NPC Figure Show

Today is the big day. I head down to Mesa for the Natural Western NPC Bodybuilding, Figure, Fitness Competition.

Its been 3 months of intense training in the gym. 5 days of weight training and 7 days of 1 1/2 hour cardio sessions morning and night. Total dedication is required in this sport and can pay off in the end. 3 months of eating the same things over and over. Lots of lean protein and green veggies. YUM! I had to pass on my favorite desserts and sweets while all my friends and family chowed down in front of my face. After a while I got used to not eating with anyone and brought my food with me everywhere I went. It became a way of life for me. I passed up going out with friends and skipping get togethers so I would not be tempted to eat or drink anything bad.

Friday night I met up with a few girls from my posing clinic at the hotel nearby. One of the training gals sprayed about 10 of us down till we looked like chocolate coco puffs. I have never been so dark before in my entire life. Every little nook and cranny of our body was sprayed and there we all stood naked in front of fans for 20 min to air dry. If you were modest before your not now!

Saturday was a long day. I had to poof my hair all big and curly and put on about 10lbs. of makeup along with big false eyelashes. I felt like a drag queen all day long! We had an 8:30 meeting to go over the morning events. Pre-judging started at 10am and lasted for about 3 hours. I was in Class "C" which were all the figure girls in the 5'5" range, 15 girls in all. We all walked out in a line and went through all the turns and poses. Then we go back into a V formation and they call out he first 5 girls. Little did I know that if you get called out in the first 5 that is a good thing. Means you have a really good chance of placing. I was called out 3rd.

Leading up to this day I was depleting on my water and eating straight protein adding in simple carbs to soften my muscles for the show. Lots of rice cakes and peanut butter. I stopped drinking water the Friday afternoon before. So when I had a lunch break in the middle of the day, to carb up again, one of my trainers wanted me to go out and eat 1/2 cheeseburger and french fries. Wasn't quite sure how my body was going to react to something it hasn't eaten in a long time. It was the best tasting burger I have ever had!

At 4:30 we had to meet back at the auditorium for the night show. 15 of my friends and co-workers plus Chad came to watch me. I wasn't so nervous in the morning judging because I knew only my trainers were there. When all my friends showed up later...it made me a bit more nervous. I had to go out and strut my stuff while they read my bio. I don't like being up in front of people to begin with so being on center stage everyone looking, was a bit nerve racking.

After the intermission I found out that I made it to the finals. I was in the top 5 and had to go back out on stage to see where I placed. Back out on stage I went for a final pose down. Out of 15 girls I took 3rd place!

The show ended around 11pm and of course it was time to go out and eat some real food. When we were out for lunch we passed and UNO's pizza. 8 of us went for nacho's, pizza, and of course dessert. A bazookie (1/2baked chocolate chip cookie with ice cream and cool whip) YUM, YUM!!

Game day

Super Bowl Sunday, it's the Arizona Cardinals against the Pittsburgh Steelers. First of all Chad was out of town on a conference in Tennessee. His boss was a huge Titans fan and she thought they were going to the Super Bowl. She had all the employees come out a day early so they could attend the party at her house. Too bad for her, the Titans did not make it. Chad was bummed that he had to watch the Cardinals play in another state and not here with his family and friends. I mentioned to Chad that we have been together for every major game and if we lose this game because we are not together watching it, it would be all his fault! HaHa

It was my official last day to "cheat" on my diet for my March figure show. All day I ate clean and had a great workout. The boys and I were headed over to our friends house at 3:30pm with a few of our other neighbors in Glendale for the festivities. I decided to bring all the "bad" treats in my house over there so I would no longer be tempted to eat them. I started with a box of brownies. I made them and ate with a big glass of milk. When we arrived there was so much food out and everywhere. I started with the wings, nacho chips, cheese dip and salsa, 2 taquitos, triscuits, and cream cheese with Raspberry chipotle sauce...my favorite! I sat down to watch the game finally after chit chattin with the girls.

The first half didn't look to good. Things just weren't going well for us like they had been in the playoff games. Arizona turned the ball over at 2nd and goal and the Steelers ran it all the way back for a touchdown. I got up and had 5 brownies. I was getting text messages from friends all over the country and Chad and I were talking back and forth. My only thought was to go get more food and that would take care of my frustrations. During half time I ate more chips and dip, carrots and dip, big piece of chocolate cake with 3 scoops of ice cream, and a small slice of cheesecake. I was so full. But that helped me get over the first half of the game and I felt so much better! (yea right)

The kids were playing and having a great time with their little buddies. Watching the game themselves and playing other board games to keep occupied. Every now and then they would pop out and ask for food. Otherwise we didn't see them much.

