Christmas Giveaway by Wild Hearts Photography

I follow a company on facebook called Organic Bloom. They make some of the cutest frames I have ever seen. Well they posted a link to a giveaway they are participating in with Wild Hearts Photography. There are some incredible items from amazing vendors. Most of it is geared towards photographers and for photography but I think anyone could get enjoyment out of the products. I personally would love the camera strap covers or the Organic Bloom frames. But hey as someone wanting to get back into photography the props being offered would be awesome too. Especially the new born items.

Any way click here for the link to the blog for the giveaway. GO CHECK IT OUT!

Sharon Johnson Photography: Gift Giveaway: Woolies Mittens

These mittens are awesome. Go visit Sharon's blog for a chance to win. Sharon Johnson Photography: Gift Giveaway: Woolies Mittens: " Aren't these mittens phenomenal? Both Kerry and I have a pair and along with being awesome looking they are so soft warm. Woolie ..."

I {heart} Weston: Meet Baby Weston

I {heart} Weston: Meet Baby Weston: "This photo slideshow personalized with Smilebox"

I {HEART} WESTON

Please come and help us support this family.

For more information please visit the facebook page or the blog.

Donations can be made via the paypal link on the blog or in person at any America First Credit Union.

Annual Christmas Tree Hunt

Today we went on our annual hunt for Christmas trees somewhere between Preston, ID and Montpelier, ID. We always have such a good time. This year was fun but we were missing a few people. There were a few years when I was not able to go. Every year I have we haven't had much snow. I think maybe one year there was a lot. But this year...well we were not ready for how much snow there was. My brother sunk in at one point and was up to his waste. We couldn't drive up to our regular spot but we were able to hike in along the snowmobile trail. Even when we got up there it was really hard to find good

trees. They are all covered in snow (obviously) and the really good ones are off the main trail. I took my camera but because there was so much snow and it was hard to walk I didn't take it out of the truck. Here is just a picture of me and little Sadie bug all bundled up to go tree hunting.

Sadie didn't last long. Only because it was sooo very hard to carry her and walk through all that snow. Did I mention there was a TON of snow?! ;) I am going to invest in some better boots for next year. My foot sunk and got stuck at one point. And when I pulled it out the boot stayed in the snow. I lost my balance and stuck my foot in the snow. Yup the one just covered by a sock. I pulled my boot out and it was full of snow. It was cold for a minute but once I got hiking again it was fine. I actually had to take my coat off for a while because I got so warm.

Anyway, we finally just sort of gave up and weren't very picky with what we cut down. I'm afraid to see them when we finally get them put up. There was one we got that looked like what we call a Charlie Brown tree. Sorry Brad, I think you are getting that one.

This years attendees were: Myself, mom, dad, Kaylee, Sadie, Chris, Leslie, Jaxton, Lauren, Grandpa Whetton, and Grandma Whetton.

Thank you to the nice people on the snowmobile who helped me take two trees down. I could have dragged them the entire way but they wanted to help. No really, I could have. The only hard part about it was I had to keep moving out of the way for the snowmobiles. Eh oh well, it was a nice ride.

My two girls. So cute.

Free digital collage made with Smilebox

Just having fun. And our new dog.

Digital collage created with Smilebox

Photography 101

Today I participated in a photography 101 workshop. Thank you Sharon I learned a lot. We went over many things including shutter speed, aperture/f-stop, ISO, composition (rule of 3rds), and posing. Sharon had some friends come pose for us. She did all of the posing. I think the rest of us were too chicken, overwhelmed, or just intimidated. Or maybe that was just me. ;)

Anyway, here are some of my favorite pictures from the shoot. Tell me what you think. I still have a lot to learn and to work on. But I will get there.

Quick Update

Wow, I really failed on my goal to blog my workouts. Oh well, they must be working good because I am usually too tired when I get home to do anything but go to bed. Ha ha.

