Weight loss competition at work!

So I'm still dieting! I do really really good and something throws me off! I'm trying now to learn to deal with the food mishaps!

I saw an email to Crane at work the other day that said I'm stuck at ----- number! That email was two years ago! The scales won't go down! Well guess what? I'm still at that number, so I've been up and down the same 10/12 pounds for two years!

I'VE HAD ENOUGH!

I'm strictly counting my calories and logging my exercise into the my fitness pal app, I love it!

By Christmas I'm hoping to be in a 10/12! Some 12's fit now, but most don't. 

I want to wear really cute boots, and leggings, and boyfriend jeans, and scarves!

So 12's by fall! I drool over fall! I love everything about it!

Who wants to be stuffed into jeans or a bulky sweater? Not this girl!

So the competition at work is lose 8% of your weight in 10 weeks! Today is week 5, and I'm at the half way point with my weight an the half way mark! So yay, I'm right on target!

Tonight was girls night out, we were celebrating Marissa's Birthday! It was just the three of us, me, Marissa, and Donnita. Such fun and sweet girls!!

We went to Mexican and I ate low calorie spaghetti before I went. I didn't touch one chip, no salsa, nothing! I ordered a lemon water!

I was proud, because that's huge! And the place we went, ahh to die for! Best Mexican food ever!!!

Then once I left there I headed home, changed my clothes, and went with the family to ballpark for my boy to practice. I only did 1.20 miles tonight, but I'm right on target with calories today!

Yesterday I went to the park, and walked 44 mins! One of my boys rode his bike and the other walked the path with me!

Great family fun!

Headed to the ballpark tomorrow for a travel tournament. EE is having so much fun!

Happy Anniversary

Nine years ago today I married the love of my life!

We had a beautiful wedding, thanks to our parents!

I can remember my dad saying, "I will give her the wedding she wants"

I'm pretty sure he thought I hung the moon!

And he most certainly gave me the wedding I wanted!

It was beautiful. We had around 250 guests! We had the most fun reception I've ever been too! I've been to several receptions since I'm a photographer!

Everyone has told me how fun the reception was, and I seriously have to give most of the credit to our DJ's!

They were so much fun!

It was definitely a party!

We partied until midnight and then started taking down the decorations! Thankful for all the help we had! We finally got to our house at 2 am!!

My parents came over and brought most of the presents from the reception an we opened them at 2 am! It was fun! 

Our honeymoon was a cruise to the Bahamas! And we didn't fly out until Monday! So we weren't rushed at all!

So much fun and so many memories!

Tonight we got a sitter and went out to eat to celebrate!!!

We went to Long Horn Steakhouse! It was so good!

I love this guy more today then I did 9 years ago!

We have been blessed with two healthy, happy, handsome boys! We've also been blessed with our dream home!

B-Man-I love you with every ounce of my being! I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you!!!

Thank you God for sending him to me!!!

BC surgery on 6/24/14

I'm very thankful to report all went well!

We have a rule at our house if the kids can't eat or drink we don't either, we think that's only fair!

I broke the rule ;( only when he wasn't looking! 

I really did feel horrible, but at the time I thought if I don't drink something I'm going to be in the bathroom sick ;(

I woke up the morning of surgery and thought I was going to be sick. Now I know it was just nerves! BC has had 6 surgeries now and 3 of those were tubes, which after the first set you realize it's a pretty minor/common surgery! But this time I was a lil more worries because they couldn't do it laparoscopic, so he has a lil over a one inch incision!

Here is the IV bag that was on his bed

When we got there he was playing his tablet and did very well in pre-op! The surgery center is hands down the best staff of any surgery center! They have kids look for their lost pretend puppy so there are no tears and kids usually want to go help! Well BC wanted to find that puppy! He willing left with anestisiaolgist and they asked him if he wanted a fast ride to the OR or nice and easy and he ofcourse picked fast, then proceeded to tell the dr he wasn't going fast enough! 

That's our boy!

We forgot to ask how long surgery would last, so I started to get super worried after 30 mins, once he had been back in surgery for 45 mins I think I started to go into panic mode! Thankfully Brandon is the calm one! He helps me more then he knows, after 50 mins they called us back to consult room and everything went well!

He was up and doing a puzzle later that evening with dad!

A big thanks to Mrs Sarah that works with me for his goody basket! That basket saved us! He loved everything in it, and even shared with his big brother!

Sorry for the blurry picture he was still kind of thrashing around from just waking up!

My heart went out to him for sure! They just don't understand the anestisia!

Also a big thanks to mom Nini for his cash and goody basket and to Nana for his cash!

Lil boy racked up for this surgery!

The dr said a 4-6 week recovery doing nothing but up and off the couch to go potty! Well sorry dr, we tried our best but you didn't give us a straight jacket to keep him in so he has played ever since!

