I did it..........

I went mountain biking by myself this morning!
There's six of us who go right?
NONE OF THEM could make it.  I was bummed but then I started thinking 'It's such a nice day and I've got the kids covered I need to just do it an GO'
So I did.
I put the music in my ears, dressed warmed and went for it.
I was SOOOO GOOOOOD!
I'm really glad I did it.  I'm also really glad I didn't get a flat tire. I've been taught how to change it but I dunno how I'd REALLY do.  Maybe ok........
It was nice to push myself and see how well I could do without anyone around.
My goal was to NOT stop.  But I did once :( 
My heart was going to explode outt've my chest so I knew I needed to stop.
But I'm happy with how I did and now I've got a goal to NOT STOP next time on this particular trail.
I was a great experience to be able to be out in the open hills and be biking on my own.
I'll do it again for sure. 
I'm glad Boise's weather is such that I can do this late November.  I hope it stays good as long as possible. 
I wanna get better at the downhill and the only way to get better is to do it.
At least on the uphill I can run and work out to strengthen my heart, but the downhill is what it is so I'd like to keep practicing as long as I can.
I'd love to be able to go a couple of times a week, but there's NO WAY.  Not my season, so to speak.  But maybe when the kids are all in school?  Man that would be so awesome.
I love mountain biking and I also know you're getting sick of reading this, but too bad man.  My blog, my feelings and these are the feelings of today ;)

Bigger than king?

Sometimes Dru and I need a bigger bed.
Problem is we've already got a king.
Yuki hasn't come in for a while and I didn't even know she was in our bed.  She likes to sneak in on Dad's side and keep still so we don't know she's there.
Takeshi doesn't mind waking us up to let us know he wants to get into bed with us.
I tell him to get lost, therefore 9.5 times out of 10 he goes around to his fathers side.
This morning he hopped on the end of the bed and tried to sneak up inbetween us. 
Dru moved closer to me so he couldn't fit.
I told him to get down by the pillows and make himself his own bed on the ground!!  He said he was too scared and stayed down by our feet like a cat I used to have growing up.
I'm scared once Emiko is eventually let out of her 'cage' called a crib.  I think I'm going to keep her in there until she starts school ;)

Work outs

These are a couple of work outs I've done in the last week.

 I love it. I'm sweating like no body's business afterwards and get pumped by the other women in the class.  This 'torture' goes on for an hour.  

The red lines show the groups of exercises we do and how many times to do them.  So the first two groups we did 3 times then the last group we did 4 times THEN we ran a mile.

Talk about killer. 

This one I did this morning.
The crossed out parts is 10 floppy burpees inbetween each thing.
The second time through she took those out, which was nice of her.
I had to clean up the area I was working in due to drips of sweat on the ground.  Gross man.
Anyway she's going to email us some work outs to do while the Thanksgiving break is going on.
I'm glad cause I can't get to a gym in Utah and so it'll be nice to have some work outs to do while down there.
I may try to get my sister in law (Leslie) to do it with me.  Come on Les, you keen?
Otherwise I'll convince Dru to do it with me.  I need some motivation from strong people to finish the work out.
It's a pity it's so cold, otherwise I would've just mountain biked a couple of times while down there :(
Utah has a nice trail close to Dru's parents place which is quick and great.

 In OTHER great news, in the weekend I asked Dru to get out the 'Milz small clothes' box and went through it and gathered the things that I can fit now.
So I'm down another size which is nice on the ego.
All the hard work is paying off, thank goodness, talk about a tough road.
Anyway there's still my smaller clothes that are waiting around in the box for my next size to drop.
Now the smaller clothes are the clothes I fit BEFORE CHILDREN, almost a decade ago.
I'm telling you man, the day I fit into those clothes will be crazy for me.  But for now I will embrace and enjoy fitting into the clothes I fit into before getting pregnant with Emiko.
It's funny I call them 'small' clothes as I don't think my clothes are small, but in comparison to where I've been it's  a triumph to fit into them again. 
Since gaining weight I've classified them as 'small' clothes.  But it's all relative isn't it.  Someone's small is another person's big.....................................
At any rate, I'm happy and I'm healthy.  I'm eating, sleeping, and looking after myself and it's paying off and I'm grateful. 
There's no unhealthy weight loss here............just hard work and healthy eating. 
My binging has decreased dramatically to next to nothing and my night time cravings have completely gone!!
It's so hard.................but worth it.

