REALizing Joy

Change is hard!

2014-05-19T11:30:00.000-06:00

A lot has been going on in our crazy lives lately. A lot of change. I am not a huge fan of change. I mean little changes here and there like re arranging my living room, painting the walls, a new haircut, a different car, things like that I feel like I constantly have to do to keep me on my toes. I'm talking about major changes. I've experienced quite a few of those lately. None of them are bad at all just pretty major in my life. I, like most women, overanalyze EVERYTHING and end up with a ton of anxiety.

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My mother's day was great! I got sick the Thursday before mother's day and wasn't any better on Sunday. My husband got up and helped with the kids and let me sleep in a bit. Before long, my kids were all in my bed with me telling me they're sad I was sick and my 9 year old, Noah, brought me a paper he wrote about me. AJ, my 5 year old, planted a sunflower at preschool for my present but informed me that he'd be keeping it in his room. Once I got up and moving around, we packed up the car and headed out of town to go to my parents house in Fruita, CO. I got to spend mother's day with my sweet mama and my youngest brother, Jacob, was graduating high school that Tuesday, May 13. We also got to Skype my brother, Josh, who is currently serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. That was a lot of fun. He is so funny and just so happy all the time! I sure miss him!

Better watch out! I even know how to multiply!!!

Elder J. Charles Johnson

I just want to talk about my mama for a minute. She is the most amazing woman I know. I am her oldest child and definitely her most difficult. No matter what I did, I could always count on her to be there for me, even when I didn't want her to be there. It wasn't until I had children of my own that I began to understand and appreciate everything she's done for me and all the worrying and counseling she gave me. When I graduated High School, I felt like I didn't have the freedom I wanted so I found an apartment and moved out without giving my mom any notice and when she wasn't even home. I think we went about 2 weeks without talking because she was so hurt and I couldn't understand her hurt at the time. I didn't think I did anything wrong. Now, having children of my own and already dreading the day they leave home, I can understand 100000%. My mom just watched her last baby graduate high school on the 13th. She was so strong, she didn't cry, she was smiling, cheering, and happy. I can only imagine her conflict of emotion, being so proud of her youngest son, and yet knowing that he'll be leaving shortly to begin his life on his own. I am 8 years older than my brother, Jacob, and I did a lot of motherly things for him growing up. I was/am very emotional about the fact that he is grown up and getting ready to embark on his life and yet I know it doesn't come remotely close to a mother's feelings. The great part is that my mom can be confident that her and my dad raised some great and responsible children.

AJ is in love with Jacobs girlfriend! We tease Jacob that AJ will steal her from him but I'm pretty sure no one could! She's so sweet!

As soon as we got to my parents house on mother's day, Jake's dad called and said that a "tornado" took out our play set and threw it into our truck! Living in the four corners area, this is unheard of. We don't get tornados! Dust devils, yes. I wasn't here so it could've been a giant dust devil but I was told "tornado" so I'm going with that. The crazy part is that nothing else was moved, ruined or anything. I feel bad for my kids because they were really sad that they don't have a swing set anymore and it took me and Jake 4 days to build that stinkin thing. I'm just glad that none of the kids were on the play set when it happened.

AJ's last day of school was on Friday! He is officially a Kindergartener! It's crazy to me! Noah's last day will be this Friday and he will be going into 4th grade! Time is passing too quickly for this mama! After AJ's graduation, we went to the car wash and Kennady was so scared but AJ held her hand and helped her feel safe. It was really sweet. She is potty trained again. She had gotten sick after she was potty trained before and completely reverted back. BUT... Saturday, we went to lunch with Jake's cousin's family (my best friend) and we had to stop by Walmart for Jake to run in to get fertilizer for the grass and Kennady told me that she had to go potty so I took her into the restrooms and pulled down her pants and there was poop alllll over! Since I didn't know she had already gone potty in her pants and I just pulled them down I got it all over her legs. It took me forever to clean it up and I had left my phone in the truck so I couldn't even call Jake to bring me wipes or her extra pair of underwear or her pull ups that I packed lol. Poor Kennady kept telling me, "I sorry mama!" I wasn't even mad at her, I just felt bad for her because she was filthy. Potty training is not my favorite! Noah also was able to go to his cousins birthday party on his biological mom's side of the family. Even though Noah hasn't talked to her or seen her in a few years, I love and appreciate the fact that her brother and sister's families make an effort to keep a relationship with him. He had so much fun with them and he was even able to see his older brother which he doesn't get to see as much as I would like. I love my Noah faloah! Noah and AJ watched The Lone Ranger together (AJ's turn to choose the movie) and AJ fell asleep per the norm but the funny thing was what he was wearing! He loves the Lone Ranger now!

On Sunday, we got a new bishopric in our ward. I was really anxious about this all week. Not because I wasn't sure if I'd like them, just because it was unknown and I love our past bishopric. When the new bishopric was announced I felt a sense of peace right away and so much love for them. I'm so excited for our ward. Jake even came to sacrament meeting and it really made my day. I love spending time a church with my whole family. I didn't think he was going to come because that's what he told me but I said a silent prayer and I swear not even 5 minutes later Jake walked into the chapel. It was another confirmation to me of the power of prayer and that I matter to my Heavenly Father and that he is aware of my situation. I love that we can talk with our Heavenly Father and that we can ask for help.

When we got home from church the kids were playing outside and I noticed that the mama bird wasn't in her nest that she built under our porch. Then I noticed one of the eggs was on the ledge next to the nest. Before long, we had found 4 or 5 eggs all over the ground under where the nest is. I don't know what happened but all the eggs were broken. We were pretty sad about it.

This morning, I walked past AJ's room to go make sure Noah was getting ready for school, and AJ was laying in his bed looking at a picture of a little girl he has a crush on that moved to Aztec before Christmas break. When I asked him what was wrong, he buried his face in his pillow. I was so sad for him so I sent the little girl's mom a message and we're getting together on Thursday for a play date which is great because They're moving to New York on June 1st. I haven't seen AJ this happy in a long time!!!

No matter what the changes are, I am happy that I have my family to keep me grounded. I love my children and husband more than words can explain! It's pretty amazing how life can lead you where you never planned on being and it turns out greater than any plan you ever had for yourself before. Everything happens for a reason!

Thanks for reading! XO
Tristen

I Did It!

2014-05-06T18:38:00.000-06:00

This post is short and sweet and to the point!

Ok guys..... I have some exciting news....... I opened an Etsy shop! I'm really excited! As of now I only have 2 items listed which are the Afghan the same size I made 63x48 and a baby size 40x30. I'm happy that I finally did it and I am looking forward to making a lot of cute things to share with everyone! I am definitely open to input on pricing as this is all new to me and I want to sell great quality products at a reasonable price.

Thanks for reading and please come check out my shop at REALizingJoyHandmade on Etsy!

XO Tristen

Chevron Afghan Tutorial Link Up

2014-05-05T13:27:00.000-06:00

I remember when my mama taught me how to crochet. I was 10 years old, we had just moved back to the four corners area from Albuquerque, NM and while we were waiting for things to be final on our house we were living with my Grandma and Grandpa Johnson, my dads parents. Once I got the hang of how to do it, I couldn't put it down. I made a purse for my sister, a backpack for myself and a friend and a lot of other little pieces. I wish I would've kept them but I have no idea where they went. My mom learned how to crochet from her mom who learned from her mom. My dad's mom also knows how to crochet and she learned from her mom who learned from her mom. My Grandma Johnson gave Kennady the last afghan that is left of what her mother made before she passed away. It means a lot to me because of where and who it came from. I started thinking how special it is to me and how it will be special to Kennady someday and I decided that I wanted to make one for each of my nieces and nephews.

I found this pattern on pinterest from All Things Bright and Beautiful. I also found more pins that go into a little more detail on how to do the stitches (although it is very easy) on Pinterest. Since I had intended this afghan to be a gift for one of the little guys in my life I decided to have the accent color be blue. Soon after I began this project I realized that since I hadn't crocheted in about 14 years, my first project was not good enough to be gifted. I made mistakes that I didn't catch until I was almost done and I was NOT going to take it all apart. They aren't huge mistakes but I know that they're there.

This is what I learned for next time:
COUNT YOUR STITCHES! This is really where I went wrong. I started off counting my stitches and then decided I was doing good so I could just eyeball it. Pretty soon instead of having 14 stitches between each peak and valley I had 19 on some and 12 on others. Haha! I made it all work by slowly fixing it as I went along but there is a spot in the blanket that is rippled and wider than others lol.
COUNT YOUR ROWS! I again thought that I could eyeball it and ended up doing 11 rows instead of 10 on one of the white sections. Then I miscounted one of the grey sections. So count and count again!

All in all this pattern is very easy and I'll definitely be making more of these. I'm even considering selling them. Would anyone be interested in that? For now I'll just be gifting them to family.

Thanks for reading! XO

Tristen

I'm having an affair.... with Target!

2014-05-01T20:55:00.000-06:00

Yep! The cat is out of the bag! I'm cheating on my husband with Target! Ok Ok I wouldn't say cheating but Target is my vice. I love that place. I could spend hours in that store just browsing (although I don't think I've ever left without buying something which my husband hates). Anyway, I went to Target a few days ago to pick up some things we needed for the house and I also bought some little goodies for me and the house. I also love Cartwheel! If you don't know what it is you are about to love me! It's an app that allows you to pick certain Target deals to get an extra discount. If you don't have it, get it, not joking! Also, my family fills a lot of prescriptions every month so I signed up for the Target Pharmacy Rewards program and after ever 5 prescriptions I get a snazzy little card in the mail for 5% off an entire day at Target!!! Plus I have the Target Red Debit card. I was a little apprehensive about getting red card for a while because I just assumed that it was a credit card until a sweet little cashier explained that I could either get a Credit or Debit card and I save another 5% every time I pay with my red card!

Maybelline Hibiscus Haven gloss

I am loving lipstick lately especially pinks, purples, and reds. I came across this Hot Pink Cover Girl lip perfection jumbo gloss balm back in December and I love it! I'm almost out so I picked up a couple more colors the other day. I like them because they moisturize your lips and go on light so you can have just a bit of color or you can put more on to make it more dramatic. I also decided to try these Maybelline tinted lip gloss and they're also amazing. I got Hibiscus Haven and Caviar Couture. The reason I like these so much is that the color lasts for a long time even after the gloss wears off and the gloss isn't super sticky like some others I've tried in the past.

