Blogging Withdrawals

Hello,
It has been way too long since I have posted anything. I certainly have tried, but it hasn't been working for me. I am in Salt Lake City and I am staying at my sister Rebekah's house. For some reason her wireless Internet isn't working. So I downloaded a bunch of pictures on my laptop, but I can't post them because I can't get on-line. I then tried downloading them to her computer but that isn't working either. So you may have to wait until I get back home to see all the pictures. I brought Sarah with me and she is having a blast with all her cousins. Today we all went to the Hogle Zoo. It brought back so many memories of my childhood. I remember going to the Hogle Zoo all the time with my cousins. We all had a great time. I hope to post more later and maybe by then I will figure out all these computer problems and get some pictures posted.

I Don't Really Agree...

I don't really agree with these results, but it was fun!

Still going strong...

Well it has been 3 1/2 months since I started my diet and I am still going strong. I have been working out about 5 days a week. I usually go walking, but I do try and at jog part of the way. Tuesday morning I went walking before work. It felt good to get up and get my workout over with. I am glad I went in the morning because Tuesday afternoon we had some major rain!

Sunday Best

Sarah and Kate in their new dresses. Too adorable for words.

Two Cute Girls

Here are some cute pictures of the girls that I took on Saturday. They were getting ready to go to Kate's Birthday party with all of her friends.

Of course Sarah had to do one of her famous "poses".

Adventures In Babysitting

On Friday night I got to babysit 5 adorable kids. Really I was only responsible for 4 of the kids, but there were 5 kids here. George and Amy went to the temple with the Young Men's presidency, so I also watched 2 boys from one of the other members of the presidency. My co-worker Kim was babysitting one of my other co-workers daughter so I invited them over. We had a great time. I ordered pizza for dinner. It was a big hit especially since I let all the kids have soda to drink.
Of course dinner isn't complete without at least one spilt drink. Thankfully Kim was right there to help clean Kate up.After dinner I took all the kids in the Spa. I had them all sit down on the couch so I could explain the rules of the spa. They were so excited to get going...

We all got in the spa and it was a lot of fun and a lot of splashing!!

We played in the spa for a little while and then it was time for the next activity. Decoration egg shaped cupcakes. This was quite a messy activity, but it was a blast. I bought a plastic tablecloth and placemats for each kid. This made clean-up a cinch.

Each child got 4 Easter eggs to decorate.

Sam - age 3

Matthew - age 6. A quick story about Matthew and Sarah. A few months ago I was substituting their primary class and all the other kids told me that Mathew and Sarah were engaged. I asked Sarah and Matthew if this was true and they said "yes"! They both giggled. I asked them what it meant to be engaged. Matthew said "It means we are in love". So when we were in the Spa on Friday night I asked if they were still engaged and Matthew said "No, Sarah has several other boyfriends now". Funny!!

Ciana - age 8

Sarah

The kids all spent just as much time snacking on the frosting and candy as they did decorating,

The finished product... Yummy!

Smokin Hot Thermometer

I was so happy with my weigh in results yesterday that I once again forgot to update my "smokin hot thermometer" so here it is.

I also took this picture of me today when I got home for work.

Happy Birthday Kate

Yesterday was Kate's fourth birthday. I can not believe she is already 4 years old! Time flies that is for sure. She was so excited. I was downstairs sitting on the couch at about 6:30 a.m. I heard Kate run down the stairs. She came in the family room and peaked around the couch. I started to sing Happy Birthday to her. She was grinning from ear to ear. As soon as I finished singing she said "Auntie can I open my presents now?" She was really anxious to open some presents but I told her she had to wait. She went and got ready for school and looked so cute!

Her is another cute pose. She is holding her lunch box here, but it looks like a bag.

George and Amy decorated the spa with these cute Pink Tinkerbell decorations. It was really cute. It was windy when I took this picture, but you get the idea.

Sarah in the spa, posing of course :) This picture of Kate is right before she is getting in the Spa.
Amy made this amazing butterfly cake. She made two rectangle cakes and then cut out the pattern of a butterfly.She put all the chocolate frosting on and then for the wings she put on orange sprinkles. I like how she used the two candles as the antenna's. Very cute!!!
Here is a picture of Chef Amy and her finished product.

