Christmas Is Near!

I don't know if you all remember last year me posting a funny JibJab Christmas e-Card.  Well, I've created another one!  Below is a JibJab e-card from Tyson, Rosco, Precious, and me!  Click on the link to see it.

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/pMqHnGIPNMo11WOvZCJN

This week is my last week of work before I'm on Christmas vacation.  I'll be spending Christmas day with my family.  Tyson unfortunately has to work.  The day after Christmas, Tyson and I will be heading up to Austin, Georgetown to be specific, to spend an after Christmas celebration with his family.  Be on the lookout for a blog about our Christmas visits and adventures soon!

Merry Christmas everyone!  Hope everyone is keeping warm and getting all of their shopping done!

Thanksgiving 2011

So, this year, it was the Manger-Sutton Thanksgiving.  Tyson and I have taken on the Thanksgiving tradition, and this year, we were lucky enough to get part of my family and part of Tyson's family together to celebrate this Thanksgiving.  We celebrated a day early because Tyson had to work on Thanksgiving day, as well as my stepmom and Dad.  We had a blast!  Luckily, we had gotten in our NEW dining room furniture just in time for our Thanksgiving dinner....YAYYY!!!......so we got to sit and eat in our dining room altogether.  And guess what?!!?  Everyone had a chair to sit in!  YAYYY!!!  Previous years, we've had to pull up my exercise ball for me to sit on, our computer rolling chair, the barstools....you name it!

Our new dining room furniture!

So our day started out with a LSRF (Crossfit) workout.  Tyson and I thought we better get in a good one before we pigged out!  Once we got home, I remained in my workout clothes, hair all disheveled, and began helping out with the day long process of cooking.  Thanks to Lululemon Athletic wear (LOVE THIS BRAND!) it kept me nice, dry, and comfy!   By 4 o'clock, Tyson was carving the turkey!  Sorry the picture is sideways.  It's right side up on my computer, but turns sideways for blogger.  :(

Tyson carving the turkey!

After all of the eating, we took family photos like we did a couple of summer's ago.  We set up the camera, and then everyone ran to a spot to get inside the frame of the camera!  

On the floor have my dad and stepmom. On the couch starting to the left we have my younger brother, Brandon, me, PRECIOUS!, Nancy, and Emmy! And of course, in the back we have Hugh and Tyson.

After eating and photo fun, we all played a few rounds of the game Apples to Apples, drank wine, and ate pie.  Nothing better than that right there!  The next morning, we began to set up our Christmas tree.  It's become a thing that after every Thanksgiving meal or day, we set up our tree.  Also, it's nice to have extra hands to help us get the darn thing put together!  Another sideways photo....sorry...  :(

Look! They're so HAPPY putting this tree together. Their smiles scream, "I wish I could do this every day!" (insert sarcasm here)

Move over boys, let the decorator take over!.......me :)

Overall, Thanksgiving was a huge success, and it was wonderful to have both families get together.  I hope everyone had a GREAT Thanksgiving!  Hopefully everyone has come out of their "turkey comas!" :)

Oh!  One more thing, for your viewing pleasure, below are just some extra pictures Hugh and Nancy caught with the puppies when they got in on Tuesday and we were at the gym!  Love my in-laws!  They're so funny!  We don't have any children yet, so for now, I say that my children are furry.....  :D 



Just Hugh and "the girls," hanging out!

Nancy and the girls!



Ooooo......sneaky, sneaky Rosco.  You see, Rosco isn't allowed on the couch. But!  He'll creep up on your lap everrrrr...soooo...sloooowly to see if he can get away with it.  Which, he usually does because he's too cute and it's hard to say no.

And there you have it!  Feeling like a lap dog and happy!

Our Hobby Together

Below is a commercial/video Lift Strong Run Fast created. This pretty much sums up our new hobby and what we do. Click to watch!


Lift Strong | Run Fast from 31Films on Vimeo.


So, this new lifestyle Tyson and I have decided to tackle together has become quite a hobby/passion.  As
you all know, almost a year ago Tyson and I joined this Lift Strong Run Fast program, which is a crossfit affiliated program.  Tyson started it to get his butt back in shape, as well as getting him in more shape for his job.  A month later, Tyson recommended that I'd give it a try since I was into keeping in shape.  He knew that this would take me to the next level that I wanted, as seen in video above.

Since then, Tyson has slowly become this health and fitness nut, and recently, he wanted to take it to the next level.  A lot of LSRF members see a sports medicine guy for aches, pains, injuries, etc.  At the beginning of the summer, Tyson was really worried about his flexibility and how his hips seemed misaligned, so he went to this guy that LSRF recommends.  He found out that this guy ALSO deals with nutrition.  Yay to that!  Over the past couple of months, Tyson has been toying with going and getting a nutritional plan mapped out for him in order for him to get bigger and stronger.  Tyson has definitely built up more muscle, but he's still skinny minny.  His pants are practically dropping off of him now.  I had made many suggestions that I knew about ( **cough, cough**) EAT MORE CALORIES (the good ones of course).  Personally, I knew Tyson wasn't eating enough, and I think in the back of his mind, he knew it too.  However, Tyson is not one to just dive into a nutritional plan unless he has a professional right up on his rear telling him he needs to do this.  Sure enough, he went to the nutrtionist/sports medicine guy and he recommended he take in 3600 calories a day!  "HO-LY COW!" was my response.  So, when all was said and done, the nutritionist put Tyson on a plan, and we hope to see some results in his strength and digestion in a couple of weeks.

Tyson mentioned to the nutritionist that I would like to come in and have a body analysis and be on a plan.  Apparently, he said that I can be on the same plan, I just have to cut everything in half.  For now, I will do this, but I still want to go in and get that body analysis as well as a plan tailored to my specific needs.  I'm not too concerned with what I'm going to eat with Tyson for right now because it's pretty much all of the same stuff I've been eating, just mixed and portioned out differently.  But, I'll give this a shot, see if I feel anything different, and if I feel that there might be something missing to the plan that I need, I'll go and see Tyson's guy.

