Cats, Bats, and Transformers

It's hard to believe that Halloween has come and gone. With my parents in town visiting, it made the holiday even more fun for us and the kids. It was a very busy day! We went down to Provo to pick up my sister, Whitney, eat lunch at Chuck-A-Rama per Ben's request, and then visit my Grandma McDonald and Aunt Rhonda. Then we visited my Grammy and Grandpa Call in West Valley so the kids could show off their costumes. After that we headed over to Jake's parents' house so the kids could trick-or-treat there and get some delicious homemade Halloween sugar cookies. We got back home around 6pm and then left again to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. The kids had a ball and by the end of the night were exhausted and doped up on more than the legal limit of sugar for a child. After we put them to bed, the adults relaxed on the sectional and watched "Mamma Mia!" (No, it has not been released in the stores yet. Let's just say my parents have some connections in Malaysia. Wink. Wink.) It was a cute show and Jake even made it through the whole thing without barfing, so that's saying something (although he did roll his eyes a couple times and possibly gagged, I'm not sure. ;) ) It was a fun night and we were all sad to see my parents and Whitney leave. Here are a couple more pictures taken the past couple days.

My sister, Whitney, and I at my Grammy Call's house. (Hey BOYS, she's SINGLE!)

Josh at a Halloween party we went to. He LOVES fruit so I thought a bat would be the perfect costume for him. He's for sure the cutest bat I've ever seen!

Jake is probably going to want me to delete this picture once he realizes I posted it here. Too bad. And no, he did not wear the wig the whole day... maybe 15 seconds, just long enough for me to take the picture.
Ben, the Bumblebee Transformer, with Whitney (aka Peter Pan).

Josh at Jake's parents' house. Adorable.

Emma, the pink kitty cat. When we were looking at costumes last month, I told her she could pick any costume she wanted. She was very specific and told me she wanted to be a kitty cat with a pink tail. I looked all over and then found this costume on eBay. She fell in love with it instantly. The faux pink fur is her favorite part, of course. Oh, and the make-up.

Ben, the Transformer. Funny thing is, I don't think he has ever even seen a transformer show. He knows it's cool though and I guess that's all that matters.

We hope you all had a great Halloween! I'm so excited for the holidays coming. It's such a special time of year.

Jake's Blog

My cute husband decided after seeing the interest my Obama post generated that he would start his own blog of sorts.  Comments, discussions, and debates are welcome.  Check it out:

http://mormonleft.blogspot.com/

PS No, we did not go on some European adventure and not tell anyone.  The picture was taken in May 2004 when we visited Paris for a week, but I'm on his laptop and this is about the only picture of him on the hard drive.  I know what you're thinking but it's too bad.  Step back, ladies.  He's all mine.

#3: 6 Week Weigh-In

Today was my third 6-week weigh-in and measure with my trainer, so that means I've been working out for just over 4 months now.

In 18 weeks I've lost:

22.1 lbs.
7% body fat
4.5 inches from my waist
4 inches from my hips
1.75 inches from my right arm
.75 inches from my right thigh
1 inch from my neck

