More pictures

...of Ella Ella Ella, eh eh...

We were told today that if all goes well she can come home Wednesday!!!

Dusting off the cobwebs!

Five months without a post and this blog had cobwebs all over. Last August I ran in a 5k race at my school and unfortunately never ran again until July4th (well, once over Christmas to do that crazy idea of having the family run a marathon). Dad and I decided the night before at about 10pm that we were going to do the 4th of July 5k. We had talked about it on and off for a couple months but never signed up and never knew for sure if we were going to do it so I didn't do anything to prepare. It took me 27:00 minutes! Jordan found out and said this, "I"m kind of surprised you didn't do better." I'm glad he said it because it was that comment that has motivated me to run 10 miles a week ever since. I think I've ran about 100 miles since the 4th of July and just ran in another 5k yesterday. I broke my previous PR by 15 seconds (which was done on a treadmill....much easier) and had plenty of energy left over. I'm signed up for another 5k in 4 weeks and will be pretty disappointed if I'm not under 24min.

So, if anyone is looking for motivation to get on the ball all you have to do is let Jordan know what you're currently doing and he'll make sure to let you know he's surprised you're not doing better!

Wow, time for an update people!

I figured since it has been like 6 months since anyone did anything, I would write something. I told Jeremy that the only thing I wanted ever, was a gym membership, to wherever we move. (CROSS YOUR FINGERS FOR IOWA!) I think it would be fun to do different classes and such. I may be a freak, but I enjoy working out- the whole tired, adrenaline, sweating, can't walk for 2 days kind of feeling that comes from a nice butt whooping at the gym. Several of the places we are looking at moving to, would offer us free/discount passes to gyms, and I CAN'T WAIT!

I recently found a salad dressing that I LOVE! I actually don't mind eating a salad now if I can eat it with this dressing: Asian Toasted Sesame, from Kraft. I totally reccomend it.

I am still enjoying water aerobics, but can't wait to try another class, as I just found out that my punch card at this gym covers any of the classes.

I'm doing what I can...what is everyone else doing?

Going to the GYM

So like back at the very begining of the year, Bill told me we had a 30 free pass to a gym in Pecatonica. I resently reminded him of that. Well two weeks ago we started going. Tuesdays Thursdays and Saturdays. We did this for a week and a half. It's so nice to go together to the gym. I (Mom/Donna) had lost 2 lbs. But then I had a Dr. appointment, I make them when Bill can go with me. So we missed a day. Then I went to Utah to celebrate my Mom's 75 birthday....So that was 2 more days not at the gym....UGH. I need to stay home so we can continue to hit the gym and get into shape and lose weight. We had a biggest loser night at our house every Tuesday night. I've had up to 4 people from work come over and we have a healthy meal and watch the show. I too am very inspired by the show.

No time to waste!

My sister and I are signing up to do a water aerobics class together at the Rec center We are both really excited. I have decided to do this, because despite my best efforts, running is still killing my knees. So I decided to try something low impact. Plus I have never done it before, and I like change, and am excited to try something new! My mom did water aerobics after kid number 6, and lost like 30 pounds in a few months. I would die if I lost 30 pounds, but it has me interested to see that this experience will be like! It's time to take this contest really serious. It would be pathetic if, after like 6 months of this thing goin on, December ends up being a dissapointment because I took this time for granted, telling myself that "I can always start tomorrow..." We are running out of tomorrows! I know, from the experience of my mom, that if I don't get this twin baby weight off ASAP, I will sruggle for the rest of my life getting it off, especially if there are more babies in the future. So GOOD LUCK, and hope you are all doing well!

Is anyone there?

Man, it's been a while since anyone has written on here. I'm hoping mom and dad (Donna and Bill) write something soon since I know they've recently gotten started. I don't know how many of you actually watch the real biggest loser but my family and I are addicted. Last week was truly inspiring to me. I watch the show just to see where the person kicked off is now. Last week Jerry, one of the contestants who the doctors said was in the worse health of anyone ever on the show, got kicked off. Four months later he had lost a total of 70lbs and had seen some drastic health improvements. He had been on 5 heart medications and is down to 1. He had pulmonary problems and was restricted to 30 minutes of exercise a day. He could barely walk on the treadmill without needing O2. Now he runs 1.5 miles a day. His back and knee pain are tons better. What I thought was so cool is that the reason he got put on the show was because of his daughter, who is worried he won't be around for her wedding. We all have parents and want them to be around for as long as possible and to be in the best health for as long as possible.
As for me I'm not doing that great on gaining weight. My weight has remained at 135lbs since the start of the semester despite lifting almost every day. I did however, bench press 165lbs last week which is the most I've ever done.

All I need is time!

So, I weighed myself since the first time in a few months, and I found that I only have a pound to go until my goal weight! However, the thing is, I did that by only eating healthy. I haven't had time to work out! So Jeremy made sure I understood that good weight doesn't mean good health. I knew that, of course. But I wanted to post this because it was just amazing to me how much weight I dropped by simply trying to eat more healthy. Imagine what we can do if we eat halthy AND work out!
I thought this picture was perfect!

Finally getting there?!?

I feel like I'm finally getting there... I know this "competition" started in July, but I'll be honest, I didn't really do much until recently. I've been pretty good about going to the clubhouse where we live and working out on the treadmill. It's actually kind of fun because they have cable t.v. there and so I can go and watch my Disney Channel shows while I run! :)
I've also been trying to eat some more healthy foods. Here is what I had for lunch today: A veggie tray, water, and grapes. It was actually really good and really filling. I know the Ranch dressing in the middle kind of defeats the purpose, but it was only like 1 1/2 tablespoons. If anyone has a healthy dip idea I'd take it.

I talked to a sister I visit teach who is like a health nut (I honestly don't know if I'll ever get to that point) but she loaned me a DVD on 9 tips to having a healthy family diet. It was really informative and I hope that being a mom and control the food in the house, that i will be able to help my family eat healthy and cut out on the junk food. The only issue I am having is what to feed Jackson for snacks. He gets healthy foods at meal times, but I usually feed him crackers and dry cereal and things for snacks... any other healthy snacky ideas?!

Hope everyone else is doing good!

Making us look bad

So today was the Pocatello Marathon. I ran it in 4.15. Yeah, right. I walked from my car to the tent where the ISU student physical therapy association was giving post race massages for $15 which was maybe 1/2 mile. But get this, I did a massage on a lady who only 6 months ago gave birth and today ran her first marathon. On top of that there was a 10 year old boy from Utah ran/walked the marathon with his dad. I couldn't believe it.

Discouraged

So I was pretty excited to get back to school today and to a regular work out schedule knowing that I'd already gained about 5lbs. Well, after my workout I hopped on the scale and saw that I was back to where I started from. This is going to be tough because as long as the weather is nice I'm going to be riding my bike to school which is, I'm guessing, 6-7miles each direction. I'm really going to need to bring more food during the day to help keep my weight up. Especially now that I have some competition.