So now, here I am, after hours and hours of food prepping on my Sunday, FINALLY just getting to sit and relax a little.  This plan requires us to food prep, and let me tell you that it's an overwhelming task.  We had to buy SO MUCH in bulk yesterday.  I couldn't help but laugh and wonder what the check out guy and bagger were thinking when the saw us with a giant family pack of eggs, cartons of spinach, and turkey, chicken, and sirloin stacked high in our cart!  This plan has us eating SEVENTY eggs in this ONE WEEK between the both of us.  We were egg boiling machines this morning, let me tell ya.

Overall, Tyson and I kind of reflected a little yesterday, and we both agree that it is nice that we have a hobby we enjoy doing together.  I really like working out with my hubs, and I'm really liking that Tyson was to eat healthier and just BE healthier.

Welcome Braxton Talley Bean

Braxton Talley Bean

Born September 23, 2011 at 6:15 p.m.

7 lbs. 6 oz. 19 in. long

Braxton Talley Bean.....little love of my life!  A couple of weeks ago, I was up in Dallas to be there for my sister during the birth of her first baby.  This was all a VERY exciting time for the whole family, especially ours since this was the first grandbaby.  On the Friday morning of September 23rd, we arrived at the hospital at 5 o'clock to get my sister signed in and ready to go.  She was scheduled for an induction that morning.  Once signed in, my sister, her husband, Shane, and I were guided to Rebecca's room.  There, she got poked, prodded, and hooked up to every machine imaginable.  After multiple tries on trying to get my sister's IV in, they FINALLY got it.  I don't think I breathed for about 30 minutes while that was all happening.  It looked like a whole lot of not so fun.

Once everything was all squared away, they started Rebecca's pitocin at about 6:30.  Within two minutes, the machine showed my sister was having contractions.  She couldn't feel them, but the nurses were very happy to see it all happening so quickly.  They explained how some women take a few hours to start contracting.  So, at this point, I took this all as a good sign. 

Then, the waiting began.  Rebecca's contractions kept coming, and she wasn't feeling so bad at all.  Around 8 they broke Rebecca's water, warning her that contractions would start coming on stronger.  An hour passed and my sister wasn't looking like she was in much pain.  The nurse even came in and said, "You don't look like you're in pain.  We need to get you in pain," and she uped her pitocin.  Rebecca was contracting beautifully and baby Braxton was looking like he wasn't in any distress at all with each contraction.  Within another hour, I could tell Rebecca's contractions were a little more painful, but she was handling them like a champ.  Just closed her eyes, rocked side to side, and breathed.  At this stage of the game, I officially announced in my head that my sister was my hero.  With all of the poking, prodding, contractions, and with all of the "sexiness" of having a baby out the window, she stayed pretty peaceful and handled everything beautifully. 

Throughout the day, the nurse would check my sister.  Braxton was not dropping.  He was still pretty high up.  They would put my sister in all kinds of positions to get him to drop.  Around 1 o'clock, Rebecca's doctor came in to do another check.  At this point, my sister was about 2-3 cm. dialiated and 75% effaced, but Braxton was still high up.  After holding off as long as she could, Rebecca decided to get her epidural.  The doctor talked to her about how it would help relax her which in turn will relax her pelvic floor so Braxton could drop.  As the day moved on, contractions were still beautiful, Rebecca was still beautiful, Braxton was doing great, and Rebecca moved to 6 cm., but, still.....Braxton wasn't dropping.  At about 5:30, her doctor came in to have a talk to Rebecca about a cesarean.  She was concerned that Braxton wasn't dropping at this point, she couldn't explain why to my sister, so she though a C-section might be best.  My sister was pretty upset at that point.  She had endured a long, hard day of labor, she was tired, and she was sad that in the end of all of her hard work, she was possibly going to have to end up having a C-section.  Seeing her cry and upset about it made me hurt inside so much because I knew this was not what she wanted, but she had to do what she had to do.  She wanted to make sure Braxton was safe and took the advice of her doctor.  Rebecca agreed to have a C-section after her talk with her doctor. 

We all had to head out, because they were immediately heading into the O.R.  We all said our goodbyes and waited.  I was pretty emotional at that point because, not only was it a long day and I was tired, but my heart was completely broken to see my sister so upset.  After about 30 minutes, the doctor came out to say Braxton was born, that he was beautiful, long eyelashes, and then she said she wouldn't tell us more so it could be a surprise.  But, we all simultaneously asked her, "Does he have hair!?  We all want to know if he has a lot of hair."  She hesitated to tell us, but she said yes.  As soon as she said this, all of us started screaming, "Yay!" or "I knew it!" <------That was me.  Or, there was just a bunch of happy laughs.  But, she kept saying that she wanted everything to be a surprise, and then ended with, "Congratulations on a big, beautiful girl."  At that moment, I felt my heart sink into my stomach and I could tell all of us stopped breathing at that moment.  "Big, beautiful GIRL!??"  we all kept repeating.  You see, all along we knew it was a boy, and a few of us had fears was that the doctor would be wrong and it would be a girl.  So, when the doctor kept telling us she wanted it to be a surprise, and then she said GIRL.....a state of panic ran through all of us.

About an hour and a half later, Shane came out (confirmed it was all boy by the way) and just said his hellos and shared his excitement.  He showed us pictures of Braxton and Rebecca that he took while in the O.R., and we all were just so excited.  Braxton looked great, and Rebecca looked absolutely beautiful.  After about another hour, Shane came out to tell me to come on back to help with gathering their stuff to move into a different room.  As I followed him, my heart began to pound and I started to choke up.  Once we walked into the labor and delivery room, I saw him.  My sister was lying in her bed and to the right of her was Braxton bundled up in all of his "perfect-ness."  I heard his little baby squeaks and that was what took the cake.  As I approached Braxton to have a look at him, I cupped my hands over my mouth, took one look at his beautiful face, and just bawled my eyes out saying, "He's so beautiful."  Rebecca then replied in a soft, calm voice, "Isn't he perfect?"  I responded with, "Absolutely," while barely being able to articulate a word.  Within a few minutes, he was in my arms, and I was rocking him.  I just sat there staring at him with my heart overflowing with love for that little boy.  He was so tiny in my arms, and his face was like that of a little porceline doll's.

