Surprise! I'm still around. :)

I have been enjoying learning the birds in my new home state. :)  Here's a little canyon wren I found yesterday.  What have you been up to?

A fun day in the Owyhees

Holding the sign down

Leslie Gulch BLM Oregon

The road into the area. 

The start of the trail. Basically you follow a creek bed and scramble up rocks. 

Husband and I have always been curious enough about where paths lead to park the car and get out and walk. However, this is my first time carrying a pack. I really want to do a backpacking adventure so I need to practice. My pack weighed 12 lbs, it's a start. I also am clueless about how to attach my new walking poles, hoping to figure that out. 

We saw butterflies, but none waited for a photo, and wild flowers. 

The area looks a lot like Utah. But is closer to home. 

This is the view from the top. I really learned how to use my poles getting up here. 

Owl pellet

We followed a different branch of the creek back to the car and I had to figure out how to get down from the top of this big rock. Dennis found a way down and then reached above his head to help me down. Scary!

Waiting patiently

Changes in me

There's something I love about flowers, in all their stages.  Even as they fade away.

I have felt so energetic and happy all day.  I really can't explain why.  I was disappointed when I stepped on the scale today and weighed the same as last Saturday.  But it didn't defeat me.  I am 15 lbs down in a month and I wish it was moving faster but this past week I have seen the inches change,and my clothes feel looser, so I can live with not losing a single pound this week, I guess.

I went to Zumba this morning and enjoy it so much!  I've been doing it about 3 weeks now, 2-3 times a week, and I can see my progress.  I'm able to jump more and feel less tired at the end of the hour.  There are also improvements in my range of motion - woo hoo!

Outside of Zumba I didn't run much this week so I decided to skip a week at timing my mile.  Last Friday, I got my mile down to 12:30, still working on getting it lower but that was almost a full minute less than the previous week's 13:20.

Yesterday, I did the fit test for Insanity - it kicked my butt, lol.  I actually did better than I thought I would.  I decided to do that 25 minutes test every day for a week before actually starting the program.  So today, I not only had my hour of zumba, but also the 25 minute insanity test.

My biggest problem area is my lower stomach, that part below the belly button, I have had many surgeries and aside from the scars I have found it a very hard area to "fix".  Well, planks and burpees are helping! Why have I never tried them before?! lol

My goal for this week is to move more.  Every single day, for this one week, I want to do something.  Mon, Thurs & Sat are taken care of with Zumba. :)  And the insanity challenge.  Great week ahead!

A cool Jeep