Losing weight, getting in shape

Sorry I don't blog as much as I used to. Just busy I guess.

So, it's been about a month since I've been working out on a consistent basis. So far, I'm loving the results. I've lost roughly 10-12 lbs, I have more energy, and I feel healthier, even though I have a long way to go.

I think my biggest advantage has been the ability to track my diet and everything I eat. I'm much more aware of what is going into my body. I use the web site: http://dailyburn.com which is a great, free option to track everything. I mainly focus on my daily intake of Calories (I try to stay between 1900-2300), Fat (45-75 grams a day), Protein (100-175 grams a day), and Carbs (200-275 per day). If I fall below any of those, I honestly don't care too much. Lately I've really been trying to get more Protein than anything because I feel a difference in my energy level through the day. My profile can be found here: Profile

I'm somewhat shy about talking about losing weight for two reason. Number one, I don't want to come off as some dude that is WAY too much into his image and I'm trying to keep up with "The Joneses"; and number two, I'm embarassed at how much weight I've put on since getting married. I'll shamefully admit I was about 200 lbs and I've ballooned up to about 240. I'm down to 228 so far and feeling so good.

So far my workouts have consisted of aerobic stuff with Alene at home (I've done workouts like "Bridal sculpt and burn", which prepares me for looking good on my wedding day and having all of my brides maids jealous of me, you too should try it), a combination of Elliptical/Treadmill at the gym, some weigh lifting, and abdominal workouts. I've also been taking suppliments to help. I take a great pre-workout suppliment that gives me a ton of energy to get me through my workout. My body is SO worn out when it wears off, but I can definitely feel the difference. I also take protein shakes post-workout. Lastly, I subscribe to Men's Health magazine and I got this kick-ass workout called the Spartan workout. The only thing you need for it is a pair of dumbells. It's fast-paced so you get some good cardio burn, and it focuses on a total body workout. My first day of doing it (last Saturday) KILLED my body and I couldn't walk for two days. I've done it a second time (yesterday) and the only sore spot on my body today is my Abs, which makes me feel that my body is used to it.

I have many reasons for wanting to be in shape and I'll start first with my wife. Alene has always been the epitome of someone in shape. Since the day I met her I was always impressed with her consistency in going to the gym and wanting to take care of her body. She doesn't go to the gym to compete with other women and try to look good. She goes to the gym because she likes how it makes her feel physically. I've also admired her for her ability to watch what she eats (most of the time anyway, if you ask her she'll tell you she's only eats junk food). She's always been very conscious about striving to eat healthy things. I feel so guilty because she feels like she's stooped to my level by eating more fatty things since she's married me. I'm such a pig.

As I go through this phase, I hope to get back down to the weight I was at when we first married. If I can go any lower than that, that's fine, but I want to then focus on getting stronger. I also ponder other reasons I want to lose weight and get in shape. I'll list the positives, then the negatives:

POSITIVES

I'll feel better physically
I'll look better to Alene (even though she loves me for who I am)
I'll be able to do more kick-ass hikes with Alene
I'll set an example for my children that our health is important
Hopefully I'll live longer as a result
I'll have more energy and strength for doing things I love
More overall confidence in myself

NEGATIVES

I recently bought two pairs of jeans I LOVE and I'm already having to "cinch" them up; I'll have to buy a lot of new clothes
I'll be more apt to take my shirt off in public, forcing everyone to put on their sunglasses and shout "SASQUACH!"
No more "Thirds and Fourths" at the dinner table
No more excuses asking Alene to slow down on evening walks and using the "because I'm out of shape" excuse

I think the positives outweigh the negatives. I'm really feeling good about my progress so far.

One more thing that has recently inspired me is a section in Men's Health called "the belly-off club". They feature a person who has recently lost a lot of weight and all of them have had consistent means of doing it: Watching their diet and getting at least 3 days of exercise. One person I recently saw was 268 lbs (at 5'9") and is now down to 165 lbs. He did it all in 13 months. Pretty amazing.

I have so many other goals I want to accomplish, most of them with Alene. I hope to be able to run a 5K, and eventually a 1/2 Marathon with her (even though she hates running them). I want to do a Triathalon. I want to be competitive athletically as I was when I was in high school. I know it's not for everyone to be competitive, but for whatever reason it's something that drives me to compete, even if it's against myself. So far I've been doing a good job (relatively) on the treadmill. I can consistenly run 3 miles with no problems. My only issue is I run out of time and have to stop. I'm hoping to be able to eventually run 5 miles in 50 minutes or less.

