Carlton Update

My little brother is not doing well. The doctors thought his car accident had caused his pituitary gland to stop functioning. He went back for another MRI this week and they decided his car accident had nothing to do with his condition. They found a swelling in his brain that keeps growing. It is either a brain tumor or something called sarcosis. This usually happens in the lunges but in his case it's his brain. If it's sarcosis, there is a chance he will go blind and the life expectancy is not very long. They didn't say how long. I don't know if it's 5 yrs or 50 yrs. My heart has been broken for him. He's only 21! He throws up 3-4 times a day. Can't keep anything down. He sleeps all the time and has massive headaches. He's such a good kid and it's hard to watch him go through this. He has even kept his job through all this. My parents have tried to get him to quit but he won't. He only last about 1 hour at work and has to come home and go to bed. The hardest part is I can't do anything. All I can do is let him know that I love him and pray for him. Not much more we can do.

Tag, you're it!

My friend Debra tagged me on this...look out, you might be next! (thanks Debra for tagging me. I had a good laugh putting my facts together.

The Rules:

• Link the person(s) who tagged you
• Mention the rules on your blog.
• Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours. ( I did a few facts bc I've said all my quirks just to the right on my blog.)
• Tag some fellow bloggers by linking them.
•Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged!

1. Interesting fact about myself. I had a rough start in life. I was born dead. True story. My mom almost died. They had to do an emergency C-Section. The cord was wrapped around my next and now I'm alive. I broke my collar bone twice when I was a baby. I got rushed to the hospital for eating moth balls. Rough start! Might explain to a lot of you why I am the way I am. ;)

2. I met Alan a few weeks before I turned 29. Therefore, I've dated a lot in my life. Not so much quality guys. I could write a book about some stories I have. I'd crack you up and you wouldn't even believe half of them. Disclaimer, If I've dated you, OF COURSE I don't mean you. I'm talking about some other guy. ;) P.s. I'm just dying to tell you this one. I went out with a guy ONE TIME! Literally ONE TIME!!!! He called the next day and I told him I wasn't interested and he cried. He kept begging for another chance. He told me he needed to go to Vegas for the weekend to get away because of this hard break up. I don't even know why he was interested in me. I didn't really talk on the date or anything. He must have thought I was someone else. ;) To be fair, I'm sure some guys I've been out with could tell a story about me. So there!

3. I started doing this just this last year or so but when I feel a bit down, I clean. It makes me feel better. A clean home is a happy home, right? It's funny because every time I do this and Alan comes home, he hugs me and asks me whats wrong. I keep our house clean as it is, but I spot clean when I'm sad. It's pretty funny but it always gets me out of my funk. I've also learned I need to stay busy. I get down more often when I don't have much to do. And just a side note, this happened last week. Alan came home and could tell by how clean the kitchen was that I was down. He hugged me and took me out that night, even though he is crazy busy these days. Then we got home and he ordered Sex in the City, the movie, and watched it with me! Wow, that's a good hubby right there!

4. I have the worst knees known to man! I had my first knee surgery when I was 15 and my second just this year. It sucks because when I had my last surgery, I was told I had arthritis in my knee and hardly any cartilage left. This means no more jumping, running, squatting, plyo work, etc... I was so heart broken because I used to love running! I love my double step class. Now I'm an old lady that can't do anything! Our kids don't have a chance because Alan's knee's are worse than mine. ;(

5. People always ask me what my nationality is. They don't believe me when I tell them I'm a boring white girl. When I was a flight attendant, I had Fez from That 70's show. You know who I'm talking about? Anyway, I had him on my flight and he asked me what my nationality was. He guessed Polynesian. I always like to ask, "What do you think I am?" I always get Polynesian, Hawaiian, or Asian for the most part. A few people go as far to say half African American or Latin. If you saw my family, you'd be confused. I am the black sheep and my sister Crystalyn would always try to convince me I was adopted. I believed her a few times.

