Turkey and Girl's night

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday this year!  Our first get together was at my sister's house on Wednesday night.  There was tons of yummy food (my sister is a great cook) and good conversations!  Addison ran around the house with the other kids and AJ went from person to person, eating and getting lots of attention!

Our next get together was Thursday evening at Aaron's parents house.  Again, the food was great and the company even better.  We talked about what we were thankful for and enjoyed a "cheers" from Addi :-).

Friday was a relaxing day with a little shopping and then we all gathered for a birthday dinner for Aaron and his dad.  My mom was able to come over and enjoy the dinner as well!

Saturday morning I packed up and headed to Coeur d'Alene with my sister Christy, stepmom Mel and future sister-in-law Amber.  We met up with my little sister Amanda (she lives there now) for Christmas shopping and some fun!  We shopped all day, then went to an amazing Chinese restaurant overlooking the downtown area.  It was a dinner to remember - great stories and lots of laughing!  We all crashed at my sister's new townhouse and then headed back home in the morning.  We had such a great time!

Back at it...

I am so happy with what I accomplished on my last challenge, but I still have more work to do, so I’ve created a new challenge that will help me lose a bit more weight and hopefully tone up!  And last time I’m pretty sure I stuck to my guns by telling all of you in advance, so that’s my plan again.

My new challenge December 1, 2011 – April 1, 2012:

·         Lose 15 pounds

·         No fried foods

·         Workout at least 4-5 times a week

·         Sign up for at least 2 10K races

·         Train for a beginner’s triathlon taking place April 1, 2012

·         Create monthly mini challenges to keep me on track

o   This month I am doing a mini (10 minute) workout (pushups, squats, jumping jacks, etc) every single day of the month, in addition to any other longer workout.  31 days total!!

Wish me luck!!!

Mini Vacation

This last Veteran's Day weekend, Aaron and I took a mini vacation with our great friends, Brandi and Chris, to Sandpoint, Idaho.  We stayed in an amazing cabin on the water and had such a wonderful time!  This was the ultimate in relaxation, in fact, we didn't get out of our pajamas until late afternoon on the first day!  We made amazing meals, played some card games, and caught up on life!  Brandi and Chris are such great people and it was nice being able to spend so much time with them.  And a big thank you goes to Aaron's parents for watching the kids!

Happy Fall and Halloween!

I know, I know... it's December and I'm REALLY late posting about these topics, but life is crazy busy these days! 

Again this year, we headed to Smallwoods!  Addison was able to ride the cow train and AJ enjoyed the swing and animals.

For Halloween, Addison chose to be Cinderella and absolutely loved wearing that sparkly dress around the house (dad didn't like that so much - there was glitter everywhere!).  Addi carved a pumpkin with Aaron and was even more excited to put the candle inside.  AJ was our little golfer and he was so dang cute - if only he would've left his hat on!  I took the kids to the neighborhood houses while Aaron handed out candy - it was a good night!

Hall Calendars

This will be a quick post to showcase my latest craft project - hall calendars.  I got the idea from Pinterest (my new favorite website).  Now Addi and AJ have customized hall calendars, with hooks below for their coats and backpacks.

At the beginning of every week, I write out the days of the week on the white board section and then note anything noteworthy on a particular day that either I, or Aaron, should be aware of.  Such as, I might need Aaron to pick up AJ on Wednesday and Addi needs to take her library book to school on Thursday.

Such a fun project!

Happy Birthday Boys

Both of my boys had birthdays last month!  Aaron turned 32 and AJ turned 1.  Poor Aaron... with AJ's birthday so close to his, he didn't quite get the celebration he deserved.  BUT, we did make it to a very nice dinner in Prosser, along with wine tasting.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture, but we had a great time.  Aaron's dad's birthday is this month, so we decided to do their birthdays together over Thanksgiving.  It's later than usual for Aaron, but he's a trooper and doesn't mind.

AJ had the usual 2 birthday parties (it's become normal to do this, since we live away from our parents and most family).  His first was held in Wenatchee at Godfather's.  Many family members and friends packed in to the Halloween-themed party, and watched AJ NOT eat his custom cake (courtesy of Grandma Sparks).  Yes, that's right, the anticipated cake scene was a bust.  He didn't want it and kept trying to offer it to me.  Kind of funny, actually! Oh yeah, he was the cutest little golfer - I loved his costume!

His next party was at our house a week later and actually seemed more like Addi's party.  All of her friends came and they ran around the house playing with all of her toys.  AJ tried to follow quickly behind, but his little feet couldn't keep up.  It was a great party, but again, no cake for the little man :-).

Stay tuned for more posts - I still have Halloween to share, along with a very special trip to Sandpoint that Aaron and I took with great friends.  Then of course there will be Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday and a pat on the back...

First and foremost, it's my little man's 1st birthday today - Happy Birthday AJ!!  Mommy, daddy and sissy loves you soooo much!  I'll post pics of all of his birthday festivities soon.

Now on to the pat on the back part... that is, my own back because I lost 23 pounds on this 4 month journey!!  I was so excited when I stepped on the scale this morning.  Most women aren't too happy about stepping on the scale, but I couldn't wait to get on it this morning.  I wanted to scream and yell, but Aaron was still asleep, so I went straight to my phone and texted everyone!

It was hard, but doable.  It was manageable.  I don't think I went to any extreme, just a few nights of my belly growling and sore muscles from a few times of working out two times a day. 

Thanks to everyone for all of the support these last 4 months.  I SWEAR that by telling all of you my goal, I was able to do it!  I didn't want to disappoint! 

