To marathon or not to marathon?

I am officially paid and registered for the 6 tunnel (Hoover Dam) half marathon on March 14th. And I officially have decided to NOT run the full SLC marathon in April that I was previously planning on doing. WHY? I really started researching the effects of marathon running on the body, and there is a lot of negative physiological stress put on the body, particularly on the knees, shins, hips and back by the constant pounding down on the concrete. I think short term I would be just fine, but I'm looking down the road to when I'm 50, 60, 70 and I want my body to be in as good of shape as possible, I plan on still being very physically active then and I don't want that to be infringed upon by having bad knees, hips etc.... from marathon running when I was younger. I figure I only get one body and I don't want to jack it up. Also my parents really don't want me to do it for that reason. So I'm compromising and currently training for the half marathon, which will be much easier on my joints. I have never run a long distance race period so the half will still be plenty of a accomplishment for me :)



Here's a cute picture of my kid to make this post a little more interesting

My Boys

My Sweeties



My 3 favorite guys



Little man feeding himself with a spoon for the first time



such a cutie



I love peanut butter



I love chocolate dipped spoons



My guys again



he he, were so mean



His face says it all :) Its only because we love you beef

CHRISTMAS DAY 2008

Crew and Santa "Koz"



I love this picture of Julie and Crew, Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the rocking horse







Crew with cousin Isaiah



Cutest cousins



With Grandma Moo

Trying something new

So, I posted a blog a couple weeks ago asking you about your skin care routines and saying that I went off benzoyl peroxide and started using aha instead, well my skin was clearing up nicely for about a week then it started breaking out again agggghhhh!!! what to do now? I'm still not using BP and I don't plan on going back to it, so here is what I have decided to do, NOTHING. Thats right I'm stopping the use of all topical facial skin care products, I have used a zillion products over the years and I always end up stopping, switching in hopes of finding something better, and ultimately being dissatisfied with EVERYTHING I have ever used, so I'm just sick of it, I'm throwing my hands up. My friend Laura doesn't use anything on her skin, except for maby giving it a quick wash every few days and her skin is gorgeous. Jared does nothing to his skin at all, as most guys don't except shave and he has great skin to, in fact all the people I can think of that have amazing skin have a very simple skin care routine if any at all. I've been reading on some skin care message boards about people just like me who have used every acne product under the sun, decided to stop everything and their skin improved a lot, and that all these products only irritate the skin and CAUSE acne. SO I'M DONE, again I'm taking a leap of faith, I'll update in couple weeks and let you know how its going.

Springville Reams Review

I was inspired by Laura D to go check out Reams for grocery shopping. So today I headed over there for my weekly Monday afternoon grocery shopping trip instead of the super wally world, which I have grocery shopped at for years. So the general consensus was that that most of their food is a little more expensive then wal-mart, and their non-food items are quite a bit more expensive, don't even think about buying diapers there, 7.99 for 20 size 6 diapers, no thanx. BUT their produce department totally makes up for it, yes I was in fruit and veggie heaven. They have great produce and its very inexpensive, much cheaper then walmart. Here are some items I bought today and the prices

Large Avocados: $.69 each

All variety of apples: $.69 per pound

Blackberry's & Blueberry's: 2 for $3 (the small cartons)

Green bell peppers: 3 for a buck

and my personal favorite

2 lb bags of carrots for $.89 (that's cheaper then the bulk carrots at costco that I get for my juicing)

So the savings in the produce department definitely made up for the bit of extra money paid for non-produce items, so it evens out. But reams won me over for the following other reasons:

-The person at the checkout stand actually asked me how I was doing and was very friendly, weird I know.

-I didn't wait in line for a zillion years at the checkout stand

-I didn't have to walk a mile to and from my car

-If I forget something I don't have to walk a mile to the other side of the store

-I am supporting a local business instead of a huge cooperation

-Their meat and produce is higher quality and tastes better

-I felt like I was in Mayberry mingling amongest the county folk

-The people that work their actually are knowledgeable about their products and can answer your questions

Side story on this: I was at wal-mart a couple months ago to buy a car seat. I had some questions about some of the car seats ie... safety ratings, benefits of this one versus that one etc... so I started asking the girl working in the baby department, she cuts me off mid sentence and blurts out "I don't know anything" that's it, who says that? ok I said is the manager available to talk to, yes she said. So the manager comes out and I proceed to ask her my questions, she couldn't answer anything for me, the baby department manager knew nothing about any of the car seats.

I've been sucked in by wal-mart in the past due to its low prices and the fact that they have almost everything, but now that I know I can get out of Reams for the same price and have a much better experience, I will be going there from now on.

This weeks events

So this week was kind of busy and crazy, and also a lot of fun. Here's some of the hap's that took place

TUESDAY: It was my dads 68th birthday, yes you read it right my dad was 42 when I was born. My whole family got together at my dad's favorite resturant the pizza factory to celebrate.



This is my whole family (minus by biggest brother Mark and my sis in law Maggie)



Heres me and my daddy-o ( yes this is the best pic I got of him & I) you wanna see the other one?......................




