Weighing In

I haven't weighed in for a while, partially because I have been super busy and partially because I could feel that I hadn't lost much weight. One thing I figured out that I was doing wrong was that I wasn't eating enough calories. I was BURNING a ton, but then not eating extra to compensate for that. So my body started storing up for what it saw as starvation.

Now that I got my eating in order, this week I lost 2.3 pounds which brings the weight loss to 7.6 pounds total.

Yesterday I was able to run my first mile without stopping. It was SO easy! Granted, I was going slower than my usual runs have been, but I was also pushing a stroller with a 30 pound toddler in it! I am hoping I can now stay at running a mile 3 times a week and then add some more distance in a couple weeks.

The hardest thing for me so far has still been eating healthier foods. I can work and exercise myself to death, but until I change my eating habits none of the weight I lose is going to stay off.

AKC x 2

Yes, I know it has almost been TWO months since I updated last! Hopefully that doesn't become a habit, but it might. Life is just busy right now, and we aren't doing any agility lately....more on that to come.

Hobbs and I were able to compete in two more AKC trials last month, our 6th and 7th so far this year, and for the most part they were pretty good. Lets just say that, so far, Excellent is kicking our butts.

The first one was at a beautiful site, a large horse farm with huge grass paddocks and the grass arena they turned into agility rings. The only classes we Q'd in were Open FAST and T2B preferred. We had two other really REALLY nice runs, but the little mistakes I made cost us the runs. Here are the courses and as much as I can remember about them.....forgive me. Its been two months :(

Friday:

Excellent STD - This was such a nice run! We had one refusal at #15, I think, because I didn't support him enough over the jump.

Excellent JWW - Another really nice run that was SO close to being a Q! It was another refusal, but I can't remember where on the course it was.

Open FAST - This course was great. Fast and easy! No problem with the bonus, and we got our 2nd open leg.

Saturday:

Excellent JWW - Bad run. 3 Refusals and 1 wrong course :( Looking at the course, I don't remember why it was so difficult. I think we were just having a bad day. I do have this one on video somewhere, but I can't find it for the life of me! I do remember that his landing coming off #12 it looked like he might have hurt his leg. I stopped to watch him move around for a second before finishing the course.

T2B - Our only good run of the day and it was REALLY good! HERE is the video. It is on a friend's Facebook page so hopefully people can see it.

Excellent STD - Another REALLY bad run. I think I got overconfident with this run because the course was almost identical to T2B. Hobbs missed the weave entry twice and it just got worse from there. I don't even know how many faults we had or what they were, but it was BAD. He also dropped at least 2 bars! Not like him :(

Saturday in general was a tough day for me. It was the 1 month anniversary of losing our little Cadence.....so my mind was elsewhere for parts of the day. I would like to think that contributed to our horrible runs.

Our next trial was just two weeks later, and it was SO much colder! During the two week break I gave Hobbs a lot of rest time because it seemed like he was moving weird. Not limping, but not moving right. After the two weeks it seemed that he was good again, so we went to the trial.

Friday:

Open FAST - This course really interesting. The bonus line was odd, and it was the first time the judge had tried something like it. If you look at the picture, you can see there was a vertical line and a horizontal line. To get the bonus you had to stay below the horizontal line or to the left of the vertical line until after the dog was in the chute, then you had to cross the line, so that you were above the horizontal line and to the right of the vertical line, before you sent the dog into the tunnel. Anyways, our run was amazingly smooth and wonderful until the weave poles. Hobbs missed the entry once, twice, and finally got it on the third try. After the second try I started to think "It has been a really long time. The buzzer should have rung by now!" It turns out I was right. The timer was having issues and didn't work properly for my run. So, after a 1 dog break I got to do it again for points and time. I ran the exact same course and it went really well again, but Hobbs still missed his weave entry 2 times before I skipped it and ran for the end of the course. We Q'd, got our OFP title, and moved up to Excellent for the next day.

Excellent STD - This course was beautiful! Right up until he missed the weave entry....twice.

