My New Fitness Routine and Why I Exercise

For the past 2 years I've been doing Zumba 3 times a week and LOVING it!
Even though, I've been modifying any high impact dance moves, so it's not hard on the knees,

I still, unfortunately, the past few months, have started feeling some pain in my left knee.
Anyway I decided to stop for a while.

The challenge is to find something I enjoy doing.
I have to love it, if it feels to much like a chore, I won't do it.

So of course, I had to rethink my fitness routine.
Because I can't just do nothing as I know how important it is to stay active and fit, to keep my one and ONLY body, and mind, functioning properly.
I feel very grateful and blessed to have a body that in itself is an amazing wonder.
A gift from God.

 I don't like pain, and want to, at all cost, prevent any health issues I can.
I have to watch my cholesterol levels, as high cholesterol runs in my family,
and a recent blood test showed I am borderline high.
I also like eating what I want.
I like fitting in my clothes, and feeling attractive to my Hubby.
Bottom line: It keeps me feeling good, healthy and happy.
Also, being a Libra or in French a "Balance";
I like to feel evenly 'balanced'.

A Happy Body = A Happy Mind = A Happier Life

So Mike and I joined an affordable Gym on October 1st after trying it for a week.

I am now doing Yoga with a great teacher, and have discovered Body Flow and Piyo - which are all lower impact workouts.

I go almost every day to one of those classes, except Sunday of course...

Mike comes with me on Saturdays to Piyo with Elmer - who kicks our behinds and makes us sweat. 

It's our little Fitness date! 

I avoid watching him or listening to him grunt during the workout because it distracts me-

I tend to want to laugh, sorry Honey!

I LOVE it all!

 I've even learned some Ti Chi in Body Flow and like it.

And the best part of it all is that I have seen great results and feel GREAT in my body!
I've definitely gotten stronger and tightened up all over, especially those areas that tend to get loose with age.

Oh, and no more knee pain...

I attended a BYU Football Game!!!!

Yep!

After 24 years of marriage I finally attended a BYU football game with Mike!

If anyone knows me, I have very little no interest in watching College Football. 

Never have.

When Mike and I were newly weds, I almost attended a BYU game in Provo 

with our mission friend Mike Perkins.

I ended up staying in Mike's dorm room reading a book because 

I wasn't feeling up to sitting in those uncomfortable bleachers. 

[stomach cramps were the excuse]

And again, because I wasn't interested.

So here I am, even looking forward to spending a little time with my Man doing what he loves!

What made it better is that I had my girl friend there too. 

She is as clueless as I am about what is going on on the field! 

As you can tell with her very puzzled look below!

The weather was P E R F E C T!

Mike, Chris & Sarah even went all out with BYU outfits!

Unfortunately, our little row of BYU supporters were sitting in the opposite team bleachers!!!!

A W K W A R D !

We could see in the distance on the opposite side of us all the BYU fans screaming 

and getting excited together.

What made it even more awkward was that at the End BYU won.

Here we were, leaving with all the defeated Houstonian fans!

Summer Swimming Champion

As previously blogged, Amelie had an awesome summer swimming season.

Her breast stroke was out of this world.

She did very well in the championship meet and even continued to go to regionals and even State!

Her daddy took her down to Corpus Christie with Justine and Clara for the State meet.

She got 1st in both meets in breast stroke!

What a beautiful, strong little athlete!

Dive Camp and Extended Family Time in Utah

Emric got to go to Utah for a BYU diving camp for a week.

He also hang out with the Browns and my big Brother Jean-Claude and his wife Nat.

He had a lot of fun going to Saint George with them for a few days

 and visit the beautiful southern UtahNational and state parks! 

Oh... how I wish I could have been there too...

The only pictures I have of his trip are these ones Nephi emailed me.

This is the night the guys went out to eat burgers and guy food, 

with Nephi and the one precious little girl Kaelyn.

Nephi Nakata           Kaelyn Nakata         Jean-Claude Vanaquer       Emric Nakata            Danny Brown

The Swim Team Breast Stoke Beast

 Swim Team started again at the end of April.

After school practices, Saturday morning meets.

Justine is actually working this year for the pools again.

 She has been assigned to help with our swim team!

Life has gotten a little more busy.

I don't mind, because I love swim team! 

I've been taking the kids to practices and meets for the past 15 years. 

(Minus one year, the year we moved to Texas.)

