Spring Break Day 2

Today's activities were a HUGE hit!!!!

Our first activity was a Dot to Dot car , counting to 20. Spiderman, of course, needed help connecting the dots and counting but the girls were able to do it on their own.

Necxt we made paper plate chicks. The kids LOVED this one!!!! They loved using the glue and playing with the feathers!

Spring Break Day 1

So the girls have Spring Break this week and we are not going to watch tv and movies the entire time... Just some of the time.

Our first activity was SHAVING CREAM!!!! They love playing with shaving cream especially when I add food coloring!

Our second activity was coloring pictures from the movie The Lorax. The dvd we have of it is crap, but they still love that movie!

Update!

So it has been almost a week since my last post. Here are a few highlights! The girls have Spring Break this WHOLE week. I am going to start following the DDP Yoga Program instead of randomly picking which work-out to do. I am so excited to see how I change physically and mentally! Along with that, I will be doing a daily post saying what exercises I did. I am seriously so excited about this!!! I'm going to get it typed up so I can mark on it instead of in my booklet.

Below The Belt

Tonight I did a new work-out called Below the Belt.... Holy Mother!!!! It works your butt and legs mostly, but also your core. Such a good work-out! First one where I was actually dripping sweat! I am getting better at engaging my muscles and getting my heart rate up. In other news, I am working to get my Facebook page together. I've also been thinking of doing a video blog on Youtube. So definitely more to come!

Glorious Food!

When I work on the weekends, I don't really have a break to sit down and eat breakfast or lunch. My breakfast gets replaced by doTERRA's Trim Shake. Today I added strawberry and bananas.... SO GOOD!!!!

And for quick snacking between sessions, my darling husband put together a sweet little platter for me. Celery, apples, strawberries and grapes. He didn't even forget our natural peanut butter! Luckiest girl in the world to have a sweetheart that supports me as I am on the road to being healthy.

60 Days! BANG!!!

So it has been 60 days. Well, more like 63. I put off taking pictures cause I didn't want to see the results that didn't happen. Of course we are our own worst critics. I showed the pictures to my therapist friend and she started pointing out my changes. Sometimes it is good to get an outsiders opinion. I have changed quite a bit actually.
-My shoulders are rolled back
-My pelvis isn't anteriorly tilted like it was
-Definite flexibility changes
-Growth in balance
-Definite toning
So the changes that I see now are more structural, which is GREAT! I am going to work hard to our 90 pics!

Twizzler Challenge

Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS last year? Well, yesterday I heard of the Twizzler Challenge that people are doing for Autism.

As a mother of 3 Autistic children, instead of doing this challenge, please donate your Twizzler money to the Northern Utah Autism Program. It runs off a grant from the state. The only things that grant covers is salaries for the teachers, aides and rent for the classrooms. All classroom supplies are donated, mostly by parents. The majority of the families in the program are low income and don't have funds to get supplies. So if you get nominated, or are feeling generous, :) please consider donating to the Northern Utah Autism Program.

You can get to their website here or their Paypal is nuapfundraisers@gmail.com

Choosing2Change

This is an A-MAZ-ING podcast! It has helped me release some things I had been holding onto. Not just emotionally, but physically. Nolan gives it to you raw and real. If you aren't able to get podcasts, definitely check out the website here! I have really enjoyed the interviews that he has done and truly looked forward to future podcasts!

Taking a Leisurely Stroll....

I couldn't do my walk this morning so I did it tonight. On my last round around the block, I saw a couple of fellow walkers.

Snack Time

In the morning while my loyal followers are getting ready for school, I put something similar to this together. It makes having a snack so much easier and less tempting. I do the same thing with some veggies we have. Makes my life just a little easier.....

 

Warm Weather

I have been very thankful for the fabulous weather we have been having. I like to take my buddy, Spiderman, on our morning walks. And he likes to bring his buddy, Puppy, along.

Today was my first time doing Stand Up.... HOLY COW!!!! I couldn't stand up! Well, I could but I kept falling over. But I am so excited to do it again on Friday. It will be great working on my balance and making me more aware.

