Monday 30 minute leg workout

I just completed this little doozy of a workout. Initially it didn't sound like much, but after the first few rounds, I realized my initial impression of it being easy was way off. The more you put into correct form on this one (with any workout really) the harder it is and the more your legs will burn.

My legs were feeling pumped after this workout!!

Equipment needed: Agility ladder, or you could draw in a ladder on your sidewalk in sidewalk chalk.

Main Set:

15 body weight squats
10 squat jumps
20 second overhead squat hold

10 right leg backwards lunges
10 left leg backwards lunges
20 alternating lunge jumps

Agility ladder - high knees, two feet land in each ladder space - left side x 2
Agility ladder - high knees, two feet land in each ladder space - right side x 2

REPEAT as many times as possible in 30–45 minutes. Cool down. Stretch.

Weekend fun and a BIRTHDAY workout!

This weekend flew by in a flash, and was filled with fun workouts. Friday night was probably the most relaxing. Dave and I made turkey chili (recipe to come soon!) and watched re-runs of How I Met Your Mother - my favorite kind of Friday night. :)

Saturday began with an 8:00 am bootcamp. This Bootcamp is no joke, seriously - the trainer/owner of my gym literally starts off every class with, "For all you newbies trying this out for the first time.... this is no joke. If you need to puke, go outside."

Yeah, puking happens at this class... but not often.

I made it through the class unscathed (I did almost trip on one of my box jumps, but I managed to correct it just in the nick of time!) -- Then Dave and I went to Whole foods for some food. The rest of the day was kind of spent running errands that weren't all that interesting. Saturday night however was spent celebrating a lovely friends BIRTHDAY at Café Fiore!! By the way I tried a lavender martini there and it was AMAZING.

Hayley (Far right in the above photo) is a longtime friend from the high school days that just had an adorable baby boy. She recently got permission to work out again and has been my partner in crime at the gym - she's so hard core, going to every class possible... I love it! It's been so great having someone so amped on fitness to pull me to the gym when I don't feel like going.

Sunday morning rolled around, which was the morning of the 21st annual Patagonia Salmon 5K. Dave and I ran with our two friends, and it was a lot of fun, and for once we weren't doused in a sweltering wave of California heat. It was about 64° and perfect.

I even finished in a record time for myself - 8:40 min miles!!!! I haven't done that since Junior High, so I was pretty stoked.

THIS MORNING I got up a little extra early for a workout. Hayley's birthday wish was to go to 6:00 am boxing class at our gym. PERFECT birthday idea if you ask me.

A bunch of friends showed up, even ones that don't often wake up early, which was really cool. It was fun working out all together, though I needed a little extra coffee this morning. Early morning workout on a Monday? Waking up for that was harder than I expected.

By lunchtime today it was time for my second workout (sometimes I'm crazy and do 2 workouts per day) and it was REALLY great after so much cardio this morning. My legs are burning, so I wanted to share this one:

Warm up: 
5 minutes walk/jog on treadmill

Main set:
10 kettlebell deadlifts (I used a 20lb weight)
10 squats holding weight to chest
10 second squat hold with weight to chest
10 squat jumps

10 left leg lunges, holding weight in right hand - then switch legs for 10 more reps
10 second hold in lunge position holding weight - switch sides for another 10 sec hold
10-12 lunge jumps
10 lunge > curl > press - RIGHT LEG
10 lunge > curl > press - LEFT LEG

10 Single leg deadlifts - RIGHT LEG

10 single leg deadlifts - LEFT LEG

Repeat 3 - 4 times

HAPPY MONDAY!!

2014 Spartan Beast Recap: The Heatwave from Hell

On Saturday Dave, myself and our trainer friend Eric set out on a little road trip to Temecula for the Spartan Beast, a 12+ mile obstacle course through some major hills in Southern California.

Our race time was 11:45, which originally we thought nothing of, until we saw the forecast for the weekend. Over 100° on Saturday. So... essentially we were racing during the peak heat hours of the day.

