Confessions and a Thief.

 First, confession time...

You remember this post about my love affair preference of 

Crystal Light Wild Strawberry Energy?

Well, I've recently been cheating on Wild Strawberry

with thisssss:

Soooo goooood.

Can I just say that I've had this  unhealthy serious obsession for

my Wild Strawberry for almost 6 years now... 

I'm not even going to say how many I have each day.

We won't go there...

Sooo for the first time EVER I think I may have found a rival flavor.

If you understood the obsessiveness I have with it, 

then you'd realize it's kind of a big deal for me.

Like I would go as far as admitting that I single-handedly

just might keep the Wild Strawberry flavor in business.

I've been known to raid Wal-Mart & buy their entire supply!

Annnnd *maybe* I've done that to multiple Wal-Marts in one night... maybe.

(I really can't believe I just confessed to that...

first step is admitting you have a problem, right?)

... I even got this picture text from my best friend last 

week showing me that the dining commons at UNLV has

Wild Strawberry Energy ON TAP!! 

That could quite possibly change my life.

Regardless... my life has been changed by this *grape* flavor

and needless to say I'm expanding horizons & embracing the new.

Secondly.... I caught a thief IN THE ACT!

Here is the suspect: Miss Stiletto  

The Act: Stealing my make-up...

  And here she is completely caught red handed

stealing my favorite lip gloss & trying to explain herself...

Close call. Close call.



LuckY *Lover* DaY

I just love St. Patrick's day...

Probably because I'm so naturally pasty white and

this is the one holiday that pale pastiness people are much appreciated.
... Along with red heads too!
**Shout out to my reds Lisa & Jessica** 

But I really love St. Patrick's Day for much more than that,

I love it because it's a holiday with no pressure.

It's more about having fun catching leprechauns
or mixing up some green food & drinks...

and the slightest bit of creativity can go a loooong way.

So with that...

Before I went to bed last night I left this
on our kitchen counter for Grant to help him get in the St. Patty's Day spirit:

Annnd I got together with some of my best girlfriends

to make these yummy treats:

**Green Shamrock Rice Krispie Treats**

(hey we're no experts when it comes to decorating

but I can assure you they tasted oh-so-yummy

... it's the thought that counts anyways, right?)

We got the idea from ms. fancypants over at

Little Birdie Secrets

(she gives the complete how-to-tutorial)

And I left that on my husbands desk before he got to work this morning

for an added St. Patty's bonus!

Happy Leprechaun Hunting!

...Because Fit Feels Better.

So I have this serious passion for working out. As the weather gets nicer I get a major itch for taking the day off and enjoying some fresh outside air... Well as fresh as air gets in Las Vegas that is! Living in Vegas it gets SO hard to workout in the summer when it's nearly 110 degrees by 8 a.m. and then during the winter it's already dark outside by 4pm with the temperature around 30 degrees. No bueno. Since that makes up the majority of the year, you can understand why I sit at my desk during those shortened spring and fall seasons gazing out of the window daydreaming about my running shoes and where I would unleash my passion. I've tried to convince my husband that I would be a GREAT stay-at-home wifey... that he'd ALWAYS have clean laundry, dinner every night, and a super fit lady because I'd practically be working out all the time... he never falls for it.

So now I'm feeling like I should pursue a career path. Like a REAL career.

Combined with my passion for working out... I love nutrition.

I've really considered going back to get my masters degree in nutrition to be some sort of Registered Dietitian or something. I really have no idea what I would do with it at this point but it could be a start to something great, right? I mean, if I'm going to be working (before we go down the kid route) anyways why not do something that I'm passionate about??

Anyways... just some thoughts.

Here's a few articles I'm inspired by:

Running Workouts for the Work-a-holic

Healthy Lifestyle Tidbits

A good "power climbing" workout for my fellow cyclists

This is an absolute life-savor  for sore muscles

Here's a great local website for fellow triathletes looking for some extra training


And here's the latest in my kitchen...

I LOVE Fresh & Easy Marketplace.

I was there the other day and bought some
fresh red & yellow bell peppers (1 each), chicken breasts (comes in a pack of 2),

and this little marinade...

Combined them all together... & viola!

... And seriously it was absolutely flippin' delish & under $10. Cha-ching!
A must, must, must! Even Grant  loved it.

Thanks Fresh & Easy for keepin' it real.

Au Revoir... Adios... Farewell!

My little brother Taylor is going into the MTC today!

I cannot believe he's already that old...

It's a little bit of a funny story because everyone kept asking him....

"Where do you want to go on your mission?"

His response: "Oh I don't care- anywhere but Odgen!"

And then when he got his mission call guess where he got called?

Odgen, Utah baby!

We seriously thought he was joking but he said "No, no its true... and if it wasn't so dang funny then I'd probably be bummed out!" But needless to say, he's more than ecstatic to go! I've never seen someone so eager to go on a mission- He would go out with the missionaries every night that he could. He's an amazing brother with a huge testimony

and I know he'll be an amazing missionary.

So since he'll be gone for 2 years we decided to get together

with our favorite photographer (Chelsea Robbins) and sneak in some quick family pictures!

{AmyGrant}

{daddy's girls}

{future missionary on the left}

{silly faces that mom wasn't going for}

{zoolander model poses... not sure i've ever seen a model pose like dads before. ever.}

{Grant & Taylor KILL me. Total karate chop action}

{the ladies kissy face}

{the last time we'll be together for the next 4 years}

I love you Taylor! Good luck!!

