My first pair of Nike Shoes!

Ok, so I broke down and bought my first pair of Nike running shoes. Typically I am a big fan of Saucony shoes because they are the most cushiony shoe. I have never like Nikes because they are always so narrow and just feel flimsy. But Jon, the 17 year old shoe salesman at Sport Chalet, told me that the Nike Zoom Vomero is by far the most cushiony running shoe on the market - and he is RIGHT!! I tried it on and it was literally like running on a rubber innertube. I know some people go for the stability but I am all about getting any extra bounce I can to help me when I run.

It set me back $119 +tax but I think it will be worth it. Jon, my new best friend, told me that I can try them out for a while and if I don't end up liking them, I can bring them back with the receipt. He said "we'll take anything back" - good to know! Thanks Jon!

More updates on the performance of the Nike Zoom Vomero to come......

Palm Valley Church

Since Kristin and I have been in Phoenix we have done a lot of crazy and fun things. We have met really fun people and traveled to many many different places. It seems we travel at least two weekends a month. But I think the biggest thing that has happened to us since we have been out here is we both found a home in a local church called Palm Valley Church. This church is like no other church we have ever attended. Palm Valley is a very progressive church with young members, the messages are presented in a way that is easy to understand and relate to, and the stories are amazing and easy to apply to our lives. The music being sung there is like being at a rock show. Live bands play Christian music in a very modern way. We both love it.

Kristin loves that I am taking an interest in going to Church because she was raised that way. I find myself in uncharted waters. I listen to a christian radio station every morning on the way to work to hear the different stories of the bible. Pretty cool stuff if you really pay attention to it.

WE'RE BAAACK!!!

Kristin and Jer Wine Tasting - 11am!
Viansa Winery in Sonoma
Private Tasting in the Wine Cellar!
Amiksha, Jill, Kristin and Ginger on the way to the Luau
Sarj, Curtis and Jeremy at 3 a.m.!!

Dad and his girlsThe In-Laws (Pallottas & Oravecs)
Kristin and Beth
Kristin & Padge
Kristin and Amiksha at Cosentino Winery in Napa Valley

WE HAVE A LOT OF CATCHING UP TO DO!!
We have been VERY lazy about updating our blog but we are going to try to keep it up on a more regular basis. I refreshed the look as a new starting point for the blog :-)

So, what's the latest? Over the 4th of July weekend we went back to Cleveland, OH for a short visit with our friends and families. It was nice to see everyone again and spend time with our families. My brother, Matt, got engaged to his girlfriend so that was an exciting annoucement. It was also nice to see our college friends at Around the Corner.

The following weekend we flew to Northern California to hit the wineries in Napa and Sonoma. We then headed down to Los Gatos and went to Kristin's bosses Summer Company Luau party. It was great!!

This weekend our good friends had a pool party on Friday night and then we floated down the Salt River all day yesterday. You either have to be in the water or in A/C when it is summertime in Phoenix, since we are in A/C all week at work, we try to get creative about staying cool on the weekends :-)

Bye Kate!!!! :-(

Our good friend Kate took a job in San Fran and she moved this past weekend. Last Saturday we threw her a 'Good Bye, Good Luck and Happy Birthday' party at the Sandbar in Scottsdale. Ames, Angie, Brooke, me and Dee took Kate to a girls dinner and then we took her to Sandbar and surprised her when everyone was there! Fun times - I gotta book my trip to San Fran!!!