Anyway, just a quick update for those who care. Chris is home from his summer in Alaska. He had a great time and talks everyday how he misses it and wants to go back. Bryan and Sarah moved out with the boys to an apartment up the road. Bryan got a job at RC Willey and he is loving it. Kaylee and Justin are trying to sell their house. Since Justin has been sick and not working much money has been really tight. So they want to sell their house and move in with us for a while. So if you know anyone looking to buy send them Kaylee's way. They have a really cute house in Roy. You can find the listing on KSL.com.

Hmmm...what else. Oh, Cory and Mandy's dog had puppies. NINE of them. They are Springer Spaniels, chocolate and white. So cute. They sold two pretty quickly and then none. So they brought them up to our house and Brad and Grandma Whetton ended up each taking a pup home. One of the puppies, Gramps, had/has an infection of some sort and Cory wanted us to take him since they probably wouldn't be able to sell him. Well, long story short Gramps (aka Gunner, my dad renamed him already) is coming to live with us. So excited. He is the cutest sweetest little guy.

Well, thats it for now. More later....or much later. We'll see.

Oh, my I just realized I do not have the newest member of our family's picture up, Zachary Thomas Whetton. And I have updated pictures of my girls to post. When I get home.

What the???

Ok I don't understand why when I publish a post it doesn't save my spacing. It mushes everything together. No matter what I do. The post from last Thursday I had to insert stupid pictures (and shrink them to nothing) to keep the spacing between the different circuits. Am I doing something wrong? Can anyone help?

Boot Camp 7/19/2010

Tonight was rough simply because of this cough I have had. My chest feels bruised when I breathe too deep. The cough has gotten tons better though. Just comes on when I first wake up and right after I finish my work out. Well, enough of my whining here is what we did tonight. Start: Run 1 mile Circuit 1 (repeat 3 times) 1. Ride 1 minute on the bike at a speed of at least 10 mph. 2. 100 on the jump rope. Circuit 2 (repeat 3 times) 1. 40 pushups on toes 2. 40 lower ab crunches on ab roller 3. 40 crunches/sit ups on incline bench 4. 40 side to side holding 12 lbs weighted ball (with handles) and legs off the ground. 5. 20-4 count flutter kicks. Circuit 3 (repeat 5 times) 1. Run 1 min on treadmill at a 5 speed and 5 incline. 2. 20 bench presses bar only no weight. (each time you do this you increase the weight and lower the reps. So 20, 15, 12, 10, then 8 reps and adding weight each time.) Circuit 4 (repeat 3 times) 1. 20 pushups with feet on bench and hands on the perfect pushup handles. 2. 20 chest presses sitting on a slightly reclined bench. 3. 30 crunches on ball (left side). 4. 20 push up rows. 5. 30 crunches on ball (right side). Finish Walk on treadmill until cooled down and heart rate has come down. The group before us did another circuit but we ran out of time.

Tonight's Workout

Start: Run 1 mile on treadmill at a 6 speed or higher. Circuit #1 (repeat 3 times) 1. 30 lower ab curls on the ab roller. 2. 30 crunches on the incline bench. Lower all the way down and coming up about 6 inches from the bench.

3. 30 criss crosses lying on the floor arms out wide in T position with legs at 12 inch from the ground. 4. 30 crunches on stability/balance ball. Circuit #2 (repeat 3 times) 1. 20 step up shoulder presses in front hands out wide with a 20 lb bar. 2. 10 behind the head shoulder presses hands out wide using same bar. 3. 20 shoulder presses seated with at least 10 lb dumbells. 4. 20 pushups hands out wide. Circuit #3 (repeat 3 times) 1. 30 hamstring curls using machine. 2. 20 pull downs over hand, hand shoulder width. 3. 20 squats with bar, weight varies. We used the large bench press bar with 10 lbs on each side. 4. 20 pushups on the bar on your toes. 5. 40 forward raises (20 each arm) alternating with at least 8lb dumbells. Circuit #4 (one time) Strap on 5 lb ankle weights on each ankle. On your hands and knees 80 straight leg kickbacks each leg. 80 bent knee kicks backs each leg.

