Can You Handle the Cuteness?

O.k. Seriously, Can you even handle the CUTENESS!!! I love this little angel!! She is so happy all the time and she is such a doll!!!! I love Katya!!!



O.k. Seriously, Can you even handle the CUTENESS!!! I love this little angel!! She is so happy all the time and she is such a doll!!!! I love Katya!!!

I'll take it....

I know my brother's will be proud.

I'm a Ferrari 360 Modena!

You've got it all. Power, passion, precision, and style. You're sensuous, exotic, and temperamental. Sure, you're expensive and high-maintenance, but you're worth it.

"Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

It is so HOT

Oh my goodness it has been so hot in Salt Lake. Today it got up to 100 degrees. Too hot for my liking. So of course I decided to escape to the mountains. It was still hot up in the mountains, but there was a nice breeze so that helped. I asked Jethro if he wanted to go hiking with me tonight and he said he would. I was thrilled to have some company. We took Katya along for the adventure too.
Not only was it nice to have Jethro and Katya along for the company, but I finally had someone who could take pictures of the beautiful scenery. Of course the pictures just don't do the beauty of the mountains justice, but you get the point.

Katya was really good the first 2 miles of the hike, but on the way back she started getting really fussy. I think she was tired and it was getting pretty close to her bedtime. Once we got in the car she was just as happy as could be. Jethro enjoyed the hike and I hope to get him to join me on some more of my hikes.

Killer Hike!!!!

Oh my gosh! I went on such a hard hike today. It was approx 9 miles long and it was killer! I woke up at 4:45 a.m. this morning. I wasn't surprised because I have been getting up at that time everyday this week for work. I knew I would wake up early this morning and sure enough... 4:45 a.m. and I was wide awake. I wish it was that way when I really had to get up. Anyway, I tried to go to sleep and I had my alarm set for 6:00 anyway, so I just got up and decided to get started on my hike earlier. I did my normal 4 mile hike and then decided to take a trail I have been wanting to do. It's always scary going on a new trail because you never know what to expect. Man was I in for a surprise! It was so dang steep and did not let up at all until I got to the top of the mountain. It was certainly worth the hard work to get to the top. It was a beautiful view. Their were Aspen tree's all over and I can not even describe how beautiful it was. I sat at the top of the mountain for about 1/2 hr. Just me, all alone enjoying the sounds of nature. It is amazing how good you feel when you get to the top of a mountain. Yes, my legs were killing me, but I felt energized staring out at the surrounding mountains. Everything was so green and healthy and beautiful. I couldn't help but reflect on how blessed I am to be living in Utah. I love the mountains and have always found great joy being able to spend time in the mountains.

When I was going back down the mountain, I was sweating just as hard as when I went up. While I certainly wasn't as out of breath as I was on the way up. My legs were totally shaking from the strain. Going up they were killing me because it was so steep, going down I was dying because it was so steep. It was hard because there were so many rocks that were loose along with the dirt and it was slippery. Thankfully, I didn't fall or anything. When I got back to my normal trail I was grateful because I knew the layout and knew what was up ahead. I was glad I only had 2 more miles to once I got down the steep mountain. It wasn't so much the 9 miles that was so tiring. It was the extreme uphill and downhill that got me. I will probably do the hike I did today again, but it will take some getting used to. It was a great workout!

Finally - A Weight Loss Update

O.K. so I know I have been really bad about updating my progress on my weight loss. I guess so many other things have been going on and I am so used to focusing on my weight everyday that I kind of forget to mention it on my blog. Well, I honestly can't remember how much I weighed when I went to my last appointment with Dr. Hendricks on May 23rd. I guess I could read through my blog and try and figure it out, but as you all know I am so "long winded" it would take me forever to read through everything. Gosh now I know how everyone feels when they read my novels. Oh well, I have always said this blog is more for me to use as an outlet than for anyone else. So am I ever going to get to the point......

