Happy New Year

It's been a while. Christmas and New Years have gone and here I sit heavier than before they came. BOO!! Just means I have to work even harder.

Things I need to work on:

-Not undoing all of the work in the gym for food.
-Being more careful when going out to dinner.
-Eating way more vegetables
-Drinking more water
-Working out more often (getting back into that habit)
-Limiting my chocolate
-Not eating crap that will just make me sick
-Losing weight BEFORE the next challenge starts.

Etc...

I'm working on the 365 photos this year. One each day. I have a feeling most will be on my phone since we are out and about so much. So, not the best quality or anything but I will be posting them on my facebook page. I have been wanting to do that since I first heard it and thought the new year was perfect to start. I think it's funny that my husband is doing it too. So we can only count pictures we take. :) Or at least that's what I'm doing. He's already stolen a picture. lol

Photography is going really well. I just booked my first wedding!! So exciting!! It's my sister-in-law's sister who is getting married on a cruise in March. Pretty sure I'm doing my first event too in February. A high school reunion. Sounds fun! It's all so new so it makes me nervous. But I know once I'm doing it, it will be a blast and turn out great.

My little Skyler turns 5 next week. That is so hard to believe. She is getting so old. She starts kindergarten this fall too. She has started reading and I am so proud of her. We are doing a smaller party for her this year. We only invited a few of Skyler's friends (and their families) and our family. We are so incredibly thankful to be having a party at all. 

Courtney will turn 7 next month. AHHH!! She is going to be having a birthday sleepover. Oh help us! I can only imagine several 7 year old girls running around the house. She is amazing at school. She brought home a library chapter book and read the whole thing in 1 hour.

Skyler and Courtney are starting softball soon. This will be Skyler's first season and Courtney's second. This is probably the only year they could be on the same team so we are excited that Skyler finally said she would play. We just wanted her to try it out to see if she likes it. She loves doing it at home so we thought she would like it. Skyler did such an amazing job at soccer. She loves soccer.

I am the sole Coordinator for our MOPS group this semester. (Last semester I was Co-Coordinator with Danielle) So far it's going really well. Our team is amazing!! January (and August) is such a hectic month for MOPS. So many details to get lined up.

The Biggest Loser Challenge starts back up on the 17th. I could not start it before Skyler's birthday party. Too much craziness. And way too much to do before then. This will probably be the last one I run (with people coming over to my house to weigh in). I could see running more with people not coming over, but it's just so much having to be home all of the time during those weigh ins and all of that. It would be nice to just show up to a weigh in instead.

Anyway, that's my little update. I hope to get on here more often.

10 on Tuesday

1. I love swim day Thursdays. I look forward to it all week. :) Kids swim, we hang out.

2. So for a little update on Scott's job. 1451 positions to look through, 273 in the U.S., about 25 in So Cal. He was able to find 5 to apply for which got approved by his boss. Now we wait for the process to be over. He will know in 2-3 weeks.

3. I didn't really do well at all last week (besides my 7 mile run). I managed to gain the 2 pounds back that I lost the week before. I have a feeling some of it might have been water though, cuz 1.2 of it was already off this morning (from yesterday). We'll see if it stays off by next Monday.

4. Swim lessons started this week. The girls love it. This is Skyler's first year in lessons where I wasn't in the pool with her. Courtney started out in level 2 but got moved up to level 3. It was very ridiculous what level 2 was doing. In the 20 minutes I waited to say something they did bubbles, one kick board thing with the teacher, kicking on the wall, holding the wall and pushing off, and Simon says (with bouncing and stuff like that). I went up to the other teachers who weren't teaching and asked if she could move up a level because she can already swim. I said I knew it was only the first day, but it's been 20 minutes already and they haven't swam yet. She needed to have a class to work on strokes, and side breathing...not what they were doing. What they were doing was pretty much what Skyler's class was doing. So, the girl asked the instructor and she asked Courtney to swim to her. She was shocked at how well she could swim. Then had her do the backstroke to test her. Then she had her swim to the next level class. Once she was in the next class it was perfect for her. Right at her level. All of the kids in this class were needing to perfect their swimming. So, now she swims laps pretty much doing different things going across. She loves it. I was shocked when I saw Skyler holding a kick board behind her head and kicking all by herself already. It was awesome.

