Stewart Falls

Last Saturday we decided to do one of our favorite hikes, Stewart Falls. I did a post recently about all the hikes that we did this summer in Utah and this was the final one to finish our list! We have done this hike many times before. Casey actually proposed to me at the falls. But we just wanted to do it before it starts to get too cold here :( 

I brought the Go-Pro and decided to make a little movie. This was my first time filming so you can sadly see my hand in all the footage. Oh well! Next time it will be better!

Enjoy!

stewart falls from ashley kirkland on Vimeo.

Wellness Wednesday: My Favorite Fitness/Cooking Blogs

I thought I would start a weekly themed post. Mainly because this will get me to blog more. And I really am into eating healthy, exercising and just feeling better about my body!

I graduated with a bachelor's in Exercise Science and then went on to nursing school. So I have taken my fair share of health science, nutrition, fitness, and nursing classes. I really loved school and I learned so much about what it takes to live a healthy lifestyle. So I'm pretty excited to start doing these posts!

WELLNESS: the state or condition of being in good physical and mental health

To start I thought I would just share my favorite healthy cooking blogs:

1. Skinny Taste

Delicious low-fat recipes. seriously this blog is my go-to for cooking and baking. The best recipes ever! I also follow her on instagram. One of my favorites is skinny fried rice. 

2. Oh She Glows

This is a Vegan blog (I eat meat too though). She has lots of good granola and energy bar recipes that I love. 

3. Iowa Girl Eats

This girl is a runner but loves to eat good food as well. She has great workout posts (treadmill workouts). And fun recipes like Healthier Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

4. Fit Sugar

This is kind of more of an exercise site than cooking. They do have great smoothie recipes! My favorite thing on this site is the fitness video section. If you only have 10 minutes to workout check out THIS. 

5. Eat Yourself Skinny

This girl just wanted to stop dieting and instead start a healthy lifestyle but continuing to eat the foods she loves. Some recipes: Mango Avocado Smoothie, Diet Coke Brownies (yes!), and skinny chicken enchiladas. 

6. Cookie and Kate

This is a vegetarian recipe blog. But I love her baked goods recipes. They all use whole wheat which is nice. My favorites are: blueberry lemon scones, banana coconut muffins and pumpkin pancakes.

7. Clean and Delicious

The author of this blog is a health counselor and weight loss coach. My favorites on her site are: super simple shrimp tacos and high protein mango lassi.  She also has interesting articles like "The Four Types of Eating". 

8. A Foodie Stays Fit

This girl is a runner who posts tons of healthy recipes! Some that I want to try are: Oatmeal apple breakfast bake and Whole wheat leek and goat cheese pizza. 

Click on the title of the blog to take you to the site!

Lately

Just enjoying the mom life these days.

 Chase has started to have more of a routine making me a slave to his nap schedule. So I have kind of been at home a lot lately. 

My dad came into town two weekends in a row! Once for the BYU football game and then for a golf tournament. We had lots of fun with him going out to eat and just hanging out  (a video to come soon...). Oh and Chase turned 6 months! on September 6th!

Here are some stats on 6 MONTH-OLD CHASE:

-Weight: 16lbs 8 oz

-Height: 26 inches

-likes oatmeal cereal over rice cereal

-currently hates all vegetables

-rolls both ways and pivots in every direction

-loves all kinds of toys and books

-sleeps through the night!

-puts everything in his mouth

-almost sits up on his own

-likes to talk to us

-has two little bottom teeth 

-he can eat his toes (very flexible) 

-knows his name

-still has a tiny umbilical hernia

-loves when Daddy comes home!

 Loves watching/listening to the rain

 Play time with cousins!

 Loves his grandpa!

 We like to take pictures

 American Pride!

This was before the shots....

Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are literally the easiest cookies to make ever! You don't even need to measure a thing! 

Ingredients:

1 box cake Mix (I like spice)

1 can of pure pumpkin (15 oz)

1 bag of chocolate chips (11.5 oz) Guittard are my favorite

Directions

1. Turn oven on to 350 degrees

2. Mix all ingredients together

3. Put 2 inch balls on greased baking sheet (I use parchment paper)

3. Bake for 15-18 minutes

That's it!

Enjoy :)

Baby Chase Fall Wish List

I have a problem with buying baby clothes. It's funny how when you have a baby you don't even care about buying yourself clothes. It's way more fun to buy little clothes! Plus Chase always needs clothes cause is he a growing boy! So I can always get the next size up. I wish some baby clothes weren't so expensive though. Here are some of my favorites lately. Pricey and cheap options...

baby boy fall clothes! by ashleykirkland8 on Polyvore

1. Grey Sweater | 2. Truck Legging | 3. Serape Hood | 4. Patagonia Retro Vest | 5. Llama beanie  | 6. Gap Jeans | 7. Emu boots | 8. Super hero tee | 9. Vans shoes | 

Exercising Post-Baby

Working out post-baby is easier said than done. I had no idea how hard it was going to be to find the time and then to have the energy to exercise! I always said that I was going to run a half-marathon after having Chase (coming from a non-runner here). I thought I would get all into running like all those other super skinny moms.....well, that has yet to happen. I still hate running. I wish I loved it. I am trying to get Casey to get me a treadmill hoping things will change. So in the mean time I have found a couple of ways to get my workouts in. I hardly ever use my Gold's Gym pass because basically my only chance to use it is when Casey comes home and who wants to work out right before dinner when you are starving and tired? 