6. I am probably the worst singer ever! I always thought it'd be fun to go on American Idol and be one of the bad singers everyone laughs at (I mean with. ;)) I am so bad that my stepson notices it. You know you are really bad when a 5 year old tells you that you are. We were driving somewhere and a really good song came on the radio. I was beltin it good! I turn around and Justin is laughing. I asked him why he was laughing and he said, " You can't sing at all!" True story! It's ok, I'm not sensitive about it. I had a good laugh over that.

I tag: Rachel, Heather, Kerrie, Sarah, Kelsey and/ or whoever wants to do this.

1st rule of nutrition

I'm glad you guys are interested in some health posts because it's motivating to me as well. I'm going to post some basic nutrition rules. I will do one at a time. I figured no one wants to read a novel. It's better to read a little here and there. Hope these tips help. Do these and you will be one sexy lady! (Or guy.)

EAT EVERY 2-3 HOURS. NO EXCUSES!!!

This even means if you ate a bit too much at breakfast and want to skip lunch because the calories will cancel out. BIG MISTAKE! What this does is slow your metabolism. When you eat again your body stores it as fat. Who wants that? The best thing to do in a situation like that is to eat a small snack. NEVER NEVER skip a meal! Every 2-3 hours. No excuse. Plan ahead. Plan what you will eat that day and have snacks on hand. No excuses! I even packed snacks on my wedding day and ate while we were taking pictures. Haha! This will use your calories as fuel and burn it off for energy. It's like putting gas in your car. If you are out of gas, you will ruin your car if you keep fuel in it, it will run great for you! Plus, you'll have more energy and feel better. You feel tired if you don't eat this way. You gain weight easier. Your blood sugar levels are all over the place. If you haven't eaten this way before, you'll start to notice how hungry you are for your meals. This is a good thing. This means your metabolism is working. Plus, by doing this, you will burn fat because you are speeding up your metabolism. So eating= burning fat. How great is that?!

The best example I have for this was last night watch Biggest Loser. I love this show! One of the guys was not dropping weight. He was talking to his trainer about it and his trainer figured out he wasn't eating very much. The guy told him it was because he wasn't that hungry so why eat if he's not hungry. He wasn't hungry because his metabolism was slowing down. He started eating again that week and had a 13lb lose! Believe it people! Eating= losing weight! Got it?!

Tips:

1- Cook extra chicken (or whatever). This way, you have something on hand.

2- If you work full time, pack your food the night before. It only takes a few minutes and it's worth it.

3- Meal replacement bars aren't the best for you but they are better than nothing. Keep one in your purse for an emergency.

4- Fail to plan, plan to fail. I can't emphasize this enough. On Sunday, plan your food for the week or at least your basic foods you'll have on hand. This way, when it's been 3 hours and you are starving it'll be easier to go for what you've already planned than for something unhealthy. Keep raw almonds, string cheese, crackers, yogurt, etc...

London Baby!!!

My sister Laralee and I went to London last month and oh my! What a fun trip! I might even go as far as to say it was in my top 3 trips I've ever been 0n. I can be pretty obnoxious, yes it's true. I bet you are shocked to hear that. ;) But when I'm with my siblings, it is obnoxious x 1000! No joke! I think we gave the US a bad name in London. They already view Americans as obnoxious and we just confirmed their thoughts. My brother lives there so that is why we went. Thank you, thank you Bradon and Dave for making this trip so fun. I know you put a lot of work into it and because of you, we had the most amazing time. I think my favorite part was the Tower of London. The reason I loved it so much was because it was fun to see the real London way back in the day. The way it used to be. We walked through the castle, saw the village, and learn a lot about London. We also saw Big Ben, took the London Eye (wow what a view!), went to a farmers market, took the Jack the Ripper tour (very interesting) and took a double Decker bus for my first time. Things that are different in London than here:

