Cody Michael Kelley is officially 30 years young!!! My sweet hubby turned the BIG 3-0 on October 27th!!! Since this birthday is a big milestone, I wanted to do something extra special for his birthday. But...I didn't want to do anything that he wouldn't have fun with or be irritated with something I had done...like throw a surprise party. In fact, I very distinctively remember him telling me a long time ago that he didn't want a surprise party when he turned 30...or any other year for that matter. So, when I started realizing that it was time to start putting some plans together, I asked him what his ideal 30th birthday party would include. Of course...he said his dream 30th birthday would have been some fabulous hunt to South Africa...but that wasn't exactly in the budget! What he really wanted was just for all of his friends to get together and spend the weekend just hanging out as one big group...just like back in college. Then, the question became...where do you want to go??? I threw out Austin, San Antonio, DFW...but he never would really say exactly where he wanted to go. This conversation began in early July along with Josh and Abbie throwing out ideas too. When he finally came to the decision on where to go, we were at Josh and Abbie's house during the first weekend in September. And they say women can never make up their mind! Hehe...just kidding! We were all sitting around talking after an ACU football game and a girl's night out event at Betty and June (an adorable boutique in Abilene) when Josh said that if Cody wanted to go to the DFW area, his parents would love for us to come and stay at their house. And from that moment on he was sold! Sandra and LaDell are some of the most caring, generous, considerate, kind, loving people and they open their home to any of their three kiddos and their kids friends. Josh said he would check with his parents to make sure that it would be ok for some of to stay at their hose the weekend of Cody's b-day...and they said yes! Let the planning begin...
As soon as Cody made the decision on where he wanted to go for his b-day and we knew it would be ok for some people to stay at the Harrison's...I texted all of our friends the following day to give the FYI on the tentative plans for Cody's b-day weekend. All-in-all there were 28 people that we sent out the invite too. Because of the time of year that his b-day falls, several couples weren't able to go. But...there were 10 people were able to make the trip to Ft. Worth and celebrate Cody turning 30! We sort-of made some plans and then the rest of the weekend was just going to be up in the air. Nothing was going to be stressful...and when you make lots of plans and have lots of stuff going on...it tends to make things stressful! The only thing that was set in stone, was that we were going to go to Joe T. Garcia's for dinner and the Aaron Watson concert at Billy Bob's on Saturday night (the actual night of Cody's b-day). I guess we also made dinner plans for Friday night...we just decided to have a chill family dinner at the Harrison's with all of us there together. The rest of the weekend was just kinda up-in-the-air!
Because he didn't want a surprise party (and I was really ok with that because it would have been really hard for me to keep it from him), I still wanted to do something that he didn't know about. I decided to just do something simple, but something that would celebrate Cody. Since, I'm addicted to Pinterest, I turned to it for some party planning. I just did a search for a 30th birthday party for men and got lots of super cute ideas. At first, I wanted to do a theme, but then decided that doing black and white would be perfect! His b-day is so close to Halloween...so it went perfect with how Sandra had their house decorated...absolutely adorable! She's so talented!!! I sort of put lots of different ideas together to come up with my final product. I had some custom signs made on Etsy...four of them to be exact. So many of the cute ideas I saw on Pinterest were candy bars, snack bars, sweet bars, etc. I decided to incorporate those ideas for him. The signs I had made were a "Happy Birthday" sign (obviously!), "Drinks," "Sweets," and "Treats" signs. The treats sign was above a candy bar. I looked up candy from the 80's and just got tons of bags of different kinds of candies that were popular in the 80's. I may have gone overboard on this...I bought 12 bags of candy! For the sweets bar, I bought double chocolate Chips-Ahoy, Oreos, and chocolate Teddy Grahams. I also ordered a black and white topsy turvy cake...it turned out SO good! The bottom layer was black and white stripes and the top layer was black and white diamonds. On top of the cake, there were black and white stars on curvy metal stakes. The last bar that I had was an actual drink bar. I made a beer cake...complete with 30 beers, along with a liquor bouquet. These were mainly for decoration...I think the boys broke into a few bottles on the liquor bouquet! I also found a recipe for a black drink to add to the drink table. Since this was all a surprise, Josh and Emory took Cody to Cabela's for a little manly shopping and then to Mi Cocina for a pre-dinner margarita. The boys left early that Friday afternoon...and Abbie came to pick me up around 3:00 that afternoon so we could get on the road and get to the Harrison's house fairly early. When we were a few minutes outside of town, we let Josh know that we were close and they left the Harrison's so us girls could set-up for the party and dinner!
