Benefits of Exercise during Pregnancy

So this has been on my mind a lot lately. Before I was pregnant I was always super anxious thinking about whether or not I would be able to keep working out during pregnancy. I am happy to say I have been able to work out my entire pregnancy so far! No restrictions and all clear from my Dr. I am currently at 26 weeks and still going strong. I try to do at least 30 minutes of walking/incline walking, some days 45-60 minutes, and I try to do 30 minutes of light weightlifting/toning exercises 3-5 days a week, BTW the keyword was try, some weeks are better than others for sure. One thing that helps is I tell myself Okay I can exercise for just 10 minutes, then it turns into 15 minutes then 20, then I've reached 30! I know everyone's pregnancy and circumstances are different of course, but I think it makes for a much more enjoyable pregnancy if you continue to exercise during these important weeks of your life and your baby's life! Some of the benefits of working out during  pregnancy I have noticed:

• It helps you drink more water! I always drink more water on days I get a good workout in.
• It improves circulation!
• It helps ease back pain! I definitely notice that my back feels so much better, walking in particular seems to help ease any lower back pain I have experienced. 
• It increases energy! Yes, it really does, try it you will see! On days when I have felt super tired and working out is the last thing I feel like doing, I am always grateful when I do because believe it or not I have more energy during and after my workout than I did before! Of course, you also need to be eating right to have a good source of energy, and I would definitely recommend sticking to light exercise and walking on days when you are feeling really fatigued.
• It helps you sleep better! I always sleep better on the days that I have worked out, and sleep is becoming more and more precious as my pregnancy progresses. 
• It helps avoid excess weight gain during pregnancy. The less you gain the less you have to lose right? As long as you are still in the healthy range of weight gain during pregnancy then why gain more than you have to? I have gained more than I thought I would at this point honestly, however I still feel great and feel like my pregnancy has been as healthy as possible and I am not going to beat myself up about gaining more than I originally thought I would. 
• It's one thing you CAN control during pregnancy :) Hey that's always nice right?

Well that is what I have noticed so far. So all of you soon to be mommas remember this next time you don't feel like working out! So, tomorrow in that case right? ;) Hopefully I can continue to workout and exercise the rest of my pregnancy, we will see how I do when I am 9 months prego in August though! Wish me luck!

3.6 mile trail I try to walk 1-3 times a week! It is gorgeous

What benefits have you noticed from working out while expecting? What were some of your favorite go to exercises? What changes did you make to your workouts while being pregnant in each trimester? I would love to know what you did if you would like to share! :) Have a healthy day :) 

25 Weeks

25 Weeks

Weight Gain: About 27 pounds now
Anything making you queasy or sick? Not that I can think of right now
Miss Anything: Sleeping on my stomach. And this might sound funny but I miss getting in a really good cardio workout where I am like super out of breath and know that I pushed myself.
Exercise: I've been doing great at exercising the last couple of weeks. Walked everyday last week and got 4 or 5 days of toning in with weights. I have had a lot of energy the past week and I am loving it. I can still also do 8 real push ups, but my tummy is like touching the ground now when I go down lol I can still do a lot more exercises than I thought I would be able to do though! And I have been loving all this rain and cooler weather, this prego lady is not ready for the summer heat yet!
Sleep: I have still been sleeping pretty good lately thank goodness. I should go to bed earlier though.
Happy or Moody most the time? I will admit I have probably been more moody lately. Thanks Pat for putting up with me!
Fun moment of week: My parents and sister got to come visit me and Pat on Saturday and we went out to lunch. Baby girl is super active and I can feel her lots now. Also WE HAVE DECIDED ON A NAME!!!! So we wanted a name that kind of went along with my Father's name since it is the first grandchild on my parents side. My father's name is Brian so we  were thinking of names like Breanne, Breanna, Bria etc. We didn't love one though. So we were brainstorming and Paige helped me come up with it actually . . . .Brylianna. It is a little unique but I love it :) Little Brylianna Buhr. :) It is fun to say too, bonus lol.

And we went to Lowe's and here is me in one of my dream kitchens lol. One day. 

DIY Burlap Wreath

I was crafty for once! I decided we needed something that we could hang in our front window that I could leave up year round because I just barely took our Easter decoration down a couple of weeks ago ha ha. So I decided to make a burlap wreath!

It was way easier than I thought it would be however I have to tell you that in all those diy burlap wreath tutorials no one tells you that burlap sheds when you weave it through the wreath! There were tiny little burlap hairs all over my table and the pants I was wearing lol. They do clean up pretty easy though thank goodness.

 So I started weaving but then undid this and started over attaching the solid burlap to the outside ring and the chevron burlap to the inside one and then alternated rows with the different colors. The chevron burlap was also way too thick so I folded it in half because I didn't want to cut it, but it worked.

I had some leftover solid burlap so I weaved it just around the inside and outside of the wreath in places that looked like it needed it.
Then I painted the B in our wedding colors (blue and green). While that dried I took some sparkly green ribbon and just weaved it through  the middle ring. Then I put the letter where I wanted it and ta-da! I quite like it and it is in our wedding colors and I finished it on our Anniversary awww. Now I have a wreath that I can leave up year round and I love it!

This was kind of bad lighting but it was dark by the time I finished and hung it up and I just wanted a picture of it. 

5 Years into Forever

Anniversary

Pat and I have been married for 5 whole years now, wow time really flies! It has been wonderful, fun, hard, joyful, and adventurous. We take turns every year who plans our Anniversary and this year it was my turn. Since we went to Hawaii last month we just celebrated by going out to dinner and I booked us a room at the Anniversary Inn here in Logan. 