Perfect.

We all decided a few days earlier to buy 50 oz camelbaks, hats and cooling towels to soak in water and wear around our necks to keep us cool. Lifesaving ideas... literally.

^^ This was where I was emotionally as we waited in traffic to park before the race. I looked at the temperature outside and it was already 101° at 10:30 am. I was a little nervous about racing in that heat!!

As we started the course we all kind of decided that running it was a bad idea... so when we hit the first steep hill (I'd like to call it a cliff, that's how steep it felt), we decided to walk up nice and easy. When we got to the top of that monstrous hill, we knew the heat was already really bad. Racers were dropping left and right from heat exhaustion. A little after mile 1 there was a poor girl struggling to stay conscious as emergency staff tried to tap her face to keep her awake.

The heat was getting serious.

We made it through a few obstacles and took good long breaks at all of the water stations to make sure we were staying hydrated, and also eating gel packs to get carbohydrates and electrolytes back in our bodies. By mile 6 my calfs and legs were beginning to cramp pretty badly, but I knew I could work through it. The water and gel packs were definitely helping.

As we passed mile 7, we walked down a small hill to what looked like a river crossing, where we would cross and hike through another set of hills and obstacles to finish the final 5 miles of the race.... except, there was a man on an ATV blocking the road.

He was turning all the racers around telling us to head to the finish line. They had cancelled the remainder of the race due to the heat. So that is exactly what we did. We headed to the finish line, completing about 7.5 miles of the 12 mile race.

I understand their decision completely and in all honesty it probably should have happened sooner. There were so many athletes looking pale, cramping, puking and collapsing on the course - I felt like we were in a war zone.

The good news: Spartan decided to give all racers another chance to race for free at the same location in January!! So it looks like we have 4 months to train until our second chance race. ALSO - they are offering a special 2-hour workout in Temecula called the Hurricane Heatwave, where we get a custom t-shirt and dog tags.... now that is a company that will do just about ANYTHING to make right of a situation!! Dave and I are actually considering going back down this weekend for the Hurricane Heatwave workout. It sounds too fun to pass up!

My new obsession with spinning

I never thought I would ever say this, but I LOVE SPINNING.

I used to go to my old gym and see those poor souls in that room full of bikes and think to myself Why on earth do they do that? It looks like torture! – In a way it kind of is, but it feels so good. Workouts always start very hard for me, but then my body kicks into gear and it becomes hard for me to stop.

A few weeks ago, during all of my ankle issues, I was looking for cardio options that wouldn't put too much strain on my ankle, but would still give me a good sweat and calorie burn. I took to the spin class at my gym, and as hard as it is, I really really love it. I can already see a difference in my legs and it causes absolutely ZERO pain in my ankle. WIN.

Last night I went to my 5:45 spin class and decided, out of mere curiosity, to wear my heart rate monitor to see what my heart is at during this challenging class AND to see about how many calories I am burning during a typical session. I went through an hour of spin, and Dave and I decided to do a little arm workout with the ropes afterward.

We were only messing around for about 20 minutes when I looked down at my calorie burn and my eyes nearly popped out of my head.

900 calories. Holy moly. Now I love Spin even more!!! HAHA
Seriously though, I highly recommend this workout for cardio. It's a great way to get a sweat on without too much impact on knees or ankles that might be hurting... also, you can adjust your own resistance to make the workout as hard or as easy as you want. I like that kind of variety. :)

Corporate Games 5K

A few weeks back I participated in our Corporate Games 5K, despite having somewhat of a bum ankle. I figured 3 miles is about my limit, and the faster I run, the better my ankle feels (really body, really?) So I decided to go through with it, of course with no high expectations - especially when I arrived and saw hundreds upon hundreds of participants.

