Les Mills Mega Quarterly!

I have been so excited about this event ever since we got a flyer in our 1st Quarter 2010 release.

Stacie, April and I around 7am after we dropped off our bags and heading to Body Pump! I am so excited!!

This was the largest Body Pump class ever...950 participants! It was amazing-but a little too crowded for my taste;) April and David just chillin' between tracks!

This is during the shoulder track....man is it going to be good this time!

Here we are waiting like cattle to be herded in the room and start our workout!

Mega Quarterly cont...

Saturday they offered classes in all their programs...to which you had to pre-register. When we checked-in they made sure we were on the list for Body Pump and marked our hands to show that we were on the list...although they never checked our hands! Once they opened the doors Pumpers flooded the room hoping to get a step close to the front.

So first on the schedule was Body Pump(did i mention it was the largest class ever in Body Pump history? 950 people!). After that class we were instructed to take our weights out and stack them to be put away. This cleared the room for Body Step. April and I took that class and it was totally AWESOME! We would love to have it in our gym! The next class was Body Vive which was really cool and harder than it looked!. Body Attack was next followed by a break. Then Body Combat and Body Jam ended the day.

In another room they offered 4 RPM classes. I believe they orginally were offering 2 but due to the massive amount of people wanting to take the class they added 2 more classes. Each class had 80 bikes I believe and each class was packed and people waited outside the door to see if they could take someone's bike that decided not to show. This is a picture of the Program Director Glen Ostergaard and his wife Sarah-the Assistant Program Director.

I was able to get a bike on the front row...which was cool...but by this time I had already taken Pump, Step and Vive and was a little tired. If I was on the front row I would have to ride hard...couldn't be bouncing around in front of them!! It was easy to push myself though once the class got started.

Mega quarterly cont...AIM training

Les Mills introduced an Advanced Instructor Module at this event. I chose to take the Body Pump training. The criteria was to have at least 6 months teaching experience under your belt. There were 8 instructors from Towne Fitness who took too this great opportunity to get additional training from the Program Directors (from New Zealand )!

Erica -my partner for the day, Me, Susan Renata(program director), David (fellow Pump instructor)

We went over the essence of Body Pump (which is power and perfection...each program has its own essence which changes the way you teach and coach) and how to create this atmosphere when you teach. It all starts with your state of mind which helps create the direction of the class. We started off teaching one track from the latest release, got feedback from the trainers and then during the rest of the day took that feedback and tweaked our coahing/teaching/cueing. Then we presented our tracks again at the end of the day applying our new knowledge. It was amazing to see how we changed. I was ready to get back to LaGrange and show my class what I learned:)

What was the biggest lesson I learned? To give short and sharp cues, be direct and just shut-up. We all tend to talk too much...wanting to give all the cues, telling the class everything we know (shoulders back, abs in, relax shoulders, feet under hips. etc) but really less is more. The music really drives the workout and if we are talking too much who can hear the thumping beat!! So it was a great class today when I just kept my mouth shut. I gave the essential cues and let the music do the rest.

Me, Margo(a US master trainer and presenter on the new release) and Erica-look at her biceps...and she was telling me she wasn't strong!

It was a great day and I felt so good this morning walking into my 5:15am class. Some mornings I am not jumping out of bed since they tend to be "bumps on a log"...i understand though..i mean it is 5:15am! but I wasn't going to let that effect me anymore. If you get up that early you want a great workout and I was going to deliver! See...it all starts with your state of mind! Aren't I sounding short and sharp already?! :)

After we all cleaned up from our trainings we meet at Marlow's for dinner. Henry-the owner of Towne Fitness paid...isn't it funny how good food tastes when it is free:) Thanks Henry!

We sat around laughing and joking and sharing when we all learned from our trainings. A perfect way to end a fantastic day!

More Summer Fun=The Water Whiz

One of our favorite spots this summer was The Water Whiz. Tuesdays we got in 1/2 price so we would usually meet lots of friends there for the afternoon. The coolest part about this place is the size. It only have 2 water slides, a kiddie area and the pool. The kids can go between the pool and the slide without us moms leaving our lounge chair! We often swam with them or sat in the pool...but it was nice not to worry about them being out of our sight! THe bad part about the park was the size. The kids got bored towards the end of the summer but it sure was fun while it lasted!!

they added this cool part a couple of years ago.

cute Patrick!