5. I had such a great time on vacation this last weekend at Shaver Lake. It was so much fun. (more to come)

6. I was looking at the side of my blog at the goals section realizing that it has been since March that I first hit the 60 lb. loss point. I did get up to 64, but as of this morning was back to 60. I need to stop what I'm doing and get serious again. I just keep going from 60 lost to 64 back and forth. It must stop. I must move forward and get past that point.

7. I need to call to schedule my hair appointment already. I have had this free hair cut thing for a couple months now. I seriously need a hair cut. I will be chopping it off. I'll do comparison shots of the last time I got my hair cut and this hair cut.

8. I feel the need to do some major organizing and housework in general. I'm going to start sanding the window sills outside pretty soon and will be painting them after. I want to get rid of a bunch of stuff in the garage too and organize all of my scrapbook and PartyLite stuff.

9. Self sabotage....oh how I loathe thee. Especially when that self sabotage leads to me also getting sick. Why do we do this to ourselves? We know our goals. We pretty much know what we should and shouldn't eat. Yet we give ourselves permission to go against it.

10. Biggest Loser needs to come back. I need that additional inspiration.

10 on Tuesday

#1 This is my new favorite picture of me. :) Sometimes I get so excited to see my face in the mirror. It's amazing how much my neck and jaw line has changed. And I really don't mind a pic of my face anymore.

#2 Wow, was Biggest Loser amazing tonight. I am so inspired by that show. They had some awesome transformations. Scott and I were sitting there guessing about how much they weighed. We did pretty good. We were within about 10 pounds each time. lol

#3 Watching the Biggest Loser was the first time I actually got to sit and watch something on OUR NEW COUCH!!! We have had this blue sectional since we bought our house (9 years ago). We didn't want to get a new one until our kids were older because of the constant messes they make on it. We couldn't pass up this offer. It was FREE!!!!!! My in law's neighbor had them on his lawn to give away to whomever when I came over. I got Scott over there right away to see it. It's amazing how much it changes the look of the room.

#4 We were hoping someone would take our old sectional. We put it in our front yard with a free sign on it. lol No takers yet. We are calling to have it picked up.

#5 This is the week of Open Houses. Courtney's was tonight and Skyler's is on Thursday.

#6 We have MOPS Tea and Testimony on Thursday. This is the last meeting of MOPS and is pretty special. I'm in charge of the raffle as usual so I have to get ready for that. Also, this is the last time I will be in charge of it. It's a little bitter sweet. I've been doing it for so many years. But since I will be Co-Coordinating next year, I won't be doing the Fundraising position anymore.

#7 I made a fruit salad today on a whim. We had so many different fruits that I just decided to make one. It was sooooooo good. And Courtney even told me that this was a great lunch today. That made me smile.

#8 Oohhh I can't stop thinking about the Biggest Loser finale. All I can say is that when I get to my goal weight I am planning to have some kind of party. We're all worth celebrating, right?!

#9 I am so excited that my sister-in-law and niece are in town this week. It has been so fun playing with Bella. She's so adorable.

#10 I am a Frugos lover!! Frugos is an awesome self-serve frozen yogurt place near us. It feels so bad. It is so bad. I know the yogurt is better for you. But come on. It's still BAD for you. Just the toppings alone. Ok, so I could be good and get fruit on it. But who wants to do that? Not me. lol Sorry if I just made you crave frozen yogurt. The point was to say that it's still not a healthy food. Especially for me. I'm seriously surprised that I didn't get sick the last time I had it.

Weekend MADNESS

Ug! I gained .4 this week. Not much, and I could have worked out in the morning to lose it, but I didn't really want to have to do that. Especially since I was such a workout queen yesterday. I was so determined to lose this week, but it just wasn't happening. I had done too much damage over the weekend to recover from that.