1- Places are so small! Restaurants, hotels, everything seems so small. We went to Subway one day and there was 1 table. So different than here. I was surprised.
2- The food, not so much. There was some good food but overall, just different.
3- The people were more rude than I thought. But I guess you can get that anywhere you go. Granted we were really obnoxious but still! I was surprised. If someone is walking towards you, they don't move. You just better get out of their way. They all cut each other off and the craziest thing to me was if you are crossing the street and a car or bus is coming, they speed up to make you get out of the way. I was almost hit once or twice because A. confused on which way I'm supposed to look and B. I was running fast but some how a car would still be right there honking at you. Scary! :)
Over all I did love London! It was a fun experience! I've posted a lot of pictures. We took a lot and I tried to narrow them down. P.s. Don't mind the way I look. I couldn't wash my hair because the blow drier in my hotel room was broken and the shower was too small to even attempt that. Plus, with the humidity, we were sweating so much that the make up fell off my face and lets just say, it wasn't pretty. Then to top it off, I had under 30 minutes to shower, get ready, pack and leave for the airport to go. Long story on why that happened. Needless to say, I pretty much only packed 2 outfits and grabbed the first stuff I saw. Yes, we looked like tourist. Laralee, what's your excuse. ;) Just playin!

I took this picture at a mall for Alan because for 2 or 3 days before I left I was being a 'girl'. I think he was really happy to see me go. :) I felt really bad and thought this picture would make him laugh. :) Hey, at least I can admit when I'm being irrational, right?

I'm just glad he had forgot all about it when I got home and was excited to see me.

This is in JFK. We had to take the 3:55pm flight to JFK. Got in at 11:00pm eastern time and had to wait until 8:30am to leave for London. What a night!

First class is the only way to fly international. What a way to fly! They feed us every 3 hours. We feasted like kings or should I say queen's? What a way to start a trip. I hope you aren't laughing as hard as my friend when she saw this picture. Thanks Rachel! Apparently I look really scary with out make up on.

Laugh it up Rachel!

I LOVE this picture! This was after we landed. We were getting ready to get on the subway and Laralee took this. I thought it was really cool.

This was in front of the Shakespeare's theater.

I love this picture because it sums up our whole trip. Laughing none stop over nothing and everything. I'm still laughing over this trip.Yes, I dance in public sometimes when there is music playing.

Awe! I love Dave so much! He is such a great guy. Good people. Dave, you better be coming to another fondue party at my house next time you come to The States.

We went to 'We Will Rock You' play. Good time!


This is in front of The Tower of London. I couldn't help but pose. Bradon takes his camera out and watch out!


This was one of the guards there. He approached us and was laughing with us and then the next minute he threated to kick us out because he didn't want to talk to us anymore. All I thought was 'um, do we have issues?'
I'm a natural ;)
London's version of American pancakes. Tasted just like it looked too. Their traditional breakfast is beans on toast and stewed tomatoes. We might find that different but I'm sure our traditional breakfast is odd to them.
Don't be jealous of my hair. ;)

I'm thinking, next cover of Vogue. Thoughts?

Yes, No?

I paid this women 3 whole pounds to read my hand. She spent about 30 seconds and told me the love of my life starts with a J. Um, Justin? My step son? Ok sister! Don't quit your day job!

Big Ben

Bradon took this picture. I just loved it.

The London Eye

Awe, I'm an angel. Bradon took this too.

Pole dancing in my future? If I want Alan to divorce me. ;)

yeah, don't ask.

Awe, I love my brover (as Hanna would say.)

My first Double Decker bus experience. I took a liking to it. Can you tell?


This was at the farmer's market. I had to take a picture of my favorite table.

Ok, this picture is priceless! Bradon trying to help me up on the lion. (Never thought I would ever say that in a sentence.) We were laughing so hard, I couldn't get up!

Finally!
I thought this picture was fun. For any Mary Poppins lovers out there, this is where the 'feed the birds' song was filmed. This was exciting for me because that was my favorite movie when I was a little.


I loved their telephone booths.

She had no idea I was behind her. I have a habit of doing this.

This was our whole hotel room. No joke, this small. We had to squeeze our suit cases between the beds.

I wanted a picture of the shower to show how small it was. Bradon, you're such a nerd! The shower was much smaller in person.

