April Fun

This was a fun month! We began the month by going on a road trip with my Mom to Utah. We visited my sister and her family, and helped to send of Elizabeth on her mission to Portugal. She is going to make an amazing missionary. I got to have about a week with her, going shopping for stuff she needed and just able to spend some time bonding with her. What an awesome woman she is turning out to be. Can't wait to see how the mission improves her life. Based on the letters we've received from her so far, you can tell the mission is having a strong impact on her life. Love it.  

 We had to say goodbye to Liz at the Provo City Center temple due to the MTC's drop off policy now (lame), we got to tell her all the things we love about her and our hopes/advice for missionary service. This really helped me to remember some of the precious feelings I had as a pre-missionary. I'd never want to go on another mission, but my mission experience gave me the greatest change in myself. Pretty intense, but awesome experience. I also included her pre-packing mess in her room...girl had a lot to do the last minutes before she left.

 The Provo City Center Temple is so beautiful! We love walking the grounds and seeing all the pretty flowers.

 We got tot spend a lot of time with family, we were there for two weeks. Lily loved being with her cousins! I feel like I hardly got to see her while I was there cause she was always playing with her cousins. Her and Ben love playing with each other, they are such cute cousins! It also snowed while we were there...so had to document that.

 We also got to go to Rexburg to meet our sweet Lucy Horton! She is soooo beautiful. I love that baby, she made me want another one! Andrews house is awesome, his neighbors have goats, chickens and even peacocks in the back which wonder into Andrews yard as well. Jacob loved chasing the chickens and captain. Poor captain, such a good dog to put up with my crazies. We visited the BYUI campus. It has changed so much! there are more apartment buildings, high rise-ish, more shopping and restaurants. and the campus has new buildings. the auditorium building was huge! and the MC actually makes the school look like a legit university. The only down side is that it's lost its small quiet feel. but I'm sure it's better this way.

 We went to Temple square during conference. I walked around with my nieces talking while my mom and Ricardo went to conference. I love spending time with these two amazing ladies. My nieces are beautiful, inside and out! It was weird watching them get checked out by boys, they are still babies to me. And it made me feel very old. They even tried to give me a makeover...I'm lost cause. I had to borrow some of their clothes just to feel cool. LOL! They tried to do my eyebrows to be more in style (thick brow is in) and all it made me look like was Eugene Levy. yikes. but I did learn some beauty tips while I was with them, I have a new appreciation for hair products and makeup now.

Andrew and Whitney came to my sisters ward to bless little Lucy (which is primarily the reason we took this trip), Liz's farewell talk was that day too. Horton's dominated sacrament meeting. That Lucy is the cutest!!!

I didn't get many pictures of the 10 brutal hrs there and back, but I did capture these two. It's a small world we live in. On our way back to Phoenix, we stopped for a break at a burgerking in a city called Kingman. We were sitting in the play area watching the kids when I hear someone say, 'is your name Andrea?' I turn around confused and see a guy with glasses and a hat. Then I realized who it was 'SHUT UP...GEORGE!?' It was an old MTC buddy of mine that I haven't seen in 11 yrs! I was so excited to see him and meet his beautiful family. He does not have facebook, so we have not stayed connected. Come to find out he lives in Phoenix as well! We talked for a while, exchanged info...now we just need to plan a MTC district reunion. Those guys helped me to stay on a mission, cause I definitely wanted to go home day 1 of the MTC! If it hadn't been for them, who knows what would've happened. Again, who'da thunk I'd run in to anyone from my past in Kingman?! So good to see old brotha's. Lily was just happy to get a crown. lol

 The weekend we got home, we went straight to Tucson for Easter Weekend. We hadn't seen Mark for Two weeks cause he had to stay home for work. It was so great to see him again, I sure did miss him a lot!

 Took the kids to Purple Heart Park for their annual easter egg hunt.

 Easter Sunday family photo in our Sunday best. The kids would not look at the camera! lol

 Jacob loved the easter bunny. I can tell Lily is getting too old for the Easter Bunny now.

 Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday. Lots of goodies. Jacobs first hunting, he loves this holiday.

Purple heart Park Easter egg hunt

 Then the weekend after Easter, we went back to Tucson to attend the Pima County Fair (family tradition in memory of Randy) and we also got to attend the U of A football meet and greet the new team. It was really cool to meet the players and see the locker room and gym. I love college football.
The fair was really fun this year because Jacob got to ride the rides too. He loved it. One of the rides (the motorcycle) I'm not to sure if he enjoyed. He just looked like he was hanging on for dear life. He also really loved the petting zoo. He kept kissing the animals (yuck), he really loves animals. Lily is a little dare devil and wanted to go on as many rides as she could. She loved the tall ferris wheel and we are looking forward to going to Lagoon in the summer for her to ride on rides with her cousins.

 Lily has started her Crossfit Kids class, I'm definitely more excited about it then anyone. She loved her first day, and has decided the Rower is her favorite exercise. Mine too!

