4-25-2015

Soccer Saturday

This is one of the games that goes down in the record books!  Besides the 2014 Fall Finals for Jett's team, this one is another one that I never want to forget!  

To set the stage, it was already a busy, chaotic Saturday.  Sky and Brooke had already played in soccer games.  We had a guy come out and walk our yard to start the yard estimate, landscaping ordeal.  I had also ran to the store with Brooke to start the Baptism dress hunting.  I was really squeezing that in just before needing to take Jett to his game.  I got back in time to take him, only to find him sitting at the table playing Risk with dad.  He hadn't had a good lunch and so I scrambled to put a PB&J together along with a sliced apple.  We hurried to get his cleats on and ran out the door, without his backpack I might add.  (We always need his backpack cause it has his other jersey, just in case.)   In auto pilot, I drove to McMillan his home field.  When we pulled up already a few minutes late, the parking lot was empty.  My heart sank.  Who knew where it was let alone how far away it was.  I informed Jett, we might not make it in time for his game to even start and to prepare to sit the bench. I was not in a positive mental state by any means of the word!  Lucky for me, Jett is an upbeat kid and doesn't get down quickly!  

I called home asking for the location on the calendar.  This game was originally going to be played at 10:00am but after two reschedules, we were now stuck playing at 4:00pm.  A late afternoon game is never a good thing.  In the past, the boys seem run down by the end of the day.  I found out the game was at Copperview and so I raced like a mad lady to the field hoping and praying that he didn't need to switch into his orange jersey.  

We got there about ten minutes to 4:00pm.  Jett raced over.  Coach had already warmed them up and had the pregame talk.  Shoot!  At least they were in their white jerseys, WHEW!  And then, lucky for me, I found out the game before us got started late and we were just waiting for them to finish.  The threat of rain was there, so we were anxious to get on the field.  We waited, and waited.  4:30pm and we finally were ready to start the game.  Inside, I was happy.  Jett's PB&J and apples had time to digest.  The concern of a mom, right?  He was ready to play!

Jett's team moved up a bracket for Spring after taking first place in the Fall.  We were now in the same division as our Black team.  We have been struggling against these tougher teams.  We tied the first game, and lost the next three.  But those losses could have been ties or wins, easily.  Last week, we played the last place team and was able to pull out a win.  We were hoping to use that as momentum to take on this tough #2 team.  Game time.  The boys took the field and we as parents huddled up in our blankets and thick coats.  It was freezing.  The dark clouds lingered.  We could feel the rain about to pour at any second!  

Kick off, the other team took the ball down and scored in a matter of thirty seconds!  WOW!  It was quite the play... pass, pass, shoot basically.  Then in another thirty seconds, on a corner kick, they pulled off a second goal.  It was going to be a long game.  I said to myself, "I just hope we don't lose by ten and we can get a goal or two."  I decided to pull out my positive attitude and be ready to console Jett with happy, upbeat words after his game.

Then, some how the intensity grew.  Our boys were attacking the ball, running faster and looked like they were ready to take on these boys.  I could see Jett was putting in his own 110%, and I was so proud.  The whole team, worked hard to keep them from scoring any more goals.  They took several shots on us and our goalie, was great at holding them off.  Then, in a break away we got the ball down the field.  Their goalie had come really far out of the box and we were able to shoot past him and score.  It was exciting!  2-1.  Then, with another break away we did it again.  Same thing, the goalie was out of the box and it was an open shot.  We were looking great!  We had other shots at the goal.  We were keeping up with them!  It was insanely exciting!  2-2, there it was!  We were more than willing to take a tie against these guys!  

Then halftime!  The wind blew more and drops began to fall on our faces!  I looked over to see Jett putting on the goalie jersey!  My heart sank.  I had just watched our other goalie fight off shot after shot.  I worried that the rain would make shots slip past him, with a wet slippery ball.  With my heart beating out of my chest, I yelled out onto the field "Jett, get a shut out and I'll pay you TEN BUCKS!"  I was a little irrational, and the parents joked about how I had just raised the stakes.  But I know my boy and if he was going to stay focused, bribing him with money is the best bet!  

Jett was doing great, keeping them in the game, not letting anything past him.  THEN, my worst nightmare... PK in the box!  WHAT?!  NOOOO!  I teared up.  The idea of Jett getting scored on because of a PK, was devastating.  A dad close by said, "Hey you can't hold this against him for a shut out.  It's not his fault!"  I watched this tall, tough kid from the other team step up to shoot.  It was him against Jett and tears began to fall.  This was my boy!  He faced him with confidence, smiling even.  Then, he kicked the ball and Jett BLOCKED HIS SHOT!  I jumped out of my chair with excitement, screaming at the top of my lungs!  WHOOO-HOOO!  He had done it!  

