What a year! You have grown, in incredible ways, in every facet of your life this year.

September 2012:

You got your new piano!

You turned 4!

You got your first pedicure

You got your first pair of cowboy boots and decided to chop your hair off:

October 2012:

You started ballet.

You got your Blending Badge!

We took family pictures:

You were a pumpkin for Halloween!

November 2012:

You practiced your name (and drew a skeleton):

You took a really unfortunate school picture:

And then a MUCH better one!

December 2012:

We picked out our Christmas Tree. You actually had a blast this year, you were just cold by the time we got a picture!

You got your very first Bogus Season Pass!

You got some serious ski gear for Christmas. You learned how to REALLY ski! We started going down blues this year!

January 2013:

You had your very first piano recital.

February:

You and Daddy built a rocket!

You did a Flower Girl Fashion Tour

March:

We learned that you were NOT allergic to wheat and you got to spend the day in the hospital when they put a camera down into your stomach.

April 2013:

You drew this amazing picture of Daddy.  He’s eating a burger.

You had a sushi date with Mommy:

We went to see Swan Lake.

May 2013:

You drew some amazing cows!

You started reading non-Challenger books!

You rode the mower with Daddy.

You learned to ride a two-wheel bike!

You and Tessa discovered getting your faces painted at the Farmer’s Market!

You had your second piano recital.

You had your first dance recital.

June 2013:

You grew-A LOT!

You got your first Library Card!

You caught your first fish.

You love your whole family and wish your cat didn’t die.

July 2013:

You played at home with Mommy.

You had your first lemonade stand and bought ice cream with the profits.

You cuddled with Daddy in McCall.

Your style!

Aunt Marci made you this one

You giggled A LOT with Aunt Marci.

You went on a farm tour.

You learned how to swim UNDER WATER this month and you learned how to ride your BIG two-wheeler bike!!!

We went to San Diego to visit Mommy’s side of the family.

August 2013:

You got new fast shoes for kindergarten.

You hung out with Miss Amelia!

We did a Tour de Fat.

You started kindergarten!!!!

With Mrs. Joelson and Mrs. Matheson.

You discovered your LOVE of homework.

September:

Your handwriting blows Mommy out of the water.

We went camping in Silver City, ID.

You wrote your own spotlight paper with very little help from Mommy.

You turned 5!!!

Happy birthday big girl.  You continue to amaze me and Daddy every day.  We are so thankful that you were brought into our life.  You make us be better people, you challenge us, you open our eyes to new things, you make our family complete. We love you.

12 weeks out! Ack!!! I will be focusing more on swimming this week which is hard with my shoulders.

Monday Swim: wu: 4×150 (alternate swim and kick), main: 1650 ladder, start with 275, then 250, and so on. cd: 200 easy

Tuesday: Off!

Wednesday Bike: 1 hour ride with climbing/low cadence. RPE 3-4 on flats, 7-8 on hills

Thursday Swim: wu: 200 swim, 200 kick, main: 16×50 every 1, 5, 9, 13 hardest effort with the others descending effort,  cd: 200 easy

Friday Run: 45 minutes with strides

At some point over the weekend, back to back: Easy 30 minute run, 60 min bike (alternating big and small ring every 10 minutes), 30 minute swim, RPE5

It’s a REST WEEK!!!! WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!

Monday Bike: 30 min RPE 3
Monday Run: 30 min RPE 3-4

Tuesday Swim: 5×200 (50 Easy, 50 Build, 50 Easy, 50 Hard), 150 Easy 
Tuesday Bike: 30 min RPE 3

Wednesday: Off

Thursday Bike: 60 Minutes RPE 3

Friday Run: 30 minutes with strides every 5 minutes
Friday Swim: 4×300 (300 easy, 300 kick, 300 easy, 300 kick)

Saturday and Sunday: ski, ski, and ski some more.  Lu is doing ski lessons right now so Shaun and I get 3 hours of hard core skiing on Saturday and Sunday.  We did that this weekend and boy am I sore!  I would love to have my rest day be tomorrow but Lucy has a dentist appointment on Wednesday so it’ll have to be in the middle of the week.

14 weeks to go!

Monday Swim: wu: 4×75, main: 500 swim, 500 kick, 500 swim, 500 kick, all RPE 4, cd: 100 swim, 100 back

Tuesday Bike: 1 hour, easy
Tuesday Run: 30 minutes, RPE 3-4

Wednesday: Rest Day

Thursday Swim: wu: 400 continuous, main 10×100 EBEH (easy, build, easy, hard), cd, 6×25 each one easier than the last
Thursday Run: 90 minutes long run, RPE 2-3

Friday Bike: 90 minutes

I’m FINALLY feeling better.  I’m STILL not 100% but I’m getting there.  This has been a ridiculous cold.

