Day 4 Yoga

I hate Yoga! Ok when I first found out we were doing Yoga I thought "no big deal. This should be easy. There isn't any jumping or hard lifting. Piece of cake." WRONG!!! This workout is 1 hour 30 minutes long and you sweat your guts out! Now never doing it before I found out just how uncoordinated I really am. I made it though the first 40 minutes and had to quit. My mat became all to slippery for me to use to even attempt to try the poses we were getting into. And by this time my arms and legs are screaming at me "if you don't give us a break we will quit working for you!" I swear that is just what they did. As I would attempt to get in the right position for the pose I was loosing my balance every which way I looked. After about the 5th time of falling on my face I knew I couldn't go any further. But by goodness, I am going to make it through this video by the time the 90 days are up. I am not giving up yet. I am going to attempt to make it 10 more minutes into it next time and keep going at that pace until I get it down packed. So Yoga, you won't defeat me!!!

Day 3 Arms and Ab Ripper

I really loved this workout. It is a long one though. Just short of 60 minutes. Oh but it was fun to do. I started out with my light weights, only 3 lbs. Since this is my first time through and not sure what to expect I felt it was better to keep it light. I set myself a goal of 15 reps per exercise. I accomplished that. So I think the next time through I will keep the 3's and then the next time mix in some 5's. We will see how my arms feel in the morning.
After that workout you do an additional 15 minute workout called Ab Ripper. This one sucks!!! You do 394 exercises in this workout. Or at least you are suppose to. Each action is suppose to be 25 reps. Again, because I am a beginner and have no endurance yet. I pushed myself to do 10 reps of each one. I am glad to say that I made that goal. So no 394 for me today. But I will work to do reach that as well.

Day 2 Cardio

I must say that this exercise program is a butt kicker! After my first workout yesterday the back of my thighs and my biceps hurt like crazy! Which I found a little odd since it was core and my mid section was just fine. I am taking this as a sign that I need to focus on that muscle group harder when I do that workout.
Today was cardio. On this workout you do Yoga, Plyo, Kemp, and Core. We started with Yoga. Now we did maybe 10 or so minutes of it. I can already tell I am not going to like Yoga! Now, before I ever did any Yoga I thought to myself, "how hard can that be? It's not a bunch of moving." Boy was I wrong! It is intense! I found myself not being able to hold the poses as long as I needed to. And my swift and gentle sweeps to the next pose completely suck! So when we get to that video it will be an adventure.
I also learned that Kemp is not for the uncoordinated! It is going to take me weeks to figure out how the hits and hip movements work together. Especially since he does a set of 4 different hits in one quick movement. My mind was not processing the data as quick as I would like and my hits kept getting all mixed up.
By the end I was complete jello. I was so glad it was over. Thank goodness it is only 43 minutes long. Any longer and you would have seen a puddle on the floor. I can already feel my body going into rig amortise. Now I just need to find a way to boost my energy level since I just used it all in the workout.

My P90X journey

So, since our life is so exciting...I thought I would entertain you all with my new task at hand. There will still be the regular posts of the days in the life of the Simmons family, but I figured if I share my thoughts here then I can feel like I have a support group behind me. And it saves my husband from hearing me bitch the whole time.
I have been working out almost every day since the first of the year. I have only taken maybe a dozen days off of my routine, which for me is very good. I started the year by walking on the tread mill everyday for 30 minutes. Gradually increasing my speed and increasing my incline. I haven't moved up to a run yet but that is a goal by the end of the year. After about the first month I thought it was time to mix it up a little so I started doing my "The Firm" workout videos. I would alternate a video one day and treadmill the next. I must say that these workouts are good. But they are extremely boring. The music in them makes it so hard to get motivated. My biggest complaint is that I don't think they were doing enough to help me burn the calories I need to do. I felt my body changing and muscles getting stronger but alas no change on the scale or in my measurements. So after 3 months of working out and only loosing 7 lbs. I decided to step it up a notch.
So begins the P90X workout. I have watched Tom do this workout for the last 3 months and have noticed big changes in him. Granted he hasn't done part of the workout, (the ab ripper) so his midsection hasn't changed much. But his arms and legs are getting in great shape.
I have decided to do the lean portion of this program. My goal is to loose one dress size by summer. Not to hard of a goal to obtain, I think. So here is hoping. Now, I am not a die hard and going to go on the diet they have outlined. I know I should if I really want this to work properly, but lets face it. No matter how cheep they make eating healthy, diets are expensive! So I am going to trim down my portions, again, and try to eat healthier. No calorie counting at this time.
My stats....
Now, I am going to share with you the hardest part to admit to anyone...My weight!
My beginning weight is 175 lbs. (ouch!!!) The good news is that to be a healthy weight for my height I only need to be at 169 lbs. But that is the high end of the scale. My goal weight is to reach 145 lbs. Not by summer, of course, but hopefully by the end of the year. We tease each other here that by the time I hit my goal weight I will get knocked up again and have to start all over. I guess only time will tell on that one.
My main trouble spots are my waist, thighs and arms. Right now I am a 37 inch waist. A 22 inch thigh. And a 12 1/4 inch arm. I am going to post my stats on the side and do a weekly review to see how I am doing.
The first video in this series was Core. Let me just say I felt like a complete idiot out there! Since this was my first experience with this I had no idea what the exercises would be like. He likes to have you flip from your stomach to your back alot! I have a hard time with this. When I am on my stomach I feel like I am going to puke!!! So I took these exercises in stride. The next thing is that I need to get to the point that I am off my knees for push ups! There aren't a ton in this workout but the ones he does have you do are killer! And unless I learn to get up on my toes I will never do them properly. The workout was about 45 minutes long, so not to bad. And for my first time through, I felt I caught on pretty good and almost did the number of reps for each exercise. Bad but good part is that my back thighs and upper arms are already showing signs of soreness. We will see how I move tomorrow.
Anyway, enough jabbering for one day. Thank you for your support and words of encouragement. I need all the help I can get!

