My First Launch!

Last week we launched the newest release of Body Jam...


I'm not gonna lie, I was so nervous about this launch because it was my first official launch as the Jam Coach. Our downtown club TOTALLY pulled it out and we had over 80 participants! The dance floor was so crowded it was almost hard for people to even move! We had such a blast!


This is just part of the amazing group we had! There was so much energy in that room... it was the most amazing feeling in the WORLD!

Layton was definitely not as full, but we still had a fantastic time. We had a couple Jam sistas that I was so excited to have there!


These girls are so fantastic!

I seriously could not have asked for a better launch or a better team... Sherry and Dev, I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Why I run

I've gotten out of habit, and that's a terrible thing. I loved how I felt when I was training for the marathon and running 5 days a week. I have a race in just a few more weeks, so I've been a little better this week with getting up and going, but I know I could be better. I just need to remember the reasons WHY I run, so here goes nothin' :)

First and foremost, I love the way I feel when I'm running consistently. It seems a little strange, but I have more energy and I feel great about myself. When I'm running, I can walk up the 4 flights of stairs at work and not get too winded, which I think is a very good thing. Really, I just feel fantastic physically and I'm looking for that feeling again... cuz, you know, I've lost that lovin' feelin'.

Second, it gives me a sense of accomplishment. When I complete a full week of training without missing a single day, I truly feel like I've done something to push myself in the right direction. It's almost like if I can do that, I can do so many other things that seem a little impossible.

Third, and maybe my favorite reason of why I run, is this...


and this...


and so many others that I haven't even tried yet! I'm still working on cupcake recipes, and the only time I let myself eat them is after a big race. With that said...

Let me grab my running shoes... I want a CUPCAKE!

The music made me do it...

It's been a slow and kinda boring past couple of weeks, but I promised I'd post this week and I try really, really hard to keep my promises. Let's just ignore the fact that I wanted to post every week and start fresh, shall we?

Since coming home from California, it's been back to business. I finally got to meet the cutest little baby in the entire world (who was born my first day in Cali) and it was the highlight of my week! He is just the sweetest little boy and I wish I could see him more often than I get to. But, thanks to the new season of Biggest Loser starting tonight (WOO HOO!!!) I will get to see him every Tuesday night!


Probably not the greatest picture, but you can still see how handsome this little guy is!

The week after getting home from California was actually a full work week, which, after working 3 or 4 day weeks and then being on vacation for a week, was pretty brutal. Good thing it only lasted a week, right? The next week was my birthday, so I took a day off to celebrate! It started with good run at the gym then to the SL temple (my first trip down there) with my good friend, Rino. It was such an awesome experience! When we got back, I got a much needed pedicure from another awesome friend... thanks, Mary! After the pedicure, I needed to get some shopping done for the par-tay! Rino met me at the Latin market and about $50 later we had enough carne asada to feed an army. Actually, I still have a ton left in the freezer, so if anyone has a hankering for delicious beef or pork, you know who to call. After the market, I headed to my parents' house and made red velvet cupcakes... for someone who loves baking as much as I do, why wouldn't I make my own cupcakes on my birthday?!

People came to party around 7:30 and we ate, talked, danced, smacked around a pinata, roasted pineapple, and watched a movie for the rest of the night. It was actually pretty fantastic! I'll post pictures when I can get to them...

The birthday weekend continued with a foto frenzy day (pictures to follow SOON) and a baseball game with few good friends. Another fantastic day of celebrating.

Sunday, I had a second birthday dinner with my parents, Amber, and my cute grandpa with delicious food and chocolate covered cinnamon bears :) I decided for some reason that my birthday was lasting all weekend long, so I fell off the wagon a little bit, but it's a time for celebrating, right?

Monday I gathered some friends, my parents, and my sister with her girls and went to the river! I had only gotten to raft once this season (so sad) and I requested that, if the river was high enough, we make a Labor Day trip. It was a little chilly, but overall a fantastic river trip. I especially enjoyed the part where I hit a wall of water on Big Kahuna... OH YEAH!

Since the celebrating has come to a close, I've just been working and working. I guess things have been a little more exciting than I thought. A friend of mine from the gym who works for the Job Corps. in Clearfield asked me to help her group of kids participate in the Let's Move, America campaign. Every night this week I get to go hang with these kids and teach them the Beyonce "Move Your Body" dance. Last night was kind of fantastic, so here's hoping the rest of the week goes just as well!

Oh, and I get to Jam in O-town with the Jamily tonight... can't get any better than that! I guess that must explain the title of this post :)

A little get-away... to DISNEYLAND!!!

The last couple weeks have been sort of fabulous. The 12th and 13th of this month I was lucky enough to run the Epic Cache-Teton relay with my oldest brother and sister. I ran last year with my bro and it was so much fun and I'm so happy I could do it again this year.
Because I had run the Ogden Marathon in May, our team captain decided to give me the second hardest leg in the whole race. I was seriously intimidated, especially when I saw the first hill I had to climb. This picture is right after I finished my first leg.


