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Friday Fitness Overview

10 May

It’s baaaack! After the honeymoon I became a total blob and stopped working out. My lunch hours were spent in a restaurant eating and reading a book and my evenings were spent on the couch with my new hubby inhaling fresh baked chocolate chip cookies like they were going out of style.

I stayed in blissful ignorance until two weeks ago at a friend’s house when I weighed myself and saw I had gained nine pounds in the two months since the wedding. Well, I think her scale was off, because the gym scale the next day said I was 173 (not 177) but that is still five pounds more than the 168 I had ballooned to two winters ago. So in the past two years, I have put on 18 pounds!!! I blame my husband entirely. He has way too much a of a sweet tooth it’s hard for me to be good.

Thanks to MyFitnessPal app, I am recording my food intake and my exercise. In two weeks, I have already gone from 173 to 169. Now, I know that is pretty much all water weight, but a victory on the scale is still a victory.

Anyway- my current weight is 169 now and my goal weight is 150.

Friday- I was in SLC for my brothers graduation and while I did not get in a formal work out. We spent and about two hours or so walking; around campus at University of Utah and at a cool pioneer village. (291 cal)

Had to wear my little brother's shoes because all that walking in heels was impossible!

Had to wear my little brother’s shoes because all that walking in heels was impossible!

Saturday- Hiked to Fifth Water Hot Springs! And then when we cooled off in the hotel pool I did some aqua jogging for a good 15 minutes or so. (539 cal)

Approaching the hot springs and waterfall. There were a lot of people there that day

Approaching the hot springs and waterfall. There were a lot of people there that day

Sunday- Sat on my butt for 13 hours driving home. Ugh! NOT fun!

Monday- Yoga (128 cal) and a short 10 minute run with the puppy to the ball diamonds to watch a little league game (102 cal)

Tuesday- HIIT @ lunch (230 cal)

Wednesday- Zumba (452) and 18 rounds of golf (1012 cal- which seems high to me but is what find on several calorie calculators)

I just love being outside!

I just love being outside!

Thursday- Softball (385 cal)

We have a TON of girls on our team so there was a lot of sitting. Not to mention I struck out all four times I batted! I was SO frustrated!! I need to step this ball thing up and start really putting some practice hours in.

Total Calories Burned- 2,127

Darn! Not quite enough for a full pound, though I have taken off a pound in the last week. I guess I’m not taking into account the low-cal clean eating I have been sticking to as well. It’s been a good week! :)

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Chasing Waterfalls

7 May

When I made plans to go to Salt Lake City for my brother’s graduation, I instantly made plans to do a hike to Fifth Water Hot Springs. We went last year after his wedding and it was such an incredible place I had to return, especially after I found out there is a hole in the rocks in the waterfall you can stick your head through!

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You walk along a beautiful creek the whole way up

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This bridge marks the halfway spot

My cousin Travis started to cross this log but got scared. So I had to do it to look tough! Ha ha ha!

My cousin Travis started to cross this log but got scared. So I had to do it to look tough! Ha ha ha!

Approaching the hot springs an

Approaching the hot springs and waterfall. There were a lot of people there that day.

Climbing behind the falls

Climbing behind the falls

Peek-a-boo!

Peek-a-boo!

Enjoying the hot springs

Enjoying the hot springs

The gang

The gang

My cousin grabbed a snake on the hike down, he’s in vet school and very into animals. I decided to be brave and try holding the snake.

My first time holding a snake

My first time holding a snake

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Some climbing just off the trail

It was a wonderful day! I highly recommend this hike to anyone in the SLC/Provo area. It’s not hard with very little elevation gain so children and seniors can handle it.

A gorgeous hike!

A gorgeous hike!

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Hawaiian Honeymoon Day 6- Hiking Hauula Trail & Laie Point

5 Apr

We started off that morning with a hike on Hauula Trail Loop.  It is a 3 mile loop with a little climbing, a great place for a trail run or a family hike.

Park at the beach across from 7-11 and head up the residential road towards the mountain.

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There is a little parking at that yellow gate ahead but it’s better to park on the beach

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You’ll walk along a road for a little bit

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To the right you’ll see this sign for the beginning of the loop

I’ll warn you right here. At the loop you get to choose to go right or left. We went right because it started off uphill so we thought we would get the uphill climb out of the way. Go left! There is less climbing if you go left than to the right.

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Hiking through the tropical forest

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This trail reminded me of my cross country days

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Halfway through we saw this red hill and decided to climb it

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And this is the view we got

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Ryan enjoying the view

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If we had gone the other way we would have gone down these steps instead of up.

