Namaste Notes

So it is true… I am a bad blogger.  I get around to doing it every few months.  And I probably won’t ever get any better… sorry.  But I thought I’d give you an update on our family.  Here’s some pictures and random comments from the last couple months.  This winter we fell in love with Coeur d’Alene all over again.  After 2 really harsh winters we had the best, mildest winter ever.  We are loving that.  The picture of the puppy above is not ours… I could have been talked into it because they were SO cute,  but luckily I wasn’t.  Rabbits are enough for us for now.

A couple weeks ago we went to Boise and the boys REALLY wanted to visit the state capital.  They have been talking about it ever since (I know… they don’t get out much  )  .But they did get to see the Senate in session which was pretty cool to go home and tell their teachers about, which they did.

I learned a new granola bar recipe which I love.  They are so yummy you can hardly believe they are good for you… you almost feel bad eating them.  Here’s the recipe:

3 cups rolled oats

1 1/2 cup rice crisps cereal

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup butter (melt)

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup sunbutter (or peanut butter)

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 cup mini chocolate chips

I also added coconut and flax… can add whatever you want.

Pack down in 9×13 greased pan (I packed them down in a big cookie sheet and doubled the recipe).  Bake 325 for 20-22 minutes.  Pack down again and let cool in pan.

Ashton is only attached to a few things, as you can tell from this picture.  He is always either wearing his goggles around everywhere… or he is wearing a headband to the gym, just like Mom does.  I need to take a picture of that!

There is no other reason to include this picture except for the fact of how cute it is.  When Taylor & Benson get in trouble (which is never because they are perfect little angels) one of their punishments is Wall Squats.  They hate them and I love them.  That’s what you get for first of all being naughty and second of all having a physical therapist and athletic trainer for a dad and fitness instructor for a mom.  They are going to have strong quads!

All in all we are happy and healthy (knock on wood).  We are getting so excited for the summer to have Joel around more (on break from his PhD program) and spend days and afternoons at the beautiful beaches of Coeur d’Alene.

Namaste Now Yoga

It has been a long time coming.  I have slacked off, talked myself out of it, set it aside, everything you can think of to avoid starting my own Yoga business.  But I have finally decided it is my time to teach what I love.

This is my “Namaste Now Yoga”.

I have seen a need for people to have yoga in Hayden, ID.  There are quite a few places to take great yoga classes in Coeur d’Alene, but Hayden could use some more.

So I am starting off small but with big dreams of making it grow someday.

Starting soon I will be teaching a yoga class at North Idaho Physical Therapy at 1172 W Hayden Ave.  Class size will be small and intimate.  The location is convenient.

Class will be Wednesday evenings from 7-8 PM.

Why the name “Namaste Now”?  Namaste is a Sanskrit term that literally means “I bow to you”.  I like to think of Yoga as a way to bow each other and at the same time to ourselves.  We practice yoga for many different reasons.  Some of us practice for spiritual reasons, some of us for health reasons, and some of us just because we like how it makes us feel.  Whatever the reason we practice, we practice now and with love to ourselves and each other.

So with love and devotion to yoga and to my friends and teachers in yoga,  I say Namaste.

November has come and almost gone.  With it has brought soul searching and a new zest for life.

For those of you that know me well, you know that I am a busy person.  I am happy being busy.  October this year for us was very busy.  Then November came and with it… the flu.  I was the only one in my family to get it, which I am deeply grateful.  My life as I knew it and loved it came to a screeching halt as I had to learn patience.  I had all the symptoms of the flu (which I will leave nameless due to the fact that I feel it has already been hyped to more attention than it ever deserved) that people are so scared of.   It took me 1 week to recover from the flu, followed by another full week to recover from an accompanying lung infection and yet another week after that to gain my full strength.

During this time of “resting”, which isn’t really resting when you are in so much pain you can’t sleep or lie still, I had a lot of time to review my life and thank God for my blessings.

So this is a short blog entry just to tell what I learned.  I learned I am lucky to be healthy.  Sure, eating healthy and exercising regularly and not drinking or smoking is a big factor in being healthy… but when it comes down to it God gives me my health and my strength.  He taught me this November that not everything is in my control.  I can’t control my health, no matter how hard I try.

I am grateful that every day I can take care of my kids.  During the first week of being sick I looked out our front window and cried as I watched Joel play basketball with my kids.  I wanted to be with them so bad, but could not.  I wanted to be there as they fought with each other and laughed and cried.  But instead I watched them through a pane of glass.

I realize I was not extremely ill.  I simply had the flu that seemed to last forever.  But for someone who is used to being busy and taking little time to pause and reflect, I learned a lot.  I decided I needed to make space for reflection and prayer and meditation in my life.  I decided I wanted to keep these things I learned with me always.

So with all this reflection and realization comes with it that zest for life.  I am committed to trying everyday to be a happier, simpler person.  As a yoga practitioner I do understand how important it is to “live in the moment” and to “be present in every moment”.  I understand but forget all in the same breath.  Now I am recommitted (since Yoga tells us to simply “begin again” whenever we forget) to my journey and whatever it may bring me, whether it be in my control or otherwise.

I feel greatness in me that is bursting to come out.