So, here's to the new year and me getting slimmer. I'm really excited for this coming year because I have somewhat of a grip on my job now, and also have a lot of vacation time to use. I'm going to plan some great hikes and camping trips with Alene and hope to get a lot accomplished this coming year. I hope you all are looking forward to the future as much as I am.

2009 Root Family year in review

Here is a direct link. Much better viewed in full screen.

2009 Root Family year in review

Front yard

I'm still alive

I've been busy, as you all know, during the Fall. With it now being over, I hope to blog a bit more. I've mostly just been blogging about my son's football season. We finished the season 11-0 and won our championship game 46-12. What a blast to pay one of our best games last. It was even more exciting because we played it in the worst possible conditions (white-out blizzard).

Here's my coaching blog in case you're interested in how our season went (highlight videos are from each game).

Coach Root

Just got a crazy snow storm here. I'm wanting a snow blower REALLY bad.

Work is going well. About 1.5 months and I'll have been on the job for a year now. I think I can hack this thing, I just wish my office was closer to home. Maybe someday.

I'm trying to get back in shape and have been working out with Alene for about 2 weeks so far now. I really hope we can keep it going. I've lost about 6 lbs so far. I honestly want to be down to about 185 lbs, but I know I need to take it in steps, so I'm wanting to lose 10 more lbs and get down to 220. Then 210, then 200, etc. I was 200 when I married Alene, so she at least deserves that :-).

I've got a few projects I want to work on during the winter (if I can find the time). I have a TON of my families old home movies that I want to get put onto a DVD for everyone. I also have a lot of footage from my friend Tim's film we did about 6 years ago that I want to upload and edit. My brother Russ had it all edited, then deleted it on his computer, thinking nobody cared about it. I still would like to get it finished to know we had it completed. Tim wasn't super happy with how it turned out, but I really think it's important for something like this to be finished regardless of quality, so I'm going to get it done.

Anyway, hoping to be able to enjoy the holidays and find time to get closer to my family. Caiden is having a hard time in the home, so I really want him to know we love him. Bailey is SO cute and I'm having fun watching her grow and learn.

That's about it for now.

The bumble bee

Bailey was a cute little bumble bee this year:

Creating a zombie football player

Caiden wanted to be a zombie football player this year, so his uncle Russ was kind enough to provide the skills to turn him into one:





















The zombie football player holding his bumble bee sister



Besides human flesh, zombies also like lots of candy and this zombie was very satisfied. Who knew?

Happy Birthday Caiden

WOW! My son is 10 years old today. Definitely makes me feel old. Alene and I were talking just the other day about how close we are to him hitting his teenage years. At what age will he want to go to the movies with his friends? When will he have a girlfriend? He'll be driving in 6 years! Graduating high school in 8 (hopefully). We both know we just need to not worry about those things and enjoy all the moments we have now.

I'm very proud of Caiden. I love him to death and always will. He's MY son.

Love you buddy.

Hi everybody

Just wanted to let everyone know I am around. With work and coaching Caiden's football team, I haven't had a ton of time to blog. I really miss doing it though.

So, if there actually is anyone out there that reads my blog, I apologize for letting all one of you down (Alene).

A few updates though:

Family: Ups and downs as always, but I love my family more than anything. Bailey is the cutest little girl in the world and I adore her dearly (even when she throws a tantrum). When I came home late from work tonight I kissed her on the cheek and she kept leaning in for kiss after kiss. Caiden is busy with football and doing well. He could be doing better in school, but we'll just have to stay on top of him. Alene just finished running in the "other" half marathon in Moab and beat her expected time by 10+ minutes!! HOLY CRAP!! She was amazing. We also had the amazing opportunity to meet Alene's son Cade and his wonderful mother Lori. We'll never forget that moment.

Football: I'm coaching Caiden's team as the defensive coordinator. We are currently undefeated at 8-0 and we have our last game of the regular season against a team we are tied for first place with. From there we will have the playoffs, which is two rounds. I keep a team blog with highlights from each week (click on the word "Football" above).

My job: It's going well. I finally have a grasp on what is expected of me, but there is so much more to do in regards to getting organized and having some structure. I REALLY wish I could have an assistant, even a part time one, but I doubt that will ever happen. I've been traveling a lot for work and with the winter coming on, hopefully it will slow down.