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It was a great, easy, beautiful hike

 

We stopped by Laie Point to see if we could jump (like I did in 2008) but it was way too windy and choppy so we got a few pictures and called it a day.

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Ryan on Laie Point

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I was dying to jump but it was really choppy

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Hawaiian Honeymoon Day 4- Hiking to Laie Falls

3 Apr

One must-do item on our vacation itinerary was hiking to Laie Falls. I did this hike with my sister Leilani in 2008 and I had to share this experience with Ryan.

This is about a 10 mile round trip hike and the incline isn’t too bad.

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Ryan always starts our hikes off with a cigarette. Ha!

Park at the football field or the cricket field and head through the gates onto that dirt road. Follow it in a little ways until you see this blue sign on the left side.

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I don’t know about the permit thing. We didn’t have one and I don’t know if you would have got in trouble because of it.

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The trail starts off on a slight incline

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You’ll quickly approach a fork in the trail with a sign that tells you which way to go  (the left)

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Someone scratched out Laie Falls on the sign, so just know you go left

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You’ll go through two tropical pine forests

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Looking down on the red hills

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What a view

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The higher you go, the better the ocean view

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Up, up, up you go.

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A large part of the trail is washed out making it fun to go down, but a pain in the butt to go up

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Entering the second pine forest

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At around mile 4 you walk through a tunnel of trees

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After you turn off the trail toward the falls  you have some scrambling to do to go down to the falls. Proceed cautiously, there are ropes to help you but it is slippery, narrow and steep.

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Using rope to climb down the rocks

When you get to the falls, this is your view:

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Nothing fancy but beautiful

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Ryan found a rope but didn’t use it to go in

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We swam under the falls

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I just love how buff I look in this pic! Ha ha

This is an amazing hike and took us about 3 hours in total and that was with hanging out and swimming under the falls.

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And don’t forget not to pick the local’s coconuts. Ha ha!

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Pre-Wedding Winter Hike to Bertha Falls

13 Mar

The day before my wedding I led a group of friends and family to Bertha Falls in the snow. Because so many of my friends and family had to travel a long way to be with me I wanted to ensure they had a great experience.  I busted out all my extra toques, sweaters, gloves and jackets and away we all went.

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Me leading my hiking group to Bertha Falls

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Yeah for winter hiking!

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We stopped halfway there at a scenic viewpoint and took a ton of photos.

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My best friend from high school Diana came all the way up from Seattle.

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sisters!

As always, I was wrong about how long the hike was. I thought it was 2 km altogether, and it was actually 2km each way. So after the scenic viewpoint, we still had a little over a kilometre to go and everyone (especially my City sisters) started to complain. I kept telling them it would be worth the trouble in order to see the beautiful waterfall. But when we got there, the falls were completely covered in snow! We hiked all that way to look at a pile of snow! Needless to say, I had some disappointed hikers.

Hopefully, they still enjoyed being outside.

A bride's job is never done. Texting on the hike

A bride’s job is never done. Texting on the hike

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Hiking Badger Mountain in the Snow

31 Dec

I was beyond antsy by Saturday afternoon. I went to my mum’s in Richland, Washington for the holidays and after three days of pigging out and  exercise I was too antsy to sit still another second. So my little brother Ben and I bundled up and hit Badger Mountain (elevation 1579 ft). I always laughed at this supposed “mountain” as it is really just a big, barren hill.

But up we went in the snow.

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I was very proud of myself because I didn’t get winded at all on this little jaunt. Mind you, I’m used to much higher elevation hikes.

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Ben didn’t have winter boots so he just wore old skater shoes. I don’t know how he made it up in those, but he sure had a lot of fun going down! Ha ha ha!

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How to Live an Adventurous Life (When You Aren’t Rich)

11 Nov

I had the greatest compliment ever about a month back. A friend was telling me how at a party of mutual acquaintances people started talking about me and how I “actually do stuff.” Since being told that I have thought a lot about it because in my mind I don’t do enough. I have never travelled outside North America,  I haven’t biked across the country, or gone scuba diving, or hiked in the rain forest.

I do make the best with what I have though. Even in Seattle, on weekends I would drag my sisters on adventures nearby. I can’t help it, there is a reason my mantra is “Life isn’t worth living without adventure.” I have to go!

So I thought I would share some tips based on what I do. I am very fortunate to have the mountains only an hour drive away from me.

GET OUTSIDE!!