That pretty much sums up our trip. Thank you again Bradon and Dave for showing us such a great time and thank you to my wonderful husband for making it all possible for me to go. What's the best way to end such a great trip? For my sister, who is the Regional Flight Attendant for the whole West region of the states, to tell me she's putting me on her benefits as her companion. This means I get to fly anywhere I want, any time I want and just pay taxes. I guess Laralee thought I was fun to travel with. My trick worked. :) Thank you Sista for being so good to me. I love your face!!!

Need a new workout?

I've decided to start posting some workout/ nutrition info and some of my favorite workouts and meals. I get some questions from you guys and thought this would be a great way to answer your questions and to also give you new ideas. It will either answer questions you have or just help motivate those of you who are slacking right now.
This is one of my favorite work outs. I heard somewhere once that if you aren't a little scared of your workout that day, you aren't working hard enough. I love that and I try to live by that. There are days I go to the gym, not really thinking about it and I come home feeling like I've wasted a day at the gym because I wasn't really scared that day. I ask myself every day when I go to the gym if I'm a little nervous. When I ask that on the day I'm doing this work, the answer is always YES! If you try this and don't get tried, you aren't lifting hard enough. Really think about how much you are lifting. If you aren't lifting more and more with each workout or even every few weeks, then you need to pick up a heavier weight! You aren't going to get big and bulky. The only way that would happen is if you are eating away too much food (especially junk!) and not doing cardio. But buy eating a good diet, doing your cardio and lifting the right amount, you aren't going to get big. Quite the opposite. You will get smaller and look amazing! And the best part is, you will be able eat more because your metabolism will be on fire!
You have to lift heavy enough in order to tear down the muscle tissue to build it back up. If you are picking up the 5lb weight and can't figure out why you aren't seeing results it's because 5 lbs is not going to tear down your muscle tissue. So here is my challenge for those of you who work out and feeling in a rut. Start keeping a journal of how much weight you are lifting and how many reps and sets you are doing. This will keep you in check. A little trick I do when I can pick up one weight but the next size up is just too much I pick up the heavier weight and do as many as I can. Even if it's only 4 or 5 reps. Then I pick up the lighter one and finish my set. Another trick is SLOW DOWN! I can almost guarantee you are going to fast. If you aren't, most people do. Look around you next time you are at the gym. My favorite is when I see these big muscle heads (no offense :)) Lifting a weight that is much too heavy for them and they are going really fast, not thinking and not getting a full range of motion. Try counting 4 seconds on the eccentric motion (the release) and 2 seconds on the concentric motion. That will kill! The hardest part is going slow on the eccentric part but believe me, this is the most important part. This is what will get you stronger and tear that tissue down. Trust me! Try it next time you are working out.
Ok, enough about that. Here is the work out!
Do 6 sets of 8-10 reps. This is a circuit train. Rest no more than 1 minute between sets. Use a barbell, the same one, the whole time.

1- Bent over rows
2- Upright rows
3- Military press
4- Good mornings
5- Split squats ( I do lunges because of my bad knees. I also drop the barbell and pick up dumbbell's because by this exercise, I feel like my traps are going to fall off.)
6- Clean and jerk (this is a tough exercise to master. If you aren't comfortable doing this, just do a plyo jump. I use a Bosu ball to save my knees, but you can use a step.)
7- Dead lifts
8- Push ups

Make ya nervous? It should! The key is not to stop. Keep going one exercise to the next. If you can't make it through 6 sets, start with 3 and work your way up. If you don't know what an exercise is, google it and look at a picture. Good luck and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ask me if you have any questions about this work out or nutrition and exercise in general. Good luck!

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALAN!!!

