My Aching Back!

 

A few months ago I started working out with a personal trainer, eating much healthier, and losing weight. MFT (my favorite trainer) prescribed four days of cardio with my heart rate in the 140’s for 55 minutes plus strength training (mostly weights) on two days in the week. OK. I started going to classes, eating clean, going to more classes, & even running. My speed was getting faster. My endurance was getting better. I could even go to the hard classes at the gym & mostly kinda keep up. I loved spinning! And the best part of all was that I had lost over 15 pounds in two months.

Last last Monday while doing an Intense Body class, I bent over to do frogs (sort of a leap frog in place) & my back started hurting A LOT. When I got home, I limped to the computer and emailed MFPT (my favorite physical therapist) & he quickly emailed me back to let me know that I had probably tweaked my sacroiliac joint. I earned a referral & have been going to physical therapy since. And I have been feeling much better.

But I am on restriction. I feel like a kid who has been grounded from recess – exercise was really my best stress reliever. My workouts went from daily intense pushes (running, intense body, spinning, the reformer) to two yoga classes & a 20” walk in the park (literally) last week & yoga once this week. I am grouchy grouchy grouchy. So if I snap & bark when you walk by, please know that I am on the road to recovery. My back is mostly better & my right hip is trying to conform to MFPT’s regimen of stretching & stuff. I even get to go try Spinning tomorrow – cross your fingers!

A kind older gentleman (much older!) told me yesterday that I should stick to swimming & yoga. I just can’t do it. I like the wind in my face, plus I really, really, really like to eat my exercise calories & the 127 calories that I earn in one hour of yoga just don’t quite take the cake. Maybe yoga takes the omelet.

OMELET – pour 1/2-3/4 cups egg beaters into hot omelet pan, move stuff over to allow uncooked parts to get to the hot pan, allow to set a little, top with the good stuff.

Toppings: sautéed mushrooms & onions, tomatoes, spinach & probably artichoke hearts.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my omelet pan. It was a special purchase deal @ Bed Bath & Beyond & has the perfect finish & shape for making awesome omelets every time.

Time for School! Time for School! Time for School!

Last Monday Chris started school but this morning was the first day of seminary. This picture is from some time before 6 a.m. He really wasn’t as unpleasant as the picture might suggest. He has a busy schedule that will hopefully change just a little bit today – he will have college world history, math 110 (college algebra), English, chemistry, … and some other stuff. They have eight classes per week – MW, TTh, & then an alternating Friday schedule. We are happy that he is able to attend a charter school & take college classes while in high school. After school he is running cross-country & runs some super killer workouts every day. We can’t wait for the meets to start.

Today was the first day of school for Ryan & Jared. Ryan is in 7th grade & Jared is in 3rd grade. They are both most excited to see their friends.

So now the craziness will begin. Three kids, four schools. Two kids playing baseball. One kid running cross country. Plus piano and scouts and cub scouts.

Only 179 school days until summer vacation.

Eight is GREAT!

 

Yeah! Hooray! Jared’s eight.

He had a super fun day. He proclaimed several times, “This is the best birthday ever!” His cousins gave him a frog. This is not just any frog though, it is a Pacman frog a.k.a. an ornate horned frog. The crazy frog will even eat MICE! The kids spend time every day catching grasshoppers & crickets & putting them in his cage. He was baptized (related post below). He went to lunch at Moe’s & dinner at Lieu’s. And he had a friend party. Jared invited several friends over to come swim in our neighborhood pool. As luck would have it, it was cloudy & overcast so we had the pool to ourselves!!! Perfect.

 

 

Jared’s Baptism

On Monday, Jared turned eight! He was excited for lots of reasons – one of them being that he was able to get baptized into our church. Before he was baptized, he had to talk to the bishop. Jared was so excited! Scott’s brother & family came up from Florida to help share in this special day with us. 

We had lots of friends who came, too. At one point, I wanted to turn around & take a picture of everyone who came. I hemmed & hawed & then didn’t. Now, I wish that I had pictures of everyone – I was so touched that people took the time to support our family on this very special day that I had many, many tears streaming down my face for much of the day.

Chris gave the talk on baptism. Mikan gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. Brother Waddell talked to Jared specifically about what a special day this was & how to always remember it.

We had fruit in the gym for a snack after.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the baptism, we went to Moe’s as a big family to eat lunch & to celebrate Jared’s birthday. Uncle Bret & Aunt JeaNette gave Jared a fun baptism-related present with a backpack, a light, and a cuddly blanket.

The food was yummy! Moe’s is always good. And Jared’s cake was also WONDERFUL – I don’t think I could even accurately write down how I made it, but it was very chocolaty & decadent. Basically, I followed the Perfect Birthday Cake recipe in the Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor with a vanilla cake mix but added 1 square of melted bitter chocolate and some Ghiradelli ground sweet chocolate (1/4 cup?). For the frosting, we used 1/2 cup butter, 3.5 ounces of Ghiradelli melting chocolate, 1.5 ounces of milk chocolate chips, 1/2 cup milk, & 2.5 cups powdered sugar – melted together & then whipped. … I made Scott take it to work the next day because I would have eaten every single leftover piece (before breakfast).

A Miracle

         

 

State All-Star Tournament in Seneca, South Carolina. More details to come. The score was not the miracle.

 

Update (August 2010): Where on earth does all the time go??? When Ryan agreed to play on the all-stars, we did not realize that it would be a full-summer commitment. We mentioned to the coach that Ryan would not play on Sunday. The coach said that he would not keep anyone from playing due to their religious beliefs. Luckily, the district tournament was on Father’s Day weekend so Sunday was not an issue. Ryan’s team won the entire tournament – a big deal because Mauldin has never (?) won the district ozone tournament.

Fast forward three weeks to the state tournament – we received the packet of information which included information about a mandatory worship service on Sunday morning from 10-11, a mandatory banquet on Sunday morning from 11-12, and then a game Sunday afternoon. The way the materials read, any one player not attending all three events (worship, banquet, & game) would eliminate the whole team. We told the coach that Ryan would be there if the team would be eliminated. He talked to the director at the state level & we were given permission to miss everything on Sunday. Yeah!

When I was driving to church that Sunday, I was thinking how nice it was that we didn’t have to be at the ballpark. I was taught that it was not just nice, it was a miracle. The director’s heart was softened so that Ryan could be excused from everything. As it turned out, everything in the afternoon was canceled because of rain. The rain would let up long enough for the fields to be cleaned up & then the rain would start all over again. This meant that Ryan would be able to play in the next (& final) game of the tournament. The final score was 11-19 but Mauldin had come back from a 5-11 deficit. The kids did great, played to the best of their abilities, & would have been clobbered in the next round.

 

Ryan had Rick & Tony as coaches for three regular seasons (fall, spring, fall) and two all-star seasons. Neither has a kid on the team but they love to develop great baseball players. Rick even coached one of the kids on the National Championship USC team. Ryan had Jeff as a coach this spring & learned a lot there too. It is nice to be involved in sports & meet so many great people.

Recipe for Fun? One pool + One Camera + Seven Kids

      

We love this family! They have only lived here a year, but it feels like we have been friends forever. They are graduating to “the real world” in a week & we will be happy/sad to see them go. Happy for their new adventure & sad that we won’t get to see them frequently. Ryan will be sad because Kristin has been his Primary teacher.

The kids had so much fun at the pool, especially once the camera came out. I had the zoom lens on so many of their heads were cut off in the belly-flopping & flipping extravaganza.