Braxton has a great mix of my sister and Shane.  He has such long, little fingers and toes.  His hair is dark in the back, but rimmed with blonde.  He has almond shaped eyes, but at times, you can't tell.  There were times where I would say he looked like a mini Shane.  It is crazy.  Different angles of him produce different looks.  I am so in love with my little nephew.  My sister is coming down in the next couple of weeks with him.  I can't wait to see and hold that beautiful, perfect boy again.  It's killing me that he lives in Dallas and I'm down here in Houston.  But, I will see him soon.  Below is a link to Tyson and my Picasa photo albums where you can see pictures of baby Braxton.  Enjoy!

https://picasaweb.google.com/reannins/WelcomeBraxtonTalleyBean#

Goals

Please know that before you read this, by no means am I an expert, nor am I claiming to be an expert at any of this. I'm only sharing information that I have been taught by trainers either by asking, getting caught up in conversation about it, or reading articles, blogs, etc. from people who are well respected out there in fitness.  Overall, I have learned a lot and am going to continue to learn more. 

Goals.  At least everyone, somewhere has one.  Lately, Tyson and my goal has been to look like a lean, strong, and buff looking couple.  Tyson and I have set many goals with this Lift Strong Run Fast crossfit program we've been doing.  Tyson's been going at it for 8 months now, while I've been doing it for 7.  In this short amount of time, we've accomplished a lot!  The trainers at Lift Strong Run Fast set the bar high and have high expectations for you. When I first walked into crossfit, I was totally intimidated.  All of the women looked lean and strong.  The guys as well.  I looked like a skinny-fat weak-ling compared to all of the other clients.  Let me fill you in from the beginning...

I started running about 2 1/2 to 3 years ago to lose my "college pudge."  I had gained at least 15 lbs. since high school.  I know...real "shocker," but you have to remember I'm 5'1, so every pound shows. 



After looking at my engagment photos and seeing how much weight I had gained, it was a huge wake up call for me.  I knew it was time for a change.



One day, I looked in the mirror and told myself it was time for a change.  I changed my eating habits and started running........A LOT!  I had a certain body image in my mind.  I wanted to look athletic and fit.  I ran 5-6 days a week, and lifted weights for 3.  Knowing what I know now, what I was doing was NOT going to give me the body image I had in mind.  Running that much EATS at your muscle, so when I was slimming down, what was REALLY happening was muscle wasting.  I was burning more muscle than fat, which is BAD for your metabolism.  To save your time reading, I'm not going to go into the science of that.  With weight lifting, the heaviest I EVER lifted was 10 pounds on almost everything I did, which I now know was a complete joke of a workout! 

I can tell you right now that this women did not get those muscles and that shapely look from lifting those size of weights.  Some magazines show images like this which causes women to think they'll look like that if they lift only that much.

I was skinny, but I was a "skinny-fat" person, and that was NOT what I wanted; I looked skinny, lost sizes, but still complained to Tyson all of the time how pudgy I still looked and how some things were still digging into my fat and "muffin topping."  Here's an article from my Oxygen fitness magazine which is a PERFECT example of this.  Only cardio and not incorporating weight training:



To the left is the woman's before picture when she was putting in miles per week just running.



Here's part of her article.



After.  A product of mixing in weight training with her cardio and a clean diet.

Walking into crossfit for the first time, I looked really weak and I was quickly, but kindly schooled by the trainer how ineffective JUST running and baby weights were for my body.  He was talking in some fitness jargon I was having a hard time understanding, but I seemed to have gotten the jist that he was politely telling me I have no muscle, I'm weak, and I'm skinny-fat.  To top it off, I thought I was in great endurance shape, but then was sorely mistaken when I tried my first crossfit workout.  ALSO!  I thought I had cleaned up my diet and was eating "healthy," but I wasn't.  I wasn't fueling my body right.

So, walking into crossfit, I saw the women's bodies and told myself, "Now THAT is what I've been trying to achieve!"  When I finally saw and heard stories of what got them there, I was completely shocked.  You mean to tell me I need to lift as heavy as I can go!?!  I thought that bulks you!?!?!  You mean to tell me incorporating plyometrics and intervals help get me there??!  What are those???!!  You mean to tell me that I have to eat MORE!  Who knew?!?!?  Now when I say eat more, I mean eat 5-6 small, CLEAN foods everyday as well as loading up on protein.  1-2 grams per one pound of body weight a day to be specific.  I thought only body builders did this.  If I don't fuel my body like this with the amount of working out I do, guess what???......MUSCLE WASTING!....not, and I mean NOT fat burning.  I overheard the most ABSURD conversation at work back in May.  A teacher friend of mine said, "I'm going to eat less so my body eats at my fat for energy."  HA!!!!!!!!!!!!  I thought I was going to DIE when I heard that.  Not only is your body going to take the muscle FIRST for energy, your body will store fat for survival!  Now, if you're overweight, OBVIOUSLY lowering your caloric intake would make sense, because usually the overweight are taking in TWICE the amount of their daily alotted calories....sometimes more!  And usually, there's not clean diet happening there.

Well, I listened to what my trainers and fellow crossfitters were teaching me, and guess what?!  It works!  Not only have I become stronger, I've become a little leaner and more shapely.  Pretty much the direction I was trying to go my first go around at this whole working out, healthy eating thing. 

I take progress pictures as much as I can in order to see the changes.

