The not so busy summer and my LOVE for it.

Summers are meant to be easy. Casual, SLOW and fun.  Summers are meant to be spent sleeping in LATE, spending long days with the ones we love and eating dinner at 8:30pm.

Summers go by so fast even when we try to slow them down. We fill up the weekend and week days with fun new adventures and laughter with friends, we put school and alarm clocks in the backs of our minds and yet they still seems to make their way all to quickly back into our lives.

This summer I've enjoyed getting up early with the pets, hearing all the sounds of morning and spending coffee time sometimes with John.  Making breakfast for everyone and knowing that whenever they decide to wake up, they will have healthy food to fuel them for whatever their day looks like.  

It's different  but the same in our house this summer.

Not everyone wants to go to the pool everyday like last summer But everyone does want to sleep in. 

Not everyone wants to go for night walks and look for frogs but they do still enjoy camping out in each others bedrooms and laughing into the early morning hours.

The basketball hoop doesn't see many balls pass through it but the kitchen sees littler hands navigating it and learning some new skills. 

Legos get dusty but precious conversations between siblings can be heard while painting nails or deep cleaning bedrooms and seeing memories that we thought were lost.

School work sneaks it's way into some days and plans for the fall seap into conversation. Advice for new high schools and middle schoolers. Plans to enjoy every bit of Junior year.

Laundry sits a little longer, toilets get moldy, showers may or may not happen, because "I washed in the lake" seems to be an appropriate response to "have your showered this week".

Workouts still happen, though at all different times and with thoughts of patio sitting, wine and friends on my mind.

This is summer and I wish it would go on forever.

Shoulders workout

Waiting until the end of the day to workout makes the day go by soooooo long! I get crabby! ;)

But, yesterday I had a crap ton of stuff to do and John flew back home in the evening from Chicago so I decided to do a night workout. 

We did shoulders which I love because It's one muscle group that I can take John completely to failure! :D  makes a girl feel good!!! 

Here's the workout that we did, not including reps but most thins were 15 reps 3 rounds with the exception of the around the worlds, those were 3 sets of 30 and the Arnold presses were reps til failure and then move up in weight. 

HAVE FUN! 

Camping and eating healthy

One our very favorite things to do as a family is camping.  But man is getting ready for camping a good bit of work.  Work that typically is all done by me because John is traveling and to be completely honest, I like things done my way. Lol

Every year we try to make things a little less complicated food wise and not stress so much about what the heck we are going to eat.  I don't want to spend my whole day cooking and cleaning at camp because #1 it's a bit more difficult that just taking the dishes to the sick and #2 I just want to chill and have fun.  

So we've figured out that the prep before camping allows us to really enjoy the trip more.  It's more work on the front side but makes for a much more enjoyable weekend. 

So, I make lists. Plan out meals and snacks and get to work. 

Things that I prep:

Oat packs

(Measure and add goodies like protein powder, flax, nuts, whatever)

Veggies

(Chop, season and foil pack for grilling)

Burgers

(I pre patty and season)

Salads

(Chop and dress)

Snack packs

(I have a bin just for snacks for the kids and Baggie them up into proper portions)

Eggs

(I mix the eggs and egg whites and put them in a large water bottle type container so I don't have all the eggs in my cooler)

pancakes

(I mix up the pancake batter and put it into this handy pancake bottle)

 ***we tropical take whole fruit instead of chopped or mixed. Easier travel and kinda fun to slice up the whole watermelon or cantaloupe and watch it get devoured! 

Chicken

(John likes to boil the chicken ahead so it's not all gross in the cooler. I always hate this for some reason, maybe the boiling process seems icky to me but it's always nice to just have to toss it on the grill and add bbq sauce, no long cook time and no gross chicken juice in the cooler!!  Sometimes we just freeze it and keep it locked up tight)

Tuna

(Wild planet has the best cans with a pop type lid and you just open and eat! No draining, no can opener!)

ONLY PACK EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO EAT! 