YES! It is not official, because I have not weighed in at Dr. Hendricks office, but I believe I have lost another 10 pounds. I have been pretty good about staying on course with my diet. I have found a new "dangerous snack" though. It is the Costco Trail mix. While, it is good for me to have nuts for the protein and fat, it is NOT good for me to have the M&M's that are in the trail mix. So, in the beginning I used to pick them out. Now I just eat them. But, I have increased my exercise routine so much that I really think that is the key factor in my losing the weight and inches. I bought some more clothes when I moved up here, and they are now starting to fall off me. I am now officially a size 12! I can't believe it. I was a size 22 in my pants when I started this diet. I think I only have 25 more pounds to go to meet my 100 pound weight loss goal. I am going to fly to Sacramento at the end of the month for my weigh in appointment.
As far as my exercise routine goes... Thank goodness for the mountains. At my May 23rd appointment with Dr. Hendricks they really emphasized me working out 7 hours a week. I have never been good about 7 hours a week. I would usually do about 5 hours a week which consisted of walking. I would average about 20 miles a week. Well, when I decided to move to Utah the most exciting thing for me was hiking. I go hiking about 3-4 times a week. I have my favorite hike up Milcreek Canyon and it takes anywhere from 1 1/2 - 2 hours. It is about 4 1/2 miles long. I just love it. The time it takes me varies on one thing. If I decide to jog the last part down the mountain or not. I can usually cut about 15 min off my time depending how much I jog. What determines if I jog or not? How bad I have to go to the bathroom. T.M.I. I know, but I drink so much water that sometimes it goes through me faster than other times. So, if I am o.k. I can usually jog the last part which consists of about 20 minutes of downhill. Believe it or not, the trail is so steep it is actually easier to jog rather than try and walk down it. So, I have been getting about 8 hours of exercise a week. And let me tell you, it is killer. Oh my gosh, I always think I am going to die when I am going up the mountain. Rebekah can testify of the difficulty of this hike. (Unfortunately she still has not fully recovered from her knee injury from when we did the 8 mile hike). I would love to do the 8 mile hike each time I go, but it takes almost 3 hours and I need to be more prepared. Like, getting a hydro pack and also packing something to eat. Otherwise, I get too weak. Being on such a low calorie diet, even doing my two hours is very exhausting. I probably burn up all the calories of the two protein shakes I have just on the steep incline alone. Yesterday when I went, I finally got smart and took some trail mix. So when I got to the end of the trail I sat down by the river and ate the trail mix. It made a big difference in how I felt. So I will have to do that from now on. I am happy that I get to enjoy the beautiful mountains so often. It is great!!!!

American Express

I started my new job at American Express yesterday. I absolutely love it! Yesterday was orientation and it was great to hear about all of the great benefits that the company has to offer. Today I started at 6:00 a.m. That was tough seeing as I couldn't get to sleep until 1:00 a.m. and woke up about every hour until my alarm went off at 4:45 a.m. My shift during the next twelve weeks of training will be from 6:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday. I wish that was always my shift, but once training is over I will be working later. I am going to try and work the evening shifts because you get paid more. Anyway, I like everyone I work with so far and our trainer is awesome. This company has a lot of great advancement opportunities and I am looking forward to that. I still need to find a second job so that I can focus on getting out of debt. I will spend more time next week looking for a second job. This week I just want to try and adjust to my early morning schedule. I am so happy here in Salt Lake. I love my job and can't wait until tomorrow when I get to go back. It feels good to be able to say that.

Church History Museum

Last night I went on a date. We went out to dinner and then went to the Church History Museum. It has been several years since I have been there. On the top floor there is a children's area that is really cool. I thought that Nya would love it. So today I took Nya, Sophia (age 4) and Natalie (age 12) to the museum. They had a great time. In one area you can build a temple with wood blocks. Here is a picture of Sophia building a temple.

Nya and Sophia building a temple

Here they are coloring stained glass windows. They had a lighted board that you could put the colored picture on and it looked like stained glass.

Natalie and Nya playing dress up as Angels. Nya is holding a little stuffed sheep. She grabbed it out of the Nativity scene and didn't want to leave it.

Nya, Sophia, and Natalie dressed up as Shepard's.

This quilt was in another part of the museum. I really like it because it is so colorful. Notice how Sophia is sticking out her tongue. I know it is shocking to see me wearing a sweater in the middle of June, but it is freezing here right now. On Tuesday it was in the upper 80's and only cooled down to low 70's at night. Then on WED we got major thunderstorms and the high was only in the 50's. It was 52 degree's when we went to the museum so I had to borrow a sweater from Bekah. Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 80's again. Random.

I love stained glass. This is so pretty. Too bad the girls weren't looking at the camera.