So, my weight loss has been slower than the first 6 weeks, but I assume that's normal. I weighed more to begin with so had more to lose. Now I'm getting more toned, so not losing as much, but gaining more muscle. I'm okay with that. ;) Something pretty exciting I had to share... so I have three piles of pants: 1) Fat pants 2) Normal pants 3) Skinny pants. (I assume all women have these same categories.) My "fat pants" I packed away over two months ago. My normal pants were fine for awhile but got pretty loose. So, I've been wearing my "skinny" pants the past 2 or 3 weeks and just noticed yesterday that the pants I just bought two months ago (thinking they would be my skinny jeans) are now getting a little loose. I don't have any jeans smaller than a 10. Even after I lost all the baby weight after I had Ben and was in pretty good shape, I was still in 10s and not smaller (and I weighed 6 lbs. less than I do now!) I decided to make a stop at Old Navy today, just to see where I'm at. (Don't worry, Jake. I didn't buy anything. ;) ) I tried on a size 8 and these jeans fit perfectly. Amazing! I almost screamed in the dressing room because I was so excited. Then I decided to take it a step further and try on a 6 (I haven't worn a 6 since... I can't even remember the last time I did! Probably in high school. When Jake and I met I was wearing small 8s so probably could have been a 6, but liked my clothes a little loose.) So, I pull the size 6s up over my legs and think "Wow. I can actually get them on." Then... I button them. HOLY COW! I can button size 6s! I zipped the pants up and realized, even though they were a tad tight and I wouldn't walk around in public in them just yet, that give me another 2 months and they will probably be perfect. I'm floating on cloud 9. This is HUGE for me! I'm also amazed that even though I weigh more now than I did when Jake and I dated, the pants are fitting perfectly. Crazy! Now the tops are a different story. I have the cute "I've-had-3-kids-who-stretched-my-gut-to-the-max" look. But, it IS getting smaller. My trainer even mentioned today how the shirt I wore today for my workout is really loose and when I first started he remembers it being pretty tight. All I can say is, I'm happy... happier than I've been in a long time. Now if my freakin' toe would heal itself, I would be 100% happy. ;) (It's actually doing a little better so I don't think it's broken, thank goodness. I'm still being extra careful with it and I buddy taped it. Hopefully in the next week or two I can start running again. For now I'm just hitting the bike, elliptical, and weights.)

Please plead my case!

So our vacuum died last week. It was a Hoover Windtunnel (our second in 2 years!) I went to Costco looking for a new one and saw the Dyson DC14 Animal. I've wanted a Dyson for a long time but couldn't make Jake see we needed it because we already had a working vacuum. Now that we don't, I feel it's time to plead my case. They are $399.99 at Costco, steep for a vacuum, but to me it would be so worth it. It comes with a 5-year warranty, which in itself is awesome. My grandma went with me to Costco today to look at vacuums and told me they just bought a Dyson and I should borrow it to see how I like it. I just spent TWO HOURS vacuuming our entire house, stairs included. It was AWESOME. I have never seen so much dirt, hair, dog hair, and who knows what else come out of our floor at one time. I filled two grocery bags of that nasty stuff (I promise you we are not dirty people, our other vacuum was just crap!) So, help me plead my case. Jake does not want to spend $400 on a vacuum but I tell him in the end it will be worth it, and we will have a cleaner house. He thinks we can find one for half the price that will do just as well. Is he right? If any of you have awesome vacuums for less than $200, let me hear it. We need to figure this out soon because I can't go much longer without one. So, recommendations anyone? Or should I just convince Jake we really NEED the Dyson? ;)

My Toe

So, as funny as this might sound, it's really not that funny. Today as I was getting dinner ready, I stubbed my toe really hard. Truman, our dog, was sprawled out in the kitchen and I was trying not to step on him and instead slammed my toe into the side of a drawer. I almost kicked the dog out of frustration and pain. Jake laughed and then quickly apologized. I told him it really hurt and I probably broke or sprained it. He said there was no way I could have done that just by smacking it. Well, 2 hours later it's turning bluish purple (can't tell so much in the picture) and it's pretty swollen (twice the size of my other pinky toe.) It hurts to walk on it or even slightly bend it. I'm REALLY hoping it's just jammed and a few days off of it will fix it. I guess this week I better take it easy and focus more on cross training than running... which I really do NOT want to do. Geez, of all injuries I could have, it would have to be something with my feet. That's just plain annoying! If anyone can give me some advice or have had a similar experience, tell me what you did.

GREAT News!