My dad is so special to me, he is such a good person. He is the most selfless, kind, genuine person I've ever met. He would give a perfect stranger the shirt off his back if it was the last shirt he had. Really he would do anything for anyone. I love you dad.

WEDNESDAY: I went snowboarding at Brighton with my sister Robin, bro in law Thom and their friend Darron, it was such a great day, great company, perfect weather, nice and warm (ski resort warm of course) and sunny. Oh and the icing on the cake, it was FREE. Thom is a RN and works at the medical clinic up there occasionally, he was working that day and got us all passes, thanx again Thom I had a blast.

here are some pics


Me and my sis


Beautiful Brighton


Robin and Darron


another of me and rob

I had Robin video me going down the mountain so I could critique myself and see what I'm doing wrong, I'm still a beginner so I'm a little awkward still but I get better each time I go, I'm hoping to improve a lot this season



The video is 2 1/2 minutes long and the quality is kinda crappy, I guess the longer the video the worse the quality




THUSDAY: I went to see Twilight ( for the 3rd time) with some girls from my ward. I have to say I enjoy it less and less every time I see it. This time I went more for the socializing, ya know get to know the ward girls better then I did for the movie, so I'm glad I went but I won't be going to see it anytime soon.



Hottie hot hottie boy was just as nice to look at though :)

SATURDAY: I got up at 6:15 am to go do my first "big" run, 8 miles. Oh, I don't think I have mentioned on here I am marathon training, I am going to be running the SLC marathon on April 18th and possibly the canyonlands (moab) half marathon in March, if we get in, its a lottery. This was way tough for me, I've only been training about a week and I jumped in with these girl who have been training for 7 weeks, so I was dragging behind them most of the time. I ran the first 7 1/2 miles and then my quads, hip flexers and knees just gave out on me. Literally by body physically would not let me run anymore so I walked the last 1/2 mile. Oh and then I walked a extra mile or so due to getting lost. We started from this girls house that I had never been to before and winded all through this neighborhood when we left ( in the dark ) and on the way back I was so far behind the other girls I was all by myself and couldn't remember how to get back. Eventually they realized I was taking way to long and they drove around looking for me and found me wondering. Yes I felt retarded and slightly embarressed. Anyway my body was trashed yesterday, I think I over did it for sure. But I learned my lesson and will only be upping my miles in very small increments from now on. Also Saturday night was our ward Christmas party, which we attended for the first time since we have been in the ward for 3 years, and I made some yummy scalloped potatoes for it.



SUNDAY: That's today, this morning I took beef to the park to get him some exercise. here's some pics and a video





Here's a awesome pic I got of beef shaking the snow off his face

Britney+Pussycat Dolls..... um YES!!!

K who else to amped B Spears is coming to SLC april 14th? and if that weren't enough the Pussycat Dolls are opening, WHAT? let me say it again PUSSYCAT DOLLS, yes their act is kind of skanky but I love them, not quite sure who I'm excited to see more. Concert of the year for sure

Whats your skin care routine?

Everyone comment, I want to know what each of you do for your facial skin care routine and how its working out for you. Over the last oh 10 years or so I've used a gentle cleanser to wash my face, then put on benzoyl peroxide to keep acne away and then some sort of moisturizer. That's been my main routine but I've also used many other products ie... masks, oils, scrubs, creams in my search for perfect skin. The main problem I have had is DRY SKIN due to the benzoyl peroxide, which I absolutely loath, having dry skin is like the worst feeling on the planet to me and it makes me irritable and awnry (spell?). Even though I use moisturizer (and trust me I have tried almost everyone one out there) my skin will still be dry. In the past every time I have used less benzoyl peroxide or stopped all together in a effort to rid myself of the dryness, yes my skin will supple up quite nicely but it also breaks out. So I've basically had to choose 1- clear skin that is dry OR 2- supple skin that is broken out, it had been very frustrating. Well I think a new day may have come for me, I've been reading up on the Internet on trying to find a alternative product to benzoyl peroxide that will keep acne away but not dry out the skin. The overwhelming response I kept coming across was AHA (alpha hydroxy acid, the same stuff that has been used for years to reduce wrinkles and signs of aging) . I ordered some up from acne.org it looks like this

For the past about 4 days I've been using this in place of my BP (it was way scary for me to stop the BP altogether since I obviously don't want my skin to break out, but I decided to take a leap of faith). So my routine has been morning and night I wash my face wait about 5 minutes or so to let my face dry completely and then put this stuff on....that's it. I haven't even been using my moisturizer because it has kept my skin supple. My skin has stayed clear and even cleared up more and my skin has not been this supple and smooth in a LONG time and my skin tone is evening out also. I know its only been 4 days and I may be jumping the gun on writing a review but so far this is working great for me and my skin routine is WAY faster, and cheaper since I'm using way less products. I'm really happy with my skin right now, its a great feeling and I really hope this continues to work out for me. So go ahead and leave your comment and tell me what you do.

Park/Marathon

Yesterday I took beef to the park, threw the ball and ran around with him. I was in a short sleeved shirt and jeans and I was totally comfortable, it was awesome, December what? I was loving yesterday

Also I am seriously entertaining the idea of running the SLC marathon in April