So we arrived, checked in, warmed up and RAN! It was the most exhausting 5K I've ever run because I was running the first half of the race at about an 80% effort (in fitness running terms, 100% is an all-out sprint). By the third mile my ankle was really starting to hurt and I had to come to that realization that continuing to run at this pace just wasn't worth a possible serious injury like a stress fracture or something... so I backed off quite a bit and just went back to a regular jog for the last mile.

As good as my intentions were about backing off the throttle a bit for the sake of my ankle, it turns out I finished 6th overall in my age group. 6th!!!! Then I started to kick myself for not running a little faster for that last mile... I would have gotten a medal had I placed 3rd or higher! Darn!

All-in-all our team did a great job. Four out of the seven BEGA runners got a medal in their age group, which is an awesome result for the team. We are heros in the office now! Hehehe

Update on the ankle: It is still very much injured. I am not limping, but the pain in my ankle during and after running is about a 4, which is not bad, but it's not great. I decided to defer my half marathon entry to the 2015 race, which was very disappointing, but at the same time, a weight is kind of lifted off my shoulders. I can just focus on fitness and rehabilitation of my ankle for now, which is nice.

Injuries, Running and Thoughts on KT tape...

I've had what I believe is Plantar Fasciitis for about 2 months now. I signed up for my first half marathon a few months back and immediately started planning out my running training. I got myself up to 6 miles (which was still at the beginning stage for me since I had already been running a lot) and somehow strained something in my ankle or arch. I've been stretching it, massaging it and icing it for the past 2 months and taking it very easy on the running. Literally for the last 3 weeks I haven't run at all. I've been doing stair climbing exercises in replacement of my running cardio because just about any running for more than 1.5 miles just aggravates the injury. It's been a very frustrating road and I am losing patience with it... especially since my half marathon is in only 4 weeks, and I still can't run further than 3 miles without pain.
So, that led me to KT tape. I've seen so many fitness bloggers and instagrammers and even people at the Spartan Races wearing this stuff and swearing by it... so I decided to give it a try. Heck, if this stuff could help me cross the finish line at my half marathon I was more than happy to spend the $19 to give it a go....

Here is my first attempt at wrapping for Plantar Faciitis according to their website video tutorial. At least it looks cute in pink....

But, I didn't notice a difference. Not a single difference. In fact, about 2 miles into my run, I even started to feel the tape peeling off... separating from my skin... kind of like when a bandaid gets wet. Once that started to happen all the support the tape was providing went out the window, along with my hopes that this was really the answer to my problem. By mile 3, the pain I usually feel at this distance was very much there in my ankle and I finished my 5K run disappointed. My ankle is still hurting in the SAME place it usually does after about 3 miles... tape or no tape.

Needless to say I am a little disheartened at this point. I don't honestly know how I am going to be able to run 13.1 miles in just 4 short weeks, I may actually end up having to transfer my registration to a friend, since I don't want to end up seriously injuring my ankle just trying to finish. I don't know what to do and it is super frustrating. I will continue to give this tape a try, at least until I go through the first roll. May as well use it right?

Has anyone out there ever experienced an ongoing injury like this? I don't like resting, and not being able to run is driving me crazy. I feel like I've tried everything. :(

Warrior Dash weekend...

Last weekend Dave and I went on a little mud run date. We ran the Warrior Dash in San Dimas - about an hour and a half away from home. Last year we got a promo email to try this mud run out, and it sounded like fun, so we signed up. Well we finally went, and it turned out to be a blast. It went by incredibly fast, we finished the run in around 30 minutes. I remember crawling through the mud pit and turning around to see the FINISH line and said, "That's it? We're done!!" I guess we are getting faster! :)

Dave and I had a blast on the obstacles, which were more challenging than we expected. I discovered I am no good at monkey bars. Something I need to work on. This photo was taken before a pretty nasty-looking fall from that second bar...

 Dave had no issues with them. 

Of course there were the fun obstacles like the slide and the fire jump,
which always make for good photos. 

