Last day of 2010! Are you ready for 2011?

Back from my Christmas vacation. Over a week of just good times, relaxing, eating delicious food and yummy treats, working out, playing outside and I'm ready to get back in action here!

I think it's really important to take some time for yourself every year where you can just unwind and just be. Be by yourself or with family or friends that you are close to and just share in the holiday spirit - the fun, laughter and food of the season. If you know me or have been reading my blog for a while you know I am a big proponent of moderation. Yes, THAT is the key to life in my opinion. I didn't get too crazy with the food that I ate. But yes, I ate several foods that in my day-to-day routine I wouldn't eat. But it was the holidays. So did I gain weight? Who knows? I didn't weigh myself and haven't weighed myself. I will probably weigh myself on Sunday morning as I will need to set up some goals for myself that have to do with weight/body composition.

I had such a great vacation. I was with family and there was a lot of love and laughter and to me there's not much more I could ask for than that. Here are some things that we did together as a family:

1) GAMES: We are a "game" family so there was a lot of game playing. On that list were Catch Phrase, Scattegories, Name 5, Quiddler, Spoons, 25 Words or Less, and Shanghai (our version of Contract Rummy).

2) GYM: My brothers belong to the same gym (24-hour fitness) and even though I don't belong to that gym, every year between Christmas and New Years they have a free guest week where non-members can go in free with members. That worked out perfectly for me. So twice I got to go there with them. Another time I went to Golds Gym by myself and that was good too.

3) SLEDDING/PLAYING IN THE SNOW and SNOW HIKE: The day we went sledding the hills were ICY. And to be honest it was a little scary so I only went halfway down the slope because otherwise it was way too icy, fast and dangerous for my liking. I love to sled when it's powder and you know you're a lot safer and not likely to get seriously injured. So we sledded a couple of times and then we just played in the snow and hiked around and kept getting stuck in the snow. It was all in fun though! Another day we went on a snow hike which is always fun. We hike up a trail and then sled down. It was awesome! It's always beautiful and this time was no different. Great fun!

4) EATING: But of course! There were many homemade goodies to be found in the house and I sampled all of these - Snickers cookies, saltine brittle (don't know the name), peanut butter balls, buckeyes, pinenut cookies, peppermint bark, gingerbread/molasses cookies, "Puppy Chow", caramels (OF COURSE!), and black licorice caramels. I'm sure there were more but that's what I can remember right now. Then there were the stocking stuffers - chocolate orange sticks, Hot Tamales (yes, these are my FAVE), M&M's, Almond kisses, See's peppermint twists, mini Butterfingers. And then there were some days of eating real food. My brother made Thai Basil Chicken one night - DELISH! We had "build your own spring roll" night with rice paper, julienned vegetables, mint, cilantro, shrimp and some dipping sauces - oh boy! This was TASTY!!! And fun too. Another night my sister-in-law made Pasta Arabbiata with mini meatballs, Caesars salad, and garlic bread. Again very very TASTY! Basically my family knows both how to eat and how to cook. We are lucky I believe to have such great palettes and cooking skills. It was fantastic! Of course we all had to eat at The Training Table because that's just what you do when you are in Utah. They have the best dipping sauce for fries. It's true. The BEST! I love it. That was a good calorie consumption day. But it was all in fun and it was again time spent with family. What more could you want? Right?

4) WII GAMES: Three words - Michael Jackson Experience! WAHOO! This was so so so much fun! If you are about my same age then you know Michael Jackson was IT in the 80's and early 90's. You knew every song and every video and dance. Well, this is his music with the dances and it is FANTASTIC!! It was so much fun. Very funny to watch us do it I'm sure but it was great. We also did some Wii Fit games that included  Canoe racing (yeah, this is painful to do after an intense shoulder workout the day before - ha ha!!), Kung Fu, Slalom skiing, ski jump, bubble something (don't remember the name). I"m sure there were others. But at least we kept it active even with the games.

5) MOVIES/INTERNET VIDEOS: My niece got Despicable Me for Christmas. What an adorable and funny movie. I LOVED it!! We also went to see How Do You Know? I liked that as well. I would say it's definitely a chick flick but just easy to watch, kind of cute and funny. On the internet we had to watch Lonely Island featuring Akon's "I Just Had Sex". Definitely R-rated but hysterical!!  And then of course I had to share the Whip Yo Hair cockatoo video. Too funny! And then this Speedflying video taken in Utah (Mount Superior)! I'm going to put this one here because I think it's an amazing video!!



These guys are NUTS! But amazing to watch. I won't be doing that anytime soon though!

There were other things we did but mostly just fun and laughter and full relaxation. I worked really hard this year and it was just so nice to relax, unwind and just be. And to have time to bond as a family and share stories and laughter. That's the stuff that makes life worth living. Fantastic vacation and probably the best Christmas I've had in a long long time! It was just great!

Today is a pretty low key day. I'm going to make Chili Verde for dinner tonight just because it's cold outside. So I'm off to the gym to get in a good workout then it's to the store for groceries and then back home to get my Chili Verde going. No, I've never made it before but I know I love it so I'm sure it will be delish. I'll keep you posted. While it's simmering for a couple of hours I'll have time to get my 2011 goals (some may call them resolutions) written down and do some soul searching for those as well.

Woohoo for 2010! It was a fantastic year for my and I had so much personal growth. So glad I started on my Figure Competition journey. It has taught me a lot about myself and others. Thank you to all that were involved with my life - friends, family, blog readers and followers! It was a great year and 2011 will be even better I'm sure! So cheers to all of you and here we come 2011! WATCH OUT!!!