Also, I am being pushed beyond my limits.  When you work out with some strong and fast people, it makes you push yourself just to keep up!  Also, I stopped obsessing about what the scale said and did the "clothes test."  The scale tells you NOTHING about your body composition.  You could weigh 110 lbs. and still be fat.  I have actually GAINED weight since starting crossfit, but I know it is muscle because I'm still fitting into my clothes that I fit into when I was 5 lbs. lighter.  In some stuff, I'm actually fitting into them even better than 5 lbs. ago.  Muscle is more dense than fat.....and NO.....muscle DOES NOT weigh more than fat.  A pound is a pound.  Muscle just takes up less space, but the beauty of muscle is that the more muscle mass you have, the more your metabolism is sped up and has the capabilities to rip into your calories even up to 36 hours after a strength training workout, thus causing you to lose fat.  Running lasts only up to 45 minutes after you stop.  I still battle, at times, about trying not to freak out about the scale.  I just have to remind myself that it doesn't tell me what I want to know.

Now, goals.  I'm reaching them.  I still have a long way to go, and I'm certainly no success story yet.  However, I have been getting compliments by many people how fit I look, which tells me that my body is indeed changing. The fact that this is already happening after only training for 7 months speaks volumes to me!  It makes me excited to see what I can accomplish in another 7 months!  I am now benching triple digits, where, at the beginning, I could barely bench the 45 lb. bar with half pound plates on each side.  You do the math.  Not much, huh?!  I can knock out 16 strict straight pushups (still working on 20!) when at the beginning I could barely do ONE!  I run faster, I can do a kipping pull up, and the list goes on.  I'm just a heck of a lot stronger, and I'm becoming more shapely, like I wanted.  I wouldn't have recognized myself years 3-6 years ago.  Another thing that I have benefitted from doing crossfit is that I have been told by people that I motivate them to get in the gym.  To me, that feels so good to hear that!  I LOVE hearing that I give people motivation. 

Tyson looks FANTASTIC and he just keeps looking better.  He's got more muscle definition, and he's leaning out considerably, and faster than I am.................because he's a guy, and women tend to hold on to fat for dear life.  So bitter right now.  Lucky boys!

I love this picture of Tyson.  You can see the striations in his muscles here.  Of course, if the picture was bigger, you'd be able to probably see them better.

Tuesday, after our weight training workout, Tyson walked out in jeans with no shirt, while changing for one of his night classes.  I wished I had my camera with me because I wanted to snap a picture of him to show him how great he's looking.  Back when Tyson used to seriously weight train (before crossfit) he could NEVER bypass 200 lbs on his bench press.  Crossfit has taken him to the next level and has put him over that.  Tyson used to have absolutely NO endurance.  I feel like he's now catching up to me in that department.  Tyson used to make excuses as to why he couldn't go to the gym.  Now, he feels mad at himself if he skips a workout.  Tyson used to eat fast food ALMOST every day, and sometimes BARELY anything.  He's now joined me on the clean eating train and has been supportive with my efforts to make us look and feel good.  I'm so proud and excited for him to see all of the changes he's making.  I'm glad we can share this experience together.

We have built some relationships in this crossfit culture.  It's nice to be surrounded by people who support you, push you, and help educate you on fitness and nutrition to help you get you where you want to be.  I have learned so much, as you can tell from all of my rambling up above.  Fitness and nutrition is such a science!

Now, I wrote this long, possibly pointless to some people blog because I feel good about the lifestyle changes Tyson and I have made and I just have to scream it out to the world!  :)   Also, on Facebook lately, I see posts from friends about being upset with what they saw on the scale that day, how they're planning to devote 2 1/2 hours doing cardio in a gym (and YES, one of my FB friends statused that and actually did it!), , working out harder and not smarter, complain how they want to lose weight, yet I read on their Facebook check-ins that they were at a Mexican buffet or McDonalds, say that  they'll plan on skipping a meal because they feel fat, etc.  Also, I'm tired of hearing, "I worked out today, so I can eat this slice of pizza."  No!  Put is down!  Just say no!  The best thing I ever heard come out of someone's mouth when talking about nutrition and fitness is, "You cannot out-train a bad diet."  Also, please, PLEASE get off that scale!  It's not completely reliable.  Now, I'm not saying I'm pefect because everything that I just wrote above.........................I admit I used to be this girl, and I'm still in the process of training myself to get out of this mindset.

This is the first time in a long time I have been this passionate about something, well, besides graduating college and being a teacher.  The last thing I was passionate about was dancing for my high school dance team back in high school.  I have become so passionate that it has inspired me to set new goals for myself.  I want to eventually study nutrition and fitness.  Also, I plan on taking my physical education certification test so I can teach P.E.  I want to teach children how to be healthy.  As I observe kids at my school, I get to see what's in their lunches, what foods the cafeteria provides, obese children (which makes me sad), and the fact that some of my kids can't even run for one minute without stopping and gasping for a breath, looking like they're about to die while doing it.  I also get to see the copius amounts of high calorie, high fat, or high sugar snacks parents provide for every holiday under the sun.  This all just makes me sick.

Overall, after my work outs this week, I have been feeling like the happiest person alive. Tyson and I like to just sit and talk about the work out that day, and how much we were kicking butt in a certain area that we never were able to before.  This all has made me think, and I had to write it all down.  We are reaching goals that we have set for ourselves, and we are darn proud of it.  I know we are not huge success stories, but we hope to be one one day.  To me, making a healthy lifestyle change makes me feel successful. :)

Sister Time

Last weekend I went to Austin with my sister to visit both my mom and our younger sister.  It was a great trip!  We did the typical....vegging, eating, and shopping.  My mom always wants to make sure we are fed well, and BOY OH BOY was I fed well! 