Dinner At Work

In between doing massages is a great time to eat a quite snack or dinner. Tonight I brought carrots, celery, ranch and peanut butter. I was really excited about the peanut butter! We got it at Winco in the bin section. It comes out of this machine that grinds the peanuts right there infront of you. IT WAS SO COOL!!! And so delicious! Didn't have the added oil, salt and sugar. Can't wait to get more!

Workin' Out

I LOVE MY SURGE!!! Seriously! I love being able to look down and see that I have a great resting heart rate, that my rate is rising while I'm working out, or that I need to stop stressing out.

Birthday Weekend!

I have the amazing pleasure to share my birthday with one of my most favorite lil' gals! But the weekend started with her first loose tooth and getting some new molars.

The tooth still hasn't fallen out. I haven't worked up the courage to pull it out.

We seem to take pictures like this every year.... Better keep up the tradition.

We had fun weekend. Some family came in from Colorado, dinner at Red Robin, I worked Sunday morning, presents, family picnic, trains and Antelope Island. It was a very busy weekend.

One of her presents was a ukelele from her Mema. As she would say, "I lub it!"

Broken Table

Today's is brought to you by the letters DDP, the number 12 and the pose Broken Table. This is a great pose to help strengthen your legs, arms, back and hugely, the glutes. It gets even more intense when you start doing crunches. Do this pose to both sides. Don't forget to engage your muscles to get the most out of your work-out! Bang!

My New Shoes

So I figured it was time to get new walking shoes since my Nike pair was starting to cause me some pain. I've only had these a couple days, but I love them... for the time being! Once in awhile you can find a nice pair of shoes at Wal-mart. One day I want to go get my feet analyzed and get the "perfect" pair of shoes for my feet.

 

Me Being Vulnerable

Here is my yoga pose for the day. Stand Split. I am excited to see me progress with this pose.

I was about to not post this, but sometimes it is ok to be vulnerable.

Our little Spiderman enjoys doing yoga with me. One day we will have yoga mats.

Almost 60 Days

In 12 days we will have been doing DDP Yoga for 60 days. Honestly, I don't think I am going to see much of a difference between my 30 and 60 day pictures. These last 30 days have been.... Well, let's be honest here. I have plain out been lazy. For my walking, I probably won't get my 100 miles by my birthday. And that is ok. But I have 7 days to get as many as I can. I will still be proud of myself. Troy got me some new shoes today that aren't high on my ankles. I think that will really help with the Achille's Tendon pain I've been having. So, here is to doing better! Cheers!

Silent Auction Night!

Since all of our kids are Autistic, we are very fortunate that they have been able to attend the Northern Utah Autism Program. It is such an amazing program. It is run off of a grant from the state. That grant mostly pays for teacher and staff salaries and the rent for our classrooms. Other than that we are dependent on donations. As parents we get a list each week of supplies that the class needs. Most of the time it is food for breakfast, snack time and paper goods. Unfortunately, alot of the familes are low income and dont have funds to help out with the weekly lists. It then goes back to the class going without and hurting our kids. We try to reach out to grocery stores to donate gift cards for the program to use, but that doesn't always go through. Each year we have a silent auction. After paying for the food, entertainment and whatever else, we normally make a couple grand. It is very helpful! It helps buy ipads, ipad cases, compression vests and so much more that our special kids need. This past Christmas I had the amazing opprotunity to be in charge of getting shoes for the kids. The teachers got to read The Elves and the Shoemaker. The teachers then walked the kids around the school to look for elves and ended up back in the classroom with a present for each kid. To see the happiness on their little faces, it was hard to hold back the tears. They were so excited to put on the new pair of socks and their new shoes. SO EXCITED! I love going to the school and seeing their new shoes still being worn so proudly. I am so looking forward to doing it again this year. If you are ever needing a cause to donate to, or just want to help out 30 special Autistic kids, here is the link. Click on Fundrisers to see upcoming fundraisers and for a link to the paypal account to make a donation.