My new workout program

Several months ago Kristin came up to me and said "you should really try this new workout program called Crossfit." We both belong to this small, crappy gym that has no frills or thrills of the bigger gyms. There are no running tracks, swimming pools, multi-media centers, or Starbucks/juice bars anywhere to be found. They just have fitness equipment and an aerobics room. We both love it. We can get in and out with out many distractions. Back to what I was saying. So she approached me with this program and I was very skeptical. Another body pump/kick boxing/yoga/ballet class... awesome, that is all I want to do. But, after a few weeks of Kristin doing this program I noticed that she was getting really ripped. Her stomach, arms, and shoulders were so defined that I then became curious about her workouts. So one day I went up to the trainer and asked all about it. He directed me to this website http://www.crossfit.com/ and told me to check it out and if I wanted he would give me some free sessions. So I said cool. I did the research and decided to give it a try.
Mind you-I have been working out almost my whole life. I consider myself to have good endurance and to be pretty strong. I was completely wrong. I was so humiliated my first session. It is amazing how different this workout program compares to what I have always done in the past. Just like most guys I did several different exercises for each muscle group. I would do a little cardio everyday and focus on two muscle groups per workout. This programs does not target any one muscle group. There is no such thing as a "chest day" or a "back day". There is only muscle endurance. How much can your body handle in a predetermined amount of time. For example, one exercise consists of three different movements pull-ups, push-ups and squats. (5 reps pull-ups, 10 reps push-ups and 15 reps of squats) How many times can you do all three movements in 20 minutes? Do you think that is easy? Try it! I beg of you. The first time I tried this workout was on my very first day ever doing crossfit. I would just like to say once again how humiliated I was. I could not even finish the whole workout. I stopped at ten minutes only completing seven sets. I though I was having a heart attack. I was rolling around on the floor breathing as if I had just run a marathon. I found a new appreciation for exercise. But after a while things got easier. I became stronger, faster and quicker then I was before. Now I can do this same exercise 18 times in 20 minutes.
Each day they post a new workout on the website. They show you how to properly do the exercise and everything. The great thing about this program is you only have to do the workout of the day. Your workout time can range anywhere from 10-45 minutes. In some cases even quicker. I encourage everyone to take a look at this website at give it a shot. Check out this link to learn more of what it crossfit is all about http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/what-crossfit.html

House Hunting????

Kristin and I are looking to buy another house for an investment. We are thinking of buying a bigger home and moving into that and renting out our current home. We like our home now but why not take advantage of the down market and upgrade into something bigger that will really pay off when the market turns around in a couple years.
So, for the past few weeks we have been checking out the foreclosed home market. You would not believe the deals that are out there. It's as if that are trying to give them away. Newer and larger family homes selling for $60-$90 dollars per sqare foot. That is unheard of.
Finally, after looking at about 20 homes or so we finally put a bid on a beautiful 3600 square foot home with five bedrooms and three full baths. It needs a little TLC (fresh paint and some minor repairs) but we might get it at a crazy price. We will keep you posted....

GLADIATOR TRYOUTS by Jeremy

After weeks of exercise and dieting the tryouts finally came.
Saturday Feburary 9th was a brisk Arizona morning, my friend Jen Lampe and I woke up at 5:30am to drive to the American Gladiator tryouts in Chandler, Arizona. After a quick stop at Starbucks we arrived at the Pure Fitness location where the tryouts were to be held. Tryouts were to start at 10:00am but lining up was allowed two hours before. So we arrived around 7:30am thinking we would be early but we were wrong - dead wrong. There was a line almost around the building. We jumped into line a began our wait for our "big break". We met some really great people in line. We had an opportunity to really get to know them because we ended up waiting in line with them for almost seven hours. Yes, you read that right. We waited almost seven hours before we could even tryout. There were some many people there that it got crazy. I was number 181 and Jen was number 182.
Finally it was our turn to tryout......
The first thing they make you do was pull-ups. How many can you do in 30 seconds? It is amazing how many people can't do pull-ups. There were a lot of very in shape men there that couldn't do five pull-ups. Personally, I was able to do 22 but they only counted 19 because they said I didn't come all the way down on a couple. Liars!!!!!! Jen did two complete pull-ups. Which was good for girls.
The second thing they wanted us to do was up and downs. (up and downs are what you see football players do when they are standing up and they hit the ground, do a push up and jump back up to your feet) Here again was how many can you do in 30 seconds. Jen and I both scored really well on this.
Next was the shuttle run. This event is about speed, balance and fancy foot work. I started out a little rough on this one because I had never done this before. But after a few seconds think I did ok.
Finally we ended with suicides. A suicide is running from one end of a basketball court touch the floor and run back. (Back and forth equals one rep) We had to do ten reps as fast a we can. The lady who was judging me said that I was the fastest that she had seen all day - I wonder how many people she told that to.
They made us do all of the physical exercises back to back without a break to see how winded we would be for the interview process. So after the exercise portion we were rushed into an interview where they asked all sorts of questions. Why do we want to be on the show? What would I do if I won? What is special about you? blah blah blah... I have to be honest, I was winded. I was breathing heavy during my interview so I don't know how that looked to the judges.
They said we would receive a call if we made the cut. That call never came. There were hundreds of guys just like me so I didn't hold my breath. It was really a neat experience. I met a couple of the Gladiators "Wolf and Siren" and I can offically close the book on trying to get on a TV show!