When we were all done setting up, we called the boys and they headed back to the house. In the meantime, us girls started chopping the veggies and making the salad while LaDell got the grill ready for the steaks and chicken. A little bit later, the boys came strolling in through the garage door and Cody got his first look at his little birthday "surprise!" It wasn't anything over the top...but he was really sweet about it and was excited to see the few little things all over the house that he didn't know about. The boys hung out and talked with us in the kitchen while we finished up getting dinner ready. When it was all in the oven, we moved to the living room and just sat around and talked for awhile before it was time to eat. It was soon dinner time and we were all starving! We piled our plates high and sat around the dinner table and talked and ate, and repeated that a few more times! The rest of the night was spent catching up with friends, laughing, and getting ready to countdown Cody's birthday. Josh decided to all have a birthday toast at the stroke of midnight to commensurate Cody's big 3-0!!! After that...we all headed to bed to get some rest before the eventful day ahead!
Obviously this is cheesy...but we had to get a re-do of him seeing things for the first time!
Josh, Jen, and Cody...love them!!! Nice booty Josh!!!
I'm not really sure what's going on in this picture...maybe talking to me from the looks of the pic below!
This is really cute of me...NOT! Hehe...I'm in the middle of talking...shocker!
Gettin' some candy!!!
So much to choose from!!!
LOVE these girls!!!
THE CAKE!!!
Getting sung to...he protested...but we insisted!!!
Blowing out his candles! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Such great friends...love this group of boys!
The gang on Friday night! Alex, Elle, and Jen's roommate, Jessica came over to celebrate with us! XOXO
Precious girlies!!!
Oh my! This is so typcial of these boys...crazy!
A successful beginning to an amazing birthday weekend! I love you!!!
On Saturday, we woke up to Sandra cooking us a yummy breakfast in the kitchen. We ate some yummy food, drank some delicious coffee and hung out for a little bit that morning. Since we are CrossFit-aholics...we found a CrossFit box close by and headed that way to see what it was all about. The closest one to Sandra and LaDell's house is CrossFit 817. It's a 15,000 sq. ft. building full of CrossFit love! They were actually having a competition that day...so we didn't get to workout...but we got to watch some other CrossFitters throw it down! It was super fun to watch...and encouraging to know that we could have been right in the middle competing alongside all these other CrossFitters. We stayed for about an hour, then headed back to the house. The boys decided to head down to the Stockyards and watch the Texas Tech game at Chimys and we decided to go shopping! We spent the afternoon doing our own thing...the guys being all manly watching football and the girls spending some quality time lunching and shopping. When we got back to the house, it was time to clean up and get ready for some yummy Mexican food and an amazing concert with our best friends! Dinner at Joe T.'s was amazing!!! If you've never been before...you should really just take a day trip to go eat there...and have one of their famous margaritas! Don't have two though...and don't ask me how I know this! I've said before that Cody and I don't drink hardly ever...so two margaritas for me put me a little on the tipsy side. Apparently it also makes me a Chatty Cathy! Anyways...we had an amazing, yummy dinner and sat around the table just talking and laughing. After dinner, we headed over to Billy Bob's for the Aaron Watson concert. We had so much fun spending the night together laughing, talking, and just being carefree and silly! After the concert, we headed back to the house, had a midnight snack, and sat around and talked for a little while longer before turning in.
Happy Birthday my love!!!
Jen and me!!! We kinda look alike in this pic!!! I love this precious girl!
A pre-dinner birthday drink!
Cheers!
These precious, amazing friends made Cody's birthday extra special! Logan and Macee, Cody and Me, Josh and Abbie, Mark and Jacki, Jen, and Emory!Love you all!!!
Birthday dinner at Joe T.'s!!! YUMMY!
All of us at dinner!!!
LOVE this!!! Jacki, Macee, and me. These are precious, precious girls!
Birthday margaritas! You can't go to Joe T.'s and not have one!
Oh yes we did! Cody always begs to not have people sing to him on his birthday. Obviously I didn't listen this time! It was his 30th birthday...he was not getting out of being sung to this year!
This is priceless! His face when he realized they were coming over to sing to him!!!
I think he made some new friends!
If you can't beat em...join em!!!
So...we decided to get dressed up and get on the bull at Billy Bob's! We are having way too much fun with this!!!
