Hilarious!

This morning at the gym I happened to see a guy in his mid-50s running on the treadmill watching this show, It's a Big Big World, on PBS. I thought maybe he was just zoning out and didn't realize this was on his monitor but at one point I saw him bobbing his head to the music. It made me smile this morning. My workout was crappy so this was a nice little distraction from how horrible my run was. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Or maybe I should watch It's a Big Big World too and then my energy would come back full force. Hmmm.... now there's something I'm going to have to think about.

Gingerbread, Christmas and Big Owies

Here are the kids on Christmas Eve with their new jammies. My good friend, Zach, has a tradition with his family of giving out new pjs every year and we thought it was a neat idea. We've decided to start it with our kids too. Ben was bouncing up and down when he saw his Star Wars Clone Wars pjs and Emma started singing "Hannah Montana" when she saw hers. Josh could care less, but he still looked dang cute in his construction jammies.

(I know this is out of chronological order and I apologize in advance. I just had to mention this towards the top because it just happened today.) Our poor Josh! He has had a nasty cold, coughing, snotty nose, sore throat. This morning he woke up with an attitude which definitely isn't like him. He was inconsolable which earned him an early nap. I gave him some tylenol and sent him to bed. He slept 4 1/2 hours straight which tells me he probably needed it. Then I brought him downstairs with the kids and within 10 minutes Josh tripped over a pillow and hit his nose on the edge of the brick fireplace. Blood was coming out of both nostrils. I got his nose to stop bleeding and he wanted to play again. He grabbed his new little tykes dump truck he got from Santa and within 10 seconds had fallen on it and smacked his nose... AGAIN! More blood. I got it to stop bleeding and then he jumped down and started running around with Emma. Then he tripped over a blanket and smacked his face on the ground. Even more blood. My poor baby!! After Jake got home Josh was in a better mood and was playing with the kids upstairs. His pants fell down as he was running and he tripped over them and smacked his face on the floor. A little blood this time. Within 2 minutes he pulled one of the stockings down from the fireplace and the stocking holder hit him right on the forehead (it's pretty heavy!), leaving two nice bruises. Jake couldn't help himself and had to take a picture of our accident-prone child. Hopefully tomorrow Joshie will have better luck!

We made gingerbread houses for FHE with my sister, Whitney, and her best friend, Mallory. They were supposed to fly home to Portland the Saturday before but their flights were canceled (twice actually) because of bad weather. They finally just flew to Seattle and Mal's dad picked them up and drove them home. We were so glad they made it in time for Christmas. The kids loved having Whit & Mal around and I'm sure wouldn't have minded if they had spent Christmas here.
This was taken after all the presents were unwrapped. Ben LOVES his Wii and will challenge anyone to a battle. Emma adores her Baby Alive (it really pees and poops... ugh), her make-up kit, barbies, and new kitchen that talks. Josh is having a great time with his new little tykes slide, shoving anything with wheels down it and then doing it again. He also loves his dump truck and plays with that quite a bit (when he's not smacking his face on it!)

We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas. It's hard to believe 2008 is nearly gone and 2009 is almost here. I'm already thinking about my 2009 goals and can't wait to start another great year.

Emma's First Dance Recital

Emma had her first dance recital last Saturday. The performance was held at the Heritage House in Bountiful, a retirement center for the elderly. It was jam packed with family, friends, and residents who live at the home. Emma was excited all morning and couldn't wait to go. We put her hair in curlers the night before and she loved how curly her ponytail was when we took them out. Her favorite part about her costume was the make-up. She LOVED wearing mom's lipstick and eye shadow. She even held still long enough for me to put on a little mascara. Emma was excited Aunt Whitney was in town so she could watch the performance. Jake and I were a little nervous about Emma having stage fright. She can get pretty shy around people she doesn't know. It helped watching some of the older girls go before her because by the time it was her turn, she was ready to perform and she did great. Her and two other girls were leading the group. We were so proud of her. Great job, Emma! We love you.

