Our Family Day

Yesterday was a pretty good day.  Chris and I decided that we needed to use one of his vacation days to actually do something fun and family oriented.  So what did we decide to do?... Take the girls on an adventure!

We started the day with a trip down to the beach.  We had the t-top down on the jeep and even though it was hotter than hell, we survived!  The girls slept most of the way down to the beach but once we got on the beach they woke up and were pleasently surprised where we were.  They kept saying "Beach mommy beach!"

They loved seeing all the seagulls and seeing the waves hit the shore.  Too bad Ashley had an ear infection or we would have totally let them out on the beach to play.  The last time they were on a beach was also the first time they were on a beach.  Maybe next trip we can let them play. 

From the beach we decided that we should take a ride on a BIG boat.  The girls were totally excited about that and were very anxious to get on the boat.  This was their first time on the ferry so of course we had to take pictures...

Oh how they enjoyed the boat ride and we got to see dolphins. 

We then made our way to the Railroad Musuem in Galveston on 25th street near the cruise terminal.  They really really enjoyed the train musuem.  They played with all the extra gadgets they had on display and just squealed with excitement. 

We now know what to get them for Christmas...

...and by them I mean Chris too...lol!!

We then road to Kemah and suprised them with an actual train ride that they have on the boardwalk.  They were so very surprised and excited to ride on a choo-choo train.

and that was the end of our day!  They slept pretty much the entire way home and are still talking about boats, and trains today.  I am so glad we got to take them to see something they really enjoy.  I've already started looking up party decorations for a train party come January.  I wonder where we can rent a trackless train for possible train rides?!

Next TEN pounds

I guess when facebook sees that you are posting about eating right and working out, it automatically post ads for weight loss pills, diet, and other weight loss miracles.  It's kinda irritating to see stories/ads that suggest that these "models" have lost 20lbs in just 2 weeks.  How is that even possible?  And who are the people that are actually believing such crap? 

I've done the "crash dieting" and the pills and the shots and the wraps, anything that I thought would give me results the quick and easy way.  Even though most of them did give me quick results, the gratification was fleeting and the weight came right back on.   

Almost 8 weeks ago I made a decision that I was tired of being 175+ pounds and tired of just being tired all the time.  I want to be the active mom that can keep up with her kids on the play ground rather than the mom that just sits on the bench and watches her kids play.  I want to live a long a healthy life and show my girls that you can do anything you set your mind too.  Eight weeks ago, I saw an ad on Facebook that my dear friend Derek posted, Exygon was having their 99 days for $99, and I had extra money burning a hole in my pocket.  So why not do something that was going to teach me dedication, hard work, and show me good healthy results in the end. 

It's been a long 8 weeks but I am happy to say that changing the way I eat and getting active, has proved to work.  Yes, I crave those Buster Bar Blizzards from Dairy Queen, and yes I crave those Mexican Pizza's from Taco Bell, and even though I hate to admit it, I did LOVE those chicken nuggets from McDonald's.  I look at that food now and even though it smells good and I know it will taste good, all I see are those calories I just spent 1-1/2 hours at the gym, working my butt off to loose.  I do have days that I slip up and share a small blizzard with my girls, but I feel so extremely guilty afterwards.

I am so very excited that I have lost my first 10lbs on my weight loss journey to get to my desired weight.  Now I just have 40 more to go but I will be taking it 10lbs at a time.  I am going to start posting some low-cal recipes that I just love and what my girls have ended up liking as well.

Have a blessed Tuesday everyone!!!

They are growing like weeds.

I really need to try and keep up with my blog more.  I didn't realize how fast time has gone by and how much the girls have grown.  They are keeping me busy and I am slacking on taking pictures of them.  Between shooting clients, taking care of them, and working on my fitness journey, I haven't made time to take really good pictures of them.  What's really bad is that Chris and I have been married for going on 4 years and we have YET to get family pictures taken.  Maybe that is something I can ask for this year for our anniversary. 

This past month has been a really hard one for me and for my little family.  I came to realize that someone I thought was a really good friend, turned out to be someone I never really knew.  I trusted this person and thought I saw who she really was but she had the wool pulled down very tightly over my eyes.  It is heart wrenching to loose someone you thought was a really good person but in the same way very liberating to get such an evil person out of my life.  Meanwhile, our outside cat, Honey, decided to have kittens... 6 of them, so we thought.  Then on May 25th, our sweet sweet dog, Buster, passed away unexpectedly.  We have no idea why or even how he passed away but he passed away during his mid-morning nap.  We buried him under the tree and he now has a beautiful cross laying across his grave.  We are going to put the cross on a stake and put it in the ground.  To this day, the girls still ask about Buster and it breaks my heart.  His kennel is still up and even though I want it taken down, I think it will be really hard on Chris to actually take it apart.  

Then a couple weeks after Buster passing, I was backing out of the driveway and thought all the kittens were moved out of the way and I was wrong.  It broke my heart that I could even do that.  Like why didn't I double and triple check to make sure they had all moved.  Breaks my heart still because I had to watch him pass away, and then had to bury him.  What's even worse is last week, another kitten got hit and Chris had to bury that one as well.  So this month has not been the most wonderful month at all.  Then to add another layer on our horrible pet month, Chris' 10 year old cat, Brooke, has come up missing.  We have been looking for her for 2 days now and calling for her everytime we are outside.  I just hope she turns up somewhere and is fine.  This has just been a horrible pet month for us. 

Now onto the girls!  They are almost 2-1/2 years old and YES! they do have their terrible two moments but they keep me laughing.  They are talking so much and developing such cute personalities. 

We switched them to "big girl" beds and it has been taking some getting use too because they now can get out of their room and come wake up mommy and daddy.... at all hours of the night.  I feel like I have newborns again...lol!  The summer is starting off great and the girls are in love with the water.  Every day they ask me to go swimming.  I walked them down to the spray park in the neighborhood and they are now hooked. 

They even call their bath time, Swimming.  It's so cute but so bad when it's raining and they are demanding that I take them swimming.

This month they are loving anything that has to do with noodles.  They love slurpping them down and making a mess.  They also love "chocolate" toast which is just nutella, but somehow they manage to get it all over their face.

Now for me... I was on facebook one day and saw that Exygon had a special going on: 99 days for $99 and I just so happened to have some extra cash on hand.  I notified Diana of the special and later on that day we were both at the gym signing up for a membership.  It was one of the best spontaneous decision I have ever made.  We have been going to the gym 4-6 days out of the week 1-2 hours a day and 6 weeks I am down almost 10 pounds and have lost over 10 inches off my body.  I have a new found evergy and really enjoy going to the gym.  The girls LOVE it too, so much they sing "I secy know it, I work out" as we are heading to the gym and they make me replay the song over and over again.  They get so excited when they hear we are going to the gym and that just pumps me up even more.  Everyone says that in 4 weeks of working out and dieting you can see a difference in yourself, so this is my 4 week progress pictures...

So that's what has been going on in my life the last couple of months.  Be on the lookout for some more blogs here soon.