During the second half things were looking up for the Cardinals. It looked like a real football game. We had possession of the ball more and were actually completing passes instead of turning the ball over. Everyone was so into the game, watching it with hopes of a win. When Larry Fitzgerald scored that last touchdown we all jumped with such joy and excitement, gave one another hugs and kisses. People had tears in their eyes. Wow, we can actually pull it off. One problem...too much time left. The Steeler's were getting closer and closer to scoreing and we just couldn't hold them back. One of our friends noticed that every time he had a brownie, our team would do really well. He kept going back for more and more. He just couldn't eat one more, that is when the Steeler's scored the game winning touch down with 35 seconds left in the game for a 27-23 win over the Cardinals. AHHH BUMMER!!!!

Arizona Cardinals are Super Bowl bound!!!

WOW is all I can say. Chad and I were lucky enough to get our hands on the NFC Championship Playoff game tickets. The game between the Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles sold out in 6 minutes. No one picked the Cardinals to win except all of us fans. It was amazingly loud and crazy. Who would have ever imagined that we could or would make it to the Super Bowl? All the announcers and ESPN are in shock. We had hope, but there was still doubt. Everyone was against us from the beginning. Well, who would be for us anyway if you watched how we played all year. Our record was only 9-7. We made it to the end and got through the big games. We did what we had to do when the time was right.
My parents made it possible for us to go because they paid for our tickets as a Christmas present. Chad didn’t know it before he bought the first round playoff tickets. They told me to get good seats and don’t worry bout the price. This game we got 50 yard line, lower level, 10 rows up for $2500…. hahaha yea right. I’m kidding. We were up higher at the goal line toward the corner behind the visitor’s bench. There isn’t a bad seat in the stadium plus we prefer higher up. It was perfect! I am so grateful and thankful (to my parents) that we were able to be there and experience this.
On our way up to our seats we ran into a few friends along the way.

2 days later my throat is still sore. I can barely talk without a squeak because of all the yelling and screaming we were doing. The minute the Eagles were in a huddle or had the ball then entire stadium was on their feet yelling. The only sound I could make was a blood curdling yell. The lady next to us came back with earplugs shortly into the 2 quarter.

It was a nail bitter in the end. The Eagles were scoring, bad calls were being made, Chad was starting to sweat, and I thought I saw a tear as he was thinking we were slowing going down the tubes. I was getting text messages from friends and family asking us what’s up with our team, the boat is slowly sinking, or we’re blowing it. It just got louder and louder as the fans were getting more anxious. The Eagle fans came out of the woodwork as they thought they could pull off a win or something. It seemed like they were all sitting behind us. They were especially loud when Arizona had the ball at the end. Didn’t really hear a peep from them earlier when we were kicking their butt.

Arizona held onto their 7 point lead in the 4th quarter to win the NFC Championship and once again we were there to witness this incredible event. The Cardinals beat the Eagles 32-25. A former longtime Cardinal player along with Terry Bradshaw presented the trophy to the team.
Then it was time to head back home to pick up our kids who were at a football party with neighbors. Holy smokes...we're going to the SUPER BOWL!!!!! I can't believe it!! GO CARDINALS!!!

Training for my first NPC figure Show Prt 2

The diet doesn't seem to be too bad for me yet. Got through the holidays and officially started dieting on Jan. 2, 2009.

Today is another measurement day. 14% body fat 114 lbs lean weight 20 lbs of fat weight. Yeah!! Going down in numbers is always good.

Here are my before photos to document my progress. I am trying really hard to stay away from the bad fats and sugars. I still tend to slip. But I also see good numbers so I am not worried yet.

Happy New Year, Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my awesome, handsome hubby!!!! Oh yea, and his twin brother Scott...haha

Love you boys!

Family visits Phoenix for Christmas

Scott, Sema, and Shiho came out the day after Christmas to spend some time with us. We opened more presents together and played the Wii Fit alot. We also had a few tennis, bowling, and boxing matches. Rylan kicked butt on bowling with the highest score and had KO's against everyone in boxing!
We took them out to our usual spot, Sol Y Sombra and Armitage in Scottsdale. Shiho had never been and its beautiful to see all the lights from up there. We really didn't feel like clubbing so this was a better option.