And then there was MUD.... 

This was probably one of my favorite locations to run. Most runs we have done have taken place in remote, dry desert areas and have been really dusty. This location was lush, green and had amazing views of the nearby lake at the top of the hills we had to hike. I really enjoyed the Warrior Dash and would totally do it again. 

Spartan Super Part 2: Race Photos

A few weeks ago, I posted about the Spartan Super race I decided to run with Dave. Well the photos are in, and they're awesome - and muddy!

Somewhere between mile 2 and 3 - the barbed wire crawl.

There weren't many photographers after this obstacle until the very end, not to mention I lost my bib halfway thru the race from dragging it thru the mud. The photographers re-appeared when we had to dunk ourselves into the muddy water to go underneath that wooden wall. It looks like I have a mustache, but I assure you, it is just mud. Yumm.

As we crossed the finish line, there were gladiators with padded sticks (I know there's a name for them, but my brain is drawing a blank) and they'd slam us with them to try to keep us away from the finish line. You can see the blend of emotions on my face; panic, exhaustion, and sheer joy for being so close to the finish line.

So now that it has been a couple of weeks, the bruises have healed, and the muscles are no longer sore, how do I feel about the Spartan Race? I want more!!! I am so ready to run the 5K, and really want to train for the Spartan Beast (12+ miles) to complete the trifecta!! It is by far the most intense race I've ever run, but I love a good challenge. I just wish I could complete all the obstacle so I wouldn't have to do as many burpees. (oh those burpees!) But that's what all the training is for. :)

Happy Monday!

Knocked down, but getting back up

Yesterday I woke up feeling just plain weird. After my morning shower, I noticed I was feeling very dizzy and losing my balance during my morning routine. So I went back to bed and I just sunk into it. My body was fighting something and needed to sleep it off, so I stayed home from work and took a nice easy day off from everything. It was wonderful, except for the fever that ended up creeping up on me later that day. One minute I was hot and the next I was so cold. Also, Dave made me promise him I wouldn't work out AT ALL. I hate rest days when it comes to workouts. I feel lazy when I don't work out and that is something I have to work on. Everyone needs rest days. Our bodies need time to recuperate from the stress we put on it each day at the gym. And mine was already being attacked by something, so a workout would have done me no good.

So I rested. I watched Netflix, slept, read and soaked op every minute of it. As you can see, Olive and Phoebe were loving it because they got to be inside all day with me. Score!

Today I felt much better and was back to my normal day to day rituals. Back to work, back to my lunch time body boot camp. I don't know if it was from being sick yesterday, or if it was just muggy from the rain we've had today, but I was sweating up a storm.

Today's workout:

1/2 mile treadmill warm up
50 jumping jacks

Circuit - Repeating 3 times:

Single leg bench squats with 10 lb weight (10 reps each leg)
One-Armed Deadlift with 20 lb dumbbell (10 reps each arm)
Dumbbell plank rows (10 reps each arm)
Turkish Get-Ups (10 each side)
Resistance Sprints (2 sprints) - I couldn't find a good video on this exercise, I may have to make my own ;)

These movements are very difficult and are by no means at beginner level. My trainer (who made this workout) told us this after we had completed it. He gave us a huge compliment in saying that, and how our form on these movements is extremely important and overall we are performing them very well. That made me feel very confident about how far I've come with exercise. I've got a fitness instructor telling me he basically considers my fitness group highly advanced. WAHOO!!

I'm glad to be back in the swing of things... just in time for the weekend!

Super Bowl Weekend

This weekend went by in a blur - and I'm certain I'm not the only one that feels that way. Saturday I got an early start at my gym to take a 9:00 am Body Conditioning class. It was awesome!!! I love classes that are weight oriented, and we even used the weight bar!! My kind of class for sure!
And then it was Super Bowl Sunday. It happens every year when the Super Bowl is the main Sunday attraction. There's food, friends, football and lots of commercials to watch, and before you know it, the day is over and it's time to go back to work. :(

This year, we had our viewing area ready relatively early (as we were only having a couple of friends over for the game) and I decided that sitting by the snacks waiting for the game to start wasn't the best idea, so I decided to go on a quick jog at the park by my house. I took little Phoebe with me, because she too needed to get rid of some energy. She really is the best running buddy.

