Weight Loss Comopetition

So - I totally did NOT win! But I lost %.046 of my weight. I started out at 152 lbs and a month later ended up at 144.8 lbs :-) I'm so excited! ......even tho ugh I lost. I can't believe Andy lost 12 lbs!!! How did he lose 12 lbs? He's......skinny and muscly....I don't understand! Grrr....... now I need to gain muscle so I can kick his butt!

This isn't a current picture - it's from last Christmas.....its the picture that makes me wonder where Andy lost 12 lbs, lol.

Well done Andy - next competition though....you are SO going down!!!

Family Pictures

So, we took family pictures a few months back and let me tell you - I did not enjoy it one bit!! Haha, Cael was going crazy the entire time and it wasn't helping that I wasn't allowed any time in between pictures to calm him down. Oh well - luckily we had Misty as our photographer! She did such an amazing job, you couldn't even tell he was throwing a fit in SOME of the pictures. I know some of you have already seen these pictures but here are a few of my favorites:

New Job

Ok - so its not so new anymore - but it WAS new in August :-) I need to blog more often! So I am now working at Family School of Music. For those of you who don't know, my brother and sister-in-law (Spencer and Michal) own a music school on the South Hill here. Well, I'm the secretary! I know it isn't anything cool like an instructor or anything, haha - but I actually love being a secretary soo....it works for me! I totally love it! I do the scheduling, the registering...I take payments, I answer phone calls and e-mails...I send the invoices, I clean, I update the website... I do pretty much what I'm told to do - and I think I'll be taking pictures soon to post on the website and facebook page. Anyway - I'm happy.

So....if you ever feel the urge to take music lessons come see ME at Family School of Music - tell ME that I sent you and I'll get you a coupon for $10 off the first month, lol.

Vacation

So - I know I've been for a few weeks already, but I've finally decided to write a bit about our family vacation! I'm not going to post a lot of pictures because I posted them all on facebook and its kind of a pain in the butt to post them one at a time on Blogger - also ,I tried doing a slide slow but for some reason I'm not allowed to copy or paste anything from or into this text box....?

Anyway! Ryan's family invited us to go to Seaside, OR with them a few weeks ago. It was A BLAST!!! It was a long drive (during which we passed through a crazy storm where there was actually a fire right on the side of the road where lightening hit) - be we made it!

This is where we stayed - Its shaped like a U. I didn't take this picture so I need to point out that this is deefinitely NOT what the resort looked like while we were there. Imagine the front section (the part of the building on the left of the pic and the part that seems closest to the camera) covered in sheets - because this front beach-facing section of the resort was under construction while we were there.

Anywho - the resort was pretty cool. It had to huge hot tubs, a heated pool with fountains, and a heated kids pool with fountains. This is where we went when it was too cold to go to the beach.

The beach was right there! Just a few steps from walking out the door of the resort and our feet were in the sand. It was nice! The kids loved playing in the sand and the adults loved swimming in the ocean.

While we were in Seaside we got to shop, we visited the aquarium almost every day to feed the seals, and we went to Astoria to check out the Column:

We climbed the steps all the way to the top of the column - and I felt sick the ENTIRE TIME. The top was fun though - it had a great view:


We also went to Ft. Clatsop - all about Lewis and Clark. I'll admit - Ryan was more interested than I was, haha - but it was still fun. Last I can think of was our trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory - pretty interesting! Ryan retained my information than I did ..... but it was still interesting :-) The most important thing is that we got to sample cheese and buy ice cream, haha.

Many nights were spent watching movies, playing games, relaxing the hot tub, and waking up to people setting off loads of fireworks in the middle of the night. Most days were spent swimming in the pool, swimming in the ocean, or playing in the sand. After a week stay we were sad to say goodbye. Maybe one day when we can afford it we will go back again.

Cael-Bo-Bael

So, Cael had his 1st birthday about a month ago! Lots of family showed up and I'm sure Cael had a blast!

He started at 7 lb 1 0z, and by age one he was about 17 lbs taking him off the charts percentile-wise (meaning he is really small for his age). The doctor had me put him on a high calorie foods only diet and after a month he's now at about 18 lbs! That may not sound like much -but it is exciting for us! We take him in to see the doctor in a week and a half and we'll see if that pound he gained was good enough to not be worried about our little guy!!

Cael has been developing so well!! He can say "Hi" "Daddy" or "Dada" and "Daeda" ... for Jaeda... he can also say "Mama" "Yaya"....for Diana.... and "Boo." He uses the signs for milk, food, please, all done, and book - and he created his own sign for pacifier. He sleeps really well, he's getting a lot of teeth and he is so loving! I love all of the hugs and kisses he gives me. I also love how much he likes to imitate Jaeda - my kids are so dang cute!

I just wanted to point out - the picture to the left of this paragraph has Cael wearing the same onesie he wore when we took our family pictures - the same family pictures that are shown on the top of my blog and as my profile picture. They were taken when Cael was 3 months! (in the family pictures he has a long sleeve onesie underneath this onesie) - I told you he was small!

It's On!

So my mom, Diana, Michal, Cindy, GG, and I are having a weight loss competition. We started 2 Sundays ago and ....I think it ends September 1st. The winner gets 20 dollars from each participant to contribute to a new wardrobe- I am SO determined to win!!! I won't say everyone else's starting weight, just cuz I don't know how they'd feel about it - but I started at 158lbs and my goal is 135. I weighed myself this morning and I was 149. And as far as I know - I'm in second place (GG is winning - who would have thought?). So I'm excited - mostly because I've been making healthier decisions as far as food goes and I've been exercising more and it feels GREAT!! Who knew that the combination of more exercise and less pizza/McDonalds could lead to weight loss?? Oh wait...that would be EVERYBODY!!

That's it - I'll try to do a little blog about Cael's 1st birthday as soon as I upload the pictures from my camera.

Random Thought

So, I was thinking about it today - and I decided that without faith and hope, I'd be a total mess! I was worrying about things like school and money and I really just wanted to freak out....instead I just took a breath and thought, "it's gonna be ok..." That little bit of hope and optimism was just what I needed to clear my mind and it helped me to focus on setting goals and figuring out what needs to happen in order to better our situation. I know trials pretty much suck, but its comforting to know that that Lord will help me through them and that when I come out of my trials I will be a better and wiser person.

.....and thats my blog for the month :-)