Guess it's time to start training for that tri...

So (in a moment of brilliance) I realized that my sprint tri was less than 3 weeks away, and I figured I'd better start training! Genius, I know.

Now, I'm not starting from scratch, I've gone running on and off over the summer, and I teach a few spin classes, so... I'm golden, right? :)

Sigh. Anyway, I've been squeezing in some more swimming, biking, and running, and overall it's going well. Even when I have to wake up at 5 am and take a headlamp to fit it in.


That's my beautiful bike in the back of the car... it's nice to have somewhere to stash it during the running portion of the workout.


Why do I do this to myself? Sign up for a race, then realize far too late that I should have been training all along?

Ah well, next time ;)

Renee Tote aka best work bag/lunch box everrrr

So six pack bags are a pretty big name in the lunch bag/meal management field, and I've coveted them for a while. My only problem was the size (and the cost, of course, but I always seem to find a way to justify fitness equipment). Most of those bags are huge, and adding that load on top of a gym bag, purse, and massive planner was just something I couldn't bring myself to do.

I tried other lunch bags and enjoyed them, but when I saw a friend on facebook with the Renee Tote, it was love at first sight.

As an anniversary present, my wonderful husband got me the tote in black. Part work bag, part gym bag, and part cooler, I now only carry one bag to work each day (can you say miracle?).

I seriously love this thing. It has plenty of room for the 2 meals I eat at work most days. It comes with 4 of the tupperware containers (and I found the glass ones that also fit at Walmart.. perfection) and 3 gel freezer packs that slide in there and keep things cold ALL DAY LONG. It's seriously amazing.




The outside has lots of little pockets, making it easy to organize all my things, and the inside pocket is just big enough for that planner (or a laptop), gym clothes, and whatever other random things I need to throw in there.

The bag does get a little heavy, but when you consider everything that's in there, I don't see any way around it (and I really don't mind it at all).

Overall? It's true love, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who works and tries to eat healthy/meal prep.

We went to Hawaii last month!

Because I'm completely spoiled and because we love to travel... and because I've always wanted to visit Hawaii, we went on a much-needed vacation last month!

We spent the first few days on Oahu, doing tourist-y things like visiting the PCC, checking out the temple and BYU-Hawaii, touring Pearl Harbor, and snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.

We ate at shrimp trucks, soaked up the sun, and generally loved being there :)

We spent the rest of the trip on Kauai and LOVED it!!! So gorgeous, so fun, so much to do and see! We stayed at these fun condos on the North part of the island (right on a cliff on the ocean!) and had a blast seeing the sights, swimming in Queen's Bath, diving in the lava tubes at Tunnels Beach, hiking and sailing the Na Pali coast, eating delicious food, and generally enjoying ourselves.

Best trip ever :)

Whole30: We are quitters

So. Our Whole30 is over. After 2 weeks of loving it, and even surviving our anniversary, we just ran into too many obstacles.

The vacation to St. George happened, then my family came into town. We were sitting at a family reunion and realized we would only be able to eat the lettuce and carrots. We attempted to stick to it… but while we sat there, missing out on all the delicious food (and the socializing that comes with it), we decided that it just wasn’t working for us at this time.

We will probably try again in January, and we’re definitely keeping up with a lot of our good, Whole30 habits! I feel like I’ve learned a lot and broken some bad habits. Overall, it’s been an overwhelmingly positive experience, but I am glad it’s over, because I’m having a delicious, happy week with my family :)

give or take :)

Whole30: Days 14-16 (where we cheated)

So, on Thursday we headed down to the always-wonderful St. George for a little anniversary getaway... and immediately realized how hard it was going to be to stick to the Whole30. I called ahead to several restaurants and determined that there would be very little we could actually eat (if anything at all). Depressing.

We tried to stick it out though, eating apples and almonds in the car, grabbing dinner at a Thai restaurant (after pestering the waiter... no sugar, no soy, no MSG, no gluten) and settling on curry: no brown sugar, no peas, no rice... basically curry soup. It was kind of disheartening, actually, since eating is one of our favorite parts of going on vacation.