Posing with Aunt Whitney before the recital.

Emma's favorite person in the whole world, Susi Mabey (our neighbor), came to cheer her on. She even brought her a rose, which Emma wouldn't let go of the rest of the day. (It's still in a vase in her room!)

5 out of the 8 girls in Emma's dance class.

Emma and Makayla working the crowd.

8 sizes and 26:58

In a friend's comment she requested I post more pics of myself, so here are some I took today. In the first pic I'm showing my size 14s I wore when I started working out in June. You can see the waistline has a crease because they were tight on me. I wore these jeans nearly every day. CRAZY! Yesterday I went to DI to get me some jeans to tide me over until I get my Christmas giftcard to the mall. I bought my first pair of size 6 jeans (I'm wearing them in the pics!) I was euphoric as I tried them on in the dressing room and realized they fit perfectly. I haven't been this size since Jake and I were dating. I can't believe I've dropped 8 pants sizes! 13 more lbs. to go until I reach my goal and I'm slowly but surely getting there. My other great news: I ran 3 miles this morning in 26:58, the fastest I've ever done it. I'm excited. I feel stronger. There really is no high better than this, working out and feeling good about yourself. I posted the last two pics so you can see the difference in my face over the past 5 months. I promise to post full body shots once I get down to 130... which hopefully will be soon!

Happy 6th Birthday, Ben!

It's hard to believe my little guy is turning 6 years old today. I remember very vividly the morning Jake, my mom, and I headed to the hospital. It was a Sunday morning, the 15th, and my contractions were getting pretty painful. I was worried about being sent home because I hadn't progressed as far as I thought. The nurse told me I was at a 4 and sent me walking around the hospital to help speed things up. We walked around for awhile but my contractions started coming very hard, every 2 minutes like clock work. My sister-in-law, Katie, was timing them with me. I finally couldn't stand it anymore so we headed back up to Labor and Delivery. I was at a 5 and my water had partially broke. I was in labor the whole day, at 9 cm for nearly 3 hours, and finally the dr decided this little guy wasn't going to come on his own so I was prepped for an emergency c-section. Within minutes Ben was out. The whole room was amazed at how big and pink he was. A few called him "Hercules." He weighed 10 lbs. 1.6 oz. and was 21 inches long. Jake and I were nervous first-time parents. I think we did everything you could possibly do wrong with a newborn. Amazingly enough, though, he still turned out just fine. Now, my big boy is my big helper. He's a very sensitive and caring brother, almost always thinking of others before himself. He loves to play games, play with his cousins, go sledding, t-ball, swim. His favorite foods are pizza, chicken nuggets, green beans, fettuccine alfredo, and salmon. He also is learning how to cook and loves to help in the kitchen as much as he can. His specialty, pizza and chocolate chip cookies. Benjamin Jacob, we love you. Thank you for being such a good boy. Happy 6th birthday!

Our first family picture together. Ben was only a couple hours old.

Ben with Grandma Call at Niagara Falls (7 months old.)

Ben's first time with Santa (1 year.)

18 months

2 years old, right before Christmas looking handsome in his new suit.

Big brother loving his little sister (2 1/2)

Ben with Dad and Emma at Dad's law school graduation (May '06)

4 years old

Easter 2007

Loving the diving board at Dave and Stevie Mangum's house (June 2007)

Ben with his new baby brother (July 2007)

Ben's first day of preschool (August 2007)

Sledding at the Eaglewood Golf Course Club House (Feb. 2008)

T-ball (June 2008)

Kindergarten 2008

Ben's kindergarten picture

And I just had to add this little video of Ben. When he was just over a year he LOVED baths and would squeal if we even mentioned the word (now Josh does the same thing!)