I also wanted to test out my new heart rate monitor. A new workout toy is always fun!!

We got a little over 4 miles in, which felt great. The air was cool and it was about to rain.... my favorite kind of running weather! I was mostly happy to burn off some calories to make up for the delicious Super Bowl food I was about to consume.

After I returned from my run, the game started. We had one serious Broncos fan and one serious Seahawks fan, and we were all a little worried there would be lots of unkind words exchanged, so I created a barrier between them in hopes to maintain the friendship! HAHA

Once the game got to the 3rd quarter all hope was lost for the poor Broncos, and the barrier was no longer needed.

All in all it was a good day, not necessarily a good game, but a good time with friends.

And now it's Monday, and I'm not ready for the week yet. It's been cold (for our California standards) and that makes it really hard to get out of bed. There will be a significant amount of coffee in my near future.

Happy Monday.

Spartan Super: Part 1

This weekend I was scheduled to run a Sunday Spartan Sprint, and Dave was scheduled to run the Super Spartan (8 miles!). We set off Friday evening, checked into our hotel, and woke up bright and early Saturday morning and headed to the event location.

8 + miles.... 20+ obstacles....  :)

On the way there, Dave and I half-jokingly talked about the possibility of me running with him in the 8 miler. After he expressed some serious excitement about having a running buddy, we both looked at each other and I said "If they let me sign up at the event, I'll do it with you!"

I wanted a challenge. Mind you, I'd never run more than 6 miles and all of my mud run experiences have been 5K distances, but I wanted to see what I was capable of. I knew I was capable of running another 3 mile obstacle race, but 8 miles? I had confidence, but this was definitely a significantly larger accomplishment. And of course, once I walked up to the registration tent, they let me sign up in the same wave as Dave's. And excited panic immediately set in.

3.5 hours and 8 miles of ridiculously steep hills and amazing obstacles later, Dave and I crossed the finish line. It was an amazing feeling having finished the longer distance.... and never having a moment of thinking I cannot do this. Sure there were moments of exhaustion, leg cramps and fatigue, but never any doubt that I would cross the finish line. I felt extremely proud of both of us.

^^ One of the obstacles from the race... The horizontal wall-climb. You must climb to the other side of the wall using only those little blocks you see there, and ring a bell at the other side to announce you've completed the task!! I made it across this one, and it was so much fun!

Photos of the actual race are obviously not posted yet, but we got to take plenty of photos at the event and in front of the Spartan Race signs. (We have two medals on because if you did 40 burpees after the finish line you got an extra medal) After completing this race (which is the mid-distance race), I think I want to try for the trifecta - which is completing all 3 races (4 mile, 8 mile, and 12 mile) in one calendar year. It's only January and I already have the 8 miler under my belt. I can do this!!!

I can't wait until the photos are posted! I'm sure there will be plenty of hilarious photos of us crawling thru the mud... I will definitely be sharing those the second they are up. :)

Spartan Ready.... and some workouts.

This week has been FULL of good workouts. I'm pretty beat, but I love when I can get a good sweat in...

Monday's workout: 
On a football field -
Jog 90 yards, full sprint 10
Jog 80 yards, full sprint 20

Jog 70 yards, full sprint 30

Jog 60 yards, full sprint 40

Jog 50 yards, full sprint 50

Jog 40 yards, full sprint 60

Jog 30 yards, full sprint 70

Jog 20 yards, full sprint 80

Jog 10 yards, full sprint 90

Full sprint 100 yards

100 yard slow jog for cool down.

