IRONMAN?!

I love the movie "Iron Man", but I'm talking about an Ironman Triathlon! I'm a member of the Boise State Gym and they are running an incentive to complete an Ironman Triathlon between the time of October 3 to 23. That means I'll have three weeks (or 18 days if you don't include Sundays) to run 26.2 miles, bike 112 miles, and swim 2.4 miles. I'm gonna do it! Yikes! I honestly can't even fathom how those crazy, but amazing people do all of this in one day. Doing it in three weeks is going to be hard enough. I have my plan all written out. see...?

I'm a little nervous can ya tell...?

My goal is not to eat any sweets during this three week period and to drink tons of water.

Wish me luck. I'm gonna need it.

In all randomness...

Here are a few random thoughts on my mind today:

1. My lunches - I love my lunch breaks. I walk down to the capital building which is only like two blocks away and eat my lunch at a picnic table in the park. I usually read a book or catch up with friends or family with a phone call. I am so grateful for my job. Especially right now in this economy. It isn't what I want to do for the rest of my life or what I went to school for, but I love it and I love the people I work with.

A little Diet Coke in front of the Capital.

My new lunch pale

2. I can't believe football season is here. I told Cole that I think we watched about 48 hours of straight football last weekend. We're even watching it right as I type - Dolphins vs. Patriots. Cole is in mourning because he loves Notre Dame and they stink this year.

3. I'm excited. You want to know why? It's peach season! AND I LOVE PEACHES!

I ate two of these tonight.

4. A belated post - I meant to post about when we went to a Hawk's Minor League baseball game a couple of weeks ago, but I kind of forgot. We had a good time.

There was a giant Hawk's Mascot

Cole's cousin's baby was scared of it. What little child isn't scared of a giant in-your-face, give-you-a-high-five, lay-across-your-lap mascot?

5. I'm running a 10K in about 4 weeks and I'm going to die cuz I be a slacking these days.

6. Does anyone know of a good book to read? I just finished The Help and it was so good. Now, I don't want to read some dumb book because that book was so good.

Anyways those are my thoughts today...in all randomness...

Twix Cheesecakes

I probably shouldn't post this recipe on my blog because it is titled "Health 4 Life" and this isn't healthy. BUT everything in moderation right? I made these Mini Twix Cheesecakes for our Sunday dinner yesterday and they were delicious, pretty easy, and a little extra fancy! I found this recipe on www.gingerbreadbagels.com.

Twix Cheesecakes

Crust
1/2 package Oreos
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted

Cheesecake Batter
1 pound cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
12 mini Twix bars, chopped into small pieces

In a food processor, grind up the Oreos into fine crumbs. Put the crumbs into a large bowl and add in the sugar. Mix to combine. Then pour in the melted butter and mix to coat all of the crumbs with butter.

Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Scoop a Tablespoon of the cookie crumbs into each cupcake liner. Using your hand, press the crumbs down firmly. Set the cupcake pan aside while you work the cheesecake filling.
(Sometimes I have some cookie crumb mixture left over. So if you do too, don’t worry.)

In a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese until smooth on medium low speed, about 3 minutes. With the mixer on medium low speed, add in the sugar and mix to combine. Then add in the vanilla extract and mix. Slowly pour in the lightly beaten eggs and mix until the eggs are incorporated. Add in the sour cream and combine.
Chop the mini Twix bars into small pieces. Add them into the cheesecake batter and gently fold them in.

Using an ice cream scooper, scoop the cheesecake batter into each cupcake liner. Bake the cheesecakes at 275 degrees for 30 minutes. Chill the cheesecakes overnight in the refrigerator. Then enjoy!

Little Adventure

They say they named New York City after the state because it was such a great city. So, is this true for Idaho City as well? Well........I don't know about that. Cole and I wanted to dig deep and find the adventure with in ourselves (ha ha that sounds kinda cheesy) so we decided to venture over to Idaho City, an old mining ghost town.

We actually had a really fun time. We packed a lunch and drinks in a cooler and walked around and looked at all the old western buildings. Here's a fun Idaho History fact for ya: Idaho City was once the biggest city in Idaho. People rushed there because gold was discover and mined there. A $250 million in gold was mined back in the day even more than the California gold rush. Now, the population of Idaho City is 458.

The first place that really caught our attention was this weird junk building that had a bunch of random crap all over on it. Those guys from American Pickers would die to get their hands on this place.

We thought that the Pest House was pretty interesting. They threw criminals and people with communicable diseases in here. Which seems very sad to me, but at the time they had no other means to control diseases.

