YES!!!!

I have been in a bit dry spell for the past few days.

Not much to write about.

Our guests have come and gone....booohooo!
It was a thrill having my brother Jason and his wife Mel here 
in between their romantic cruise. 
As well as Amy, Lance, and their family here for a few days after our marathon. 

Some favorite photos of J and Elle.

We loved having them with us.

School has been back in for a few weeks now. 

Oh....here is something,

Ethan made the high school baseball team!

If I thought he was busy before....
that was nothing, I am not sure how the coaches tacked 
on more practice time, but they did.
They had a "mandatory" family work day at the field yesterday.
It is weird, it seems like the head coach says "mandatory" 
A LOT.
Tonight we were at the "mandatory" banquet.

The rest of us are great.
Here is a new skill Lawson found out he has recently -

I am finally starting to feel caught up and normal again.
I forgot to give an honorable mention to the 
CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL!!!
That took up a full Saturday and Monday.
Tina put a LOT of planning, money, time and effort into 
making our Choffy presentation a good one to over 4000 testers.
Wow!
It was a very busy few days.
Here are some delicious photos from the event.

I wanted to sink my teeth into one of those candied apples....
I resisted only because the thought of not having a tooth pick or floss was terrifying. 
Can you believe that cake girl?!

 The beloved Utah "CAKE POPS"....looks like we have them here as well!!
There is T hard at work.

The wind chamber experience.

I got excited to write today (yesterday now) because I got 

my FIRST real compliment from Maria....

the head of all the fitness classes at Our Club.

I taught my regular Thursday Body Sculpt class,

and then filled in for the 8:15 Pilates, and 9:00 a.m. cycling class 

this morning (Saturday).

I have been attending different cycling classes all week,

trying to get a better handle on what the expectations will be.

Have been tweaking and fine tuning my Pilates routine to 

shake it up a bit.

I couldn't help but wake up extra early this morning

partly from anticipation....but also a little bit of trepidation as well.

Wanting to get these classes over with,

but excited to do an excellent job with both.

I nailed my last pilates subbing opportunity,

but kinda blew my first cycling gig.

So....I had some making up to do.

I arrived plenty early, 

Our Club is known to have music and mic difficulties.

I wanted none of that.

I set up both rooms and was ready to go for it.

I am happy to report 
Sweet Success!

I had two well received classes.

I enjoyed teaching them so much.

Earlier in the week while I was participating in another cycling class,

I guess one of the ladies attending could tell I was digging 

around and asking questions for a reason.

She said, you know, some of my favorite classes are when the 

instructor goes around the room and lets the class pick their favorite

cycling moves.

That really eats up the time and guarantees a great class.

THANK YOU!!

This tip made a huge difference in my class today.

About 30 minutes into the 50 minute class I did just that.

Instead of just asking them to throw out a suggestion,

(I knew I probably would have been clueless as to what they 

were wanting to do)

I went around the room and 
turned the time over to each individual for a few minutes.

It even helped me lock in on their names!!

Michelle, taught us jumps! (killer!)

Kathy climbing intervals.

Mary - timed sprint work.

Don - two 90 second steep climbs.

Heidi - a mega jump series (so AWESOME!)

Annette - Isolation work, where you pedal w/ only one leg at a time.
I continue to be surprised at the variety of moves you can do on a 
stationary bike.
What a great workout!
(Thighs are burning today!!  Good sign!)
Anyway, later in the day when I was back home 
Maria had emailed saying that she was looking for a sub for the 
Saturday Cycling class again, as well as a Thursday Yoga.
I took a pass on the Yoga, not prepared enough for that, (yet)
but thought heck yes, I will volunteer again for the spinning.
She wrote back, 
thank you..I got really nice feedback on you for today's classes!!! 
Yes, Thanks for subbing the 28th too!!!

Can you do the 10:30 Yoga class on Thursday morning the 26th?? 

 I will make it a Pilates for that week?

Yeah!
It felt good.  In the past she would not budge that Yoga class.
She would not even consider changing it for Pilates.
So that is a real compliment indeed.
(or maybe she is just in that much of a bind)


Lastly....Kevin has been working his brains out on our van.
Thank you my darling!!

It has had numerous problems lately, the biggest was the tailgate.
The door would not stay open anymore.
I can't tell you how many times I hit my head, or got
embarrassed about it coming down unexpectedly on an innocent
store clerk, etc.
But now.....It is as good as new!
Not to mention several other fairly large issues that made
the van feel like it was being held together by a piece of string.
When things are bad for a while and then they are fixed,
 it almost feels just as good as brand new!!
(I am guessing on this one).
I used to wish we had gotten the automatic back door opener....
Who cares about that!!!!
I am just so thrilled now that my tailgate stays open I could not
be happier!
My cup runneth over!