 years ago! You can click here to read about his birth story if you care to!
We also went up Mueller Park Canyon one night and roasted hot dogs and hung out with all of my brothers and sisters (a rare thing!) and most of their kids. It was awesome.
FYI, one of my brothers lives in Georgia, one lives in California and my sister lives in Connecticut, so it’s hard to get us all together!
My sweet, sentimental brother (the tallest one in that picture) gave my mom the most priceless gift. He took an old family picture from 1985 and had a lady from Russia who was on Etsy make a Russian Nesting Doll of our family from that picture!!! Can you believe it!
Look at these reactions! Ha ha.
Here we all are holding our dolls.
What a fun treasure.
Also, a couple days ago I went to the historic Salt Lake City Cemetery with my daughter, littlest son, mom, two brothers, sister, niece and nephews.
One of my older brothers is a huge historian for our family. He takes so many pictures at every family gathering, does TONS of family history and he’s organized everything online so we can all access it. Yes, he’s amazing and I feel so spoiled and blessed to have him as my brother. BTW, he’s a CPA as well, so it’s no surprise he’s so organized. Ha ha.
Anyway, that brother of mine had mapped out a bunch of our ancestors who are buried in that cemetery (it’s a huge cemetery!) He had also brought some beautiful pictures of those ancestors, so we took some pictures of us holding the pictures by their graves. It was a special, sacred experience.
In that pic on the left above, we were at my grandparents’ grave (my mom’s parents) and in that pic on the right, we were at my great grandparents’ grave (my mother’s, mother’s parents.)
That same darling brother of mine isn’t in ANY of the pictures because he was the one who took all the pictures for us. He said he already had a bunch of pictures of himself by those graves.
Sooooo, needless to say we’ve been busy! It’s been great, but MAN I’m tired! Oh, and school started this week as well. It think we’re all ready.
My oldest son is just working right now, so I didn’t take his picture. My daughter started college!!!! COLLEGE!!!?? What in the world??? How is she that old and how am I that old!!??! I really cannot believe it. For those of you from Utah who are curious, she’s just going to SLCC (Salt Lake Community College) for now. It’s a great little college and I’ve been super impressed so far.
My 15 year old son started high school (sophomore), my 11 year old started 6th grade and my 9 year old started 4th. I’m really, really, really in denial that they are all so old. Sigh.
My baby boy just turned 5 last week, but I decided to keep him in preschool for another year. He already started preschool a few weeks ago and I never took his picture! Gasp! I think I’ll take a picture of him next week.
So there ya go. That is our life the past few weeks. Nuts, but fun.
I’m hoping with school starting I’ll be able to be more consistent with this blog. My kiddos just keep growing up (much to my chagrin) so I think my life might continue to calm down and I’ll become more and more productive with my own life and my own endeavors! Wow, that sounds so foreign and exciting to me.
We shall see.
Well I think this goes without saying, but with the crazy pace we’ve been keeping, I have not been eating well! Gah!
When my sister comes, she loves to go to all of her favorite restaurants and eat all of her favorite treats. Sadly, they are usually all of my favorite restaurants and treats as well! Some years when she comes, I do better than others.
This year, I ate a lot of crud. Ha.
We had a few BBQs, enjoyed birthday cake twice, went out to eat at a lot of very yummy places and had so many yummy treats!
For example, my sister wanted me to go to her favorite dessert place, Dough Co.
It’s actually really, really good! We like to get their “Half-baked” thing….which is trouble! They let you pick two different kinds of cookies, cook it enough to make it warm and gooey and then top it with ice cream. It’s really, really good!
They come in “individual” or “shareable” serving sizes. *Note to self,* next time I’ll share an individual sized one. They are pretty big and I realized I enjoyed the first half and then I felt sick after eating the second half!
Also, after my family and I wandered around the cemetery that day, we stopped at our favorite bakery, Mrs. Backer’s!
This bakery has been a favorite in our family as long as I’ve been alive. In fact, my mom’s family used to get things at Mrs. Backer’s when she was little too.
I just noticed it says “Celebrating 78 Years” on their sign. Well, my mom is almost 79, so it’s pretty much been a part of her life forever as well!
My family especially likes their mint chocolate cake. You can click here to see pictures of their yummy creations if you want to.