I can't decide if I'm sucking in air or water. Either way, it was so HARD! I got sick on my second leg with about 2 miles left, but I made up for it by helping out other people on our team. This is one of my favorite pictures from the relay, even if I am in my shorty shorts...


Our team finished in just over 31 hours. A little slower than last year, but it was still EPIC! Go Vilage Idiots!


The day after the relay, I decided to celebrate with a little trip to DISNEYLAND! I went with a few friends from the ward and ended up with more friends than when we left! There were a few (ok, a lot more than a few) issues along the way, but the whole week was pretty much a blast. This pretty much sums up every moment of the trip.


Oh, how I heart this picture! I was lucky enough to see a good friend who lives in California as well and spend time with her cute little family.


The best part...? Spending time with them at the BEACH! Every time I go to the beach, it reminds me of how much I would love to live in California.
The only bad part for me really was having to spend time with someone I wasn't really ready to spend time with just yet. Still, I wouldn't trade that week for anything in the world. It was so, so nice to get away from everything for a while and just have some FUN!
Here are a few more photos... just to make you a little jealous :)


Just the girls!


At the Chinese Theater in Hollywood... my hand fit with Marilyn Monroe!


Such a fun group!


Oh, I was so excited to see Woody and Jessie... Toy Story is one of my FAVS!


We got to stop at the Shelby Museum in North Vegas and I was oh so happy... never mind the fact that we were stuck there for about 5 hours... that's a whole other story.
Needless to say, I did not like coming back to work yesterday. DISNEYLAND!!!

Tears

I wanted to post once a week... really I did. I had every intention of writing at least once a week about everything that was going on. Honestly, I don't know what happened to that, but I'll try to catch up quickly.

I don't remember ever posting about the Gold's Gym Employee Challenge, but I won. All that torture of no sugar totally paid off and I am now the proud owner of an iPad 2! Since the challenge ended and the marathon came and went, I've fallen off the wagon a bit (or a lot). I decided today that it ends and I get back on track. I get tired of hearing people complain about their weight, so I'm going to end that right there.

I've gotten quite a few photo sessions lately, and I absolutely love it! Honestly, if I could quit my day job and do photos full-time, I would in a heart beat. Maybe someday...

Last weekend, I actually started a Photo Frenzy - something I'll do once a month where I spend an entire afternoon doing session after session for anyone who wants to come. I only had two appointments last weekend, but it turned out perfectly. Here is one of my favorites from the second session.


The end of June I had the opportunity to go to an IT conference in Philadelphia with a couple of co-workers. We had a pretty good time... even though we didn't get to go to a Phillies game. We visited a good portion of the tourist sights, went on a ghost tour of the city, and ate AMAZING Philly Cheesesteaks from the original cheesesteak restaurant. YUM!

Since I started going to the ward that I actually live in, I've met some pretty awesome people. Honestly, it's a little hard for me to make friends. I'm really kind of shy, believe it or not. Anyway, I was lucky enough to meet amazing people, including one amazing guy... long story short, my first official heart break commenced. I'll say this much, I can now say I actually know what it feels like. I'd never cared so much for someone before and it hurts. And so begins the process of mending...

I still have amazing friends and incredible parents who are there to help me get back on track. I seriously don't know what I'd do if I didn't have them :)

On a happier note... exciting news! Our Body Jam coach is moving to Chicago. Ok, that's not so exciting for us, but Nikki is stoked. I've been asked to take her place as the new coach. WHOA BABY!!! Really, I'm a little terrified. She has some big, flashy shoes to fill. But I'm so, so excited for this opportunity! Last night, we had a final Jam-fest with her and the O-town Jamily before she leaves and it was so incredible! Music was played, tears were shed, and sweat was dripped on the dance floor... and I loved every minute of it. I'm so lucky to have one thing where it doesn't matter how hurt or sad I feel, how awful my day or week has been, I can go for just one hour and be free and let everything go.

love

Oops... I did it again!

Typing that, the Brittney Spears song started running through my head. Some things just happen!

I will be posting results of the Gold's Gym Employee Challenge soon, but I wanted to at least try to get caught up with posting! I feel like it's been so long and my blog has been neglected... poor baby!

A couple weeks ago, it was Amber's birthday. I just have to say, it is so great to finally have best friends (ahem) that actually care about me and don't ALWAYS think of just themselves. Anyway, Amber is one of these friends and so I wanted to try and make her birthday as awesome as possible.

During the cupcake experiment, her absolute favorite was the cherry turnover cupcake, so making a GIANT cherry turnover cupcake for her birthday was a no-brainer. I made it the night before, hoping it would be completely awesome... but it turned out like this


Ugh... oh well. She still ate it and loved it and that's all that matters, right? Anyway, her birthday started off with a hair appointment, so naturally she wanted new pictures to show off her new do. We snatched Tiffany, grabbed some Jamba Juice (yes, I finally had a Jamba Juice this year) and went to a park for a quick photo shoot. I think this is my favorite from the afternoon!


Aren't we so adorable? Just kidding... but it's kinda true :) That night a bunch of people got together for a Bee's game just for her birthday and aside from it being a really, REALLY long game it was so much fun! We went to the Pie for dinner after at Amber's request.