The weekend madness is OVER! I'm sick of it. I'm so tired of having to make up for whatever I did on the weekend. A couple friends of mine are having the same problem. So, we are weighing in together on Mondays as well. Just to make sure we did well on the weekend. I really need this. And I need to exercise on the weekends too. I have been slacking on that too. Then feel rushed to lose the weight during the week. I hate to do it, but I think for the next challenge, I might have to switch it to Monday weigh ins. Fridays seemed so much better because then I didn't have to be as stringent on myself on the weekend. Well, that is NOT working.

On a good note, I got one of the best workouts of my life yesterday. It started in the morning with doing the 30 Day Shred DVD (with Jillian Michael's). I did Level 1 and Level 2 with no breaks. That alone was insane. Then I told Skyler that we were going to walk to go get Courtney from school. She told me she wanted to run. How do you like that? I got a challenge from my 4 year old. So, we ran to school. Skyler did so well. She's really a runner anyway. She loves it. She only stopped a couple times to pick a flower. :) That's so Skyler too. We picked up Courtney and all 3 of us ran home. We couldn't go quite as fast on the way home because Courtney is not a runner. She needed more breaks. I was so proud of them. Then at night I went to the gym because it was so late (and dark). I really wanted to run outside because it felt so great. I waited too long to leave. I ended up running 4.55 miles there (5.67 total for the day)and doing stretching and abs too.

It felt so good to push myself past what I thought I could do in one day. It felt like a Biggest Loser workout day to me. It was my last chance workout for sure. And I still gained. I guess I just need to take it from here.

Today was not a good start to that goal, however. I went out with my hubby for a date lunch to Chilli's. We hardly ever eat out so eating out was not good. I did eat well though. I had their guiltless grill chicken sandwich (however I had to substitute a different roll because I'm not supposed to have wheat) minus the sauce and minus the onions (yet another thing I'm not supposed to eat). That came with a side of steamed broccoli (and tiny pieces of carrot and a little cheese). I tried to take off as much cheese as I could. It was just a tiny bit on it but still. Then we tried Frugos for the first time. Also not a good choice. It's a frozen yogurt place. I didn't have a ton, but shouldn't have had any. Then my parents wanted to come over to have dinner with us. They wanted to have pizza. Ug! They ordered mediums at least so the pieces were smaller. I had a little salad and one piece of pizza. I'm going to be working out tonight at home. Scott is at a Dodger game tonight so I have the night open after the kids go to bed.

At least I tried to make the best of the situations and I am going to work out tonight. I need to be more accountable for my actions. That's why I'm putting it on here.

Biggest Loser Challenge

The Biggest Loser Challenge started up last Friday. We officially have 39 participants!!! That's just insane. So many people telling other people. I was talking to Roselia, because I couldn't remember how many we started off with last time and it was 34 last time. This challenge just keeps growing. I love that more and more people are wanting to make a change to their life and take control. And huge kudos to Roselia for starting it all. It's fun making new friends. It's hard to remember everyone's name though. Especially when they are only here for a few minutes once a week. lol I'm glad to be hosting it this time. It adds a fun dynamic to it.

My first week I lost 8.4!!!!!!!!!! I haven't ever lost that much in a week....EVER!!!! I'm still recovering from gaining after the challenge. Why oh why did I let myself just eat whatever in between challenges? I still have a tiny bit left to go before I'm back at 60 pounds lost. Then I will not be looking back. I'm starting off the challenge in 6th place!! I was 4th in actual pounds lost. I plan to climb the ranks like I did last time. Only this time I would love to be in 1st. :) Watch out ladies! Here I come.

Weekend Review

This is a picture of Courtney and Jenna trying on "makeup" at the park. These girls crack me up.

Friday started the beginning of the Biggest Loser Challenge. I will have another blog about that. So, Friday I had people coming over to weigh in. Saturday morning Courtney had a softball game. We found out that they are doing playoffs in her division for the first time. I really don't see why they should. It's T-Ball! She only has one more game besides play offs.

Saturday night we had an awesome time bowling. It was the MOPS Couple's Bowling Night. It was so much fun. It has been so long since I have bowled. Real bowling, not Wii bowling. I brought my ball and shoes. I was surprised that the shoes still fit. I went through so many different sizes of shoes through having the girls and after that I had no idea if they would fit. I got 3rd place in the first game and have no idea with the second. We were done way before the other lane so I totally forgot everyone's scores. It was a blast.