The sun goddess Lisa!

Best Buddies!

Great technique Nate!

Yo wat's up?

no words for this one....

i don't know how they managed to come down so slowly on this big slide. It always shot me down like a rocket and I always got water up my nose!

SUmmer Fun-Basketball Camp

In an effort to get Nate to become an extrovert I enrolled him in a basketball camp. Of course Nate didn't want to attend but this was one activity I said there was no discussion about. I allowed him to choose whether he would do Cub Scout Day camp and even let him choose whether we were going to continue with the Cub Scout program next year. Since he chose not to participate in scouts anymore I calmly told him he was going to the b-ball camp...no discussion. I got his friend Jacob Hansen to come down from TN and go with him. Also Patrick and Wesley were there so he had a handful of people he already knew! He had minimal anxiety on the first day and was smiles everytime I picked him up! ANyone who knows Nate would understand how big this is for him.

Mike Pauly is the Boys head basketball coach at LaGrange High School. I got to know him a little from classes at the gym and when I saw this was his camp I knew it was the place for Nate!
The group shot on the last day....i think this was the serious picture....
and this was the goofy one. Only problem was Nate looks the same in both! We are working on that!:)

SUmmer fun....

We got to see Frankie and his family a couple of times while we were passing through. The last visit was extra special because Trudy and her family were there also!

ALl the cousins together!! Nate, Forrest, Josh and Luke.
All the girls! Sophia, Kayla, Mariam, and Sadie!
Here is the group shot!
Trudy and Sadie...
Frankie and Rachel....
beautiful Kayla...
Richard loves to be in the pictures....
he really loves being in the pictures:)

Has it been THAT long?

This year Richard and I celebrated 15 years of marriage! Sometimes I can't believe it has been that long...which makes me feel really old...but in reality I am not since I got married very young(20 !). That isn't young by Mormon (especially those in UT) standards but the rest of society would scoff at a youngster getting married so young! But...that isn't what this post is about!

We haven't taken a trip by ourselves since Sophia joined our family in 1999. There were many reasons for this but the main one was because we just enjoyed having Sophia and Nate with us...and some anxiety issues the youngest one faced....but not anymore! wahoo!

So we decided to rent a small cabin in Gatlinburg, TN.
Isn't she so cute! It was 1 bedroom with a full kitchen, jacuzzi tub, loft bedroom, washer and dryer, etc. Everything you would need! It was located deep in the woods and away from the city so you really felt like you were secluded.
After a great night sleep we wandered into the city and visited my relatives. We always wondered where Grandma ended up.
And here is Great Uncle Thomas from my mother's cousin's brother-twice removed side. He said to tell everyone 'Howdy". It was overcast and rainy that Saturday so it wasn't so crowded on the streets. We had fun just wandering around the shops and watching other tourists.
After we checked out Sunday we headed over to the Smokey Mountain Visitor Center and picked up a map of the trails. This was what I was looking forward to...hiking some trails! What I didn't take into consideration was that the trails would be on an incline and the humidity would be 100%. It was worth it though! The picture above was taken at the start of our hike...notice the minimal sweat and my shirt is one color. After the first trail I had to change into another shirt because my pistachio green shirt was now a dark-leafy-green color from the sweat!
Whew....for a minute there we thought we had lost the kids....forgot they were staying with HEather.
This is the front porch of our cabin...sure wish blogger let you arrange your pictures after you upload them!!
Sweaty Richard....still cute though!
One good thing about the trails was the scenery. Can you imagine how breath-taking this would be in October! and crowded!

The hike was 1.3 miles but worth it when we got to the top. There was a nice breeze blowing off the falls and it was beautiful. This little kid decided to take full advantage of the freezing water to cool off.

Ahhh....the cute couple!
This was the prize at the top....to put your feet in. We didn't realize how much that would cool you off! It was a great weekend and we hope this is the start of many more weekend get-a-ways ALONE! I am one lucky woman to be married to Richard Villamor!