Monday, September 5, 2011

Labor Day 2011

Duckworth Labor Day 2011:

China Chefs, Miller Motorsports Park , Marble Slab Ice cream

Enjoy!




Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Florida 2011

Rory and I were looking for somewhere to go for our anniversary when we found a deal for Orlando! It was so fun! We went to Disneyworld, Universal Studios, and the Kennedy Space Center. It was a fun filled vacation for sure! The crowds were annoying at times but we still had a great time!

Our trip didn't really start off great though...our flight was canceled from SLC! So, we were re-routed on a different airline, which turned out to be a blessing. We were able to catch an earlier connecting flight from Houston to Orlando AND first class for FREE! Oh yeah! It was awesome. Hot towels, lunch, and free movie--"yes please"!

We spent the first few days in DisneyWorld. One day we even were able to go to Blizzard Beach (1 of 2 Disney's water park). The food in Epcot was all worth it! Dinners in France and Italy, Lunch in Britain. We never got to China (one of our favs)...but we did end up discovering a great place in Hollywood Studio's called the "Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater". It is a huge drive-through movie set up and you sit in little cars as your tables! Such a cool atmosphere! And the shakes were so yummy!

Universal Studios was fun as well! The new "Wizarding World of Harry Potter" was the big attraction where the Butterbeer was delicious!

The Kennedy Space Center was interesting. I had never been before so we thought that was a good idea for one of the days. My favorite was probably the IMAX movie about Hubble space telescope. The final shuttle launch is this week. If only it was just a week earlier! Dang... Later that night we had some GREAT seafood in Cocoa Beach. So Good!



Now some pictures..... and yes, I realize that they are backwards...Sorry.



















































Monday, January 3, 2011

Christmas 2010 and New Years 2011

Rory and I spent our Christmas in the beautiful 70 degree weather of Phoenix, Arizona thanks to Rory's parents, Brad and Marianne. It was a great trip! Just to get out of this cold weather and snow in Utah was well worth it!!! Unfortunately, I had to work those last 3 days before my break and then fly down that Wednesday night. Rory left the week before and stayed a few nights in St. George and Las Vegas. Down in AZ, we relaxed by the pool, went out for dinners, watched some good movies, went on a great bike ride, and had an amazing game of bowling! As part of the Duckworth's vacation, each morning was spent completing fun Minute-to-Win-it games! We competed as individuals but was assigned a partner each day. The games were really fun and made for a fun competition. Overall, we has a great vacation! Well.....at least until the ride home I guess....Rory got the stomach flu and was throwing up from Vegas until we got home! NOT fun! Especially when I got sick the next day with the same thing! Ruined two days of my break to say the least....

Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures down in AZ. We did get some family pictures taken which I hope I'll be able to post some time in the future.


New Years was low key this year but very relaxing. Rory and I got some much needed shopping done that afternoon and then went to a movie with his parents. We went to "The King's Speech". It was a really great movie! Being a Speech Language Pathologist I think made it extra special for me. It is about King George the 9th (I think) who ended up ruling England during WWII. He had an extremely bad stutter and sought help from a Speech Therapist who used unorthodox methods to treat stuttering. It was such an emotionally moving story! I loved it and would definitely recommend seeing it!

Afterwards, we went home to Hutchie who had been home all day by himself....poor doggie :(
We rang in the new year while watching one the the broadcast specials on TV. That next day, we went up to my family's farm in Midway. We spent the day sledding down the hill and snowmobiling with my family! It was sure cold but a lot of fun!

Watch the video below:



Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a fun and safe time! I guess it is time to start thinking about New Year's resolutions....Here are some I am thinking about:

1. Drink more water each day.
2. Workout 4 times each week.
3. Complete a half marathon and continue with Triathlons.

Hope we all have a wonderful 2011!