We love you, Ben. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

#4: 6 Week Weigh-In

It's hard to believe it has been 5 1/2 months since I started working with my trainer... nearly half a year. It doesn't feel that long. I was hoping to be at my goal weight by the end of the year but I know that won't be happening, which I'm okay with. I'm still working hard and with battling bronchitis and a broken toe this past month, and then Thanksgiving and all the wonderful food that came along with the holiday, my results are still decent. I'm losing more inches than I am lbs. which is still good in my book. My trainer told me today that my goal (to lose 14 more lbs.) is nothing and I will get there soon. Hopefully he's right.

So, in 5 months I've lost:

25 lbs. (lost 3 lbs since last weigh-in)
9% body fat (lost 2% body fat since LWI)
6 inches from my waist (lost 1.5 inches since LWI)
5.5 inches from my hips (lost 1.5 inches since LWI)
2 inches from my right arm (lost .25 inches since LWI)
1.75 inches from my right thigh (lost 1 inch since LWI)
.5 an inch from my right calf since last weigh-in
1.5 inches from my neck (lost .5 inch since LWI)

Here are some pictures from last Saturday. Our neighbor took a great pic of Jake and I all dressed up in front of our tree right before we left for Jake's party, but it accidentally got erased. The party was wonderful, though. It was at La Caille and we were served yummy food (halibut, steak, potatoes, salad, rolls, pasta salad, etc.) I think secretly Jake enjoyed dressing up in his tux, even though he protested most of the time. He is one handsome devil (with or without the tux!) The last picture is of our good friends, Dave & Emily. Dave's office is a few doors down from Jake and they actually went to law school together, so we've known them awhile. It was fun to have a couple to hang out with the whole night.


Hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas season. I know we are!

2 Heroes at the Gym

As I hit the gym this morning, trying to burn off all that yummy leftover peach pie I had last night, I saw two women who are definitely worth mentioning on here. I don't like posting without pictures and so was tempted for two seconds to actually stop my workout, go downstairs to my locker and grab my camera out of my purse, and then take a pic of these women when they weren't looking. I'm not the stalker type, however, and that's probably why I didn't end up taking the pictures. So, just imagine this... if you can. A woman in her early 50s. She's running on the treadmill at a good pace. It doesn't look like she's straining or pushing too hard. She's in the zone and looks like she's actually enjoying her run, earphones in and I can only imagine she was listening to some upbeat Jack Johnson song, or something like it. As I pass by her treadmill, I casually glance at her settings and see she's running at 7.5 mph. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!! I thought maybe 5.5 or 6, just by how easy and effortless she made it look. She had already gone 2 miles by this point, too, and then she went another 15 minutes at the same speed. Amazing!

Hero #2: I have seen this girl nearly every day I have been at the gym. She's a little taller than me, probably a couple years younger, and just a cute girl. I've watched her belly swell over the past couple months and have wondered when her baby is due (and how the heck she can be so diligent about getting up at 5:30am every day to workout while being pregnant!) I noticed her today on the elliptical, really pushing hard. I watched her while I ran on the treadmill, and then I decided today was the day I would talk to her. I started a 30 minute program on the elliptical right next to her and just waited for her to slow down enough to talk so I could ask her how she can be superwoman! Ten minutes later she is done and I interrupt her cool-off period and ask when she's due... THIS FRIDAY! Holy cow. Amazing! She burned over 400 calories on her workout and was dripping with sweat. I was so impressed with this girl and couldn't believe with 4 days to go until her due date, that she could still manage to push so hard. To be honest, she probably worked harder on her elliptical workout than I did! Again... amazing.

So, this post is dedicated to all you amazing heroes out there. I know some of my friends here have mentioned how I've inspired you and I just wanted to let you know what inspires me. Hope everyone had a Happy (and skinny) Thanksgiving! ;)

PS Check back on here Sunday morning and you will see pics of Jake and I in formal attire. It's his annual holiday work party and a black tie affair. It gave me a good excuse to buy a beautiful gown at Macy's and he is renting a tux. He's not exactly happy about it, but in the end I know we will have a wonderful time. It's Saturday night, so check back after for an update.