I AM a Genius!

So remember a week or so ago when I said I discovered the secret power nymphing setup on the Weber River? Turns out I was right! This setup not only worked the day I discovered it, but it's worked several times afterwards! Do you know what this means?! It means I look like I know what I'm talking about! That hardly ever happens! (ok it actually happens a lot, I was just trying to be modest.)

A beautiful rainbow caught by Seth on a Prince Nymph pattern we call the "Green Hornet"*

*Hand-tied fly by Seth "The Fly Master" Hanson

Sexyterra is Mine!

You guys are never gonna believe this juicy new bit of information...

I'm a car owner! Yup that's right. Last night using my bonus from work, Seth and I finally paid off Sexyterra (the Nissan Xterra for all the laypeople). In all my years of driving, I've never had a car that didn't have a payment attached to it. It feels awesome! Paying off things is so much fun.

Oh and don't you worry. I made sure I spent some of my bonus money on something other than bills. We needed some new sheets so I found these babies (the "seaglass" ones) on Overstock.com. 1500 thread count?! I had no idea they went that high. The ones we have now are 1200 and they've lasted forever, so I figure these new sheets are a sound investment. Right? Plus they're so cute.

And on one other completely unrelated note... I do my hair nice everyday. Today I threw my hair into a ponytail. Not two seconds after I walked into the building this lady exclaimed how 'adorable' my hair was. WTF?! The 2 times I've actually worn my hair in a ponytail to work I've gotten compliments on how cute it is.  I'm never doing my hair ever again. In fact, I think I'm going to start wearing baggy sweatpants, grubby oversized stained t-shirts, and fuzzy bunny slippers. Because they're way more adorable than my regular clothes.

The Results Are In!

This is the moment you've all been waiting for... race results! Wahoo! First I just want to thank everybody for the encouragement you gave me the last few months. It definitely helps make each run a little bit better. Also, I can't believe all of you who came and participated with me! It was so much fun! There were four people that ran this 5k with me: Seth, my sister Annie, Seth's sister Rachel, and Seth's brother-in-law Marty. There were also several more people that came to show support: Rachel's husband Abraham with their two boys Soren and Liam, Hillary (Abe's sister), Marty's wife (Seth's sister) Collette and two of their kids Tessa and Marty Jr, Marty's mom (sorry I can't remember her name!), and Annie's husband Eric with their little girl Belen. Eric was the mastermind behind all the wonderful race pictures.

(Left to Right) Annie, Me, Seth, Rachel, Marty

I was really anxious the morning of the race and I think it sapped some of my energy, but I still ended up doing pretty good on my run. My official time was 29:30 but I timed myself and was more like 28:30, which is about a minute faster than I was the last time I tried running the course, so I was happy about that. I didn't quite make it all the way without stopping and walked for just under a minute on the big hill.

The race has just begun!

This is me at the half-way point. This is my out-of-breath smile.

I ended up coming in 4th in my age group for the women, 5th for women overall, and 20th place out of everyone. I was really surprised! There were about 100 racers total so I feel really good about my effort. I ended up finishing before the others in our group so I got to see everyone else cross the fnish line. Seth and Annie were neck and neck the whole way and were racing against each other on the home stretch. It was pretty funny.

Seth & Annie racing to the finish!

Everyone in our group did really good and I'm really proud of all of them for the hard work they put into their training. We're going to have a re-match in a couple weeks up in Idaho Falls at the Spud Day 5k. So, if you missed out on this race, you still have time to join us at the next one!

You Mean This Actually Works?

I've been consistently working out since May 26th of this year. I've been doing at least 30 minutes of cardio (mainly running... earlier on it was more walking) followed by 30 minutes of strength training (mainly a stability ball workout), at least 3 times a week. I've cut back a lot on soda and try to drink a lot of water. It was a bit painful at first, but now I actually kind of like water. Weird huh? I've also tried to eat a bit less and eat more healthy, but nothing too drastic. I was aiming for something sustainable. More of a lifestyle change.