Errands and Distractions

We had to run a few errands this morning after taking sisters to school. I'm so glad I had Spider-man by my side!

While we were on our walk we found a new friend. Super friendly girl! Luckily my neighbor was able to bring me one of our leashes, cause Animal Control was short-handed today and wouldn't be able to get out for a while.

After we got the harness and leash on her, we walked home and jumped in the car to head to the animal shelter. I personally don't like taking strays to the shelter, but she didn't have a collar. I already made up my mind if they didn't find a micro-chip, I would take her home and we would try to find her home on our own. Don't want to run the chance of her being put down. The sweet girl wanted to sit by Spider-man in the car.

Luckily she had a micro-chip! Yay! They said her name is Maurie or something similar to that. Her family lives pretty close to us but no one answered the phone. They went ahead and took her to hold on to her til her owners can collect her. I'm going to call later tonight or in the morning to check on her.

More Salad!!!

A few days I ran out of my salads... :(  So I made some more today! Yay! Makes me very happy! I need to go to the store. I want to make a different kind of salad just to give me variety. But I don't know what. I am pretty happy with this south-western salad I got going on. Any ideas? I love having my dressing and toppings all measured out. Makes me feel in control of my meal.

Uptown Funk

Uptown Funk can be a catchy and motivating song. I like walking to it. Great beat! I saw this clip last month... Check it out then keep reading...

After I watched it, I knew I wanted to try and do this. It would be such a great an work-out. Plus, it would be fun! Well, today I finally did it! I'm nowhere near what they can do, but when they do their sit-ups, I can do that while keeping my legs straight! In the past, I would of had to roll to my side and push myself up. I'm definitely going to keep trying to do this!

New Discoveries

Last night I worked and I discovered a couple of things. First off, when I use to massage, I would get winded. My cardio was so out of shape! All thanks to DDP Yoga, my cardio is in better shape then ever! And it can only get better from here! Also, I noticed I started to sweat a little. (Not the nasty kind of sweat.) I was thinking of my stance trying to figure out if I was doing something wrong with my body to where I was having to work harder. Nope. My stance was great. Want to know what it was? My body was engaging muscles that I don't normally engage. My core was engaged. My back. My legs. Everything was engaged! It was my own mini work-out while I was helping someone relax and feel better. It was AWE-SOME!!!! LOVE DDP YOGA!!!! www.ddpyoga.com

Tracking My Nutrition

I have found a new love with My Fitness Pal. I have really been enjoying entering my food to count calories. It links up to Map My Fitness and it tracks my exercises and how many calories I have burned. It has been a little hard trying to reach my calorie goal. I normally am under by a few hundred. I started back to work yesterday. Everyone was happy to see me and it was nice to meet the new therapists. I started my day with a couple of new clients but ended the day with one of my regular clients. Love my regulars! They make me happy! It makes me feel really good that they all waited for me to return. I have my work cut out for me. Get my clients back to where they were and better. I am feeling really tired today. It feels like I didn't get enough sleep. My Spider-man won't let me lay down. He wants me to watch a movie with him. Maybe I will close my eyes while we cuddle on the couch... That sounds delightful!

Spinach Meatballs

So since Troy found out he is pre-diabetic, has high cholesterol and some other issues, we have done a huge turn around on our diet. We don't drink soda anymore. Just water. We are eating diabetic friendly mostly. Tonight we made spinach meatballs. They sounded so deliecious! So excited to make them. So I went to work this morning for the first time in a month and a half. It went so great! Got home and got to work on the meatballs. Troy even helped me. When we put the first few meatballs in the boiling water, they started to fall apart. So that was the first thing wrong. Turned the temp down and moved on. After you cook them in the water you transfer them to a tomato sauce that we made. Well, they started to fall apart in the sauce. We tried frying them a little in olive oil. Started falling apart. We let them cook longer in the boiling water and they were finally starting to stay together. Then we get to the eating part. The was absolutely no flavor! Anna enjoyed them because she likes spinach. We decided this recipe isn't a keeper. But it was fun to try yet frustrating to make!