I got a job

Yesterday I was hired by American Express. I start Monday. I will be making about 1/2 of what I was making in California so I will be getting a second job. But I am glad I have this job. It has a lot of potential for growth, which for me will be no problem. I will start out as a customer service rep, but as I told them in the interview "Don't plan on me staying in that position for long". I fully plan on moving on up quickly. The lady interviewing me said "I would expect nothing less from you. From your past experience I know you will go far in this company" I have always advanced in my jobs so I don't mind starting out on the bottom. The main thing is getting your foot in the door. This is what I wore for the interview. I had Bekah take this picture after I finished my interview and got hired.I got a lot of compliments from people who were there on my outfit. The lady interviewing me said that I looked great. I figured I had the job at that point :)

I have training for 12 weeks. It will be M-F from 6 a.m. -2:30 p.m. I wish that were going to always be my shift. Once training is over than I am required to work Monday's and Saturday's. It is a full time position and I can choose the hours I want to work as long as I start after 10:00 a.m. I also have to option to work 4 - 10hr shifts. So I think I will work Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday from like 1:30- midnight. I am going to work the late shift because I get a 10% increase in pay if 50% of my shift is after 5:00 p.m. So I am going to do that. Then I will have Sunday, Wed, and Thursday's off. I hope to get another job that is like 8-12 M-F something like that. We'll see. The good thing about American Express is that there is plenty of opportunity to work overtime and even double time shifts. I am already used to working 60 hrs a week so I will always volunteer to pick up extra shifts. The nice thing is that I will be getting paid overtime. At Judi's I was on salary so it really sucked that I would work 60 hours and only get paid for 40. Another awesome thing about American Express is they have a gym in the building that is open 24/7 so I will be able to work out everyday. It is awesome. I am just thrilled to be working for them. When I was in Sacramento I said I wanted to get hired on with American Express because I knew they had offices in SLC. They also are on the Forbes Top 100 companies to work for, they have great benefits and everything. I know I will be happy there and I know that it will be a great job for me.

I also got these great pictures of Nya in her dress up ballet clothes. Too cute.

8 Mile Hike

Saturday Rebekah and I went on a hike. It was so awesome. I would have taken my camera, but that is one extra thing to carry and I didn't want to deal with it. Maybe I will take it next time and take some pictures of the great views we saw. Anyway, I arrived at Rebekah's house a little after 7:00 a.m. On Friday I went on a 4 mile hike. It was pretty easy except for the first 1/2 mile which was very steep and the last 1/2 mile that was very steep. Rebekah wants to take Nya hiking in the jogging stroller and so I said I would scout out some possible trails. I thought this trail would be a pretty good one. There are a few area's that are quite narrow, but I figured Rebekah could go on the hike with me and check it out for herself. So we arranged with Matt to watch Nya and we went hiking Saturday morning. We were on the hike and there was a trail that we could take that was an extra 4 miles round trip. We both felt pretty good and weren't too tired so we decided to go for it. Oh my gosh it was killer. It was so steep, but we were so glad we did it.

The trail we went on was up Millcreek Canyon. As kids our parents took us hiking there quite a bit. One memorable experience we all remember is when my mom was 9 months pregnant with Gideon. She was overdue and wanted the baby out!! Any of you that have been pregnant can relate. Anyway, as usual we all went in single file up the mountain with my Mom and Dad in the back. When we got to the top we would turn around and all of us kids would race down the mountain. We always wanted to see who could arrive at the car first. This time was no different. I can't remember who got to the car first (probably me Ha, Ha)

Anyway, as Rebekah and I were almost to the end of our hike we were jogging down the steepest part of the mountain. Rebekah tripped on a rock and tried to catch herself from falling. While she didn't fall flat on her face, she did still get hurt. She twisted her knee. She was unable to stand and put any pressure on it. I told her I would run and get the car and then come back for her. I ran all the way to the car. It took me about 15 minutes to get back to her. She tried walking and using me to lean on but it was too hard. So I had her jump on my back and I carried her down the mountain. We were totally laughing at how funny we must have looked. We got home and Rebekah suggested that I get Nya's jogging stroller and take Rebekah up to the house that way. So that is what I did. I insisted that Rebekah let me take a picture of her in the stroller so I could post it on my blog. She was a good sport but told me to hurry so that none of her neighbors would see her.

By Saturday afternoon she was still in a lot of pain so she decided that she better go into urgent care. I took her in and thankfully we didn't have to wait long at all. They took an x-ray and the Doctor came in and examined her knee. Thankfully, it was only a sprain and the Doctor said to rest for 24-48 hours and she should start to feel better. Phew, thankfully it was nothing too major!!!