Merry Christmas!!

Tanner woke up around 7am blasted through our doors and whispered in my ear with a big grin, "Mama, mama, wake up Santa came last night!" Now first of all Tanner found out that Santa wasn't real and we confirmed it. But he has a part of him that still believes a little bit I guess. This year all the presents that came from Santa were unwrapped by the tree. He said that he figured it out last year cause they were wrapped in the same paper as the others and the handwriting looked like ours. OOPS! There were no tears or mental breakdowns when he found out, didn't seem to bother him.
When Tanner came in we told him it was early and Rylan wasn't even up yet and we would get up when he did. Tanner raced back into his bedroom to wake up Rylan and we heard, "Rylan, come on...look Santa came, look at all your presents, hurry!" After Rylan was dragged out of bed, he ran into the living room to see what was out there. "Wow, Tanner this is awesome, so cool. Wow look at this, yeah, Santa came, Santa came!" Now they both run in our room as Chad and I have been listening to all the excitement laughing at their remarks. It was classic.
We logged onto Skype with Chad's brother and began to open our presents together.
It took us quite a bit longer. We open one at a time and if its a toy for the boys we take it out of the box and put it together for them before we move on. Unless its a big Mega blocks knight castle that took Chad 2 hours to assemble for Tanner.
Tanner got a zillion books, clothes, psp game, Wii games, puzzles, and fun toys. Rylan got pretty much the same except Santa brought him a Nintendo DS. What Santa didn't know is that this was going to be pretty hard for a 4 yr old to play if he can't read yet. Maybe in a year or so, he can play it with no help. He and Tanner will share their little hand held games. The PsP is much easier to play for Rylan.
Throughout the day we just relaxed in our comfy clothes and listened to Christmas music, helped the boys with all their games and toys, put together puzzles, read some books, talked to family on skype, and watched a little basketball. It was so nice and peaceful. We didn't have anyone over and did not go anywhere. It was too cold and rainy anyway. Chad got me a pink Cardinals jersey and tickets to the first playoff game next weekend. The whole family will be making a trip to the University of Phoenix Stadium in their new Cardinals gear to cheer them on. It would be so awesome if they pulled a win off.
I won an authentic signed John Elway framed picture from a Toys for Tots auction. Donated to children and scored with my husband. He said receiving this gift was almost as good as sex...hummm. HaHa! Yes, he loved it!
We spent the evening playing the Wii fit. Chad rarely works out, his BMI was high, he was overweight, and had really good balance. His Wii fit age was 24. Whatever. I work out all the time, have horrible balance, was in perfect weight/BMI shape, and my Wii fit age is 42. Chad laughed his butt off. Tanner had a wii fit age of 28 and Rylans was 29. We had to help Ry with some of the balance stuff, but he did a pretty good job. We all trained for a while to get used to some of the games.

Tanner played his PSP John Madden football 2009 game for most of the afternoon while wearing his Steve Nash jersey that he absolutely loved! Rylan was totally involved with his Space shuttle blasting it off into space and fighting the aliens.

Merry Christmas Eve

Finally...Santa is coming to our house tonight. We looked on line to track him and see where he was. The boys are overjoyed & bouncing off the wall with excitement. They could barely contain themselves when we took off our last ring. The last four years we started a new Tomasso tradition of making rings or "links" so the boys would know how many days it would be till Christmas. We have a little picture we drew of a Christmas tree that Tanner decorated when he was 4 yrs old. This year Rylan signed his name and 2008 at the bottom. The children are off to bed and the cookies have been laid out for the jolly Saint Nick.
This is the first year since moving here that we have not had family in town or gone anywhere. A Christmas all by ourselves. Could be nice. Possibly a little sad. Well thank goodness we have skype video conferencing. We already opened a couple presents with my parents the other day and saw family that was over tonight for dinner. Its always so nice to see everyone. But it makes me sad that we can't be there for the festivities.
The boys have been out of school all week. Chad now works from home which is nice. He did take the whole week off except for today. They boys have been spending some quality time with their dad going around town shopping, out to lunch, visiting the Arizona Science Center and logging in plenty of video game time. I have been working these last few days which were my days off so I could take off after Christmas when Scott and Sema will be here. We went to the Christmas Eve service with a co-worker and here husband tonight and it was awesome! Lots of great music and reminder of what this time of the year is really about. Since we didn't have anyone coming to our house this year, I wasn't planning on doing a big dinner. So after the service we went out for...yep...Chinese food. We sang Jingle Bells just like in the Christmas Story movie. It was funny.