It's easy to get Carried away and overpack. 

You know what your family is going to eat in a weekend and it it super nice to go home with an empty cooler! 

We use two coolers, one for food and one for drinks.  This way the food cooler stays organized because no one is digging through it to find that one mini soda that's left! ;)

This year we mixed up brownies  ahead and then just poured them into a cast iron skillet and cooked them on the dinner coals!!! Worked perfect!!! 

Some pictures of how I organize camp...

We  have containers and bins that stay stocked with camping items all year and we just refill as needed after the camping trip so that next time we camp it's all ready to go. Foil, paper towels, games, lighters, utensils, all stay packed and in the proper bins. That 3 drawer bin is heavy, but so nice to have. It's basically kitchen cabinets on the go!  The drawers come out for easier transport to the camp site and once everything is set up, it's so nice to have! 

Protein pancakes and shoulders

These guys make such a great snack! 

Super easy and paleo friendly. 

*1 banana

1/3-1/2c egg whites 

A pinch of baking soda 

Vanilla protein powder (I used paleo pro)

3 tbsp coconut flour

I cook mine on a griddle with some avocado oil.

 CHECK OUT THIS LITTLE GEM! 

Shoulders

*static seated dumbbell  presses 

3 sets 10-10-5 reps each set

*barbell upright rows

3 sets 15

*all around plate raises 

3 sets 30-20-10 increasing wt

*dumbbell straight arm front raises

3 sets increasing wt 20-15-12

*cable single arm rear felt fly

3 sets increasing wt 15 reps

*leaning single arm cable fly

3 sets increasing wt 10-15 reps

*standing cable upright row

3 sets increasing wt 12-15 reps

*front plate raise (heavy plate) 

3 sets 10 reps (no rocking)

*dumbbell shrugs

3 sets increasing wt 20 reps

SHOULDERS workout from yesterday. 

Thought I'd share since so many of you ask me about what I do. 

I usually rotate machines, cables, free wts and currently in trying to hit all angles of my shoulder. I used to just press and press and press! ;)

Rear felt cable flys as finisher 

*until failure ( lighter wt ) (think 30-50 reps) 

This took me and hr and 15 maybe. Maybe a little less. 

Hope y'all are having a great summer! 

Wednesday workout! ARMS!

So many people ask about my arm routine. I try to switch things up everytime and sometimes go heavier, sometimes go more reps, sometimes more cables and sometimes free weights. 

Have fun!! 

Leftovers

Leftovers! This is what was left over in my fridge this week when I went to load the new groceries.  I was so sad.  Typically i try to make good use of all the leftovers but this is just pitiful.  

I left this on the counter all day and I swear to you every single time someone came into the kitchen I went in a mini rant about how wasteful this was and how sad I was that this food and money is being wasted. 

I mean, there is fruit, eggs, chicken, turkey burgers, veggies, salad...

And according to the kids "we have nothing to eat in this house"

Ugh!!! 

Do you eat leftovers in your house? 

Kale salad

This past weekend on our date night (we have date night once a week) John and I decided to hit up Teds Montana grill.  I love this place but haven't ventured away from the skinny dip burger much. 

This weekend John and I did a split dinner, me ordering the crab cake, which is HUGE lump crab! So yum.  It comes with a kale salad and another side of your choice. He got the bison filet with broccoli and kale salad.

Everything was so good that we went back again! Lol like 2 days later! 

Tonight I decide to try and make my own kale salad and the result was great! Super easy, clean and a big hit with the kids! One trying to get thirds!! 

I used 

*1 large bunch or organic kale 

1c shredded carrots

1c shredded purple cabbage 

A handful of goji berries and a handful of yellow raisins. 

Squeezed the juice of one large lemon over top, sprinkled with pepper and a bit of pink salt and tossed.

Kept it in the fridge until the rest of dinner was done! 

*the potatoes were brushed with avocado oil, sprinkled with a no salt garlic blend and baked on 375 for about 45 minutes.