And thank you Chelsea for doing another fabulous job!

(check out her other super fab work here)

The BIG 2-5.

So I'm officially a quarter of a century old now.

And my mother so graciously reminded me of that
first thing birthday morning... thanks alot mom.

I did have quite the fun filled birthday weekend though.
Here's what happened:

1. Duathlon

Saturday morning at Boulder Beach I had a Duathlon race.

It was a 1 mile run- 10 mile bike- 2 mile run.

My thoughts before the race: "Pshh... this'll be a piece of {birthday} cake!"

My thoughts after the race: "I feel like barfing up any sort of
remains of what WOULD BE cake!"

Ewww.

Can we just say I underestimated it by... well... a lot??

Yeahhh... so it was a little harder than I expected.

{before the race}

{finishing the first mile}

{trying to get my foot clipped in... this bystander lady can totally tell I'm a newbee}

{Me & Mando- Jessica's hubby- after the race}

And what's interesting is that while reading all these articles on triathlons and whatnot to sort of prepare myself... I've noticed that many of them say to work on your transitions and that **the bike to run transition is the hardest**

I have now come to realize how true that statement is! My legs were absolute NOODLES after riding crazy hills for 10 miles and then trying to run! It almost took me the whole first mile for them to stop feeling like gumby central. It was a bizarre feeling.

And with all of this barfy + noodle leggy stuff going on...
I've realized that I SO need to step up the training.

 Needless to say it was a big butt kicking eye-opener for sure!

2. Mani Pedi Date
My best friend Jessica treated me to a much needed manicure & pedicure

after the little duathlon on Saturday. Serious sweetheart status! Love her.

I decided to venture out of my typical hot pink color
and get a light purple on the toes...

I was feeling rather springy until Grant told me it looked "Grandma Status".

I reminded him that I was just trying to fit in

 since I was a *quarter of a century now*

Good or bad- I can always count on his honesty.

3. Wii Dance Part-ay

Saturday night we had a big dance party with some amazing friends!

We had a few dance battles playing Dance 2 on the Wii.

Sooo much fun!

Here's a few pics of the birthday bash: 

{my birthday sign}

A few cake pops that I made...

{first time making them}

Here's a little iphone video of the guys showing their sweet moves...

(it's a little dark but you can still get the gist of it)

Shakin' it to OutKast...

The winners battling it out to Viva Las Vegas!

We had some sweet makeshift candles (a.k.a. toothpicks) on the yummy

funfetti cake with rainbow chip frosting Jessica made me!

Annnd best part was hanging out with some of my best friends!

Still can't believe I'm this old already??

To all my runners...

Thought you might appreciate this...

Happy Friday.

*Love Hunt* Date.

We FINALLY got to have our Valentine's date!

I felt like I'd been planning it for.ev.er.

And since our water heater flooded our garage the night before

the big V-Day.... we had to postpone our little date night.

(better late than never- right?)

And the best part about dates like this....

You can totally do this for an anniversary

or just for a random romantic date.

So this is what I did:

Grant came home to this candy gram & his robe...

I made him a bubble bath & left him to relax while I made some dinner.

Here's place setting... super cheeeeesy hearts status but in honor of V-day I'm allowed.

Thennn after dinner was the LOVE HUNT.

Here's what I made him:

I hid the clues all around the house & even tied one to our little Stella!

He had to do a love "task" before he got to pull the next "clue" out of the slip.

Tasks ranged from taking turns making a toast to

slow dancing to our favorite *love* song.

The last clue led up to our bedroom where he walked into this:

In the gift bag I had this for him:

Since I made a New Years Resolution for more date nights & I wanted to

make a little scrapbook to document everything... and I came up with this.

I decorated some pages and left about half the book empty to add to it.

Then we topped it all off with this yummy dessert:

Here's the super easy "How-To"

I borrowed some of these fun ideas from those

amazing Dating Divas and threw my own twist on them.

They have some great date ideas & tips.
Check 'em out!

bike shenanigans & cute kitties.

I OFFICIALLY have (less than) 2 months until my Iron Girl race!!
(Ahhh!)

So I decided to take the plunge and *invest* in a bike trainer.

It helps to convert your road bike into a stationary bike.

Soo I can pretty much have my own little spin class in my living room
riding my bike and still use my clip-in shoes.
Plus it's good practice shifting gears & such.

I.AM.IN.LOVE.

It's probably the closest thing to riding outside
which is super ideal for me because
usually when I'm training it's dark outside.

And I'm proud to announce that I put it together...

ALL BY MYSELF

(woo! go me!)

I grabbed these tools out of the garage & got to work.

Rexy decided she had to help...

Stella had to inspect our work...

 ...And then we got her approval.

Here it is all put together:

**On a completely different note...
I've realized that our kitties have officially chosen favorites.

Let me show you what I mean...

I feel asleep on the couch the other night and
cute Stella preciouspants decided to curl up with me.

(i could LITERALLY squeeze her!)

And if you can make her out through the camo sweats...
that is Rexy cuddling up with her favorite- Grant.

I might be a little bitter that Rexy has chosen Grant

ONLY BECAUSE I flippin taught that kitty everything she knows!

Literally... from how to use a litter box- Refer to THIS POST

... To how to eat big kitty food when she was switching from

her widdle babystatus formula- Refer to THIS POST

And she even lets him make

Chinese kitty faces...

Rude.

We love them.