Then, both my sister, Rebecca, and I drove from Austin back to The Woodlands.  Rebecca spent a week with me visiting friends and family.  She wanted to make this trip before the baby is due.  I haven't seen my sister since her baby shower almost 2 months ago, so it was an incredible sight to see her ever growing belly, and!.....on top of that....She looks GREAT!  So beautiful!  It's crazy to me to think that she will be due in ONE MONTH!!!  Braxton was bee bopping all around inside my sister's tummy.  I loved feeling him kick and move in her belly.  It was such a wonderful, beautiful, and magical feeling.  It was a magical thing to know that what I was feeling was my little nephew in there.  Here's a few pictures of my mom and littlest sister feeling on Rebecca's baby belly:

Our mom feeling Braxton move.

And there's Rylee feeling Braxton move!  She's so excited to be an Aunt!

My sister just left back for Austin, and as we were hugging and saying goodbye, I started to cry like a baby and then placed my hands on her belly.  This will be the last time I will see her belly in person.  Well....sort of.  Actually, the next time I see her is when she's ready to deliver.  I plan on driving up to Dallas for the birth to be there for my sister.

I don't know what it is, but it just broke my heart to see her go.  I miss my sister, and I already love Braxton so very much.  It was hard to see her and her "Braxton belly" get in the car and drive away.  As I was tearing up Rebecca said, "Awww...don't cry."  As she said that, I laughed and replied with, "Gosh!  If I'm already bawling my eyes out right now then get ready because I'm going to be a hot mess the minute Braxton is born.  Tyson kind of chuckled himself while he watched me cry.  When we both got in the house and shut the door behind us as Rebecca drove off, I began to cry even harder.  Tyson just held and hugged me as I buried my face in him, and all I could think of was, "Get it together Reannin!  You will see them soon!"

So, I can't wait.  Only one more month.  I hope one day, Rebecca, Shane, and Braxton move back down here.  I miss my sister, and it rips my heart to pieces to know that we live so many miles from each other that I can't see her on an almost every day basis.  Plus, she's about to have my little nephew, and I want to hold him and kiss his sweet cheeks every chance I get.

In other news, I go back to work tomorrow and then the students come back next week.  I'm ready for my 3rd year of teaching!  There are so many new things happening and things changing with the Texas State Assessment that I can't wait to see how everything unfolds.  I'm hoping Tyson and I will be able to see each other enough with both of our schedules.  Tyson's schedule will be crazy busy with work, school, and K9 training.  Watching him do all of that this summer was exhausting for me.  He's a tough guy, and I love him oh so very much because he's hard working, goal driven, and ambitious.  I couldn't have asked for more.

Summer Wrap-Up

Well, summer vacation is slowly coming to an end for me.   :(  I must admit that seeing back to school commercials and seeing all of my friends' Facebook statuses about going up to their schools and getting their classrooms set up is quite depressing for me.  I want to tell them to stop posting that on their statuses so I don't have to be reminded!  haha!  I've had a very relaxing summer while Tyson has had a busy one.  Crossfit training has pretty much been taking up our summer, with me training sometimes twice a day, while Tyson goes of to his summer classes at night.  We have both been frequenting my parents' pool since it's so HOT!!!

Since school is going to begin, I'm going to have to go back to the 4 o'clock crossfit class.  I'll have to admit, I'm going to miss the noon class.  Tyson and I have built a strong bond and friendships with a lot of the people.  Also, that class is full of FAST and STRONG little suckers which has made me have to push myself harder in the workouts.  I'm also going to miss sitting around with all of the trainers and fellow crossfitters talking about nutrition and training and getting educated on it all.  I do have friendships built with some in the 4 o'clock class, so it will be nice to see all of their lovely faces again! 

Tyson and I are so proud of what we've been able to accomplish over the summer as far as our fitness goals.  Tyson has started mastering the dreaded double
unders <----The most frustrating thing for Tyson, and I'm starting to get the rhythm of them.  Tyson's running has improved (he doesn't think so, but he is!).  I'm getting stronger in my chin ups, and I'm knocking out strict push ups like a mad woman (I never thought I'd see the day!).  I also have succeeded in getting my kipping pull ups, as well as improved on my running pace/time.  Overall, we've been putting in some hard work, especially in one of the hottest summers we've had in a while! See...........

Tyson fell to the ground in exhaustion after the workout, so the trainer thought it was perfect timing to snap a picture. ;)  I can honestly tell you that it has been REEEEEEALLLLY tough working out in this heat that I can't wait until Fall comes around.

To wrap up my summer, I'm going to Austin this weekend with my sister to visit my mom and our youngest sister.  Tyson won't be able to come because of work, so that's a bummer.  We weren't able to take a vacation this summer because of Tyson's school.  He's been constant go, go, GO, chomping at the bit.  I don't know how he's doing it.

We will be celebrating our 11 years of being together this upcoming Monday, August 8th.  I can't believe it has been 11 years!!!!!  It feels like it was yesterday we started dating.  We're probably not going to do much except give each other a high five for going strong for 11 years.  We did a mini celebration dinner last night at Hubbell and Hudson because Tyson will be in class Monday night.  We'll stick to the more extravagant celebration for our wedding anniversary since it's our new one. :)

Well, we hope everyone is staying cool in this heat.  It looks like it is hitting everywhere around the states!  Hopefully we will all find some relief real soon!

Texas Heat! No Rain = No Fireworks!

If you're one of our family or friends that doesn't live in Texas.....let me tell you something.....It has been hot, hot, HOT here in Texas!  By noon it's at 98 degrees, and when the sun goes down, we still stay at about 90 something degrees.  Throughout the day, we often linger between 103 to 112 degrees!!!  We haven't been getting much rain which is contributing to all of this heat.  I think we were going about a month and a half without rain for a little while there.  There have been fires popping up everywhere.  We've already had fires that started as close as 5-10 miles from our house!!!  It's been CRAZY!!!