Monday: Off

Tuesday Run: 30 Minute Easy Run
Tuesday Bike: 1 hour, mostly easy pace, rolling hills

Wednesday Swim: wu:300 continuous 25 swim/25 kick. main: 20X75 hold constant pace at RPE 5. cd: 200 easy
Wednesday Run: 75 minute long/tempo run

Thursday Swim: wu: 200 Swim, 200 Kick, 200 Swim, 200 Kick. main: 1500, RPE 4, cd: 4×50

Friday Bike: 1.5 hours
Friday Run: 30 minutes after work, easy

Saturday and Sunday: Ski

Well last week was a bust.  That sickness kicked my bootay.  It’s a new week, right?

Monday Run-30 Minutes, Easy

Tuesday Bike-1 hour-hills
Tuesday Swim-30 Minutes recovery swim after bike

Wednesday Swim-wu:200 continuous, main: 1×2000 at RPE 4,  cd: 4×50

Thursday Run-1 hour-strides every 10 minutes
Thursday Bike-30 minute recovery bike after run

Friday Bike-1 hour RPE 3

Saturday and Sunday-Skiing

I’m not slacking, I came down with the flu 🙁 I can’t catch a break this winter! I thought that once I got through the first year of teaching that my immune system would be awesome. Yeah, not so.

Here’s the scaled back plan for this week.

M-recover and break fever (I successfully did that!)

T-recover

W-Easy Run

Th-Easy Spin

F-Easy Swim

Weekend-Skiing!!!!

We’re furiously trying to save for a house. Our only debt is my student loan so we should be able to save more money than we are.  Christmas hit and so did my car.  My car is almost 8 years old but only has 70,000 miles on it.  In the last 2 months we’ve spent $1,500 fixing things that start going wrong when your car is 8 years old. Lucy has also had a medically expensive last couple of months-allergy testing, CT scan, doctors appointments, etc. I just keep watching my next egg getting smaller and smaller and it is making me sad.  With that said, I’m embarking on a low spend month!

February is only 28 days long so it should be easier, right? I’m all set on paper products, cleaning agents, etc., so all I have to worry about is FOOD.  I try to spend $600 a month on food (this doesn’t include going out).  Sometimes I hit that and sometimes I go over.  With the corn and wheat allergies that we have and my commitment to buying local, sustainable, and humane meat, eggs, and dairy, it gets expensive.  I also like to buy organic-especially with the top 20!

I do now have a 7 cubic foot freezer full of just the sort of meat I like to feed my family.  So that should cut back on my grocery bill, right?

Here’s my goal-spend $300 on food this month-that includes going out (which means we won’t be going out-ha!*). I’m still going to stick to my ideals and of course we can’t buy things that will make Lu ill.  I’m just going to try to make conscious choices and try to only spend an average of $70 at the store each week.  I know I can do it!

Here goes nothing!

*The one caveat is that my good friend is having a birthday party/girl’s night out next week and I will be using my own personal money to go out that night.

I did everything on my plan last week! I got up at 4:45 AM every morning and did it.  Even when we had freezing rain that left a half inch of ice on the roads.  I got up and went to the gym.  I was very proud of myself.

We move on to Week 18 of this plan.

Monday Run: 30 Minutes, Easy Pace, RPE 3
Monday Bike: 1 hour

Tuesday Swim: 4×500, Odds are RPE 3, Evens are RPE 5

Wednesday Run: 60 Minutes, Easy Pace, Strides starting at the 40 minute mark, and then every 5 minutes.

Thursday Bike: 1 hour Spin Class

Friday Swim: wu: 300 Continuous, slowly increasing pace every 100. main: 20 x 50, odds at RPE 4, evens at RPE 9! cd: 150 easy

Saturday: Off

Sunday: Skiing

I have my menu all planned for the week too.

I got sick last week and missed Thursday and Friday but I’m ready to get back to it. Up until the sickies hit, I was doing great.

I’m modifying this plan.  I’m on week 19.

Monday-Off

Tuesday-30 Minute Run, RPE 3
1 Hour Spin

Wednesday-Swim: wu-5×50 continuous, odds are breathe every side, evens bilateral. main-2×500, 1 is RPE 4, 2 is RPE 6, cd-easy 250

Thursday-1 hour run, easy pace

Friday-Swim: wu-300, main-10×100, 2 minute interval. cd-200 alternate 50 kick, 50 swim
45 minute Spin

Saturday and Sunday: Snowshoeing, cross country skiing, downhill