Early Christmas with Family

Since Chad's brother and wife were going back home for Christmas, they had us over for dinner and gift exchange today. As always Jill makes fabulous meals!
The boys just adore their little cousin Ethan. Tanner makes him laugh so hard and loves playing with him. I can't wait till little E gets bigger and they can really play together.
Tanner got a Star Wars Space ship and Rylan a Imaginex toy boat. As a joke they also gave us Billy Bob jacked up teeth. That was a big hit for the rest of the night.

Rylan's last soccer game

Its been a rough couple of months. The Rattlesnakes only scored one goal the entire season. Not one a game...one for the entire season. (did I already say that?) Now, they did score on themselves a couple of times, does that count. ahhh nope! Ry was doing pretty good there in the middle of the season, playing the best he could with the older kids. Then I think as the weather got cooler he was not into all that. He would pull himself out of the game again and take breaks. Today he didn't want to play at all. Of course we told him Santa was watching and if he played well and was nice there was a possibility that he would bring some presents. Worked like a charm! They gave out medals today. Rylan was sooo proud. And we were too.

Training for my first NPC Figure Show!

I have decided to do my a figure show. For real! I have been pretty wishy washy bout actually going through with it. With support from my hubby and a great trainer at the gym, I think I can pull it off.

I am not going to like the diet part. That is why it has been a challenge for me in the past. I love sweets, carbs, pasta, and anything fattening. I at least have some form of a cookie or dessert on a daily basis. To cut that out completely for 3 months might kill me. I think I eat somewhat healthy other than that.

Back in November when I decided that I would train for this I joined a new gym that was built by our house. Signed up for a nutritionist and a personal trainer. My body fat was 19% and I weighed in at 140lbs. I am at a healthy weight and body fat. Feeling pretty good about myself.

I got hooked up with the right people at the gym and they are giving me all kinds of great info on healthier eating tips and better ways to make my body transform into the shape it needs to be for show time.

Now its time to hunker down and get busy. I have to eat pretty clean during the week and only have cheat days on the weekends. Lots of protein, veggies, good carbs, while staying low on sugar and cutting out processed foods. Ohhh very challenging for me! I have to admit, I have been sneaking some chocolate in :-( I can't help myself.

This morning I measured in. 17% body fat. 116 lbs of lean weight, 22lbs of fat weight.

I am happy to see my numbers going down.

Do I have what it takes??

I hope so. I can't believe I am actually going to do this! ! After a long time of going back and forth in my mind, and encouragement from my husband, I have decided to compete in the March 28th NPC Max Muscle Figure Show(the day before my birthday!) that takes place in Mesa Arizona. Now this doesn’t mean I have to get all big and bulky like a body builder…that is the first thing people ask me. Its FIGURE. My muscles need to be defined and cut, but soft and smooth. I have to get a suit that I can floss my booty with however. I tried one on the other day and that was enough to make sure I get my butt in gear so I don’t embarrass myself on stage in front of friends and family.
I enjoy working out and am at the gym daily, sometimes twice a day. Most days I am at there by 5:30am weight training and doing cardio. I am on a pretty strict diet for the show and its only going to get worse. If you know me, you know that a diet is the hardest thing for me to follow. I love to eat sweets and carbs. I miss eating all those crap foods...for example one of my co-workers took out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (I had mixed veggies and chicken) and I almost started to cry! They all laughed at me and said, think big strong lean muscles, you don't need that stuff, eat your veggies instead!!! At least they are encouraging me to do the right thing. Since there was no way I could stay on track with all the goodies around the holidays I started after the first of the year. Since January 2nd I think I may have fallen off the wagon once at a baby shower. Otherwise I have been doing pretty darn well. I feel like all I do is eat. My whole day is pretty much planned around me stuffing my face with lean protein, meal replacements and veggies every 2-3 hours. Now that I am starting to see changes with my body it makes it easier for me to stick to it. I was told that in March I will have to cut out all carbs and I will be a monster to be around...we'll see what happens.
In middle of December when I first got measured, my starting weight was 139lbs & 18% body fat. Every month at the same time we’ll do it again. Since then my weight dropped to 134 and my body fat is now 15%. I lost 3lbs. of body fat! I also lost and gained inches in the all the right places. I still have a ways to go before the end of March. My trainer wants my body fat to be at 10% and mentioned that I could possibly weigh under 120lbs when its all said and done. Everyone seems to ask me…isn’t that unhealthy to be so low? Well kinda when the average is 20%, but to compete that is where I need to be. Its not like I will be there forever. When my show is over I am going out to party for my birthday, have a few drinks, and then head to Cold Stone for a gigantic chocolate covered waffle cone with the Oreo overload creation inside! Then I am sure to be real sick for the next day or two.
Stage presentation is everything. Soon I will be working with other women who have competed on how to pose and walk in my 4inch heels. This should be interesting. I have been told to practice daily and watch myself in the mirror.
Check back later and I will keep you posted on my progress.
To see me compete in the evening show, purchase tickets at http://www.npcmilesproductions.com/ticket_info.html