I also found some great pillows for my couch. I've been needing to get new ones for awhile now because the puppy we had to give away ruined all of our other ones but I hadn't found anything that I loved that went with my color scheme in my living room but wouldn't break the bank. These were on sale so I had to get them.... ok we I didn't have to but that's what I told myself.

Also, at the end of one of the isles I found these awesome rugs on clearance! The rugs in my kitchen were screaming to be retired. We've had them for 5 years and they're very blah! I used to just go with neutral colors when I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.

Last but not least by any means I found a great new trash can! About a year or so ago, my sweet father-in-law brought over a 30 gallon trash can to help us out.... not that I don't appreciate it but it was ugly, big, and always in the way. I found this automatic stainless steel one and I'm so excited lol. I don't know how Jake is going to feel about it but I'm thinking he'll like it a lot better.

Yesterday, I took Noah to get his hair cut which was long over due. When we went inside, I realized I forgot the money for his haircut in the car so I sent Noah out to get it. When he gave it to me, I placed the $20 in my phone case and I was trying to fix Kennady's hair because she had pulled it out of her pony tail. She was screaming her head off so I picked her up and took her to another seating area away from the people we were sitting next to and I must have picked up my phone weird and the money fell out. I didn't realize at the time but when the lady was done cutting Noah's hair I went to pay her and found out I had no money! I went over to where we were sitting earlier and of course it wasn't there and the people who were there before were gone. I was livid! I just kept thinking what kind of person does that?! Especially when they see that I'm there alone with my 3 kids and my baby is screaming and fighting me. Clearly even if they didn't see that I dropped it, it was money for a hair cut since we were in a barber shop that only accepts cash. I went to get more money and came back and paid the lady and on my way home in my complaining, I realized I wasn't being very Christ like and my kids were listening to my every word so, I apologized to them and told them that maybe the other people needed it more than we did and maybe that was an answer to their prayers. Then, when we got home Noah said the prayer before dinner and he asked Heavenly Father to bless the people that took the money to do something good with it. I was nearly in tears. He is so sweet. I'll never know exactly what happened and it was only $20 but it just reminded me how important honesty is with everything, even if it does seem small at the time, it may not be so small to the person it's effecting.

Whew, now that I got that off my chest, I want to share an amazing experience I was lucky enough to be apart of recently. A person very close to me chose to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints after investigating for 15ish years. I got a phone call at the beginning of April when I was in Mesquite, NV with Jake and was told that they had decided to get baptized and went into more detail and I just sat and cried on the phone. They were happy tears obviously but I was just so taken back with the news that I didn't know what else to do. I was asked to play the piano for a song that the nieces and nephews would be singing and I felt so honored. I practiced for like 4 hours a day to get ready for it but I just didn't feel all the way comfortable and I wanted it to be special and not terrible just because I couldn't get the song right. Anyway the meeting was so spiritual and I just felt so much love and joy for their family because I know that they truly believe this and that they are happy and that's all you really want for your loved ones isn't it? I felt so inspired to do better with my faith because of this experience and I'm excited for what is to come for this sweet family.

More exciting news! My baby brother, Jacob, (8 years younger than me) got his mission call this past week to serve in the Scottsdale, Arizona Spanish speaking mission and he reports to the MTC in August! I'm so excited for him and I thinks it's pretty amazing considering my other brother, Joshua, is serving in Mesa, Arizona waiting for his visa to Brazil (he's been out for 1 year) they'll be so close to each other. Who knows though Josh may get his visa before Jacob even gets out there. I'm so happy and proud of my brothers for choosing to serve the Lord and for being such great examples to me and my kids.

Clearly Kennady thinks the lipsticks are all so amazing she had to put them all on at once!

Have a great night!

XO,

Tristen

Refocusing on REALizing Joy

2014-04-27T21:49:00.000-06:00

The other day I was talking to my sister who is the blogger at Sweet Sunlight Style, and does an amazing job by the way, and she was telling me that working out and my journey to fitness is just a part of who I am and that since there is a lot more to me as a person I should blog about more than just my workouts and my progress. I agree with her and that is the main reason I chose the name for my blog that I did.
I went into detail in this post on the reasons for the name REALizing Joy but to sum it up, I find joy in little things, getting ready in the morning before I take the kids to school, watching TV with my husband after the kids have gone to sleep, seeing my kids working or playing nicely with each other, catching up with friends, crafting, practicing the piano, yard work, cleaning my house, planning parties, decorating, organizing, financial planning, dancing and singing crazy with my kids, the list could go on and on. My point is that I do a lot of things that bring me joy that others may not think twice about but also I am a real person. I have a hard time finding the joy sometimes. I have hard days. I have days that I don't clean my house. I have days that I get mad at my kids and husband. I have days that I stay in my pajamas all day. If you were to see my house right now you would think I never clean it, but tomorrow is another day and that is what I want to convey on my blog. I want to share all the ups and downs of being a wife, mother, friend, daughter, granddaughter, daughter-in-law, and woman. I get discouraged by silly things but I also find inspiration and motivation in silly things. I think to some degree we're all like that. I am going to use this space to share all different sides of me, not just the girl who wants to get fit and look great in a pair of jeans, not just the girl who worked out 6 days a week and ate great but also the girl who is honestly a food addict and always gets an injury when working out. I want to share all my great moments as a mother but also my not so great moments because I know we all have those. I want to help inspire people to do just a little better each day but I also want people to know that I'm not trying to portray myself as having all the answers. I love when someone can be REAL and that's what I want to be not only through this blog but in everyday dealings with people. I am excited to post tomorrow about my great finds at Target and some other little things. Thank you all who read and support me!

Kennady's 2nd Birhday Party!

2014-03-30T19:06:00.000-07:00

WARNING!!!! THIS POST CONTAINS A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF PHOTOS!!!!!

This year I had really high expectations for Kennady's birthday party because last year she was so sick for her party that everything I planned fell through. Kennady's actual birthday is this coming Friday but Jake has a work trip planned so we had her birthday party yesterday. I decided to go with a butterfly theme using blues and purples. I love rustic, shabby chic décor so I also used that style in her party. Some things I used were things I already had like the birdcage, the apple boxes, and the burlap and lace cloth. I made a few things like the ripped cloth and burlap backdrop, the happy
birthday sign, and I cut out the butterflies in the balloons. I bought everything else from Etsy, Hobby Lobby, Walmart, a local party supply store (Kathy's Discount Party Store), and Target. I started planning her party in January and slowly bought things from then until the party.

Picking the time of the party is so hard for me and I usually do them in the late morning but I'm always scrambling to get ready and get the house cleaned up (again because I have kids and the house is destroyed 5 minutes after I clean it), and get all the last minute details done by 10am. This time I decided to do the party from 2pm-4pm. I also planned it around Kennady's nap time because she is a monster if she doesn't get a nap. She refused to take a nap but she was actually great. Since we had the party in between luch and dinner time, we kept the food simple. We made PB&J's in the shape of butterflies for the kiddos, club sandwiches, veggies, fruit pops, jalapeno poppers, stuffed mushrooms, and chips and salsa and guacamole.

Originally, I wanted to set up a canopy in our back yard and have the party outside but we live up where it can get really windy and I just didn't want to take the chance so I set up the decorations and food inside like I always do and we set up 4 long tables and 2 kids tables outside for extra seating. It was such a nice day everyone was outside most of the time. I also had a flower planting station set up on a little round table on the back porch. After everyone ate, we helped the kids plant flowers. It was so cute watching them pick out which flower seeds they wanted. Kennady got a wildflower mix, Noah wanted columbines, and AJ wanted snappers (snapdragons). I have so many seeds left over I'm going to use them to plant flowers in my front yard. After we planted flowers everyone came inside and we did a butterfly drop which my friend, Nicole, sent to me on Pinterest. I stuffed 10 clear latex balloons with about 100 butterflies each I cut out of blue and purple tissue paper and we strung them up. I found these butterfly curtain clips on clearance at Target so I got those and used them to hang the balloons from. Jake popped them one at a time and the kids went crazy trying to catch them in their nets I got for them from the dollar section at target.

After the butterfly drop was present time! Kennady was so excited! She was squealing after every present she opened. She loves everything she got! She was so excited to open each present that I couldn't even read the cards. We got to read them all after the party though and she carried them all around with her.

Finally, we did the cake and sang happy birthday. I put wayyy too many candles on her cake but I loved it. The butterfly toppers I made for the cake were really close to the candles and one caught on fire haha! We got some great pictures though and you would never know. Connie from Frosting on Top Cake Shop (make sure to like her facebook page) made the cake and the mini cupcakes. She always does an amazing job! The inside of the cake was ombre and the cupcakes were chocolate with teal frosting. Not only were they beautiful but they were delicious! As soon as we were done singing to her and she blew out her candles, Kennady reached over and grabbed a cupcake. She had been wanting one since Connie dropped them off before the party started.

All in all, everything turned out great! I love the 2-4 time slot for a party now. Jake, Nicole and Jessica helped me so much. Without Jake I wouldn't have been able to do this at all. Nicole came over and helped me prep food, and Jessica got the paper and plastic ware that I completely forgot about! Thank goodness for family!

Party Details
Etsy : Wooden Coke bottle holders for the cupcakes
          Clear sandwich boxes
          Butterfly wooden spoons and forks

Hobby Lobby: Fabric for ripped backdrop
                        Marquee style "K"
                        Umbrellas
                        Chalkboard wine bottles
                        Table cloths
                        Butterfly décor
                        Tissue pom poms
                        Paper straws and lables for straws
                        Paper plates, napkins, and cups
                        Butterfly washi tape
                        Girl favor buckets

Target: Mini wooden crates for centerpieces
             Watering cans
             Mini buckets for straws, forks, and spoons
             Paper for Happy Birthday Banner
             Wings, Tutus, Fairy wands, butterfly nets

I'm sure I'm forgetting something but if I didn't mention something and you want to know where I got it just comment and I'll let you know.

Now for the overload of pictures!!!!

Whew!!! That's all the pictures! I absolutely love looking at these. The party was fun, the company was great, and her reaction was priceless! I also uploaded videos taken throughout the party to my YouTube Channel. They're so cute! Thank you all so much for reading and all your support!