Excellent JWW - This course was also really beautiful! Hobbs was getting a bit tired though because it was the end of the day, and he dropped two bars. I think I was getting tired too and didn't handle as well as I could have. He really hasn't had a problem with bars in a long time.....well except the last trial. He got his weave entry though which was my only goal for this course.

Saturday:

Excellent STD - This was such a wonderful course, and our run was practically flawless! I almost lost him at #12 because he locked onto the table. This was our 3rd standard leg in Excellent A so Hobbs now has his AXP!! We still haven't gotten his certificate from AKC though, so I may have to check on it.

Excellent JWW - Ugh. This was our 9th run in Excellent, and our 9th NQ. This one was another really close one too. Our mistake happened at #8. He jumped it thinking he was turning right and when I called to him he back jumped it.....I wanted to cry at that point. The rest of the course was wonderful, but my records say we also dropped a bar. If he dropped the bar as he back jumped #8 would that count as a fault? Because we got one wrong course and one fault.

Excellent FAST!! - This bonus was really intimidating! I was really excited about being in Excellent FAST though. I walked my planned opening of this course a ton. I planned to put him on the start line pointed at the double, then turn left and go through the chute, then over the five 1 point jumps that are in a "line" to the bonus. I was one of two people who did that opening, and the other person did it because she saw me walking it that way. It worked out well for both of us! As for the bonus. No one was getting it. The handler couldn't cross the line until after all 4 paws of the dog were on the ground after the A-frame.

Hobbs and I nailed it!! I put my whole body into letting him know he needed to stay on the A-frame while I went around the skewed jump that was on the bonus line. Then I let him creep down until he was in the yellow, then released him. Here is where my plan was off. I immediately tried to push him over to the weave poles and he missed the entry. Then I panicked about the time and ran for the finish, picking up the triple and tire on our way out. Thinking back, I should have taken the extra second to set him up nicely for the poles to get the 10 points. We would have had 1 or 2 time faults, but more overall points. But we still got a Q!! I really wish we would have gotten a video of that run....I was so proud of it! I think we were one of 2 or 3 20" dogs that got the bonus.

Time and All Eternity

I haven't talked much on here about one of the major goals Robert and I have been working toward. We have been wanting to be sealed as a family for time and all eternity. What we thought would take 1 year ended up taking 4 years and 7 months. On Friday September 9, 2011 we finally were able to go to the temple and be sealed as a family. We chose that day because it would have been my due date for Cadence. I want that date to be a happy memory for the rest of my life. It will be a VERY good memory.

There are no words to express the weight that has been lifted from my shoulders with the knowledge that Robert, Kaylee, and I will be together forever. The only hard part of the day was the constant wish that Cadence could have been there with us. We are sure she is ours forever, but it would have been wonderful to have both our little girls in the temple.

Kaylee was beautiful!

Cadence's photographer, who is now a friend, was able to come to the temple with us and took pictures afterwards. I was so thankful that she could be there! This happened SO quickly that I wasn't able to really plan anything.

Temple Spire

Everyone who was there to support us.....except Heidi who was taking the pictures

My wonderful friends

My family

Robert's family

Both parents

I LOVE all these pictures of Kaylee!!:

I am so happy we are an eternal family!!

Robert and I were able to spend a couple nights together at my Grandmother's inn in Manti. We went to the temple down there which was wonderful and it was SO beautiful! We spent a lot of time talking about life, our plans for the future, and everything else. It was wonderful to have time together to bask in the joy we were feeling from finally being sealed as an eternal couple and family.

Angel Babies

Cadence's photographer was featured in a local news story for the wonderful work she does with angel babies and their moms. Here is the segment:

Here is the link they talk about in the video - http://angelbabiesinfo.com/

So Many Things!

Kaylee and I have been doing so many things lately! She comes with me and the dogs every morning to walk, usually before anyone even has breakfast. She has her's on the road while I push the stroller. Once in a while we go to the Jordan River parkway which is a walking/jogging/biking trail that runs the length of the Salt Lake valley. When we walk on this trail I can usually let Kaylee walk by herself until she gets tired.

