Tuesday, October 26, 2010

pumpkin walk


Last Saturday we went to the North Logan pumpkin walk with Steph. It was really fun and a perfect day to go because it wasn't too crowded and there wasn't any snow yet. All of the displays were made from vegetables, mostly pumpkins but we saw a wide variety. The theme was children's movies or tv shows with a little hidden Toy Story alien in each display. We had a lot of fun seeing how creative people are. Here are a few of our favorites.






They also had cut-outs that we could take pictures in. We forced Steph to be Harry Potter. She wanted to be Sleeping Beauty but the picture had the prince kissing her in it and we didn't know who would be her prince.


Friday, October 22, 2010

the newest experiment

On to experiments numbers 2 and 3. This time around was much more enjoyable. We got to check our body composition the accurate way. I usually check my body fat percentage every two weeks or more because I get bored at work but now I get to know how off the little hand-held machines are. The first test was done in the Bod Pod. It was really neat and since this piece of equipment is super expensive and pretty rare I was excited to try it out. It looks like a little spaceship and when you get inside it feels like you could be preparing for launch, with all the noise and the special clothing you have to wear. You are required to wear the least amount of tight clothing that you can. So I was sporting the spandex and sports bra. My group thought I was a little too comfortable like that but I guess all those years of practice jerseys made me that way.


The girl operating the machine would say, "Please exit the Bod Pod carefully" like we were at Disneyland.

The next test was underwater weighing. This also tells you the amount of fat that is in your body. I do this test to people all the time. I've probably done it around 70 times, to other people. But this was my first encounter of actually being dunked. The trick is to blow all of your air out that you can as you totally submerse yourself. You sit on a chair attached to a weight and someone reads the scale. It is a very uncomfortable feeling going under without any air. Try it sometime, your natural instinct is to inhale before you go under. After the first time it didn't seem that bad. I kinda want to do it again, like tomorrow. But I'll wait a little bit to see if there are changes.

After all the testing I found out that my body fat percentage is 20%. Which is the perfect lean goal that women are supposed to have. I feel pretty good. It would still be nice to be in the teens. I'll keep working out I guess. There's just one percent to go.

Monday, October 18, 2010

harvest

Fall break was way too short. Work made the supposed-to-be short week just like any other. However, we did manage to sneak up to Idaho for the weekend to see the harvest this year. I have been talking it up to Jared since who knows when and now he knows that I wasn't exaggerating. Jared and I both agree that it was not enough time for either of us but it will have to do. Mom offered to teach Jared how to drive the truck. Its pretty intimidating seeing how perfect you have to be while you drive so he declined. Maybe next year. We're still breaking him in to farm life. This year the harvest is going extremely well. They are ahead of schedule and raking in the dough. I forgot my camera when we went out to the field so these are last year's pictures. They still show how awesome it all is though.

How could you not love farmers? No one else pulls off overalls as well as my dad.


I like that you can see my dad's tractor in the mirror. Its like an "I-spy".


The rest of the weekend was full of food, games, and teasing Keegan. That boy has gotten so big and so sassy lately. I can't even imagine what Ali will teach him by Thanksgiving. I guess its just part of growing up and getting married but I feel like we don't go home enough.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

run of death

Being a privileged grad student I get lots of tests done on me for classes and other students' thesis projects. The most recent was a test that I have avoided for 4 years and they finally got me. It is called the VO2max test and it tells you how efficient your body is at using oxygen. It is an extremely brutal test in which you are hooked up to tubes and monitors as you run until you can't run anymore. I lasted 7 minutes. And my numbers turned out pretty good. Not great, but then again I hardly ever do cardio so what can I expect. Tell me to leg press 300+ pounds, no problem. Run on a treadmill with a crazy incline and I tire easily. And it isn't easy to run when your nose is plugged and you can't swallow. My throat was so dry when I finished and just like everyone else in my group I had quite a lot of slobber on me when I took the mouthpiece out. But it was a great experience and I'm glad that I got to do it. Here's a picture of the head gear. No, this isn't me or anyone in my group. We didn't look as good all hooked up. Plus I didn't have my camera.