We are keeping him off the trampoline and not letting him play baseball, but I can't keep the boy down!

BC had to go to the ER on 7/4/14 for a possible fractured left arm! More on that later!

Colonoscopies save lives!!!!

After all my dad went thru with colon cancer, I now know that a colonoscopy can save your life!

I just wish I had called him one day and said let's go, I will go with you! Or better yet his doctor strongly encouraged him, he didn't, and had too many patients to really encourage dad or even follow up!

I know 3 people that have colon cancer! 

They are YOUNG people! There ages are: 42, 36, and one was 37, she unfortunately died 2 years later! Very very sad! We were pregnant at the same time!

Nothing about the colonoscopy was horrible! I couldn't eat for 30 hours!

For 24 of those hours were clear liquids, Popsicles, coffee, tea, broth, jello! YUCK!

I don't like any of that except sweet tea, but that gives me chest pain, so that was out! The other 6 hours was the prep drink and water only and then nothing 4 hours before my procedure! 

I seriously thought I was going to starve, all my friends told me different! They were right! It did suck but I managed!

My best advice is this:

Don't tell your co-workers you are having this done, or they put things like this on your desk!

Thanks Kyra!!! If you can't tell, that's an adult diaper/brief!

I did put a Popsicle in a cup and poured some sprite over it! I was desperate for something to taste good!

It was just ok!

The worst of the worst was the product prep I had to drink! Mine was called suprep! If I have to ever have another one I will ask for the one you mix with Gatorade! I hear that one isn't horrible!

I can't even describe how horrible that drink is! I wasn't expecting it to be gross, because it was clear!

I added ice, I added a straw, NOTHING helped!

The one at night was bad enough, but the one at 8 am the next day on an empty stomach was awful!

However after its all said and done, I'm glad I did it and made it thru!

My results were great and everything is fine! I don't remember a thing from the procedure! 

The dr apparently came in when I was in recovery and talked to us, but I don't remember that at all! 

I got in the car to leave, and called my mom and then we got about a mile down the road and I said, "I better call mom" and Brandon said, you just did! Ha!

I guess all the meds hadn't worn off yet!

Everyone told me I would want to go home an go to bed, and I did, but not before I ate first!

My wonderful husband took me to Qdoba! I don't remember ordering my food, but I remember being there! Ha!

A big thanks to Brandon for being with me, an being supportive and so positive!

I couldn't do it without you babe!!!

Happy Birthday EE!

We had to postpone the birthday party this year! I'm sorry son, we were on a family vacation to Disney World! Lol!

I think the trade off was worth the wait!

This year EE turned 8 and requested a baseball party! No surprise there! He eats, lives, and breathes baseball!

The hard part about a baseball party is he has already had one in the past, so I needed fresh new ideas and turned to Pinterest!

Here are a few things I found

Baseballs on candlesticks-ok simple enough! I had both already so made a nice centerpiece for the table!

I loved this idea:

Baseballs in glass vases/candle holders!

Again we had both so easy! I put these on the buffet bar since adults would be serving the pizza and I didn't have much risk of them breaking!

The cake table was all my ideas! I can be a lil creative!

We had the sign- hey batter batter, for his new baseball room but hasn't hung it on the wall yet, so perfect table decor!

I had a baseball picture frame so I popped his latest picture in it-so cute!

The birthday frame we use for everyone's birthday!!

Here is a picture of the cake!

It's exactly what I wanted! The bottom is chocolate with a butter cream crust icing, which means its not soft to the touch but it's still butter cream and not fondant. The orange stars and blue strips are fondant! The bottom layer was chocolate and the top layer was strawberry!

I was able to take off the top layer and the baseball and number to save for the family party!

So it served two parties!

The number 17, is his baseball number this year! I tried to talk him Into letting Leora put the number 8 on top instead, but he wouldn't have it!

I normally don't pay for elaborate cakes, but he insisted on having his baseball pool party at our house so we saved a ton of money! And hey-you're only 8 once!

For the favors I had to do something that incorporated the baseball theme but wasn't babyish, and didn't cost an arm and a leg!

I came up with these:

I had a microwave popcorn in each bag with a Cracker Jack box, baseball bubble gum, a ballon that had the rubber band on the end, can't think of the name of them but you bounce them with your hand! I also included a lemonade packet too!

I thought by the front door was a great place for them!

The only thing I wish I had, but didn't was this awesome sign for the front door!

That isn't my front door, but I did order this sign! Can't wait for it to come in!

The kiddos that made the party were:

Cole J.

Parker C. 

Cooper W. 

Eli C. 

Landon W. 

Logan M. 

It was an awesome party!

Ee were are so blessed to have you! Mom and dad love you to the moon and back!!!

