Ode to My Little Sade Babe

Sadie...

You are exactly what I wanted in a daughter.

You are my tiny little capricious sprite that I adore.

You are semi-sweet, hilarious, mischievous, and a snuggle-bunny.

"Can you snuggle me for a lil bit?" is your favorite saying right now.

Your little dimples make it hard for us to say no.

But your tenacious streak is extremely irritating (once you asked us for dessert for about 30 minutes straight).

You love to eat all fruits. You can pound down a pint of blueberries in 10 minutes.

You love to color, sing, and play with dolls and blocks.

You play pretend and you even get your dad to dance with you (he's only ever danced with me twice).

You tease your brother and will copy anything that he says or does. You wish his room were your room as well.

You love all things pink with unicorns and princesses.

You are definitely a girly girl and love to get your nails painted.

I'm worried about the day that you will be able to reach my makeup counter.

Your feisty spirit and determined nature will take you far in this life.

You have been the last and most adorable addition to our family. We love you dearly. 

Dear College Sherri..

So I recently met up with a friend that I had my freshman year of college at BYU. We really haven't seen each other since 2004-2006 (maybe even 2002??) other than Facebook. Both of us now live in the same town after not having seen each other in probably 14+ years.. It is pretty random that we now live in the same town, but that's beside the point..

←←My first day at BYU. Check out the sparkly lilac eyeshadow.



Man oh man was I nervous.. and it really got me thinking.. What was I like at 18/19 years old? What kind of impression did I leave? Am I even the same person that I was then?

Examples of me during my early college years..

Always trying to shake it like Shakira.

I want to clarify that this photo is a satire of Utah fashion. 

I'm not quite sure why we did this with our hands.

Please take note of the hair and choker. So 1990's, yet this was 2002..

You're welcome. The 2000's decade was not good for me fashion-wise (missing is the photo of me in a Juicy Couture velour track suit).

If I went back in time, would I tell myself anything? Would I do something differently? How have I changed?

Well, for starters..

I am essentially the same person half my life later (yes I was 18--18 years ago!).. I am still an introvert, self-conscious, slightly competitive, witty (I've always considered myself to be funny even if you don't), full of social anxiety, even-tempered mood (apparently the formal term is equanimous), kind of lazy, and an overall logical/pragmatic person.

However, I do care less about what people think of me despite being self-conscious. I am more responsible, less judgmental, more empathetic, less attention-seeking, more spiritual, and less sarcastic.

I have been through a lot within the past two decades that has helped me mature. Would I go back and change some things? Absolutely--there are some things I have said and done that make me cringe so hard. But, the experiences that were difficult to get through are what made me who I am today. Hey, I straight-up told a guy friend that I had a crush on him, and he told me he didn't. That was the worst thing ever to 19 year-old me. I made myself vulnerable and really put myself out there, and I was devastated when I was rejected. But the experience taught me that 1) "he's just not that into you if he's not asking you out", and 2) it's ok to be vulnerable sometimes. I also learned that I don't like when a guy serenades me with a guitar. That was a really difficult experience to live through, and it was only 5 minutes of my time in college.

If there is one thing I wish I could tell my late teens, early 20's self is that I will not get married in college. I wasted soooo much time worrying about boys and not about college! My outlook in life during those years would've been much different if I worried about my grades and not my dating life.

Anyways, what if you met someone from your past that you haven't seen in years? Would you revert back to your old self, or do you feel comfortable enough in your own skin as you are today?



Spoiler alert: the blast from the past meet-up went well and wasn't awkward.

New Old Exercise Routine

Look.. I did a comparison photo shoot. Like I said, not too much difference in 2019 from 2018. Boo.

                                              2017                      2018                    2019

But, I got this cool scale from Renpho (only $25 on Amazon) that tracks my % body fat, weight loss, etc, and syncs to my FitBit account. It's pretty good and wayyy cheaper than the FitBit scale. The surprising thing when I stepped on the scale was that I don't have a high % of body fat. Visceral fat, on the other hand, (the fat around my organs--yes, that's not good) was a little higher than I'd like. When I got my DEXA scan (the gold standard for measuring fat/muslce/bone mass) in grad school when I was 25 years old, my body fat % was much higher (I was not exercising then, but weighed approximately 10# less). Here's my report..