Last pic of the night! This is classic of us! We all love each other so much...we are family! We love to spend time together, have an amazing and fun time, and celebrate every occasion with one another! Thank you to each and everyone of you who came down and made this weekend so special!!! Happy 30th Birthday Cody! I hope it was one you will always remember and cherish!!!
When Sunday morning rolled around and we were all awake...we were all still so sleepy and ready for some coffee and breakfast! LaDell made a run to the store for the breakfast goodies...Sandra made us breakfast burritos...yum!!! After we ate, we seriously laid around on the living room floor and on the couches and just kinda crashed. None of us went back to sleep, but we just laid around watching movies for a little while. Pretty soon, it was time for some lunch...our tummies told us so! There is a BJ's right down the road from the Harrison's...so that's where we were headed! It is always so good to eat there...I really don't know why we don't have one in Abilene. When we got back to the house, we visited for a bit longer, then packed up our stuff and started to head home. We made one more stop by Cabela's before officially getting on the road though! The Harrison clan got Cody a gift card to there for his b-day...so he wanted to get a couple of things while we were still in town. Once we were done, we piled in the truck and headed back to Abilene! Before we went home, we stopped at Cotton Patch and had a yummy dinner with Cody's mom and dad for his b-day. It was so good to see his parents...I haven't seen either of them since this summer...WHAT?!?! How terrible is that?!?!? This is when I realize that our lives can be way too busy sometimes. After dinner, we headed to our house and had three very excited and wiggly doggies waiting for us!!! It was so good to be home and just sit on the couch with our little family of five and watch some Sunday night football. We have such amazing friends who have such amazing parents...and we are so very blessed to have each and everyone of them in our lives!!! All in all...I would say that Codys' 30th birthday was a success! He said that he had such a good time and it was awesome getting to spend such a big birthday with the people he loves the most. I love you babe...and I can't wait to spend every single birthday with you!!!
My precious Mimi turned 89 on October 19th!!! She is the sweetest, kindest, most generous person that I know. Mimi still acts like she is much, much younger than her age. We are so blessed that she in such amazing health. She dresses to the nines, hangs out with her friends, goes on shopping trips, comes to see us multiple times in Abilene, she's in the Red Hat Club, she volunteers at the Court House and the little museum in Hamilton, and so much more! I swear she has more energy than I do...and I'm 27! In fact, when she came down for her birthday, she was telling us about how she went out into the field behind her house and realized that one of the logs that used to border the garden was rotten. So, she proceeded to go into my Granddad's shop and get the hand saw, go back to where the log was, saw it into three pieces, and then hauled those three pieces back to the house so she could put them out by the garbage cans. WHAT?!?!? You seriously couldn't pay me money to do something like that! I won't even pull weeds in our flower bed outside! I know that sounds bratty...but yard work isn't my thing. If I'm going to be outside, I want to be doing something active like running, riding a bike, hiking, swimming (or tanning), etc. Now...when it comes to the inside...I try to be like the domestic 1950's housewife (that works full time). But me and yard work...NO THANKS!!! So, when my Mimi is proceeding to tell me this story, my mouth was literally on the floor. We all just started laughing in amazement and she acted like it was no big deal! Love her!!!
Every year for my Mimi's birthday, the entire family gets together to celebrate with her. This year, it just happened to be that the Saturday that worked best for all of us was the Saturday right after her birthday...October 20th. She came to Abilene that Friday night. Michael actually went down to pick her up from Hamilton. Her car had been giving her problems for awhile and she felt that it was unsafe to drive. It had been leaking fluids and it scared her. In fact, she actually sold her car and bought mine! More on that in another post...when my new car actually comes in! He left early afternoon to go pick her up and they got back to Abilene around 6:30. Cody and I walked across the street to go visit for a bit before they went out to eat dinner. We had already eaten...we were both starving by 5:00! After we talked for about an hour, we headed back home and they went on their way to dinner.