 Now onto some other news.

 I've printed out the family pictures and put them into their allotted place in my house.  I love it.
My MOST FAVOURITE picture is this one {above} of our four children.  I HAD to print that out and put it somewhere.  So I rearranged some things and put this 12x18 picture right here in the family room so I can stare at it when I'm in there and smile while staring.  My kids are so awesome.  I'm so grateful.  Enough said.

Then I printed out another 12x18 of our family picture and decided to put it right there on the wall beside the mantle of individual pictures of the children and our family vinyl we have hanging over the top.  It seemed like a great spot.
That's one of the only vinyls we have in the house, Dru doesn't like too much vinyl but his BFF gave this to him one year for Christmas, so he likes it and it works great for our family.  It's not your normal family vinyl and that suits us to a T.

The kids are doing well.  Masaru's loving reading the magic tree house series and seems happy at school.
Yuki is loving school as well and is reading a year ahead of the game.  She does her homework in one sitting but it's next to nothing and that's just fine with me.  I hate homework.
Do you remember doing homework as a child?
I remember reading books but I used to come home after school and play with my mates until dinner.
I don't remember being a slave to homework...................stupid homework.
Anyway I'm just glad the kids are doing well and are happy in school.  It makes things easier for me that's for sure.
The other two kids are' living the dream 'at home with me and we're having fun together ;)
Takeshi is still painting his nails every day and Emiko is still as needy as ever for my attention.  I guess once Takeshi start kindergarten next year she'll have it for a few hours a day.......................then maybe she'll think twice LOL
We'll see................

Family pic's

Most of you have seen these.
But they need to be in my blog book.
So here they are.
Thanks to my mate Natalie for doing these for our family.
Love you Nat.

Me and the Takesh...........

 Takeshi likes to paint his nails.  He used to only do it when Yuki was doing it.  But the last week he's asked to paint them almost daily.
I don't care...................so he does.
He'll do plain, dots and stripes.  I think he's quite amazing for a budget brush.

 Stripes then dots see............^^^^^^
Then same underneath on his toes.

 Truth be told, I'm having a great time with Takeshi everyday.  I'm extremely happy with the decision we made in keeping him home.  It's been great.

 Sometimes he drives me nuts but that's usually around scripture study time when he likes to pretend the couch is a trampoline and I'm trying to get the kids to 'feel the spirit'............................o_0

 He LOVES to draw pictures, fold them up, then give them to you as a gift and wait at your heels, super excited, as you open it up right infront of his eyes.  It's like Christmas every time.  It's pretty cute man.
Dru and I still find these goodies under our pillows at night.  Some mornings he'll scream in and ask if we 'found' it and be bouncing all over the walls about it.
He has a lot of energy to say the least.

 Sometimes we're silly and dance and jump around to music being played and do push ups and squat lunges and see who can do the most.
Sometimes we'll bake together, read together and sometimes he'll go watch a movie while I read my scriptures then try to take a 15 min nap on the couch.

I love it.
I love him.
He's trouble and I'm not too sure what to do about that, but I think as long as I continue to see the good in him and continue to get to know him properly then we can sort things out that ever need sorting.
There's a reason he's to stay home with me and day by day I keep getting more insight as to why.
He's my special boy and has a special spot in his mothers heart.  I'm glad he's a part of our family and I get to be his mother.
Love you bub xox

Is there anything I can do for you?