Body Fat %

Subcutaneous fat %

 Visceral Fat

It shows you normal ranges of each individual category including bone mass, and it also tracks your changes. Another cool thing is that you can set up multiple users in your Renpho smartphone app. The hilarious thing is if you don't change the user on your app before you weigh someone, it can track changes incorrectly. Carter stepped on the scale and didn't tell me before he did, so I got a "CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE LOST 100 POUNDS!" notification from my phone. Um yeah, if I weighed 45 lbs I would be dead.

Like I said before, I recently changed from all cardio to online RIPPED workouts. I used to do the workouts at the local YMCA, but now I live ~30+ minutes away from the closest class.



I am going to sing its praises to the world. If you are like me and can't help exercising to a beat, or if you really like to go with a choreographed routine, this is the workout for you. I cannot stand lifting weights because it is sooooo boring and I can't do it to a beat. RIPPED makes lifting weights, push-ups, and cardio so much fun because it goes with the music. The 60-minutes literally fly by (although they have shorter routines as well). I feel my muscles getting stronger, and I'm getting more agile with all of the plyometrics in the routines. I just love this workout so much that I wanted to share it with you all. I wish they would have a free temporary trial for everybody just to see if you would like it, but c'est la vie.

The online subscription is $10/month, which is pretty good. I hope they add more videos, or that they had some options to pay for digital downloads or DVD's. Anyways, just wanted to share this with you all.

Fitness in my 30's

Last night I lay in bed thinking deep thoughts...

How much do I weigh??

Seriously. I haven't weighed myself in what feels like years. I literally got out of bed at 9:30 PM and walked to the kids' bathroom to weigh myself. The numbers were not what I wanted to see, but they weren't the worst I've seen.

So, I've re-committed myself to losing those same 20-25 pounds I lost seven years ago in March 2012.

2011                       2012

I have been exercising steadily for the past 2 years, with some minor breaks for depression and life. I wanted to lose weight by exercising and not watching what I eat. Spoiler alert: it doesn't work that way in your 30's. In your 30's, weight just doesn't fall off your body unless you have some serious medical issues.

Also, you know what doesn't work as well in your 30's? Your body. You can hurt yourself by doing the most simple things. I have injured myself doing stupid things, like my hip kept popping out of joint, I got tennis elbow from working in the yard, and I injured my rotator cuff by trying to get more steps on my Fitbit by doing arm circles instead of steps. Yes, I did try to cheat my FitBit step counter, and I paid for it dearly.

When I lost weight in 2012, I gradually built up my exercise routine and gradually I lost 25 pounds. I didn't eat super healthy, but I also didn't eat super unhealthy. The weight just came off. It felt easy, other than the TurboFire workouts I was doing.

I have been doing the same TurboFire workouts (in the morning--I never thought I could do that!) since August 20th 2018. That is over 7 months of kicking, punching, jumping, and super sweating at 5:30 AM. I thought if I just did hard-core cardio every day, I would just lose weight without trying. HAH. I actually gained 7 pounds over 7 months. Super cool. I wish I had these amazing before and after pictures from doing TurboFire workouts again, but no such luck..

Obviously, I was doing something wrong. I knew in my heart I was eating too many desserts and sweets, but I didn't want to change. My sister introduced me to this super easy caramel popcorn recipe, and I've made it way too many times. I also made these super delicious gooey butter bars during the Seattle Snowpocalypse in February, and I swear I gained 5 pounds over those 5 days. I also bought this amazing Cookie cookbook, and I unfortunately have made wayyyy too many recipes from it.

Graham and I have both committed to eating less treats, me baking less desserts (the dang double oven tempts me to bake more!), and to trying to make fruit-based desserts more (like roasted pears or peaches). He is committing to working out more frequently, and now that I've finished TurboFire for the third time, I'm moving on to online RIPPED workouts and my barre videos.

And, I'm back to weighing myself weekly to keep me accountable. I kept trying to ignore the fact that my pants were slightly tighter than they were... Sigh.

I'm back to where I started 7 years ago--trying to lose 20 pounds. At least this time I'm not starting from scratch. Luckily I have good support, a set routine, and a dedicated workout room to keep me going.

I don't have any recent full body pictures within the past 4 months, so this is it. 😂😂

Master Bedroom Update

Well, this is quite the detour from my normal blog posts.. We have been working on small projects around the house, like parts of the garden, steps up to our yard from the road, and some minor interior projects.. but you SHOULD see our double barn doors from Artisan Hardware. They are beautiful and function to separate the master bedroom from the exercise room.