On Saturday morning, we all woke up early and got on the road by 9:30 to head to Lubbock to meet the rest of the fam. My aunt and uncle live in Amarillo. As do my cousin and her husband. But, my other cousin, his wife, and their two boys live in Lubbock. It was a good middle ground for everyone to meet. And, since the boys are so young, we could be at their house where all their toys are. We finally got to Lubbock around 12:30...we had to make a few stops because some of us have small bladders...cough, cough!!! When we got there, my aunt, uncle, and cousins were already there. Lunch was minutes from being ready...good timing! They had prepared all the food...Mexican pile-up! Everyone said it was super yummy. I took my lunch because of the whole Paleo lifestyle. I brought a turkey burger patty, a sweet potato, steamed broccoli, and carrots and an apple for a snack later in case I got hungry (I got home with no food left!). I just knew if I didn't pack my own lunch and bring it with me, I wouldn't be able to eat some of the things that I knew would fill me up. And I was also afraid I would be tempted to eat chips, beans, and Mexican rice. But it looked and smelled absolutely amazing! After lunch, we watched college football and visited for awhile. A little bit later, everyone got hungry for some cake, so we sang "Happy Birthday" to Mimi and cut into the cake. It looked and smelled amazing...Cody and I took everyone's word for it that it also tasted great! It was a strawberry cake with butter cream frosting...her favorite. She also opened her presents from everyone. We talked for a bit longer, took some pictures together, then headed back into the truck to go home around 4:15. All of our dogs had been home all day without relief...so we needed to be back by 7:00 at the latest to let them out and feed them. I had put chili in the crock pot early that morning so that we would have dinner ready as soon as we stepped in the door. I'm glad I did because we were starving when we got home! The pups were so ready and happy to see us. They were jumping all over the place, wagging their tails like crazy, and giving us lots and lots of sweet kisses. We fed them, let them out, and then got things ready to serve dinner. Dad, mom, and Mimi came to eat with us and after dinner we just kinda sat back and relaxed for a little bit...while watching college football of course!
On Sunday, we went to church as a family and then went to lunch at Mimi's favorite restaurant. She loves the eggplant parmigiana at Olive Garden...so that's where we were headed for lunch! Lunch was soo good! Cody and I don't eat out hardly ever...so this was a treat! We had to be pretty specific and picky with what we ordered. But, we had the apricot chicken (minus the sauce) with the steamed broccoli and asparagus. We also had some salad before the meal came, mine without the dressing! It was nice to go out to eat and not have to worry about what to cook or the clean-up afterwards. We ran a few errands after lunch, then headed back to the house. I had some chores to take care of, so that's what I got started doing. Cody mowed the yard while I was inside doing stuff. A few hours later, Mimi was packing up her stuff to head home...in my car...tear! It was kinda sad to see it drive off down the street...but I'm so thankful that she is in a safe, reliable, newer car that won't cause her any problems. It was so good to see Mimi and celebrate such a wonderful woman's birthday!!! We love you so much Mimi!!!
The entire family. 2 daughters, 2 son-in-laws, 7 grandchildren (including spouses), and 2 great-grandchildren...such a sweet picture to cherish. My Mimi loves pictures...and I know that she will love looking back on this one and hold the memory of us all being together near and dear to her heart.
My beautiful cousin and me. We are more and more alike the older we get! She is so sweet and I love catching up with her...we don't see them enough!
Cody and I...he is such a hottie! I am one lucky girl!!!
There was this old car from the 20's parked outside my cousin's neighbor's house...so we had to take a pic with it! Mimi loves anything old and vintage...so she was in love with this car and all of us in front of it. I hope you had an amazing and blessed 89th birthday Mimi!!! We can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays with you!!! I love you so very much!
A few weeks ago we had an "In-House Throwdown" at our gym. Elite Fitness hosted a competition between any male or female that wanted to compete. You could be a member or a non-member...it didn't matter at all...we just wanted a good old fashioned throwdown! A big deal in CrossFit is "The Fittest on Earth." So, Elite decided to do their own spin on it to see who the fittest was within the gym and anyone else who wanted to participate.
So, here's how it all went down. There were three different workouts that you had to complete to be eligible to win the throwdown. The male competitors had three workouts to complete, and the female competitors had three workouts to complete. Our workouts were different, so we weren't doing anywhere near the same thing. There were 9 guys and 6 girls that competed.
Here's the guy's workout...
And here's the girl's workout...
They split us up into heats of 3, so there were 3 heats of guys and 2 heats of girls. The 3 heats guys went first, then the 2 heats of girls. So, the guys did event 1 first, then the girls did event 1, then the guys did even 2, then the girls did even 2, finally, the boys did even 3, then the girls did event 3. The winner of each even got 100 points, 2nd place got 75 points, and third place got 50 points. While the first group went, the others stayed in the back so they couldn't watch and have an advantage by knowing the times. But, as the previous groups finished, they could stay out and watch the groups compete after them. It was fun to be able to cheer everyone on after you were finished if you went before them. That's one of the things I love so much about the way we compete and workout. Even though we are trying to get a better time, more weight, more rounds in the given time, etc...we are always cheering each other on and motivating and encouraging one another to go faster, be stronger, and go harder.