Putting up our Christmas tree

For the last 12 years we have had the same fake 7 ft Christmas tree. Last year while we were opening presents it took a nose dive onto our couch and broke in half. That tree was handed down from my parents who had if for lord knows how long. This year it was time to get a new one. Costco has awesome pre-light trees for a great price. I can't tell you how nice it was not to have to put lights on the tree. This puppy is a 9 ft tree that almost reaches the tippy top of our ceiling with our angle on top of it. We let Tanner and Rylan start the decorating ceremony.

Ahh the finished product...wait who are those two handsome boys?? I think they are waiting for Santa to come on his train. Yep, last year I got Chad his Polar Express Christmas train that he wanted for as long as I can remember. It has all the bells and whistles.

Here is our little Jack-Jack. I hope he is a good kitty and stays out of my tree. "I see you eye-ballin my tree mister" When we lived in Nebraska our two cats every Christmas would knock our tree over almost every other night. After the 3rd year of that, I nailed the sucker to the floor.

Family pictures

Grandparents, my parents, aunts and uncles

Valls Family Guys (4 generations) Cousin Todd is missing because he was cooking the turkey dinner and Uncle Shannon is in the back on the board because he is serving in the Iraq War

Valls Family Girls (4 Generations) My sister-in-law Jennifer is missing because she had to go home early and work

The only girl cousins

Daytona Beach

Friday was the last day before we go back home. My mom was wanting to take the kids to the beach. Just our little family went. My dad and cousin Todd rode up on their Harley’s. We ate on the pier where it overlooked the entire ocean and beach area and it seemed like we were constantly being attacked by birds wanting our food. I believe that was one of the highlights for the children
On our way down to the beach we put the kids swimsuits on. Of course they couldn’t wait to get into the water. Never mind the fact that it was a pretty chilly temperature.
The sun was shinning and it was warm enough for them. They played in the waves for quite a while. Rylan isn’t a dummy, he took one step close to the water and felt how cold it was, wanted nothing to do with the ocean so he made friends with the sand instead. He had no problems playing by himself while the rest of the kids were having a blast in the water.
My mom, sister, Chad and I watched and took pictures.

Chad and I drew our names in the sand with a heart around our initials…come on, you have to do that! Then my (single) sister saw our masterpiece and stomped all over it. Guess she thought she was being funny or something??

After playing on the beach we headed back up to the fountain area to wash off, get some ice cream and go shopping. We were trying to get back home in time to watch the Nebraska vs. Colorado game.

The guys watched the game at my cousins house. I took the boys back to the hotel, bathed them, packed up, Tanner did his homework, Rylan streaked in the halls, finished the laundry, watched the Nebraska game and got ready for our 7am flight out.. I can only imagine what was going through the guys mind as Nebraska was throwing interceptions, fumbling, kicking looonnng field goals, and finally squeaking out a win. It was pretty exciting just watching it by myself.

I got together with my cousins in the hotel lobby so we could chat some more before we all left. Before we knew it, it was 12:30am and I needed to be up by 4:30am to leave at 5am. Get back to my room, settle into bed and Rylan is coughing up a storm. And wouldn’t ya know it, we have nothing for him to calm his cough…go figure. I try to prop him up, I try to hold him up in my arms. Nothing worked. This went on for hours. I kept telling myself, the next time he coughs, I will get up, get ready and go to the store and get him medicine. Around 3am I was still rubbing his back and he finally calmed down and slept. Before I knew it, it was 4:15am and Chad was up and getting ready to leave. UGH!