The rain was falling.  Our boys were cold.  My heart pounded the rest of the game as shots were taken against Jett.  A couple of CLOSE calls, where I felt my heart drop thinking it had gone in.  He held on and we as a team looked great getting some of our own ALMOST goals.  We did it, we tied the #2 team 2-2!  What an exciting game.  Well, worth every cent of those ten bucks!   

 

3-02-2015

Well, that was absolutely fabulous.  Week one down and I feel great!  It's actually fun to get up and do the 30 min work outs and eat healthy.  I'm enjoying myself.  I am happy, giddy almost because I'm getting results.  Not just on the scale but in inches as well.  In one week, my least favorite part of my body (my arms) shrunk a whole 1/2 inch.  Shirts and sweatshirts that were tight on my arms actually have some breathing room.  I need to do some descent before/after pictures so you can all see my journey play out.  My stomach is firmer, my legs and butt are too.  My jeans feel baggy now in the butt area and before this I was uncomfortable wearing them even a half day and unbuttoning them when I'd sit down.  Guys, this meal plan and work out absolutely works!!!  Never thought I'd be one to proclaim it so much.  But because, I am on the complete other side of being down and depressed and stuck in the snowball of eating because I was depressed, I want to jump up and down.  Those people that would talk about feeling so much better and having energy and not forgetting so much, used to just drive me nuts.  I didn't believe them.  I had never felt that and I felt like I had eaten healthy and worked out enough in my life that I should feel that.  So I thought it was a hoax.  Now, it's me saying those things.  I have energy, I feel amazing, I sleep great, I have more confidence, I am kinder to my kids even cause I feel better about myself.  I won't go on and on like I could, but wanted to write this down, cause I want to remember this, just in case I get stuck or fall down again in life as far as health and fitness wise.  This will be my pick me up.  It will remind me that I've done it and felt amazing.  I hope that never happens.  I want to keep going and look and feel fabulous at 40.  It's only a year away!!!! 

  

02-23-2015

Here is a bit of a journal entry cause I really, really want to document this.  So here it is, MY STORY!

It started in June of 2013.  I was at a point in my life where I just wasn't feeling like my efforts of working out in the gym and eating what I called at the time "healthy" was working anymore.  We were in a great place financially and I spent a descent amount of money hiring a trainer and going to Lifetime Fitness all summer.  I was happy to have a place to take all 4 of my kids and they have some fun while I worked out.  Lifetime Fitness has a fabulous play area with a basketball court, outside and inside jungle gym and slides, along with a craft area and computer area.  It was great.  Mindy my trainer taught me a lot about what eating healthy really meant and the importance of healthy fat.  Her words were, "you can't lose fat unless you eat healthy fat."  I did great, working out with her and eating a new way.  I got down a few more pounds and was losing descent inches.  I was wearing sizes I hadn't worn since High School.  I felt so great about myself.

After the summer was over, and my older kids were back in school, my paid workouts with Mindy ran out.  I kept going trying to do what I had been taught.  I took Radd who did not like being left alone in the play area.  He cried each time.  It wore on me.  It made it so difficult for me to go to the gym.  I lost a lot of motivation and I could see I wasn't keeping up with where I was in the summer.  One particular day in October, I took Radd.  He cried all the way there saying, "No gym, CHURCH!"  I remember thinking, "gosh he wants to go to church over the gym, he really hates the gym."  Cause at the time, church was hard for him to sit through.  He was only two years old.  That day, I was on the treadmill and got a call from the play area over the loud speaker.  I was bummed.  That meant I had to go change a poopy diaper, at least in past experiences of being called down.  But this time was different.  This time, his finger had been severed in the play area door.  It changed my life.  I spent the next several months sitting and holding my baby who had been hurt.  I did nothing but sit on the couch and watch shows or read books to him, cuddling him for hours on end.  I didn't go to the gym.  I gained weight.  I didn't care so much about anything.  I was depressed for a good 6 to 8 months.

As I slowly pulled out of being down, I tried here and there to get up early and go to a gym close by before the kids had to go to school.  Not being a morning person, I would make it once or twice in a week, but never enough for it to become a routine.  I believed this was my only option for getting a workout in.  Not willing to take Radd to be watched while I worked out eliminated that option and the fact that my husband works til 7:30pm-8:00pm every night eliminated the evening workout option.  So although I gave it a shot here and there, I wasn't really all in.  I slowly kept gaining weight for the next 6 months.

