Our Trip to Arches National Park + My New Healthy Eating Plan and Exercise Schedule

We just got back from a wonderful weekend spent at Arches National Park in Moab, Utah!

We had a FANTASTIC time!  I was a little worried about traveling and hiking with all the kids, including the baby, but they seriously did so great.

First off, I have to say that we have had the BEST winter ever here in Utah.  I have loved it so much!  We’ve had very little snow in the valley (where we live), but plenty of snow in the mountains.  We haven’t had a major snow storm since Christmas Day!  Crazy, huh?  We’ve had so many sunny, unseasonably warm days and I LOVE IT!

I also need to say that I’m so sorry to all of you New Englanders who have been bombarded with SNOW!!!  I cannot believe how much snow is goin’ on around there!

We lived in New England (RI and NH) for 6+ years and I know how severe the weather can be.  We lived through many Nor’Easters, ice storms, crazy snow dumps and sub-zero temperatures (-40 with the windchill), but we never saw this much snow!  I’ve been amazed by all the snow pics I’ve seen in my Facebook and Instagram feeds.

I think it’s crazy that New England is having one of the worst winters ever while Utah is having one of the best?  Interesting how that works.

Anyway, since our weather has been so warm, we decided to take a road trip to Moab (about a 3 hour drive from our house.)

I just want to mention that this post will be quite long because I’m going to tell you guys ALL about our trip, including a bunch of pictures (this is partially so I’ll have it for my own records), so if it’s too long and/or too boring, feel free to scroll to the end if you want to hear about my new “healthy plan” instead.  Mmmmkay?

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Soooo, we got to Moab on Saturday morning and decided to do the Devil’s Garden hike.  I’d never done that hike before, but I LOVED IT SO MUCH!

It’s now my most favorite hike in the world and I doubt it will be trumped any time soon.  The hike ranges from ~4 to ~7 miles depending on where you want to go.  We hiked about 5 miles and it was just perfect.  All of the kids loved it so much and NOBODY complained the entire time (that’s a first for us!)  Even the baby did great.

The ENTIRE hike is absolutely gorgeous and there’s something breathtakingly beautiful to look at the entire time.  There are eight major arches to see and one monolith (Dark Angel) along the hike, although we only saw four of the arches and skipped the monolith.

We first saw Landscape Arch, which is Ahhhhh-mazing!  The arch is ~290 feet long, which makes it the longest natural arch in the world.  This picture doesn’t do it justice at all.

The rest of the hike was a bit treacherous and I was quite nervous at times.  It can still be a safe hike if you are CAREFUL and if kids know to respect the trail/cliffs/heights, etc.  I made sure my kids KNEW that they could fall to their deaths at any moment and I told them to not be overly confident!  I also made sure that one of us had a hold of my littler boys hands at all times!

As I type this, it sounds like I’m a crazy mom to even take my kids on this hike, but we were very careful.  Kev and I decided from the beginning that if we ever got to a place we weren’t comfortable taking the kids, we would head back.  There were a few spots that worried me a bit, but we kept on going and were just fine.

Thankfully, my daughter is just as paranoid as me, so between us and Kev we had it covered. 😉

The scariest part of the hike was when we had to climb on top of and across a giant rock fin, which was majestic, but FREAKY!  My big boys gave me a small heart attack when I saw them confidently perched on the edge of the cliff!

The fin was wide enough to walk across safely, but it was unnerving to see sheer cliffs on both sides!

The view from the top was unreal.  I loved  seeing all of the rock fins in the distance.  It was so cool!  Again, this picture does not do it justice.

The next arch we saw was called Partition Arch and it was gorgeous.  We asked a random man take our family picture and sadly he cut off the top of the arch so you can’t see how cool it is!

Here’s a pic I found on the internet of Partition Arch…

The next arch we saw was Navajo Arch and I loved it!  It was like a big shady cave.

We thought the pine tree (farthest right) was very cool because the needles were only growing on one side!   The other side was completely bare.  Weird.

After Navajo Arch, we made our way to see Double O Arch and it was so cool too!

The reason it’s called Double O is that there are two arches on top of each other.  The big arch is easy to see, but if you look closely you can see the second smaller arch underneath it.

There were a lot of people there who had climbed up on top of the big arch and were walking across (you can see some of them on the side of the arch waiting to cross in that picture.)  We would have been tempted to try that as well, but we worried we were running out of daylight and wanted to head back.

At this point in the hike, you can either head back the way you came or take the “Primitive Trail,” which loops around to the beginning.  I’d read that the Primitive Trail is even more treacherous (and it’s a little bit longer), so we opted to just go back the way we came.  Kev and I said we’d love to come back again when we don’t have small children and do the whole thing!

On the way back, I took this darling picture of my two “best friend” boys.  LOVE THEM!

The next day, we decided to take the fam on the hike to see Delicate Arch, one of the most famous arches in the world.  I have to say that the hike to get to Delicate Arch isn’t nearly as fun or beautiful as Devil’s Garden, but we still had a good time.

I was very grateful for the 60ish degree weather we had because it made the hike a lot more pleasant.  It’s only 1.5 miles (each way), but it is quite steep and there is NO SHADE the entire way.

The kids got quite tired on this hike, so we had to stop and rest a little bit…

Kev was “hard core” and carried the baby in the backpack and our 4 year old on his shoulders most of the way!

