Easter x5

 

Oh hey y’all. The Easter bunny did not eat me. I am still alive and hoppin’

This last weekend I stepped away from the computer, and just enjoyed the time with family. LOTS of family.. My kids had 5 easter egg hunts..FIVE.

It was fun this year because they finally caught on to the whole concept. They loved searching for eggs.

FACT: Excessive amounts of sugar consumed by toddlers makes them crazy.

Anybody else experience Post sugar toddler tantrums and silliness?

 

All of the candy seemed to of disappear over night…..I donated it to the local dump.

oops.

Our Easter was overall fantastic!

The boys even used the eggs that were supposed to be for the hunt for target practice….

(Don’t worry those are BB guns.. not AR 15's)

One of the eggs had a dime in it and I would say this is a bulls eye.

Yes, I have dirt in my nails from burying eggs in dirt.

I made a fancy Gluten free and dairy free Carrot cake for one of the parties.

It turned out FANTASTIC! I was in love with it, and quite proud of it. Everyone who partook of it loved it as well!

Well, with the exception of one person, but that person never likes any “healthy” dessert I make.. FYI it was GF and DAIRY free, but that does not make it “healthy” it makes it tolerable by my stomach. It still had sugar and all the good stuff!

You can’t please them all. But if you have an intolerance you will LOVE this cake.I’ll get the recipe up stat.

The annual family Easter Picture!

And yes, I had one child stain HER dress prior to the pictures and the other run and trip and get GRASS STAINS on HIS knees within 5 minutes of getting out of the car for pictures. Family pictures are cursed.

Today I did the GPP workout and got a nice 6 mile run in then spent some time foam rolling like never before..

ouch.

I’m in dire need of some grocery shopping… the only source of protein in my home is eggs right now.. so I ate a lot of eggs today..

Hope you all had a great EASTER!

BIG NEWS!!

GPP is now going to hold classes at “THE GYM” at City Creek in SLC!!

I' am beyond ecstatic for this, and if you are a local SLC dweller you should be too!! I’ll get more details to follow! I just had to share!

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Here is Liz and Meg! Two more of the awesome trainers you will be seeing downtown!

Do you foam roll??

Is it just me or did Easter seem a little excessive this year? Candy, Presents, family parties? ALL of which were wonderful but it was like Christmas.

Shamrock Shake

I hope you had a great day celebrating today! I probably had one of the most laziest days of my life and it was wonderful. I did not get out of my pajamas until 4 pm and that was just because I had to get ready to go to a family party for corned beef and cabbage. I took 2 naps! I must of needed rest I guess!

I actually have a love/hate with rest days. I know they are very important, but I am more likely to be a presentable, kind, and patient human being when I get a workout in.

Anyone else?

I made a high protein shamrock shake this morning that was a huge hit with the kids too!

In the blender:

• 8 oz. Almond Milk
• 7-10 Ice Cubes
• 1/8 tsp. Mint Extract
• 5 drops of liquid stevia
• 1-2 tsp Sugar-free pistachio pudding mix
• 1/2 C. Cottage Cheese (lactaid-if your belly doesn’t love dairy.)
• 1 scoop Vanilla Protein Powder
• 2 C. Spinach

BLEND!

This turned out amazing and definitely puts McDonalds Shake to shame in the nutritional department.

Give it a try!

Do you have any St. Patrick Day traditions?

Green water in the toilet? Eat lucky charms? Leprechaun messes?

Labor Day Tri

Happy Labor Day!

I hope you all had a great LONG weekend! I was suppose to do this race this weekend but the place we were planning on staying at fell through and we weren’t able to find a hotel close by due to the holiday weekend so I ended up not running the race. I was super bummed about it because I have been wanting to do a trail race for a while. After talking to my sister Heather she informed me of the labor day tri in our hometown. My Step-mom Aly, and my sisters were all doing it in a relay and she said I should do it with them.

Sign me up!




The fact that I haven’t even swam since June, or biked since… never (actually a year..). Didn’t stop me. I couldn’t even find my goggles and had to go buy a pair the night before. Won’t lie though.. It kicked my booty. Although, endurance wise I felt great the whole race! The whole transition bike to run was a little tough.. hello, Jell-o legs! (Pics to come! My sisters took a bunch!)
My bike chain fell off at about mile 7 of that portion or the race and some guy stopped to help me with it. My tires were a little flat also but overall I had a great race and felt good about it even with my lack of training. NEXT TIME: I will probably swim a little more.. and tighten my goggles- All efficiency went out the window the last 100 meters or so. I was glad to take a breath at the end of each stretch. I will make sure my bike is all tuned and ready to go too.
The best part was seeing my little fam along the way.