XO,

Tristen

This that and the other

2014-03-23T20:07:00.001-07:00

I officially start T25 tomorrow! I got it on Thursday and did the first workout on Friday to try it out. OH MY GOODNESS!!! It is hard! I had to switch back and forth between modified and regular and there really are zero breaks. My grandma came over for her medicine when I had about 2 min left in the workout and then I had the 2 min cool down to do also. She is so funny! She came and stood in front of me where I couldn't see the TV and started talking to me. After the workout I laid face down on the floor because I was beat and she said, "Mija I think you do to much workout. You have to drink a lot of water today ok?" she's so sweet. I've been limping around like an old woman every day since my workout. My legs KILL me! I've never been this sore. Friday night we watched Frozen finally. I had really low expectations for some reason but I love it! Of course it's been on non stop ever since and the kids and I sing the songs all the time. I even catch Jake singing it to Kennady.

I've been working crazy on Kennady's birthday party stuff. It is 6 days away and I think I have pretty much everything done but the anxiety won't be gone until I have everything set up. I'm just a little OCD about my kids parties. Jake always says that we should just order pizza and call it good but I can't for some reason. I didn't get her invitations out until Tuesday of last week. I ordered them from a shop on Etsy and had them printed by an online shop my sister-in-law told me about that I always use. They have always done a great job. I wrapped them with a paper doily and bakers twine and used kraft envelops. The weather is supposed to be nice for her party so hopefully that holds up because I want to have it outside. I also made these butterfly toppers for the cake inspired by this picture I found on pinterest.
I made a few more things this weekend for her party but I've bought most of the decorations this time around. All that's left to do is buy and prep food, clean the house and the back yard, and set up the party. Oh yeah and buy my princess a present!

The other day, Noah made a list about me with 2 categories on it labeled good stuff and not good stuff. I won't share exactly what he wrote but it made me realize that what I do even though it may seem insignificant to me he picks up on it and it effects him. It did make me feel like I'm doing a pretty good job though because he wrote some really sweet things about me. He is very perceptive, even when people think he isn't paying attention. Friday we got to hang out with my sister-in-law for the afternoon. The kids had a great time playing together and Jake and I had a great time visiting with her.

AJ had his soccer game on Saturday and he did great once again. Meanwhile, Kennady was dragging Jake's dad around the playgrounds and he even went down the slides with her multiple times. It's so cute to see them playing together. She absolutely loves her grandparents!

Have a great night!

Bored with workout...... T25 Here I Come!

2014-03-15T18:26:00.001-07:00

I've been really discouraged lately because I haven't seen a significant difference in my weight or how my clothes fit. As I mentioned in my post here I'm a member of the Facebook group no excuse moms. One of the moms in this group posted her before picture at 160 lbs in January and she is down to 140 lbs now! I keep complaining to Jake that no matter what I do I can't lose weight and after seeing this picture I realize that I'm definitely not doing all I should be doing to get the results that I'm wanting. That is so hard to admit to myself let alone anyone who reads my blog but it's the truth. I work out in spurts and I eat healthy most of the time but I'm still over eating. I'm so used to eating this way and I have to break out of this habit. My problem with working out is that I don't really know what to do. I mean I know I need to do cardio and strength training but I don't know how much I need to do and what exactly counts as cardio and strength training. I've been hearing a lot about P90x, Insanity, and T25 for awhile now and I compared all 3 and decided that T25 is the best for me. I don't want to be ripped I just want to lose weight and tone up my entire body so I ordered it today! I'm so excited for it to get here! For anyone who doesn't know what it is, it is 1 hour workouts compressed into 25 minutes, 5 times a week for 10 weeks. You don't get a rest during the workout and you're supposed to continue burning calories for longer after the workout ends. It also has modifications for all the workouts which is nice for someone like me but obviously my goal is to do them all the original way.

Yesterday I was waiting for Jake to get back from work so we could go grocery shopping and I was sitting on the couch watching TV thinking about how unhappy I am with my body and I thought then get up and do something about it! So I decided to do a 30 minute workout. I ended up doing 45 minutes! I was pretty happy with that. This is what I did:

12 lunges x 2
2 steps on one side of a line and 2 on the other across the room for 2 minutes
On my toes small hops from side to side across the room for 2 minutes
High knees across the room for 2 minutes
50 squats
50 jumping jacks
50 crunches x 2
25 ab pulse ups x 2
25 lower ab reverse crunches x 2
20 tricep dips x 2
20 curls with 5 lb weights per arm x 3
20 tricep extensions with 5 lb weights per arm x 3
Stretched for 10 minutes

I felt really good afterwards and I'm pretty sore today which is good!

Today was AJ's first soccer game of the season. He was so excited and has been counting down the days. He was on fire today! He made 7 goals! It was so windy and cold! I told AJ to put sweats and a long sleeve shirt on and Jake told him he wouldn't need them lol Dads are so different than Moms! I took so many pictures of him. Here are just a few.

For dinner tonight we had grilled cheese sandwiches with a salad. We just made regular grilled cheese for the kids but we made ours "gourmet". I put provolone cheese, sautéed onions, avocado, spinach, and feta cheese crumbles on it! SO SO SO yummy! Grilled cheese night is going to happen more often over here!

I have 2 weeks left before Kennady's birthday party. I haven't even got her invitations yet. I should be getting those in on Tuesday so hopefully I can get them all sent out on Wednesday. I really need to get working on her party stuff. I have bought almost everything I need but I've been procrastinating getting it all together for too long. I can't believe my baby girl is going to be 2 already!

Have a great Saturday night all and thanks for reading!
xo,
Tristen

Getting Back into the Groove

2014-03-11T06:22:00.001-07:00

I got bronchitis about a month ago and excuse or not, I couldn't do any cardio without coughing up a lung. I'm sure I could've figured something else out for my workout but I got discouraged and did nothing which only made me feel worse. I gained back my 3 lbs I lost. Jake on the other hand, hasn't worked out in years and just by counting calories has lost 30 lbs since November! It's so nice to see him feeling good about himself and he's already needing new pants again!

On Sunday I got the bright idea to ask Jake to work out with me. I wish I would've taken a picture or video of us because we were hilarious! We did the HIIT jumping jack workout that I've talked about before. When I told him the first 2 sets we had to do (50 jumping jacks and 50 crunches) he said, "that's just the beginning? that should be all of it!" so we worked our way through the whole thing and when we were done he said, "I think you killed me!" I laughed so hard because he is a 6' 3" ex college football player and former Airman. I was talking to my friend last night and I told her that if men had to work as hard to loose the same amount of weight as us they'd understand more and we wouldn't get the "just count calories" talk lol. All in all, it made me feel good that I'm working out hard enough to make Jake say all of that.

I came across an old picture of myself when is was 19 (7 years ago) and I remember thinking that I was so fat at the time. Now, that is my goal and inspiration picture. I put it up on my bathroom mirror so that whenever I get discouraged by the scale or don't feel like working out, I can see that I was that size before and I can work to get there again. Yesterday, I took AJ to soccer practice and decided that I would run around the field as my workout. Ok so that was HARD! The last time I ran without it being on a machine was in September. Plus I was sore from the Sunday workout. I did 5 laps around the soccer field and it took me about 15 minutes. It was just short of 1 mile. I walked 1 side of the field each lap. I have a Samsung Galaxy Note III and it has an app that came on it called S Health. It is awesome. It's similar to my fitness pal, which I also use, but it can count your steps thorough out the day and you can have it track your exercise as you're doing it.

I wanted to come home and do some more exercise but I didn't. At least I did something yesterday, that's better than nothing. OH my goodness though today I am sore!! It's a good feeling though.

Also, since we found a new home for our puppy, we got our carpets cleaned yesterday! I knew the floor was bad but once we got all of our furniture out of our living room, I saw just how bad it was.

UHG! It was so gross! We used On The Spot Carpet Cleaning again and they were amazing, again! They are very reasonably priced compared to a lot of other places I had called. It took them about an hour to do our hallway, living room, and our master bedroom. There were a few spots that they couldn't get out but thankfully they weren't from the puppy. It's amazing how much a clean carpet can brighten up your room! I know that sounds dumb but I'm in love with our clean carpet! One of these day's we'll get new carpet but for now, getting it cleaned is good enough. Now, we just need to get it stretched because it is rippled in the doorways so bad!

Before

After

Here's to a good workout today and smart and healthy food choices! Have a great day!
XO,
Tristen

My "Tattoos" - A Post Inspired by Al Fox

2014-03-06T21:52:00.000-07:00

I first read about Al Fox in an LDS church magazine at my parent's house. I was very inspired by her story and could relate to the "judgment" she described because of the person she used to be. If anyone is looking for an example of someone who is truly converted to Christ, Al Fox is THE example.

Although, as I wrote in my profile, I was raised a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I don't come from a family who has been in the church for generations.

My Mom was born in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico to devout Catholic parents. She had an older brother (he passed away in 2010 from a long fight with Valley Fever Meningitis) and 3 younger sisters. My grandparents brought their family from Mexico to the four corners area when my mom was 6. That is when their family was introduced to the church and my grandparents were baptized. The kids were all baptized as each one reached the age of 8.

My Dad's Dad was raised as a Jehovah's Witness and due to his own personal beliefs growing up in that religion, my dad wasn't raised in any particular religion. He was taught about Christ but didn't know much more than that. When my parents met, my Mom was 16 and my Dad was 17. My mom has always had a testimony of the gospel and shared that with my dad. After meeting with the missionaries and taking the lessons, my dad was baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints when he was 18 years old. They got married 2 years later. I was born 3 years into their marriage and my sister was born 2 years later (I have a brother 6 years younger than me who was called to serve his mission in Sao Paulo Brazil but is serving in Mesa, AZ until his visa comes in, and another brother 8 years younger than me who will be going on a mission before the year is over).

There was a period of time when I was very young and my sister was just born that my mom was taking us to church by herself. While my dad had a testimony of the gospel, it is a hard thing to change a way of life and my mama was such a huge proponent in getting my dad back to church. We were sealed as a family for time and all eternity in the Manti, UT temple when I was 4 years old. I remember a lot about it and it was such a special day to me. I felt like a princess and it is something I have wanted for myself and my family since that day although my actions haven't always showed it.

Growing up in a small town filled with LDS families that go back for generations and generations and everybody is related to everybody made it really easy to feel out of place even, and most of the time, especially in church. To add fuel to the fire, I was a very rebellious teenager with a problem with authority.