My dr called yesterday with my echocardiogram results. He said my heart looked great, younger than it actually is. He said he's sure all my exercising has paid off in more ways than just losing weight. He said the stress test went really well and the fact I made it 14 minutes was pretty astounding to him (they had me run on a treadmill and hiked up the incline and speed while my heart rate was being recorded.) They got it up to 189 and then had me jump back on the table and they did another ultrasound of my heart to see how it acts when it's stressed. He did mention as I recovered after the test my heart would beat 5 or 6 times in a row without a break. In the short term he said he's not worried but it's just something I need to be aware of. If I start feeling chest pains, palpitations, dizzy, etc. I need to stop (obviously.) Anyway, he had no reservations about my exercise and said to keep doing what I'm doing. I was really excited to hear the good news and that my heart acts younger than 27. YEAH, baby. Exercise can turn back the clock... remember that!

Why Obama?

As most of you know now, I AM a Democrat and I AM voting for Obama in 13 days. I have been questioned about my views more times than I care to count over the past month or two. I'm fine talking about it in a civilized manner. What I'm not okay with is people who attack me and question my morality and judgment because they don't understand what exactly they are trying to defend (or attack.) They base their attacks on half-truths and plain out lies that they consider facts because they heard it from some guy who supposedly heard it from someone else. So, I guess it must be true... right??? I was told last week that Obama has lunch with Al Qaeda terrorists. Come on. Let the mud slinging begin. I'm not coming on here to say I'm better than everyone else and anyone who disagrees with me is a moron. I just want to say that if you disagree with me, at least come to the plate with facts. I'm fine with people supporting McCain. This is what democracy is all about, my right and your right to choose what we think is best for our country. I would just ask that you respect me and my decision to support who I want to support.

I was sent this article today by a friend: http://blog.dietoyourways.com/default.aspx It was supposed to be mind blowing and make America see "the light"... I think. Okay, a few words about it (and as a disclaimer, this is my blog so if you disagree with me, that's fine, but it's still MY blog.)

I think it's ridiculous and I think it is overly partisan. First off, we need to understand that it is okay to disagree with each others' opinions. Americans are smart enough to study the issues and choose the candidate they feel represents their beliefs the closest. And I disagree with some of Obama's beliefs. I think if you agree with one of the candidates 100% of the time you probably are not thinking critically. I'm not going to comment on all of the points in that article, especially as many of them are patently false or misleading, but the big one seems to be about the taxes.

This is an area that we are just going to have to disagree on. The richest 5% of Americans have had their taxes lowered (thereby increasing the burden on the poorer 95%) during the Republican leadership. At the same time the Republicans chose to start a costly war (billions every month) and allowed the financial system to deteriorate under deregulation which is now costing us hundreds of billions in bail-outs. So the rich have had it pretty good. Now their tax rates are going back up to what they used to be (still lower than under Republican demigod Ronald Reagan) and they complain. Most Americans don't feel bad. 95% of Americans are getting a tax cut. Of the 5% that aren't, a majority will vote for Obama. I'm not sure why we care so much about that miniscule portion of Americans who will have slightly higher taxes so that we can pay for their war, clean up their mess of a financial system, increased health care coverage (not universal health care, which no one is proposing), and increased availability of a college education.

So we disagree on that and a lot of issues, but Americans will choose based on informed opinions. The country won't be ruined. Obama will keep us safe just like McCain (really!), and we can attempt to have civil discussions above the "Obama pals around with terrorists" crap we are hearing.

I hope I didn't offend anyone. I just wanted to take a second and come out of my little hole and return a short rebuttal for those insisting on attacking with false reports, half-truths, and out-right lies. I told my dad today that I think everyone can agree on this one point, that whoever is elected will have a tough road ahead of them. The recession, mortgage crisis, the war, poverty rising, dependence on foreign oil, education, healthcare, and on and on. Who would want that job, trying to fix these solid issues that most likely cannot be fixed in 4 years, or even 8?! It's going to be hard. Mistakes will be made. In the end, though, it's a question of where you want our country to be headed. More of the same... or something different? I know where I want to be headed.

(Was that enough politics for one post?!)