Why yes, yes there is.
Apparently I can't shop for tweezers and am sitting here swearing while I try to hopelessly pluck my eyebrows.
WORST TWEEZERS EVER!!!!
They all say 'Oh we're the best pick us'
ALL USELESS.
If you could point me to a DECENT pair then I'd be MOST GRATEFUL this Thanksgiving season.
Love your bushy eyebrowed blogging mate
Milz xox

Me

So I'm a part of two challenges at the moment.
One is a weight loss challenge on fb with my family/family friends and the other is a healthier living challenge which has turned out to be exactly what I've needed this past 3 weeks.
With both of these challenges you earn a certain amount of points for doing certain things and it's great.
Anything from sleep, food, exersize, water, vitamins, planks, no junk etc etc
It's been fun to be a part of.
It helps me to stay on track and to stay motivated.  These are two things that I need to succeed.
It's the reason I'm not eating candy EVERY DAY, it's the reason I'm drinking so much water, it's the reason I'm getting into bed earlier, eating better, working out more and vigilantly taking my multi vitamins.
It's been SO GOOD for me and to tell you the truth I LOVE IT.
Everyone's different, I get that, but this post is about ME, so let's talk about me.
I've told you all my goal..........19% body fat.
I'm not sure why, but that's the goal and come hell or high water I'm going to get there.
Once there I may find it to be obnoxious and want to change, I may find it to be not enough and continue onwards to another goal..................WHO KNOWS but that's the goal for now and it's keeping me focused.
I'm having success and it feels great.
I havn't weighed myself in the last 3 weeks but my guess is I'm pretty close to my pre-Emiko weight.  Last time I weighed in I was 5 pounds away from that............my guess is now I"m more like 2 pounds away.
Once I reach that weight I'll move onto a difference focus...........my body fat % cause really................that's what it's about to me, NOT my weight.
For me it's about being fit, healthy and strong, after I hit my pre-Emi weight I couldn't care less about what those damn scales say and it feels so refreshing to almost be to the point of never worrying about the scales again.
My week consists of three bootcamp classes, three weight work outs, mountain biking on Saturdays and sprint training with my marathon buddies one morning a week.
SIDE NOTE: If you wanna eat humble pie, then work out with a bunch of marathon runners, that'll help you realize you've got a looooooooooooong way to go!  I have a love/hate relationship with those stupid sprints, but I HAVE to get cardio fitter so I can be a better mountain biker and mountain biking is my #1 love, so I'll work hard to achieve this.

I've had a couple of people ask me 'what I've done' to lose this weight to which I reply "Eat right and exersize that pushes me"
It's not rocket science but.............it's HARD WORK, DEDICATION, SELF CONTROL and a lot of sweat and tears.

I feel really strong.  I feel the fittest I've been in a while, I like what I see in the mirror and am so proud of myself.  I'm so grateful to my body and to friends, gyms, challenges and a great husband that have helped me along the way.
I feel so empowered that I've done this.  If I can do this, I can do anything.
I have four children at home and a house hold to run, people to visit and a church calling, yet I manage to be able to fit this in and not neglect my callings in all areas.
I'm listening to my body more, and if I need it, I'll nap, sleep more at night, eat more or rest more during the day and not feel guilt about any of it.
I know this sounds like an arrogant post but it's how I feel and I want it written down for my kids to read.
At my biggest I was anywhere from 220lbs to 230lbs.
That's fairly overweight for me.
I don't have it in my genes to sit still and eat whatever and be an 'acceptable size' (don't get me started on that subject) and I'm grateful for that because I wouldn't have this experience if I was naturally skinny.
This experience is and will continue to teach me that I'm a strong woman both mentally and physically, I can achieve whatever I want if I'm willing to work hard enough and that I'M WORTH IT.  I'm setting a GREAT example to my children and they talk about it with me quite often which I love.  They want to be healthy like their mother.
The endorphins and healthy food that are released are like a life source to my hormones and system and keep me more calm, patient and happier than I'd EVER be without exersize and healthy food in my life.
I love my energy I have throughout the day and how much easier it is to keep up with the kids and play with them and do whatever they want because I can.  This is important to me as well.  I want to be the healthiest I can for my future body and for my children/grandchildren.  You cannot convince me that being healthy and fit won't benefit me in the long run.
I'm also happy I'm done with having children, so that these goals will last as long as I continue to work hard, which I will.
I feel great about my children and the number.  Emiko will be 2 at the end of February and I'd probably be pregnant right now!!  Am I allowed to say I'm glad that this isn't the case?  I'm glad I won't be pregnant again?  It's the truth.................................so judge me I guess.
We just got family pictures done in the weekend by my awesome mate Natalie.  She's still going through them but sent me this one cause it was too cute to keep.  Enjoy.  I'm sure my next post will be 'family pictures' post.

