Happy Birthday Angel Boy

March 22nd is a bittersweet day.  It's the day my dear Georgie died, it's my darling mother-in-law's Birthday and today we add to the calendar as the day we bought the farm I have been dreaming about since I was little.  I feel that through the death of my son, the Lord has helped me associate this date with so many positive thoughts that it's hard for me to feel sad today.  I also find it hard to believe that it was just a coincidence that we acquired such a beautiful piece of heaven today, of all days.  This tender mercy that the Lord has given to us represents the culmination of my highest expectations for life, when 5 short years ago, I felt I was at my lowest point.

Elder Bednar wrote about this so beautifully saying, "The Lord’s tender mercies do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Faithfulness, obedience, and humility invite tender mercies into our lives, and it is often the Lord’s timing that enables us to recognize and treasure these important blessings."  As I serve more in my church and community I realize more and more that when my heart is in the right place as I serve,  my testimony grows and I am blessed with peace and understanding about my life and it's purposes, a part of which, I believe, is to raise my children on a real working farm! I truly make it a point to put service to the Lord and his children first in my life and I see the hand of the Lord guiding me through life's big decisions.  The Lord made this happen and it happened on such a significant date that I cannot deny that it is his desire for me to continue striving for my long time goal to put myself and kids to work on our farm. 

I am grateful for my son who has returned to live with his creator and who inspires me every day to live worthy of his perfection.  I know he's up in heaven with all my farmer ancestors, laughing at how I've come full circle and some might be wondering why I would choose farm life over the easy way.  lol. Thanks for supporting me, my dearest family in heaven, and my beautiful son.  I love you.  Happy Birthday.

Farm Life Routine

Who wouldn't love this little creature! I'm all giddy inside just thinking about baby chicks, goats and pigs:)

I think about my ideal routine every day, especially since we're buying our dream farm tomorrow! I really won't believe it until I sign. I'm really excited. If you want to see photos, here's a good site...


To have a good farm, this is what I think I will have to do

6:00 wake up and exercise
6:30 take a shower and get ready
7:00 read scriptures
7:30 get my kids up and dressed
8:00 Go outside, feed animals on our farm (chickens, cats, dogs, goats, pigs, alpaca, water buffalo) Gather eggs, milk goats, pick fresh fruit and vegetables from garden
9:00 eat breakfast of fresh eggs, raw milk, home made bacon and sausages and home grown fruit
9:30 home school the kids
11:30 lunch
12:00 Henry goes to Chinese School(eventually all my kids will go)
12:30 babies take naps and older kids go outside to play with animals, work in the garden, climb in tree house/playground
1:30 Prepare food for dinner while babies still sleep
2:30 Clean up
3:30 Henry comes home from school - eat snack
3:45 Practice music, go to sports practices, music lessons
5:30 get dinner cooking - dad comes home
6:00 eat dinner
7:00 playtime with dad since we will have already gotten homework done in the morning(benefit of homeschooling)
8:00 kids to bed and milk goat again
9:00 blog!

Slow and steady wins the race

I can't wait to implement my master plan.  

Body Breakdowns

My mom just got diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease, which affects the thyroid and my dad just started taking thyroid medication as well.  I don't know how I'll handle the breakdown of my body as I age.  My plan is to prevent whatever I can prevent and then at least I won't feel guilty if I get something that's self inflicted. 

Great progress!

This week I did a Sprint 8 and ended at 12 on the treadmill.  I think I can do more intervals at 12 next time.  It's so intense to be running so fully and to feel my body breaking free like that.  Today I did a half hour medium run because I could still feel my muscles hurting from my Saturday workout and my legs felt like lead.  I ran at about 7 the whole time and just listened to my music, pretended to play the guitar when "Harder and Harder to Breathe" by Maroon 5 came on (love that guitar part) and envisioned myself as Christina Aguilera and sang "Fighter" to myself which is my all time favorite motivational song.  

Saturday weigh in

This was after a long day at the zoo, by myself with 5 children, a picnic in the park, gorging on pizza at our favorite pizzaria, Settebello, because I didn't have time to eat all day long and eating gelato next door at our favorite gelateria, Cado. I couldn't believe my eyes! 

This morning I did my regular interval workout and then finished it off until I hit a 5K.  It's the best time I have achieved so far. Sweet!

Weight check

I weighed myself in at 147.6 lbs yesterday.  That is a miracle since I hit some stumbling blocks this past week, but it just goes to show how great my exercise routine is AND that I eat many small meals per day, which keeps me full and boosts my metabolism.  I keep losing weight even when I'm not exercising.  I also make it a point to only check my weight every 3-4 days and to only weigh myself after my morning workout, which is probably my thinnest time of the day.  Consistency with weight checks eliminates the frustration you may get if you check your weight every day or at different times during the day.  The way I do it, I only feel better and better because I consistently lose a half pound every time I step on the scale. 

The Least Boring Workout Ever

This is after my BFL workout and then I ran at 8 until I got to a 5K.

The best part of this workout is that is NOT BORING!  And, it's short just like sprint 8.  I am engaged every moment watching the clock go from minute to minute. 

Like I said in my first post, I usually stick to the Body for Life ideal workout which includes doing an interval workout every other day.  Today I did the actual BFL interval workout which is a little more complicated than sprint 8 and goes like this...

I didn't work out after my intense day of snowboarding, but I still lost weight not having exercised for 6 days because these workouts are so effective in building muscle.  My metabolism is on overdrive.

Everyone has levels.  Level 1 is nothing and level 10 is the fastest you can possibly run (or bike or stair step, whatever).  You have to experiment a little to find out what your level 5 is and where your fastest level is but after doing this a couple times you will increase or decrease as needed. 

The workout is only 20 minutes, but very intense.  You do one minute for every interval and the intervals go like this

Minutes    Your Level   Example(pretty easy for a beginner)
1                     5                 5.0
2                     5                 5.0
3                     6                 5.5
4                     7                 6.0
5                     8                 6.5
6                     9                 7.0
7                     6                 5.5
8                     7                 6.0
9                     8                 6.5
10                   9                 7.0
11                   6                 5.5
12                   7                 6.0
13                   8                 6.5
14                   9                 7.0
15                   6                 5.5
16                   7                 6.0
17                   8                 6.5
18                   9                 7.0
19                   10               7.5
20                   5                 5.0

It is a great workout!  Like the example, you can have level 5.0 on the treadmill be your level "5" and level 7.5 be your level "10" to start out with and eventually you'll get faster and faster as your workout gets easier and easier for you to complete.  You can manipulate the lower levels as well as the higher levels until you're running faster than you ever thought possible.  Right now I'm sprinting at a 10 to an 11 for my top level and my lowest level is 6.  I eventually end up sprinting at 12 and my starting point is at a 7.5.

I also listen to some pretty loud music that I have formulated to be at it's loudest at the peak of each interval.  The best song by far is Christina Aguilera's "Fighter".  It's almost exactly 4 minutes long so it's perfect to start right at minute 16 to carry me through my toughest interval.  This technique also works for labor when you're having a baby au natural with no drugs.  Labor is just like one long interval workout!  I could birth babies for a living.  I just love it!

Banff Film Festival Radical Reels 2012

This is what I did tonight. It was pretty awesome, except I think I like the original film festival a little better. Most of these films don't have much of a story line like most of the films in the other tour, which adds a lot to a film, even extreme skiing. Go see it if it comes to your city. You won't be disappointed.