So I have a couple of different things that I have been doing lately. I used to walk a couple times a week but now that Chase has a set morning nap at 9am I usually just work out at home during his nap. Here are a couple of things that I have found work well for me:

1. Walking!

Especially in the beginning when I was pretty limited on physical activity. My goal was to make my walks between 30-45 minutes a couple of times a week. Lately I don't walk much because Chase doesn't sleep as well in his car seat as he used to :(

2. Tracy Anderson DVDs and Youtube videos

She is a trainer for lots of celebrities like Gwenyth Paltrow and Kim Kardashian. Her whole thing is to not use lots of weights. I love her arm workouts because they focus on making your arms lean. She only uses 3lbs weight max! Sometimes if I don't have a lot of time to workout I just do a 10 minute youtube video of her arm workout HERE.  

3. Jillian Michaels DVDs

These are what I started with when I had my 6 week go-ahead to start working out again. I was super diligent about doing the 30-day shred at least 3 times a week. I think it really helped me to get down to my pre-pregnancy weight pretty quick (except for the last 5lbs which I still can't lose :( ). Recently I like to alternate between these two DVDs and Tracy Anderson. I've also tried Jillan's "Ripped in 30 days" but I didn't love it. It was a little too intense and I was worried I was going to injure myself. 

4. Xtend Barre

My sisters and I bought the Groupon for the Xtend Barre studio in Provo just down the hill from my house. I only have a couple of classes left that I am savoring! I wish it wasn't so expensive for a pass ($99/month) ugghhhhh. But they have free day care! which is awesome because I could go whenever I want! Anyways we love Barre. It is such a good workout! I am not a dancer AT ALL and I still love it. You don't have to be very coordinated haha. It is more like pilates with ballet moves incorporated. Here is the link for the Provo one. Your first class is free!

All of the DVDs are found on AMAZON and they are all under $10!

Chase the Traveler

I put together this little video of baby Chase and his travels this summer. I'm still working on my videography skills so I apologize in advance. We recently purchased a Go-Pro so hopefully we will get more videos up on the blog!

Enjoy!

Traveling Baby Chase! from ashley kirkland on Vimeo.

Fall Bucket List

I've decided that I am going to do a bucket list for every season. I feel like there are always things that I want to do to be more festive every year. And since I live here in Utah where everyone really embraces the seasons I need to start doing the same!

1. Moonlight chairlift ride at Sundance

2. Tin foil dinners up the canyon

3. Make this yummy pumpkin soup

4. Visit Gardner's Village

5. Do the corn maze at Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving point

6. Go garage sale hoping on Saturday morning

7. Discover a new Donut Shop

8. Make pumpkin cookies! of course (I like this recipe)

9. Drive the Alpine Loop on a Sunday afternoon

10. Go to the annual Harvest Market at Sundance

Casey's 30th Birthday Party!

For Casey's 30th Birthday I tried to make it kind of special. If you know my husband, you know that he loves to be social. So naturally I had to throw him a big party and invite all of our friends and family. We just did hot dogs J-Dawg style with chips and salads. And of course Magleby's chocolate cake for dessert! It was a lot of fun to have everyone over to our house. I wish I would have taken more pictures...oh well. I'm just glad that we are savoring our last moments of summer however I'm also getting excited for the Fall! 

 Chase grabbed a corner of the cake :)

This was so hard to do!!! I had to collect all the pictures from Casey's parents house then get them printed. The hardest part was making it into a 3. the zero was a little easier 

This was so easy to do! I just blew up the picture at Staples as an industrial size print. It was only about $3. Such a good deal!

lately

Life has been kind of crazy lately. Chase started teething which is always fun. My brother and sisters are back for school! And as landlords of my Dad's house in Provo, Casey and I have been busy getting it ready for the students. Oh and Casey had his 30th Birthday! more pictures to come :)

 my church boys

 Pizzeria 712 date night. My favorite restaurant hands down in Orem/Provo

 my little teether

 Chase's first time hiking the Y!

 He loved it!

 Finally got our new couch!! Seriously life-changing to have more room to sit!

 Painted the front door the color we originally planned for: NAVY. 

 My babe turned 30!!! He is an old man now!! We still love him :)

I threw him a partaaayyyy!! More pictures to come!