Cutest kids in the world, right here people..........................in my UNBIASED opinion OF COURSE ;)

Sunday night

So this is what our Sunday night is looking like. 

Dru sewing a quilt.........

And me knitting a blanket...........

Are we not the coolest couple or what?

;)

2013 Halloween

 I don't do much for Halloween.  No 'special' dinner, no decorations, no self dressing up, nothing.  It's what helps me get through this holiday stress free and happy.
This outfit was our neighbours and Takeshi LOVED it and so did we.  It was so toasty and warm.  It was perfect for the cool weather.

 Same neighbour gave Yuki this outfit to wear.
She wanted to be a witch and so I'm so glad that my mate had this already.  Isn't it wonderful?
So nice to have great neighbours/friends.

 See the crows she stuck on the broom and hat?
Above and beyond people..................

 Awwwwwwwwww say it with me people.......awwwwww SO CUTE.
The buzzy bee outfit that Masaru wore his first Halloween.  I can't remember if the other kids wore it or not, but she's so cute in this and I'm actually surprized she wore it the whole night to be honest.

 Every time she walked her tail swished from side to side.  SO.CUTE.

 Back of Takeshi's outfit.

 Masaru's mummy outfit.  We ended up pinning it onto a pair of pants.  It worked out great and he loved it.
He went to a mates 'work party' and came home with SO.MUCH.CANDY before we'd even started.  I couldn't believe it.
I took the candy from him and he started complaining saying "But mum I EARNED that candy myself, it's mine"
I'm like "So you washed their cars? Babysat? Cleaned their houses? Did their dishes? I think not mate, you didn't EARN anything, now hand it over before this gets out of control"
He didn't like that but did as he was told.

 I'm not sure what's up with the lack of quality picture but you get the jist.
Ready for the trunk or treat at the church.

 Look at Emi's cute face and Takeshi's 'fake' smile for the camera.  Yuki has her 'fake' smile all worked out man.  You say camera and she gets her face ready.  So funny.

 Dru MADE CLAWS so he could be an authentic WOLVERINE!!
I'm not going to say much about this apart from ................................... Sexy.

 Here we are AFTER the trunk or treat and ready to hit the streets.  Masaru's outfit has loosened a little and Emiko pretty much has already eaten a pound of candy to this point.
The trunk or treat was me sitting in the back of the car cause I wasn't dressed up.  So I only got to meet with a few friends and didn't get to see everyone's outfits  :(
That's what happens when you're a party pooper and don't dress up.  Whatever man.

 The kids split into groups.  Masaru went with the 'big kids' and the littles stayed with us.
They did SO WELL and had a ton of fun.
It was a cold night.  I'm glad we were with our neighbour mates.

 I think we got an all time record.  I mean what are we suppose to do with all of this?

 Eat it I guess right?

 I would like to say that last night I DIDN'T HAVE ONE PIECE OF CANDY!!
That's right people be impressed.
The real question is WILL I EAT ANY TODAY?  We'll see.  I'm not planning on it.  I'm not too sure which day will be my 'day off''  Maybe Sunday I'll sit and eat 500 calories worth of chocolate and LOVE EVERY BITE ;)

 This piece of candy warrants it's own picture.  Someone spent a  lot of time and effort to make these and so I thought I'd pay my respects by giving it it's own spot on the blog.
Who are these people?
Love it.

It was a cold but great night.
The kids were so excited and counting down the days and minutes.  I'm glad they don't expect much out of me.  Dru did the majority of the work on his and Masaru's costumes and I'm grateful for that as well.
Stress free Halloween................................perfect!!