Alan turned the big 3-2 yesterday! Birthday's aren't a big deal to Alan but they are to me. I wanted to do something special for Alan that wouldn't be over the top but would be fun to him. So I invited his 2 best friends and their wives and we went to Tsunami, one of his favorite restaurants. Best part was, he didn't know his friends were going to be there. Hehe. I'm so sneaky. I snuck a cake in the restaurant that I got from Kneaders. I was so disappointed with the cake. It was horrible. Alan loves strawberries. So I got a french vanilla cake with strawberry filling and chocolate covered strawberries on top. Doesn't that sound delicious? It wasn't at all! The filling was actually strawberry cream cheese. As in real cream cheese. Not very good! It's the thought that counts though, right?
Alan was surprised that night. I think he was happy with it. It was fun hanging out with his friends. Pretty low key night. Just Alan's style. I'm bummed though because I took pictures that night and for some reason, it didn't save it on my memory card. Any camera experts know how I can fix that?
Since I don't have any pictures from last night, I posted a few that I love. These were taken on a Mexican cruise we went on with Alan's best friend Ron and his wife Angie in April. Ron and Alan have been best friends for 15yrs! They met at BYU and the funny part is, they set each other up with their first wives. Haha! They managed to stay friends after that. ;) We love hanging out with them. They are a lot of fun. Thank you Ron and Angie for coming last night. It really meant a lot to me and I know you made Alan's day!


This was taken on the deck before dinner one night.

AWE!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY! THANK YOU FOR BEING THE BEST HUSBAND A GIRL COULD ASK FOR. YOU ARE SO PERFECT FOR ME. I COULDN'T DO ANY BETTER. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAYNE!!!!

Today is my little brother's birthday. The big 2-3! I just love this kid so much! I was 7 when he was born and feel like I helped raise him. I'll never forget the day he was born. I really wanted a little sister but was just as happy to get a little brother. I have so many fun memories of this kid. He has the biggest heart! He is easily the favorite in our family. My mom denies that he is but we all know he is. He's always been so thoughtful and so kind to everyone. I had the hardest time when he left on his mission. I couldn't sleep that first week. I kept worrying if he was ok, eating enough, sleeping well, etc... I really do feel like a mom to him. I just hope he knows how much I really do love him and think the world of him. All though he is like a little kid to me still, I look up to him so much! Happy Birthday Dayner Spainer! We love you!

I love this picture because it is pretty much what Dayne wore everyday. His moon boots. Rain or shine, this kid had to wear his moon boots everywhere! So cute!!!

I also love this picture! Dayne and me on an Easter hunt. He was such a chubby kid!

I've never been tagged either!

9 T.V. Shows I watch:

1. Sex in The City
2. Amazing Race
3. Survivor
4. Prison Break
5. Lipstick Jungle
6. Kings of Queens
7. What not to Wear
8. Friends
9. American Idol

9 of my favorite restaurants:

1. Cafe Rio
2. Flemming's
3. Ruth's Chris
4. Cheesecake Factory
5. Sweet Tomatoes
7. Market Street Grill
8. Happy Sumo or other sushi places
9. Any place I can get something healthy :)

9 things that happened yesterday:

1. Watched Confrence
2. Built a haunted ginger bread house with Justin
3. Made a cake and Oreo truffles for Alan and Dayne's birthday party
4. Had a birthday party
5. Hung out with my family
6. Watched Amazing Race
7. Told funny, bad dating experiences with my sisters.
8. Did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen
9. Drove to Kaysville to take Justin home :(

9 things I am looking forward to:

1. Celebrating my one year anniversary!
2. Thanksgiving
3. Christmas
4. Halloween
5. Alan's birthday (I have a surprise!) on the 10th
6. Going on another vacation with my sista! (London was amazing!!! Post soon to come...)
7. Having a slumber party with my girlfriens when Alan goes to Texas in 2 weeks.
8. Alan's company to take off! ( months and months in the making.)
9. Going on a really fun vacation to celebrate Alan's company taking off!

9 things on my Wish list:

1. A baby (No pressure from Crystalyn! ;))
2. A Range Rover
3. A huge in- home gym in my basement
4. New wardrobe
5. New bedroom set
6. Decorate my whole house the way I want to.
7. One day, make enough money so I can take care of my family and friends.
8. A really nice camera.
9. Get my yard done!

9 People that I tagged:

1. Crystalyn
2. Annalisa
3. Laralee
4. Kerrie
5. Rachel
6. Josy
7. Josie
8. Kelsey
9. Staci