Disney World trip 2014

The last time we went to Disney World was in 2010! Our boys were young, they were 15 months, and 4 years old! This time they were 5 and 8!

Both trips were fun and easy! Strollers saved our life! Yes even this time! No shame in our game! Brandon and I could get where we needed to go fast!

This was us in the car on the way down!

BC didn't want his picture taken at all!

I love to see the crosses on the way down! We are a praying family, everyday we pray! But God hears from me triple the amount of time when we are in the car! (Thanks to working EMS) for ten years! You never forget the bad wrecks you work!

I saw on pinterest to wrap gifts from the dollar tree to help pass the time in the car! I did that and it helped alot! We were at the Florida welcome center here and the present they just opened was those pop-it's! They loved stretching and doing this for a few mins, plus we got free OJ there too!

You can barely see this sign but it says Titusville! Our new baby cousin Titus was born on our way down, so I had to take a picture when we came upon this sign!

Our exit! Thank you God, we made it!!!!!

The boys were excellent in the car, but after two days of driving we were sure glad to see the exit to Kissimmee! 

We decided on this trip, we will fly from now on! It's worth every penny and not much money difference!

Our rugrats in the pool! We had so much fun! Our resort had 14 pools! We visited two of the 14 while we were there!

Who doesn't love this sign? I honestly can't remember where we ate the first night, I'm thinking Golden Corral, it always sounds good but for the money I don't think it's worth it!

The second night we headed to downtown Disney!

We ate at Rainforest Cafe!

Dad day and the boys made a car and got to race it at the Disney Lego store!

So much fun for sure!

We are stuff like this every night! It was vacation and our EE had a bday while we were there, so double reason to celebrate and eat cake!

He was tired of the staff singing Happy Birthday to him by the end of the week!

This was Cocoa Beach! Very nice place! It was an hr drive from the resort but worth it!

That's the hubs as EE, I tell them both they go too far out for my comfort but in the ocean he is the fun one and I'm the fuddy dud ;(

I had to have a lil surprise in the room for the bday boy! So I woke up at 2am and blew up balloons and laid everything out except cake and cupcakes!

Let me just say I had no air at 2am! Like none, it about killed me to blow up 4, I really wanted to blow up all 10, but it wasn't happening. 

Don't tell the dentist what we bought!

I bought all of his favorite snack food! It's hard to surprise them with something because they were with me the whole time!

Atleast we had a great checkup at the dentist before we left for vacation and no cavities for either boy!!!

I was thankful for this boy! I like a cold cold beer on a hot day! 

This day was the actual Bday! So the birthday boy picked Logan's! He loves their steaks!

We had lots of fun! We are at Orlando Ale House, Cici's Pizza, Olive Garden and Apple Bee's too! We stayed the night on the way down and on the way home to make it an easy trip!

The boys loved the pool more then anything!

The resort also had a movie theater and I thought to myself that's a nice amenity, but who watches movies on vacation? That would be our family! Ha! It rained three nights around bedtime, so the kids took showers, got in their PJ's and we popped popcorn and headed to the theater!

We had to drive because it was too far to walk but so much fun! BC climbed in my lap and fell asleep like a baby, and even though he is 50 pounds exactly, I loved every minute of it! They don't do that often anymore!

We did see a cruise ship on the way to Cocoa Beach!

Pretty cool!!

Gifts for the ride home!

It was so worth it to do this, that the hubs stopped me at the dollar tree to buy tape an wrapping paper! We had brought scissors for Popsicles! 

I will say to put thought into the gifts! I had nicer gifts on the way down then the way home! 

We also took the boys to the arcade room one night and ate ice cream, at the resort too!

We are normally a Myrtle Beach family! The boys loved going to Florida this year so we shall see what happens for next year!

We liked Disney World, but the boys hated the long lines, but both loved the roller coasters! Next time we will check into the fast pass option for sure!

We did get to see Goody and Donald at Pete's big top circus!

We also got to ride the new seven dwarfs ride!

We always have a blast on our vacations!

Downtown Atlanta! Yay! That means we are almost half way home. We drive a lil further and stayed the night!

We had 30 mins left for pool time at the hotel so we ran into our room and thru on our bathing suits and swim trunks quick!

Before turning in for the night we ate at Chili's and got balloon swords for the boys and couldn't pass up on the chocolate molten cake! YUM!!!

We also saw this flying over our van heading to land at the Atlanta airport!

Thankful for a safe trip home! There really is no place like home! ;-)

Thankful the hubs drives 99.9% of the way and never complains and puts up with my paranoia! God love his heart!

In my defense I asked for some "keep me calm meds" and the doctor said everything would make me sleepy and I wouldn't be able to help drive if I needed to, so I opted not to take anything!

Thanks B for working hard for our family and for your Ot days to make our trip happen!