I can’t stress this one enough. You will never have any adventures stuck indoors.

Even if it’s just a walk, get outside!

Find out what is around you

Check out local blogs, magazines and websites to learn what activities are in your area. Make a list so when you feel restless you can pick something from the list and go.

I am lucky enough to have the Rockies only an hour away

Live in a City? GET OUT OF IT!

Drive until you hit country, stop at a local gas station and ask about hiking trails or local activities. I  was a little lucky in Seattle because there were beaches and lakes and walking trails in the City. But it doesn’t feel the same as being out in the middle of nowhere.

I was always dragging my sisters out to the Snoqualmie area (about 45 min from Seattle) for hiking.

Go to bed early

Okay, I have gotten a lot of flack for being the first person to leave social gatherings and for not drinking a lot. Last  summer I was told I was missing out on life by not partying with my friends. But the next day I hiked to Crypt Lake in Waterton and it was one of the most incredible hikes of my life. I feel that while I was out in the mountains and that individual was sleeping off his hangover that he was the one missing out on life. It’s hard to be adventurous when you are tired and hung over.

I don’t think I missed out going to bed early for this.

Buy the equipment

When I wanted to start snowboarding I went out and spent $400 on gear. When I wanted to start hiking I spent $100 on hiking shoes. I find when I invest in the activity I am more likely to do it because I don’t want my hard earned money to go to waste.

Find active friends

If you have couch potato friends, odds are you won’t be able to talk them in to going on a random adventure. Find some active friends who are up for anything.

My hiking buddy Catherine. That little head at the bottom is her daughter. :)

Just go!

So it’s a beautiful day, you have an activity in mind but you can’t find anyone to come with you. Just go by yourself. I have done many hikes on my own because I wasn’t about to sit at home. Bring music and take off. Make sure someone knows where you are going (just in case).

Would have been a shame to miss out on this because I couldn’t find anyone to come with me. I have hiked Bears Hump alone so many times

Don’t be afraid

My episode of Make it Happen hasn’t aired yet and sometimes I wonder what people think. I mean, what person goes on a random reality TV show? But I got to kayak in an amazing setting with an Olympic medalist kayaker. That once in a lifetime experience is something I will remember forever. It was scary and the night before my flight I was wondering why I do the crazy things I do, but I got over my fear and had a wonderful time.

Kayaking with Adam van Koeverden

So there you have my tips for local adventurous living. If I had money I can only imagine the adventures I would go on.

So what do you do? What’s your favourite local adventure?

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Hiking Saskatoon Mountain in the Crowsnest Pass

24 Aug

As you may have read in my summary blog about my Adventures in Crowsnest Pass you know that we did not get to hike to the Dakota Plane Crash Site like I wanted to. We spent an hour and 15 minutes driving around on off road terrain (my car rocked!) until we gave up and decided to try another hike.  We wanted something moderate but short as were quickly burning daylight so we settled on Saskatoon Mountain a 1.2km hike each way that was rated moderate.

When we pulled up and started on the trail head I was less than impressed. I was really looking forward to the plane crash site and was in a bad mood that we didn’t get to do that. I was furious when we started and saw what Saskatoon Mountain looked like.

Saskatoon Mountain. Where’s Waldo? Lol

The map said to follow the fence line up but we decided to follow the service road for a bit and swing around in order to make the hike a little longer. I’m glad we did because we came down by the fence line and it was so steep! So along the service road we started.

I was NOT happy by the start of our hike

The boys were so bored they decided to knock down a tree

After walking along the service for a road, we veered left through the growth and started ascending the “mountain.”

Up we go

Now, the whole time I was complaining about this hike. I kept calling it lame and stupid and kept saying I was going to go back to the car. I would plop my butt down every 10 minutes and sit and would say “I’m in no hurry to get to the top of this lame mountain.” I really was a major pest!

Sitting and sulking because this wasn’t the hike I wanted.

But when we got to the top, even I had to admit the view was still pretty.

The view of Crowsnest Mountain from the top

While taking pictures, my boyfriend Ryan got down on one knee.

Yup. He proposed!!!

Now THAT turned around my mood! For awhile anyway. On the way back down it was really steep and I just wanted to get to my phone in the car to call my family and friends. So I started complaining again about how lame the hike was. Ha ha ha!

Heading down

Cows in our way. Ryan was scared! I had to go first and shoo them out of the way!

Saskatoon Mountain will now always have good memories for me, and one hell of a funny proposal story.

The hikers!

