Another pound bites the dust!

As I have previously mentioned...I'm really serious about losing those last several pounds of 'baby weight' this year. And I'm happy to report that I'm still sticking to my guns, and I've lost 6.8 pounds in 3 weeks!!! Most of the credit goes to my bodybugg...the whole calories in, calories out concept has turned me into an obsessed calorie nazi! : ) But I've also started eating healthier, and even started drinking more water! (The only other time that I've been able to tolerate drinking boring ol' water was with each pregnancy!) I detest how boring water is, and don't want to add even more artifical sweeteners to rev it up, so I'm starting slow, and working my way up. Still haven't managed to bring down the amount of Cherry Coke Zero...but there is always hope!

I decided that it would make life easier if I also started getting some exercise on a regular basis (both to lose the weight, and then to maintain it once I reach my goal). I checked out the selection of work out videos on Netflix...determined to find one that I like before I actually spend the money to buy it. I chose Jillian Michael's 30 day shred, because I LOVE Jillian and her no excuses attitude about weight loss. I tried it last Friday for the first time...it was a 20 minute trip through hell, and I was quite sure that I was going to die before the 20 minutes was up! I was sweating so badly that I had to take a shower afterwards, and my arms hurt so bad that I had a hard time washing my hair! That's how out of shape I am!!!!! I could barely walk all weekend long, and my dear husband laughed at me everytime he witnessed my old lady butt walking up or down the stairs...my quads were seriously the sorest they have ever been (it even hurt to let my kids sit on my lap with their bony little butts)! However, I perservered, and even started another work out program (that I'm much more likely to stick with).

I decided that since I have a limited amount of time to work out, I needed to get the most bang for my buck...thus the idea of running came into my mind. However, NEVER have been a runner, and the thought of it scares me...REALLY scares me. I have a friend in Portland that I've reconnected with on Facebook, and she did this Couch to 5k training program, with much success and really liked it. So I figured I'd give it a try...downloaded the program to my iphone... and I've almost finished the first week, and it was way worse in my head than what it is in reality!!!! I really think I can do this running thing! And to keep me even more on track with it, I'm going to go get fitted for some running shoes (because we all know how cheap my hubby is, and how mad he'll be at me if I buy expensive shoes and then quit doing the program), what better motivator is there than a new pair of shoes! : )

Enough about me...the boys are also obsessed with something new...Super Mario Brothers Wii. I was informed this morning that they are now known as the Bowser brothers...how cute is that?!? Lucas is Dry Bowser, and Zach is Bowser Jr...pretty fitting I'd say! Last night Casey managed to save the princess and finish world 8! The boys were beyond excited with his accomplishment, and can hardly wait to see what is in the secret world 9 that he has unlocked!

I was reading my Family Fun magazine again yesterday. And this month they've provided me with yet another great idea! Whenever the boys say something cute and I tell someone, they always ask if I'm writing this down...and while it sounds like a good idea, I've never really known how to go about it. The family in this article has index cards with the date on them, one for each day of the year. Then at dinner time they all contribute something to the card about their day...and since sharing stories about our day is what the family dinnertime is all about...I'm going to try this out, starting tonight! You can put the cards in a card box, and save them for years to come. What an interesting way to keep track of the little things that made you smile or laugh from day to day!

We finally have a nice, sunny day! So after the dreaded nap time we're off to the park! It's a good thing for both of us...the boys LOVE playing outside, and mom can always use the exercise! Until next time....

Must make blog a weekly priority, AGAIN!

The boys in their new tent

H bowl game day

GO VANDALS!!

I don't even know where to start since my last blog attempt. It has been a whirlwind holiday season, and here I sit almost 2 weeks into the new year. I guess I'll sort of pick up where I left off!

I decided that this year I too was going to have a birthday WEEK. I pampered myself and when the going got tough reminded myself and everyone else, that it was my WEEK and I'd do it as I pleased. We had a fabulous date night on Thursday, Dec 17th. We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and followed up a dinner of 1 million calories with a friendly game of black light miniature golf. Since it was my birthday WEEK, I was declared the winner, even though the score was actually Casey -10 and me +2. Friday night, Casey's parents spoiled me with a cherry cheesecake, and the scrapbooking cubes for my scrap room. It was great fun to have them over. On my actual birthday, we went to Pojo's in the morning for a little family fun. Won some silly prizes with all of our tickets, but that's a huge part of the fun! And we topped the day off with a wonderful dinner of mexican food, at one of my fave restaurants, Casa Mexico! Ryan joined us for dinner, and brought over the movie The Proposal for us adults to watch after the kiddies went to bed. We also watched Up with the boys before their bedtime. It was a fabulous night, and I got a lot of cool CTMH scrapbooking stuff to make my day even better! : ) Sunday night my dad and stepmom came over bearing gifts and more CAKE! My fave gift, which was also a gift for the hubby was a Vandal snowman! He hates that I decorate the house with at least a million snowmen every year for Christmas...but this is one snowman he actually tolerates! I had a blast with my birthday WEEK, and will try for another fabulous repeat next year...minus all the calories in the food!