What a great night :) it was just so much fun to be with a bunch of friends. I definitely think it is necessary to do this again very, very soon!

Aw, DANG!

So... I missed last week! I was focused completely on my trip to Arizona and totally forgot to blog! Oops. I'll make up for it, I promise.

The week before last week I pretty much just took as a recovery from the marathon. I did a few classes (even a couple extra) and barely ran at all. I really, really need to get back into training for the half marathon in July! I have to finish in under two hours! We'll see what happens.

I need to get something out. It turns out, adding sugar back into my diet has NOT been a good thing! My "free" days I go absolutely crazy and, honestly, the sugar makes me so cranky. Last Wednesday, I gave myself a free day and did pretty well while I was at work. When I got home, however, I found the mini eggs, frosting, cupcake and Reese's in the freezer as well as the cinnamon bears in the cupboard... and a shared Blondie at Applebee's. Ugh. I was so, so cranky from the sugar! It doesn't make me happy. It makes me upset. The same thing happened Sunday at my brother's house in Arizona when I overloaded on delicious cake, peach cobbler, ice cream and cookies. They were fantastic, don't get me wrong. But I just got so mad at myself for not having will power to slow down.

So, my new goal is to leave the "free day" for only special occasions and no more than once a week. Hopefully I'll be able to control my sugar eating! On the way to Arizona I read Bob Harper's book Are You Ready! and it was fantastic. It was all about loving yourself and respecting your body enough to carefully consider everything that goes in it. I'm already to the point where I need to review the first section of the book, but, I highly recommend it!

That's it for now... I will, very soon, post about the trip AND the amazing new toy I recently acquired :)

Ogden Marathon 2011

So, here it is FOUR FULL DAYS after one of the biggest events of my LIFE and I haven't even blogged about it yet! Well, that changes now...

Last Saturday, May 21st, I had the amazing opportunity to run the Ogden Marathon. I had trained for this race for so long I could hardly believe the time had come! Serious preparation (other than training) began Friday morning.

I woke up seriously early after a short yet wonderful night sleep to run a quick two miles and get to work by 6:30. I only worked three relaxed hours and headed for an awesome temple trip with one of my best friends. As soon as our work was done there, we headed to Salt Lake so I could get a photo printed for my parents. Next, I stopped at my apartment to pack (this is when the nerves started) for the next 24 hours. Tiffany headed home and I visited Amber at work because she said she had something for me... a card with cute little kittens and a long note. I won't go into details, but it was very sweet and very motivating. Because I was able to eat white bread last week, I went to Texas Roadhouse to get a dozen rolls because I had been craving them for weeks! Um... delicious! Next stop was my parents' house to bake amazing hot chocolate cupcakes that I would be able to enjoy the next day. I went to my niece and nephews' singing group program and to dinner with my parents, then back to their house for serious sleep.

Four a.m. came SO quickly and I was feeling really jittery. I grabbed two more TR rolls with a little peanut butter and a banana and headed out the door with my dad, who was kind enough to wake up before the sun to take me to the bus. I got very lucky and ran into a group of girls from the gym as soon as I got there, so I rode on the bus with them and sat next to a really cute girl who was also running the marathon for the first time. We rode for what felt like an eternity to the starting point of the race and waited in the mud for the run to begin. A long, long time after (ok, so it was only about an hour and 45 min) we started lining up. At this point I was just ready for the race to begin! The gun went off (I think, I didn't actually hear it) and off we went.

I ran into a few people I knew on the course, but for the most part ran alone. It was so nice! I would pass a mile and notice how quickly the time was moving. I felt pretty good the most of the time, pulling out the Tylenol at mile 13, again at mile 21, and Clif Shot Bloks at mile 22. As I pulled out of the canyon and approached the beginning of mile 24, my friend Sherry who I teach Body Jam with was there cheering me on... and I lost it. I cried for a minute and then got a major burst of energy that carried me through til I saw the finish line. It was insane! It seemed like hundreds of people - including some of my friends and family - were there screaming for all the runners. After 26 miles, I still had enough energy left to sprint for the finish line. The end was amazing. My clock time was just a few seconds after four hours and my chip time was 3:57:06. I was pretty stoked about that!

My biggest supporters through this whole process were my parents... and you can bet I almost lost it again when I saw them right before I finished. Any time I freaked or thought about quitting, they would kindly remind me that I was totally capable of pulling this off!

I was also lucky enough to have a fantastic group of great friends waiting for me. I know a couple of them were only there for the cupcakes (ahem, Trent, ahem) but, still, it was awesome they were there! I admit, a few tears were shed when I met Amber after crossing, but we had previously warned each other that would happen, so it wasn't a big surprise.

Let's not forget one of the main perks that drove me through the last 7 miles or so...



SUGAR!!! And it was oh so good! My cupcakes were delicious, both the hot chocolate and key lime pie flavors I sampled. The cinnamon bears (which was the FIRST treat I ate) were divine. And the Cadbury Mini Eggs... YUM O! And the real reason I ran and finished, and why I will probably run this race again next year...



The AMAZING feeling I had when this medal was placed around my neck...

Love...