Needless to say, since we've been in this crazy heat/drought/ fires popping up, we weren't allowed to shoot off fireworks, at least in the Houston area.  The Woodlands area (in which we live in is just north of Houston) is on a burn ban and you would be fined HUGE for setting off some fireworks.  The Woodlands, every year, has set up a nice fireworks display for the community for the 4th of July ever since 1975.  This was the first year since 1975 The Woodlands chose to not put on their production which was very sad for me because every year I sit at the Concert in the Park with my family, listen to a live band, and watch the show.  In the downtown Houston area, however, they went ahead and did their traditional fireworks display they do every year.  I guess because you have more buildings than trees.

Of course, I knew that area was probably going to be a madhouse since that was the ONLY fireworks display happening in our area, so Tyson and I just watched it on our T.V. at our house.  We spent the day lounging around at my parents' pool, and then just chilled out at home.  I must admit though, it was nice to not hear fireworks popping off in the middle of the night in our neighborhood.  The biggest reason I was happy about this is because our K9 dog, Rosco, FREAKS out when he hears them.  He would have been barking all night.  Tyson calls our K9 a huge walking contradiction.  He's scared of the vaccum cleaner, and I mean tuck his tail between his legs and run off to hide in a corner scared, he's scared of fireworks, the blowdryer, etc.............yet............he's not scared of running into an unknown, possibly dark building to bite a bad guy.  Silly boy.

Anyways, we're trying to stay cool!  Drinking our fluids and trying to hang out at my parents' pool once in a while.  I don't know how we've been keeping up with our Crossfitting in this heat!  It makes the workouts HARDER!  I can't wait until it cools down... 

Baby, Baby, Baby!

Last weekend me, and my sister's sister-in-laws held a baby shower for Rebecca and Shane at my house.  There were sooooooooooo many people.  Shane has A LOT of family and friends.  I have never seen a baby shower that jam packed before!  I felt so bad because we were crammed into my house, and the air conditioner was having a hard time keeping up with the amount of people, along with the oven going, and our door constantly opening and closing.  Everything went as smooth as it could go.  I am thankful Tyson was there to help.  He's such a wonderful man!  He got up in the wee hours of the morning after working until 3 o'clock in the morning and did the dishes, helped my step mom cook, help me set up, and overall...just helped me throughout the baby shower.  I kept thinking in my head that I don't know very many men in this world who would have done half of the things he did.  I know it was all out of love. :)

Overall, the baby shower went great and my sister and her husband made it out of the baby shower like bandits!  They got SO MUCH STUFF!!!  I think they're pretty much set!  I feel so happy for my sister to be so blessed to have married into such a wonderful, and also HUUUUUUUUGE family.  That baby is going to be so spoiled and loved!  Here are just a few shots from the baby shower.  Rebecca is now 5, almost 6 months.  I can't remember the exact weeks.  There are more photos of the baby shower.  Just go to the top of our blog and click on our Picasa Photo Albums.  Also, last post I accidentally typed in the wrong web address for Crossfit so sorry to those who clicked it and came to a blank page.  I have permanently posted their web address underneath our Picasa Photo Albums address if you are interested in what it's all about and possibly would like to try it.  Sort of free advertisement for them!  HA!

The cake table.  I got them that Mom + Dad = Me frame and put a picture of Becca and Shane with an ultrasound of Braxton!  Cute!  Cute!  Shane's mom and sister-in-laws put together that awesome diaper cake!

Mommy and Daddy-to-be!

Baby Bump!

The cake!

My mom with Rebecca!

Opening gifts.  This gift was a onsie that said, "I'd rather be naked"  HA!!!

Pictures of the sisters!

Summer Swoldiers

Summer is finally here!  Yayayayay!!!  I'm so excited for some well desered R & R, while Tyson will be busy taking summer courses while working.  All of them are night classes though.....BLEGH!.....But a man's got to do what a man's got to do!  This summer we plan on continuing our Crossfit journey on to becoming buff "swoll-diers."  The Texas heat has been kicking my rear end!  Doing what we have to do at Crossfit is hard enough in itself, but out in the HEAT!!!  GAHHH!!  In Texas, we've been hitting some record high heats.  It's only the beginning of June, and we've already been around 100 degree weather!!!!!  This summer is definitely going to be a hot one!  Talk about some serious heat exhaustion issues.  I'm about to place bets on when I'm going to throw up for the first time on one of these work outs.  Tyson already has...so that's one man down.  I see my day coming. :-/  Eeeek! 

Tyson's looking great!  He's putting on more muscle and leaning out if you can see in the pictures below.  He's going to kill me for putting what I call his "stud muffin" picture down at the bottom.  We're both getting stronger and reaching goals we've never been able to accomplish ourselves.  I'm a HECK of a lot stronger than I've ever been.  Bench press is one of my stronger upper body lifts, and just the other day I was able to put the what I call the "BIG BOY" weights on.  They have smaller, plain, black weights that look girly, but then they have the BIG BOYS that are large and colorful that look like the real deal.  Well.....I was finally able to slap those suckers on the barbell and bench it.  It felt so good!!!  Also, I'm able to knock out 10 (CORRECT) strict push ups.  I used to barely be able to get ONE without fighting it. My first few goals are accomplished, but now I'm going to push myself to continue to add more weight on all my lifts and get my first pull up.  Tyson's reached his first goal of getting a muscle up on the gymnastic rings, so he's pretty proud of it.  The trainer got a video of him doing it, but we haven't gotten it yet.  Anyways, below are some pictures to show what we're up to!  By the way, if you live in The Woodlands area and want something that is going to push you beyond your limits, I HIGHLY suggest this place, Lift Strong Run Fast a.k.a. Crossfit The Woodlands.  Check it out! liftsrtongrunfast.com  I LOVE the results I'm seeing on both Tyson and me!

Tyson doing the AMRAP for the day.  The AMRAP included 5 barbell thrusters, 7 chin ups, and 9 kettle bell sumo deadlift high pulls, and you did that set over and over and over for 20 minutes straight.  One of the longest 20 minutes of my life!  Oh...and did I mention that this was AFTER 30 minutes of lifting weights and strength training???  Talk about muscle pre-exhaust!