Kate getting ready to blow out the candles.George cutting the cake and wondering why I am taking a picture of him :)

58 POUNDS & 10 INCHES

Good News!! I had my weigh in appointment today and I have lost another 8 pounds in two weeks. I am so excited. That brings my total weight loss to 58 pounds! Also, I had thought I had only lost 7 inches off my waist. Actually I have lost 10 inches. I was measuring in the wrong spot. My next weigh in is in two weeks and I hope I lose another 8 pounds. The biggest reason is because I am going to see Andrea, Rebekah, and Jethro in two weeks and I want to look really good. Not that I think I look bad now, but I just want to really push hard so I can look even better. The interesting thing is, that I have 42 more pounds to go to meet my goal. Quite frankly I am happy with my body. I like the way I look and feel. I wish my stomach was a little flatter, but even if I didn't lose one more pound I would be happy. I am still shooting for my 100 pound weight loss, don't worry I am not giving up. But I just feel really good. Exercise has been the biggest key for me. Several people have asked if my skin is sagging because of the rapid weight loss. Thankfully it isn't. I think that part of that is because I have been exercising since day one. That has helped with muscle tone. Second, I am doing the right kind of diet. It isn't a fad diet, it is changing the way I eat and getting rid of all the "junk" I was putting into my body. Third, I am taking a ton of vitamins and minerals. Each morning I take 17 pills, at lunch time I take 6-8, at dinner I take 4, and at bedtime I take 3. So, that is a lot of vitamins and minerals. I am also drinking a ton of water. I drink about 128-160 ounces of water a day. Sometimes more, so that really helps. So add all of that together and you get my results! Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!!! I am just stoked!

Polka Dots

Polka dots are so fun. I bought the girls these cute polka dot dresses. They have little red sweaters that go over them, but it was really warm today so once Sarah was out of church she took it off. Anyway, I bought myself this dress on Friday. So we all wore polka dots to church today. I couldn't get Kate to come and pose in the picture with us, I wish she would have because she looks so cute in the dress. Oh well, life goes on. Sarah loves posing for pictures especially if she knows I am going to put it on my blog :)

Eye Of The Tiger

Last night I set a new record for my walk/run. I did my 4 mile route in 40 minutes. My previous record was 43 minutes. I was stoked and sweating like a pig. I ran about as much as I walked and it felt great. I usually go with George, Amy, and the girls, but last night they were gone and I wasn't going to miss my workout so I went by myself. I don't really mind going walking by myself. It's not like I am one of those people that can't be alone. In fact, I do enjoy the "rare" times I do have completely to myself. My problem with going on my walks by myself is that I usually find myself "strolling" instead of keeping up a fast pace. In fact, I often find myself deep in thought "daydreaming". When I go with George he really keeps us moving so that is nice. I think what really helped me last night was listening to music. I borrowed Nathan's I-Pod and he has nearly 1000 songs on it. I just selected the shuffle play list. I like almost all kinds of music, except country so I didn't really care what I listened to. I don't think Nathan is a big country fan so I didn't have to worry about that. Anyway, as I started walking a really good song came on. I don't even remember what is was, but it was one of those songs you know you are destined to work out hard to. So I started jogging. I just kept going and going and going. I finally slowed to a walk and was amazed at how far I had gone. I can't really tell you how far I ran, but it was further than I have ever been able to go before. I was really feeling good. More and more great motivating songs came on and I just kept running. I knew I was making some good time. I was on the last leg of my route and figured I would just walk the rest of the way to "cool down". Then the best song for working out came on. It was "Eye of The Tiger". I mean who does not love this song? How could I just "walk" when this song came on. I ran the rest of the way home. I was even wearing a gray sweatshirt like "Rocky". It was awesome....

3 Month Mark

Here are some pictures of me on my 90th day on my diet. I have lost a total of 52 pounds and 7 inches off my waist.

A profile view

Yeah!!!

Look at the difference. This picture was taken on 1/27/07. I thought I looked so good. I had lost a total of 35 pounds! What a difference losing another 17 pounds has made. I know in a couple of months I will look back on the pictures I took today and be amazed at the difference.

SPA TIME!

We moved into our new house a few days before Christmas. Crazy time to move I know, but it was good for me because I was very busy packing and moving and not thinking about all the yummy food I was missing out on due to my diet. Anyway, the house we moved into has a really nice spa in the backyard. We were all really excited about this, however it took 3 months for us to get around to using it. George has made a few attempts, but there the spa had to be cleaned out, filled, the right chemicals added ect, ect, ect. So this past weekend George made it his mission to get it ready. He did all the prep work and even went to Target to get some lights to hang on the Gazebo. Thankfully George is a great Handyman! Amy and I sure as heck were not going to climb on top of the Spa to hang these lights. Plus, George loves doing this kind of stuff. I know he was really excited to get out his electric drill and away he went....

Still working hard.....

Kate wants to help too, even though she is already in her pajama's.