Ok, so she pretty much runs the whole way.

Sometimes she will stop and wait for me

This is our set up for all our walks. I tie the boys to the stroller so I can have free hands to push. They are tied a bit more tightly than usual in this picture because Kaylee was walking ahead. Usually the leashes are very easy to remove from the stroller in case of an emergency. I absolutely LOVE that I can trust my dogs 100% to behave themselves on our walks. I rarely have to even think about them while we walk. I would hate to be fighting to control two big dogs while I pushed a stroller and chased a toddler. Haha! Yeah, the dogs would stay home if that were the case.

Happy dogs and baby.

More running

The area around the trail is usually really beautiful. It makes for a much nicer walk than sidewalks and houses.

Another thing that has kept Kaylee quite occupied is our new cat. This little cat wormed her way into our hearts and home. While debating what we should call her Kaylee started calling her "mouse" She still calls Turtle (our other cat) "turtle" or "Kitty" so it isn't a confusion thing. The name stuck so now our cats are named "Turtle" and "Mouse". I am a bit afraid for the first dog we have to name.

First off, this is what Hobbs thinks of the new cat.....he is really afraid of her.

Kaylee loves having a cat small enough that she can pick her up....for now.

a kitty is so much better than a baby doll

I love how excited Kaylee is about her

She constantly gives her kisses......

and squishes her with hugs

She really loves her "Mouse"

Weigh In

The weight loss continues!! I am excited that the weight is slowly, but steadily coming off! I am using My Fitness Pal to track my exercise and calories and it seems to be helping keep me on track. Most days that is.

My one thing I am having a big problem with is my sweet tooth. I swear it is an addiction! It was easier to kick some other really addictive bad habits I have had that it has been to give up sweet stuff.

I have been meaning to get up early to run before Robert or Kaylee gets up, but it just hasn't happened. I stay up too late at night to be getting up at 5 am.

Weight loss for this week was 2 pounds even. That makes 5 . 5 pounds total so far! Yay!

One Month

I can't believe it has already been a month since Cadence was born. The time has gone so quickly it is amazing. I feel like it was yesterday sometimes.

I spent the day at an agility trial. It was good to have something to do other than sit around thinking about how terribly sad it is that our little Cadence isn't here with us.

This past week I have started feeling really ok about everything. I have sad moments, and some tears, but I generally feel happy about life. My trips to the temple have been very calming and each time I go I feel the peace that Robert and I both felt at the hospital when Cadence was born. I am sure that this was Heavenly Father's plan. As much as it is horrible and painful to go through, I feel that, for whatever reason, Cadence wasn't supposed to stay here on earth.

Next Friday will be hard. I have two friends and a cousin who are due around the same time I was and it is so hard to be happy for them. I want to, but it is hard.

Weekly Weigh-in

For sure this week I need to get something posted other than weight loss!

This week was awesome! I got to go swimming with Robert and Kaylee twice, and it was really fun. I am hoping to be able to go by myself sometime to try my hand at swimming laps without drowning.....it will be interesting.

I also ran a bunch this week! I am still only running 1/4th of a mile, but usually I do two of those separated by about 1/2 mile of walking. My plan for next week is to get up to 1/2 mile without the walk break.

This weekend is my first dog agility trial since July and it has been amazing (so far). Our runs haven't been perfect, but very near that! Plus the trial site is really beautiful, I have to remember to take pictures tomorrow, and requires a lot of walking to get to the ring and back to the dog. Today I walked a total of almost 9 miles and only a small portion of that was my agility runs. I purposely did some running to and from the agility ring so I could get in my 1/4 mile for the day. I don't know if I did it, but I think I walked enough to make up for it if I didn't get a full 1/4 mile in.

I think on Saturday next week I am going to try running early in the morning before Kaylee gets up.....if I can get up early enough lol.

Anyways, weight loss for the weeks is 2.2 pounds! - Ok, that looks like it says 22, but it is really 2 . 2