I love the benefits and what the kids get from it:

* Team spirit. 

* Keeps them busy during the summer vacation.

* Uses up energy.

Well, not so for our 10-year-old-super-energised-girl.

She can go from a 7 hour swim meet; 7:30am till 3pm, 

to playing for an hour at the pool; 5 to 6pm, 

to a ward picnic 6 to 7:30, 

( all In the texas heat)

to a rollerskating party 7:30 till 10pm!

That day just about killed Mike and I!

* Exercise.

* Endurance & hard work.

* Strength.

* Discipline.

* Learning from great coaches.

* Cheering team mates. 

* Seeing us cheer for them, in a loud way!

(not that they hear us when they are in the middle of a race)

*Self Improvement.

Always stretching one self to beat your own time.

* Healthy good old Competition.

* Family time.

This year Amelie surprised us all by being so close to the pool record in Breast stroke at 18.78 

Pool record in her age group 17.44 including the boys 9-10!

This year she beats them all!

It just happened out of the blue in the 1st meet!

So little, yet a B E A S T in breast stroke!

That girl is all muscle!

Emric is pretty good in Breast too.

Here, she is the fast one in lane 3.

Blessings at the Lollipop Gymnastic Meet

 We had a great experience this past Saturday.

Besides listening to General Conference in the car on our way to Dallas.

A little background first:

As part of keeping the Sabbath day holly, as a family we do not do sports on Sundays.

Unfortunately, 2 of Amelie's Gymnastic meets have been scheduled on Sundays.

For the 1st one, we got permission from the meet director to have her compete 

on Saturday with a different level from her team.

This time, they told us she could do it on Saturday but with another team from Dallas!

Total strangers for Amelie!

Needless to say she was not comfortable with that!

As her mom, it was so hard to see her so distraught and wanting to be with her team. 

She decided not to go...

Until the last minute, after her coach and I talked to her, she decided to go.

And that took sooooo much courage!

So we packed up the car and drove the 3+ hour to Dallas.

On the way there, she told us how nervous she was.

Which is totally understandable!

And she dreads her beam routine, because she fell the last 2 competitions because of nerves.

I suggested she pray and ask her Heavenly Father to calm her nerves.

She was making a big sacrifice to keep his commandments.

He would help.

So she said a little pray of faith

Well, she did so well! 

So well, that she felt comfortable with the team she was placed with, 

the coaches & teammates were so welcoming and friendly! 

And she did not fall off the beam! 

She beat almost all her previous scores.
And with a score of 36.15, she surelly went up a level, maybe even 2!

Beam  8.500

Floor  8.600

Bars  9.300

Vault  9.750

She was so happy!

And so was I.

I watched her the whole night with a feeling of joy and may I say pride?

At the same time I felt humbled and grateful to a God that answers prayers, and cares deeply about us.

It was wonderful to see my little 10 year old girl be so confident, calm, 

elegant and beautiful in the executions of her routines.

She was like a little shinning star! 

Being the only one from her team, she really stood out in her pink outfit!

Her daddy and mommy only had eyes for her!

And I knew that her Heavenly Father had blessed her as she obeyed one of His commandment.
I hope she remembers and learns to trust her God through out her life.
He is good.

I only have 2 videos this time

Our Spring Brake

The weather was P E R F E C T spring brake week!

I'm enjoying it while it last, pretty soon the heat and humidity will be settling in.

This spring brake we stayed home.

Amelie and I went shopping for new clothes for her.

She is fast outgrowing her clothes.

Amelie said goodbye to sweet William.

On Monday we went to a nursing home for a little bit to sing and say hi to the older generation.

My forest was purged by fire this week.
It was cool and mysterious...

Amelie and I watched a few movies together.

I also had Amelie and Emric clean out their bedrooms
and get rid of stuff they don't use or that is too small.
Emric got rid of one shirt!
After I went through his closet he had a whole kitchen garbage bag full!

On Wednesday, Amelie had gymnastic and diving.

Chloe and I went and said Hi to the horses who live right next door to the pool.

4 horses spooked Chloe by charging her when she got in their field!
She ran away and when I didn't see her come back after calling her, I went looking for her.

I found her a little "worried" by my car trying to get in.

This is so not like her, she is usually so fearless! 

I guess she never had 4 horses running her off their turf!

Poor puppy!

Thursday Amelie had a sleep over with her friend Maddy.