Bria, Britain, and I before the throwdown started...love these two girls SO much!!!
The throwdown was super intense...but probably the most fun I've had in a long time! I got to spend an entire day working out with and cheering on my hubby and my best friends. Even though we were competing against each other, we wanted the other one to do their best and kick some serious tail! The other thing that was so amazingly awesome was that we all increased our weight during the workouts, conquered things (like pull-ups) that we had never done before, got new 1 rep. max weight, and improved our times. That's what this sport is all about...improving each and every time you do a WOD...love it!
All the boys that competed as well as the judges that made sure we were doing everything right!
The girls that competed...minus Anna. I don't know where she was, but I'm sad she wasn't in this pic!
Jeremy and Chanan were amazing throughout the throwdown...no surprise there! As our coaches, they were walking around and making sure that we had the proper form so that we wouldn't injure ourselves. We also each had our own judge. Their job was to count our reps, make sure we were doing them right, going low enough, etc. If we didn't do something right, they would "no-rep." us...which basically means that that rep. didn't count. When this happens, it totally sucks! But, it also makes you get your form down to ensure that every rep. counts. Cause let me tell you...when you get no-reped on anything...you are doing twice as much work. For instance, on Fran (the 21-15-9: 65 lb thrusters and pull-ups), I got no-reped a few times. So, I wound up doing more reps than the workout actually called for. Like...I probably did about 2 extra thrusters and 5 extra pull-ups. The same thing happened to Cody when he was doing Elizabeth (the 21-15-9: 135 lb cleans and ring dips). On his very last set (the 9's) he was on rep number 8 and couldn't get his elbows locked all the way out for the 9th rep. I bet he probably did an extra 15 reps trying to get that very last rep to complete the workout. Talk about brutal! Logan took first in Elizabeth and completed it in 3:00 minutes...which is flying! So proud of our boys!!!
Brent doing 135 lb cleans during Elizabeth!
Cody throwing up 135 lb cleans during one set of Elizabeth!
Ring dips during Elizabeth. After 21-15-9 reps of 135 lb cleans and ring dips...you don't want to look at rings for awhile! So proud of you babe!!!
Me doing Fran!!! I did it RX'd (65 lb thrusters and kipping pull-ups all the way) in 5:19...SO pumped about this!!!
Bria throwing up 65 lb thrusters. Look at that form...PERFECT!!!
Britain busting out Fran...so proud of you girl!
After the guys did Elizabeth and the girls did Fran, we moved on to the weight lifting ladders. The guys did the Bear Complex Ladder and the girls did a Clean Ladder. I got second in Fran by 16 seconds...but I won the clean ladder! I got all the way up to 115 pounds...which was a new max for me! I attempted 125...but just couldn't get under it. I need to try it again...I'm bound and determined to clean 125!!! Cody did awesome on the bear complex ladder. He got up to 235 pounds...which is so amazing! Brent actually won this one. He got 255 pounds...he's a beast!!! It was so awesome to watch him squat-clean, push press, back squat, and push press that much weight. We were all super pumped for him...and he was pretty excited too! All the boys did great with the bear complex ladder...and all us girls were so happy that we didn't have to do this. The bear complex ladders is one of the hardest heavy weight lifting exercises in CrossFit. For our clean ladder, we started at 65 pounds and went all the way until failure. Bria and Britain got a new max weight on the cleans too...they got up to 95 pounds!!! I love that all of us girls can throw-up some intense weight...don't mess with us!!! Hehe! But seriously...don't ;-) So, this completed the second of the three workouts. We had about a 15 minute break before the third workout...so we snacked on some healthy snacks to refuel and then headed outside to cheer the boys on and get ready to compete ourselves.
Cody getting a new max for the Bear Complex Ladder...235 lbs!!! My hubby's a beast!!!
Brent working 255 lbs on the Bear Complex Ladder. He got it!!! We were SO excited for him!!! Congrats Brent!!!
Me getting a new max on cleans...115 lbs!!! I love that Cody is so excited for me! It helps me push harder hearing him cheer me on and encouraging me through workouts!