Early Sunday morning at the crack of dawn we had to be at church. (I seriously almost wrote butt crack of dawn. And now I did. Oh well...I think it's funny.) The girls were singing in the 8am service and had to be there at 7:30am. This was Skyler's first time performing with church choir. And the first time they were together performing. This was kind of like practice for next week's performance.

In the afternoon I got to go to my cousin, Randi's house for a "Stampin' Up!" party. Lots of family and friends were there to have fun making cards. After the party all of our families came over for dinner. The kids had a blast playing together. Adults and kids were playing baseball. The kids were riding their bikes together. They went down to the trail together too. So much fun.

What a great weekend!

50 Pounds Lost!!!!!!!!

I am so excited to be at 50 pounds lost! Wooohoooo!!!! One pound at a time. ahh it feels good. I'm so amazed at how much support everyone is giving me. I am overwhelmed by love. The wonderful comments are helping motivate me to continue every day.

The pictures aren't the best this time. The differences in cameras is a little bit more noticeable this time. Oh well. We get a new camera in a little over a week. I can't wait for that. Ahh to be able to take pics whenever I want again. That will be awesome. The photos are so small on the blog. I made them smaller for the blog assuming the full size would be too big. If you want to see a bigger version, you can go to my facebook page. I don't know why the tops are being cut off of the photos either. Oh well. You get the idea.

I had another 5K run today (3.1 miles). It was so much better today. I actually ran it the whole way. Minus the signals we had to wait for. Shauna and I ran on the trail in Whittier. It was nice having markers every .1 mile. That made it more encouraging to go further.

On a side note, I can't wait for the Biggest Loser to come back on. Don't they know I'm missing that extra motivation they provide me??? Those darn Olympics. haha I really enjoy the Olympics. It's fun to watch. I just can't wait for my Biggest Loser to come back.

It's hard for me to see the differences in these pictures. It might be camera differences, or angle, or distance. Or the fact that it was at night so my pants weren't freshly washed and you usually are heavier at night. Not sure if that makes you look bigger. lol Just a thought. It's probably just the camera. I can't wait to get our new one.

10 on Tuesday

haha A picture of my last Whittier Girls Softball League team.


1. Courtney LOVES playing softball. As soon as she was done she wanted to do it some more. She even has one friend from her class at school on her team. They did some awesome drills. I saw improvement already in Courtney and some of the other players. There were so many parent helpers that they were able to work in groups on different drills so each child would get specific help.

2. Mental note: Don't EVER wear flip flops to softball practice. No, I didn't get hit with a ball on my foot (which could happen). My feet were FREEZING!!! And everywhere else too. Man is that field cold. Brrrr.... Skyler had 2 jackets on and was still cold.

3. I lost another 1.6 this last week. I'm at 46 lb. lost now!!! I'm getting so close to my lowest weight after having Skyler. Just 3 pounds to go. I'm hoping to hit that this week.

4. I have been running more lately on a challenge from some friends. I am up to 18 minutes running at a 5.0 without stopping. This is HUGE for me. My last highest was 15.

5. Oh ya, I never did a blog about my birthday or Skyler's. I've been meaning to do that.

6. Bible study was amazing today. It always is.

7. I'm so tired today. I was up until 1:30am making invitations for Courtney's birthday party for her friends at school. I didn't have most of their email addresses to just send the e-vite to them. They turned out cute. I'll have to post a pic.

8. I'm sitting her looking at this High School Musical stage that I'm about to throw away. It won't stay up anymore and the girls were getting so frustrated with it so it's a gonner. It lasted over a year so I thought that was pretty good. It was cute while it lasted.

9. I'm in 3rd place in the challenge this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woho!! I moved up one place. I'll be lucky if I can stay in that spot though. 3 people are only .1% behind me. (And one didn't weigh in this week, so who knows how much more she lost.) I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.

10. It's raining pretty hard right now. I'm so glad that we don't have to go anywhere right now. I'm looking forward to step class tonight and watching "The Biggest Loser". LOVE that show!!!