I leaned on my parent's testimony of the gospel until I gained my own as I think we all do. While I never questioned whether or not the church was true, my parents had to drag me to church every Sunday, I skipped Sunday school on more than a few occasions, I ditched seminary, and struggled with certain commandments. After I graduated seminary and high school I moved out of my parents house and into an apartment in town and I stopped going to church. I'm sure to say my parents were disappointed would be an understatement, not to mention my Heavenly Father. I am an extremely type A personality. I have to have control, I have to not only have answers to my questions, but in depth, very detailed answers. So, it can be very easy for me to rationalize away any testifying spirit I receive when I wanted to. I was inactive for 6 years and less active for 1 year. I am now the primary teacher for the 8-11 year old girls and have been going to church consistently for over 1 year. Ever since we moved into our house 5 years ago, we've had home teachers, visiting teachers, missionaries, the bishopric, the relief society presidency, and members from the ward come visit us and talk to us. When they come talk to us, I never feel like they're making us feel any kind of judgment, or shame for what we're going through spiritually. I've felt nothing but love from our ward family which has been the biggest help for me getting back to church. All too often we think that we need to do something big or need a miracle to get through to someone but all it really takes is sincerity in what you're doing, love, concern, compassion, and empathy. I asked to have the missionary lessons taught to me since I had been inactive for so long. I wanted to make sure I understood the gospel and I wanted to feel the spirit in my home. After that, I asked the missionaries to come to Family Home Evening with us every week. That has been amazing! We get to know them so well and they become an extension of our family. It helps me to have FHE every week because without them coming I don't think I would've been able to get into the habit. The spirit in our home has completely changed. My marriage has done a 360 as well.

Earlier this evening I was looking at Facebook and came across a blog post from Al Fox titled Mormons and "Tattoos". She wrote:

"The more I did in the Gospel, the more I learned, the more I prayed, the more I read, the more involved I got in my Branch, the more my vision and thoughts and outlook and desires changed. I wasn’t seeking answers to those specific things, but the more I exercised this faith I didn’t know if I had or not, and the more obedient I was, the more I just tried, the more blessed I was from Heavenly Father."

"To those who have uncertainties and questions or doubts, I say, keep going. Keep trying. To those struggling to overcome or change, I say, keep going. Keep trying. Keep praying. Communication with your God, your Father in Heaven is essential. You are always worthy to pray. You are always worthy to turn to Him. You will never be “too far gone” to turn to Him. You will never be too far gone for Him to help you. For Him to heal, and forgive you. Because of that unchanging love He has for you. Because of that unwavering, never weakening, always there, love that He has for personally and individually you. “Tattoos” and all."

"Keep going. Keep trying. Keep praying. Move forward. Teach by example. Focus. Refocus on what matters most in life. Be patient with yourself, and most importantly be proud of yourself. Be proud of the steps, no matter how small they seem to you, that you have taken to become better. Be proud that you are trying even if you aren’t there yet. Be proud and throw out any sliver of discouragement with your efforts, because it is when we try and act that we are blessed. Help is always there. Comfort and healing is always there. Change is always available, because Christ is always there. Because your Father in Heaven is always available to you. Always."

The first part I highlighted is important to me because I struggle with the idea of "faith". I question if the feeling I get is Heavenly Father strengthening my "faith" or my own mind convincing myself that what I think is right. I especially love that she says that it was faith that she didn't know she had or not and yet she still did the things she knew she needed to do. And the more she did they more her faith grew. It is always a great reminder to read or hear that you are always worthy to pray because no matter how many times I hear it, sometimes I still feel like I'm not worthy to pray. Finally, I love that she reminds us to be patient with ourselves and to be proud of what we're doing each day to better ourselves. The point is to be better than we were yesterday. As long as we're making progress, no matter how little, we are successful.

I have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that he atoned for our sins and he understands and has felt all that we go through on a daily basis. I know that through Him and His sacrifice we are able to be forgiven for our sins no matter how big or small. I know that I am a daughter of God and that he loves me and knows me personally. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God in modern times just as Moses, Noah, Abraham, etc. were in ancient times. I know that he translated the gold plates through the power of God and that we have a living prophet on the earth today who can receive revelation on our behalf from God, President Thomas S. Monson. I know that my "tattoos" both physical and spiritual, visible and not can become invisible to God through repentance. I know that families can be sealed for time and all eternity in the Holy Temples and I know that one day I will be able to be with my family forever. I know that as long as I do what I need to do and follow the commandments and be a good example to my children, His children, and teach them what they need to know, He will make sure I am sealed to my family. I don't have all the answers to my questions about things in the gospel but my faith is growing every day and I know that there are some things that we aren't supposed to have answers for right away. Everything is done in God's time and not in ours. I love the gospel and I love that we get another chance every day to be better than we were. I love my Heavenly Father! In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Surprise surprise!!!

2014-02-28T19:29:00.001-07:00

Jake and I knew we wanted to get married before we were surprised with the news that I was pregnant with AJ we just didn't know when. I've always been excited to get married but I wanted him to do it when he was ready. A few hours after I had AJ, he gave me a ring and said, "Uh, this is for having our son and because I love you." I was really confused because I wasn't sure if it was a push present or if he was asking me to marry him but I was overwhelmed with happiness about my baby so that was not the first thing on my mind. About a week later, we were laying in bed talking and I decided to ask him what it meant. I said, "so what is the ring all about?" He said, "I wanted to ask you to marry me but I got too nervous. So, will you marry me?" HAHA! Although it wasn't the traditional romantic, down on one knee, sort of thing, it pretty much sums "us" up.

center band alone

2 outer bands

In the back of my mind I wondered how we could afford any ring at all because we had just bought a house, I was on maternity leave (no income from me for 6 weeks), and we barely had any money left over after we paid our bills and bought groceries but I didn't ask questions. Come to find out, the woman we thought to be our "best friend" at the time, showed up to the hospital when I was having AJ with this ring and gave it to Jake to give to me. It was a $400 ring from Sam's Club. A lot happened after that to leave a bad taste in my mouth about the whole situation but we couldn't afford anything else and all that mattered was that I was marrying my best friend. I told him he could have got me a $20 ring from Dillards for all I care. The ring wasn't the important thing. The important thing is that we were getting married! We ended up buying a double band to go around my ring and paid back Crazy for the Sam's Club ring so we could wash our hands of her and the whole situation.
Back in December, I had stopped wearing my wedding ring because I have gained so much weight that it was too tight and hurt when I wore it haha! I went to put it on about a month ago and I can not find it ANYWHERE! I've torn my car, purses, bedroom, everywhere I can think of apart looking for it and can't find it so Jake and I went to Kay Jewelers
looking for something simple to replace it for now but then I saw this ring that I had come across a couple of years ago and showed it to Jake. Today he took me in there to see about buying the 2 outer bands but then he surprised me and bought the whole thing! It's 3 separate bands, the center band is 3 carats, the outer bands are 1 carat, 4 total carats! I am still in shock.

Jake and I have been together for coming up on 8 years, and we'll be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary in May. We have been through a lot together, good and bad. We work on our relationship daily and I am grateful for that. Jake is one of the hardest working men I've ever met. He is a great father, husband and friend and I thank God every day for bringing him into my life. Things aren't perfect but whose relationship is? I love how much he loves me and my kids! Thank you babe! Love you always!

I'm Back and a girl!

2014-02-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

*the blog title comes from when I was little. I loved Patty Lovelace's song I'm That Kind of Girl but for some reason I called it I'm back and a girl. I would argue with my mom about what the song was called and I remember feeling so frustrated because she didn't believe me haha!

When I said this blog is about REAL life, being a REAL mom, and having REAL challenges, I wasn't kidding. Last Friday, my cheat day, I got really discouraged with my workouts, my results, falling behind in my housework, crafts, and everything else and I've been having some health issues I finally decided to get checked. I'll go into details once I know a bit more. I thought I could shake it pretty easily but the longer I waited to start working out again, the harder it was to get back into it. Normally, I would weigh and measure myself today, Sunday, but I'm going to do all of that tomorrow when I wake up. I'm prepared to see setbacks since I haven't worked out in over a week and I haven't really been paying as close attention to what I'm eating as I was doing before. I've decided though, that any setbacks I see on the scale or in my measurements isn't as bad as quitting. And I haven't failed until I quit trying.

For the past 3 years now, we've cooked meat in the ground the Saturday before Super Bowl and we have a party at our house.

Me and Jake

My father-in-law and Jake's cousin

We always start the fire in the ground around 3 pm Saturday and the meat goes in the pit at midnight. So, we have a good time hanging out around the fire pit. This year, I made posole with red chile, and homemade flour tortillas. Every time I've made this in the past, it hasn't turned out like my mama's or grandma's but this time it did! I was so happy.

blended softened red chile pods with other ingredients

separating the red chile sauce from the skins

red chile skins left afterwards

Finished red chile

Pork

Posole before I added the pork

The finished product! Sooo yummy!

My flour tortillas

The cook

The past 2 years we cooked a whole pig, but this year we decided to cook 3 briskets instead. We had a decent turn out and watched the Seahawks stomp the Broncos. I got to catch up with Jake's Aunt Laveta, his cousin Natane, and my good friend Jenny. Throughout the week I continued working on potty training Kennady and she is doing great! I also finished my huge piles of laundry that have been haunting me. The thing I was most happy about is that I was able to get Jakes Crown Royal quilt I started for him in October, sandwiched and over to my mother-in-law's house next door for her to quilt for me. As soon as she's done with that, I'll be able to finish it and finally give it to him.

AJ had to have his 5 year old shots on Wednesday and I took him to get ice cream afterwards. Poor guy! I think it's harder for kids to get their shots when their older and know what's going on than when their younger. It's hard to watch either way. On Thursday I went to get my hair colored. It was my birthday present from my parents. I get my hair done about every 8 weeks or so. I love how it turned out! I see Sasha at Studio 907 Salon in Farmington, NM. I've gone to her since I was about 15 years old and I've NEVER had a bad hair cut or color from her. She is amazing.

Friday was my 26th birthday. This was a hard one for me for some reason. I don't have a problem telling people my age or anything but just the thought of being 26 already is weird. Jake took me and the kids to visit my parents in Fruita, CO on Friday and we got back today. My mother-in-law sent flowers to be waiting for me at my mom's house. They were very pretty. My mom and dad took Jake and I out to Le Rouge for my birthday dinner. This restaurant is sooo good! I had a strawberry salad, a New York strip, and Crème Brule. It was the best! We are glad to be home but I definitely wish my family lived closer! I miss them already. I also received a call from my Grandpa who I haven't spoken with in 1 1/2 years for various reasons. I was very surprised to see his name come up on my phone. It was very awkward but I'm glad I answered, maybe this is the start of some sort of change. Only time will tell.