Thanksgiving and Christmas hit.  Being down about my weight because at this point I had gained ten pounds and was totally out of shape, I didn't go light on eating during the holidays.  I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.  I chowed.  It's the snowball affect.  Being down about my weight caused me to eat and that just made it worse.

January 1, 2015... The start of a new year.  The start of a whole new me!

I decided it was time.  I was in a place mentally to make the change completely!  I committed to losing the 18lbs (and 6 inches around my waist) I had gained since October 2013.  I had a calender ready to journal with, jotting down what I ate, keeping track of my work outs etc.  I did it.  I got to the gym early, before kids went to school, 5 days a week.  I started eating much better, not perfect, but better.  I felt my body getting stronger cause I was SO weak.  Then the third week of January, my Smart family jumped on the get fit bandwagon.  We all signed up for a 12 week challenge online and took our before pictures.  I was happy to have more support in this.  It helped.  Then after six weeks of working out and eating now pretty close to perfect, I was deflated.  My weight for 6 weeks had remained pretty much the same.  I knew I had gained a descent amount of muscle, but that only goes so far.  Yes my jeans fit better, but to have given it THAT MUCH EFFORT and to only be down a pound or two was so discouraging.  What was wrong with me?  It was then that I decided to ask my lifelong friend Lindsey Johnson to help me.

Her story... I've known her my whole life and have known her to be a fitness queen.  She works out 6 days a week for an hour and looks incredible.  She runs marathons and is in incredible shape.  I followed her recent posts about becoming a Beach Body coach and that in six weeks she lost 8.5lbs.  Not only had she lost weight but she went from 1 hour work outs to 30 minute work outs.  My thoughts were, "WHAT THE HECK!  In my six weeks, I lost maybe a pound and I'm fat compared to her."  She wrote things about being in the best shape of her life and feeling amazing.

We are close friends, enough that I felt comfortable asking her for help.  That's half the battle.  I have two other friends who I have watched post things on Facebook about being Beach Body coaches, but I've never had any inkling to talk to them about it.  I just don't know them well enough to get that personal with them about my weight and struggles.  So, I went over to her house a couple weeks ago to get the low down on this program.  I wanted to find out if it was doable.  I know my limits and I know what I can handle.  I wanted to see if this was something I could do.

Talk about perfect timing and the perfect fit.  My gym membership at Crossroads Fitness was coming to an end.  I didn't want to have to pay to enroll again and pay a bunch of money.  So instead, I jumped on the bandwagon.  I signed up.  I'm a Beach Body Coach!  I am doing this and have never felt so great!  I am happy.  I feel great.  I do a 30 minute work out at home.  I drink Shakeology shakes which is my healthiest meal of the day.  I get my vitamins and probiotics in one drink.  I started with a 7 day detox (I lost three pounds) and today I started my 21 day fix program.  I am down a total of 8lbs since Jan 1 and have 10 to go to get to where I was working out with Mindy my trainer.  My clothes are starting to fit again.  I feel amazing and I can't wait to see where I'm at in 21 days.  One of my main questions was, "I LOVE pounding it out at the gym, can I really do the at home work outs?"  The answer is YES and it's amazing.  For example, this morning I slept in.  I didn't make it up early enough to do the work out before my kids went to school.  Normally, this would be a lost opportunity to get a work out in for the day.  After they went to school, I got Radd busy with something that I knew would occupy him for 30 minutes, went and set up my video in the other room and got my work out in.  I am thrilled to have gotten it in.

I wanted to post my story so that anyone that is interested can see where I come from.  I was an elite gymnast.  I like working out.  I like being in shape.  I went back to my 20 year high school reunion last summer and hooked up with old team mates.  Team mates that are in ridiculous shape and made me feel so chubby.  I look forward to the day I can hook up with them again and not feel this way.  I know that I can get in the best shape of my life and be looking fabulous at 40!  Today is day 1 of my 21 day fix and I can't wait to post my results.  Stay tuned!

    

1-6-2015

This kid LOVES Skylanders!  It was the incentive needed to get him potty-trained.  It only took being strong and consistent with our words when saying he could play Skylanders after he went pee-pee in the toilet.  We've mastered day time, and we're about half way there staying dry at night.  Can't believe my baby is getting so big!