Me doing the chin ups.  You can see the fight in my face.  This work out hurt so bad.....I'm mean GOOD! ;)

This was this Monday's workout.  After doing 8 suicide sprints, and 3 sets of 10 GHR's and 20 step ups, we had to do 3 rounds of 50 double unders, 20 goblet squats, and run for 200 meters all for time (see how fast you could do it).  Another exhausting workout.

This was during Tuesday's workout.  The trainer snapped a picture of us lying on the ground, worn out.  The trainer told us to look exhausted, and this is what we gave her: me with a smile and Tyson playing dead.





  

Summer Breeze...Makes Me Feel Fine...

Summer is almost here!!!! I'm looking SO forward to it! It means a little break away from kids, more time to spend not being so exhausted, time with family, and more time to see Tyson.

Next week is my last week of school. We have tomorrow off because of Memorial Day then I have only 3 days with my students. Thursday is their last day, while Friday is mine. But, that Friday is going to be a breeze.  It's only half a day and we get to eat a yummy staff breakfast!

Yesterday my family celebrated my dad turning 50 this past Thursday. Here is a picture of us celebrating. I insisted we sing happy birthday to my dad, but we didn't have any candles. My dad solved the problem by putting a lighter above he cake while we sang to him. Hy-ster-i-cal! HAHA! I had to get a picture.

I love any time I get to spend with my family. We bar-b-que and chill out by the pool. My sister came into town, as well as my brother. Well, he's really my cousin, but I consider him a brother. It's always good to see them! My sister looks fabulous with her ever growing baby bump. I got to feel Braxton bop around in there, which is such a magical feeling. It just makes me more anxious to meet his sweet face. We talked about all kinds of pregnancy stuff, which I think frightened Tyson....more frightened by all of the symptoms and details that go into being pregnant and birthing.

It's hard to believe my sister is 6 months pregnant, and she's going to be a mommy! Her sister-in-laws and I are having a baby shower for her at my house in 2 weeks. Next week I will be busy cleaning and prepping! Thank goodness summer break is almost here!

Childhood Home, Baby, and Turning 50

So I'm sitting here, in my sweat, after a HORRENDOUS, but kick your butt, GOOD work out at Crossfit today.....you know....the type that makes you want to cry while doing it, but you feel so accomplished afterwards???  No?  Yes? 

So...I'm sitting here thinking...
I'm sitting here thinking, "Too bad Tyson missed that work out today, and if today's work out was any indication for what's to come at Crossfit for the rest of the week, then he's lucky he's on vacation!!!"  I'm kind of sad that I won't see Tyson for a week, especially since I've felt like I haven't seen him in 2 because of the mix of his job, my job and end of the year obligations, his late night and early morning K9 trainings, and his schooling. ::sigh::  Makes me sad.  Where's Tyson you might ask???  Well, he's off to Florida with his dad!  I'm very excited for him.  For quite a while now, Tyson's been talking about taking Hugh on a trip back to Florida where Hugh grew up as a young boy.  It's just something special Tyson's been wanting to do with his dad.  So, they're going to have some father/son bonding time in Florida.  I can't wait to hear about the trip!  Hopefully I'll see some pictures.  Come to think of it...I should have given Tyson my camera.  But...then again...he's not "snap happy" like me, so he probably would have gotten ONE photo taken.

As you all know, one of my younger sisters is pregnant.  Well, a couple of weeks ago, we found out the sex of the baby and it is a BOY!  I'm so excited and I'm probably just as impatient as my sister to see his cute little face.  The name will be Braxton Talley Bean.  Braxton is a random name that both my sister and her husband shouted out together one day when they were trying to think of boy names.  Since they both so "coinky dinky" shouted that name at the same time, they thought it was meant to be.  Talley is a family name through Shane's side.  Here's a picture of my little nephew!  Love him already!

On another note, my dad will be turning 50 on May 26th!  My dad can't seem to believe it, but I think he looks GREAT for 50!  Especially now that he's clean from smoking for about 3 years now.  I'm so proud of him!  We're holding a what's supposed to be a surprise (but it's not a surprise anymore) birthday BBQ party for him.  I'm trying to think of what to get him for his birthday, but I'm just so stuck.

Anyways!  I have 12 more school days left until I complete my second year of teaching!  YAYAYAYAY!  I couldn't be more excited for summer to get here!  I'm EXHAUSTED.  Tyson is just a couple of classes away from his Associate's and I think he's going to try and knock that out this summer.  After that...it's on to his Bachelor's!  Otherwise, nothing new.  Still staying active and working, working, working!  Hope everyone else is doing well!

New Food Obsessions

So...along with my Crossfitting I've been on this clean eating kick. I've learned your diet makes up 80% of your body composition. Exercising is useless if you don't watch what you eat. Poor Tyson is forced to eat clean with me....of course....when he's not at work; although, I KNOW that when he's at work, he's cheating.......and it's usually probably not his cheat day. TSK! TSK! Right now, I have two clean food obsessions:

Oatmeal and protein powder with cinnamon
and........
Clean French Toast Sticks
      

Mmmm!!! I look forward to breakfast EVERYDAY! I just can't get enough!  I used to not eat breakfast back in high school and throughout college. Shame on me! Now, I can't live without it! I wanted to post my Clean French Toast receipe for anyone wanting to try it!

Clean French Toast Sticks
(Makes 6 servings)

Ingredients:
6 egg whites
1 cup skim milk
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 Tbsp. olive oil
6 slices of whole wheat french bread, cut into 4 slices. (I prefer to use Ezekiel bread instead. It's a protein bread that's whole grain and flourless. Lower carbs, AND there's no added crud to the bread....ie: unbleached wheat flour, hydrogenated oils, etc.!)
3 Tbsp. 100% maple syrup

Instructions:
In a shallow bowl, combine egg whites, milk, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium heat. Dip both sides of bread evenly in egg mixture.