Outdoors: I suck in that respect. I have not gotten out for much outdoors stuff all year. Our schedules were pretty hectic this past spring/summer with Alene filling in for other people at work AND Caiden playing baseball. I really hope we can get out more next year. We have a great trip planned for our anniversary next year. Details to come in a few months. I'm so pissed that I failed to even get out mountain biking ONCE this whole year. I really suck.

Alene and I also went a few concerts here and there.

The football season should be over by November 14 if we make it to the championship game. After that we are taking a LONG awaited vacation to a (hopefully) warm place in San Diego, CA. It will be fun to vacation as a family and I look forward to it.

So, you can see my life is pretty boring. Sorry if I've disappointed.

Hike up Farmington Canyon

Check out this link to our outdoor adventures blog about our recent hike up Farmington Canyon.

Farmington Canyon

Conan O'Brian never fails

Hick Johnson Space Cowboy

This is a movie my brothers started working on back in 1999. They finally finished it 10 years later. It was filmed in CA and Utah.

Part 1



Part 2

Music review: Ugly Casanova

WOW. Just got this album that was released in 2002. Ugly Casanova is a side band that Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock formed on the side, they only released on album, "Sharpen your Teeth".

Isaac used to tell a story about a man (who went by the name Ugly Casanova) that would follow them around on tour and play these songs backstage while they were all hanging out. He would abruptly leave then show up on another tour. The last time they saw him, he left behind these songs, which Isaac said he recorded in hopes that Ugly Casanova would come back.

The story is not real, but in some ways it is. If you have not listened to Modest Mouse, you're missing out. Isaac Brock is a genius. It took them YEARS before they were considered popular (they started back in 1993 and didn't really get serious radio play until around 2004's "Good News for People who Love Bad News" album). I still think their better albums are the earlier works, however the newer stuff they put out is still great and you can definitely hear how much they mature from album to album without losing the rawness that made them famous.

Back to Ugly Casanova.

I had heard about this side band, but never thought to look for the music. The other day I was looking for Modest Mouse's new EP on itunes and I happened upon the Ugly Casanova album. Just from listening to some of the samples, I was blown away and PISSED that I had been missing out.

My favorite songs from this album are in order (going to put Youtube videos/songs with them; don't know how long they'll last, so listen now and I apologize in advanced for some of the lame videos some of these people made with these songs):

Hotcha Girls



Parasites



Barnacles



So Long to the Holidays



Cat Faces



Smoke Like Ribbons



Things I don't remember

Kearns Gremlins

Football season is upon us. I love being around this game and coaching it. For a long time I had dreamed of making an honest career out of coaching, but I think at my age and with my responsibilities, I'm best suited for being around my son and coaching FB with him. I'm actually having a blast. We have a great team and I'm really looking forward to the season.

I'm currently coaching the defense for our 9 year old "A" team. The great thing about this is that these kids, as long as they live in the area, will grow up playing together on the same team every year through high school (that is, of course, unless they get recruited away). The coaching staff we have is very knowledgeable and our parental support is amazing.

Caiden BARELY made weight to be able to play a "skill" position. He actually barely made weight a year ago, so it's kind of funny to think he has only gained a couple of pounds in a year, but he's definitely grown taller. He'll be playing TE and DE (or outside linebacker). He's made great improvements from last year and is doing a very good job. I'm very proud of him.

I don't want to be "one of those guys"

Here I am, up at 5am. Consumed with work on my mind. I've never been this consumed in my life. I've been working at my job for 6 months now and I'm still not where I need to be as far as being organized and "in control" of my job. I know it sounds crazy, but there is so much work that goes into just getting organized. I have over 80 properties I manage and each one has it's own uniqueness. 16 of them are out of state, so they require me to manage them remotely without seeing them more than 3 times a year (I've seen them once in the past 6 months).

The most challenging and stressful part of my job is spending money. One would think that wouldn't be a problem, however there is a lot of pressure to spend our monthly budgeted money because if we don't spend it in that month, we lose it (we don't get to carry it over into the next month), so most of the time I feel like an accountant, trying to ensure I have jobs lined up for work to be performed to spend the money. Every month I have about $16k-$40k to figure out how to spend. If I don't spend it, I'm in serious trouble. There is the stress of ensuring the job gets done in that month and then making sure I have the invoice in my hand by the end of that month. The most frustrating part is that I can't spend this money on the most obvious needs for my property (carpet and furniture) because those expenses come out of a capital budget, which is always VERY thin. In fact, carpet is the lowest of priorities with regards to capital budgets, so those are seldom approved.