Tuesday's workout: 

Squats

Lunges

Single leg deadlifts

some ab work

TONS of Stretching. (major soreness from the sprints)

Wednesday's workout: "Full Body Workout"

Warm Up:

1 – 2 mile run

Main Set:

10 body weight squats

10 squat w/ dumbbell press

20 walking lunges w/ weight (10 each side)

5 burpees

10 overhead tricep press

30 seconds squat jumps

10 dumbbell bench rows each arm

10 sumo deadlift high pull

5 burpees

10 dumbbell bench press

10 machine rows

10 machine pull-downs

Side plank dumbbell lift (10 each side)

5 burpees

REPEAT 2 times

Today's workout: LEG DAY

Warm Up:

1 – 2 mile run

1 gym lap high-kicks

30 seconds high knees

30 seconds butt kicks

Main Set:

20 body weight squats

25’ Spiderman crawl

20 step-ups w/ lunge down (10 each side)

5 burpees

Weighted squats
(Pyramid 10x: 10lb, 15lb, 20lb, 25lb etc.)

Walking lunges (body weight)

Weighted Deadlifts
(Pyramid 10x: 10lb, 15lb, 20lb, 25lb etc.)

5 burpees

10 good mornings

20 One-leg deadlifts (10 each leg)

20 weighted donkey kicks (10 each leg) 

REPEAT 2 times

ANNNNNNDDD I'm spent!!

I've been training like a mad woman to prepare for my first Spartan Sprint. Never heard of it? Well, it's this 5k obstacle course thats military inspired - and let me tell you, these obstacles do not look easy. I'm honestly a little nervous about a few of them... and the 30 burpee penalties for any obstacle you can't complete. I see a few sets of burpees in my future...

But, it's a challenge and thats exactly what I'm looking for. I've gotten all of my workouts done for the week, and now it's time for 2 days of complete rest and stretching to get ready for this race. 

I don't know how much more "ready" I could possibly be. 

I'm feeling pretty strong these days.

Dave is doing the 8 mile race on Saturday, the day before I race. I gotta admit I'm pretty proud of this kid. An 8 mile obstacle course is no joke. He's trying to complete all 3 races: The 4 miler, the 8 miler and the 12 miler -  If you complete all 3 in a calendar year you get a TRIFECTA medal for being a badass. I'm gonna see how this 4 miler goes on Sunday and see if I want to be that cool, or if I just want to let Dave have all the glory.

Have you ever done a Spartan Race? Does anyone else out there LOVE mud runs as much as I do?

December Recap: Washington Christmas and Workouts

Whoa, where in the world did December go? How is it already January 7th??

Wild.

December holidays went by in a blur this year due to the fact that Dave and I just spent almost 2 weeks in his hometown in Washington. It was my first time in his childhood home with his parents and sisters and best friends from high school - it was like a Bachelor hometown date!! It was a blast and it went by way too fast.

{Dave wanted to take the Oregon Coast the whole way up - it was BEAUTIFUL!!!!}

Working out was the hardest part. I have a Spartan Race coming up at the end of the month, and I didn't want to lose the momentum I had been gaining from my workouts... so we tried our very best, but the most we could fit in during the busy holidays and family time and sight seeing and driving... we were only able to fit in about 4 runs - which, granted, were about 3 to 5 miles each. It was a beautiful change of scenery running the Washington trails by Dave's parents' house. So lush and green, and muddy! Phoebe really enjoyed the trails too. Sweet dog. She was such a good girl, she was off leash almost the whole time!!

As good as that is, it just didn't seem like enough. And when we got back to our gym on Saturday in California, you better believe it was hard to get back into weight training! I could hardly believe how much strength I lost, especially in my arms, in those 12 days. I have to remember this for any future vacations, because not lifting during that trip is something I'm paying for dearly in the gym now - haha.

Christmas was nice and relaxing and casual. And Olive took refuge under the tree from all of the unwrapping aftermath. What a cutie.