I tried to confuse Pat as to where we were going by making him shut his eyes while we drove to the Anniversary Inn and I even drove all the way around the round a bout and turned into a parking lot and made a lot of turns but he still knew where we were. Darn his good sense of direction lol. Oh well. We had a very nice evening together. Our room was awesome, it was the Biker's Roadhouse. It had a motorcycle in the room, a pool, table, a pinball machine, a jetted tub, and we had cheesecake, popcorn and chips and salsa waiting for us. Pat even got the 2nd highest score on the pinball machine! 

I am so grateful that I found such a wonderful man to be mine and that we could be married and sealed together in the temple and that we never had to hear the words "til death do us part". Most people don't ever want good things to come to an end ( In my opinion that is because we are made for eternity.)  and I definitely think marriage and relationships are some of those good things. I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and that we have the opportunity for families to be together forever. I am especially grateful for that now that we have a cute little girl on the way that will be joining our family soon. 

Here's a great video explaining how forever families are possible. 

https://www.lds.org/pages/families-can-be-together-forever?lang=eng

At our wedding breakfast

Some of the pictures were super blurry, it was kinda dark lighting too. Oh well 

Hey look I'm driving!

Pat actually go the second and eighth highest score. I'm so proud. He accidentally entered his initials in wrong though ha ha. Can you see the cute little motorcycle in the pinball machine?

They had these cute little motorcycle lamps that engines revved when you turned the lamp on

Our souvenir mugs :) 

Nom nom nom

I loved the cute folded towels

Mmmm breakfast!

And here is my bump picture for this week :)

The following morning I wanted to at least walk around the Logan temple, but it was raining so we didn't stay very long. We need to come back and do sealings soon!

We also looked at a baby store and had fun looking at cribs and strollers and awesome huge ridiculously priced stuffed animals ha ha

I thought this giraffe was absolutely adorable and I wanted to buy it, but it was like a hundred and sixty dollars ha ha

Pat liked this Bear

1st Year Anniversary we went to Ouray Colorado

2nd Year Anniversary I think we just bought a pizza because that is what sounded good to both of us . We actually don't have any pictures lol We actually had a hard year that year too and didn't have a lot of money.

3rd Year Anniversary we really wanted to celebrate and we went on a cruise to the Carribbean. It was a blast!

4th Year Anniversary Pat took me to a really nice Resort in Park City :)

And here is this year. Pat and I miss on going on motorcycle rides together so this was the best we could do this year because I won't ride the motorcycle while being pregnant. And wow this really makes me realize how much weight I have gained lol, but it is for a good cause :) 

Love you Pat I look forward to the many years and memories ahead of us!

24 Weeks

24 Weeks

 Weight Gain: Belly bump keeps getting bigger! We have reached 25 pounds. I've said this before and I will say it again, but I don't know how my stomach can keep growing, it already feels huge lol. It really is crazy to watch yourself change and grow so much. There is so much going on in there it really is a miracle and I am so grateful that there is a little life growing inside of me, it is just amazing.
Anything making you queasy or sick? Just if I wait too long too eat. And I took my glucose test thing this week and it was pretty sugary and made my stomach unsettled for like the rest of the day. And it made baby girl super active, I think we both had a sugar high followed by a sugar crash ha ha The taste actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but it did kinda burn my throat a little bit going down, and is not my preferred choice of what to have for breakfast.
Maternity clothes: I am finding stuff that works that isn't maternity just comfy, Kohl's has some good things and I can usually find stuff there.
Sleep: Still sleeping alright, I randomly woke up the other night at like 6 in the morning and couldn't go back to sleep for a couple of hours though.
Exercise: Still walking lots. I usually try to do half an hour of walking or more everyday and then a toning workout on most days of the week. I actually just worked out right before I got on the computer. I do need to take more frequent breaks in between reps and sets and stuff like that I am definitely noticing. I like working out because I have more energy for the day and it usually really helps me drink more water throughout the workout and rest of the day.
Best moment of the week: Mine and Pat's 5 year Anniversary!!! I will probably write a whole blog post on that :)

I love my treadmill. It makes cardio so easy! I can't believe people who have a treadmill but don't really use it, I hope that doesn't become me in several years. I love my treadmill and we have been spending lots of quality time together lately  

23 weeks

23 Weeks

Paige came and visited me this week and we had a fun girl's weekend we went shopping and went to lunch at one of my favorite places called Callaway's in Smithfield. We watched the movie Penguins and laughed way too much and just had fun :)
Weight Gain: Wow we are up to almost 25 pounds now
Anything making you queasy or sick? Not that I can think of right now
Maternity Clothes: So I've figured out why I need so many maternity clothes: #1 I am outgrowing all of my clothes and #2 I am working 2 jobs. If I didn't have to go to work I would probably just wear Pat's sweatpants around the house all day ha ha But I have to have work clothes so that's that.
Sleep: I am still sleeping okay but I shift around a lot and it is already getting hard to be comfy for long periods of time.
Exercise: I am still walking lots and now the weather is nice I can walk on some of the trails that I like that are close by yay!
Memorable moment this week: Pat and I went on a fun date up Logan Canyon and went on a little hike and watched a dvd on our dvd player in the back of our car with lots of pillows and blankets.
Earlier this year we drove up the canyon and we saw a Moose! I have never seen a Moose in Logan before, it was pretty close, we could see it without binoculars pretty good.

Lunch with Paigey

Logan Canyon

Pat thinks these are Mountain Lion or Bear paw prints or something, he thinks they are too big to be dog paw prints and that the claws were too long, Who knows? I told him I probably couldn't run very fast anymore lol so I hope we never find out!

Yes the screen is tiny lol, but, hey we had front row seats!