Beach Body Challenge

Since I have been writing this blog you have often heard me whine about my weight. I have had countless "plans" to lose it because my baby is 15 months old now and I have failed miserably at getting back in shape like I told everyone I would.

I've talked to several people about my weight and they tell me what I need to hear to get motivated but in my mind I have not motivated myself... until now. Everything in life is that way. You can wish and want but until you absolutely set your mind to it and go for your goals, you will stay stagnate.

Why now? Now because I am tired, mentally and physically exhausted by everyday life. I come home, sit in my chair, have dinner, give Blaze his bath and then we all go to bed. I want to enjoy life with my family, not just endure it. I want to take Blaze to the zoo and not need a nap afterwards.

Now because I am embarassed that my once athletic and toned physique is now soft and uninspirable. 5 minutes of shooting hoops leaves me red-faced and gasping for air. Gross!

Now because my pathetic attempt at the Turkey Trot this year was deplorable! And because my cousin Carla thought it would be so funny to run ahead of me and act like we were running the 8 mile race as I screamed and flailed my arms to make sure they knew that we were running the 5k.

Now because I want my clothes to fit and actually look cute on me again.

Now because the thought of this upcoming summer makes me want to start shopping for ponchos.

Now because I have ADD and I need my body to keep up with my mind.

I took the Beach Body Challenge and I got my first shipment of Turbo Fire and Shakeology. I chose this system because I have done my research and I need the nutritional support along with a fitness program for me to get my best results. The great thing about Beach Body is that they have a full encompassing support system to help you succeed. This is not a fad diet, it's a lifestyle change.

I can go to the gym, I can go to exercise classes but I don't trust myself right now. I need something to kick me in high gear and make me follow through. After being in athletics my whole life, after high scool and college work outs, I didn't know where to go from there. I didn't know how to work out on my own to keep me in shape. I think I found it in Turbo Fire.

Shakeology is a top of the line meal replacement shake developed and created by Beachbody. The Shake is made up of over 70 high quality, all natural ingredients, and unlike most meal replacement shakes, its high in protein. I had my first shake this morning and it was great! I added ice, a cup of almond milk, a banana and a tablespoon of almond butter. Two of those things I have never had in my life. It was very filling. It took me about a good hour to sip on the whole thing so I didn't have morning cravings for a sausage biscuit.

For my fitness program, I chose "Turbo Fire". Beach Body has several different programs to choose from. I have done "P90X" before and personally it just wasn't for me. All the push ups, pull ups and holding your own body weight up was hard on my back. I thought it was more for guys but I know some freaks of nature (ahem, like my sister-in-law, Bobbie) that did it and passed it with flying colors and looked awesome afterwards. Color me green.

I also did a couple of workouts of "Insanity". I really liked this program but my ADD got the best of me and I got bored with the repeating exercises. For those of you that are normal, this might be the workout for you because Shaun T. (the head honcho for "Insanity") is a great motivator and makes you want to finish and get better. It doesn't hurt that he is usually shirtless during the workouts and you can see his rippling muscles.... if you're into that sort of thing.

The reasons I chose "Turbo Fire" are:

1. The instructor, Chalene Johnson is a female and what other female doesn't want to be inspired by another female that has a solid body?

2. I previewed the workouts and you stayed involved the whole time because you aren't repeating exercises for long periods of time. The Fire 30 class I did this morning was great. I did get lost in the choreography just a little but that will get better with time. There is a feature on the DVD that goes through all the steps to have you better prepared but I skipped that part.

3. The music on the workouts are great. Chalene Johnson mixes the music herself and choreographs your workout to the beat. She puts her heart and soul in to this program.

So, here I am, day 1 of a lifestyle change to get my life and my body back! I feel great this morning and I'm actually looking forward to another work out... weird.

I will do weekly updates on my progress!

Love ya!
Kaci

Cheers to Fresh Starts!

I hope this blog finds everyone happy and healthy after the wonderful Christmas holidays! Did Santa bring you what you wanted?

Don't worry about those few extra pounds you might have put on in the last month or so, that is what a new year is all about. Afterall, you did enjoy munching down on those candied carbs, didn't you? I know I savored every single ever lovin' calorie.

 I just love a new year. I love fresh starts. I love mulligans. I love new game plans. I love making my yearly "to-do list". It all just makes me want to go get a new hair do!

What are your plans for the glorious year of 2012? Are you going to get a gym membership? Are you going to diet? Are you going to promise yourself a vacation or a spa day for all of your hard work all year long? Are you going to make a career move? Add someone to your family? Send a child off to college? Send yourself to college? Are you going to make a "Things List" ? Are you tired of me asking you questions?

I just love this time of year. It makes me wish I had a couple more hours in the day and the energy of my 15 month old. I have tons of things on my "to do" list and I can't wait to get started.