Here we are at the finish! Brent was such a great support the entire race, he cheered me on AND pushed two strollers while keeping the Tanner and Baylee entertained. That my friends takes talent.
The swim portion of the race was indoors. They had everyone line up according to your predicted swim finish time. We wrapped along the pool and one at a time jumped in the pool 10 seconds after the person in front of us. We snaked the pool, which was actually nice for me because the swim got a little rough towards the end. I anticipated it to be the hardest portion because there is a lot that goes into training for a swim. I finished the swim in 8:50. I climbed out of the pool quickly and ran to T1.
The bike was 12.21 miles. There was great volunteer support, the race crew was at every turn, crosswalk, and stoplight. I knew exactly which way I was supposed to go the whole race, no second guessing if I was making the right turn or not.







Here I am with my good friend Suz, just climbing off our bikes in transition for the run.
The run was around the neighborhood and it was probably the roughest transition. Biking straight to running is a little tricky, it took me a good mile or so to pick up my pace and shake the jell-o legs. It was also pretty hot outside and I felt a little more dehydrated at this point. They had two water stations, one right at the beginning and one at mile 1.5.




We all hung out for my sister to run through! I loved doing this race with my family. It was the first race we were all part of and it was motivating and fun to see them along the way. They all did great as well!


All DONE!




Here is my overall times:

Swim: 8:50
T1: 1:52
Bike: 44:55
T2: 1:14
Run:30:28
Total: 1:27
They posted this shortly after I finished and I was surprised to see that I took 4th in my age group! There was a total of 18 people in my age group. It was a great race and I loved that it was close to home and smaller then most. They had great support and was well organized. The only thing they could of improved on would be start time. The race was scheduled to start at 8 am but didn’t get going till about quarter after. But lets face it, I’m hardly on time for anything and I enjoyed a little extra time to chat and get settled. I am for sure going to do this race again. I was surprised how relaxed and fun it was! No pre-race jitters or anything. There is something about going into a race with no expectations. I loved it!

Ski resorts and parades.

Last night, I headed up to a popular Ski Resort in Utah, Snowbird. My MIL planned a girls night for all my sister in-laws. We had so much fun, we stayed up WAY to late and slept in a little late to. It was heavenly.

Maybe I should go back to brunette to fit in a little better?
Check out this view! This was right from our hotel room. It was pretty amazing.

Utah mountains are addicting. I love mountains that are covered with never ending pine trees, the smell, the terrain. It’s a beautiful thing really.
After we all woke up and got going, we headed out to breakfast. As we were walking down the trail to the restaurant we saw a cow moose and her calf!

The calf is behind momma, can you see it? Here is another pic of him.

We made sure to keep our distance, but it was pretty cool to see them so close. I am used to seeing deer all the time at home, but it is rare to see a moose walking around. I was pretty excited and so was everyone else!

We went to “the forklift” for breakfast. ---> Pretty good name for a restaurant, I must say. Yes?

I got an garden omelet with hash browns and fruit. It was pretty decent, not amazing but good. Our waitress was super friendly and kept my water glass full so she was top notch in my book.

It was so great to spend some time with these ladies! We do get together often but we are usually busy chasing kids around we never really get to chat and just have fun. It was refreshing to be able to laugh, and act like a kid again for a night.

We headed back down the canyon after breakfast around 11am.
It was a quick getaway but just long enough to re-charge.
I did squeeze in a workout at GPP and then it was home to pack, clean and get the kiddos ready for the parade! We are leaving for the ranch again tomorrow so when I got home I made a quick shake then actually ended up taking a nap while the babies were napping. Oops.I was still tired from the night before, But it was completely worth it! We had a great time!
The twins and I woke up with just enough time to make it to the parade. The Handcart day parade in bountiful is a family tradition for both of us and I LOVE going to it. It is pretty much a Utah thing though. This year, the parade was PACKED. Every year the parade has a them and this year it was “They did not doubt.” There was 2,000 of Helaman’s  stripling warriors marching in the parade this year, which was pretty amazing to see. The best part is my brothers, cousins and uncle were in it. So it was fun to see them be part of something so big.


They all held sticks and hit them on the pavement in unison. Kind of cool, in the “I got chills” kind of way. It was such a neat representation. Here is a video someone put on youtube.

The babies got spoiled with candy and balls, they loved the parade this year, I can’t blame them, there was some pretty amazing floats.

My BIL was in the Tongan band!

He is the one in the white pants and blue shirt. ---> I kid. He has sunglasses on.
Old stomping/cheering grounds. I am a proud wildcat and bruin. Say what? And is just me or do high school kids now seem like babies? They all look so young!




It was a good day in my book.
Now, I still have to clean and pack. Oh, shucks.
Question of the day:
Do you like parades? Or have you ever been in one?

