Color Me Rad 2012

My friend Marcy and I signed up for this 5k... we were excited and motivated and stoked!! Then a week before the race was supposed to happen, Marcy calls me and says she has to cancel because her Gma died and she had to go to the funeral. I was bummed that I'd have to run by myself but Mira said that she would run with me! And I'm so glad she did.We had a ton of fun. We passed lots of people, inhaled way too much chalk, and ran at a pretty good pace. It was awesome. So much better than the Color Festival they do in Springville... We're definitely going to do this race again!!

Cassyie, Kass, Kasa... oh, and Peyton

8 years ago, I came to BYU. I didn't know anyone and was super nervous to meet my roommates. But relying on my brownness (aka. multi-cultured-ness), I decided to attend a new student orientation at the Multicultural Student Services department at BYU. I still didn't know anyone but I remember seeing 2 very brown girls sitting behind a desk (I don't remember exactly what they were doing... handing out name tags? Or something!). They were nice and LOUD. Oh my goodness, they were loud. 

Cut to a few days later -- I was walking back from a NSO event when I hear this loud voice up ahead of me. I caught up to the speaker and realized it was the same girl I had met at the MSS social! So I said hi and asked her what her name was. She told me to guess... but gave me a hint and said it started with a C. After she told me her name, she had to guess mine but I could only tell her it started with a T. We realized we were walking in the same direction and that we lived in the same building! 8 years later, Cassyie and I are still best friends... We became un-official adopted sisters into each others' families (our poor mothers had no idea what hit them... ) and have stuck together through a whole lot of crazy things!!

But to get to the point of this post.... Cassyie graduated!! We were racing to get the leis we made for her done and arrived at her ceremony seriously, 2 minutes before they called her name so we got to see her walk! I don't know why but Mira and I always wait until last minute to make leis... ugh! Oh well, the leis turned out really well and it was good to see Kasa's family and friends!! (We made the leis in the picture in the bottom, right-hand corner!)

And of course, no post would be complete without pics of our favorite little trouble-maker!!

1. Top left: Peyton found the container that I keep all the rice in (Asian, yes I know) and climbed in... When I found her (and took the time to take some pictures of course), I smelled something not so pleasant. Yup, climbed into the rice with a POOPY DIAPER!!! grr...

2. Peyton wearing a butterfly net on her head.

3. Peyton fell asleep during one of mommy's runs!

4. Peyton trying to get free from mean ole' daddy!

5. Coloring outside!

6. Peyton trying to get free.... again.

7. Peyton not wanting to go inside after one of mommy's runs

8. Peyton going through the mail... on top of our ghetto-redneck shelves.

9. Poopy Peyton stuck in the bucket....

10. Peyton smiling and looking cute for the camera on our Sunday walk!!

Can you say excited?!

Once upon a time there was an old man (he's almost 30) who would go on week-long hikes with his family every other year. This year was no different! After planning this trip that will be occurring in 3-4 months time, supplies were bought and tested. Yup, tested...

Because you know.... he has to make sure that everything is ready to go! :)

Ben is so stoked for the Big Hike this year! They will be going to the Grand Tetons during the end of July and Ben has been preparing by upgrading a lot of his equipment! Everything is super light and durable. Hopefully (and this is a very BIG hopefully), we won't have to buy anything else because stuff like this gets expensive!

I'd come home from work every night and Ben would be messing with his backpack, unpacking it and then packing it again (Just to see how heavy/light his pack will be, etc). Or he'd be watching TV in the comfort of his sleeping bag (which he basically built himself.... He added a new lining using an emergency blanket that reflects 90% body heat. He calls it The Noisy Cricket.) that was laying on top of this sleeping pad thing that is super small and light but can inflate to over 2 1/2 inches. He also rebuilt the pad by taking out the air pump inside it and adding a better, more efficient one. OR he'd be laying in our front-back-yard in the sleeping bag that was inside the bivy sack on top of the sleeping pad because it was cold enough outside to test it out....