I just love my Mama! She's so pretty and silly!

Well, I'm glad to be back to the blogging world. I'm excited to continue my fitness journey tomorrow and tell you guys all about it! Thank you so much for reading and commenting! Please share my posts and my blog if you like them!
xo,
Tristen

Puppy is home!

2014-01-29T20:15:00.001-07:00

Since I made my goal yesterday to get my workout done as soon as I wake up from now on, I thought that it'd be a terrible start if I lounged around the first morning after making my goal. I did my 30 min workout on my elliptical. The workout is broken up into 2 minute intervals like this:

1-2 min: resistance 2 rpm 55

2-4 min: resistance 3 rpm 55

5-6 min: resistance 5 rpm 60

7-8 min: resistance 7 rpm 50

9-10 min: resistance 4 rpm 65

11-12 min: resistance 6 rpm 60

13-14 min: resistance 8 rpm 50

15-16 min: resistance 3 rpm 70

17-18 min: resistance 5 rpm 60

19-20 min: resistance 7 rpm 55

21-22 min: resistance 4 rpm 65

23-24 min: resistance 6 rpm 60

25-26 min: resistance 8 rpm 50

27-28 min: resistance 3 rpm 55

29-30 min: resistance 2 rpm 55

It is a really good workout and I sweat profusely starting at the 5-6 min mark until the end. My favorite part of the workout is at the 27-28 min mark because that's the cool down and I'm pretty much done by that point. After that, I did 6 reps of 25 crunches and 4 reps of 25 tricep dips. I was done with my workout and shower by the time I had to take Noah to school (AJ doesn't have Preschool on Wednesdays) and it really felt like an accomplishment.

For breakfast, I ate a piece of 7 grain toast with a little bit of butter and an apple. For lunch, I ate a tuna sandwich with a pickle. For dinner, it was left over night. I had a bowl of beans with onions and sour cream. I haven't drank near enough water today. I'm only on my 4th 24 oz bottle.

After breakfast this morning, I took Kennady's "jamma's" as she calls them, off, took her potty into AJ's room and all 3 of us went in there to organize his room. It took us 2 1/2 hours! It was crazy how unorganized his toys were and how much trash was in his toy bins also. After everything was organized, I went through all of his clothes and took out all of the one's he's out grown. We filled up 3 diaper boxes with clothes and a few pairs of shoes. Next, I decided to rearrange his room and bring in framed super hero posters from Noah's room (I'll be doing Noah's room tomorrow so check back on that) since that is going to be the theme of AJ's room. Last year for AJ's 4th birthday, we did an avenger themed party and Nicole and her boyfriend, (my husband's cousin) Josh, drew this skyline for the dessert table backdrop. I've been saving it so that we can put it up in his room and I finally got around to it today. It is such a cool art piece and AJ thinks it's awesome in his room! I still need to trim it and get some borders to go around it.

These are the pictures from AJ's party:

I made these masks for AJ's present

I made these capes for each of the kids

Jake and his sister, Jessica, trying on AJ's masks

The party set up

The cake was made by Connie Hall at Frosting on Top Cake Shop. She is AMAZING and has been making cakes for my parties for 2 years now. The first one she ever did for me was for my baby shower when I was pregnant with Kennady.

I forgot to post pictures of Kennady's room after I organized it so here they are:

Kennady went from 9:00 until 11:30 ish without an accident but she also didn't use her potty the entire time. I put a diaper on her for lunch time. After dinner tonight, I took her diaper off again and she's doing good. Still not using her potty but she is telling us that she needs to go and then she'll sit on her potty for a second and then get off and say, "no potty" I don't know about this!!! I think she might still be too young but she tells me when she goes in her diaper and asks me to change her so I figure she's ready.

We were able to bring Chase home today! If you missed what happened you can read all about it here. I was so excited when the vet called us. I was not so excited when I had to pay the bill, but ya gotta do what you gotta do. I brought his bed with us because I didn't think he'd be up to walking but WOW, I was wrong! The tech brought him out to me on a leash and he doesn't even have a bandage anymore. He was limping a little bit but he was walking on it. He will stick it out when he is standing still but for the most part you would never guess that anything is wrong. He was so excited to see me! He was licking my face and whimpering. It made me so happy.

I decided as apart of my post each day I'm going to put a little something that my grandma tells me so you guys can get a good laugh like I get to every day. This morning, she was talking to me about how she's never smoked before (she saw a picture of a family member that used to smoke) but her 5 brothers smoked all the time. She said that although her and her sister never tobacco or drugs, one time they went out into her dad's corn field in Mexico after the corn had dried and they smoked the corn cobs! She said that her dad came running to where they were because he saw smoke and she said it was the only time her dad disciplined her. Who thinks to smoke a corn cob!? haha!

I saw this on my Facebook feed just a while ago and thought it was pretty interesting. I think I've always thought like the one on the left but I really want to think like the one on the right. I'm going to really try to overcome thinking like the left because that is so limiting.

Ahhh! Kennady just used the potty for the first time!!!! Just a little bit but it's still a big deal!

Wishing you a goodnight, positive thinking, and a great Thursday!
xo,
Tristen

Organize, workout, and a shoutout to a great friend

2014-01-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

I am on the go from the time the kids wake up until long after their asleep. So, in the morning, before Kennady wakes up and while my boys are getting ready for school I use that time to catch up on my DVR shows, read my scriptures, or craft ya know, just something for me. I feel like I could get a lot more done in my day if I would just do my workout as soon as I wake up at 6 am instead of doing nothing and having to get re-motivated after I take the boys to school. That is my new goal to get my workout done as soon as I wake up, shower, and get on with my day. If I can do that, I can get as much or more done during the day than before I started working out. I've really let my house work go and it's driving me crazy.

After I took the boys to school today and fed Kennady, I decided I'd put off organizing Kennady's room for way too long. I went through her closet and dresser and took out her shoes and clothes that no longer fit her. It is ridiculous how many clothes she has grown out of, some that she never even wore. I filled up 9 diaper boxes and a diaper genie box with all the things she's outgrown. Now she has so much more space in her closet and soooo many hangers. I thought I needed to go buy more but now I don't. I also took the glider and ottoman I had re-covered to match her room, out and I need to sell it. It was kind of an emotional moment for me. She is the last baby I'm going to have and now she doesn't need me to rock her to sleep. I'm enjoying the new things she is doing though. She loves to talk to me, she loves to use her imagination to play, she is telling me when she goes potty in her diaper, and she loves to color.

Once I was done with Kennady's room, I did my HIIT workout. I can't do push ups yet and I don't think I mentioned this in my previous post but where it tells you to do pushups I do more crunches (except the last set of 5 pushups I did squats instead). I added up the totals of this workout and here they are: Jumping Jacks- 275 Crunches- 185 Squats- 100! Jumping Jacks seem so easy at first and then when I hit 25, I really start feeling it. I feel the squats instantly and the crunches I really start feeling them at 25 also. During this whole workout I think, "I can't finish this. Keep going. I can't do it. You'll feel so good once you're done. I can't do it. YES I CAN!" It is a constant battle but I know I'll be so disappointed if I don't finish it so I push on. Today, when I was doing my jumping jacks, Kennady came up and touched my butt and laughed so hard! Then, she'd go sit on the couch and pretty soon she was right back to touching my butt and laughing. When I'm doing my crunches, she will lay by me and put her hands above her head and say, "1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16!" She is my workout buddy and is always asking, "What doing?" I'll tell her I'm working out and then she asks again. She is so funny. I had to go cool down outside because I was burning up after I was done.

Right after my workout, I got AJ off the bus and took a quick shower while he had a snack and Kennady had lunch. AJ is such a great helper with Kennady. I had to hurry and vacuum the living room because it was disgusting! My kids seem to ignore our "no eating in the living room" rule. My great friend (and my husband's cousin's girlfriend) came over with their baby who is 3 days younger than Kennady. It was so much fun to be pregnant at the same time as her. They are expecting their 2nd child in August and I am just as excited as if I were having another baby. Nicole has been with me through some of the worst days, weeks, months of my life and has seen me at my lowest and was always there for me. The most amazing part to me is that she still is there. After seeing all my craziness through the days when I used to drink, to me crying to her over Jake, from her and I not talking for months to picking up right where we left off, she is always there. There are very few people like that and she is the only person outside of my family that has been there and still is there for me through it all. Love you Nic! So, we both needed a play date and so did our kids. Kennady wasn't very nice to Stellan though and it made me so sad because Stellan is such a sweet-hearted little guy and Kennady is a bully. I had to put her in timeout several times and finally I just put her down for a nap. AJ loves playing with Stellan too so they played together the rest of the time and finally got out the "boy toys" (cars, trucks, tools etc.) Its so cute to see them play.

Not much else happened today aside from my Grandma coming over in the morning and in the evening. She tells me the same stories almost every time she comes over. She was talking to me today about a couple of men that have passed away recently in our community and it must have triggered something because she started talking about her father's passing. She told me that before he died when her and her siblings were visiting him in the hospital he told her that her mother, who passed before him, came to him and asked what is taking him so long and she is waiting for him. She said that as they were leaving the hospital a nurse came running after them and told them that he had just passed. I don't know how much of this story is true because of her dementia but it is a sweet sentiment nonetheless.

For breakfast today I had 1/2 cup of rasin bran crunch with a splash of 2% milk. Milk is a HUGE weakness for me and always has been. I used to drink 1-2 gallons of milk per week in high school and wouldn't gain a pound. I really have to watch how much I drink now. For lunch I had a small bowl of left over baked chicken spaghetti. For dinner Jake brought home subway. He got me a 6" Italian BMT (sooo fattening) on flatbread with tons of veggies. This used to be my go to sandwich so he figured it still was. I drank a diet coke with dinner as well. I had 6- 24 oz bottles of water so far today and am on my 7th.

Look at my cute little blogging buddy! "what doing mama?"

Have a great night and a great Wednesday!

xo,

Tristen

Another Day

2014-01-27T21:27:00.000-07:00

I am a fan of the shows the Bachelor and the Bachelorette but I haven't watched this season with Juan Pablo but I loved Sean's season so I recorded and watched Sean and Catherine's wedding this morning before taking the boys to school. It was a really pretty wedding and everything was great about it but really, it made me think about my wedding. I looked at my wedding pictures and thought I'd share a few of my favorite ones.