Sarah and Kate modeling with the lights. This is their idea of helping.

Another picture of Sarah posing with the lights.

I finished taking these pictures and then went back inside. It was about 9:30 p.m. and Sarah came running inside. She was really excited and said "Auntie, we have to go to your favorite store right away!" I said "What is my favorite store?" I thought she was talking about Macy's and I knew it was closed. She said "Auntie, your favorite store is Target! We have to go get more lights to put up around the spa". So I of course said "Yes, I will go to Target". Sarah said she had to go with me so she could show me which lights to get. I figured she wanted to go because it was 9:30 at night and it was an excuse not to go to bed. Plus whenever the girls go with me to Target I always buy them something, so they are anxious to go at anytime. I went outside and talked to George and he said that he just made a comment to Amy such as "Shoot, I don't quite have enough lights" Then Sarah piped up and said "I know Auntie will go to Target, that is her favorite store". Before George could say anything Sarah was inside the house telling me we had to go to Target. It was cute... We went to Target, got the lights and were home 15 minutes later. With a bag of M&M's for Sarah and Kate to share of course. Then at 10:03 Sarah ran into my room and said "Auntie, we have to go back to Target. We still don't have enough lights". I said "Bummer, it closed at 10:00" and Sarah knows I would rather die than step foot in a Walmart :) Plus, the lights were the special "Target Home" brand, so we had to wait until Monday to get some more. Monday finally came and after a little more "Spa" drama it was up and running and ready for everyone to jump in. Only problem.... I didn't have a bathing suit that fit! Since I have lost all my weight my bathing suit I wore last summer is way too big. So I decided not to soak in the Spa. I don't even really want to go bathing suit shopping because it is the beginning of the season and nothing will be on sale. I don't want to pay full price for a bathing suit that I hope by summer will be too big! So I may break down and try and find one, but I may hold out. Who knows. I can tell you one thing... You won't be seeing any pictures of me in a bathing suit for a while. Still have 50 more pounds to go before I break out in a pose with a bathing suit on. But I can guarantee you this, when I do lose my next 50 pounds, I will be proud to pose in a bathing suit. Enough of that tangent... I just love this picture of Amy and the girls.

George got in on this picture. What a good looking family!

Almost 3 Months!

Well, it has almost been 3 months since I started this diet! (Tomorrow is the 3 month mark) I really can not believe that I have lasted this long. It is getting hard to stay motivated and at the same time I can't help but be motivated. When I think of how far I have come I still can't believe it. Last night I was getting a little discouraged because the weight isn't coming off as fast as it was in the beginning. I knew this was going to happen, where I would start to slow down in my weight loss. I was so used to it just coming right off. So I decided that I really have to increase the intensity of my workouts if I want to continue losing weight at a faster rate than I am currently losing it. I want to run more, but I need to get some different shoes. The shoes I have are fine for walking, but whenever I run I get such bad blisters that I am out of commission for a few days. So, I need to go invest in some running shoes. Anyway, as I was saying, last night I was feeling a little discouraged. I was planning on what I was going to wear today and I picked out this blue blouse that I got a few weeks ago and my standard black pants. These pants I have had altered in the waist and rise. The blouse I have only worn once before. This morning I put this outfit on and realized it was too big! I couldn't believe it! I mean just last night I was discouraged and then I put on something I haven't worn for three weeks and it is too big. I decided to wear it anyway, and all day long at work people were telling me my clothes were too big! It felt good, but at the same time I got really tired of pulling my pants up. Guess it is time to retire yet another outfit :) :) :) I am really sad to get rid of the blouse because I really like the style and color of it. But I would rather get rid of it than become fat again to wear it. The pants I don't care about because I have at least 7 pairs of black pants. So that is no big deal!! Anyway, I am going to sign off because George and I are going to go running.

Smokin' Hot Thermometer

I was so excited when I wrote my post about losing 50 pounds, I forgot to update my "smokin" hot thermometer. So here is the updated thermometer. I am 1/2 way to my "smokin hot" goal. Yeah!!!

Cute!

Last night Sarah wanted to read my blog and see the pictures that I posted of her that she posed for. After she read the blog, she said she wanted to go get a fancy dress on and fix her hair. About 15 minutes late she came downstairs in a green velvet dress. She fixed her hair by herself and even put a clip in it. She wanted me to take some more pictures of her for my blog. I had Kate and George join in too.

Another pose....

And another one.... I think this one is funny. She kept trying to do all these poses where she was 1/2 way laying down. I had to bribe her to sit up straight.

Here is a cute group shot

Cute Kate in her PJ's