In addition to my monthly spending dillemas, I just went through our most stressful month (July) which is budgeting month. This is where I take my budget based on what I spent part of this year and what I have planned for the remaining year, and create a budget for EACH property with that money I have. It's extremely tedious and time consuming. I've been having dreams of being late with my budget or not having started it. I finally finished it on Sunday evening a few days ago and I was RELIEVED.

Don't get me wrong, I really do love my job, but the past 6 months have been a serious adjustment from working a previous job that was much more flexible and didn't have all the restraints on a budget that I have now. It's taken some adjusting, but I think I'm getting it. I never imagined a job in the same field taking 6 plus months to really get control over (and I'm really pushing a realistic goal now of 1 year to REALLY have control).

But here I am, the guy up at 5am and can't stop thinking about work. I woke up to go to the bathroom and I was DOG TIRED (still am), but I can't fall asleep, so I decide to blog. I could just go into work, but I have to take Caiden to his mom's and it's too early for that. So, I'll do my best not to be THAT guy (the one that gets to work by 6am and doesn't leave until 6 or 7pm). Being a hard worker is important, but time for my family and myself is even more important. I just wonder how long it will last.

Entering another dimension

Last weekend Alene and Bailey went camping. I couldn't join them because I had to be at a football equipment check out Saturday morning, so toward the end of my work day, my brother Russ called me to invite me with him to a classic car show put on by Bo Huff.

I had learned about this guy a few months before. Russ is currently restoring, from the ground up, a 1951 Chevy 2-door hard top. He is pulling it apart piece by piece and fixing it up. It's very impressive to watch him as he progresses through it. Anyway, Russ told me about Bo Huff, who is one of those guys famous for re-storing cars, or for "chopping" cars. He is originally from East Carbon, UT (a small town outside of Price, which is a pretty small town itself). He has been restoring cars since his teens, moving to SLC, then LA, where his work really took off. He eventually moved back to Utah, where he continues to restore cars for people all over America.

So, with that said, I high-tailed it from work in order to head down to East Carbon, UT to check it out. In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that I used to LOVE going to classic car shows with my dad when I was younger and I've recently taken a liking to getting out and doing it more now. Someday I hope to be able to restore a car and cruise it to my death bed.

We arrived around 6:30pm and when we got there, we immediately felt out of place. I'd say about 90% of the people there were extremely hard-core. They truly lived the life of car choppers. Most had tatoos all over the place, most were drunk off their rears, and most looked like they would slit your throat if you looked at them wrong. I felt like I had jumped back to the 50's among a group of greasers. Now, I wasn't intimidated, because we found as we talked to everyone, they were all pretty nice. We saw Bo walking around talking to everyone. Russ had first met him while working security at the airport and talked to him for a bit. He saw Russ and said, "Whats up daddy?". Dude was cool as a cucumber, long white haired beard, white hair slicked back, sunglasses. People around there just absolutely worshiped him.

The town itself doesn't have a hotel (that I know of), so people were just camping out on the side of the streets or in their campers. A lot of the cars were very interesting and I wished I had brought my camera (these pictures are from Russ'). We were actually there a day before the official show, so we didn't see every car. That night they had a concert with two "rockabilly" bands playing. I was impressed with each band because they had their own niche.

The first band was Joey Fender and the 55's. This dude was very interesting and had a great way of playing a slide guitar while also helping out on drums (see video below). He also had a rock-star moment when he jumped off the stage and started playing his guitar in the crowd.

The second band was cool because it consisted of 3 brothers and some older guy on standup bass. The guitarist couldn't have been older than 17, the drummer had to be about 12-13, and the lead singer was about 9 years old. You couldn't really understand what he was singing (mostly original songs, with a cover of "walk this way"), but the kid MOVED like a frontman (with a guitar) and he had feeling in his voice as he sang. I felt like I was looking at a group of kids from the 50's. It was surreal.

Since the bands didn't start playing until 10pm, we didn't get home until about 1am. It was still a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to going back next year.

Russ outside of Bo Huff's shop



Some pictures of the various kinds of cars that were there. While some may not look finished, that is what was so cool about them is they are left like that on purpose. Kind of an "F-U" to the world that this is what they're doing with their car and it will smoke yours any day in a race-attitude.

This guy was from Montana. Funny as hell.