I was still really sore this morning and I thought for a second about resting one more day but I've heard that the best thing to do when your muscles are sore is to workout again. I decided to do my normal elliptical workout instead of the HIIT one I did the other day. After I did my 30 min cardio, I rushed down to the bus stop to get AJ, checked the mail where I got the lovely bill for my daughters surgery for tubes in her ears. Ugh! I hate medical bills. Anyway, when I got back home and got Kennady set up with lunch in her high chair, I did 6 reps of 25 crunches, 3 reps of 20 bicep curls with a 5 lb weight with each arm, and 3 reps of 20 tricep dips. OH WOW! My arms were killing me afterward.

I drank 5- 24 oz bottles of water. Once again, breakfast got away from me. For lunch I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I had 1 cucumber for a snack. I made beans for dinner. I put 2 cups of beans in the crockpot and filled it up with boiling water, a hamhock, 1/2 an onion, 1 head of garlic with the top cut off, and 1 palmful of salt. I set it to cook on high for 4 hours only because I was pressed for time, normally I would've set it for 6 hours (they could've stood to cook for a bit longer) but they were still very good. Growing up, we always put sour cream in our beans and I still do to this day. I had made Spanish rice a few nights ago with green chile and it was too hot for my kids so we still had some left over which I added to my bowl of beans along with some cheese and onions. I cooked some corn tortillas on the stovetop burner also.

I got to hear from my brother who was called to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to Brazil but he is serving in Mesa until he gets his visa. He's been out for 9 months. I love to get his emails and hear about what he's doing and the lives he's effecting. He has turned into a great young man! He was able to go to the Gilbert, AZ temple open house and he loved it. I really hope I'll be able to go as well.

I let Kennady run around without a diaper while I was doing my workout and she didn't have any accidents but she still isn't using her potty. AJ has been having some pretty huge meltdown's lately about everything. I don't know what to do about it. I try to calm him down, get after him, talk to him, and reason with him. I don't know what is going on with him or how to handle it.

Chase got his surgery done today and everything went great. We were able to go visit him. He is on pain medicine and will be until Wednesday morning so he was pretty lethargic. He perked up when I talked to him and loved on him though. We'll get to bring him home on Wednesday evening. He'll have to take it easy for 6 weeks (I don't know how to make a puppy "take it easy" but we'll figure it out), then he'll have to go back for x-rays in a month to make sure that he's healing good and then he'll get the pins out at the 6 week point. We were all really happy to see him and can't wait until we have him home again. Also, I don't know if his bandage could be any bigger but as long as he's getting better.

Not a whole lot happened today now that I see it all written out lol. I have laundry still sitting in the washer, dryer, piles in the hall, my bathroom still needs to be cleaned, my bedroom still need to be cleaned, and I still need to organize the kids rooms. However, I got my workout in and played with my kids so it was a good day.
Goodnight and have a great Tuesday!
xo,
Tristen

Week 1 Weigh in

2014-01-26T21:57:00.000-07:00

As you've probably noticed, I gave my blog an overhaul, including a new name. I chose the name, REALizing Joy because I am a REAL mom, with REAL kids, a REAL husband, REAL weight issues, REAL setbacks, and REAL accomplishments. When I say REAL, I do so because I think a lot of people think that they shouldn't or can't start a blog unless they have something important to say. I love hearing about and reading real everyday people's blogs. I find it comforting to know that I'm not the only person going through these things and I like to get ideas on how I could handle my life in a different way if I need to. This blog helps keep me accountable, helps me decompress, and gives me a way to reach out to other REAL moms for answers or suggestions.

I woke up today feeling very anxious to weigh in. I am the type of person that needs to see results pretty quickly to feel like I'm doing a good job. I was pleasantly surprised with the results of my weigh in. Hopefully I can continue to keep the discipline I know it will take to see these types of results each week.

Sunday 1/19
Weight 158 lbs.
Measurements
Bust: 41 in.
Waist 40 in.
Hips 40.5 in.

Sunday 1/26
Weight 155 lbs. Lost 3 lbs.
Measurements
Bust: 40.5 in. Lost 1/2 in.
Waist: 39.5 in. Lost 1/2 in.
Hips 40.5 in. No loss

I am so sore today from my workout yesterday that I am waddling around like I just gave birth. Jake has been making fun of me all day. I still wore my 5 1/2 inch stilettos to church today but it sure made going up and down the stairs interesting. Hopefully nobody could see the pain I was trying to hold in. I didn't end up doing any cardio today because I can barely move. I did a lot of stretching and I did 6 reps of 25 crunches which are getting easier every day so hopefully I will be able to do a full sit up soon.

We go to church from 11-2 this year which is nice because we aren't rushing around in the morning to get out the door but it's right during nap time. Today Jake was home so I left Kennady with him so she could get her nap. My calling in church is to be the teacher of the 8-11 year old girls. I always procrastinate planning my lesson. Every week I say I'm going to plan it earlier but every week I find myself planning my lesson Sunday morning. Today was no different and I didn't end up eating breakfast again. I've got to break out of that habit and start eating breakfast! I drank 5- 24 oz bottles of water today. I had half of a tuna sandwich for lunch. Jake made dinner tonight which I was so thankful for. He went to the doctor when he turned 35 in November and found out that his cholesterol is 254 and it should be under 200! Ever since then he has been very mindful about eating healthy and has been a huge help to me with my eating habits.
He made Chicken Baked Spaghetti. It was so good! Also, I had a Diet Coke for dinner..... it was also so good lol!

I just saw some very sad news to our community on Facebook. A dear Coach, Bishop, Teacher, Friend, Father, Husband, and Role Model (the list could go on and on) passed from this life into the next. He truly touched so many hearts and lives. He had a huge effect on my family and I hope his family can find comfort in Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation during this difficult time in their lives. It is comforting to know that we will see our loved ones again someday. Cluff family, we love you and you are in our thoughts and prayers.
Goodnight all and enjoy your Monday!
xo,
Tristen

Saturday is a special day.....

2014-01-25T21:53:00.000-07:00

Saturdays are always busy in the Cockrell house. The kids are involved in sports every season and now that AJ is old enough to play sports we are running the boys everywhere. Luckily soccer hasn't started for AJ yet so we just have Noah's basketball games to go to. He has 2 of them every Saturday.

This was last week but I thought
it was too cute not to share

We also have housework to do on Saturday's. I don't know about you guys but growing up, Saturday was the housework day. When we woke up Saturday morning, and before we could go anywhere or do anything, we had to have our chores done. We had to dust the whole house, vacuum, sweep, mop, clean the 2 bathrooms, clean our rooms, and in the summer we also had yard work to do. Of course we also had laundry to do but since that can't possibly be done in a blink of an eye we just had to make sure we kept up with it through out the day. There were 4 of us kids so we were able to knock out our chores pretty quickly when we weren't fighting about who needed to do what. I promise I'm not complaining about all of this, although at the time I thought it was TORTURE, I just want to let you know that this became habit for me and I make my kids do the same thing lol. Since they're younger, 9, 5, and 1, they don't do all of that but they do each have chores they are responsible for. Sometimes I wonder if I'm giving them more than their capable of at their ages but I do help them with their responsibilities.

I've been waking up all week with terrible headaches. I can't figure out why other than I'm not drinking enough water maybe but I feel like I'm drinking a ton. Like I've said in previous posts I normally drink 5-7 24 oz bottles of water per day. Isn't that enough?! Anyway, it happened again this morning and I really had to push myself to get ready and go to Noah's basketball games. I tried my hardest not to take any medicine for it because I hate taking medicine when I don't absolutely have to but finally at 11:30 I took some ibuprophin and I felt so much better shortly after. When we got back home and I got AJ and Kennady down for their naps I got going on my workout. I needed to change it up a bit though because I was getting bored doing the same thing every day so I decided to try this workout I found on Pinterest. This was seriously the hardest workout I've ever done! I've never in my life done 45 squats in a row! I don't know if that makes me sound weak or what but it's the truth. Holy cow! If this workout isn't HIIT I don't know what is! I was literally shaking the whole time during the workout and after for about 15 minutes. I am so sore already everywhere so I know tomorrow morning I'm going to be hurting for sure but this is exactly what I wanted out of my workout today. I needed to feel the burn again and needed something different. It took me about 30 minutes to get through all of these. I'm sure people who are more fit could get it done a lot quicker. Everyone should try it at least once though and let me know how you did. I'd like to hear all about it. Also I'd love to see or hear about some workouts like this that you've found or tried and liked.

I didn't eat breakfast this morning because I had such a bad headache but for lunch we took my Mother-in-law and my husbands grandma to lunch at 3 rivers and I had their special of the day which was a BBQ chicken sandwich so I really don't know how healthy it was but it sure was yummy! For dinner Jake and I quickly made some tilapia pan fried in olive oil with garlic powder, seasoned salt, and pepper, steamed carrots, and rice. We had to cook so quickly because Jake took AJ to the Monster Truck show in town. He already sent me pictures and isn't AJ so cute?! He looks so happy. He has been talking about it all week and was begging us to make it get dark quicker so they could go.

This morning I got a call from our Vet and he said that both of the bones in Chase's lower leg are broken with a spiral fracture. He said that they have to go in surgically and place pins in and he won't know until they're in there if they can place wire to limit the rotation of the bones or if they'll have to put external pins in. He'll be getting the surgery done on Monday afternoon and will hopefully be able to come home on Wednesday evening. They said he was quiet (which is rare for him) and doing good so at least they're taking care of him.