The last workout for both the guys and girls was a Chipper type workout. Meaning...there's a bunch of different things that you are to complete within the single workout. It sort of represents this high-intense grinder of a workout with a series of movements all linked together one right after another. Trust me...you'll get all this CrossFit lingo...WOD, EMOM, METCON, AMRAP...and the hundreds more that are out there!!! It's a language all in it's own right. And you really know you're a CrossFitter when you start about workouts using these acronyms (and literally the hundreds of others)...and the people who you are talking to know exactly what you mean! You can go HERE to see some of the other acronyms that us CrossFitters use in our everyday language! LOVE!!! So, the boys went in 3 heats of 3 again. Since this was the last workout, and it was coming down to see who would take first in the throwdown, they separated the heats of boys and girls by who had the lowest amount of points to who had the highest amount of points. This way, it would be easier to determine who would win the entire competition. Cody competed in the middle heat and wound up getting 4th overall...good job babe!!! He totally rocked it on all the workouts and really improved on each and every exercise. And the winner for the boys...BRENT JORDAN!!! WOO HOO!!! We were all so excited when Brent won the boys division. After the boys finished up...it was time for us to go! When I first looked at the chipper, I knew it would be hard...but I didn't think it would be as hard as it was. My legs were DEAD! After doing 45 65lb thrusters during Fran and the clean ladder, the 400M row, the burpee box jumps, sit-ups, and air squats just about did me in. After the two rounds of the burpee box jumps, sit-ups, and air squats...we still had a 400M run to do! When I took off to do my run...my legs were so wobbly! Everyone said they were afraid I was going to fall over because they were so shaky! But...after a few steps my stride came into full motion and I wound up coming in first! Which meant...I won the girls division!!! WOO HOO!!! I was super pumped...and super exhausted! It felt so good to be done and to just sit back and celebrate with friends over what we had just accomplished!
Brent and I after the competition was over. We had to get a "winners" pic together!
My love and I. It's amazing to be able to work out with your best friend and cheer each other on...I love you babe!!!
Cody and I with Jeremy and Chanan...love these two so much!!! Thank you guys for all you do and for encouraging each and every one of us to go beyond what we ever thought our bodies could do! Elite is amazing and I am honored to be apart of your gym!!!
I love being that tired after a workout. For me, it just means that I pushed my body to it's maximum and got better. I pushed past the hurt, the mental blocks, and the exhaustion to make my body be stronger. "If you are in your comfort zone, you are still warming up." I love this quote! You simply can't get better unless you are pushing your body beyond what your mind thinks you can do. CrossFit has helped me go above and beyond what I ever thought my body could do. It's also taught me that I'm way stronger than I ever thought possible. Another thing that I love about CrossFit (really I just love everything about it!) is that whenever I doubt myself on what I can lift or push myself to do, there are about 10 other people telling me that I can. It gives me confidence in myself and in my physical ability and strength to push through the pain and...as Nike says..."JUST DO IT!" Elite Fitness has taught me more about myself than anything I've ever done workout wise. I've grown so much more in other ways too. I have more confidence in everything I do because I have learned to overcome so many obstacles throughout my workouts. I have also grown to know my best friends in a whole new light. We have all been friends for so long, and know pretty much everything there is to know about one another. But, because we have been working out together doing these super intense workouts, we have learned how to challenge one another, encourage one another, and also learned how to help each other through weaknesses that we probably wouldn't be able to overcome otherwise. I have also met so many other amazing people through this community. There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not rooting for someone else to overcome an obstacle or cheering them on to finish a workout. And...I can't say enough about Jeremy and Chanan. They are such amazing people and have done so many things to encourage each and every one of us. If it weren't for them and their coaching, there is no way that I would have come this far. They have helped me to push my body in ways I never thought possible. I can do 30 consecutive kipping pull-ups, 95 pound overhead squat max, and my snatch form is almost perfected. Those three things I could have never done before on my own, and because of them and their coaching, I can do them without blinking an eye! Jeremy has been working with my on my muscle-ups...I'm almost there! Long story short...the throwdown was awesome and I can't wait until the next one in January!!!
To look at all the pics from the throwdown, you can click on the link below! Enjoy!!!
Since I brought up Paleo and eating like a caveman in my previous post...I thought I would fill you in on the lifestyle change that Cody and I are embarking on...