Let's all celebrate in this time. We made it through another year!

Cheers for fresh starts!
-Kaci

Letting Go Of The Guilt

I have decided that I'm absolutely ready to do something to about my health. I have done my research and went with the Beach Body System beacuse I feel that I need nutrional support as well as a fitness regimine. I chose "Turbo Fire" along with "Shakeology".

Now let's remember that I rarely buy myself anything because I feel guilty. I think to myself, "Well with that money, I could pay our water bill." or "That will buy 4 cases of diapers." So for me to spend $218.50 to get started on my way to my "Beach Body" I felt a very large sense of guilt. As soon as I pressed "check out" and saw the money deducted from our bank account, I immediately looked for the return policy.

I did this the other day while Christmas shopping. I bought $30 worth of stuff at Bath & Body Works and felt so guilty, that I marched right back in to the store 20 minutes later and returned everything. Am I crazy? Probably. The people working in Bath & Body Works probably thought I was crazy. I can't help it though.

But then I reasoned with myself. Do I have a job? Yes. Do we get the bills paid? Yes. Do I do anything for myself or my health? No.

So there you have it. I have decided to let go of the guilt because I am doing something to better myself and my health. I'm going to write this blog and not feel guilty for one milisecond longer.

Does anybody else have an issue with feeling like this? How do you reason with yourself? Are you a freak of nature like me and return things because you have buyer's guilt?

Do something for yourself! You deserve it! And don't for one second feel guilty about it.

Peace & Merry Christmass Blessings!
-Kaci

'Tis The Season

Having a small child sparks all kinds of fun for the Christmas holidays. Have I mentioned before how much I love being able to relive my childhood over again through Blaze? Well, I love being able to relive my childhood over again through Blaze. I just can't get over the fun things to do with my little guy.

We have recently adopted our "Elf on the Shelf".

I didn't know what in the world this was until I saw several of my friends posting on their Facebook what their elves have been up to. There are some pretty mischievous elves out there! For those of you that don't know, Santa sends you an elf in which you are in charge of naming him. He sets up shop at your house right after the Thanksgiving holiday and makes sure that your children are being nice. Each night, the little booger flies back to the North Pole and reports to Santa the day's events. Santa then makes his determination on which list to put your chitlin' on: naughty or nice. When he flies back each morning before the children wake up, he is in a different spot doing all kinds of crazy things.

Here's our elf, Blaze named him Jake. You can find all cool kinds of info at Elf on the Shelf.

At our house, Blaze is in the "let me see how many buttons I can push before I get in trouble" stage, so this is perfect.

Here is an example of what stage we are in...

Is it absolutely necessary to get on TOP of the play table to particpate???

Oh but that's not all, we gotta take it one step farther....

I'm in utter awe at the balance of my child because he sure didn't get it from me! He stood there for a good 2 minutes and only got down to move on to the next toy.... maybe he gets his attention span from me.

Once I learn how to post a video on here, I will post the video of my dare devil son and a rocking chair. The kid knows no fear. Boy... we are in for quite the ride.

Another glorious thing about these holiday festivities is that I'm actually contributing to our Christmas Day meal! Boom!!!! I've been married for 3 years and for 3 years I have set back and let everyone else do the cooking because I couldn't survive around the kitchen if my life depended on it, but now I think I can contribute some. Thank you Pioneer Woman!

Speaking of, The Pioneer Woman is coming out with a new cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier and I'm excited.

I swear I'm not obsessed with her.

Anyways, on my agenda to contribute:

-corn casserole

-creamy mashed potatoes

-sausage balls

-cheese ball

- cake balls.... I swear I'm not obsessed with making things into the shape of a ball. either

-chocolate covered mint Oreos

-chocolate covered pretzels

-mint chocolate pecan cookies

Whew! I'm just tired from typing all of those things.

I can't wait for all the fun festivities with the family. I also can't wait to take pictures and blog about everybody! So if you are reading this and you will be around me this Christmas..... I'm watching you. I'm taking notes and I will write about you to cyber space. I'm just joking... a little. I really am going to introduce the blogger community to the fam. All of them are wonderful, I promise.

On that note, I will leave you all (I didn't say y'all. I'm trying to work on my writing skills.) with this picture to boost your holiday happiness into overdrive!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Love each and every one of you!

Kaci

Southern Arkansas University Tragedy

It absolutely breaks my heart that I have to write this blog. If you know me personally or have read any of my blog, it's clear that animals are a great love of mine, especially horses.

I've spent most of my life around them, riding them, watching them compete, and of course loving on them. I just love a good horse nuzzling. Horses are such amazing creatures. Strong willed and intelligent but gentle and agile at the same time. Horses are loyal and have extensive personalities.

