October Challenge: Who's in?

Over the summer I've done a couple Fitness Challenges and challenged myself to do others. I'm on track with eating healthy and have done well (for myself) in losing all of the pregnancy weight and then some after having my son a year ago. Wow, a year. Anyway, now I'm training for a half marathon in January. So excited! I think that being active and keeping a regular fitness routine of some sort is important in every day life. Whether you're training for a marathon, a 3 mile race, a friend's wedding, the holidays, a family get together or you just want to become more active; you have to fully commit and stay on track.

The idea behind these challenges for me have been to keep me accountable. If I have something I "have to do" or am "supposed to do" then I am more likely to do that activity. 

Source: fitsugar.com via Mary on Pinterest

So why not create another challenge? If you'd like to participate, leave a comment here, or on my facebook or tweet me your progress every day. It's like a journal entry to keep you accountable. I will do the same.

Source: 2012lastfatyear.blogspot.ca via Samantha on Pinterest

October Challenge: 10 + 1 every day

I thought about previous challenges and how they were geared towards doing a workout/run every day of at least 30 minutes. I still like that idea but want to change it up a bit. How about some core strength movements? Don't forget about cardio, that is still important.

Source: get-thinspiration.tumblr.com via Samantha on Pinterest

10 + 1 every day: Choose either push-ups or lunges, or alternate. On the first day (Oct 1) do 10. The next day, do 11. On the 3rd day (Oct 3) do 12. Each day adding one more, and by Oct 31st you will have 40 push-ups or lunges to do. 

I have faith that you can do this! So, who's with me?

Source: google.com via Samantha on Pinterest

Legos, cats & cruising around

Happy Saturday! Fall is just about here, for us in the desert. A very "cool" evening run for me last night of 84 degrees felt so amazing. I could get use to this. I'm done with these 110+ days for a while.

Lots of playing and exploring  going on over here. Now that Jackson's more mobile, he's all over the place. He is ALMOST walking. He is a super fast crawler. If there are baby Olympics in crawling, he'd crush the 100-meter dash.

Me and my Lucy cat. She's such a good sport.

My new red bean bag chair.

My cool shades. What? There's a tag?

Playing with Legos at the store

Little guy. Gosh he looks so grown up, doesn't he?

I love food! Thanks Mom!

Just some randoms over the last couple weeks. Have a great weekend!

Neon Clouds in a Pre-Dawn Sky: Contrails

If you were awake before 5:30am today and happen to be looking to the East, you may have caught a glimpse of this too. This was before sunrise, but the Sun was reflecting off of these contrail clouds way up high in the atmosphere and created a "rainbow"of colors in the top portion.

Almost neon looking, they aren't Noctilucent Clouds, which are very rare to see and quite beautiful. It was a contrail from a missile that was launched in New Mexico. These are seen from Tempe, AZ. Viewers as far away as Las Vegas, NV and Salt Lake, UT were able to see this. As the sun came up, the clouds disappeared and became almost invisible. The news in Arizona (ABC15, 3TV, KOVA Tucson) and Colorado (9News)had stories on the event. Some people called into TV stations saying they thought it was a weather balloon or rocket launch, which is pretty common for New Mexico.

Do you see the crescent moon to the right? The sky was so gorgeous for the entire morning. Perfect that it was clear! Definitely a sign the Monsoon is nearing the end. As temperatures transition to "cooler" and we dry out and head towards "fall" in the Desert.

Hey, Hey Little Muffin

These tasty muffins made their debut!

After sharing this photo on Instagram of these wonderful little banana muffins I made, I had a few requests for the recipe. So for all of you, here you go!

The recipe is originally from Taste of Home but, of course, I modified it a bit.

Banana Oat Muffins

1 1/2 cups old fashioned Oats
1 1/2 cups flour (I didn't have whole wheat so just used regular white)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 bananas, mashed
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup vegetable oil**
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (There is no taste with this, if anything a slightly nutty taste)

** I wanted to make it a bit more healthy so I sub'd in apple sauce for the vegetable oil, 1/4 cup apple sauce, unsweetened.

The applesauce and small amount of brown sugar are all the "sweetness" in this recipe but the bananas help to give the "flavor" a sweet touch without being too sweet. If you'd like, add more brown sugar to be sweeter as this is a healthy version.

In a small bowl combine oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, flax and salt. In another bowl whisk eggs, milk, oil/applesauce and vanilla. Add in mashed bananas. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until just moist. 

Fill greased muffin tin cups or paper-cups (Or be super special and use the new re-useabe muffin cups you just got! 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-17 minutes. Let cool before you dive into these and eat them all up. With this batch I was able to get 16 muffins. They are pretty hearty and fill you up. A great grab-n-go breakfast item. And Healthy!

Have a great week. And if you are super special maybe you have a short week due to the Labor Day holiday, if so, ENJOY :)

Augustathon Recap

Let's get down to business.

While I did very poorly to blog about my Augustathon challenge, I still managed to stay active and do something everyday. My cardio workouts weren't as extensive as I'd hoped but my push-ups/crunches/lunges regimen were strong (pun intended). Here's the breakdown.

 18 days of cardio.
31 days of strength/core.
48 miles.
4200 calories burned

Headband from Bic Bands - Aqua Sparkle

My workout buddy in the AM at the gym.

Lovely pink Compression socks from ProCompression

Stay active. Keep up with what you're doing. Stay hydrated.

Source: chasefear.com via Tori on Pinterest

Source: chasefear.com via Tori on Pinterest

Source: backonpointe.tumblr.com via Amy on Pinterest

Have a great weekend! Enjoy family and friends and time with loved ones. Remember all those who can not be with us at this time and all those who are not with their loved ones. Take a moment to remember all of them. Be safe.

High Chair Evolution

I just noticed something the other day when feeding Jackson. How he has grown since we started using his high chair. I can't find the first one I took, I think it was back in February, but just from 6 months to 11 months he's gotten so big! And look how much his hair has grown. I think he needs a haircut before he starts looking like on of the Hanson Brothers. 

Still sporting those chubby cheeks and dark eyes. His hair is a dirty blonde with redish tint and light brown sometimes, depends on the light.

He's doing well eating, still on puree foods though. He's not big into textures or small bites of things, we're working on it slowly. He's now down to 2 or 3 bottles a day and the rest puree and snacks. Having a bit of back-track as he's more into fruit and yogurt rather than some veggies. As long as he's eating, we're doing just fine. 

Naps. Oh we're back and forth on naps. Some days he'll do good with 3-4 hour long naps. Other days, 1 two hour nap is all he'll take, or even just a half hour here and half hour there. Yikes! But, he still sleeps through the night, so I can't complain too much.

March 31st {6 months}

June 12th {9 months}

August 21st {11 months}

Hard to believe a year ago I was as large as a school bus with a watermelon inside my tummy ?! This little guy gives me and daddy a run for our money!