Weight Loss - Update/ Sacramento Visit

On July 1st I was in Sacramento. It was great to see all my family that lives there.
It's always fun trying to get the girls to cooperate for a picture. I made a deal with them. I told them that if they would pose nicely for a couple of pictures then they could make as many funny faces as they wanted to. So here are the "nice poses"

Here is a picture of Kate complaining that she wants to make the funny face and can't handle smiling anymore. Sarah already had her face down and it looks like George does too. I am still just trying to smile and look good. :)

Here Sarah and Kate are both doing their funny faces. I think they look really cute.


Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures with Amy. Next I will have to make her pose in a picture with me. Words alone can not express how much I miss Sarah and Kate. They are so cute. They both came with George to pick me up from the airport. They were in their pajama's and as cute as ever. I just love them so much. I can't believe how much Kate has grown up in the past month. I mean when I left she seemed to be getting so tall. After not seeing her for a month she looked so big to me. Even the way she would talk and everything she seemed like such a little adult. Sarah seemed a lot bigger too, although it wasn't as noticeable to me as Kate.

Here is a picture of Gideon and I. We are both laughing because Gideon is standing on his tippy toes so he looks taller. It was funny.

He was doing that because Nathan is taller than him, so he wanted to try and "show him up".

I've just got to love my brothers. Always in competition with each other. I guess it is the Jones way. We are all pretty competitive.

While I was there I also went and saw Dr. Hendricks for my weigh in appointment. I only lost about 4 pounds. I was disappointed in that since I hadn't been in for a month and I had been working out so much doing my hikes. However, I did have about a 5 day span where I had a milkshake everyday. So I am sure that is what did me in as far as my weight loss goes. I am going to go see Dr. Hendricks again in August. So, hopefully I will have better results and better self control. When I have my next appointment they are going to do my body composition. It will be interesting to see how much body fat I have lost. It will be a good comparison to see where I was at when I started this diet back in December. One thing I do know is that my BMI was a 41 when I started. It is now a 29. I have moved from "obese" to "overweight". I can't wait until I get into the "normal or average" category. I will be sure to post an update of all the stats.

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.

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"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.