Friday I spent almost all day with my Man! :)
More on that in the next post.

William

Meet William.

William had teeth surgery today.

William let Amelie groom and give him a little loving (poor baby, the meds were wearing off).

William let Amelie put a saddle on him (with help).

William let Amelie lead him to the lesson corral.

William let Amelie ride him.

William is a sweety.

Gymnastics Photos

Amelie's Gymnastic Team Pictures

She has been doing gynmastics for 5 months now.

Is it just me or do they look very orange?

Week-end with the Girls Gynmastic Meet

Amelie had her first Gynmastic meet today!

It was a lot of fun.

She does not have a team leotard, but was able to borrow one for the meet.

Also, she competed with level 2, not her own. Because we didn't want her to compete on Sunday.

At first they said she could do the meet, then a few days before the meet, 

they called me and told me she could compete with another level on Saturday! 

Yeah! 

She is normaly in level 4.

She skipped right over 1, 2 and 3.

She did great!

(A perfect score is 10.000)

Floor Score 8.200

Valt Score 8.800

Beam Score 7.800

Bar Score 8.400

Amelie walks the podium.

Regional Dive Meet & Teenagers

The meet was over 2 days.

 They did 8 dives on Friday and 3 today.

Emric did pretty good... 

He came in 7th, among 16 boys, only 0.1 points behind the guy who took 6th.

Last year, there was no way he could have done a meet!

He had that going-through-puberty-awkward-growing-teen-boy thing going on.

He is finally, this year, gaining better control and confidence over his body.

This is all very promising since he has 2 more years of perfecting his dives. 

He's just going to get better and better.

Can we say maybe some college scholarship money down the road?

EVERY PARENTS DREAM

These are all from the meet yesterday.

Because today, Emric forgot to text us the time the boys were starting! 

He texted us when he was done!

We still have to work on the phone thing with him.

We pay for it so we can communicate with YOU, WHEN we need to!

 It's not just for your entertainment!

 

District Dive Meet

Emric is getting better and better...

5th Place in District! 

He qualifies for Regionals!

All his dives are on Google+

Way to go son!

Emric had such a good day!

He did well on a make up French test
Made regionals
And was so excited when he realised his school backpack,
which was sitting in a puddle of water, had a waterproof bottom!
It was so good to see him so happy and grateful for big and little things!
He is a great happy kid. Has always been.

Sorry the pictures are so bad! I don't know what happpend I think it was the really intence humidity...

Awesome dives Amelie!

We were at Amelie's dive meet all afternoon today.

She is now diving with the 10-12 year old.

She did awesome!

She took 1st place in both the 1 meter and the 3 meter events!

This was her third meet with her Lonestar diving team.

This is all very promising!

You Got Some Nice Moves Kid!

Yesterday, Emric had a 11 dive meet. 

He is finally gaining more control over his body and losing some of that teen boy awkwardness...

Yeah!

I love to see my kids involved in good stuff! 

As I was watching the coach's interaction with the kids, 

I felt immense gratitude for good, involved, caring, kid-inspirering, dedicated teachers. 

They truly are doing a wonderful service to our kids, and play a big role in who they become.

They truly make a difference for good  in our kids lives...

Thank you! Good coaches and teachers everywhere!

Emric's Awesome Belly Flop

At Practice today

OUCH!!

I'm glad that it wasn't me, not that I could do a double!

Don't you love the music I put on it?

P E R F E C T

Christmas Choir, Late Nights & Ice Skating.

Amelie joined the 4th grade school Choir this year.

She practices for 30 min, every Tuesdays and Thursdays, before school at 7:30am.

That is the time she normally takes the bus for school.

She loves to sing!

She is always singing and performing...

Mike must have hundreds of  recordings on his Ipad by now!

Anyhow.

She was really tired, as you can see in the pictures, 

because she had a friend come for a sleepover and they went to sleep around 4 am!!!

That was after doing 6 hours of Gymnastics on Friday from 4 til 10pm!

Only Daddy was able to get these rare smiles...

She had more yawnings...

 

 

 

She ended up getting all her energy back in the evening 

when we took her Ice skating with another friend! 

They ice skated for 3 hours!
They had a lot of fun.
And got all wet pretending to fall in the melted ice puddles.
Yeah, it's hard keeping ice frozen in 70/80 degree weather!
They have to refreeze the ice with a machine every few hours...