I'll admit in the beginning it was slow going. I didn't lose any weight for the first month or so. I haven't lost the typical "one pound a week" until recently. I've averaged out to about a pound every two weeks. But I have seen consistent progress, which is more of what I wanted anyway.

I'm 5'6" and at my heaviest I was 150 pounds. I know this doesn't sound like a lot to most of you, and it's really pretty good on average. But, I was starting to morph into a body I didn't feel comfortable in. My clothes were getting too tight, a few extra rolls were popping up here and there, and I couldn't do the things I used to be able to do without a lot of effort. I'd gained about 25 pounds in the last 5 years. Not healthy.

My initial goal was to be physically fit and not worry too much about losing weight. And that's still my main goal. If I end up being 160 pounds of pure muscle, that's just fine with me. But so far I've lost at least 8 pounds. That's almost a whole Gracie! Tonight I took my measurements again for the first time since I started running. I couldn't believe the difference! I've lost 3.5" on my waist, 2.5" from my stomach, 1" on my hips, 1" on my arm and 1.5" on my chest (not necessarily a good thing... but I can live with it :D ).

As soon as I saw my body start changing it just gave me more and more motivation to keep doing it. I feel like I'm actually accomplishing something. Something hard. Something I've never been able to do before. Most people probably wouldn't be able to see the difference in how I look, it's not that drastic yet. But I feel so much better about myself. And with every single little improvement in my fitness, whether it's running a little farther, noticing that extra muscle definition, or my clothes fitting better, I get more and more motivated. I want to eat healthy, I want to go out and run, I want to drink that extra glass of water because I know what will happen if I do.

I know this whole story sounds really cliche. I guess I'm just really excited about all this. And also, I wanted to offer encouragement to any of you out there that are in the same boat I am. A lot of the stories I hear tell about people losing 100 pounds in the same amount of time I lost my 8 pounds. It's always going to be difficult and more often than not it's going to be slow. Much slower than you ever anticipated. But keep it up. The rewards will come.

Coming Down the Home Stretch

After trying on and off for several years to get his Bachelors Degree, Seth is finally going to graduate this week. He's been working so hard and studying a lot during this last year. I can't believe how well he's done. This week he's got a couple tests and a very large paper due so he'll be busy up until the very last day of the semester. I just wanted to let him know how proud I am of him. I know he's going to finish strong and come this time next week, he'll finally have that piece of paper in his hand. Job well done, sweetie! I knew you could do it!

A Major Award! A Major Award! I Won! I Won! I Won!

What a great way to end the week! Allison nominated me for a favorite blog award! I actually feel pretty honored considering all the blogs she has linked on her page. It always makes me happy to know that there's a couple people out there that actually read my stuff.

I've known Allison for a long time. She lived just outside the cul de sac of the house where I grew up. She's good friends with my sister, Corinne and I'm sure she had to deal with my little sister pestering more than once. What can I say? I always thought my sister and her friends were cool.

Now apparently there's rules to this nomination thing, but I'm going to break them a little. Hope that doesn't disqualify me. :D

So here are the rules:

1. Put the award on your blog.

2. Include a link to the person who gave you the award.

3. Nominate 6 or more blogs.

4. Leave a message on their blog letting them know they have an award on your blog.

Now Rule #3 is a little tough for me. I don't follow all that many blogs and a lot of the ones I do follow already have like a bajillion readers. I would have nominated 3, but since Allison has already been nominated, I'm going to pick 2 that I think are really deserving.

#1 Rachel- Rachel is my sister-in-law and her blog is amazing. She has two kids, but she doesn't have that mommy bug that so many bloggers have where all they post about is their children. Rachel does post about her kids, but the posts are so heartfelt and honest and beautiful. Of course everything she writes about is that way. Rachel has a lot of character and feeling in her writing and I wait with baited breath for each new post.