The journey is not over yet, though.  I would like to lose a little more and tone up.  I will probably take more time to lose the last pounds, but I feel like I've created a a great base for a "lifestyle change."  So now the workouts might be less (not 6 days a week), but the calorie intake will remain somewhat the same.  I feel confident that I can get to my goal weight and not lose my mind doing it!

P.S. To celebrate my weight-loss, and I guess to sabotage it, I'm making beer macaroni and cheese today for lunch and currently enjoying a bloody mary!
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October FUN!

I have a lot to share, so I will try to be brief with words, but abundant with photos!

My first 10K!! 

Octoberfest with my college girls - so much fun!!

AJ's first haircut!

Fun times...

Next up - Aaron's birthday, AJ's first birthday parties and Halloween!!

16 week weightloss update

I have lots of family and friend stuff to blog about, but for now, I'll give a quick 16 week weightloss update.

Today marks the 16th week and that means that I only have one week left!  My total weight loss as of this morning was 19.8 pounds.  I am so darn close to that 20 pound mark, but it's been so slow getting there - uggghhh!

Life has been so much busier in the last month, so my weight has hit some sort of plateau.  I'm still losing, but slowly!

Recently I mentioned that I wanted to lose a total of 25 pounds, instead of 20, by the end of this challenge, but I don't think I can lose 5 pounds in 1 week (at least in a healthy way).  So now I'm hoping to hit the 22 pound mark - wish me luck!

I did, however, run my first 10K and it felt awesome!  I can't wait to do another one!

Talk to you all in a week with the final challenge results!!

Birthdays!!

Just a few weekends ago, Aaron and I packed up the kids to go to Wenatchee to visit family and to wish my niece Kelsee a Happy 18th Birthday!!  I was able to watch her cheer at an Eastmont football game (being there brought back so many fun memories from high school).  I can vividly remember the day she was born and it seems insane that she's already 18.  And she's beautiful!

I also had a great surprise the same weekend.  Aaron and my two sisters planned a special surprise birthday dinner with my family.  It was exciting to see everyone!  They even made a cake with a HORRIBLE picture of me on it.  My sisters gave me a great looking keepsake box decorated with family pictures and filled with letters from my family inside.  I waited to read most of them until our drive home on Sunday - of course I cried!

It was a great weekend!  I love birthdays!!

Walking and School Prayers...

12 week weightloss update...

Today marks 12 weeks since I began my weightloss challenge.  I can't believe 12 weeks has gone by so quickly!

The scale today showed a total of 16.8 pounds lost!  I'm still ahead of the game for my goal, but it's been hard, especially with camping trips, a weekend home alone with Aaron and my birthday.  My work outs are staying strong, but the eating gets tough when there's events. 

Overall though, the weight is slowly coming off and I feel so much better about myself!  People are starting to notice a difference and I'm having to buy new clothes :-).

There's only 5 more weeks left of the challenge and my 10K is in 2 weeks.  My first goal was to lose 20 pounds in this 17 week challenge, but my newest goal is to reach 25 - wish me luck!  I just realized as I wrote this that I will need to lose another 8.2 pounds to make this possible - AHH! 

Also, I need to give a BIG THANK YOU to Aaron for supporting me through all of this!  He's had to put up with me counting calories at every meal, having to adjust everyone's calendars so I can find time to run, listening to me complain if the scale isn't cooperating, and SO much more.  Thanks babe - I love you!  And thanks to my friends too, who've motivated me and supported me - I know I get annoying talking about this all of the time, but you've all truly helped me along the way :-).

Next update coming in 4 weeks!

The Fair, Beer Olympics, Prayers and lots of walking!

It's been a busy end of the summer, but I knew I needed to stop for a brief moment and give updates!

At the end of August, Addi and I were able to take some time out to go to the Benton Franklin Fair!  I've loved going to fairs my entire life, so I was so excited to take her.  AJ stayed home with Aaron because it was just too dang hot for him.  We had fun eating, looking at animals and getting some sun!  Addi even got to ride on a horse!

For the Labor Day weekend, us and a bunch of Aaron's family headed to Alta Lake.  Aaron was able to golf all weekend (he was in heaven), Addi and I went to the waterslides in Chelan (all she wanted to do was play in the shallow pool), and we visited with family.  AJ was able to show off his walking skills and Addi was quite the social butterfly with the hotel neighbors.  We had a great time!

Just last weekend, Aaron's parents came down and took us out for a VERY nice dinner and drinks (thanks to me turning 31)! Then they watched the kids on Saturday while we went to the "Beer Olympics."  It's an all-day event that includes golfing, basketball, horseshoes, ladder ball and LOTS of other sporting games, and of course beer :-).  Your country (ours was Mexico) is scored for every event and at the end, there is an awards ceremony.  This was our third year and we got Silver.  In three years we've participated, we've gotten Gold once and Silver twice.  This is all thanks to Aaron though - he's very athletic :-)  I do have to say though, I did sink a 20 foot putt on the last hole during golf to help us win the entire golf event!

Addi is doing great at preschool.  It was tough the first week, but now her and Aaron have their morning routine down to a science and she eagerly waves goodbye to him from the preschool window and runs off to play with her friends and teachers.  I wanted to post a video of her showing us her new prayer, but it isn't letting me, so it's coming soon!

AJ is a non-stop, walking machine.  And I should also say that he will put EVERYTHING in his mouth!  Someone said to me the other day that I didn't need to work out, my work out is chasing him around the house.  He is constantly on the go and constantly putting things in his mounth.  AHHHH - will he ever slow down??!!!  I also wanted to post a video here, but again, it's coming soon!  So instead, here's a picture of him showing off his climbing skills.

Things are busy, but great!

And he's off.... slowly

First day of preschool!