Love her to pieces, this one. This photo makes me giggle because it looks like she ate the presents!

After the Christmas festivities were over and we had some time to ourselves, Dave took me to Seattle to show me the city. I got to ride on my very first ferry, which is an insane concept to me, but so cool!

Seriously I could do a whole post on our day in Seattle... in fact I just might do that.

It was an amazing trip that I'll never forget. The best part, is we get to go back every year!!!

Sunday Spartan Workout

After watching Dave finish his first Spartan Race in Malibu (post to come), I decided to go to the local park and do a Spartan themed workout of my own on Sunday – After all, I am doing my very own Spartan Race in January!

Here's what the workout consisted of:

150 jumping jacks
15 burpees
3 X 10 dips
15 box jumps
15 sandbag squat-throws (I used a 26lb dumbbell and it works just fine!)
3 X 10 crunches
10 box jumps
3 X 10 jumping lunges
5 X 25' Spiderman crawls
Run 1.5 miles
30 burpees

Stretch

Here's a fun little revelation I had yesterday. The park I went to had no benches around to do box jumps, so I improvised... I realized that my truck would work perfectly as a box jump substitute.

It was so much fun, and so much more challenging (It's a bit higher than I was used to) and now I know I have a box for box jumps whenever I need it!!

Thanksgiving weekend, workouts and a Frenchie

This weekend went by in a blur and I realized it had been way too long since my last post. My main goal this past weekend was to not focus the weekend too much around food, rather, focus the weekend on working out and getting things done.

On Thanksgiving Day, Dave and I got up early to run the Arroyo Verde hiking trail just a few miles away from our house. These photos were taken after the 4 mile run with our little fur-child, Phoebe. Below the trails is this beautiful little park. After our runs I always just want to lay down on a blanket in this park and take a long nap. 

We ate with my family later that afternoon at my Grandparents. Thanksgiving isn't the tradition it used to be because my grandparents aren't very mobile anymore, so we visit them in their retirement community, and it is usually over no later than 2:00 - which is always a little bit of a letdown. You know, since nothing is open on Thanksgiving, so there isn't much else for us to do. But we did enjoy a bottle of wine and some Lord Of The Rings.... I had never seen it, and Dave was appalled, so we watch it. Haha.

Friday morning (Black Friday) I decided to forgo the shopping experience and went to a 7:00 am boxing class at the (new) gym. Damn I love that class. It kicks your butt. Definitely worth getting up and going to. I need to remember that. 

 Olive was just being extra cute this weekend so I thought I'd post some photos of her squishy mug on here. In this photo she was very serious about me getting out of bed to feed her. Googly eyes and all. Girl loves her food. Hmmmmm I wonder where she got that from?

Later on Friday we decided to put up our Christmas decorations. Mostly the tree and the outdoor lights. I do love my little tree - covered in pinks and blues and starbucks cups and owls... It's my favorite night light. I wish I could keep it up for longer than a month.

 Olive and Phoebe were very curious about what the heck we were hanging on the house.

Saturday my parents held a non-formal Thanksgiving feast at their house. It was delicious, but again, I took no photos of the food. I guess I was really serious about not focusing too much on food that weekend. We did, however, get another workout in before the last feast of the weekend. My brother Shane invited us on a little hike up the trail behind my parents' house in Ojai. It was only a couple of miles but it definitely helped with all the food we had eaten over the weekend. It was also very special because I hadn't gone on this trail since I was in junior high, so there were lots of memories on this trail. Sometime soon Dave and I have agreed to do the FULL day hike to the top of the Topa Topa mountain (the top of the mountain in the photo below - I've heard its a cray hike but totally worth it)

And then Sunday was just another day of getting groceries and things in order for the week ahead. That concludes our crazy Thanksgiving weekend! I truly enjoyed the time off and all of the time we spent on exercise and getting outdoors. It was a great weekend.