Quick note:  Our four year old is very much a “home body.”  He loves to be home and whenever we go anywhere for too long he always asks when we’re going home.  Well, while we were on this hike he told me, “I love Moab!”  “I wish we could just stay here forever.”

Woah.  I was floored to hear that from him.  We really did have such a fun time though.

When we finally got to the arch, it was just breathtaking!  We’d done this hike before (about 4 years ago), but the arch was even more beautiful to me this time!

Notice how my daughter is holding onto both of her little brothers??  Yes, she was a basket case….rightfully so!  I was very grateful for her help the entire time.  Afterward, she told me she would have enjoyed this hike so much more if she didn’t have all of her crazy brothers (2 little ones and 2 dare devil ones) with us!  Ha ha.

I will say that this hike is “mostly safe.”  Near the end, the trail winds along the edge of the mountain, with a cliff all along one side, but the trail is quite wide and naturally leans toward the mountain.

However, when you finally get to the arch, it is very freaky!  There is a huge “toilet bowl” type cliff thing that you have to cross to get over to the arch.

I took this picture, but it’s a LOT more daunting in real life.

That’s why you see a lot of people just sitting on the edge.  I think they are too freaked out to get any closer.

We carefully made our way over to the arch and took some pics…

I loved being there and wished we could have stayed longer!  The baby was getting quite tired and fussy, so Kev carried him all the way back down…he slept the whole way.

We had such a fun time at Arches National Park!  I LOVED it so much!

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I must say that I didn’t eat particularly well on this trip!   Eating healthily while on vacation takes a little planning and a lot of commitment…..well I didn’t plan too well and I wasn’t feeling particularly committed.  Oy.

Ever since I finished Whole 30 (I’m planning on writing a post all about that this week, I promise!) my life seriously fell apart.  I told you guys in previous posts that I had sick kids, got very little sleep and had a crazy, crazy schedule.

That sounds like a bunch of excuses, I know, but believe me….it just about did me in!

I also had a birthday, Valentine’s Day and this vacation mixed in, so my whole life and all of it’s healthiness pretty much went kaput!  It was rough.

I’m sure my body was thinking WHAT in the HECK is going on!???!  It suffered from some serious whiplash, lol!

I don’t mind taking a few days off from healthy living here and there, but when those “few days” turn into “weeks,” it’s not very fun anymore!

Sooo, I told myself that when I got home from our trip, I was going to get back to work!

I strive to live a healthy lifestyle all the time, but I’ve learned that making specific “goals” and “challenges” really helps to keep me on track and motivated.  I don’t do as well when I just say “I’m just going to try to eat well.”  I like to identify some “rules” and be more specific.  So, I decided to devise a plan.

Side note:  I really, really loved Whole 30 and learned so much, but it was a tough lifestyle to keep up.  I know some people like to eat that way all the time, but I am NOT one of those people.  I’ve also learned that I have the most success if I stick with a “healthy challenge” for a long period of time.  It seems like when I take days off, it is SO HARD for me to get back to healthy again.  Sooo, I decided to make it a 3 month plan.

So, with that being said, here’s the plan I came up with.  I started it today….

Yes, I affectionately named it my “3 Months, No Crap” plan.  Ha ha.

It’s pretty straight forward; no refined sugar, flour or artificial sweeteners.  It’s pretty much your average “clean eating” plan….lots of veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, lean meat, cottage cheese, plain yogurt, whole grains like oats, brown rice and quinoa, beans and that’s about it.  I may add a little bit of cheese to my meals and I’m going to limit my grain consumption to two servings per day.

After doing Whole 30, this “plan” sounds like a piece of cake!  I’m very excited.  I’m very ready to get rid of ALL of my baby weight once and for all and I’m planning on getting in the best shape of my life before my next birthday….the big 4…0!

I also devised an exercise plan!  I’m running a half marathon on May 16th and I’m so excited!  I haven’t run a major race in a very long time and I’m looking forward to the challenge!

I looked online for a half marathon training plan, but most of them we’re unnecessarily complicated and included running 4-5 days a week!???!

Uhhh, no.

I’m not a lover of running….I’m a liker of running.  Sooo, I looked for a plan that included running only 3 days a week and cross training the other days (I’m a lover of strength training and group fitness classes!)

Believe it or not, a 3 day a week half marathon training schedule was hard to find!  Here’s the best one I could find…

This is one of Hal Higdon’s plans and he’s a very reputable source.

I’m planning on running three days a week; Monday, Wednesday and either Friday or Saturday depending on the length of the run.  I really like this plan as a whole, but I don’t like that the longest run is only 10 miles.  If I get a chance, I’m going to devise my own plan, but for now I’ll follow this one!

Oh, and FYI I have 13 weeks until the race, so I’m going to repeat week one twice.

I have 3 great classes at the gym that I plan to go to on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  They are amazing classes that push me to my MAX each time!  My Tuesday night class is a tough cardio/HIIT type class, my Thursday is a Boot Camp class and Saturday is mega weights.  I love them all!

I know there will be weeks that I don’t get all my workouts in, but I’m going to try really hard to get all my runs in!

Well, it’s getting late AND this post is WAY too long, so I’m going to wrap it up.

I think my life/stress/sleep depravity is calming down, so I’m looking forward to hitting it hard, sticking to my 3 month healthy eating plan and seeing some great results!  Woo hoo.

Just in time for spring/summer.  Yay.

I hope you all have a wonderful night!

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