So...speaking of cavemen...Cody and I are going Paleo. If you haven't heard of Paleo (paleolithic), it's also called the caveman diet. Basically, we don't eat anything a caveman wouldn't have eaten. So, we eat any kind of meat (organic, grass fed, wild caught, hormone and antibiotic free...you get the picture), all veggies, all fruit, nuts, seeds, and healthy fats. The things you can't eat when you are eating Paleo are: dairy, grains, processed foods & sugars (we...mainly me...were already not eating this stuff...GROSS!), legumes, starches (again...not really eating this to begin with), and alcohol. Of course, sometimes, we aren't super strict with this. We'll have a social drink with our besties, or we may have one drink if we go on a date...but we really don't drink anyways...so the whole giving up alcohol was kinda moot point anyways. As far as legumes go...I love me some hummus...which has chickpeas in it. I make my own if I'm going to have it...so I will still occasionally have this. I also love quinoa...so if I get a craving for it...I'll whip up some as a side dish and put tons of roasted sweet potatoes in it. I would honestly say that I eat Paleo 90-95% of the time. Cody is probably 80-85% of the time. It's a little harder for him because he and all the guys go out to each for lunch everyday and there is really no way to get around eating foods that aren't Paleo. Especially in Abilene. And he also still drinks regular milk. I've been drinking unsweetened almond milk for several years now...and I don't really like cheese, and butter is a cuss word in my book. So, honestly, I've probably been eating 80-85% Paleo for the past several years without trying to. I'm just extremely conscious of it now and only eat, cook, and buy foods that are typical of this lifestyle.
What I love about eating Paleo is how it makes me feel. I can really say that I have always felt great. I have always eaten super healthy and workout everyday. But, Paleo makes me feel even better. I used to always have to have something sweet at lunch, sometimes I craved something sweet after dinner too. I would always choose a healthy option, either something organic from the health food store or something I made myself from natural ingredients at home. Now, I don't crave sweets at all. In fact, the thought of eating something sweet kinda hurts my stomach now. Don't get me wrong...every once in awhile...I still get a craving. But that's what I love about Paleo. I can still do my baking and have my sweets, I just do it with coconut or almond flour, honey, agave, dates, coconut oil, almond or coconut milk, or nut butters. The beauty is, is that these Paleo sweets are naturally sweetened but not so sweet you feel like your mouth is coated with processed junk that's clogging your arteries and making you feel like poo. Blunt...but true! Really, it's crazy how much better I feel ever since I've started eating even more healthy than I was before. And the thing that's even more crazy...I'm never, ever hungry. Even when I was eating super healthy and being really strict with what I ate, I would get really hungry in between meals, even with a snack here and there. I'm eating so many more vegetables and meat, that I find myself extremely satisfied from meal to meal. And...when I am really hungry in between meals, I eat things like raw veggies, berries, nut butter, or Larabars.
There are so many options for all things Paleo it's unreal. You can just "Google" the Paleo diet and the list of resources is unbelievable. Disclaimer...it's called the Paleo "diet." I really don't believe it's a diet. It's a lifestyle. It is simply a way of life and all about the choices that you make to improve your health, energy levels, and physical fitness. You've heard me gush about CrossFit before. Cause it's AWESOME! It's the only thing Cody and I...and all our friends do now. We actually joined an extreme fitness team in Abilene in August. It's called Elite Fitness and Nutrition. And you should all go and check it out...then join because you can't get a better workout than the workouts we do there...I promise! We have been doing it on our own for about 2.5 years now. But our fitness levels have improved by leaps and bounds. I'm doing things and lifting weight that would scare some boys! Seriously though...CrossFit is a passion of mine and part of my heart (and blood, sweat, and tears) belongs to Elite now! But, I also feel like eating more of a Paleo diet has helped me to improve my overall fitness level. I have tons more energy and every ounce of food that I put into my body is good for me and is fuel for my workouts. The big time CrossFit athletes are super strict with Paleo. I'm talking like 100% Paleo 100% of the time. Like I said earlier...I do 90-95% Paleo probably 85-95% of the time and Cody does Paleo 80-85% strict 75-90% of the time. Kinda confusing I know! There is one thing that I can't seem to give up though. Coffee. And honestly...I probably won't ever. I love it and it's just something that I look forward to every morning. I'm not going to give that up for any diet or lifestyle change. A lifestyle change is supposed to be something you enjoy, are passionate about, and something that you can do for long term. If I had to give up coffee, Paleo wouldn't be something that I would be passionate about. So, it's not worth it to me to give up coffee. Plus...I can still kick some major butt and lift extremely heavy weight in CrossFit while still drinking coffee...winning! I do like my coffee sweet and with creamer. I have been using Stevia extract for a long time now...but I still buy the International Delight creamer...they're so yummy! Obviously...not Paleo. I'm probably going to try some coconut creamer soon to see how I like it. But if I don't...I'm going to stick to my favorites for the reason I just mentioned earlier. I do measure how much I'm putting in my coffee so that I know exactly how much I'm getting...but I measure and portion all my food...so that's nothing new!