Yup, I'd say someone is really excited for this hike :)

Happy Easter!

We were excited for Easter this year because Peyton was old enough to look for eggs... well, not really LOOK but grab the eggs and open them! She loved it :) And even though it took her forever to look for a couple of eggs, it was so worth it to see her face every time she opened the egg! I didn't want her eating a whole bunch of candy so I only put 2 jellybeans in each egg.

Here was Peyton's process:

After our little egg hunt was over, we packed up and went to Russ and Ashley's place for dinner! The food was sooooo good and it was fun! We dyed eggs, played Don't Eat Pete!, made Resurrection Rolls, and did an egg hunt! Thanks for having us over!! As always, Peyton had a blast playing with her cousins!

Peyton's Easter basket:

We couldn't find our Easter baskets so I just used mixing bowls...It worked.

Daddy's Easter Basket:

That bowl with all the candy in it? 

Yeah, that's one of my biggest mixing bowls and it was over-flowing with candy!!

And in other exciting news....

I have a new nephew!! My sis-in-law just had her first and I can't wait to meet him!

Welcome to the world baby Graham!

What the Health??

I don't know about you but when I work out, I don't look like this:

Or this:

Definitely not like this:

Or even this:

Nope! When I work out, I look like this:

Messy hair, sweat dripping everywhere and a red, splotchy face... oh, and the extra words in there are pointing out the spots I'm trying to get rid of...

Yup, that's me today after a 2 mile run in 20 minutes. 

It might not sound like a whole heck-of-a-lot for all you runners/super in shape people out there but to me its kind of a big deal.

I've never really been in shape my whole life. The rest of my family was... is... but not me. Don't get me wrong, I've been active and played lots of sports my whole life but I've always been on the chubby side, not fat or overweight... just a little extra cushion, you know? 

After I got pregnant and lost the baby weight, I gained most of it back and it kinda got out of control. So finally, I'm doing something to change it and I couldn't be more excited! The past month, I've run almost everyday for at least a mile. The first time I went running, I ran a mile in 20 minutes. Gasp, I know... I walked most of it. I ran for maybe 1 block and decided it was too nice of a day to run at super sonic speeds so I should just take my time and enjoy the weather.... 

The next day though, I ran more and cut 5 minutes off my time! F.I.V.E. 

The day after that I cut 3 minutes off and for a few days, I ran a 12 min mile... That was pretty exciting for me but I knew I could do better (in HS, I could do a 7.30 mile). So I've pushed myself to get to a 10 minute mile and I've been pretty happy with that. Next step? 2 miles!! And I did that today! :)

I've also signed up for 2 5ks in the very near future (one on April 28th, Color Me RAD and another on May 5th, Chase the Mayor). I'm really excited to do them both! Hopefully, I can do a 5k at least once a month to keep me in shape...  I never thought I would be one of those people who thought running was fun. NEVER! I don't know if this is too ambitious or not but I'm thinking that a half marathon by the end of the year wouldn't be all that bad either! Too over the top? Probably... 

On another health note, I've signed up for Weight Watchers... It's only been a few days since I've started but I've already noticed a difference! Not in how much I weigh... in how I feel! I feel like Weight Watchers is forcing me to watch what I eat so I've only been snacking on fruits and veggies. Breakfast, lunch and snacks have become a diet of strictly fruits and veggies. I'm drinking lots of water and exercising daily (!!!). It's awesome. I have so much more energy and I get more things done in a day! Serious!! Too bad it took me a few dollars to make me do this but who cares?! I'm doing it and I feel pretty darn good about myself right now.

** Just so you all know... I didn't write this to get any sympathetic or "no, you're not fat, Trina!" comments! I just wanted to let everyone know how excited I am to get in shape, run a few races, and eat healthy!!

March Recap

Its that time again!

