the start of a LONG month.

I have heard of so many people doing the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred, so I thought I might give it a try. Right now my mom and sisters are into getting healthy and fit so what better way to, by doing this 30 Day Shred together! Half of us are doing the 30 DS and the other half are doing their own things, however, we are still doing it all together. It is so much easier to work out and lose weight when you have support. We started a secret Facebook group of just us Banner girls so we have a place to lend support and updates of our fitness status. So when does this start?? Monday!!! (Good thing the double birthday party/Mother's Day events are Sunday.) That day is going to be the start of a very, very long month. But, hopefully rewarding! Not only am I going to be doing the 30 DS, but I am preparing for a Dash for Diabetes 5K that happens in TWO WEEKS!!

My dieting secrets:


Make your own rules that fit your own lifestyle and body. Dieting is different for everybody and the results are never the same for every person. It takes time to figure out what works best. I cannot tell you how many different dieting techniques I have tried!


Set goals. This one is pretty huge. Never set vague goals or put time constraints on the goals. You will only get discouraged if you start seeing yourself behind in your goal. Weekly goals are awesome! I'm sort of against making goals on how much weight you want to lose. It's best to just have a target weight, but don't make it a priority goal. Instead make goals that can help you lose the weight, they are more fun. Such as, no sweets for 30 days (that one was difficult for me!), run a mile under 10 minutes, drink 64 fl. oz. of water per day, etc. You get the idea.


Have rewards. I find it a lot easier to finish a goal if I know there is a reward for me in the end. Since I am doing a lot of working out this month, I am allowed to have a piece of candy IF I workout that day.


Those are the main ones that have helped me lose weight thus far. Do you have any tips of your own?? Only a little more to go! GET FIT!

The Pilot.

Just wanted to do a much needed shout out to my main man! Over a month ago he passed his Private Pilot stage check and officially became a Pilot, or Airman from what the FAA calls it.

(No, I didn't make this cake. It's an ice-cream cake from Baskin Robbins. I would have done a much better job...not bragging or anything. Just saying.)

LOVE YOU, CAM! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!!

new gift idea.

A while back I caught a clip of Good Things Utah where a guest came on and taught how to dress up some gifts and make them extraordinary. Whenever she is at a thrift store she buys old plates and tea cups with matching saucers to use as a way to gift some treats. You can put some cookies on a nicer looking plate that only cost you 50 cents instead of an ugly paper plate. So when I was at the D.I. looking for cheap frames to refurb. I found a few things I could use as gifts. So here is my version.


The one I liked the most from Good Things Utah was the teacup with a cupcake sitting inside, clear wrapping paper, with a bow. However, I didn't have time to make some cupcakes, so I just bought a bag of candy and filled the cup and saucer. Best part; All together it cost me $4 and it took me maybe 5 minutes to put together. If you want to go further you can tie on a little tag. I thought it turned out so cute! What do you think?

All wrapped up! Forgive the ugly sad bow. I really wanted to use this ribbon, but when I looked in my ribbon box I only had a little left. Sad, I know. All my other ribbon seemed to clash so I had to use this one. Hope this gives you good ideas to use for thank you's, birthday's, or even just thinking of you gifts.

The summer I haven't shown you: Lake Powell

Here are just a few pictures from our vacation in Lake Powell this year. We went to the Indian Ruins one afternoon. I think Kimi got a couple pictures of me wakeboarding so I'll have to post those later. So look for more pictures!

This photo makes me laugh. It reminds me of Dale Gribble from King of the Hill...haha!

Standing infront of the Indian house.

The summer I haven't shown you: Campout Movie Night

For Debbi's birthday we had a campout {slash} movie night in the backyard. Oddly, our tent was the biggest and we only had two people....haha! We decided to let Cooper sleep outside with us in the tent. That won't ever happen again. It was a rough night because he freaked out with every little sound. All together, it was such a fun night!

The summer I haven't shown you: Hogle Zoo

It only took {three} years of begging Cameron to take me to the Hogle Zoo. Finally we went, and on the hottest day of the summer! We definitely won't go back for a couple more years. There were no lions, tigers, or bears....what kind of zoo is this?? However, in 2012 there will be a new bear exhibit (probably why there are no bears right now). So we'll probably go back then.

The reason for Cam going...THE TRAIN.

The reason I wanted to go...ZURI the baby elephant.

And just some cute penguins.

The summer I haven't shown you: Tracy Aviary

This is our little adventure to Tracy Aviary which is inside Liberty Park in downtown SLC. We both decided that it was a little better than going to the zoo. We will probably be going back before the end of the summer because we want to see the bird show and feed some birds. We went a little too late in the day to get the chance to do that. So I'm sure there will be some more pictures from Tracy Aviary coming soon.

Cam infront of the Pelican Pond.

A worker feeding the huge, HUGE Andean Condor. This bird is 51 years old and has a 10 foot wing span. His name is Andy.


Love the color of the head on the King Vulture. Not so sure about the bird itself.

My favorite...the Toucans!