Strangely enough, I’ve never been a huge fan of Mrs. Backer’s. I like it, but it’s a little too rich and sweet for me. My brothers and sisters always die when I say that. It’s also weird for me to say that because I have a huge sweet tooth!
So, I should’ve just passed on the Mrs. Backer’s since I don’t love it, BUT I decided to buy a few of their individual cakes in flavors I’ve never tried (white, German chocolate and lemon) and share them with my kids. Sadly, I ended up eating most of the cakes and although I liked them, I still didn’t love them!
That’s pretty much how the past few weeks have been. I’ve eaten several very yummy things, but I’ve also eaten a lot of things that just weren’t worth it to me and that I should’ve passed on.
Live and learn!
Thankfully, I’ve still been sticking to my workout schedule!
I took that pic on the right after one of my favorite muscle classes. There were people all around, so I just quickly snapped the pic as I was walking out. I see people taking selfies ALL THE TIME at the gym….I feel like a dweeb when I do. Ha ha. BUT, I still take them so I can share random stuff with ya’ll!
I took that pic on the left when no one was around! I like to go to the gym in the afternoon or at night after all the classes are over and just do my own thang in the classroom. It’s great!
So, I must say that 2 1/2-3 weeks ago I was feeling great, health and fitness-wise. I was at the lowest weight I’d been at for a while, my body felt good, my appetite and cravings were stable and I was just in a really good spot physically and mentally.
NOW, 2 1/2-3 weeks later I feel poofy, bloated and a little sluggish. Dang it. I’m up about 3 pounds, but I’m hoping I’ll lose them fairly quickly. My appetite is up and I can tell my body is craving all of the crap I’ve been feeding it!
It’s always amazing to me how much different I feel and look when I’m mindful with my choices and when I’m just livin’ life high on the hog! There is a stark difference and it’s always miraculous to see how much BETTER I feel and how much BETTER my body functions and works in my favor when I take care of it!
I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but I always am.
I don’t really feel guilty about indulging the past few weeks, but I’m more than ready to get back to that good place I was at. I will say that whenever I try to get back to “being healthy” after I’ve been “not so healthy” for a while, my body and my mind always fight me.
It is hard!
I know my body and my brain get used to that easy and quick energy. It really feels like all the sugary, fatty, processed, salty, heavy and indulgent foods are just like drugs. It’s crazy! When I’ve been eating that crap, I always have a bigger appetite and huge cravings. Healthy food doesn’t sound as good and I just want to eat more junk.
Sooooo, whenever I try to get back to “healthy,” I know I just need to be a little stubborn and determined and just power through. I’ve learned that it’s usually quite hard for about a week and then if I stick to my guns, it just gets easier and easier. My appetite starts to chill out, my cravings become not as intense, healthy food sounds awesome again and I don’t feel like I want to eat all the junk.
I know life is full of ups and downs in all aspects, but as far as health and fitness goes, you’re bound to have times when you’re doing great and times when you “fall off the wagon” and eat crappily sometimes!
It’s life.
The KEY is to keep those “fall of the wagon” sessions short and to get back to living a healthy lifestyle as soon as possible.
The other KEY is to create a healthy lifestyle for yourself that is livable and that you enjoy! So many people want to do all of these crazy extreme diets and workout for hours every day. Yes, you’ll probably get great results, but you’ll kill yourself off in the process.
Remember that the more extreme measures you take to lose weight and get in shape, the more likely you are to find yourself giving back all of the weight you lose/results you get! You’ll also end up just feeling defeated and frustrated and just giving up on health and fitness altogether.
So, please don’t think you have to do anything extreme to be healthy! Just be mindful and focus on being consistent instead of being extreme!
So, I will keep y’all posted on my progress. Today I feel quite poofy and I’m craving sugar like nobody’s business. I’ve been trying to focus on eating nutrient dense, healthy food and just eating less overall. I did snag some almond M&Ms today, but that’s it.
I’m hope, hope, hoping that after a week or so I’ll be back to a good, healthy lifestyle and my body will deflate and my cravings will chill! Fingers crossed.
Ok, that’s all I will say today! I hope you are all having a wonderful Friday and I hope you have a fantastic weekend. I really truly love you all!
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