Paleo and CrossFit are becoming major parts of our lifestyle. CrossFit has been part of our lives and important to us for a few years now and eating healthy has always been important to us. It's just even more important to us and has become our lifestyle now that we have joined an extreme fitness team and want our overall fitness level to improve even more than it has. Elite Fitness and Nutrition and the sweet couple that own it, Jeremy and Chanon Siglock, have helped us improve in so many ways...and they have become amazing friends! I can't say enough about Elite or the coaching we get from Jeremy and Chanon. It's truly a community. You are competeing against one another and yet, you are still motivating, encouraging, and guiding one another through the workouts. I'm obsessed! If you live in Abilene, check out the Elite Fitness and Nutrition page on Facebook...you won't regret it! Also...I'll post some Paleo resources at the bottom so you can see what it's all about. Cause...what I told you is only a tid bit of all there is. I'm still learning myself! Have an amazing Monday!!! Until next time...XOXO!!!
Side Note: This is seriously the tip of the iceberg. These are just food blogs and resources that I have personally looked into and used myself. There are so many more you can check out for yourself if you Google or go to any bookstore!
Happy Fall Ya'll!!! I know, I know...the first day of fall was on September 22nd. But, I've been so busy enjoying all that fall has to offer, I haven't had any time to post about it! Well...that's not entirely true. I've had time...I've just been spending it doing other things! I feel like I say that every season is my favorite. And I guess in some ways...they are all my favorite because there are so many different things to enjoy when it comes to every season. But, there is just something about fall. It's football season, hunting season, the weather is cooling off, I can take the girls for a run and Sarge for a walk without fear of them overheating, cute fall/winter clothes can finally be pulled out from the back of the closet (thank goodness for leggings, skinny jeans, and long shirts and sweaters!), the time is getting ready to change, it's always beautiful outside, the leaves are changing colors, snuggle time increases because it's cool enough you don't sweat to death, and of course...Starbuck's has their pumpkin spice lattes! Cause let's get real...coffee is my crutch in the mornings (or afternoons, or evenings...just whenever really)! But really, there is something in the air with fall that smells and feels so good. I also love that it's time to pull out the crock pot and make yummy soups and chili. And...I bake like a maniac because everything is pumpkin, apple, and cinnamon and it just makes the house smell yummy! I usually don't eat what I bake...but I'll whip something up just to make the house smell like a bakery...or Cinnabon. Whatever floats my boat that day!
Cody and I have honestly been enjoying fall. He's been going hunting here and there...which is his passion. He actually shot a beautiful 8 point buck with a drop tine. It was his first buck to shoot with his bow! We were both super excited about that...it will definitely be up on our wall in the office soon! He's shot lots of doe, both axis and white tail. But, he's never gotten the opportunity to shoot something worth mounting before. They've always been too far away to shoot with his bow or they would smell him and take off before he got a chance to draw on one. He, my dad, and brother lease a place out in Noodle. That's where this buck was taken. They go to the lease on some weeknights and most weekends. They go out early in the mornings, come home for lunch, rest, then head back out to the lease until dark. Then come home and eat dinner and turn around and do it all again the next day! Of course, we have our ranch in Comfort, but it's 3.5 hours away. So, they actually have to plan and make a trip out of going down there. So, it's nice they have this lease so close to home. While the boys hunt, I usually just do stuff around the house. You know...the weekend chores. Run errands, clean house, cook, shop a little, hang out with my besties. If mom is also in town, I usually go run some errands with her too. Hunting season is fun. We get to enjoy just taking in God's beautiful creatures and His beautiful creations in nature with the changing landscapes...and the freezer gets refilled with yummy, healthy, lean, and natural meat. Sounds a little contradicting I know. But, it truly is amazing just to be in a deer blind and take everything in. Hunting is just part of how we feed our family and also how we do our part to manage the deer population. I mean...the cavemen did it! I've got a post coming up talking about a lifestyle change for Cody and I relating to how we're eating like cavemen...it's called Paleo!
All of this said...we are LOVING fall, our new Paleo lifestyle, and falling even more in love with CrossFit because of our amazing Elite team...more on that in the Paleo post! We are having so much fun enjoying the cooler weather, watching lots of football, hunting, taking our loves for long runs and walks, nights by the campfires with our besties, and all things fall. I hope I peaked your interest with my little teaser about Paleo and Elite Fitness and Nutrition! Until that post...XOXO!!!