"He Man" was my Welsh pony when I was growing up and we went to every play day that would let us enter up. "He Man" took care of me and let me do whatever I wanted to him as a kid: crawl on him, lope, run as fast as we could, trail ride, although loading in a trailer wasn't exactly his favorite thing in the world. I used to have to load in the trailer myself and then he would follow me. "Billy Idol"  & "Buskin" were my Dad's horses for most of his rodeo career. A lot of bills were paid because of them two. Team roping was my Dad's career. 

I continue to be surrounded by horses. Clint trains team roping horses. Clay and Bobbie, my brother and sister in law, train cutting horses. D-Dad, my father-in-law still day works the ranches of west Texas. And my Dad still team ropes.

I was always taught that you take care of your animals first. Your horses eat before you do. You respect your horses because they do a job for you and they respect you back. You depend on your horses and they depend on you to care for them properly.  

When first hearing about the 5 horses stolen from the Southern Arkansas University's rodeo team members, my heart panged because I understand the desperation of having a beloved animal taken from you. We are still in search for our missing part of the family, Zipper. That is a feeling of such desperation you cannot explain. Not knowing their whereabouts makes you feel helpless and keeps you wondering.

For those of you that haven't heard of the tragic events that took place, I encourage you to check out Banner News to get all of the information and fill in the gaps that I leave out. Here is the short version.

On November 3, 2011 in Magnolia, Arkansas at the Southern Arkansas University stables, 5 horses including a trailer full of equipment was stolen in the middle of the night. Credit Card, Grey, Badger, Black and Lena were the 5 quarter horses stolen from the stables.







On November, 16, 2011 four of the five horses were recovered in a wooded area near Tom, Oklahoma tied to trees without food or water and were found emaciated. The one horse not with the group was Credit Card.

 Click here to watch the video of SAU Rodeo Coach, Rusty Hayes' amazing story on how they found 4 of the missing horses.

November 25, 2011, just more than 3 weeks after all the horses went missing, the remains of Credit Card were recovered. I will not go into details of the condition of Credit Card's remains but you have google, don't you? It is devastating and unbelievable what a person could do to a horse. It is mind boggling and stomach wrenching.

There have been several arrest in this case so far and investigation is still ongoing.

Since of hearing this news, I have not been able to get this off of my mind. My heart aches for the Smith family that has lost Credit Card and I am proud for the 4 owners that have found their horses.

I really don't even know what to say from here. This is such a tragedy for the entire horse industry and a tragedy of man-kind. I will never understand a person that could do this to any innocent animal.

The Smith family have asked instead of setting up a fund for Shaun Smith to be able to purchase another horse, that a scholarship fund be set up so others will have the chance to be a part of the Southern Arkansas University Rodeo Team.

My family has been incredibly blessed to have the help of all our friend's for so long and especially when Clint had to take time off of work to have shoulder surgery this past July, I feel that I am called to do something for any part of good to come out of this. I will be making these cross and horseshoe pendant necklaces and I will be selling them with 100% of the proceeds being donated to the scholarship fund to SAU in Credit Card's honor. They will be $20 and includes shipping to you.

I hope that I'm flooded with orders and we can all have a hand in raising money. You can email me at kacijohnson@live.com to order. I can accept Pay Pal or a check mailed to me. At the end of each month, I will donate the money to the scholarship fund and include your name that you were a part of this fund raising.

Let's band together and show the world that the horse industry, animal lovers, and good human beings are against animal abuse and the treatment that Credit Card recevied will not be tolerated.

Also let's all pray that justice is brought to the people responsible of this heinous crime.

Peace & Love,

Kaci

With any questions contact me by email, Facebook or by phone.

Email: kacijohnson@live.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/kaciwrightjohnson

Phone: 682-936-9712  call or text

Three Years Ago Today...

Three years ago today, life as I knew it changed forever. Three years ago today, I could never have imagined that I would know the things I do now. Three years ago today, I never even dreamed that my life would be where it is now. Three years ago today, was one of the best days of my life.

Three years ago today I woke up in Las Vegas after only sleeping for about an hour. You know that feeling where you are anxious about the next day's events and you try so hard to will yourself to sleep eventhough you are running on fumes but your eyes won't close, your mind won't quit thinking, and that tingly feeling in your stomach won't go away? That was me. It probably didn't help that my best girlfriends and I stayed out late partying on the Strip. Unable to sleep anymore I walked down to the Mc Donalds in the MGM and got hashbrowns and sausage biscuits for my friends that were "over served".