 Jacob is a crazy pants. He's a funny kid, won't let me get a thing done around the house, but he is sure loving. He just wants to cuddle all day. I love my sweet boy. He is talking more, saying things like: 'Mimi, are you?' and 'high chew' (he has a candy addiction) and 'up aba da wood so high'...and he loves for people to smell his stinky feet, and he's kind enough to smell yours too if you'd like. I don't think he has gained any weight, and has zero butt, so he's definitely built like my brothers. We sure love our boy!

I don't think she understood the exercise. lol!

 This last Saturday, the weather was BEAUTIFUL! Perfect weather. I wish it was like that all year long. We took lilys bike out for a bike ride, Jacob liked riding it around too. Lily is getting better at riding her bike, too bad it'll be 100 degrees out soon and we can't ever go out! oye

We are also officially in the market to find a house (wahoo). It is getting difficult to find a house in our budget (under 200k) here in Gilbert, most of the homes are 230k+. I love this area so much, but I don't think we can afford it. SO, we may end up in east Mesa or Queen Creek which are all good areas, just not as fancy as Gilbert. We will stay here for 6 more months while we find a house. Good stuff! I feel like we are finally becoming grown ups ;)

Marzo 2017

We had a really fun month. Did not go out of town or anywhere really special, but enjoyed the wonderful weather we have been having. Love Arizona this time of the year...until summer comes and then I want to rip my face off. Anywho...we had a good month. Even though the Wild Cats did not make it to the final four. Mark has been working late hours still, so that stinks. Hopefully we will see more of him in May.

Our fun walks to McDonalds for Ice Cream, Lily's favorite activity. Though I don't think it's for the walk ;)

 Mark is teaching Lily how to play basketball. And Jacob tries to steal it. He is getting so big!

Grammy came to visit and we took the kids to Encanto Park. Jacob got to ride on his first rides alone! Looking forward to the Pima county fair next month.

 These kiddos are enjoying their early easter present. They love to play in the sand and I love to see them playing together.

 We got some warm weather this month in the 90's, so we headed to the splash pad. Last year Jacob was not walking when we came. Crazy to think how much he has grown.

 Took lily to Dave and busters so she could be a real live Ghost Buster...dream come true! She even made us badges to wear.

 Lily shenanigans. She had Ninja camp this month. Caught her readying a magazine while going potty (had to document) and she asked to buy this cross at the store so she could decorate it like Lucifer would...what?! And she pointed out that the scratch on her leg looks like ASU's devils fork...Mark is worried too much ASU exposure living in Phoenix.

 Jacob Shenanigans. He broke my glasses (still heart broken) and I found him in the kitchen, very disappointed with himself that he spilled all the matches. Pretty much distructo...but I'll still love him.

Crossfit Open 2017

My first year doing the Crossfit Open was not as terrible as I'd always thought it would be. Though it was very eye opening as to just how far behind I really am. Here are the exercises, and my performance: The Open starts with 17.1 (for 2017, week/workout #1) and ends with 17.5.

The first workout I was really nervous cause I'm SO slow at Burpees, and my box jumps are not fast either. So I opted for Scaled which means box step overs and lighter dumbbell. I was one burpee/box jump short of finishing before the time cap, which bothered me for a good week, but I'm over it. Looking back now, I should have RX'd the entire workout, not scaled. I could have done everything it required and gotten more points in the long run. 

My favorite workout by far was 17.4. I love deadlifts and rowing, however the wall balls slowed me down since I can't get below parallel without a lot of effort. I did the workout twice cause I was set on finishing the row. The first day I was slow on the wall ball cause I wanted to get low. However, according to others who were watching, I was getting too low and could have gone faster. So, I took there advice and did it a second time. by then I was sore from the first workout (doing it twice is never a good idea.) I managed the 55 deadlifts in 4 minutes, wall balls in 6 minutes (still slow) but beat my first time by 1 minute. HOWEVER my legs were burning so much more then the first time from being slow, that the row was so painful. I stopped twice to take a breath on the rower...I NEVER STOP ON THE ROW! I was pretty mad at myself, but I honestly felt like I was having a baby again. My friends and coaches yelling at me to keep pulling, telling me not to stop, that I can finish the three minutes, while I'm thinking (and saying out loud) that I just cannot do it, that I was in too much pain and my legs were going to fall off. It was awful. BUT I still managed to beat my reps from the first round by 10, so it was worth it. Still bothered I stopped twice though...shameful.

The worst workout had to be 17.2. I hit an end point with each workout because I can't do toe to bar for the RX and I can't do chin ups to end the scaled workout. So I was pretty much screwed. I got through the lunges pretty quickly (3-4 minutesish) and had a lot of time to attempt ONE measly pull-up...nope. Then I tried it RX'd and again, had a good 8 minutes to get a toe to bar...nope. I will not, cannot let that happen again next year.

17.3 also sucked cause I'm terrible at squat snatches. Was no rep'd 5 times cause was not going below parallel. I liked 17.5, which I did scaled just to get a workout (13:47) but got judged RX. I cannot do double unders yet, so I whipped out my 9 thrusters and gained some points.