Cooking in batches, place bread pieces in a single layer in skillet and cook for 3-5 minutes on each side until lightly browned. Serve with syrup.

Nutritional Information (per 4 sticks and 1/2 Tbsp. maple syrup serving):
Now, this is the "overall" nutritional information that the website for this receipe gave me. It's going to be a little different depending on the type of bread and how much maple syrup you use.

Calories: 147
Fat: 3.5 g.
Carbs: 21g
Protein 9g.

Catching Up

I have been slacking on this thing, I know! So sorry! Nothing too new with us. We just celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary end of March. We didn't do anything to celebrate because Tyson had to work. :( I did get a guitar for our wedding anniversary because I've always wanted to learn to play. Now that I got one, it's time to start learning!

Work is going well for both of us. There's nothing new in Tyson's job world, still doing the K9 thing. He's getting ready to go into instructor and F.T.O. school so he can be trained to teach some training classes up at his department, and the F.T.O. school is to train newly hired officers of the department. I'm wrapping up my second year of teaching. Only 30 something more days! C'mon summer! I am also so very thankful that I still have a job and work for the school district that I do with all of these budget cuts occurring. VERY scary!

Crossfit is going AWESOME! We're getting stronger and noticing changes in our bodies. Speaking of stronger!!!!!.........I deadlifted 200 lbs. yesterday, which to me is quite impressive for my size. I'm so EXCITED about that! I especially like that I'm getting that more fit look that I've always wanted to achieve that I couldn't seem to get with cardio and baby weights alone. Our trainers have defintely opened my eyes up to the importance of weight lifting and the significant effect it has on fat loss. I'm losing inches I never thought I could lose, so here's a message to you ladies.....YOU WON'T BULK! You'll just gain lean muscle, rev up that metabolism, AND create that afterburn that allows to you continue to burn calories. Gah! I just love all of this stuff, and I would love to be a personal trainer! Now, if only I could get that OOOOOONE pull-up without a spotter.............. That's the goal I'm trying to reach.

2011 Spring Break Cruise

We're back from our cruise!!! Well....we got back Sunday. Sorry for not blogging and posting pictures yet. I had to get back into the work grind and then I had to get sick at the beginning of the week, so I was a little out of commission. We had a wonderful time, but I think we'll stick to the 5 day cruises next time. 7 days was good. We relaxed, slept a lot, did the vacation/touristy thing, and ate. Oh am I SO SICK of food. I got in some working out, but not my Crossfit type of stuff that really whoops ya! I missed it so!!!! Tyson couldn't get motivated, so he never hit the gym with me.....bleh. Below is our cruise itinerary with a little description and some pictures to go along with. Here's a little how our cruise went:

Day 1: Board Carnival Conquest, and say goodbye to Galveston!........while being served some seriously, "knock you on your butt" drinks. We even got a couple's massage on our first day on the ship! HIGHLY enjoyable. What massage isn't?!?

Day 2: Fun at Sea. Eat, sleep, lie out, eat some more, sleep some more...

Day 3: Fun at Sea. Rinse, lather, and repeat........Repeat of yesterday. Eating and sleeping was getting old. First formal night.

Day 4: Jamaica where we went horseback riding! That was my first time. TOTALLY was scaring me. All I could think was, "Good horsey, nice horsey.....don't drop me." I KEPT THINKING OF YOU NANCY!!! hahaha!!! ---------> "Good Terminator..." Everytime we would gallop a little, my heart would race so hard. After our little ride on land, we got to swim waist deep with the horses. They ran through the water with us on their backs. It was the best part! After that, we enjoyed some jerk chicken and a Red Stripe! Classic Jamaican!

Now Jamaica really warmed my heart. In this country, they don't have ANY problems......only situations. They try to fix the situations before they turn into problems. I like that train of thought! They have a KFC like we do but they say theirs stands for "Keep From Cooking."....HA! When you want to say, "Yes," you say, "YEAH MON!" When you want to say, "No," you make a, "ne-eh!" noise while shaking your head. And, if everything is good and great, it is, "irie." The BIGGEST thing that warmed my heart was how upbeat and positive they were for having such limited means. I never realized what a poor country it is until I saw it and learned about it. Yet, they don't let money worries bringing them down. They are so uplifting, have such happy, positive attitudes, and have so much love for everyone. I LOVE POSITIVE ATTITUDES! I learned that minimum wage is $50 A WEEK! And 2 bedroom house would cost millions for them. Of course, it equates to only a hundred something thousand in U.S. dollars, but for the amount of money they make in Jamaica....that's a lot! The fact is that that they have their love, and that's all that matters. ♥

Day 5: Grand Cayman Islands. We snorkeled, window shopped (I was saving my money for Cozumel), had lunch at Margaritaville, and just enjoyed the crystal clear waters.

Day 6: Cozumel. We lied out on the white sand and overlooked the clear water, did a little paddle boating, enjoyed some drinks, ate some authentic Mexican food, shopped, and PARASAILED!!!! First time for both! On the boat, there's so much noise and chaos, but when you get high.....I mean SERIOUSLY HIGH up in the air, it is SO peaceful.

Day 7: Fun day at sea. Slept, slept, slept, slept................and ate. We were over it at that point.

Sunday: Back home.

So, that's how we spent our Spring Break! If you look at the top of our blog underneath our big, main picture. I have a link that says OUR PICASA PHOTO ALBUMS that's highlighted in blue where you can see the rest of our cruise pictures not shown on the blog. At the end of the pictures in the album are videos I took during our cruise. One is us horseback riding in Jamaica, a couple of videos of the Jamaican taxi bus driver talking and singing to us in his really cool accent, one of us parasailing, and more! I'm still continuing to add more videos because I have a few more, so check back later to see them.

Overall......I'd say we gave this vacation a TWO THUMBS UP! We all know Tyson does!