Thank you all for reading, commenting, and supporting me. Have a great night and a great Sunday!
xo,
Tristen

Cheat/Rest Day

2014-01-25T00:01:00.002-07:00

Today I woke up with a huge kink in my neck. After I took the kids to school, I put a heating pad on it for a while and it didn't help much so then I iced it and it still hurts! Long story short, I decided today is my cheat/rest day. I still watched what I ate for breakfast and lunch. For breakfast I had a Fuji apple with almond butter. For lunch I had a tuna lettuce wrap. For dinner, we had the sister missionaries over. I was going to make breakfast for dinner because I LOVE breakfast food and I don't get to eat it often. However, I only had 3 eggs and didn't have the time or energy to pack the kids up and go to town to get eggs so I decided to make chicken and waffles for dinner. It was so good!
Today we worked on potty training with Kennady. I just let her run around naked and take her to her princess potty we have in our living room every 10 minutes. She never has accidents but she is terrified of the potty. Her princess potty and the big potty. I thought if I put water in her princess potty it would make her want to use it but oh no! Complete opposite! She was screaming for me to take the "milk" (she calls all drinks milk) out of the potty. I even tried bribing her with suckers but it just made her mad that I wouldn't give her one until she used her potty. So I'm at a loss as to what to do now. Jake made it home just as we were finishing dinner and we were all so happy to see him. Kennady is so sweet and misses her daddy when he's gone. She wouldn't let him out of her sight all evening. The boys were also trying to get attention from him so it was pretty funny to watch him do what I do all the time. I love how much she loves him.
On a sadder note, about 2 hours ago, Noah accidentally stepped on our puppy's, Chase, back right leg and broke it. I was able to get ahold of our vet and took him in. As soon as the Dr touched his leg he yelped so loud. So he gave him a tranquilizer so that he could feel where the break is and wrap it up until they can take x-rays tomorrow morning. He said that Chase has a spiral fracture starting at his knee joint going down his leg. It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. I had to leave him there so that they can do the x-rays in the morning and try to get the surgery done tomorrow but He said that they probably won't be able to do it until Monday afternoon due to their surgery schedule already being booked. If they do the surgery on Monday, he'll have to stay until Wednesday. It was so sad leaving him there. I know they will take great care of him though and at least he'll be able to have pain medicine. Noah was very sad about hurting Chase and was freaking out at first. Jake said that when I was gone he went into Noah's room to check on him and he was still crying so as soon as I got home I went to let Noah know what the Dr said and loved on him for a bit. My other dog is a 6 year old Chihuahua named Arrow. When I came home without Chase, Arrow was looking all over for him and was following me around everywhere whining so I know he misses him and is wondering where he is. Life is definitely going to be odd for the next few days without Chase here.

Back to my workout and healthy eating tomorrow. Goodnight!

xo,

Tristen

Crushed IT!

2014-01-23T23:23:00.001-07:00

look at my gross hair!

It never fails, every time I commit to working out something happens. The last time I made this commitment was in August. I was working out with a friend named Rachel Bossio (Crawford). I was so proud of myself because I would wake up at 4:30 am and work out with her from 5-6. Then, I pulled a muscle in my groin! I had to rest up and recover and then I got bronchitis. It lasted for a month or so. I was really down yesterday and this morning because I was feeling terrible. I went back and forth on whether or not I should push forward and do my workout or if I should take it easy. After I ate breakfast, I jumped on the elliptical and crushed my workout! (I crushed it! lol I don't know where that came from but I got a good laugh)

I love this part of my workout!

Then, I did 6 reps of 20 crunches and stretched. I didn't do my obliques or squats today but at least I didn't give in to my excuses.
For breakfast this morning I had malt-o-meal with 1/2 tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. brown sugar.
For lunch I had a salad again with spinach, lettuce, apples,cucumbes, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. so stinkin good!
For dinner I made tacos. My kids have been begging me for them. To make them healthier, I used lean ground turkey instead of ground beef and I baked the tortillas instead of frying them. I left them in the oven for too long the first time and burnt them so I had to do it again and I still left them in for a bit too long. They were still really good! I also made Spanish rice. When we would have tacos for dinner when I was little, my mom would make her a tostada and would just put sour cream and salt on it. I started doing it as well and I love it. I have to have it every time I have tacos so that was my cheat today.

I only drank 5- 24 oz bottles of water today.

After I did my workout, laundry, organized our linen closet, and put Kennady and AJ down for a nap, I spent most of the rest of the day resting. The kids didn't have school today because of parent teacher conferences. I went to Noah's PTC at 4:30. His teacher is so nice and really cares about him which is nice because sadly, there are a lot of teachers and adults who know Noah's reputation and make snap judgements of him or don't have any patience with him. He was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 4 years old and we have had him on a lot of different medicines since then and we take him to counceling and all that. He has come a looong way since then and I am very proud of him. He got straight A's in his academics. His behavior portion of his report card was and always is where he struggles. He is way above where he needs to be with his testing and is in gifted. He is a very smart boy and has so much potential! I just hope he realizes it for himself. If anyone has experience with children with ADHD and has suggestions for me, I'd appreciate it. My husband and I have tried everything we can think of to help him with his behavior and we just don't know what to do to help him excel in that area. Noah is so proud of his bracelets that he made!

One of AJ's chores is to feed and water the dogs. Kennady loves to help him so I tried to get a picture of them working together.

I finished one of my V-day wreaths today and will hopefully finish the other one tomorrow. I love how it turned out and yes, I got the idea from pinterest because I'm addicted to pinterest.

My sister pointed out to me that I didn't say much about where I got my Valentine's day décor that I posted yesterday so I'm going to repost those pictures.

I found this heart garland on Pinterest last year and finally made it.

I got these mini milk bottles with this chicken wire box from save-on-crafts.com last year to use for my daughter's first birthday party.

I got the white milk bottle, the pink jar, and the red hearts from hobby lobby and I've had the red vase for a long time.

The industrial style light is from Target, the wooden heart with the bird and the 3 wicker hearts are from hobby lobby

The 3 little vases are from Target's dollar section and they were each just $1! The clear milk bottle is from Hobby Lobby and again, I've had the red vase forever.

I love the final product! After decorating for Valentine's day, I think I should warn my husband that I'm going to be decorating for every holiday from now on!

Goodnight everyone and TGIF! Enjoy!

xo,

Tristen

Feeling yuck-o

2014-01-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

Today was tough! I still didn't get to sleep at a decent hour last night and I really think the lack of sleep is catching up with me because I was EXHAUSTED this morning!!! My bed seemed extra comfy and I sooo didn't want to get up! AJ had peed the bed in the middle of the night again so on top of not being able to fall asleep, I also had to take care of that and had a hard time getting back to sleep. Once I got up and got going though I was fine. Today when I did my 30 min HIIT cardio I decided to listen to The Book of Mormon on my phone instead of my usual music. I really think I'm going to do that from now on. I felt great afterwards, both physically and spiritually.

Clearly I'm not a photographer

I saw a post from someone today
that ran 6 miles in 30 min. I hit 1.7!!

I again did 6 reps of 20 crunches, 5 reps of 20 oblique twists with 5 lbs, 3 sets of 20 squats with 5 lbs. Whew! My inner thighs are feeling those squats today and my abs hurt so good. Of course I did a lot of stretching after all that as well.

I've always been terrible about eating breakfast and I completely forgot to eat this morning. Yikes! I was trying to finish up my V-day décor crafts so I could post them tonight but.... I didn't so I'll have to post it tomorrow.
For lunch I ate a yummy salad with lettuce, spinach, carrots, cucumber, celery, tomatoes, bell peppers, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil.
For dinner I really didn't feel like cooking, so we hit subway again and I had a 6" flatbread sweet onion chicken teriyaki with spinach, jalapenos, and sweet onion sauce.
I drank 7- 24 oz bottles of water today! Yay!!
I did terrible about taking food pics today. I'll do better tomorrow though.

So, after lunch today I was getting Kennady to sleep and my left eye started itching really bad and it felt like I had something in it so as soon as I laid her down I looked at it and the inside of my lower eyelid was sooo swollen!
I don't know how it happened but it took forever to go away. I took my contacts out and rested my eyes with AJ and fell asleep hard!
Luckily, I didn't sleep for long and unfortunately, neither did Kennady. When AJ woke up, he was trying to sneak by me into his room because once again he peed in my bed!!! Once Noah got home and my Grandma came over, we went to town to get PULL-UPS!!! Hooray for pull-ups! I also told the kids they could each pick out a toy. Noah got a rubber band loom (yep... now we're on that band wagon but I'd rather him be doing that instead of playing his Kindle), AJ chose a nerf gun, and so did Kennady! I also just filed our taxes! I'm so happy that is done and over with!

On another note I'm getting sick, booo! I'm achy all over. Yes, I'm sore from my workouts still but this is different. My throat hurts, my head hurts, and like I said I'm achy so I'm so frustrated and really need input on how to adjust my workout so that I'm not killing myself and I can allow myself to get well again but still stick to some activity. Any suggestions will be great!

Ok I am super excited about all my cute V-day stuff (this is the first time in the 5 years we've lived here that I've decorated for anything but Christmas) so this is what I have so far...

Look for the rest on my post tomorrow! Goodnight!

xo,

Tristen

A little about me....

2014-01-21T23:09:00.000-07:00

I realized that I haven't really told "my story" yet so I'm going to do a bit of that in this post. I met my husband a couple weeks after I graduated high school in 2006 at a local plumbing supply store. We both grew up in the same town and graduated from the same high school however, we are 10 years apart so even though we are from a small community and knew a lot of the same people we had never met or even heard of each other. At the time we met I was 18 and he was 27. He also had a 1 1/2 year old son. He worked there until June of 2008 when he took another job at Hoerbiger (an oilfield supply company) as a machinist. He worked his way up to branch manager and in August 2011 he was offered a job as a sales man for CECO. During all this time I worked at Country Club Family Dental Care/Sundance Dental Care. I started there in October 2006 as a Scheduling Coordinator and worked my way up to Financial Coordinator. In October of 2008 they opened a third location and offered me the position of Lead Financial and Scheduling Coordinator. In June of 2010 I was offered the position of Office Manager. Just before my husband was offered the job at CECO, we found out that we were expecting another child and decided that I really needed to quit my job to stay home with the kids. Jake's new job allowed me to do this because of the pay increase. I resigned my position as Office manager in December 2011. The down side to my husbands job is that it takes him out of town 3-5 days a week 3 weeks out of the month. This was another reason that I needed to stay at home with the kids. The reason I felt I needed to include all of that in this post is because my husband is such a hard worker and always has been. He has had some pretty big bumps in the road that held him up for a while but he never gave up and never let what people in the community said or thought about him keep him from trying and progressing. I love that about him more than I can express and I just felt that he needed to get a bit of recognition for a sec.

With all that said, Jake left to go out of town yesterday morning so my 5 year old son, AJ slept in my bed with me. *something I should also mention is that my husband had an issue with wetting the bed until he was 11 and both my 9 year old and my 5 year old have the same issue. It's not every night and we limit liquid intake before bed, we've tried prescription medication, etc etc* Once again, I didn't go to sleep until about 1 am. This time I slept straight through my 5:45 and 6:00 alarms. When my 6:30 alarm went off I freaked out and reached over to wake AJ up, because we overslept, and put my hand right in a giant puddle of urine! (btw, normally I have a HUGE supply of pull-ups for my boys to wear but we ran out...)