My favorite episode!

Chesney got some CD books where you listen to the fairytale and then listen to the song that goes with it.
She brings the book to me and said. "Mom, look it is Hey Diddle Diddle the cat and the fiddle. The cow jumped over the moon."
Very good Chesney. You are right!"
"Yeah, it's my favorite episode."

So...do you think we watch to much TV?

Jaycie is 3!

After the rush of Christmas is over there is barely time to breath before we are celebrating once again.

Jaycie, the youngest of the bunch, has her birthday on the 28th of December! It is hard to believe that she is growing up so fast. This year she turned 3! WOW!

We did our usual birthday bash for her. The family was over for cake and ice cream and she, of course, received tons of gifts! it was like Christmas all over for her! She had a fabulous time and so did the rest of her family!

We love you Jaycie!

Christmas 2009

Christmas Time! The most wonderful time of the year! For our house, one of the busiest days of the year too.
Our Christmas morning started with waking Chesney and Jaycie up at 6:30am. Laine and Kaylee were both at Rick's house. We were meeting up with them at 11:00am. We let the girls see what Santa left them. Chesney got her "laying down kitty" that she wanted. Jaycie got a My Little Pony baby in a stroller. They were excited and yet very tired. Then off to get ready to be at Grandma and Grandpa Wood's at 9am.

At Grandma and Grandpa Wood's we had a lovely breakfast and visited until it was time to pick up Laine and Kaylee. After we reunited with the older two back to the Wood's for presents. The kids each got a new outfit from Grandma and Grandpa. Then off we were to meet at Grandma Dunn's at 1:00pm.

Grandma Dunn's we had a wonderful lunch buffet including the family traditional Manti House Breakfast Casserole. So good! Lots of wonderful gifts were exchanged. Everyone made such a haul we were worried with how we were going to fit everyone in the car! Laine and Kaylee got marshmallow shooters from Aunt Shay and Uncle Brandon so all the kids were outside to dodge the flying marshmallows. We had a great time visiting with everyone and took our traditional family Christmas picture in the living room. I really need to get copies of all the years we have done that. Then off again to Grandma and Grandpa Simmons' by 4:00pm.
Grandma and Grandpa Simmons' had a beautiful Turkey and Ham dinner for us all. It was all so good. And presents galore! Another big haul for everyone! At this point really panicking on how to get everything and everyone home. Chesney and Jaycie were winding down with the excitement of opening presents at this point. We had some fabulous pie for dessert and then off to home to open our little family Christmas there.

We made it home by 8:00pm. Laine and Kaylee rushed into the house to see what Santa left them and were excited to see the electric scooters that they asked for. Kaylee even got a licence plate that said 'Spoiled" for hers. We then turned to the mountain of presents under the tree! Jaycie was done opening gifts half way through her pile. They all got so much that the next day they didn't know where to start.

It was a wonderful Christmas! I am so blessed to have such wonderful family members that love and accept us! We love you all with all our hearts! Thanks to everyone for making our Christmas so special!