Yesterday we biked the Hiawatha Trail.  Its a 15 mile mountain bike trail through the Idaho/ Montana border.  It is a downhill ride that winds its way through long tunnels, over tressels and alongside beautiful country.  We went with 4 other families.  Between all of us we had 11 adults and 17 children.

The tunnels were amazing.  The first one was 1.7 miles.  The others were smaller but still very dark.  The only light in the tunnels are from your own bike and those around you.  I had Ashton in my trailer and a friend’s baby, both of which cried the entire 1.7 miles of the first tunnel.  I’m not talking about little whimpering.  I am talking big screeching, baby cries.

Still I have to say it was fun.  :)  To get an idea of how dark it was… look at the picture.  You can barely see our lights coming out.

Another fun part of the trip was riding over very high tressels.  The scenery was seriously amazing.  What was not amazing was trying to keep Benson from leaning against the tiny steel rods and plummetting to his sure death.

The 15 mile trail took us probably about 4 hours to ride.  Why so long?  We had 17 kids with us!  But we also had one tire blow out.  All the rest of us waited while one of us rode back to get a new tube.  We stopped and had a picnic lunch.  We had a bike that lost its chain every 100 feet.  We had to stop and re-gather every so often to make sure we were still all there.  But mostly we just took our time and soaked in the beautiful nature that God created for us.  I was so proud of Taylor and Benson.  They didn’t complain the entire time and pedaled that whole 15 miles.

Good times all in all.

On August 8, 2009 I became a full fledged Triathlete .  I finished the Coeur d’Alene, ID Olympic Triatholon.  It consisted of a 1.5 K swim, 40K bike and 10K run.  I finished with an overall time of 3 hours 23 minutes.  I was able to do the swim in 36 minutes, bike in 1.33, and run in 1.10.  I hoped to finish in 3 hours 30 minutes so I beat my own time!   Would I do it again?  I’ll answer that later.

The race started with the swim.  I waited at the beach with 2000 other participants.  I wasn’t nervous at this point, just finding it ridiculous that I was here attempting this feat.  Those of you that know me know I am not a lover of swimming.  The first time I tried to swim in the lake to train a few months ago I had a panic attack and almost passed out, no joke.  But I persevered and with the help of my little friend andcoach Tessa, I learned I really can swim a mile in a lake.  Sure I have to do it backstroke so I can’t see underneath the lake and freak out, but I could do it.  So when the whistle blew I walked in (didn’t run, wasn’t that anxious to get in) and started swimming.  I was surprised with how easy it all went.  Halfway through the 2nd and 3rd buoy I felt a hand grab me around my arm.  It pushed me down and away, hard and with purpose.  When I floated back to the top I saw my “attacker”.  Some guy who glared and me and swam off.  Apparently I was in his way and he decided to move me.  Good thing I was almost done.  At this point instead of freaking me out, it just made me mad and motivated me to finish.

When I reached the beach I could hear the crowd cheering.  I walked up the steps (no running at this point), walked to my transition area and slowly changed into my bike gear.  Once I was on my bike I was happy.  The bike trail is beautiful and so much fun.  But what you need to know at this point is this bike triatholon trail is hard.  The officials call it “hilly”.  That’s an understatement.  Its right up a mountain.  Of course I knew this because Joel and I rode it a couple times to prepare.  But I pushed myself hard and made it in 1.33.  I was very happy with that.

Then I transitioned into running.  Now bear in mind before yesterday I thought running was going to be my strength.  Last year when I ran the duatholon I averaged a 8 1/2 minute mile.  This was not the case this year.    I started running and it was hard but eventually I found my rhythm and I did okay.  Then I got to mile 4.  Only 2 more miles to go.  The night before I told myself I knew I was going to be in pain during the run, but I would just push past it and get it done.  Well at mile 4, my body refused to get it done.  My calves felt like steel, my quads felt like jelly, and my stomach was not happy.  So I struggled those last 2 miles.  I had to walk a few steps and run a few more.  At mile 5 I knew I would never finish this race.  I could hear the finish line and I was still not convinced I would make it.  But I pushed on and ran through the finish line.

Now I have had many friends text or email me that asked what happened to me after the finish line.  They said they waited and couldn’t find me.  I did finish (see the picture).  But I was sick after.  Keep in mind I had been sick two days prior to the event and didn’t know if I would even be able to do it on Saturday.  I hadn’t eaten much the 2 days before since I had been sick.  So after 3 1/2 hours of intense exercise I was a sick girl.  But that only lasted 20 minutes and I was fine. 

So the question is, would I do it again?  Maybe.  But not any time soon.  Not because I didn’t love it, or because I didn’t enjoy it.  But because I accomplished this feat and I’m ready to move onto something else.  I am proud of myself for finishing but I am really proud of myself for conquering my fear of the water.  Knowing that I am not only able to finish an Olympic sized triatholon but finish it well, that’s priceless.

Beginning of the race. If you look very closely you can see me waving.

I was actually very calm and ready to go at this point. Which is amazing since I am terrified of swimming in the lake and there were 2000 other people going in with me.

It was so noisy being among all these swimmers. Quite a sight to see, in or out of the water.

This is me trying to get my bike gear off and talk myself into running 6 more miles!

My very supportive husband who brought our 3 little boys at 6:30 in the morning and waited until I crossed the finish line at 10:23.

Finally crossing the finish line at 3 hours 23 minutes. Good thing this picture is far away. My face was not a happy one.