Ugh! I was so frustrated because all I wanted to do was get the boys up and get my workout done before I had to take them to school buuut, there were other plans in store again lol. So AJ says, "Mom, I really need a bath before I get dressed so my friends won't know I peed the bed." I laughed so hard because of course I was going to give him a bath but the fact that he was so concerned about his friends finding out reminded me of his sweetness. So I got him in the bath and went to wake up my 9 year old, Noah. He decided last night that he wanted to keep the puppy's kennel in his room so that I wouldn't want to sell him anymore (He is a 6 month old Beagle with all of his shots and not neutered.... yet. Asking what we paid $500. we have his papers as well. Just thought I'd get that out there while I'm at it) As soon as I walked into his room, I could smell it, he peed the bed as well! What the heck! So, I told him to take the dog out and take a shower. I went to wash AJ up and helped him get dried off. By the time I was done with all of that, it was 7:15 so I couldn't get my 30 min cardio done by the time I needed to take the boys to school so I watched the Today Show until it was time to leave. As soon as I got back I set my Grandma's medicine on the island and got on the elliptical. My daughter's baby monitor started beeping 7 minutes into my workout but she was fine playing in her crib with her babies so I kept on going. 17 minutes into my workout my Grandma came over. She ALWAYS lets my dogs out when she comes over but today I had no clue until my husband's step-mother (who happens to be my neighbor as well which I love) brought them back. Once I was done with my cardio I got my daughter up and got her breakfast and put cartoons on while I stretched, did my ab workouts (6 reps of 20 crunches and 5 reps of 20 oblique twists with 5 lbs) and instead of cycling motion I did 3 reps of 20 squats. I did1 more rep of crunches than the past 2 days and 2 more reps of oblique twists than the past 2 days so I was very happy at the end of the work out.

For breakfast I ate 1 Fuji apple with 2 tbsp. of almond butter

For lunch I ate a tuna lettuce wrap with tomato and cheese (we ran out of bread that was unfrozen so I didn't do this on purpose although I'm really happy I did. Super yummy!)

I had a snack at about 2:30 of 2 clementine oranges with 2 tbsp. homemade bluecheese dressing (sounds weird but oh so good! and normally I would've had 6 oreos and a glass of milk lol FOOD ADDICT!!!)

For dinner my kids wanted to go to Chile's because we were at Hobby Lobby (I did my Valentine's day décor crafts today so they'll be on my post tomorrow) so I got a new shrimp chipotle fresh mex bowl. It had rice and black beans, lettuce, pico de gallo, avocado, shrimp, and cheese in it. It was so dang good. I didn't eat the cheese so I could be a little healthier.

I also drank water allll day long! I drank 6- 24 oz bottles of water that is 144 oz. If you are supposed to drink half your weight of water in oz for me it would be 80 oz so I beat that by 64 oz! I had to pee constantly, like as much or more than when I was 9 months pregnant, but I beat my goal! yay!

I have to say that when I woke up late this morning I was kind of happy because I thought I could use it as an excuse to skip the workout today but I pushed past that feeling and did the workout anyway and once again, I was so proud that I finished it. It's the little accomplishments like that that are important. I need those little accomplishments to push me along. So expect me to tell you alllll of my accomplishments because no matter how small, it's making me better than I was yesterday. So tomorrow when I wake up the words of a sweet friend, who just messaged me on facebook asking where my post is for today, will be my motivation, "tomorrow is hump day! we're half way through the first week!" Good night everyone!
XO,
Tristen

Flexibility and Commitment

2014-01-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you about my night.... I went to bed at 1 am (lately I just can't seem to get to sleep at a decent hour), at 3:30 ish our 9 year old comes and crawls into bed with us. Our 5 year old was in bed with us not too long after also. If our daughter wasn't in a crib still, I'm sure she would've been in bed with us too. We do have a king sized bed but we may as well have been sleeping in a twin last night! Also, I forgot to turn my 5:45 am alarm I have set for week days off. Once that alarm went off I was up for the day. My elliptical machine is in my bedroom so I couldn't do my workout as soon as I woke up like I had planned on. Soon I found myself catching up on shows on my DVR and feeling lazier and lazier. I need to mention that when I woke up I was SORE SORE SORE!!!! My abs are killing me and my shoulders and legs are feeling the workout I did as well and I love that feeling. However, I found myself thinking of every reason not to do my workout today. The more I thought about not working out the more disappointed I was in myself. So I decided to get going as soon as my boys woke up. I got the cardio part of my workout done by 8:45 and as soon as I was done my daughter woke up and my Grandma Zapata (my mom's mom) was here to get her morning medicine.

-Side note: My Grandma was diagnosed in December with moderate to severe dementia. She and I are the only members of our family left in our hometown so we've become really close these past 6 weeks because she comes over every morning and evening for her medicine. She is so funny and is one of the highlights of my days.

My Grandma loves to talk and I really do love to listen to what she has to say but I really have to listen closely because she mumbles (because she is hard of hearing as well) and she has a pretty thick Spanish accent still AND likes to speak Spanglish! She'll be telling me a story about something and all the sudden she's speaking Spanish!
I still needed to do my crunches and ab workouts so I had to take a break while she was here. Once I was able to continue my workout, I did 5 reps of 20 crunches, 3 reps of 20 oblique workout things with 5 lbs, and 2 min cycling motion on the couch with 5 lbs. I was so happy and proud of myself for seeing it through and not letting the changes to my daily schedule mess up my fitness. There are always going to be reasons not to work out but I'm trying to focus on my reasons TO workout:
1. I want to be healthy
2. I want to feel good about what I look like
3. I want to prove to myself that I can do it
4. I want to be a good example to my children of what healthy is
5. I want to relieve stress!!!!!
For breakfast I had 1/4 cup of honey strawberry greek yogurt, 1/4 cup of flax and pumpkin seed granola (which I love to snack on anyway), and 1/2 of a banana.

For lunch I had a tuna sandwich with cheese, lettuce, and tomato.

For dinner I had a 6" flatbread sweet onion chicken teriyaki with spinach.
(no pic...sorry)
I know I wasn't perfect today with what I ate but I made better choices throughout the day. I didn't eat chips with my sandwich, I got a 6" instead of a footlong which I could very easily devour! Also, I decided to weigh myself today and then I won't weigh myself again until Sunday. Today I weighed 156 lbs! I lost 2 lbs!!!! Even if it is just water weight, it's the motivation I needed to see today. Better than gaining 2 lbs of water weight in my opinion.
I just want to take a second and say thank you to everyone for your kind thoughts and comments and all of the encouragement I've received. I feel a lot better about putting all of this out there and really look forward to hearing about everyone else's journeys to fitness! Nobody can stop you but you! Don't be the reason you aren't happy! I failed to mention I am the biggest Friends fan ever! I own every episode and have watched them all hundreds of times.... not even exaggerating a little bit. In one of the episodes Phoebe says, "I don't want to be the reason you're unhappy. That would just make me unhappy. And I really don't want to be the reason I'm unhappy." I totally agree! We each control our own happiness. Yeah crappy things happen to all of us, some more often than others but you can still choose to be happy. So get fit and be happy!
Goodnight! xo,
Tristen
PS. Also, this happened today. Terrible 2's at 21 months yaaaaay......

2014 Focus on Fitness

2014-01-19T22:51:00.001-07:00

Let me start by saying that posting this really freaks me out. The thought of putting my insecurities and flaws out there for everyone to see is very scary but I have received a lot of inspiration by reading other peoples stories of their journey's to getting fit and I think by posting my own journey I'll be even more motivated.
I had my first biological child at the age of 20. 2 weeks after having him, I was back in my pre-pregnancy clothes (size 3 pants, medium tops). Slowly I gained 20 lbs over about 2 years. When I got pregnant with my daughter I weighed 142 lbs. The day she was born I weighed 165 lbs. I got down to 129 lbs just by breastfeeding but I plateaued there for about 3 months. As soon as I quit breast feeding, I started gaining weight. I LOVE food. I have the biggest sweet tooth and can honestly say I'm a food addict. I also have never found a love for working out. I have never really needed to work out in the past to feel good about how my clothes fit. Before Thanksgiving this past year, I decided to weigh myself. To my despair, I weighed 160 lbs!!!! Just 5 lbs less than when my daughter was born! How could I have let myself get to that point? So I decided that I wanted to enjoy the holidays and I would buckle down after the new year began. Of course, I continued to find reasons not to work out or eat right (I'm too tired, I have too much going on, it's too hard to make separate meals for me and for my family, I don't want to feel deprived, etc etc) and every time I got on the scale I would be disappointed because I expected my weight to magically get to the number I wanted without having to work for it. As dumb or silly as this may sound, Brittany Spears' song "You Better Work B****!" makes a lot of sense to me and is the reminder that I need that you don't get something for nothing. You get what you put into things, whether that's your job, your church calling, your finances, your relationships, or your workouts.
My goal weight is 110 lbs. Overall though, I just want to feel comfortable in my clothes, feel good about my body, and be healthy. Based on what I weigh today (158 lbs) I have 48 lbs to lose. I would really like to hit this goal by the first week of April because I'm going on a business trip with my husband. That is 10 weeks away. Completely doable right? I think so!
Like I mentioned earlier, I'm not too familiar with which workouts are best but I know the areas I need/want to work on the most, my stomach, my arms, my legs, and my butt. Today I did 200 crunches, 60 twisty ab workout things with 5 lb. weights, 5 min cycling motion while sitting on the edge of the couch leaning back a bit and holding 5 lb. weights in each hand straight out, and I did HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) on the elliptical for 30 minutes. (BTW my machine shows time left on workout)

I had seen Maria Kang on the Today Show back in October of last year and thought it was crazy how people were taking offense to her and her views on fitness. I decided to search her name on Bing and checked out her website and thought it was pretty awesome. Then I searched her name on Facebook and found this closed group called No Excuse Moms. I absolutely love seeing updates posted on this group and hearing how far people have come. I highly recommend anyone looking for a little (or a lot) of inspiration or motivation to get moving to request to be added to this group.
These are pictures I took recently, they are going to be my "before" pictures eventually:

I'm really not proud of where I'm at right now and I am fully aware of what I look like so please do not post any negative comments as they will be deleted. I am proud that I am taking steps in the right direction and will gladly welcome positivity and encouragement.
I hope everyone has a great night and enjoy your Monday!
xo,
Tristen

Photo Book

2012-12-03T16:06:00.001-07:00

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Photo Book

2012-12-03T16:05:00.001-07:00

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