They even had a fast draw competition going on. There were cowboys and cowgirls with their holsters ready to draw and shoot at targets. We are glad we are trying to be a little more adventurous, it makes life so much more interesting and fun. Next week, we're going on a river rafting trip down the Payette. Watch out for the new thrill seeking Cole and Cicily (not really...we can't hardly even go on a roller coaster, but we're trying!:))

Kitty Purrry

Last Saturday I was able to go to the Katy Perry concert with Cole's cousins and it was amazing! It was a huge production and we had a blast! Probably the best concert I've ever been to. Robyn opened for her and she has some pretty sweet dance moves. Here are a couple of pics from the concert.

So excited before the concert started!!!

The whole set, dancers, and costumes were incredible

Boise is so fun because there is always something to go and do. I really like it over here.

Until next time...

An American Safari

Over the 4th of July we went on our traditional camping trip with Cole's family to Grand Teton National Park. We've gone every year since we've been married. The beauty of the Tetons and surrounding areas never cease to amaze me. This year we were in for a real treat. We've had such a cold spring, there was still a lot of snow in the mountains making it so the animals were much lower than usual. We saw a ton of amazing wildlife. I seriously thought I was watching one of those Planet Earth movies. Because I was caught up in the moment, I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked, but here is some proof of how much fun we had.

Every night, when the animals would come out

of the wood works we would go "animal searching". This was our first night there.

This is what happens when an animal is spotted by a tourist - traffic jam.

Luckily Cole and I were able to sleep in a car or in his parent's trailer. If we had to sleep in a tent, I don't think I would get a wink of sleep because there were definitely bears in the area.

We were so lucky to have a mama grizzly raising her two cubs a few miles from where we were camping. Every night we would go down and spot her playing with her babies. Can you spot the bear and cubs below?

Here's another picture of the bears crossing the road. People got so close outside of their cars that it scared me.

Down where the bear was living there was also a herd of elk with their babies. One night we saw the bear trying to chase them down. Just when we thought that was cool, one morning we went down to the area and guess what we saw?! Seven wolves hunting the elk. The elk were rearing up trying to kick the wolves. As hard as they tried to protect their babies, the wolves got down a baby elk. It was sad, but amazing to see. I was too caught up in the moment to take pictures of that, but here is the herd of elk.

For the 4th of July, we went into Jackson Hole and watched the Bar-J Wranglers sing old cowboy songs - always a good time. We also watched the fireworks. I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures of that day. :(

And of course, we had to go boating!! The water was way too cold to wake board so we ended up just jumping in a few times.

Cole's brother and sister Nick and Jill

What are you looking at Cole?

Why it's a beautiful mountain waterfall!

Got a little too much sun.

Cole's mom, Annie, somehow got a horseshoe stuck in the tree. Watch out!

Nick and Cole played rock paper scissors for everything. Who sits in the middle, who's going to clean up, etc. It was pretty funny.

We all went to Yellowstone the day after a man was mauled by a bear - a very sad story. We visited the water fall which was only about a mile away from where it happened.

A gift shop in Yellowstone.

Cole was our fire-making specialist.

Cole was so proud of this "log cabin" fire.

Is there a bear out there? EEK!

Every morning we would walk down and get hot cocoa. Cole and his dad below.

Ray, Nick, and Cole at Two Oceans Lake

Tell me this isn't the prettiest place in the world!

I hope all of you are having a wonderful summer!

Playing Cards can be a Workout?

I tried a new workout last night that I thought was really fun, a great workout, and very convenient. The nice thing about this workout is that you can do it at home, at the track, at the gym, or really anywhere. Last night I did it while watching my favorite TV show. What you do is get a deck of cards. Then, you assign each card with a different exercise. Last night I assigned:

Diamonds = Lunges

Hearts = Squats

Clubs = Push-ups

Spades = Tricep Dips

Jokers = 50 crunches

OUCH! I'm sore today. There are a lot of cards in one deck. You could do this at the track or find a grassy area to do plyometrics or sprints - I think I might try this one next. You can really make up any exercises you want. It's also kind of exciting because you never know what card you're going to get next.

It was 9 pm last night and I wanted to get a workout in so I decided to try this little diddy out and it was great! So if you find yourself too busy to cram a workout in, I dare you to try this while you're watching TV before you go to bed. I promise you'll be sore.

I'm sensing a theme here...

Do you ever find yourself attracted to certain items, colors, or patterns when you shop? A few months ago I was totally attracted to striped shirts. Today, I just came to the realization that I've had a reoccurring attraction to purple stuff.

Purple Loofah...oh and I just noticed my razor is purple

Purple Shoes

Purple Swim Suit

I just got a pedicure. What color did I choose? ...Purple

Then I just realized I have a purple phone.

Purple isn't even my favorite color, but I just can't seem to get enough of it lately.