Monday, November 22, 2010

St. George Turkey TRI

The whole family went down to St. George two weekends ago for the annual Turkey Triathlon, sprint distance. When I say the whole family, I am talking about BOTH sides of the family, Rory's and mine. My sisters and I did a relay: Afton swam, I biked, and Adrienne ran. We did pretty good! First place at the race, but then when looking online a few days later, another team popped up in first place?? Who knows where they came from, but it was still a close race! Afton and A definitely killed it on their parts. I think I could have improved my bike time. I really hadn't trained as hard as I should have....But it was really fun overall!



Rory went individual. Last year, this same TRI was one of Rory's first. He improved his time this year by almost 40 minutes!! It is SO crazy comparing his times from last year! I am so proud of him. Now he starts Ironman St. George training. We are 24 weeks away until IMSG in May. Rory has scheduled and planned out his training schedule. It looks pretty brutal! But I know he is going to do great! I'm very excited for him!

Also, Rory's mom and dad both did their first TRI. They did really well! We are both so proud of them.

So, as you can tell, our family loves TRIs! It is such a great motivator to stay in shape and exercise! I'll tell you, when I don't have a race planned, I don't care to ever get my butt to the gym. Which reminds me...I really need to plan MY next race. These races are for sure on my radar for next year (among others I haven't decided on yet):


Sprint Sprint TRI

Park City TRI

Herriman TRI

Somewhere in there I would love to do either a century (100 mile) bike ride, a half marathon, or maybe just both! Who knows....work has been pretty busy this year. The summer was great to have off for the training. So I'll just have to work out the time either before or after work...

To those of you out there, I would really recommend getting on this TRI bandwagon! Or just any type of racing. It really keeps you motivated!

Below is a video that Rory made of the Turkey TRI. Enjoy!!



Monday, September 13, 2010

Check this out!

So I would normally never post any of these "before" pictures on (especially of me in a swimsuit); but I just had to show you our weight loss progress! Check it out

Before:



Rory wanted me to say that he was sucking it in for the picture above!

After:



About a year ago, Rory decided to really step up his efforts to loose weight. It has always been a battle for the both of us and Rory really went all out. As most of you know, Triathlons were his motivating source. Competition is marked within Rory's DNA so giving himself an outlet to be active with a competitive edge really encouraged him to stick with a routine of daily workouts and training. He has lost over 55 pounds! Yesterday, we decided to clean out our closet to get rid of all the clothes he just doesn't fit in anymore! Well, the picture above shows him now in what he used to wear this time last year! Last October or so, I remember he was complaining that he couldn't fit into any of his pants! He finally broke down and bought a bigger pair of pants, which are now featured in this AFTER picture. These pants signify Rory's peak of weight. I couldn't believe how much weight he had lost! It was really motivating for me to keep at it! I hope this helps any of you trying to loose weight! It really can be done! Just with a little hard work and dedication! Rory advises people to get something to keep you motivated, like TRIs are for him and plan an event like a 5k or Marathon. I am SO proud of you Rory! By the way...Rory is the skinniest now than ANYTIME I have EVER known him (9 years!). So amazing!

My weight loss is not so dramatic, but I am proud to say that I have lost about 10-12 lbs myself! Triathlons helped me also, but it wasn't until I started this UltraMetabolism diet that lbs started to shed off. It was about 5 pounds in the first two weeks, and now slowly 1-2 lbs per week since then. I haven't been good lately with training and workouts, but I just try to eat healthier including unprocessed and whole foods. I also tried on some pants yesterday, and these pants I'm trying on in the pic below are some I bought back in March. This was my PEAK and I just grew sick of not fitting into any of my work clothes, so I went out and bought these pair of pants. It was a good feeling to try them on now....

Before:

I remember feeling really fat that day in Bryce Canyon (about a year ago). I did not want any pictures taken of me! It really looks like I'm pregnant in this picture with my fat belly! It looks a lot worse blown up viewed full screen on my computer! Yuck.

and After:



Getting there....