The next morning, we woke up, and were pretty much dreading breakfast. Our hotel offered a big breakfast, but of course we couldn't eat any of it but the orange slices. We were gearing up to try and find a place that would cook us up some eggs and veggies in the right kind of oil, and we decided that we'd had enough. While we've loved what the program has done for us so far, it wasn't worth ruining our vacation over.

So, it was decided. We were going to skip these 3 days, eating at our favorite places down in St. George, and actually enjoy our vacation.
It was such a good decision.

We rode our bikes through Zion, we hung out at the pool, we enjoyed the scenery, and we ate amazing food. It was a great trip.

Now that we're back home again, we're going to pick up again with our diet tomorrow. We know it goes against the rules of the program, but we're just going to do what's best for us. I definitely don't regret it (we got to eat sooo many delicious things, and we didn't go too crazy), and I'm excited for the next two weeks of eating Whole30-approved foods again!


Terrible picture, but we got to eat at the Anasazi Steakhouse, where you cook your own meat/seafood on a hot stone!
Soooo worth cheating for.



St. George Temple!

Days 10-12 of the Whole30!

Well things keep on getting more and more delicious! Thank goodness, right??

On Monday we had mini burgers (beef, egg, seasonings) with a fried egg and mustard on top, wrapped in lettuce. So so good.



Yesterday was our anniversary (3 years! best ever!) and we wanted something extra delicious....so we did a crab boil!
Crab, shrimp, potatoes... heaven.



Tonight we did beef-stuffed bell peppers (last week was a lot of chicken, this week is beef... I buy and cook in bulk these days haha)



aaaand my new favorite breakfast/treat:
sweet potatoes, coconut, pineapple, and cinnamon.
I could seriously eat this all day.




Sweet potato deliciousness:
-Nuke some sweet potatoes for 5 minutes, allow to cool
-peel them and chop them into chunks
-sprinkle with ghee, cinnamon, and coconut flakes
-top with pineapple rings
-cover with foil, bake at 350 for 25ish minutes, die of happiness

Coconut Shrimp! Days 7-9 of the Whole30

9 days in! Whoo hoo!!

First thing's first: The most delicious, Whole30 compliant coconut shrimp.
Yes, yes, and yes.

We could eat this every day. I got the recipe here.



Coconut Shrimp with Piña Colada Dipping Sauce,
• 1 lb peeled & deveined shrimp, rinsed and DRY (the bigger the better)
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Coconut oil, to fry
• 1/4 cup coconut cream
• 1/2 cup crushed pineapple
Mix together coconut cream and pineapple until you get a smooth sauce. Refrigerate for one hour, or while the shrimp cookSet up a dredging station with your flour, eggs and shredded coconut in separate containers. Dip the shrimp in the flour, then in the egg, and then in the shredded coconut. Set on a plate until you’ve finished all of them. Once they’re all coated, heat up a couple tablespoons of coconut oil. Add shrimp a few at a time and flip when the tails turn pink. The shrimp should be golden brown. Cook for another minute or so and serve with sauce.



not the best picture, but it smelled too good to wait. and it didn't disappoint.




In other news, yesterday was the Harry Potter 5k! Always a good time!

Bellatrix Lestrange... if she spent more time in the sun and took up running.



I also hit up the farm store for chicken bones (because bone broth is my new favorite thing), went on a bike ride with some friends up in Park City, and went to a beautiful wedding (where we couldn't eat anything haha)! A great day overall.


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So, confession, I almost quit the Whole30 today. I've been feeling super sick and puking my guts up, and I just about threw in the towel. I reallllllly wanted saltine crackers and ginger ale. Really really badly. Luckily I was too sick to get up from the couch to get some, and after several hours, I decided not to call it quits. But just barely.

Oh well, 21 days to go! :) :)