#1 - Read Scriptures and Pray DAILY
I've done pretty good. We say our prayers all the time now: family, couple, and personal. We also read the scriptures before we go to bed (thanks Janae for the tip! Its helped a lot!!  :) )

#2 - Go to the temple at least once a month
We set a bunch of dates with friends of ours. If we can't make it to the temple, then we try to just go to the temple with Peyton on Sunday and walk around it. I still need to be better about this one though.

#3 - Join a fitness class/get in shape
I have been running just about every day now, at LEAST a mile. Usually, I run a mile and then will run the extra whatever to get to the park by my house so Peyton can play for a little bit, run around the park and then run home. I also have signed up for 2 5ks in the near future (one on April 28th and the other on May 5th) and WEIGHT WATCHERS! See the next post I'm about to write about... AND Ben and I are slowly but surely getting back into indoor soccer and futsal. We also play basketball with friends every Wednesday night!

#4 - Pay my bills on time
Yes!!

#5 - Blog
I'm pretty sure I'm doing a pretty good job of that! Yay!

#6 - Make Memories!!
This month has been BUSY!

At the beginning of the month, we went to St George with some friends to visit Grandma Tweedie. We only stayed there for 2 days and then went to New Harmony with a big group of friends to stay at our friend's cabin for the weekend. We went for lots of hikes and built forts that would rival any other fort built for a zombie apocalypse. The fort included a place to sleep, a toilet, and a tanning room (all necessary for any zombie attacks...)

Ben's cousin, Jennie Ray, got married in Bountiful and we were able to attend her reception. She looked beautiful and it was good to see some of the family from Tennessee. Since we were up in Salt Lake, we decided to take Peyton to the zoo! And of course, her favorite animals were the ducks... animals she can see everyday by the duck pond near our house. Oh well! Afterwards, we went to REI to look at hiking boots for Ben and then stopped by IKEA for dinner. It was good to spend some family time together.

Ben bought me a new snowboard and bindings!! Its totally girly but now everyone will know I'm a girl when I snowboard :) And even though the season was basically done, we went snowboarding as much as we could! On one weekend, we went Friday night and all day Saturday the very next day! On Friday, we took Mira along with us. She was really nervous about getting off the lift so Ben and I explained it to her. The first lift comes and Ben and I both get off, turn around, and there's Mira "Agh! I can't get off!!" Hahaha, yup, she stayed on the lift and kept riding up! She was soo scared and nervous because now she'd have to get off at a more difficult lift AND have to do it by herself! Ben was able to jump back on the lift and find her. It was so funny though. She was fine and actually got off the 2nd lift without dying, and more importantly, without falling!

At work, they made me a Handle with Care Instructor (basically I teach people how to put dumb girls in restraints...) and I taught my first class! It went really well. Speaking of work... I've worked at this treatment center for almost 3 years and I've never been hit (well, I've been hit but it was an accident). First time for me, I finally got punched in the face TWICE by an out-of-control patient. I'm pretty tough though so it didn't do too much damage to my money-maker...My boss told me to press charges but I didn't. Oh well, maybe next time :)

St Patrick's Day dinner... really yummy!

Went back down to St George to visit Grandma Tweedie and Grandma Wheeler for a weekend. We made lots of pomegranate jelly, apple butter, banana pudding, and memories. It was an awesome visit!

Went to a pre-showing of the Hunger Games! We have a friend who does fund-raisers a lot. This fund-raiser was for a 4 yr old boy who has leukemia. The tickets were really expensive but all the proceeds went to a good cause. So basically, we got to see the Hunger Games the day BEFORE it came out and didn't have to go to the midnight showing! The movie started at 6pm and we got home by 9pm. Loved it! Such a good movie.

Peyton: Had her 18 month checkup and is super healthy and active! The Dr said that Peyton is one of the most active, balanced, coordinated kids she's seen in awhile.... Yay for that :) Also, Peyton can climb out of her crib now (toddler bed?!) and she just got a potty seat (no potty training though... I'm not ready for her to be a big girl just yet!!). She just likes to sit on her seat, read books, and then wave "bye-bye" to everything in the toilet when she flushes!