Shamrock Shake + Paleo Round 2!

Top of the morning to you!!

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Happy St. Patrick's day!! Hope you are all wearing your green!
I woke up this morning with a 15 mile training run on schedule. I met up with a few friends and ran a little over 8 with them before I had to cut it short due to pain in my foot and make it back to the gym in time to teach Body Pump. I arrived back at the gym with a little less then 20 minutes till class started so I went up to the treadmill and finished for an even 10. My foot/hip is still bothering me enough to make me limp. I came home and iced and rolled and it feels a little better, but I’m thinking I need to just step back a little before it gets worse.
I did look forward to coming home and making this delicious recovery shake!
SHAMROCK SHAKE

Ingredients:

• 1.5 C. Almond breeze Vanilla unsweetened milk
• 1 Scoop Vanilla whey isolate protein
• 2 tsp. Lime Jell-o powder (fat free-sugar free)
• 1 banana
• 7-8 ice cubes
• 1 handful of spinach

Directions:
Blend all ingredients together in blender.

*The key to this delicious little lime drink is  the lime jell-o!

This made enough to fill my cup TWICE!
ENJOY!
My Paleo Experience Round 2

Did you eat a lower fat paleo to get so lean?
When I started paleo, yes- I would probably have about half of the recommended serving of fat per meal. After the first month or so I turned to higher fat and that is when I fell in love with freshly grounded almond butter. It has now become my staple and I still eat about half a frozen banana with almond butter pre-workout every day! I also started having olive oil in my veggies and half a avocado in my salads. While I was doing paleo, It was through race season last year, so I was running, swimming, biking, AND teaching. I would do multiple workouts during the day (not everyday) so I discovered that my body performed better if I consumed higher fat.
Isn’t consuming to much fat lead to weight gain?
If you eat to much of anything it leads to weight gain. To many grams of carbs, protein, or fat can lead to weight gain. Consuming healthy fats actually burns fat. Paleo is high in fat. I believe it is designed that way to put the body into a ketosis state (Use fat for energy instead of carbs). But you have to pay attention to the carb intake from fruit and veggies to actually reach that state. Its all about finding a balance for your body and what works for you.
Did you count calories while on paleo?
Not really. I didn’t keep a log or journal, but I was mindful of it. Depending on the level of my training days, high or low. High days were probably around 1900 cal. and low days 1500 cal. Give or take. High days I would make sure to consume more carbs, (fruit, sweet potatoes) compared to low days.
That is just what I found out that worked best for me and my body, performance, energy level etc.
What was the hardest thing you had to give up during paleo?
There was a few… GF oatmeal, PEANUT BUTTER, Greek yogurt.
Do you really think paleo is the way everyone should eat?
I never said that.. but no, everybody is different and has different needs. I do think everyone should eat all natural foods and avoid processed food and refined sugars. I don’t think everyone necessarily needs to eat paleo. If you already eat healthy then stick with it. “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” Its always fun to try something different though just to see how your body responds. Take it as a challenge, something to work for. If it will make you feel better about yourself, then why not?
Would you do paleo again?
Yes, In fact I had a few friends ask me questions following round 1 of my paleo experience and we are going to take on the whole 30 challenge!
If you want to join in on the fun I’ll be more then happy to fill you in on the details. More people the better! Especially when friends take it on, it somehow makes it a little easier with some accountability… and the fact that if we mess up anytime during those 30 days we have to do 100 burpees or 300 kb swings each time. (We start MONDAY March 19, 2012)
What are the Pros and Cons of Paleo?
Pro-  (MY opinion)

• It encourages you to eat healthy, whole natural foods at EVERY meal
• Weight loss
• Muscle gain
• Higher energy
• Less cravings
• Consumed MORE water.
• Learn how to prepare healthier meals, Learn more about how your body responds to “real food.”
• Teaches a healthier lifestyle.

Con- (Also, MY opinion)

• It can get a little pricey, take advantage of farmers markets/bountiful baskets. You need to prepare. Make grilled chicken, boil eggs, steam veggies in bulk to just have on hand in your fridge at all times. Makes for quick and easy meals.
• Once your done with the diet ease back into grains and/or dairy slowly. I have a very sensitive stomach to certain grains and dairy now. Bloat, nauseous etc. I enjoy a fro-yo or a chobani every now and then because I love it but I know I will end up with a stomachache later. Consider that a warning? Ha!
• Its not exactly ideal in today’s world, or convenient unless your prepared. Parties, date nights, family dinners etc. can get a little hard, especially when you have to check labels, ask questions and explain yourself to others when they ask questions.

Q. Any IRISH heritage out there? What is your St. Paddy’s day tradition?
Q. Long run today? HOW was it?