#2 Annie- Annie is my sister and she's relatively new to the blogging world. In fact she's only been at it for a couple of months. But so far her posts have been really entertaining and she updates her blog on a pretty regular basis (this was one of my criteria for choosing my favorites). She too has a new baby, but she's kept a good balance of material on her blog. Plus her daughter is one of the cutest kids ever so I don't mind reading about her! I know you'll all be disappointed to find that her blog is private, but maybe if you're nice to her she'll give you access.

I Finally Did It!

Today I finally ran 3.2 miles without stopping. Yes my friends, that's 5k. I did it. In 31 minutes 17 seconds no less. I'd say that's pretty damn good. Although, I would suggest not running on garbage day. It was a little smelly out there. And the goats were back in the field on the corner of Church St. and Antelope Dr. I'm pretty sure I heard them cheering me on.

As a somewhat related side-note... have you ever tried smiling while you're working out? There's this girl named Tawyna on my stability ball workout. She wears her hair in braids and has a toothy smile the whole time. I decided to try it once. I felt ridiculous. It's just not natural.

30 Years of Excellence

This post is a little late for various reasons, but it's something I've been thinking about and really wanted to do. Seth turned the big 3-0 this year on February 9th. As we get older, especially when hitting bigger marks such as this, we tend to evaluate our lives and measure our successes. I want to tell you about all the many wonderful things Seth has accomplished in his thirty years.

Seth is a fountain of knowledge. He is constantly wanting to learn new things and is usually engulfed in many things at once. He reads no less than five books at any given time and is excited about so many different subjects it’s almost unimaginable. During his lifetime, Seth has studied many areas including range science, Spanish, fisheries science, history, and botany. He has an associates degree in electronics with an emphasis in laser optics and is currently working on a bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Sociology. He has also expressed interest in studying raptor biology, math, business and teaching.

Seth is also an avid hunter and fisherman. He knows just about everything there is to know about the sports and is always willing to share his knowledge. I usually come to him with my hunting and fishing questions because 99% of the time he knows the answer. He’s an excellent marksman and I find it very enjoyable to watch him shoot, whether it’s guns or a bow. Seth is proficient at reading maps. He has a special interest in topographical maps and loves to study them. He is always pointing out different areas on the maps he has and showing me the places he would like to explore. Seth knows a lot about different animals and how to track them. He knows how to do many elk calls, mainly because he has practiced for hours and hours to get them just right. He also knows a lot about fishing techniques and is an excellent teacher. He is very patient with me and has taught me just about everything I know. He really makes it easy to learn because he has such a passion for the things he loves to do that it radiates to everyone around him.

Seth is a great leader. He has a strong countenance that causes people to naturally gravitate towards him. He is always getting people coming to him for direction, advice and comfort, even those he doesn’t even know. The people that know Seth have a great love and respect for him because he has such an inner beauty and peace that is readily shared with others. He is an easy leader to follow because of his strength and knowledge. He shows genuine care and concern for people and this has allowed him to gain many friends.

Seth is very goal oriented. He loves to set goals and gives his all to achieve them. When he sees something he wants, he does everything he can to make it happen. He learned how to play the guitar just because he wanted to and found the avenues that he needed in order to do it. Seth is constantly reassessing his goals and what it will take to meet them. It is not uncommon for him to talk about goals he wants in 5, 10 or even 20 years. He is always looking at the big picture and trying to plan just how he wants things to be.

People tend to think that success is measured by the amount of money you have or how big your house is. While this is one kind of success, it is not the only kind. I can think of many financially successful people who have failed in life. Success can be measured in many ways including talents, knowledge, friendships, and life experience. Seth is very rich in all of these areas and is not only continuously increasing his wealth, but also sharing it generously with others. He has accomplished so much already it is exciting to see what another 30 years might bring.

Happy Birthday sweetie, I love you!