2015 Awesome List

I've never made one of these before, but wow.  It's been so much fun to go back through my calendar for the year and realize how many fun activities we got to do, and even more? How much I've changed.  My favorite things on this list are not events I attended, but mindset changes.  I've grown in leaps and bounds this year and I truly feel like 2015 was just a warmup.  This girl is on fire.  2016 is gonna bring some big things and I can't wait!!  If you've never done this, I encourage you to jump in! Go back through your pictures, your calendar, whatever, and celebrate the stuff you forgot you accomplished!!  It feels great.

In 2015 I:

• attended three different Super Sunday events for Beachbody- left totally energized and got to do live workouts with Autumn Calabrese and Sagi Kalev.
• Got to dress up as Rosita and attend Walker Stalker con, and get my picture taken with Steven Yeun who plays Glenn
• Did the one mile fun run of Kacie's Run, and ended up carrying Luke on my back for half of it
• Got to take Gillian on her first Six Flags trip
• Went to JackFM's 80s prom!
• Took Gillian and her friend to see Newsies live
• Had a medical procedure done that I'd been putting off and that has made life as a girl so much easier
• Went to Nashville and attended the Beachbody annual Summit conference.  There's really not much that's more motivating than surrounding yourself with SO MANY people who choose to focus on the positives and better themselves.  You can't help but do it too.  It fueled my life in a way I never expected. 
• I set up monthly wax appointments.  This may not seem like a big deal but I've been so accustomed to putting myself last.  And over 40? The witchy chin hairs need to be stopped.
• I did a boudoir photo shoot.  The most amazing experience.  For real.
• I went to a Murder Mystery dinner and got pulled into the drama as one of the players.
• We had family pictures done for the first time in three years and sent out Christmas cards for the first time in five or six.
• I took the scouts to do Feed My Starving Children.
• We hosted an Ugly Sweater Christmas murder mystery party with Gillian's girl scout troop.
• My grandma turned 90 and I got to spend time with more family than I've seen in one place in years.
• Got to take the family to Great Wolf Lodge this summer
• Got to go see cool animals at the Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch.

That's according to my calendar.  Then I sat down and just thought.  This year also:

• completed 21 day fix, PiYo, Cize, and month one of Insanity.  Not bad for a girl who lived her life hating exercise and laughing at people who made it a priority
• worked hard on figuring out what I want.  I never ever took the time to think about it before and would always do whatever anyone else wanted to do.
• I stepped outside my comfort zone way more often so I could take more growth opportunities
• made my marriage front and center.  This year has been the absolute best year of us.  We hang out more, we talk more, and I don't get tired of being with him.  It's only getting better all the time and I love it.
• I DID NOT QUIT.  There were times I stalled and times I hated the discipline and times I rebelled.  But I'm still here.

And also?  This.  This is truth.

Be here a year from now.  You won't freaking believe who I am then.

21 Day Fix: Day One- Hubby Style!

Hubs and I have been talking about doing a workout program together and so far hadn't found one we both liked enough to do start to finish.  He decided to try the 21 Day Fix with me today though, and I'm hoping I can get him to stick with it.  Seriously, the entertainment value is so high that I don't know why I haven't been working out with him before.  Of course, I can't concentrate when I'm laughing, so there's that.  I can't even remember half the funny stuff he yelled at Autumn, but these stood out:

*During the warmup, she tells you to do jumping jacks and says you should jack it out.  I'll just let your mind wander into Beavis and Butthead territory on that one.

*"If I'm gonna work like this for 21 days, it better be worth it.  She takes her top off at the end, right?"

*"TOMEK? That dude's name is Tomek?  Like Legends of the Hidden Temple Tomek? (and for the record I think that's Olmec, but still.  I died laughing.)

*"How many people do you think have actually pooped their pants while doing this?" and then goes on to demonstrate while one girl is doing squats.  "See?  Look at her!  Barely holding it in!"

*"Who's the healthy girl?  Kat? Okay Kat! It's you and me!  We got this!  Wait.  She's beating me at this.  I can't keep up with the modifier girl?"

*"Frog crunches? What is that?  I can't even put my legs like that.  It hurts to just lay here."