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Adventures in Crowsnest Pass

21 Aug

Wow! What a weekend it was! My little brother and I really wanted some quality time together (he is spending the summer in Waterton before going back to Seattle) so we scheduled this camping trip over a month ago to make sure that we got some quality time in together! And we did have several adventures. He wanted to get out of Waterton, my typical place of choice so we decided to hit up Crowsnest Pass instead.

My first off impression is that the Crowsnest Pass is that it’s not the place for me. It’s crowded, the mountains aren’t nearly as dramatic as Waterton, and the trail heads are not marked (more on that later).

CAMPING

We camped at Chinook Lake just 6km north of Highway 3. It is very clearly marked and easy to find. This was my first time camping in a crowded camp ground EVER! I always camped in remote camp grounds or back country. I did not liek the experience at all! I was kept up until 3am the first night by the drunk d-bags two camping spots over from us and then awoken at 7am by the screaming kids right next to us. I was not a happy camper.

Tent # 1

Tent #2

We intended to buy wood from the camp site but when we arrived they weren’t home. It was 8pm on a Friday night, prime camp site hours. I left a note and it wasn’t  until 10 pm that the host came by with some wood for us to purchase. In the meantime we were starving and so picked up dead wood around the site (which we weren’t supposed to) to get a fire started to cook on.

Searching for wood

When we tried to go down to Chinook Lake, it was so crowded we couldn’t find any parking. By the end of the trip I was pretty annoyed with the whole camp ground experience. From now on, I am sticking to back country.

Reflection of the trees in my coffee

ACTIVITIES

We did have a good time being tourists in Crowsnest Pass. Ryan wasn’t with us on the first day as he had to work so Ben and I were complete tourists and started off our day walking through Blairmore.

Ben hopped the fence to get this shot with a historic train on display in the town

We had breakfast as this amazing cafe! It is just like Luke’s Diner from Gimore Girls.

I ordered a fresh carrot juice and it was so tasty!

We headed to Crowsnest Lake to enjoy the view

We went on the Bellevue Mine Tour! A blog post about this awesome experience to come.

We hit the Interpretive Centre and learned all about Frank Slide. More info to come soon.

HIKING

I wanted to go on an epic hike with Ben, at least once. SO I researched local hikes and found one that goes to a World War !! plane crash site where the shell of the plane is still there. From that site you can hike 3km more up to the peak of the mountain it’s on.  I was so excited to take Ben and Ryan and I found a free hiking map at Stone’s Throw Cafe so I thought I knew the way.

We followed the map to the North Creek Road and stopped under a big sign that said North Creek Staging Area while we looked for a sign somewhere. I stopped a group of passing mountain bikers (one of whom happened to be an old aquaintence) and got directions to the trail head. He said that we had to go over the yellow York Creek Bridge, up a few switchbacks and we would see a sign. We passed the bridge, drove up the switch backs and saw two trails forking. First we tried the left but that lead to what looked like a quad trail then we turned around and tried the right and ended up on another quad trail.  We drove through puddles and over rocks and ruts and I was shocked at how awesome my car was doing.

This was the highlight of this morning. We drove around for over an hour before I gave up trying to find this trail or the trail head because there are several trails shooting off the main road and not one is marked and the map’s instructions were clear as mud. But I still enjoyed myself because my car Norman a small 2-wheel drive SUV was ROCKING on this off road terrain! I couldn’t believe it. I will never call Norman boring again! 

Just a little of the mud when we first started off-roading with Norman.

So after about an hour and 15 minutes I stressed right out and said forget it. We went to a gas station and looked at the trail map and tried to find something that was a nice hike but short because we were quickly burning daylight. We decided on Saskatoon Mountain a 1.2km hike each way that was rated moderate. More details on this hike to come.

I was not impressed when we started the trail. More info on this hike to come soon.

We ended our weekend with a swim in the Crowsnest River and headed back for home.

It was a good time, I enjoyed my time with my brother, but I will stick to Waterton from now on. It’s closer, there are less crowds, and most importantly trail heads are clearly marked!!!

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Baby’s First Hike

10 Aug

No, not my baby. Ha ha! On Saturday, my friend Catie and I went to Waterton with her baby Olive for a hike. We hiked to lower Bertha Falls and then went down to Bertha Bay to enjoy the beautiful scenery there. We calculated we did about 8.2km that day. I love having my hiking buddy back (and a new one!)

Lower Bertha Falls

I love the mountains!

We rested by a creek after the Falls

On the way down to Bertha Bay

I want to camp at Bertha Bay so bad

Beautiful Bertha Bay

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