Cool down Walk on treadmill at 3 speed for 2-3 min or until heart rate has calmed down.

BOOT CAMP at Jim's Gym

So I have been doing this boot camp class at Jim’s Gym in Clinton for a while now. I started it in April. It’s tough, really tough. It’s getting easier. Well easier is probably not the right word. I am getting in better shape so I am getting through it better. Just an example of a one hour workout we do so you can get an idea. Start: 1) Run 1 mile on treadmill (started at 5 mph and progressed to 6.5 mph) 2) Change incline to a 6 and run at a 5.7 for .5 mile 3)Incline back to 1 and turn around. Walk/jog backwards on treadmill for .25 mile 4) Turn back around and run .25 mile at 6.5-7 mph (he had me at 8 mph for the last tenth to get it done). Move on to circuit #1 (repeat 3 times) 1) 100 jumps on the jump rope. 2) 30 lower ab curls on the ab machine. 3) 30 sit ups on the incline bench. 4) 30 side to side with legs off the floor holding a 12 lb. exercise ball. 5) 30 crunches on the stability ball. Circuit #2 Triceps (repeat 3 times, and those who missed Monday had to do dips on the machine and they are brutal) 1) 20 over head tricep presses with a 20 lb dumbbell. 2) 15 tricep dips with feet elevated on a bench hands on handles of another incline bench. 3) 15 tricep pushups. 4) 15 tricep dips hands on bench.

Circuit #3 (repeat 3 times with the exception of first exercise)

1) 100 calf raises holding onto the treadmill for balance.

2) 30 calf raises on edge of step bench with a bar (weighted of course).

3) 30 squat calf raises.

4) 30 crunches on ball.

5) 30 calf presses using the leg press machine.

If you stop and rest too long you will get yelled at. Oh, and don’t you dare touch the treadmill with your hands. It is HANDS OFF!! Its go! Go! GO! One exercise after another. And this isn’t even the hardest workout we have done. This was mild compared to some of the stuff he has us do. By the time I got to the 3rd circuit on Monday night I could barely hold myself in a pushup position.

I have to say I love it though. Even on my bad days where I don’t want to do anything I always feel so much better after. I think I am going to try and start writing down the workouts we do after every class and posting them. That way anyone out there can look at them and try them to. And when I finish with Jim I have a record and can do them on my own.

Oh, and can I tell you MY CALVES HURT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not Much of an Update

Well, it's not much of an update but I did "update" my blog. The layout that is and some new pics of the nieces and nephews. I got a new DSLR camera a few weeks ago and I am loving it. I have gotten some really fun pics and they quality is fabulous. I just would like to have someone teach me more about the camera. I would love to take some photo classes but I can't seem to find anything local that isn't outrageous in price. If any one knows of anything let me know. Or if there is a photographer out there that would like an assistant on weekends that would also be willing to teach me, that would be awesome! Well that's it for now. I want to post a slide show of some of my pics but who knows if I will get around to it.

Peace!!

One of those people...

So I have turned into one of those people who never updates their blog. Then makes a post about how sorry they are they haven't blogged in while because things have been busy. Well it is true. I am not even sure if anyone reads this thing anyway. Oh well, I will blog anyway. It's true things have been crazy. I am getting ready to finish up school this week and so my mind is a little bit in a fog. It's stressful. Only one more week and lots to do. The financial part of this is what is killing me right now. I am pretty stressed out. So I am going to stray from the typical "haven't blogged in a while post" and I am not going to promise I will post soon. Because honestly, I don't have the energy for it right now. So who knows how long it will be till I post again. I do want to go on a mini vacation, anyone in? New York City flights on Delta right now about $200 maybe a little more. Anyone know anyone I/we could stay with out there?