*"Dude.  I already hurt.  But you're gonna do this with me tomorrow right?"

And yes.  Yes I am.  All kidding aside, I'm so SO proud of my man.  He's already lost almost 40 pounds by cleaning up his nutrition, and I'm totally stoked that he's starting to work out with me.  He makes me laugh every single day and I think we're closer than we've ever been.  Definitely makes us want to get healthy so we have as much time together as possible.  And it's kinda fun for me that I totally remember what it was like to feel the exact same way, and not be able to keep up with Kat, and now after a year I can do most of it with the regular girls.  He's going to be running circles around me in no time because the man is on fire with focus now.  We'll need even heavier weights soon!

And I was gonna post this picture as a congratulations, but it turns out that it's lies....

Oh well.  It's a goal to shoot for, right? Can't wait for Day 2!

Welcome!

It's taken me quite a long time to create this blog.  I love to write, but my ideas have been all over the board and I didn't have a name for the space I wanted.  Finally I hit on Freedom to the Fullest: Fitness, Family, and Faith.  (And yes, there will be an Oxford comma.  Deal.)  It's a long title, but I didn't want to limit myself to only fitness posts.  Fitness is a relatively new addition to my life, and although it's becoming more important to me, I have other topics to discuss too.  I feel like the inclusion of family and faith will allow me to document way more of this life journey I'm taking!

Why FITNESS?
I hated to exercise for most of my life.  I was blessed with a fast metabolism in my younger years and never worked a day toward health or fitness goals.  As I approached the big 4-0 I realized that wasn't going to work for me anymore, unfortunately.  After various yo-yo diets, crazy schemes, and stuff that just didn't work for me, I found Beachbody.  This past year I've lost almost 30 pounds and I've actually begun to like some forms of exercise.  It's truly a miracle, and I feel like if I can do it, anybody can.  I'll be honest about all my hesitations and plateaus, and I'll also shout it from the rooftops without apology when it's a good day.  This stuff is scary and doesn't come easy to me.  If you feel the same way, I know I can help you!!  It's amazing to be forty years old and feel better and stronger than I've ever felt in my whole life.  Truly.

Why FAMILY?
I'll be celebrating my 20th anniversary next summer (yes, we were but small children at our wedding), and our marriage is really stronger and better than it's ever been before.  We've had our ups and downs and it hasn't always been easy, but I'm beginning to think I can give marriage tips without feeling like a fraud.  We're not newlyweds anymore and we've been through infertility, miscarriage, postpartum, unemployment, insecurities, birthday parties, milestones, holidays.... I want to show our real family and our struggles as well as our successes.  Marriage can be hard work, but it's so rewarding.  Our kids are 8 and 12, and will appear here sometimes.  They're to the point where all social media must be cleared.  The girl doesn't so much care.  The boy hates pictures and any mention that he exists.

Why FAITH?
Well, because I can't do life without it.  God is important to me.  I don't always talk about Him, and my relationship is feeling more private to me these days than it has in other seasons.  I want to reserve the right to discuss it when I want to though, and I also want to work on other things that make me feel closer to being the woman He designed me to be, even if I don't mention Him directly.  I'm not even sure if that makes sense, but I think we all have things we do that make us feel closer to the force that we connect with.  I hear a lot of people talk about the Universe, and for that to work in my life, I have to take it one step further and embrace the God who I believe created the Universe.  I used to think that reading nonfiction was dumb, that it was more stupid school, and I focused every minute of my reading time on fiction novels.  I still like to do that a lot, but now I also focus on personal development- reading things that make me learn, make me stronger, and help me grow.  Faith.


I don't know how consistent I will be with this blog, but I'm not going to apologize for the timing.  I will write when it's on my heart, and I'll be silent when I need to be.  I'll post a link to each new post on my Freedom to the Fullest Facebook page, so if you follow me there you can keep up here as well.  I'm excited about my life, for the first time in awhile, and I love the idea that just maybe reading what I'm going through could help somebody else.  Nobody wants to feel alone in the world.  I did that for a long time, just because I could not open up and tell people how I felt.