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas holiday again this year. We all got spoiled beyond all imaginable belief! Casey and I got a new computer for Christmas, which was planned. We also got a new garage door opener, and snow tires for his BMW...which weren't planned so much! We followed our tradition of cheese soup at my parents house in Kuna on Christmas Eve. The boys had a ball with their good buddy Osso, the sad thing is that he is getting older, and may not be around for many more celebrations, so they have to really enjoy him while they can! Christmas morning is spent at our home in our pj's. Santa spoiled the boys with a kitchen set, a new adjustable bball hoop, and a tent. It was especially fun this year, because they both know about and understand the whole Santa concept...and they were just ecstatic! Uncle Mike and his girlfriend, Sanjuana, came over a few hours later, bearing more gifts of course! Uncle Mike is like a grandparent or Santa times 1000! The kids ALWAYS love what he picks out for them, and he didn't disappoint this year. A HUGE race track, and a big ol' T Rex that walks and talks. After our celebration with Uncle Mike, we packed up the presents and headed over to Casey's parents house. Doug and Trin, Mike and Sanjuana were all there as well. We did the gift exchange with them, and sat around and talked and ate. We assembled the kids toys (a new garage that is WAY cool, and a new bball hoop to replace the stool/bucket assembly). We ate way to much, but had a great time with everyone!!!!

Our friend Joe came to visit from Seattle. He stayed with some other friend's of ours, so it was a pretty easy time for us. He made it just in time for the big Humanitarian bowl. The guys are all Vandals, and Joe bought all of the kids new Vandal's shirts for the game. A great time was had by all, and the Vandal's pulled off an amazing last 30 seconds of the game win! Truly AWESOME!!!

New year's eve was supposed to be a 'slumber' party at our house for the Neisen kids and ours. We had never tried it, so we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into...but we failed! Oh well. We did get to play one round of rummy, and even though I lost AGAIN, it's always fun playing that game when Joe is in town! We didn't stay up until midnight AGAIN this year... maybe next year the boys will want to try it!

The new year got off to an awesome start! I had the girls over for some serious scrapbooking at 9am on the 1st! We scrapped the day away. And our consultant for CTMH came over and did a private showing (along with free goodies) of the new catalog...it was HEAVEN! The girls left, the babysitter arrived, and we were off to dinner with Joe, Pete and Misty. We decided to give Jalapeno's bar n grill a go...some pretty good Mexican food there, but still not as good as Casa! We topped off dinner with dessert at the Cheesecake factory, and a 'friendly' round of the Farming game. I lost so miserably that I was a poor sport and didn't even count my money at the end! Once again, a very fun game to play when Joe visits!

I keep saying that "I'm serious this time, I really want to lose the last of that baby weight", and of course, I never do it! So I decided to get serious about it. After seeing my friend Sarah lose a ton of weight, I decided to give the Bodybugg a try. It arrived on the 7th, and let me tell you... I LOVE IT!!!! It is a dream come true for an OCD person such as myself! I have lost 5 pounds in less than a week...and am only 18 pounds away from my goal! I have always known that I like to eat...I never really had any idea what a pig I was though. It tells me how many calories I burn, and gives me a calorie budget for my day. Between the amount of money I spent on it, and my husband's reverse psychology (saying that I won't stick with it)...I'm on track, and VERY motivated to stay there!

The last of my exciting news, is from today....THE IPHONES ARE IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have decided to enter the new decade in style, so we purchased iphones. Soon the landline home phone will be gone, replaced with a magicJack, and it will mostly just be our cell phones that get used! I may (but please don't hold your breath) learn how to text message! : )

Anyways, apologize for the length of this post...but if you remember, I'm doing it for a journal keepsake. Hope I didn't put anyone to sleep. Until next time...whenever that may be!