Six months before this day, being here was the last place on Earth I thought I would be. After spending a couple of years in a couple difficult relationships that smothered the person I thought I was, left me wanting as far away from another relationship as I could get. It was my time to hit the reset button and get back to myself. My time to get back to the person that my friends knew me as, not this mind boggled, down on life, miserable and not to mention 20 pound heavier person that I had reluctantly become accustomed to. This was MY time. Period. And boy did I take advantage. I was back to enjoying life, living the single life with this new freedom. Freedom looked good on me and I was proud to wear it around everywhere. Life had a purpose again. A purpose other than the same old routine, same old arguments, same old jealousy, same old wondering why I had let it go this far.

When your life becomes your's again, it's like an awakening. Like you lived the last couple years inside a tunnel unaware of the world changing around you and finally you reach the end and actually feel the warmth of the sun on your skin. There are colors again. There is sound again. There is breath back in your lungs and you are no longer a lifeless shell just living. A sense of urgency usually follows you too after this awakening. The sense that you have so much catching up to do with life. You have to catch up on all the things that you missed out on while trying to make someone else happy to no avail. There are people to see, drinks to drink, concerts to soak in, traveling to be done.

In the midst of this awakening, I kept getting a tug on the brain from this strapping young cowboy that I wanted absolutely nothing to do with. Can't you see, I'm in the middle of an awakening here? I was having the time of my life and couldn't be bothered with attempts to win over my heart or even my brain for that matter. To be honest, I enjoyed the attempts and I enjoyed saying no even more. That was a very empowering feeling after finding myself again.

Soon after, he quite trying. Hey wait! Come back!

After a chance meeting at a roping we were both working, the local honky tonk seemed like the best option to hang out afterwards. That's when the cowboy name Clint finally piqued my interest. We two-stepped and sang along to every song that came through the speakers. Those are two of my favorite things in this world: singing and dancing. I can dance with the best of them but I can't carry a tune in a bucket but I sure did like trying. Maybe that's why I listen to music so loud, so it drowns out my own voice and I can pretend the singer's voice is mine. It was so nice to dance with someone that knew how to dance. I didn't have to lead and most importantly, I didn't have to teach him how to dance like I had done so many times before. That is probably one of the most awkward and embarassing things to do: teaching someone how to dance in front of God and everybody on a dance floor in a honky tonk, especially being a girl teaching the guy. Growing up traveling around the states with my Dad rodeoing, there are two things I knew how to do: ride a horse and two-step. I'm pretty sure those two things are in the "Cowboy Code of Conduct" if there is one. Thank goodness I found someone that knew that code. It was familiar and easy to me.

Spending time with Clint in the days following that fateful night, I quickly learned that he had gone through situations recently that had him in the same emotional boat with me. Rowing his oars as fast as he could going away to anything but where he had been. We shared the need to be accepted for the person that we each were without pasting a smile on the outside but dying a slow and painful death on the inside. We shared the same zest for life, for laughter, for fun, for music, and ultimately the same zest for love. We filled each others cracks in our hearts.

We quickly made the decision that it didn't matter where we were in life, where we were going or even where we had been but that together was where we needed to be... forever.

For different reasons we got mixed responses from our decision to get married so fast. Did we care? No. We took all the warnings, gossip and even the well wishes with a grain of salt. Nothing could knock us out of our cloud because we had love. The kind of raw love that loved no matter what. The kind of love that felt right. The kind of love where the world could crash down around us and we didn't notice or care. Most importantly, we had each other.

Six months before this day, being here was the last place on Earth I thought I would be. This would be the day that I would marry the love of my life and my best friend. This would be the day that I would walk down a Las Vegas chapel isle filled with our closest friends and family with my pre-arranged music and bouquet of flowers in my sweaty palms to say the vows of marriage to a man that had rescued my heart.

Three years ago today I never would have imagined I would still be deeply in love with the person I said those vows to. I never would have imagined that we would share our life with the sweetest little boy named Blaze. I never would have imagined life could be this good.

Happy 3rd Anniversary to the most amazing husband ever! You are my rock!

-Kaci

Then & Now

This is something that is very special to me. Partly because it is one the greatest accomplishments that a team roper can acheive and partly because my Dad is a very generous man and tends to give away his buckles and memorabilia from a time that represented most of my childhood. Lately, I've been spending time trying to round up all the things that he gave away. And lately I've discovered he gave away a heck of alot more than he kept.

Last year for Christmas, my grandparents gave this buckle to Blaze. It is one of the many NFR buckles that my Dad won and only 2 of many that I know their whereabouts. This is when he won the 4th go round in 1986 at the NFR. This is what it looked like.

I sent it off to Gist Silversmiths, the original buckle makers, to have it cleaned up and this is what I got back.

Isn't it beautiful? I can't help but be so proud of this buckle. I hope to find and retain the others that are out there somewhere.

Love,
Kaci

P.S. I apologize for not blogging as often these past couple of weeks. We have been extremely busy and on the road. Maybe it's time I get a laptop! (hint hint, nudge nudge)