'50 Mercury. Love how they chop the top down on top of the cars









If I remember right, this car was pretty much hand-made, but had a Ford engine in it (even the body was fabricated by the owner)



Some of the rusty chopped up cars





This one sat there and burned out for about 20 seconds





One of Bo Huff's personal cars



Joey Fender and the 55's







Check out the slide guitar technique



The "brothers group" (can't remember their name, but they're from Springville, UT)

My little brother Russ is getting smarter

30 years old and he can almost spell my name correctly.

Messing around at the drive in movies with my camera

This isn't my good camera. This is the cheaper camera. We were watching Transformers 2, so I HAD to find something to do to kill the time. Got a couple of shots of an airplane flying behind the screen.





Tail lights



The boys

Silver Lake

Check out our hike to Silver Lake on our outdoor adventures blog:

Sliver Lake

Golfing

I went golfing with my brother Jeff and my brother in-laws Nate and Brock at Soldier Hollow. Check out this video I made from our trip:

"Do you like what you see?"

My nephew Ian does this dance from the movie "Hot Rod" perfectly. My family has this obsession with watching totally dumb, yet funny movies over and over again and this is the end result of what happens to us.

Ian:




The original version from the movie:

Video of Bailey walking

She's not full-on walking, crawling is still her choice of transportation, but we can trick her into walking every once in a while. She's doing so good and we're getting so excited for her.

Vis-a-Vis my progeny

Tepenyanki 6.22.09

Happy Fathers day

I recently started reading David McCullough's book, "John Adams". Alene bought me the HBO min-series and I really liked it. I'm only on the 2nd chapter of the book, but one thing stuck out to me, probably by chance because it's fathers day. It was the section where it starts to describe his up-bringing and his parents. He starts off by talking about how much he loved his mother and respected her and when it got to his father, this is what he had to say:

There were scarcely words to express the depth of his gratitude for the kindness his father had shown him, the admiration he felt for his father's integrity. His father was "the honestest man" John Adams ever knew. "In wisdom, piety, benevolence, and charity in proportion to his education and sphere of life, I have never know his superior, " Adams would write long afterward, by which time he had come to know the most prominent men of the age on two sides of the Atlantic. His father was his idol. It was his father's honesty, his father's independent spirit and love of country, Adams said, that were his lifelong inspiration. (as written by David McCullough)

Now, I don't know if it's ego, or what, but there is something inside me that so badly wants my children (and my wife) to think of me in this manner. I don't think it's ego though. I think if they think of you in this manner, that you have done a good job as a father and that is what you want. Often times I feel like I've failed so much and I get down on myself. I won't say I give up, but it just seems like I can and never will be someone admired by my children or my wife due to my many faults. I'm often late to things, I don't follow up on punishments at times (or often), I don't fulfill all my obligations as a priesthood holder in the home (i.e. we don't study scriptures as a family or hold family home evening hardly at all). I just feel so inadequate and I wish I wasn't.

With that said, I cannot be more proud of my children and being a father has brought more joy in my life than anything else. Seeing my children happy and laughing and loving is something I live to see.

I often wonder if Caiden knows how dumb I really am. I remember growing up thinking that my dad was the smartest man alive. I'm not sure when that realization changed (no offense dad, neither of us will ever top Einstein), but I still have all the respect for my dad that I could ever have, and I especially respect him for his knowledge and wisdom. He's always been a good example to me that working hard and doing your best, even when nobody is looking, is important. He's taught me to have a sense of humor and try to make others laugh. He's taught me to love oldies music, especially the Beach Boys. Most important, he has taught me to have an un-conditional love for my family and to sacrifice anything he could for us.

I still have a fond memory of being about 10 years old, maybe 11, and being pretty aware that we did not have much money. I rode my bike down to my dad's car lot and asked him for $.50 for a candy bar at the store. I remember he just paused and looked me right in the eye and said, he wanted to give me so much more, but for now he would give me all the change in his pocket. He scooped in and pulled out WAY more than the $.50 I wanted and gave me a big hug. That really meant a lot to me and in some ways, made me feel really secure that my dad would never leave me wanting.

Here are some misc. pictures of my dad or me spending time with my dad.

The fisherman with his mustache



Helping me develop my love for swimming



Giving me a haircut, even if it appears I'm going to fall asleep



Pulling us on a sled - I can actually still remember this happening and not wanting it to end.



Taking us to car shows and putting a HUGE belt buckle on me



A little bit Country....



....and a little bit rock n roll



"Should I stay or should I go"




Going to more car shows



The knees are still holding up





The poser



A couple of pictures I love of mom and dad

(Their friends Gary and Sandy gave this one to me)







Dad's kids