So what this is telling me, it that I'm pretty average...but not last! I'm cool with that.

Lessons learned:

1. Go for RX, everytime during the open. You will get more points then scaling, and it'll stop you from being a wuss.
2. Don't get mad about what you can't do, just write it down as something to work on.
3. Do it right the first time, don't try to perform the workout twice
4. It's okay to pick someone to compete with...motivation
5. David Castro is a prick.

Goals for next year:

1. Don't be either of the above. I need to work hard on my weaknesses the rest of this year. The Gymnastics part of crossfit is my weakness. Improve.
2. Double unders...need to work on them
3. Do the whole Open RX'd without modifications
4. Shed body fat, it'll help me with #1. Big girl gymnastics is possible, but ain't easy. Get to 24% BF, currently at 28%.
5. be ranked below 1000.

I also counted macros during the 5 weeks. Dropped 5lbs, and 2% body fat. My deadlift went up to 275lbs and my snatch is now 90 from 80. So there is progression. Going to continue with the macros, cause I'm seeing results.

Really happy that I did this. Brought me closer to the folks at my box and helped me see all that I need to work on and just how close I am. Excited for next years Open!

The Month of February

Not much to mention about this month, Lily's birthday was the big event. We don't see much of Mark these days, aside from the weekend. He is working from 8am to 10pm almost every night. This is turning out to be a true busy season for him. We knew it would be this way though, I don't like it, but we can handle it till April. I've been focusing on keeping busy with the kids and working on my Crossfit goals. I feel myself improving everyday and getting closer to my Crossfit community which is always motivating. I've just started counting Macros this week, which is turning out to be really difficult to meet my daily numbers. My split on training days is: P165, C237, F43 cals1994 and rest days: P201, C110, F55g cals1733. How does one get 201 grams of protein in one day while minimizing carb and fat intake?! usually I miss my numbers by a gram or so, but I feel like I'm eating all day. Never thought that'd be a problem, but it is annoying! lol. That being said, I'm already down 4lbs in a week, probably inflammation, but I'll take it. Diet, it's a science! Lily and Jacob are doing wonderful. We all came down with an icky cold last weekend, had to miss our weekly activities. Kids had fevers but got over all the yuck after three days, I'm still struggling with the cough, but otherwise good. Valentines day we spent it at Chic-fil-a with the kids since Mark got home at 8pm. We had a good day exchanging valentines, mark is a good daddy and got the kids valentines, Lily got Barbie clothes and Jacob chose a Barbie. Yup, he wanted a Barbie and I did not stop him. His toy, his choice. Then Mark and I got to celebrate together on Saturday after Lily's birthday party. We went to Portillos (Italian beefs...fancy) and then Dave and Busters to play games. We make quite the team on these games. Especially Down the Clown which we get the Jackpot every time we play. We have such a fun time together, love my valentine. We are all doing good here, weather is perfect so we will need to do more outdoor stuff, but looking forward to seeing Mark more then 2 hours a day.

We were invited by Lily's little friend Liam to go to the Arizona Science Museum. LOVED IT! So much to see and Lily and I are science geeks. We had a blast. I did not get a pic of Liam and Lily together, but we had a great time with our friends.

Jacob and his Barbie. Love that the clothes don't come off, he looks less creepy carrying it around. lol

Lilys had a fun taste in outfits lately, channeling her inner ballerina.

 

Is this not the face of a Stinker? His evil villain name is Stinker Binker according to Lily.

My baby boy got his first haircut (at a legit place, not mom's bowl cuts) and he did great and looking less shabby!

Wheel chair racing, Lily dominated. Unfair advantage since Jacobs arms don't reach.

I also signed up for the Crossfit Open which began the 23rd. Each week, there is one workout that we perform and we are placed on a global leaderboard to see how well we mark in comparison to other crossfitters. I was really anxious for the first workout because I'd been sick all week, but I could not get a zero for a score! Workout 17.1 was dumbbell snatches, box jump overs and burpees. Ladder fashion 10(DB Snatch)-15(burpee, box jump over)-20-15-30-15-40-15-50-15, 75 burpee box jumps + 150 DB snatches= 225 reps. weight scaled was 20lbs and step ups instead of box jumps. Oh, and there was a time cap of 20 minutes.
So, the workout. I thought I'd be lucky if I got to round 3 due to my cold. but, I just decided to go and never take a rest. Go slow on burpees/box step ups but don't stop moving. I thought I had 45 seconds left in the workout, had 2 more reps to go. I was about to step down to do my last burpee when time was called, looks like I had 15 seconds left! I was short one stinking rep from the time cap! I was bothered but still pretty proud that I got that far despite my expectations. I could have redone the workout, but i'll take the one missed rep and try to do better on 17.2.

took some pics of where I'm at now. want to take another end of March, once the Open is over to show any progress I've made with counting Macros and working on weak points with lifting. And goofing around with my babes is always fun.